The Cell Phone Junkie Show #213

The Cell Phone Junkie Show #213 1:10:52
Show Notes
Kick off summer with some international travel, bait and switch from AT&T, and have you figured out how to “hold different”?

iPhone/iPod Touch Application

PrivacyStar Interview

News
Seamless Wi-Fi to 3G roaming could be coming soon
Analysts warn of RIM and Nokia defections
Google Voice open to everyone in the US
Samsung planning to double market share
FCC plans to reallocate spectrum for mobile broadband
RIM profits up, 100M units sold, and misses target
Palm Shareholders approve HP buyout
Traveling abroad with a cell phone
Unlimited AT&T iPad data plan disappears
Apple and AT&T sued over iPad data plan changes
AT&T MicroCell now available in all markets
AT&T and Verizon complete asset transfer
AT&T Refreshing backhaul for LTE
Verizon testing LTE in 5 markets
Verizon Wireless renewing branding campaign

Thanks to our sponsor, Netflix

Devices
White iPhone 4 slated for Late July release
Some iPhone 4 screens showing discoloration
iPhone 4 Signal Strength issue
iPhone 4 Signal issues testing and theories
iPhone 4 requires Mac OS 10.5.8 or higher
Test out Facetime by calling Apple
US Cellular announces Blackberry 9650
US Cellular announces new hardware
RIM to launch 6 new smartphones this year
Motorola Droid X officially coming to Verizon on July 15th
Motorola Droid 2
Samsung Galaxy S Pro Specs
Samsung Galaxy S coming to T-Mobile as Vibrant
Sprint to sell dual-model 3G / 4G 250U USB WWAN modem
3 new Samsung devices at T-Mobile
Virgin Mobile launching prepaid MIFi soon

TCPJ Unlocked

Software
Symbian^3 is now “Functionally Complete”
iOS 4 now available
iOS 4 rollout riddled with issues
Why the iPhone 3G didn’t get backgrounds with iOS4
Pandora iOS 4 Update
Slacker Radio iOS 4 Update
NPR App updated to iOS4
Adobe offers Flash Player to Phone manufacturers
Apple now sharing user location data
Slingplayer Mobile for Android
ParkVu announces a way to wirelessly sync media with your Blackberry
Google offering Android 2.2 to anyone
Nokia leaving Symbian for N Series and moving to Meego
EVO 4G software update coming June 28th
Samsung Behold II Update
Google remotely killing apps

Questions/Comments
Comment from Wendy
Question from Dharmesh
Comment from Bill
Question from Ryan

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iPhone 4 Signal issues testing and theories

Since I activated the iPhone 4 on Thursday night, I have absolutely been seeing the signal issues that many have complained about with the device.  The phone itself will show “bars” which isn’t necessarily the real indicator of reception, but not work as it should.  Lots of folks have been talking about holding the device in the bottom left cormer, which will cause the bars to go down.  While this is true, it doesn’t seem that it’s the only culprit.  I found that while out and about, the only real way to get the speeds you should expect out of 3G on the network is to not touch the phone at all.  This got me to thinking about why the folks that have cases on their phones are doing OK.  It seems that the current hardware/software configuration is not quite optimized for real world conditions.  Some are saying that they aren’t seeing an issue, and I believe them.  However, I think it’s because they are in VERY close proximity to a tower, or there are other environmental factors at play.  Keep in mind that there are hundreds or more variables to what makes a cell phone work.  Weather, tower proximity, network load, network frequency, muscle/fat ratio in a person’s hand, and others that can cause the signal to fluctuate and the actual functionality of the phone to change.

I think one of the main reasons that the Apple team did not see a lot of the issues coming was because they had cases on the devices all the time while testing.  There was no way for them to test them in the wild without masking the real physical look of the phone.  Then, when they did test them “naked” they were in an office or house where they had “perfect coverage”.  That’s my theory anyway.

Time will tell to see what Apple and Steve Jobs decide to do.  In the meantime, since I put a case (mind you, it’s an old incase designed for the original iPhone, I have seen the one thing I want…consistency.  Here are some real world results from speedtest.net that i have seen over the last 3 days.  Note the jumping around of speeds on the 25th and 26th, and how consistent it’s been on the 27th.  Can you guess when the case went on…