Samsung has made a statement concerning Apple’s use of the Omnia II to defend the iPhone 4 antenna problems and offers a mature response which makes perfect sense. Here is the full statement- “The antenna is located at the bottom of the Omnia 2 phone, while iPhone’s antenna is on the lower left side of the device. Our design keeps the distance between a hand and an antenna. We have fully conducted field tests before the rollout of smartphones. Reception problems have not happened so far, and there is no room for such problems to happen in the future.”

More information is at Gizmodo who again make much more out of it just to have another dig at Apple.

I currently have my hands on three phones – an HTC Desire, an iPhone 4, and a Palm Pre Plus. For those of you not moving beyond the front page, I’ll put the summary up first, with a comment that for me that the iPhone gets my pick – just, followed by the Palm Pre Plus, then the Desire. Yes – I’m surprised too, but there’s something about the Pre that really works, and I was disappointed by the screen and operating system of the Desire. BUT – you know what – which ever you choose, I can’t believe you’ll be disappointed – these are three excellent devices. I’m really not comparing Ferraris and Rovers, but Ferraris and Lamborghinis – so it really will come down to taste.

Please note – I really couldn’t compare everything – I didn’t have a spare month, and you’d not have read it all anyway. So I’m trying to focus on two things – Hardware (screen, sound, etc) and the Hardware / software “integration”.

Desire – Surprisingly disappointed – mainly due to screen and OS

• Physicals: Feels nice and solid though plastic back “opening hole” already scratched, just using coins and nails. Like the ability to change the battery. Don’t like that the SD card can’t be removed/changed without taking the battery out.

• Hardware: Excellent, fast and solid. Screen the let down for me surprisingly, virtually unreadable in sunshine, and a strange orange “tint” at times (see detail below for more information). Transfer speeds as expected for a class 6 card.

• Good stock headphones, with three button remote (Volume buttons and a “play/pause/answer phone”)

• Battery life drains quickly with data use (there’s lots of widgets to choose…). Very acceptable with video – 75% after a 1hr 41 min video.

• Operating System – wonderfully open, and horribly “unfinished” (hard to explain what I mean). Also, I just can’t use the virtual keyboard at all.

• My killer app – Evernote (I hear Pimlical may be on the way:))

• My killer game – None yet (Farm Frenzy is nice, but it’s not an Angry Birds or Dungeon Hunter)

iPhone 4 32GB – Pretty much as expected – lovely screen, though limited chance to really try it. Hoping the “proximity sensor” issue is resolved soon, and how the antenna bug got through QA…?!

• Physicals: I like the design unlike many, though it feels “fragile” (comes from being glass I guess). Invisible shield has been duly acquired. Don’t like inability to change battery.

• Hardware: We know about the signal issue – I’ve always used a case so (touch wood) I’ve not been affected. Generally excellent performance (some slight stutter from Angry Birds in a couple of places – but possibly this was an application issue as I get exactly the same effect on a 3GS). Excellent transfer speed (my slightly crude test estimates around 16.5mb/s)

• Good stock earphones, three button remote (volume buttons and a “play/pause/answer phone”)

• Excellent battery life when playing video (88% after a 1hr41min video), drains happily with things like push mail.

• My Killer apps – Pocket Informant & Evernote

• My Killer game – Angry Birds:)

Palm Pre – The dark horse, and much better than I expected. Shame about the build.

• Physicals: I can’t remember who (Shaun?) described the build quality as “Fisher Price”, but it really does describe it. I get minimal movement in the Pre Plus (presumably resolved from the original issues with the pre), but it does creak a bit when I use the gesture area with the keyboard down, which is annoying. I do like ability to change battery. It also feels very nice and natural in the hand.

• Hardware: Actually very good – it’s the slowest on offer (having the same speed as the 3GS), but generally feels solid and fast. I’m using 1.4.5 which has made a massive difference to the calendar application’s performance. Very disappointed in the memory write speed – not clear if it’s an OS issue, or that cheaper memory was used. Transfer speed was around 1.5mb/s – a tenth of the iPhone’s, and meaning it could take 3 hours to fill the 16gb’s of memory!

• Good stock earphones, one button remote (which I actually like, I’m perfectly capable of using the volume on the device).

• My killer apps – calendar (taking the whole integration aspect into account) & Evernote again:)

• My killer games – Dungeon Hunter and settlers. Also available for iPhone, but the best the App Store has to offer, and very good reproductions of both.

Now, on to the detail – and this review is designed to take a look at a comparison between the three – I’m interested in writing a technical comparison, and to try and keep away from impressions – though I’ll have to describe some items such as sound quality (Note I have dodgy old ears and like classical music)

A note on my test “components” – For those interested, I used an 8gb class 6 MicroSD card in the desire (seemed fair to use the best I could), I used a pair of Sure 540 in-ear noise isolating headphones for my “good headphone test” (They’re something like £200-£300 as I recall), and I used some classical music, a track of Pimsleur’s French, and part one of the Fellowship of the Ring, for my music/spoken/video tests. Sorry – I’m not into modern music.

So what I’m going to do is write this comparison as I go through a day, including the setup. I should add I’m not actually going through a day, but just mimicking it. I’m thinking I want to listen to some music on the way in to work, maybe watch a video on the way home, play a game during a break, and of course, deal with emails, texts, and calls. Call me boring, but that’s what I want out of the day. Weekends are another matter; I have several more appropriate devices then (the home computer, etc.)

Getting Going…

So, what I want to do first is to set my phone(s) up to provide me with the day’s needs. So I’m going to start by getting some music and a video onto the devices to test the File Transfer.

File Transfer

It was the file transfer that showed the first “difference” between devices. You’ll note in the intro I used a class 6 card for the desire, and this showed an interesting comparison. Quite simply, the write speed of the Palm is very slow. In fact add a few more “verys” for good measure.

I focused on the transfer of one file – a video file, of 494mb. The cold hard numbers were that the iPhone 4 took about 30 seconds to transfer the file (Possibly it compresses a bit, or does something clever through iTunes, I don’t know. Or that would make it around 16.5 mb/s?)

The Desire (via the class 6 card), took around 44 seconds – i.e. About 12mb/s write speed.

The Pre (wait for it… I had to) – took 5 minutes and 30 seconds. i.e. 1.5mb/s or a class 1 card? (Note: I tested it with and without write caching, for those of you who wondered). I also tested read speed just on the palm, for curiosity – it reads the file in about 35 seconds, so it’s definitely just the write time for some reason.

Morning Music

Palm Pre Plus – Nice quality through the stock headphones – clear speech and rich sound. Definitely benefits from a nice set of good headphones – not so noticeable on speech, but with music, things were much clearer. I should also add that with the stock headphones I had to turn the sound right up to close to maximum to properly enjoy over background noise (there was some reasonable noise I should add). With the Sure 540’s, the volume could be put nice and low – though conversely had another problem, that in a very quiet place, I found lowest volume was a little high with the Sure’s.

HTC Desire – Was good on the stock headphones, with a better range of minimum and maximum volume than the Pre. The lowest volume is still too high with the Sure’s though – though this is perhaps an unfortunate part of the headphones, which as noise isolating, are deep in the ears.

iPhone – For some strange reason, the iPhone seems less stressful on my ears. Either there’s less bass etc. (The Sure headphones have two independent “drivers”), or perhaps it’s that the lowest volume on the iPhone is a little lower than the other two. The stock headphones were probably the best of the three as well, though just marginally in my opinion (Probably too much time spent using the Sure’s which make such a difference with Classical music – you can hear the individual instruments!).

Emails and texts (keyboards!)

Palm Pre Plus – Having a keyboard is definitely nice (it works well for me I should note – contrary to other reviewers). Emails and texts were easy to send. The Palm Email program works well, and formats HTML nicely I found (even putting in embedded items such as video, better than the desire and iPhone in a lot of cases).

HTC Desire – This is part two of what really disappointed me – I just can’t get on with the way the android O/S (or is it the desire itself?) registers my taps – it seems almost “inaccurate” – I can tap on what seems like the same place, and yet get differing results. I suspect its OS, as the iPhone and Pre are able to “guess” what you’re tapping better it seems. Hopefully this will mean a fix is forthcoming.

iPhone – I mentioned the Pre had formatted a lot of email better than the iPhone and desire – in most cases – this is because for some reason the Pre can’t read emails from apple at all – no idea why (either the pre doesn’t like some standards, or the apple emails are causing issues?). I seem to be finding the keyboard better these days – though I sometimes tap slightly outside the touch area on the left of the keyboard, meaning my tap isn’t registered. I also need to add, I’ve had to turn off “sort my mail into conversations”, as it’s randomly creating blank emails in places (?!). No doubt an update or two is needed.

Phoning

Palm Pre Plus – It makes calls. They’re good quality. Simple complaint – why can’t I use the “numeric” keyboard to search contacts? (You know, the “abc business” where the numeric keyboard doubles as a sort of keyboard – and if I can’t, why are they printed there on the screen!?). It just means I have to open the keyboard every time. I found this a little irritating.

HTC Desire – It also makes calls. And they’re similarly good quality. Extra tick to the desire for being able to enter numbers and have them considered as the “abc business” letters as well.

iPhone – Definite improvement over the 3GS in call quality. Had some issues with my Bluetooth headset (lovely earpiece quality, but my callers said I sounded awful. Seems to have sorted itself now – maybe just a reboot of the iphone was needed). I like the way my jawbone shows an icon on the iphone representing the amount of battery left.

Breaktime game

Due to differing games available between the three products, I’ve picked two games to analyse – the settlers (iPhone and Pre), and Farm Frenzy (iPhone and desire). Hopefully that way a good picture of graphics and performance will arise.

Palm Pre Plus – Plays games beautifully. Or at least those games currently available… But still, both Settlers and Dungeon Hunter are high performing, don’t lag, and look lovely on the screen (though a little small when compared next to an iPhone as the physical screen sizes are different. No complaints on performance and visuals. Just needs more games. Palm have released a “PDK” (also known as a “get your iphone game over to the palm Pretty Damn Kwik), so watch this space.

Here’s a screenshot of settlers in action: (Credit and copyright to the owners accordingly)

Take a glance against the iPhone one below however – you’ll note the colours are ever so slightly richer (pay attention to the brown wood…)

iPhone – needs no introduction (so here’s one – not everyone has an iphone) – it also plays games beautifully. Had a slight lag with angry birds, but was able to reproduce on a 3gs, suggesting software not hardware. Both Settlers and Farm Frenzy look good, and play well:

HTC Desire – Interestingly, I found the applications available for the desire to be excellent (unlike the Palm options), but the other way around for games. I just wasn’t impressed by the android market selection (No I wasn’t just looking for mainstream names). However, Farm Frenzy provides a good effort (though the graphics are clearly not as enhanced for the hi-res screen as I’d have hoped – look at the grass I’ve put down in the middle, and compare it to the iphone one above):

Evening video

Palm Pre Plus – Video sounded good on the stock headphones – clear speech and rich sound. The sure’s are nice for the noise cancelling, but less impressive with spoken word / video, than with a nice piece of classical music. Same problem with the headphone volume levels as for the music tests earlier.

HTC Desire – Video sounded good on the stock headphones, with a better range of minimum and maximum volume over the Pre. Once again, the Sure’s were indifferent to stock headphones with spoken word. But I suspect the Sure’s weren’t designed to provide a nice speech – it’s when it’s twin drivers get into action with music that the difference is clear.

iPhone – Similarly good – both through the famous white headphones and the bose’s. I think the iPhone benefits from the Sure’s particularly though, as the white stock ones tend to be worst at keeping out the noise I found, and I like the peace.

Now onto the screen, where rather than writing them individually, I feel a photo of each gives the impression best. Watching video was marginally hardest on the Pre simply because the device is smaller physically, though it didn’t bother me that much. And the high resolution screens are worthless here in my opinion. Why? Because if I rip a gorgeous BluRay video into 960 by whatever the iPhone is, and watch it, it looks lovely sure – but only “nicer” than 480×320, not “Oh wow”. And the killer – a movie jumps from 500mb to 2gb (it is 4 times the resolution after all). I’m not either going to re-rip all my movies, or store them at 2gb a pop. Of course, this is a personal view (which I’m trying to steer clear of).

A comment on the screens – make up your own mind from the photos below – and note the strange orange effect from the Desire. I didn’t notice it until I put them all together. It’s definitely noticeable in many scenes when you do compare…

Left to right, Palm Pre Plus, HTC Desire, iPhone 4. These were taken at the same point in a movie, on the same camera, in the exact same location on my desk – so note that the issue I think is simply that the Desire over riches red perhaps? I really didn’t notice it until this comparison…
Summing up (with a quick mention of other areas)

Speed

But first, a quick comment on the transfer speeds from earlier – I’d be curious to hear the views of other pre owners – I tested this on two windows machines (one windows xp and one Windows 7) plus a macbook pro – they’re all slow with the palm.

Sound

Now I’m not a “soundy” in any sense of the word. In fact, at university as a member of stage crew, I always did lights. So take it with a pinch of salt when I say there really isn’t – for me – anything in it between these three in sound quality terms. Not in my opinion. The iPhone possibly wins for me simply because it plays a little lower with my set of headphones, and maybe a slight down to the Pre Plus stock headphones for requiring the volume to be turned up to near maximum (the Sure’s behave well – so I’m sure it’s the headphones themselves requiring a little more juice). However a nice set of headphones for whichever device you choose will do you proud.

Software

Operating System

I used to think that WebOS was the best – but – nope sorry, I still feel it is. Don’t get me wrong, Android and “iOS” (shudders at the name) are good, but WebOS feels the most polished, and that multitasking is just wonderful.

I’ve not covered the OS’s in more detail here – I didn’t intend to. Search for “iOS”, “WebOS” and “Android 2.1” if you want to – there’s far better reviews of them than I’ll be able to do. BUT – I want to say one thing – updates. WebOS updates release over the air, which is a brilliant concept – and they have it working really well. No real comment on iOS updates – you have to use iTunes unfortunately, but then the updates tend to be big (WebOS ones come often under 10Mb…). The unfortunate dunce hat has to go to the Desire here. Android is fine – stock. And therefore Android updates come as stock. Which means that the Desire, from HTC, has to wait for HTC to release a modified version. Very simply, Android 2.2 came out – what – a couple of months a go now for the Nexus One (Which runs it raw)? And still there’s no confirmation on when the Desire will get it…

Calendar

First prize to the iPhone here – “Informant” is just fantastic. The Pre comes in close second – with it’s integration, and “in place editing” (where you can edit a calendar entry in the calendar rather than in a separate screen). It’s also A LOT faster after the last Webos update. Don’t like the stock android (or HTC alternative) calendars, but there’s lots in the works – bring on CESD and Pimlical.

GPS

GPS was a hard one to look at – and that’s due to the Pre having no GPS application other than Google Maps, that I could get hold of (there’s a Sprint one in the US only I think?) But in short – using Google Maps (available on all three), they all kept signal and location well – even in my house.

It’s worth adding that Alk’s Copilot is available for both the iPhone and HTC Desire, and works brilliantly on both.

Video & Music

The Palm Pre Plus and the HTC Desire both have two separate applications (It’s a personal preference, but I like one app – less clutter, and sometimes I like to flick through and pick between video and music.)

I do like the music player on the Palm Pre most though – possibly part of the “look and feel” of WebOs, but it feels nice and “up to date”, whereas the iPhone player felt more dated. A knock down to the Desire – it took me ten minutes to find the Video player – inside the Photo application. Erm, okay…

As a traveller abroad, I felt a battery video test would be a nice way of seeing how hungry each device is. So, having transferred that video (1hr41min, as mentioned), I charged each device to full, turned on Airplane mode, set the brightnesses to close as possible, and pressed play on each.

At the end, the numbers were quite different – the iPhone 4 had 88% left afterwards. The HTC Desire had 75% left. Finally, the Palm Pre Plus had 67% left.

I realise they all compute differently, and some may go to 0%, some cut out at 10%, etc. I didn’t test that far – but I will add that I was very impressed with the iPhone 4 – in particular because I forgot to turn off the phone it turned out – so 88% included continuing to play with 3G signal.

And Finally…

As I mentioned at the top, the iPhone gets my pick currently – probably simply because of the number of applications available has meant I’ve found the best working relationship for me.

But only just – The Palm Pre Plus was so close, that I found myself swapping between them a bit initially (almost based on how I felt each day).

Last for me came the Desire. Yes – I’m surprised too, but there’s something about the Pre that really works, and I was disappointed by the screen and operating system of the Desire.

Don’t get me wrong thinking I’m saying the iPhone is fantastic and the Desire not – they’re all very good – and which ever you choose I can’t believe you’ll be disappointed, as these are three excellent devices.

I’m really not comparing Ferraris and Rovers, but Ferraris and Lamborghinis – so it really will come down to taste.

I’ll sign off by saying I hope this has been some use (if you’ve actually read this far!) please note I’ve linked reviews below…

Note: A link to Shaun’s in depth review of the HTC Desire is here, also there’s a previous comparison between the desire and the iPhone 3GS here. I mention it because if you’re reading this as a 3GS owner, it’ll hopefully provide some context.
Note: A link to Shaun’s in depth review of the iPhone 4 is here.
Note: We have no Palm Pre Plus review done by one of us. Shaun is going to see if he can find one, and if you’re reading this with no link, he didn’t. Watch this space, I’ll see if I get a chance to write one.

Peter.

This is my last article on the subject for a while, but it seems as though Apple competitors have been quick to come out fighting-

“Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.”

- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie (RIM)

“Antenna design is a complex subject and has been a core competence at Nokia for decades, across hundreds of phone models. Nokia was the pioneer in internal antennas; the Nokia 8810, launched in 1998, was the first commercial phone with this feature.

Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying human behavior, including how people hold their phones for calls, music playing, web browsing and so on. As you would expect from a company focused on connecting people, we prioritize antenna performance over physical design if they are ever in conflict.

In general, antenna performance of a mobile device/phone may be affected with a tight grip, depending on how the device is held. That’s why Nokia designs our phones to ensure acceptable performance in all real life cases, for example when the phone is held in either hand. Nokia has invested thousands of man hours in studying how people hold their phones and allows for this in designs, for example by having antennas both at the top and bottom of the phone and by careful selection of materials and their use in the mechanical design.”

Nokia

Steve Jobs has just stood up and delivered a clever pitch aimed at stopping the iPhone 4 criticism in its tracks. Highlights include-

A full refund if you are not happy- you can return your iPhone 4 for a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

Apple will send a free case, choice available, from the beginning of next week plus offer a refund to existing Bumper buyers.

In short, Apple says there is no problem with the antenna on the iPhone 4.

A series of demonstrations were put up showing similar signal loss on other mobile phones (by cupping the phones completely?). This quote makes some sense- “When the 3GS came out, we didn’t change the design from the 3G. So there were already lots of cases out there for the phone. And more than 80% of new buyers left the store with a case. Now the new phone doesn’t fit those cases, and we can’t make these bumpers fast enough, so only 20% leave the store with a case… but we’re going to figure it out.”

Apple is working on problems with the proximity sensor (next software update?)- disappointing that no more on this problem today.

Apparently Apple “loves all of its users” by the way…

If this is all too serious for you, check out the video below-

At 10am today (Pacific time) Apple will hold a press conference which will presumably address the iPhone problems. This is fascinating in many ways; will Apple own up to problems? Will it simply offer free bumpers? Or will it carry on with the continue with the ’silent’ replacement of broken iPhones? My only hope is that the proximity sensor issue is addressed one way or another. What do you think Apple will say?

Just called my network provider to complain about the iPhone 4 proximity sensor issues I have been experiencing. Before I could go into detail, the advisor told me to take it back to the store I got it from and that “the replacement would not have the same problem.” I asked how he could guarantee that and he just repeated that “the problem will be resolved with a replacement.”

In related news, iOS 4.01 has been released and will be available when you check for an update in iTunes. It looks as though the main fix is for the way signal bars are displayed. iOS 3.2.1 has also been released for the iPad which improves Wi-Fi performance and also fixes some less well known issues. iOS 4.1 is now expected to include AVRCP which is great news, but you have to say ‘about time!’

Colorware is now offering to customise your iPhone 4 and should have yours ready in about 3 weeks. There is a catch though in that it costs $250 to change the colour of your device, but you can go as far as changing the colours of the earbuds, SIM tray and the home button.

“The fastest, most sought after iPhone™ now has the color options you’ve been hoping for. ColorWare offers the chance to customize your iPhone™ 4 in a large range of eye-catching colors.

Your iPhone™ 4 can handle all of your needs with FaceTime, multitasking, HD video, an exceptional camera, and now it comes in any color. You can choose your favorite or create hundreds of color combinations to make the iPhone™ unique to you.”

Geohot has had enough of the criticism he received when he announced that his iPhone 4 jailbreak would not be available to the public. I can only presume that some people went well over the top and he thought that it was time to get back to a happier place.

From iClarified- “Geohot has shut down the iPhone blog he used to announce and release jailbreaks over the past few years.

Visiting the site now says, “This blog is open to invited readers only”.

This comes after his recent announcement of achieving a jailbreak for the iPhone 4 without plans for public release was met with a lot of negativity.

His last update to the blog read:

Sorry, this post was probably a bad idea. Next time I won’t say anything. I miss when this blog was actually about technical things(I’ve been reacting too much to the feedback, which led it to the place it’s in now). I didn’t fully realize most of the current scene don’t care unless they are getting something. Now I do. It’s late tonight, I’ll think about what to do about this in the morning.

The real reason behind no release isn’t technical. It’s just that it will never stop, after blackra1n, people demand unlock, after blacksn0w, people demand untethered. I miss the days when jailbreaking and unlocking were difficult, it attracted a much higher caliber crowd.

Also, to the haters, the picture is quite obviously fake .@

Rumours are spreading that the iPhone 4 may be subject to a hardware recall in the coming weeks and I have to say that it does look inevitable. The antenna issue is to blame for the recall, but I wonder if the proximity sensor can be fixed by software as well?

This makes sense because, although hugely expensive, it would put paid to any lawsuits (hopefully) and would go a long way to restoring the confidence that Apple has done extremely well to build up over the past decade.

Would you hand yours in for recall if it came to it? I would, but not because of the antenna issue. The proximity sensor problem has made the iPhone 4 pointless to me for any voice calling.

One more point- Apple should be offering free bumpers to everyone who has the antenna issue because that could save it a LOT of money. The problem is one of acknowledging the problem (legally) and that is what stops this from happening.

Doodle God is doing great business on the app store at the moment and is without doubt highly original. It is also pointless and feels like it has no depth at all. However, I am already addicted and appreciate that this is a new type of game that will keep you coming back time and time again.

There are walkthroughs available which ‘ruin’ the game so why not give us your tips for creating your elements (only one at a time please) using the comments link. I haven’t been doing well so far, but hopefully you guys can help me and everyone else out.

I have for a long time moaned about the ‘phone’ features in modern day smartphones and have tracked the trend of the major manufacturers as they attempt to cram more and more features into their smartphones at the expense of core functionality.

It is true that voice calling is a declining feature in our lives, but also something that is vitally important to many and also to everyone when they need it. If a company is going to make a smartphone, they have to live up to the name of the product and not ignore the phone part altogether. Nokia and RIM understand this and make smartphones that are great phones; good battery, great sound quality, signal and speakerphones. It’s not difficult; it has been done for many years and is far easier to implement than a Retina display or a sense overlay on top of Android.

It is getting better though and HTC and Apple have tried hard to produce smartphones with better antennas and improved voice quality. Samsung is producing some stunning devices with call quality that is unsurpassed and this trend is likely to carry on until the end of the year because new eye catching features are hard to come by at this time so they may as well improve what’s there and proclaim them to be radical.

Now, Apple has been getting a hard time over the past few weeks concerning the antenna and proximity sensor problems on the iPhone 4. The related headlines blow the problems up out of all proportion and you would think that using an iPhone 4 would kill you in under a minute if you listened to the likes of Giz (we are annoyed with Apple and will be negative at every opportunity) modo. However, these two problems are unforgivable.

Apple makes billions of dollars every quarter. The iPhone platform is driving much of this profit and leading to increased interest in Macs and all other aspects of the company. So many of Apples recent innovations have changed the mobile world and it has done incredibly well.

Apple did not test the iPhone 4 properly.

Whether you have experienced these problems or not, the fact is that Apple did not test the iPhone 4 as it should have done. Some say that the reason the ‘death grip’ issue did not come up was because the prototypes were hidden in cases to disguise them. That is not an excuse at all- how is it conceivable that it was not noticed? Even worse is the proximity sensor issue that I have experienced on almost every call so far. It completely destroys the voice feature of the i’PHONE’ 4 and again how could it have not been spotted. This worked fine on my 3GS so what went wrong here?

Apple rightly sits atop the mobile tree thanks to superior materials, innovation and marketing. Apple is incredibly quick at showing us how clever it is, but with cleverness often comes complacency and that is the only reason I can think of this to happen. Mobile phones are tested to destruction by mobile networks, manufacturers and network suppliers, but maybe the secrecy around a new iPhone meant that this cannot happen. I can almost guarantee than any mobile network provider would have picked up the antenna issue and that anyone who made a call on one would have picked up the proximity sensor issue.

Maybe the sensor issue is down to a bad batch, but it does seem to be a big batch. Maybe the antenna issue is not as bad as we all think, but it is disconcerting when you are aware of it. Now matter how great the iPhone 4 is, and it truly is, we have to face up to the fact that Apple dropped the ball more than once during testing.

Isn’t the iPhone 4 great? It surely is in almost every department. The antenna issues are big business for the digital news sites, but the proximity sensor problems are not gaining the same amount of attention.

I called my Mother the other day and the called started with her saying Hello? multiple times and me saying it back to her. By the time I realised that my cheek had pressed the mute key she had disconnected. I called her back and then disconnected the next call after a minute accidentally with my cheek. I now use the iPhone with care on voice calls and do not like having to think about how I am holding a phone when speaking to someone.

This is a phone and voice calling should be the most natural thing in the world. Apple, sort it out!

I have always been told to buy branded accessories if possible to ensure they work properly with specific smartphones, especially Apples ones. I can (sort of) understand this view when it comes to chargers, but still ignore the advice. There is no way on Earth I am paying £25 for a UK plug USB adaptor from Apple when I can buy one for £5 elsewhere.

One item which has always deeply annoyed me is the official Composite AV Cable which currently retails for £39. I bought one a while back and it has never worked on my iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4 or my son’s iPod Touch. No matter what I tried it just did not work and had the worst design in the world. It looked nice, but the shiny exterior on the plugs made it extremely difficult to pull out of the TV without breaking it.

Imagine my surprise when I saw an iPhone compatible Composite Cable for £12.99 in my local Tesco store. I took a risk and bought one, not expecting it to work, and it works perfectly on my TV with my iPhone 4 and 3GS. Now my family can watch rented films, YouTube and view photos whenever we like on our TV, with not a hint of branding in sight.

This is not a question of the day or an article, but I am curious as to if you have used FaceTime yet on your iPhone 4 and what you think of it. Also, do any of you who do not own the iPhone 4 make video calls from your smartphone and how do you find the experience?

Personally I would like to see it work with webcams and outside of just the iPhone because this seriously limits its potential at the moment.

By the way- the person in the picture is Gavin, the only person I have FaceTimed with so far. Yes, he really does look like that:)

As I said in my review of the iPhone 4, it is begging to be protected from the moment you first pick it up. This means that many users will want to find a case very quickly to ensure that early scratches do not occur. I am not a huge fan of silicone cases because they take away all of the style of any phone, particularly the iPhone 4, and so after a quick look around my local mobile phone shops I picked up the Gear4 IceBox Edge case which looked like a good compromise between size, protection and style.

You get the rubber side protection that will enable you to not touch the antenna and thus be able to make phone calls (slight exaggeration) and this is attached to a clear plastic backing which shows off the fact you have the latest iPhone. The quality of the attachment between the plastic and the rubber is superb and I can see it lasting the distance, but the back does get scratched very easily. After only a few days the back on mine has multiple scratches which are starting to be more than noticeable. The construction is the case is of a high quality, but the backing which should be more durable than any other part is too prone to scratches to make it a long term bet.

The depth of the rubber surround and overall dimensions make the Gear4 case one of the best in terms of how it is formed and it represents good value compared to a lot of the silicone cases that are neither practical nor suited to the iPhone design. However, the backing is a problem and simply too prone to scratches to let me recommend it. And I didn’t buy the pink one…