Macgasm

Several weeks ago, I reviewed an iPad case by Vaja Cases. Vaja is well known for its premium leather cases for all sorts of electronic gadgets, including the new iPhone 4. However, at least one of our readers reports that Vaja’s customer service is less than stellar. After ordering two Leather Agenda iPad cases (at $280 a piece plus shipping), this reader was given a 45-day timeframe for receiving his cases. A week ago, he emailed Vaja to see if the cases would arrive on time and received a tersely-worded email indicating that the cases would be delivered within the 45-day limit. But this customer didn’t receive his shipment, and four days after the cases should’ve arrived, he received another email. In this email, Vaja pointed out the fine print on their FAQ page stating that production time is only an estimate, and due to “huge” demand, their production processes “are taking a little bit longer than normal.”

Obviously, unforeseen delays can happen when demand for a product is high. However, good customer service means informing your customers of any delays in a courteous and timely fashion. For example, I ordered a popular product from Waterfield Cases that was essentially backordered and I received several emails keeping me apprised of the status of my order. What makes Vaja’s treatment of this customer so appalling is that, not only did they treat him discourteously, they charged his credit card over 45 days ago and have not delivered the product. Now, when you order a Vaja case, they tell you that they will charge your card immediately because their products are “hand crafted.” Once you place an order and the process begins, you can’t back out.  Still, it seems to me that when you spend that much money for a product, you should be treated extremely well. Sure, Vaja cases are extraordinary, but the quality of your product does not justify treating your customers rudely. Vaja should graciously apologize for the delay (rather than point out their fine print) and, at the least, refund shipping costs since they did not meet their own deadline.

Have any other Macgasm readers experienced poor customer service from Vaja? If so, please tell us in the comments.

Bloomberg is currently reporting that Apple’s CEO, Steve Jobs, may have had foregone information that illustrated that the iPhone 4 could have problems with the new antenna that engineers were working on. There’s no mention of who dropped this bomb on the press, and there’s certainly been no confirmation from Apple that this was how things played out.

So, as far as were concerned, it could be complete hokum.

The Rant

We had an interesting discussion in our Macgasm team chat yesterday about the state of blogging, and the way the mac community goes about reporting news. What we talked about in particular was how the sexy stories seem to be contrived in some way, and thereby perpetuated because everyone wants a slice of the traffic. Things get blown out of proportion, and then, before you know it, appear to be legitimately newsworthy, despite giant holes in the original article—in a way, manufacturing the news.

So with that in mind, what evidence is there that Steve Jobs may have known ahead of time about the iPhone 4 antenna problem, if any? Not much, and anyone who says different is seriously illustrating signs of delusion. The conspiracy theorist in me sees all kinds of red flags, including this news that a senior engineer may have raised a couple questions about the new antenna system in meetings. But, we have the luxury of hindsight, and the media gets a free card to play the hindsight game in a way that borders on unfair.

What could have George Bush done better during Katrina? What could have Kevin Costnar’s super oil suckers have done to stop this mess before things got out of control with the BP oil spill? It’s a game that the media plays, but those people responsible for making the hard decisions don’t have the luxury of seeing how a decision plays out until it’s too late.

Did Caballero notice something no one else did? Potentially. Did he tell the right people? It seems so. But, did anyone have any clue how this would have played out when they made the decision to forage on with the new antenna? It’s not likely. It’s easy to find the needle in a haystack when you know that you’re looking for a needle, and who dropped it where.

Let’s keep some perspective here.

Article Via Bloomberg

So, one of the things that’s been bugging me is the lack of consistency across Apple products lately. Without delving too far into that debate, mostly because I have a big article coming on it, one example is FaceTime. Why isn’t it able to connect to Macs, and what about devices that don’t have a cellphone number? Shouldn’t an iPod Touch be able to make a call to an iPhone?

Well, it seems like Apple’s working on a solution that’s based on an email address, similar to gTalk and other instant messaging applications. Users might have to sign in with an email address, and then place calls to other email addresses. It’s a smart way to solve the conundrum, considering that Apple considers FaceTime an open standard, and other platforms will need to find a way to integrate into the system. Everyone might not have a cellphone these days, but you’d be hard pressed to find someone without an email address and webcam.

This news also tentatively answers the speculation that Apple’s looking to bring FaceTime to the iPod Touch and iPad. We could see the duel camera setup in the next version of both devices and that would be a welcomed addition.

Article Via BGR

It appears as though Apple was deleting from their discussion forums any mention of Consumer Reports not recommending the iPhone 4 for a while. Now, while this may be perfectly within their right, as it is their discussion forums, they cannot control the whole Internet.

For those who may not be aware, Consumer Reports did their independent testing and concluded that it could not “recommend” the iPhone 4 strictly due to the antenna design and its inherit flaws when holding the phone in a ‘normal’ way.

Now there are those who may be questioning how Consumer Reports did their testing and may claim they are biased and just following the hype that is out there or even blame AT&T for their poor signal and network. Well, for your information, Consumer Reports did their testing in an RF dead-area. This means that no waves were able to exit or enter into the testing area. With the testing chamber completely closed off, Consumer Reports used their own device to simulate connecting to the cell tower. After testing, they were able to determine that the antenna issue is in fact real.

The failed testing with the antenna is the only reason that Consumer Reports cannot recommend the iPhone 4. Despite this, it is the highest rated cell phone that Consumer Reports has available.

I myself know that the antenna issues are real. As I was explaining to Macgasm’s Gerard Lagana over twitter, I am able to replicate the ‘dropping bars’ issue without any case. Along with not having a case, even with Apple’s Bumper case I am still getting bars to drop. Now, it is entirely possible that I’m in a poor AT&T coverage area. If that truly is the case, I’d like to test out a MicroCell at my home on a permanent basis.

As for Apple deleting discussions, I think this is a bad move, no matter which way you slice it. You’re looking at censorship and the inability to express your opinions. This is just plain wrong in my opinion. Anybody should be allowed and encouraged to say exactly what they want regarding a product. Here is a link to one of the removed threads.

Now, I’m not saying that Apple should just let the discussions forums become a free-for-all. I’m not saying that at all. I’m saying that Apple should allow those who wish to stay on topic express their feelings regarding the topic. If the comments are slanderous, libelous or even directed towards an individual then yes, remove them and ban the user. But do not arbitrarily delete discussions just because you fail to recognize that your product is flawed. That onus falls squarely on Apple’s reliance on marketing as the deciding factor in their products and removing all bad press from their website.

To be fair, if you do search on the Apple Discussion boards, you will find threads regarding the Consumer Reports article mentioned (as the screenshot below shows), but there were some threads removed.

Article Via Engadget

One of the first complaints I heard about the iPhone 4 was that the glass on the front and back of the iPhone made it too fragile or delicate.  Then came “AntennaGate,” with everyone and their grandmother ranting about antenna attenuation issues.  The new issue people have found doesn’t affect the iPhone 4 alone, but any of the iPhones that have iOS 4 on them.  Even the iPhone 3GS is not immune to the ever growing issues people are finding.  The new issue related to iOS 4 seems to be with the Bluetooth.  People are reporting that the audio is “‘muffled,’ ‘like you’re in a tunnel’ or ‘far away’ when using a Bluetooth headset with any iOS 4 device,” according to Cult of Mac.

John Brownlee of Cult of Mac goes on to cite a Jawbone forum response from one of their spokespeople:

“We are aware of and concerned with the user frustration surrounding the issues affecting all Bluetooth devices (headsets, car kits, and speakers) connecting to the iPhone 4 and iOS4 updated phones. We know users have come to expect the freedom of hands-free and we are working night and day with our partners, Apple and AT&T, to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.”

This is yet another issue I am not experiencing with my iPhone 4.  I actually have improved Bluetooth performance over my iPhone 3G.  With my iPhone 3G I could only have one Bluetooth device as an audio source.  However, with my iPhone 4 I can have my Samsung WEP490 earpiece as well as my Prius’ Bluetooth running simultaneously on my iPhone 4.  In addition, I can pick up or make a call from either my car’s Bluetooth, or my Samsung earpiece.  On two occasions I did have my call automatically switch from my Prius’ Bluetooth to my Samsung earpiece, but that’s it, no other issues.

With iOS 4.1 coming out, let’s hope it resolves this issue for those who are having an issue.  Are you having an issue with your iOS 4 device and Bluetooth?  If you are, we would love to hear from you.  Even if you are not experiencing this issue, we would still love to hear you thoughts about it.

Photo Credit: iphone bluetooth headset

Article Via Cult of Mac

Now the question on everyone’s mind is: does this update fix the reception issues as promised?

Well, along with taller reception bars, iOS 4.1 does includes a new modem firmware (updated to 02.07.01 from 01.59.00), presumably to improve reception. So far, some users report that they’re getting 3 bars where they previously got 5, which by itself seems like a downgrade, but it may also indicate a more accurate representation of the iPhone’s reception. Unfortunately this doesn’t seem to keep the iPhone from dropping its signal when held “the wrong way”.

Old bars (red) compared to the new bars (green), courtesy of MacRumors member “macduke”

Still, one has to wonder if there’s something more to this beta coming out now considering the iPhone 4 press conference scheduled for Friday.

Other changes include:

- You can now add Favorites in the Phone app as FaceTime or Voice Call
- Parental controls now include FaceTime and Game Center
- Game Center is back wth a brand new look

- You can now turn Spelling Check off in the keyboard settings

Developers can download the beta here.

Have you found any other changes in 4.1? Let us know in the comments.

You're holding it wrong!

At last we hear from Apple: select press has been invited for a special press conference about the iPhone 4 happening this Friday.

It’s great to see them finally finally willing to speak about the iPhone troubles, specially considering how secretive they usually are. Hopefully it won’t be a one-hour conference showing us how we’re supposed to hold it.

Check back on Friday for coverage.

Source: LoopInsight

Warning: I might go off on a tirade filled with expletives here.

So by now everyone’s heard about the iPhone 4 problems. It’s been on Letterman, MSNBC has done a story, and now Microsoft COO Kevin Turner thinks he has the foreordained right to take pot shots at Apple over the iPhone 4, despite, you know, shipping about 50 Kins.

Kevin Turner spent some time at a conference letting people know his personal opinions about Apple’s problem with the iPhone 4, and he even took a moment to point out that the Windows 7 phone won’t have any limitations about how you hold your phone.  Thanks for pointing that out Kevin; we appreciate your half-formed opinions and misguided intentions.

All kidding aside, if the iPhone 4 is Apple’s Vista, then what the hell is the Microsoft Kin? Sure, the Kin might not have had hardware issues, but the phone should have never made it to market, and instead been kept in the attic like Quasimodo. Can someone please tell these guys that it might be in their best interest to censor themselves in these situations?  Because, before you start taking shots at another company, it might be smart to, you know… ship something. There’s always a lot of talk about shipping stuff from the Redmond crowd, but I can’t remember the last time they actually shipped something progressive and innovative.

Microsoft’s last foray into the cellphone market was the Kin, which was about as big of a success as the JooJoo, or the infamous Phantom gaming console. Before you start flinging crap like monkeys, you might want to make sure you’re standing on the high ground, because crap rolls downhill, and right now Microsoft is at the bottom of that hill, and the crap’s rolling downhill quickly.

Article Via ComputerWorld