Linked List: June 24, 2010

Thursday, 24 June 2010

Antenna Engineer Spencer Webb on the iPhone 4 ★

Spencer Webb:

Just about every cell phone in current production has the antenna located at the bottom. This insures that the radiating portion of the antenna is furthest from the head. Apple was not the first to locate the antenna on the bottom, and certainly won’t be the last. The problem is that humans have their hands below their ears, so the most natural position for the hand is covering the antenna. This can’t be a good design decision, can it? How can we be stuck with this conundrum? It’s the FCC’s fault.

‘Just Avoid Holding It in That Way’ ★

I don’t know if this signal-degradation-in-left-hand thing is really a widespread problem or not yet, but it’s not reasonable to tell people not to hold the phone this way.

Targeting the iPhone 4 Retina Display With CSS3 Media Queries ★

Walt Dickinson has more on targeting CSS specifically for double-pixel-density devices.

Field Notes ‘County Fair’ Special Editions ★

I’d wait another nine hours in the hot sun to get my hands on these, too.

iLounge’s Guide to iOS 4 ★

Lots of details and observations on what’s new in iOS 4, from Jesse David Hollington.

Peter Cohen: ‘Hands on With the iPhone 4’ ★

Peter Cohen at Loop Insight, on the iPhone 4’s 3G reception:

So far, I think the iPhone 4 is very much a move in the right direction. I admit I’m working with only a few hours of use here, but I’ve been able to make and maintain calls on my iPhone 4 in “dead zones” that have killed by iPhone 3G repeatedly.

There’s been some early talk about how the reception of the antenna drops dramatically when the fold is being held, particularly in the left hand. I’ve seen my iPhone 4′s bars drop myself by doing this.

My question is whether certain people’s hands trigger the problem with any iPhone 4 unit, or whether certain iPhone 4 units are susceptible to the problem with anybody’s hands.

How to Target CSS for iPhone 4’s Retina Display ★

Thomas Maier on using CSS media queries to delivery optimized CSS for the Retina Display. (Via WebKitBits.)

Video Footage Comparison Between iPhone 4, 3GS, and Flip Ultra HD ★

The Flip has better color saturation to my eyes, but lags while panning or moving. Very close in quality overall.

iPhone 4 In-Hand Signal Issue Isolated to Bottom Left Corner ★

Seems like the topic of the day is that some people are seeing their 3G signal degrade when they hold the phone in their left hand, or in some other way such that their skin is touching the lower left corner of the device. It doesn’t seem universal though — I got mine two hours ago and can’t reproduce the problem, nor can the handful of iPhone 4-toting friends I’ve spoken to. But some people clearly have a problem here.

Jim Dalrymple theorizes that it’s moisture on the skin, and that perhaps the problem slipped through Apple’s testing process because so much of Apple’s off-campus testing took place with these phones wrapped in cases, so as to disguise them as iPhone 3G/3GS’s.