The stand is also made of metal and is quite heavy for its actual size, but I suspect the reason for this is to add weight so the iPad doesn’t topple over at any angle.

Up until now I’ve been using a Laptop desktop stand which has been pretty bulky but now I can just place this into my rucksack whenever I travel and be able to stand up the iPad without any worries of having it fall over or having to lay it on the desk each time and risk scratching the back.

The stand is made by Qubits and is available via Amazon for £18.99

This doesn’t bode well, especially seeing LG are also the screen supplier for the new iPhone 4. Let’s hope that Apple can still produce enough iPads even if it has to go to other suppliers for screens.

Personally I prefer the internal antenna option, what do you prefer?

Seeing that Apple had recently held the press conference regarding what Steve Jobs dubbed “AntennaGate”, Samsung decided to try and capitalize on this by cheekily changing the word hello into cellular signal bars.

For anyone that had their head buried in the sand for the last few weeks, they might not notice the irony of the advert.

For everyone that have seen the tech news and the Apple iPhone 4 antenna problems will instantly recognize this as Samsung taking shot at Apple.

Wise or not? Time I’ll tell…

You can see that the first two bars have been increased in size so it’s much more easier to read them. Along with that Apple also changed how many bars they show in the algorithm so with 4.0.1 applied most people will in hard to reach places now see less bars, e.g. 1 bar instead of maybe 3 to 4. Effectively iOS3 and iOS4 wasn’t telling the entire truth about how many true signal bars you have. The truth is dependent on the algorithm used to calculate the bars. That’s why sometimes you would see 3 or 4 bars but you couldn’t make a call or a call would be dropped.

HTC’s Droid Eris was arguably the most affected by the death grip, where apple showed the signal bars dropping to zero when held in a particular way. HTC shared it’s percentage of antenna complaints to help clear the air. Where as Apple claimed 0.55 percent of customers called AppleCare with reception related problems, HTC’s Eric Lin told Pocket-lint the Droid Eris technical support rate was 0.016 percent. That’s almost thirty four times lower, although HTC probably didn’t sell similar volumes within a three week period like Apple have.

Whether this was a wise move or not by Apple, they are definitely trying to show the world that this is a normal phenomena and showed a loss of signal to Nokia, RIM Blackberry and HTC phones depending on how you hold the phone in your hands.

By ousting both Nokia, RIM and HTC is one thing to try and deflect media attention, but by doing so you can be sure that both Nokia and RIM would come back with a lashing of words, and Nokia and RIM did just that…! No word yet from HTC who will probably want to stay under the radar at this point.

Nokia’s response was…
“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.

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.”

RIM’s response was…
“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.”

I should start out by saying that the HD2 can support HSDPA where the iPhone 3GS can only support 3G. That aside, here’s a comparison now in a low signal area comparing all three.

Left to right are the HTC HD2 (WinMobile), HTC Desire (Android) and iPhone 3GS (iOS4). Each of these are on the O2 UK network.

Click to see full image

Looking at all three devices above you’ll see all are showing 1 signal strength bar now. The iPhone 3GS is very closely showing what other devices are showing. So was the iPhone signal strength algorithm wrong? It looks like it had been, now fixed in iOS 4.0.1

Steve said that the iPhone 4 is not the only other phone that has the antenna problem. Many others do, and he did actually show the same thing happening on a Blackberry Bold 9700, HTC Droid Eris and Samsung Omnia II. That covers all of their main rival operating systems.

Steve said that Apple isn’t perfect and SmartPhones aren’t perfect either. Apple have been working on this problem since initial reports for the last 22 days. As of today AppleCare say that only 0.55% of 3 million iPhone 4 customers are experiencing a problem. To put that into figures, that’s 16,500 customers that claim to be affected according to Steve Jobs out of a possible 3,000,000 customers.

Steve also went on to add that the return rate comparison in the first month has been 1.7%. Compared to the same period for iPhone 3GS phones at 6%.

How many more calls per 100 calls has the iPhone dropped compared with the iPhone 3GS? <1! So this means there are a minutely small percentage increase on calls dropped, which is a little worrying bearing in mind that the antenna is external and not internal like on the 3GS. Steve also admits this, and says they want to investigate why this is happening.

Steve said that as of yesterday Apple released an iOS 4.0.1 update that corrects the algorithm on the status bars for signal strength and that this has been a problem since the 3G including 3GS and iPhone 4, so that’s now fixed.

For everyone that wants it, they can apply online next week at Apple.com for a FREE CASE. If customers have already purchased an Apple case, then they can apply for a refund on the case. Apple won’t be able to manufacture 3 million cases just like that, and more as weeks and months go on, so they will also source other suppliers cases to provide a range of free cases for the iPhone 4 until September 30th. At which date Apple will review whether to continue giving away free cases. The free case will mask the bridging of the antennas by your hand or fingers and temporarily resolve the problem.

What happens if you still experience a problem or are not satisfied? Simply put, Steve said Apple or the network operator will allow you to return the iPhone 4 for a full refund of your money in 30 days (providing it’s undamaged).

Steve also mentioned that they’re aware of a problem with the new proximity sensor and that Apple are working on it.

The continual message was that Apple loves their users and knows their users love Apple products and they will do everything possible to keep those users happy.

As I previously reported earlier today, I’ve seen the same kind of problems on the iPhone 3GS where the signal strength drops to nothing or drops a few bars depending on how you hold the phone. I’ve also had a lot of problems with friends and colleagues calling my iPhone 3GS on O2 network in the UK and getting voicemail yet the phone is on, it has 4 or 5 bars and I don’t receive the call. 10 mins later I’ll receive their voicemail. If I initiate the call and call them straight back (if they message me another way) then the call works fine. So we know there’s been inherent problems and I truly think this is also the same problem that a lot of Americans report with dropped calls on AT&T in the US. Ultimately I think there’s some kind of algorithm flaw that has the phone go into “block mode” where it’s not accepting inbound calls (or drops calls) like the processor is maxed out or something else has hiccuped momentarily on the phone.

What do you think? Do you have an iPhone 4 and have you seen this problem? Has it put you off from buying the iPhone 4? Have you returned the iPhone 4 yet?

Will Steve be the one giving the press conference?
Most likely, Steve has been the main spokesperson for Apple for the iPhone 4.  Although it would be good for Apple for Steve to not be engulfed by the media, there’s really no other Apple person that could deliver this kind of press conference at Apple, so it’s extremely likely that Steve Jobs will both be in attendance and giving the press conference.

Will Apple admit to a problem with the antenna?
Yes, Apple are most likely to admit there is a problem.  They’ll also say that there’s a problem with every phone that doesn’t have an external pull up antenna.

Will Apple name other companies that also experience the same problem?
Although it might reduce the flack from the media that Apple are receiving and to deflect the media onto other companies, it also wouldn’t be good PR to publicly put down another company, although I’m sure if Apple had the chance and though it worth they might try to put down HTC as they’re producing most of the Android phones.  It’s likely though that Apple will point the finger at all phones having an antenna problem, they might show some video clips or images of other phones but not publicly name the manufacturers.

Have Apple fixed it?
Apple will admit that they got the algorithm wrong on the signal bars on iOS4 and will say that yesterday they pushed out an update to correct this on all affected iPhone 4′s and any iPhone 3G and 3GS running iOS4, this update was iOS 4.0.1.  They may or may not stipulate that the software fix has helped to fix it, but Apple will most likely say that you will be able to tell much more easily if you are in a low signal area.

Will Apple apportion the blame to others?
Quite likely Apple will apportion the blame to others.  They may say that there are a lot of external sources that can affect signal strength, like the proximity to the local network tower and whether you have anything in your vicinity that is  blocking or rebounding cell phone signals.  Likewise whether you are in a high cell phone usage area.  They might actively name AT&T but I suspect they won’t and they will just hammer this as a possible additional cause that when you are in a low signal area and you hold the phone in a particular way then you might experience some problems in losing calls or making or receiving calls.

Will Apple try to reduce the media coverage to saying that this is affecting a small percentage of iPhone 4′s?
Quite likely, Apple might suggest that the first batch of iPhone 4′s did have a problem that they have corrected or enhanced, and a selective swap out based on a serial number range might commence.

Will Apple offer a full on product recall?
Simply put, No!   Apple will say they have sold in the region of 3-4 million iPhone 4′s to date, and have received only complaints from a small percentage, e.g. 2% of customers coming into their support.  Apple will say that if they were to issue a product recall then every phone manufacturer that creates phones without a pull up antenna should do the same thing, and that would simply be a crazy thing to do (You can just hear Steve Jobs saying this now!).  Apple may say though that if anyone is massively experiencing this problem then they may offer a refund on a case by case basis.

How will Apple PR turn this around?
Apple PR and Steve will most likely say they’ve shipped close to 4 million iPhone 4′s to date, the percentage of people experiencing this problem is 1-2% or lower, that most phones in the market today have a similar problem depending on how you hold the phone and will say this is normal.  They will say that this is being over-hyped by the  media (but more likely their competitors) who want to put the iPhone 4 down, that they did get the signal attenuation bars wrong and they have moved quickly to fix this.  They are also listening to the media and customer comments, but the iPhone 4 is a truly amazing and ground breaking device from a technology stand point and most of their customers have said what a great device it is.

What about the iPhone 3G/3GS?
Not forgetting the iPhone 3G/3GS does have similar problems. Many people have complained about dropped calls on these phones. I myself frequently receive MSN’s or text messages from people saying “I’m trying to call you but it’s going to voicemail” and I’m on O2 in the UK and when I check the signal bar strength on the 3GS I have 3 or 4 bars. This happens a lot on iOS3 and iOS4.

So is this really a problem?
Yes it’s a problem, but this is not new. This happens on all previous iPhone’s, dropped calls, no network due to signal bar loss. It’s something that has plagued the iPhone range for some time and will continue to do so.

• Improved WiFi connectivity
• Fixed an issue that could prevent copy and paste of single-page PDF attachments in Mail
• Addressed an issue that could cause video playback to freeze
• Improved reliability of video-out when using iPad Dock Connector to VGA Adapter
• Added Bing as an option for Safari’s search field

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPad WiFi
• iPad WiFi + 3G

• Improves the formula to determine how many bars of signal strength to display

Products compatible with this software update:

• iPhone 3G
• iPhone 3GS
• iPhone 4

For most people there’s no need to download this update unless you want to enlarge your iPhone signal bars at the top left of the device.  There are no additional fixes included in this update from Apple.

If you haven’t checked out social networking apps like Gowalla or Foursquare then you should. They give you a good indication of where you have visited (or checked in to) and you can trade items you pick up at locations where other people have dropped items and also drop items for others to pick up (all virtual of course).

If you do use Gowalla and Foursquare why not check out http://m.check.in which is a web app that allows you to check in to both Gowalla and Foursquare locations at the same time. The downside is that you can’t create new locations like you can in the native Gowalla and Foursquare apps. Likewise if Gowalla has a location but Foursquare doesn’t, you can’t then check into both but you could check into another place close by in Foursquare.