“Whether HTC, Motorola, Nokia or Samsung, the spin control reads the same, using near-identical talking points playbooks. They know all about antennas, and Apple doesn’t, and is thus responsible for the alleged faulty design of the iPhone 4,” Steinberg writes.
“However, I’ve yet to see any response that actually attempts to disprove Apple’s online demonstration showing how smartphones from RIM, HTC and Samsung react to various forms of death grips. In each case, Apple shows you exactly where the dead spot, or antenna, is located, and the physical position that will reliably cause signal attenuation,” Steinberg writes. “More to the point, there are loads of YouTube videos out there showing how to induce this very common phenomenon on a fair number of popular smartphones.”
Steinberg writes, “Worse, the manuals for a number of these products, such as those from Nokia and HTC, specifically warn customers against death grips. If you touch them in the wrong place, signal quality will degrade. How can they possibly claim with a straight face that the problem is primarily Apple’s when their own documentation and numerous demonstrations show precisely the reverse?”
Full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “jax44” for the heads up.]
Steinberg’s next paragraph, “The answer is, of course, that in this politically charged society, you really don’t have to produce evidence of anything. You just make the claim, such as the tragically pathetic and morbid one about so-called “Death Panels” during the debate on the health care bill in the U.S. Without getting into the endless emotional arguments about that topic, there were certainly legitimate criticisms to be offered without having to make things up.”
If a panel of government officials is tasked with determining who gets treatment and who doesn’t and someone dies prematurely as a result, then that is the very definition of a “Death Panel.”
That is what Sarah Palin meant by “Death Panels,” and when it begins to happen, I doubt the traditional media outlets will even report it, much less give Palin any credit for warning us.
This is nice. Days are coming that antenna will be greater. The whole industry is running for it now…
Soylent Green. At this rate, soon it won’t be just a movie anymore.
Bon Appétit!
I AM SHOCKED! (That anyone noticed their problem.)
God I hate when stuff gets political on MDN.
Attn. all iPhone users..
Class action lawsuit against all makers (except apple) for emotional distress and public humiliation!
If a panel of insurance company executives is tasked with determining who gets treatment and who doesn’t and someone dies prematurely as a result, then that is the very definition of a “Death Panel.”
So it’s not “when it begins to happen”, it’s now.
This might be a problem for all cell phones.
But not all cell phone companies have been build up by the media and put up on a pedestal like Apple has been.
The media likes to tear down that which they helped elevate.
They do it all time. Pump up then tear down. Good for ratings.
If you can’t win an argument on its merits, then the best remaining course is to discredit your opponent.
Lately, this rule is being played out everywhere you look…
@Jen,
That would be correct if the government instituted a single payer insurance system (Medicare for all), but the insurance corporations are still very much in charge of the health care system in America.
In fact the health care reform bill signed into law by Obama was largely conceived by Republicans as a “free market” alternative to single payer health care.
So the Death Panels might be in place for those who use America’s single payer systems (Medicare, Tricare, etc.) but for the rest of us we’ll only be susceptible to insurance company Death Panels as Zeke spelled out. We have a uniquely American system of health care that’s a partnership between business and government. I don’t foresee Sarah Palin’s vision of a much broader application of these Death Panels coming anytime soon.
“If a panel …”
So why replace a poor system with another poor system, especially the govt?
R2, thanks for a reasoned response to a potentially inflammatory observation. I salute you.
I am all for death panels.
Lets start with board members who steal corporate secrets for their own company.
@Jen
Your’s was a joke post wasn’t it? I mean, I really like to call out idiots and all, but nobody can be as stupid as you sound in your post and actually mean it!!!
Nobody who seriously considers themselves to be rational Americans actually believes tripe like you’re spewing. And what in the hell does it have to do with the topic at hand?
No shortage of idiots!
MDN, stuff like Jen’s post is what needs to be moderated. There is nothing political about this article, and yet here we have a blatant political comment that has nothing to do with the article. I’m all for free speech, but I’m also for keeping the conversation on topic.
And before anyone singles me out as a “libtard” trying to silence the conservative voice, I’ll tell you that I am, in fact, a conservative, as most of my comments on the politically charged articles will prove.
@hoffbegone
“So why replace a poor system with another poor system, especially the govt?”
One possible answer – because insurance company executives can’t be held accountable by voters, but elected officials can.
What were we talking about again? Oh yeah, I’m shocked, shocked I tell you, that cellphone makers have been caught lying about Apple.
@Zeke
You can sue insurance companies.
Try suing the government and see how far you get.
@Deus Ex Technica
I hate ad hominem attacks. I try to amend that to say “prove your opponent wrong,” for if your opponent is wrong, it makes you correct. Only slightly different, but at least something is being proven.
PS – Love your username.
They can’t because they know there phones are no better!
@EvangelizeWithRespect
Government health care will not be run by elected officials, but by typical bureaucratic personnel like every other government agency.
Think DMV.
I’d like to refudiate that comment from Jen.
@MDN
Stop giving all this BS antennagate crap airtime and move on to some (potentially) real news. Your just contributing to the continuing spin! Sheesh
@Jen
A coworker in her early 60’s was denied colon screening from her private health insurance company a few years back and could not afford to pay on her own. She died months later of colon cancer.
Health Insurance companies have a track record of denying treatment. Palin and her ilk just love to deflect the real issue and play to the ignorance of the voting public and scare people. And yes both politcal sides do that, but you mentioned her specifically.
Anyway…Mr Steinberg is correct in his assesement of the iPhone situation.
@leodavinci,
What government health care would that be, Leo? As I said, the health insurance corporations aren’t going anywhere. In fact they’re looking healthier than ever, the markets have only rewarded the signing of the health care law by investing in those companies. The Obama administration has placed a heavier regulated hand over them, but they’re also about to get a surge in money from new customers care of the mandate (another part of the plan originally constructed in the 90’s by conservatives as an alternative to single payer health care).
You and your ilk paint this impending scene of government health care as if the insurance corps are lining up to declare bankruptcy. They took a big hand in shaping the legislation and now their lobbyists are working to shape the final regulations. Again, it is a partnership between government and business, one that a large portion of Obama’s base isn’t even happy with (they’d prefer your prediction of a complete government takeover come to fruition).
MrMcLargeHuge,
I quoted exactly from the article. Maybe you should read it before spouting off nonsense.