Apple loves their customers so much that they’re giving away Bumpers to all iPhone 4 owners. Know who else loves Apple’s customers? Fusion of Ideas, which is why they’re giving away free (plus shipping) Stealth Armor side pieces to all iPhone 4 owners. Know who else loves Apple’s customers? Appletell, which is why we—in cooperation with Fusion of Ideas—are giving away three Stealth Armor skins for iPhone 4.
From the Fusion of Ideas website:
StealthArmor is the ultimate solution to protect your new Apple iPhone 4 in style. Made from industrial grade material originally designed for racecars, StealthArmor protects, shields and covers your iPhone 4 from scratches, dings and short drops. Our unique solution uses a thin layer of damage-resistant film to protect your iPhone 4 without the bulk of traditional cases. The same material is used for our custom corner and side bezel pieces, which offer maximum full-body protection for your iPhone 4.
We recently reviewed the Stealth Armor for iPhone 3G and iPad, and came away quite impressed. These are well made, durable skins that don’t detract from the iPhone’s design. And they’re thin enough to fit inside some additional third-party cases, should you want added protection from drops.
To enter to win one of three Stealth Armor for iPhone 4 skins, just follow these three easy steps:
- Read the Fusion of Ideas Stealth Armor for iPhone 4 contest rules. Note that the contest is, unfortunately, open only to residents of the United States and Canada.
- Make sure you’re registered with Appletell and logged in (if you’re not registered and logged in, your entry will be void).
- Leave us a comment below on this page (not on the contest rules page) telling us how you feel about the whole “Antennagate” issue. Did Apple screw up, or is the whole thing being blown out of proportion?
- Note that the prize awarded may not match the design pictured above.
Entries will be accepted from July 19th through July 25th, 2010. The winners will be randomly selected from all qualified entries, and will be notified by e-mail by August 1st. Good luck!
Oh, and don’t forget to order your Stealth Armor side pieces for iPhone 4 (you only pay $1.50 for shipping); no need to wait for Apple to make the bumpers and other cases available. See the full product details and order information.
Product [iPhone 4 Stealth Armor]
I do not think it was blown out of proportion. I think it took long enough to come up with a solution, that does not fix the actual reception. I am completely satisfied with my iPhone 4 though. All the other great designs and new features it has makes up for not being able to touch a certain area. It is still the best phone available to date, even though it's not jailbroken yet.
blown completely out of proportion
it's a great phone…you don't want it return it…so more people can have one that want it
Here's how I see it. When Apple was struggling, no one cared. Now that Apple is the preeminent Consumer Technology provider, they are ripe for criticism. They initially screwed up by offering up the famous "don't hold it that way" response but after analyzing the situation they did what they had to do. Give away free cases. Great phone and the case has stopped the death grip issue.
In my opinion , I careless about the Antennagate issue because I don't actually own an iPhone 4. My girlfriend owns one and I would just like to enter the contest to see if I can win an skin to put on her phone.
I actually can appreciate Apple more now that their flaws have surfaced. They seemed pretentious and distant to their customers, putting out sleek stylish overpriced tech that deserved the high price tag because they said so. Messing up is human and in this instance makes Apple more approachable, more acceptable and more relatable. I never would have thought of Apple as giving away free stuff, and now here they are offering their over-priced "rubberband" bumpers! It's amazing. I bet they will pay more attention to detail from now on. It's win-win.
It was Steve Jobs' fault
If he hadn't answered with a flippant "don't hold it that way" there wouldn't have been an "antennagate". To paraphrase a reporter's question to Bill Clinton, "You know they're gunning for you, why provide them with ammunition?"
I think with 18 PHD's working on the antenna design this simple common-sense type of problem should have never left the prototype room. The "Antennagate issue" is a true indication that Apple is starting to "byte" off more than it can chew. To many products released to fast and to frequently updated has resulted in huge mistakes/let-downs reaching the consumers "deathgrips".
With the iPad let-down, iPhone 4 mistakes, and even after Steve Jobs tried to sweep the obvious problems under the rug, I am still a loyal Apple fan, but will now show a little more caution before leaping at the newest Apple toy to be revealed from the shop.
On a side note something slightly ignored is the amount of time and effort that obviously went into the new iOS. This really complicates things for Apple, especially considering all the platforms (itouch, ipad, iphone 3gs, iphone4) that have to cross support the massive amount of Apps out there that are not designed for Multitasking. I would imagine that the iOS took a lot of attention and might have been a huge factor in Apple missing some obvious mistakes.
Just my two cents
Its funny how we put Apple on a platform of greatness and expect perfection and yet other companies that we rely on just as much fail us all the time but we are so numb to it that we excuse them with a "well what do you expect its ……" I am 100% happy with my Iphone. but on the other side of the coin i wish Apple would loosen the grip on making money off everything and putting that over the customers happiness. All Apple's self made apps should be free Imovie should have been shipped on the Iphone 4… it came on my Macbook. MobileMe should be free or at least cheaper then $100 annually. The Bumber should have been in my Iphone box this whole thing would have been avoided if they werent so greedy to make 27 extra dollars on a plastic protector.
Apple screwed up. It was not right for them to blame name other specific phone models in order to justify their position. They should've taken responsibility and left it at that instead of iniviting even more criticism by blaming other specific phone models of having the same issues and affecting their sales as well.
Apple screwed up. It was not right for them to blame name other specific phone models in order to justify their position. They should’ve taken responsibility and left it at that instead of iniviting even more criticism by blaming other specific phone models of having the same issues and affecting their sales as well.
The cost/availability of apple branded accessories (or even non-branded) was way too high cost and way tooo little availability. I've tried two cases so far – the first rolled up the edges of my screen protector. I'm now have a ifrogz but feel it doesn't provide good protection. I'll look into these armor skins
Leslie
May I posit a theory of what's going on? I have no inside information that this is, in fact, what is happening, but it seems to me to be the most plausible theory.
Let me state first that it is a complete impossibility that Apple's engineers "didn't realize" there was a problem with the design. These aren't blind morons throwing together a bunch of parts and saying, "Let's see if this works, guys!" These are some of the best engineers and industrial designers on the planet. First, every design they create is based ON THEORY. They don't just build something and then test it to see if it works. But more importantly, every design coming out of their lab goes through iteration after iteration after iteration after iteration after iteration, each prototype being subjected to rigorous testing IN THE LAB, before even being brought into the field for testing. You can even see this for yourself with the leaked prototype iPhone 4's (which were all extremely late-stage prototypes), which bore the markings "EVT" and "DVT," standing for "Engineering Verification Test" and "Design Verification Test," respectively. Believe me when I say that design-wise, nothing this glaring "slips through" testing
That being said, it IS conceivable that Apple made a conscious decision to prioritize form of over function as I have seen them do a few times in the past (albeit for much smaller considerations than the one at issue). However, I sincerely doubt that that is the case, since much of the known evidence contradicts this blind assumption. Everyone is focusing on this being an inherent issue in the design of the phone, but what I find to be a much more likely explanation is that it is not so much an issue with design as it is with manufacturing. The fact that there have been at least several documented cases of iPhone 4's that don't seem to exhibit the problem suggests this theory to be true, especially since the number of apparently positive cases will always be substantially inflated, given that it's the users WITH the problem who are much more likely to report back than those without it.
Now, it is conceivable that the differences in results among users are due to other variables like location and that the problem would surface among "unaffected" users if those users were to test it in a different environment. But I highly doubt that Apple, or any company for that matter, would deliberately release a product that it knew to suffer a defect in design so severe as to cripple the central functionality of the device–especially since they could, it seems from the preliminary evidence, have maintained the aesthetic appeal of the device and still avoided the issue by more fully insulating the two antennae from each other. Much more likely, in my opinion, is the following:
Apple realized very early on in the manufacturing process that they had a problem (back when they first started ramping up production to significant quantities in early to mid-May). They immediately rectified the issue from there on out, but they then faced a choice: They could either take the iPhones they had already manufactured off the supply line, eat the cost, and, most crucially, delay the launch and suffer a PR disaster; or they could let the defective models come to market.
Apple's being Apple, they would have been extraordinarily reluctant ever to publicly acknowledge there was an issue, so instead, they thought the problem through and came up with a way they could maintain the launch date and mitigate the cost, in profit loss and PR, that they would have to eat due to recalling the defective devices: Quickly rush to market a set of colorful Apple-endorsed iPhone cases that JUST cover the conductive surfaces of the phone. The backstory for the launching of the cases gains some credulity because Apple happened to have already launched a case for the iPad, so Steve could casually mention in the keynote that "We did it for the iPad. We thought we'd try our hand at it for the iPhone." Case manufacturing ramp-up time is likely MUCH faster than the time it takes to ramp up iPhone production, so they could quickly rush the cases to market. Give it a clever name, include it in the keynote, and a substantial number of customers are likely to buy the bumper and never notice that their bought-at-launch iPhones are defective.
For those customers who do experience a problem, replace their phone no questions asked. But those customers who return it are likely to be a small subset of the whole launch day purchaser population, saving Apple substantial amounts of money and, more importantly, PR problems. Never publicly admit there's a problem, maintain the launch date, and preserve Apple's "untarnished" image. After a month or so, the iPhones subjected to the revised manufacturing process would hit the market, people would start experiencing the problem in much lower quantities, and the problem would quickly fizzle away to nothing, only to be vaguely remembered in the annals of Apple product launch history.
I actually think it is a rather interesting and creative–if not completely responsible–way of handling the issue. And it seems to me to be the most likely theory of what's going on. I'll reserve further judgment until we see how this pans out. Until then, let us all watch with bated breath.
ApplePie, that is a good, nay, excellent theory.
Apple's history speaks to it being a fine company. If we as its customers have assumed infallibility, that is our delusion. It seems incredible in retrospect that consumer testing did not reveal this problem. Once Applegate surfaced, a more immediate disclosure of culpability and public announcement of demotion or firing of a responsible party would have gone miles in maintaining the polish on the big Apple. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. The lack of consumer returns speaks to the iPhone 4G's superiority to its rivals. Apple and the 4G will survive, as will we fervent loyalists.
I've had ZERO antenna issues. I have yet to drop a call with my iPhone 4. Even putting a finger on the antenna doesn't cause me to lose data or drop a call. Would *love* to win this Steal Armor prize!
Ooof. Or, STEALTH Armor. Sheesh. So much for my copy editing "skillz." LOL
I think it's probably somewhere in the middle – not a major issue but not a minor one. That I can reproduce the problem and drop signal proves (to me at least) that it's not overblown, but since it's fixed by a case shows it's not a show-stopper nor "antennagate" like everyone in the media seems to be saying. Am I disappointed that it doesn't work correctly? Yes. Do I hate apple because of this? No. Did Apple screw up? Probably – no company is infallible and Apple is the same. Once people get over the fact that it's _just_ a company that makes nice products, that [yes] will have a few faults – get over it and move on…in fact I waited a few weeks for things like this to crop up, and purchased the phone even after knowing about the antenna issue. Just my $0.02….
Anyways hoping the stealtharmor does work to alleviate the signal issue somewhat. Those that get one – please provide update on how it looks/works….
As the Apple posted and many other user videos show, this is an industry wide problem. I still think Apple stock is on the rise.
I feel that the Antennagate ordeal has been blown way out of proportion. Steve said it, the iPhone 4 drops LESS than one more call out of 100. And they're giving everyone free cases to make up for it. They took ownership of the supposed flaw in their design and are providing a reasonable remedy to the problem. Yes, they should have tested more to see if this was an issue, but every company makes mistakes. If it was any company less successful than Apple do you really think anyone would notice or care? The Kin has bellyflopped so badly, and yet I hear so much about the iPhone 4 and its awful reception problems, but nothing of the Kin and it's serious design flaws in both hardware and software.
I think apple made a mistake and also think that everyone is over doing it. Just because it's apple, I remember when the motorola razor v3 was the top seller. They had a recall due to internal antenna issues. But they never made a big deal like they are with apple. Every business isn't perfect and do make mistakes. And will do everything they can to fix it. At least apple is doing something right away not like motorola who waited over a year to have a nation recall with all cell phone providers.