Those who have managed to get themselves Apple’s latest iPhone 4 release are finding themselves unimpressed with it when it comes to reception.  The antenna on the device is a metal strip around the edge of the phone which sounded good in theory, but isn’t working out as well as planned.

Apparently when a user holds that part of the phone, as most people do, it blocks the antenna’s reception capabilities and as one user said makes it “useless in its current state”.  There have been numerous complaints of the glitch being posted on blogs, personal websites, forums and even news sites.

Apple’s answer?  Basically, they are telling users to hold it differently.

“Gripping any mobile phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas,” said an Apple spokesman in a statement given to Bloomberg.  “If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of the many available cases.”

The major flaw in this answer is that many are wondering why Apple wouldn’t have put a little more thought into how a user typically holds the phone, before locating the antenna on the bottom.

While the flaw in design doesn’t seem to be stemming the flow of sales, it does raise concern with many considering the difficulty that partner AT&T has been experiencing with consistent service coverage.

Users are expressing disappointment over Apple’s apparent lack of concern over the reception issue, however.  One long time Apple fan  told Bloomberg he thought it was awful that Apple CEO Steve Jobs “has this kind of attitude” towards his customers.

Geoff Livingston / Flickr

A new battleground has emerged in the technology war: Application development. It is no secret that mobile applications are the hottest ticket right now and two giants in the tech world are fighting for control of the lion’s share of the market.

Google, with its Android OS, and Apple, with the iOS, are trading punches in an effort to gain favor among the developers of the mobile based applications. A recent survey has Google slightly ahead as more than 2700 developers believe that Android OS has the greatest potential for long term usage.

However, 40% of those surveyed by Appcelerator said that iOS was going to be the long term operating system. The field is narrow according to most of the sources close to this new war and there is no clear cut winner in sight.

One thing that Google has, according to experts, is brand recognition. People know that Android is a Google product and the company has a long standing tradition in a leader of all things tech. While it is true that they went off script for the entrance into the mobile operating system world, few believe it to be a mistake.

Furthermore, the name Android appeals to the target audience, the young crowd from 16 to 25 years old. Some believe that the branding of the Google OS may be the ticket to winning this war.

Apple is far from down and out though. They are preparing for the launch of Iphone 4 which will run on the iOS platform. Apple is counting on the increased power and functionality of the Iphone 4 combined with the iOS system to win the hearts of developers and users the world over.

Still the battle is far from over. With more than 60,000 applications available the Android system is a tough competitor in the market. Google is adding more than 100,000 users on a daily basis and is in place to take the top spot in the mobile OS market in the coming years.

Kyro / Wiki Commons

The day has finally arrived. WWDC 2010 began today, and Steve Jobs made the much anticipated announcement for the debut of the Apple iPhone 4.

That’s right. The new phone, previously speculated to be called the iPhone HD or 4G, is officially labeled the “iPhone 4.” The creativity and general news-like information didn’t end there.

If you didn’t hear or read about the commotion surrounding Gizmodo’s leak of a “secret” iPhone someone just happened to leave unattended in a bar, then most of the details Jobs shared with the public today might come as a surprise to you.

The phone does have a 5 megapixel camera on both sides, with the one on the back now sporting a “flash” feature. The phone is capable of shooting HD-quality video at 720p, something that Motorola recently announced would be a feature on their upcoming Droid Xtreme.

The display gets a major upgrade over its predecessor, the iPhone 3GS. If you thought the 3G or 3GS already had a fantastic display, you won’t have any gripes with 4. The phone will rock a 960 x 640 display on a 3.5-inch display. This is unprecedented territory for cellular phones in general. But then again, so was the original iPhone.

326 pixels per inch backed by Apple’s new A4 processor chip. The max storage will remain at 32 GB, but the battery life is promised to be much better with a larger battery, according to Jobs. The Apple CEO anticipates a 40% increase in talk-time over the 3GS.

The phone will ship with iOS 4, the new operating system for iPhones. There is still no word on when the new software will be made available to the public.

Kyro / Wiki Commons

It has been announced by Apple that Steve Jobs, CEO of the company will emcee the yearly Worldwide Developers Conference keynote which will be held in San Francisco on June 7.

Keeping in his own style of conducting e-mail marketing on a one to one basis for his company which is reported to be a $43 billion dollar revenue company, Steve Jobs personally advertised the conference in the same way.

This conference is attracting more attention than usual because Apple has used this as a resource for announcing the newest versions of iPhone for two years running.

It was thought that this year’s surprise may have been ruined when Gizmodo let news of the fourth generation iPhone prototype slip. Jobs however said in an e-mail exchange that he still has enough of a surprise in store to capture the attention of the people.

“I hope you have some good WWDC announcements to blow [Google] out of the water,” a customer wrote to Jobs on Saturday.

“You won’t be disappointed,” the CEO responded, according to a report published on MacRumors.com.

The five day keynote address will take place in the Moscone West conference center. This WWDC conference will include hands on sessions to allow developers to get acquainted with the new iPhone OS 4 and Mac OS X.

Apple is also expected to provide more details on the new generation mobile operating system the iPhone OS 4. This phone introduces multitasking support and has the ability to sort applications into folders among other things.

This WWDC 2010 even sold out all of its 5,000 available seats in only eight days. The goal of the event is to recruit developers supporting the new Apple products and properly educate them on how to use them. This makes it easier to demonstrate the phone’s ability to potential consumers.

William Hook / flickr.com

On the heels of possibly losing their exclusivity deal with Apple’s popular iPhone–thus giving Verizon entry into the market—AT&T has announced that they have significantly increased their fees for smart phone holders who choose to opt out of their contracts early.

AT&T declined to suggest that this change in policy is directly related to the upcoming expiration of their deal with Apple, but the timing may raise some flags.

Smart phone early cancellation fees will jump from $175 under AT&T to a hefty maximum of $325. This change will not apply to current contract holders as their agreements have already been signed. Instead, the fee increase will go into effect for all contracts signed on or after June 1, 2010.

In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel quipped that “AT&T’s smart phone ETF (Early Termination Fee) is, at $325, still less expensive than Verizon’s smart phone ETF, at $350.”

Granted, the hike in fees does not apply to absolutely everyone under the AT&T sun. In fact, if you are not a smart phone user, your fees may actually decrease to $150. Of course, that is only if you re-up on your contract. For now, if you already have a contract with this provider, your fee is still $175 (individual cases may vary based on length of time remaining on customer’s contract).

As many consumers will point out, whether or not AT&T’s fees stack up well against Verizon is not what resonates most with this announcement. It’s that this is yet another example of major cell phone services’ ability to prevent you from moving freely to another carrier.

Early Termination Fees have become a particular point of interest for the Federal Communications Commission lately. Whether or not the FCC will comment on AT&T’s announcement remains to be seen.