iPhone 4

[Boyiee]

Black or white?

I like the white, but I'm afraid it's going to get incredibly dirty incredibly easy.

My white 3G never changed color at all, and remember the iphone4 is glass front and back. Shouldn't pick up any color/dirt. I'm absolutely getting a white iphone4, love my white 3g.

[Gabai]

preorders start the 15th. If you preorder that same day I'd guess you will get it a day or two after the 24th.

Hard to say since it'll be the first time they do preorders like this.

[Boyiee]

Thats why I'm picking mine up in store, day of release plz.

[Reality]

i have a feeling at&t or apples site (whichever one is doing the preordering) will be similar to when i tried buying tickets to the 2005 world series on ticketmaster.com

good luck trying to not time out during your order

[bluefan]

So the durability of the phone may be in question now:

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/19141/1/

[GRT]

this is the first time they do preorders? o.O

i wanna preorder for instore pickup, but i won't be able to get to the store until after work, something like 6~7pm, and i'm afraid that it could run out or something? or maybe i'd be stuck in a long ass line

[Clipse]

Planning to put in my pre-order at a RadioShack near work on Tuesday. Hopefully it won't be as packed as an Apple/AT&T store on launch day...

[Gabai]

You will be able to preorder through apple/att website or stores and in any case be delivered to the store or your house. If you preorder to a store once it is delivered it cannot be sold to someone else.

[TheTaru]

So the durability of the phone may be in question now:

http://www.fudzilla.com/content/view/19141/1/

Seems fishy to me. From what I've experienced, the 3g is *extremely* durable. I've dropped it(from higher than 3.5 feet, though not onto concrete or something), I've thrown it against a wall, punched it multiple times, etc. It doesn't have a scratch on it really, and functions just fine 99% of the time. If 4g is even more durable, I'm not seeing how dropping it 3.5 feet would make it shatter like that(even if it was just a hollow shell).

Really looking forward to upgrading. Love the new design and the better/two-way camera(and obviously all the other shit). Not sure which color I'm going to get, the white face looks kind of weird to me.

[Boyiee]

I've dropped 3G onto my asphalt driveway several times and the glass screen isn't even scratched. The corners of my phone are all scratched and nicked.

[Blabj]

Not sure if this has been mentioned, but one of the top UK carriers for the iPhone 4 (O2) has just announced they're scrapping their unlimited data use plans on all smartphone contracts, and charging extra for more bandwidth - and penalties for going over. Sounds remarkably similar to a certain American carrier...

In short, I'm majorly pissed. I have Wifi at home and at work but that's not the point, what if I want to stream some music to listen to whilst on the train into work, what if I want to show someone a funny video on youtube while chillin' in a park, or download the next must have app while sitting in a pub. 500meg isn't going to last long at all.

[DAKPluto]

Just get an Otterbox Defender case for your phone. I could drop my 3G from 10 feet and not worry.

But I'm completely planning on going 32G in white.

BTW, when they did preorders on the 3GS, they were shipped to arrive at your doorstep on the release date. (Some people even lucked out and got the day before release, but couldn't active yet.) Preorders of iPad worked the same way.

[Omniyoji]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/news/20...4g-drivers.ars

By Glenn Fleishman | Last updated June 10, 2010 5:30 PM

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h.../misc/pic1.jpg

"Ladies and gentleman, put down your MiFis, and step away from your laptops, or there's going to be trouble."

Apple's CEO didn't actually utter these words during his demonstration of the iPhone 4's higher-density screen at the Worldwide Developer's Conference (WWDC) on Monday. But the seeming failure of the iPhone 4 to access an Apple Wi-Fi network caused a stir.

Jobs said from stage, and an Apple engineer later told InfoWorldp, that over 500 WiFi networks were in operation. Not 500 WiFi adapters or connections—in an audience of 5,000, there could have been thousands—but 500 distinct networks.

Most of these networks were apparently generated by people using a MiFi, a cellular gateway from Novatel Wireless, sold by Verizon Wireless and Sprint Nextel, which relays 3G networks over WiFi.

However, after examining the video from the event and discussing it with two veteran WiFi gurus, it seems almost certain that the MiFi was only part of the problem. A flaw in the pre-release iPhone 4 iOS was clearly another element. Apple's public relations confirmed receipt of a request for comment, but none was forthcoming.

That's not to say that having hundreds of WiFi base stations doesn't cause trouble. In fact, the iPhone 4's putative driver problem likely arose from the multitude of network signals. But neither the ocean of signals nor the iPhone 4's performance can be looked at entirely in isolation.

Checking the replay

Let's take a close look at the video, which shows an iPhone 3GS on the left and an iPhone 4 on the right. What's confusing in watching the video at first is that Apple had a backup set of devices cued up and ready to go. Steve Jobs' backstage folks switch between the first set of phones and a second, and then back to the first during the first part of the referenced clip.

Here's the replay in slow-motion:

0:06: The iPhone 3GS has mostly loaded the New York Times, but the iPhone 4 displays just a title bar, and no content on the page. A WiFi icon is in the iPhone 4's status bar at the top.

0:17: Jobs brings up the backup set of devices, and the backup iPhone 4 is on 3G (switch to 720p in YouTube to see that more distinctly).

0:21: You can see the 3G indicator clearly on screen here on the backup iPhone 4.

0:28: The iPhone 4 can't acquire a 3G connection, which isn't surprising given the indoor location and thousands of AT&T devices in the audience. The audience laughs, and a wag suggests Jobs try Verizon.

0:47: The demo screen fades subtly back to the original pair of devices, in which the WiFi icon is shown on the iPhone 4, but it still has not retrieved the page.

0:59: Jobs presses the Home button, then relaunches Safari, and a WiFi icon is clearly visible, but the page doesn't load.

1:10: The page finally starts to load, but Jobs gives up and moves on.

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h.../misc/pic2.jpg

So what happened here? I spoke to two people with a long career in wireless networking: Phil Belanger and Phil Kearney. Belanger's name is on the 802.11b spec and he helped pick the brand name WiFi, while Kearney headed up Apple's networking group (including AirPort) from 2002 to late 2008.

Neither was present at the keynote, but after seeing the video and discussing what appeared to happen, both agreed separately that the iPhone 4 was having trouble. Belanger said, "It seems more like there's something funky with the iPhone software." Kearney said, "My experience in the wireless space leads me to believe that there may be a bug in the firmware or the driver for the WiFi chip in the iPhone 4." (Kearney and his group provided advice for the iPhone and iPod touch engineers, and he consulted with Apple's WiFi chipmaker on the chip in question.)

Ten years of testing WiFi devices led me to the same conclusion. I'm the tester companies both like and hate: I've found hundreds of problems with adapters and drivers, which companies have (usually) fixed after I've reported them. This includes a number of issues uncovered with Apple's AirPort products. I'm used to analyzing and diagnosing WiFi oddities.

How did the two Phils and I make this supposition? Let's start with what seemed to be the problem initially, too many WiFi networks.

Mobile Hotspots Proliferate

The MiFi was the first truly mobile and widespread deployment of a mobile hotspot. It's a battery-powered, shirt-pocket-sized device that picks up a 3G network and shares that access over WiFi with up to five other computers or gadgets.

While there were several similar gateways available before the MiFi, it was the first to combine portability with direct carrier resale to a mass audience. The MiFi requires a two-year contract and is free from Sprint or $100 from Verizon, with a $60-per-month contract plus five cents per MB for usage above 5 GB each month.

The MiFi defined the category of "mobile hotspot." Before the MiFi, 3G-based mobile hotspots were typically limited to either tethering (using a cell phone as a kind of modem via a USB "tether" or through a Bluetooth modem profile), or using a 3G modem plugged into a laptop with Internet sharing enabled over the laptop's WiFi card. Tethering is fine, but limited; 3G modem sharing is awkward.

A mobile hotspot creates an access point (AP) in precisely the same way as a dedicated WiFi router. This includes having a unique BSSID (Basic Service Set Identifier), which is like a MAC address for a base station, and an SSID (Service Set Identifier), the human-readable name that's presented by software that lets you connect.

Now, we're going to see massive numbers of mobile hotspots in the near future as phones supplant and supplement MiFis. The Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus offered the feature months ago, although Verizon is the only U.S. carrier to support it. And the just-out Sprint HTC Evo 4G, also includes this service, although it's only enabled over WiMax networks right now, and Sprint will charge $30 per month for use (over 3G or 4G) starting in July.

What will really open up the floodgates, though, is Android 2.2, which includes a mobile hotspot feature in the basic operating system setup. Carriers may choose to disable or charge for this option, but it will set up a very different expectation from phones.

Oddly enough, the iPhone 4 doesn't include a mobile hotspot option. iPhone OS 3 allowed tethering, which some carriers (not AT&T) enabled for a fee. The iOS 4 release will bring with it AT&T tethered support, but not WiFi-based sharing of a connection.

Contention in the Air

What makes the MiFi and other mobile hotspots into a congestion problem? After all, thousands of base stations can also work in concert—as at colleges, corporations, and large outdoor deployments like that of Cablevision—where centralized management varies elements such as power output and channel choice.

That's because a set of WiFi adapters connecting to a network of base stations that expose themselves as the same network (or set of networks with virtual SSIDs) don't contend for access. The adapters use a variety of techniques to share the available spectrum slice (a channel) allotted to their communications, with the base station acting as a mediator.

The problem with huge numbers of uncoordinated base stations is that each is trying to carve out its own use, and each (along with associated devices) has to be only mildly respectful of all other WiFi gear in the same and even adjacent channels.

Without base station coordination, each network takes a hit because it doesn't know precisely when a device on another network will start broadcasting. Get enough of those, and every device is backing off from talking, because it's overlapping with someone else.

Phil Belanger explained, "Rather than interference, it's just congestion. It's not a foreign signal, it's well known; all the clients can decode there's something going on."

Adjacent channels produce a slightly different problem. The 2.4 GHz band, the only one in which current MiFi models and other mobile hotspots work, has just 11 legal and fully supported channels in the United States. Other countries have slightly more or fewer.

These 2.4 GHz channels center power in the middle of a roughly 20 MHz range, but are offset by 5 MHz. That is, channel 2 is only 5 MHz higher in the band than channel 1, overlapping most of the signal. Channels 1, 6, and 11 are considered mostly clear of each other, but no WiFi base station is required to use only those channels.

With enough devices, some possibly set manually to certain channels and others automatically trying to find the least-used channel, traffic at the conference center was likely spread across the entire band. WiFi devices interact differently with signals on adjacent channels, handling interaction more poorly than signals on the same channel.

The big difference between a MiFi or similar device and a dedicated WiFi router is that the mobile hotspot uses much less power by design and necessity. Because devices are designed to operate from a battery and serve small groups, the signal need only be strong enough to reach a short distance, while being weak enough to keep the battery alive for a useful period of time.

In the Moscone convention center where the WWDC keynote took place, most of the devices broadcasting were likely too weak to see each other, even if Apple's engineers could pick up the signals using devices with a higher receive sensitivity.

However, Apple was also running public and private WiFi networks, which would broadcast at far higher power, thus interfering with mobile hotspots, as well as capturing signals from them.

Remarkably, all of this congestion should simply slow WiFi networking without keeping it from working altogether. A lot of air time is wasted bowing and retreating, but eventually conversation on each network takes place.

Belanger said, "It is my professional opinion that having that many WiFi networks would cause congestion, and the visible, noticeable experience a user would have is that whatever they were trying to do would run slower."

http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h.../misc/pic3.jpg

Charlotte Rubin, the senior director public relations at MiFi's maker, Novatel Wireless, said, "We haven't heard about any people who haven't connected via their own WiFi solution who have had issues other than, yes, it wasn't as fast as usual because they were sharing bandwidth with an awful lot of people."

Rubin was surprisingly candid for someone speaking on behalf of a firm making a portable hotspot, and she admitted that the company sees congestion at "every trade show we go to." But, as she points out, "That's the nature of WiFi and the WiFi spectrum; we see this as a very simple issue, it's the nature of interference."

People on the ground at WWDC confirmed that they were able to get their own connections in the keynote, or use their MiFis or other devices, despite the on-stage difficulties.

In sessions, however, congestion did get overwhelming. Mac and iPhone OS developer Craig Hockenberry of Iconfactory said via email that it was nearly impossible to use the public WiFi networks Apple had set up in session rooms because of all the mobile hotspots in use. He noted that one person in frustration set up a network called "TURN OFF YOUR F___KING MIFI!!!"

Of course, if you tried to use the public WiFi and couldn't get a consistent connection, and you had a MiFi or Android 2.2 phone, you'd turn it on. Which would make it harder for everyone else to make a connection, leading those who could to turn their mobile hotspots on. And the vicious cycle perpetuates itself.

The iPhone 4's Potential Driver Flaw

Let's circle back around to the beginning now. The video seems to reveal a flaw in the iPhone 4's ability to function in a congestion environment over WiFi.

The salient points:

* Both of the iPhone 3GS models used in the demo were able to access the WiFi network and were in close proximity to the two iPhone 4s (the original and backup units).
* The first iPhone 4 was apparently able to connect to a WiFi network, but was unable to load the page after several attempts.
* The backup iPhone 4 was unable to get onto the WiFi network at all, or was perhaps (inconceivably) not configured to join a WiFi network.
* The iPhone 4 uses an 802.11n chip in 2.4GHz, which is different than the iPad's 802.11n radio (which works in 2.4 and 5GHz), and from the previous models of iPhone which only included 802.11g support. An 802.11n radio should have performed far better than the 802.11g radio in the iPhone 3GS. (It's worth noting the many reports of WiFi network problems with the initial iPads, too. Apple hasn't yet released an update promised in a support note on the company's site.)
* The in-house network engineer who does WiFi for Apple's events has many, many years in the field, and is known for his technical savvy. Unless Apple changed the way it sets up its event networks, the WWDC environment wasn't set up by an outsourced IT firm; rather, it would've been set up by a team that would be prepared for a challenging radio frequency situation.

Phil Kearney said, "My experience in the wireless space leads me to believe that there may be a bug in the firmware or the driver for the WiFi chip in the iPhone 4." Belanger said of what he saw of the iPhone 4 in the video, "The failure mode was different" than what typically happens with congestion or a connection problem, like "there's something funky like having that many SSIDs."

Kearney and Belanger are in a position to offer remote diagnosis of what happened. Both have been working to develop WiFi and wireless networking products for over 15 years. Belanger is a veteran of Aironet, Wayport, Vivato, and BelAir; he's now a principal at Novarum, an outdoor WiFi, 3G, and 4G measurement and testing firm.

Before Kearney headed up Apple's networking division for seven years, he worked at InterCon, Ascend, Lucent, and Agere (each firm acquired by the next). His current company creates mobile application platforms for smartphones. Kearney was Apple's point person in developing specs with its WiFi chip vendor for the radio circuits used in the 3GS, iPad, and iPhone 4, as well.

I can imagine that there are teams of engineers working around the clock to duplicate the problem that happened in the keynote. If the analysis of what happened is correct, and a bug is found, Apple would also be checking to see how likely most users were to encounter it.

If the bug only manifests in situations with hundreds of base stations, then Apple might wait and fold the fix into a 4.0.1 update. If there is a bug that's readily triggered, however, there will be a mad dash to re-flash devices in the production stream.

The Future

Even if a bug triggered Jobs' keynote kerfuffle, we are all likely to encounter more of this kind of congestion in the future.

One way out is heavier use of the 5GHz band in public places and at events. I don't know whether or not Apple's public network used 5GHz or only 2.4GHz at the keynote, but one can imagine that we'll see more 5 GHz in play.

Most laptops with built-in 802.11n sold in the last three years support either 2.4 or 5GHz networking. The 5 GHz band provides eight generally available channels in the U.S. that are at 20 MHz intervals, providing very little overlap on the edges. (Another 13 channels are available but not widely used for reasons too complicated to explain here.)

While the iPhone, iPod touch, and all smartphones I'm aware of are stuck in the 2.4GHz band, that's perfectly fine if all the laptops and iPads are trucking away in 5GHz.

Belanger said that this is already a trend in controlled environments. "Everywhere that we control in our homes and in our enterprises, all the good stuff is going to go to 5 GHz, and maybe 2.4 will be the handset band," he said.

Apple's simultaneous dual-band AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule, for instance, provide service in both bands at once; Apple's competitors make similar (cheaper) equipment. Apple also has Mac OS X and iPhone OS 3.2 on the iPad switch to 5GHz preferentially when there's a strong signal with the same network name as a 2.4GHz network.

It won't just be WiFi that's tied up, however. Kearney notes, "If you go to a small geographic area with a very high concentration of iPhone users, they can saturate the 3G spectrum in that area just as well as the 2.4GHz WiFi spectrum was saturated during the WWDC keynote."

Kearney said that there's a huge ongoing effort by the wireless industry to "get hold of new spectra, both licensed and unlicensed." This includes 60 GHz, which is already allocated and which several groups are working to exploit, and the "white spaces" of unused television spectrum in each market that major electronics and computer makers are trying to get freed up for networking use.

AT&T and Verizon spent billions to acquire large expanses in the 700MHz band, formerly used for UHF television, which will now be home to next-generation (4G) cellular service starting as early as late 2010 for Verizon Wireless.

None of that makes an immediate impact on our ability to get a network connection when we're in dense public places with tons of competing uses. Perhaps better messaging from firms that hold events to promote the use of a reliable WiFi network, coupled with more extensive deployment of 5GHz base stations will turn the tide.

But don't blame it all on the MiFi or the mobile hotspot. Blame it on the prisoner's dilemma. When everyone wants a piece of the action, and doesn't know what everyone else's choice is—as is the case in an uncoordinated WiFi environment—people may opt for the expedient (the MiFi) instead of the beneficial shared medium.

Figured I'd post if you guys haven't seen it. Other people that were there said it just wasn't on the phone but on their laptops as well "The wireless was shitty". Thoughts?

Also here's a funny pic of the MiFis & the video so you don't tab out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znxQOPFg2mo http://i253.photobucket.com/albums/h...sc/lastpic.png

[jmc]

So, don't know if im late to the party..... but there is a little on-going list of where you can preorder a iphone 4.

Apple Stores/Apple.com
Radioshack
Walmart (Just announced)
Corporate At&t stores.

You can preorder the phone on the 15th at these stores, for a release on the 24th.

Bestbuy has announced, they will have the iphone on the 24th....... but have not announced anything about pre-orders as of yet though.

Happy hunting!

[Neosutra]

What about through ATT? Can we pre-order through ATT.com?

[Gabai]

Starting June 15, new and existing AT&T customers can preorder iPhone 4 at www.att.com/iphone (business customers go here... https://www.wireless.att.com/business/) or at any AT&T store for home delivery on launch day.

[Katlan]

All i know is you can preorder through apple, get it on the 25/26th, and have it alrdy activated for u pre-shipping = win

[fren.]

Thank god, Walmart/BestBuy are within walking distance.

[Gabai]

This may or may not be relevant to most people here but if you are wanting multiple iPhones there are some restrictions (remember my info is at&t so I don't know if this will be true through Apple or other sources)

1. Only 1 iPhone per new line being added to account.
2. For upgrades you can get one iPhone per active/current line.
3. For buying without a contract, only 1 iPhone per person per visit, does not require activation.

[Neosutra]

All i know is you can preorder through apple, get it on the 25/26th, and have it alrdy activated for u pre-shipping = win

But can you get your ATT upgrade discounts this way?