Would you look at that, Verizon’s iPhone 4 has four notches punctuating its external antenna array — one more than you may find on AT&T’s version, with the top notch migrating to the side. Before you all jump on conspiracy theories about fixes and such, Tim Cook has just confirmed on stage that changes had to be made to work on the CDMA network, meaning that for users this is pretty much an aesthetic alteration. Otherwise, you’re looking at an almost identical device to what AT&T users have been enjoying since June of last year — savvy nerds will just be able to tell the CDMA version apart at one glance.
Embedding an antenna in the external body of a phone? Maybe not such a good idea. Hiding it behind the logo sounds a little more practical, and that’s the idea Apple wrote up in a patent application dated June 17th, 2009, back before we knew antennas and gates could be so wickedly conjoined. That was also before we knew about the iPad, which seems to have one of these so-called “logo antennas” within it, as found when iFixit did their dirty thing. The same can be said for iMacs, which also have antennas peering through an apple-shaped hole to avoid any reception issues caused by an aluminum chassis. It looks to be a good solution, but not exactly a novel one. In roaming around the USPTO archives we found a similar 2003 patent from Dell also called “Logo Antenna,” the big difference being that while Apple’s logo forms a window for the antenna the logo in Dell’s patent actually is the antenna.
Apple engineers are always hard at work trying to better their hardware, trying to find every route possible to make it more interesting, usable, and effective. While “Antennagate” may have thrown a wrench in a lot of people’s planning and hard work, and caused an antenna-related campaign of which no one had seen before, it also meant that those same engineers were already hard at work on a fix right after the launch of the latest generation iPhone. And, if a recent patent application is any indicator to the fact, they may have found a potential fix for the whole situation: hiding it behind the logo.
Apple is calling it the “logo antenna,” and it’s right where you think it is. The patent (which, as mentioned above, is an application at this point) is clear in pointing out that the logo antenna isn’t just for an iPhone, either. As you can see in the image above, they make it very clear that they could put the same technology into their laptop line-up, or “telephonic” MacBooks. Patently Apple points out that this is the third time Apple has patented a telephonic MacBook, and suggests that this is an obvious trend, which Apple is focusing on for a reason. It’s also not surprising that Apple is already planning on using this same technology, if not better variations of it, and putting the logo antenna in even smaller devices, like something you can wear.
According to PA, the new technology could use a housing that is machined from an aluminum block –or other metals– that service as conductive sidewalls. The housing could then be used to hold wiring, displays, and other integrated circuits. The hope is that the new logo antenna will allow the device to “gain a stronger signal without intervening metal or other conductive housing walls interfering.” It’s not a secret that as our gadgets get smaller and thinner, it is becoming more difficult for engineers to put antennas into them. But this new design, with that aforementioned conductive housing, or “conductive antenna cavity,” could mean a huge transition in antenna technology.
Oh boy. We’d actually passed over reports that the HTC HD7 suffers from a “death grip” issue this past week, since we think it’s been well-proven that you can get almost any phone to drop some signal if you hold it exactly right, but apparently the furor’s gotten loud enough to merit an official HTC response. Here’s the statement, sent to Computer Weekly:
Quality in industrial design is of key importance to HTC. To ensure the best possible signal strength, antennas are placed in the area least likely to be covered by a person’s face or hands while the phone is in use. However, it is inevitable that a phone’s signal strength will weaken a little when covered in its entirety by a user’s palm or fingers. We test all of our phones extensively and are confident that under normal circumstances reception strength and performance will be more than sufficient for the operation of the phone when network coverage is also adequate.
Yes, that sounds almost exactly like what Apple said during its iPhone 4 Antennagate press conference, but that makes sense — we wouldn’t honestly expect HTC to say anything else, even though John Gruber points out that the company told the Wall Street Journal that Apple’s reception problems were “certainly not common” in July. But we do find it extremely interesting that the HD7 is clearly based on the HTC HD2, a handset which came out over a year ago and suffered from reports of similar reception issues. (In fact, a post at xda-developers in June noted that the HD2 has the same death grip issue as the iPhone 4.) Whatever the case, much of the problem seems to stem from the fact that the HD2 / HD7 antenna is located at the bottom of the phone where it’s most likely to be covered by a user’s hand, so it looks like the ultimate answer for HD7 owners is a familiar one: you’re holding it wrong. Video after the break.
NEW YORK, USA (AVING) — Elgato announced its new network tuner for free-to-view satellite TV, ‘EyeTV Netstream Sat’, which streams the signal, live and in HD, from a satellite dish to any computer in the house.
It connects to your existing satellite feed and sends the TV signal through your router. If you have a Wi-Fi Network, even iPads can access standard definition channels from EyeTV Netstream Sat. This direct connection between the network tuner and an iOS4 device requires iOS 4.2 and the new version of the EyeTV app, (version 1.2, available in the App Store).
This EyeTV app feature also works with the hugely successful DVB-T version of the network tuner, EyeTV Netstream DTT. EyeTV Netstream Sat ships on November 22 at a price of 199,95 …
Adding near-field communications (NFC) to a mobile device isn’t just a case of slotting in another chip – you also have to have the accompanying length of antenna if you want it to work. Considering modern cellphones can have upwards of ten antennas – to deal with various GSM and UMTS bands, WiFi and more – we’re glad to see Pulse Engineering thinking ahead; their new NFC antenna piggy-backs on top of a pentaband GSM antenna.
That adds up to a minimal footprint inside the device; manufacturers will obviously have to find room for the NFC chip itself, but as we’ve seen with devices like the iPhone 4, and the problems the Apple smartphone has had, squeezing in a well-performing antenna can actually be the trickiest engineering issue.
This first so-called NFC Stamp Antenna supports the Euro-friendly 850, 900, 1800, 1900 GSM/EDGE bands together with 2100 WCDMA, though we’d imagine they’ll be making a North American version as well.
TOKYO, Japan (AVING Special Report on ‘CEATEC 2010′) — *Visual Talks is a visual news that broadcasts selected parts of the 55 exhibition halls of Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association’s member corporations at the field, from ‘CEATEC 2010′, introducing products?technologies with high interest from customers or those that are newly introduced, based on images.
(picture description: Maspro exhibition hall, a corporation specializing in digital broadcast receiving antenna for households and automobiles)
(digial broadcast receiving antenna in micky mouse form)
(flat-type digial broadcast receiving antenna SKY WALLIE in wall attaching form, for households)
We know, half of you aren’t even going to read past the headline before you start angrily banging away about Apple’s admitted antenna gaff and the still-not-totally-fixed proximity sensor, but we’re urging you to look deeper. Think harder. Critique your criticisms. In all seriousness, Apple’s iPhone 4 garnered more attention (negative or otherwise) than any other phone released this calendar year, and for good reason — in fact, Apple itself had to hold an emergency press event just to announce what could’ve been announced in a PR blast: everyone’s getting a free case. That said, Cupertino has still managed to move millions of units in just a few months, and that demand doesn’t seem to be dropping off at any significant rate. If you’re one of the lucky (or unlucky) ones that have managed to procure Apple’s latest iPhone, we’re overly anxious to hear your thoughts on changing it. How would you have addressed the antenna issue? Would you have preferred a less drastic departure from the 3GS form factor? Would you have offered more colors than white and black? Thrown in Bluetooth 3.0 for kicks? Go ahead, the floor’s yours — just don’t abuse it, cool?
You can decide whether or not this falls into the whole “ironic” category. But, according to a tip we just received, it looks like Research In Motion, the house that built BlackBerry, is currently testing devices with external antennas. An external antenna is one of the most notable features of Apple’s iPhone 4, for both good and bad reasons, and that’s why this bit of news may be some of the most confusing tips we’ve ever received.
While an external antenna may not be the worst idea in the history of antenna ideas, it hasn’t necessarily worked out so well for Apple. Since the launch of the latest version of the iPhone, there have been plenty of complaints. So many, in fact, that a term was coined: antennagate. If you remember, to help people understand the situation, Steve Jobs came out on stage at an Apple event, and explained what was happening. It took a turn when he subsequently threw every other phone manufacturer under the bus, saying their own phones suffered from the same “death grip” that the iPhone 4 did.
RIM, obviously, had a response. And, it’s no secret that RIM is also one of the best radio manufacturers out there. Their BlackBerry devices aren’t known for having terrible connection problems, at least. So it’s definitely interesting to see this image, with a black band and a hole to showcase the antenna, popping up around Waterloo (where RIM is stationed). While the tipster can’t divulge any additional information, the picture speaks for itself. Can RIM create an external antenna that works well enough not to draw any discomfort or complaints from owners? Only time will tell.
There’s still a debate about an iPhone launching on Verizon’s network some time next year. Some believe that it will launch as early as January, while analysts believe that it will be some time later in the first quarter of 2011. And, while rumors of Verizon obtaining the legendary Apple manufactured have popped up and died down over the years, there’s something about next year that definitely feels . . . Different. But, with the recent plague of “antennagate” issues swarming Apple since the launch of the iPhone 4, there’s been one question on people’s minds. If Verizon does get the iPhone, will Apple fix the antenna? In one expert’s eyes, that’s not going to happen.
Spencer Webb is the president of AntennaSys, with at least a dozen patents to his name, and he’s also an antenna engineer. He was one of the names out there that claimed Apple’s redesigned antenna was both “bold” and “risky,” but he also says that the design of the antenna is architecturally fixed, and therefore Apple should see no reason to fix it. He also points out that any fix that Apple would want to do would take time, and would fly in the face of the company’s tried-and-true method of sticking with one design for their phone for a period of years, not months. The expectation is that Apple is going to keep this antenna design, this general phone design, for the years to come, until a heavy redesign (as we saw between the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4) happens again, years from now.
According to Webb, there is also no easy fix for the current antenna’s “issues.” As he puts it, “There’s no coating that’s thick enough to make a difference.” Furthermore, the Bumper (and free cases that Apple is (still) handing out), does the trick to remove the “lossy conductor, the human” from the phone, and therefore stop hindering the antenna. At this point, it’s no secret that plenty of people out there (Verizon customers and non-customers alike) are waiting for the iPhone to show up on the largest wireless carrier in the United States. Howevere, with all of these antenna issues still on the public’s mind, would a launch in January with the same architecutre hinder your purchase? Do you think Apple needs to fix the issue before a Verizon launch can happen?
