Hurray iPhone 4! Oh wait...

Note: I'll admit that I've been far from kind to Apple in more personal conversations with people I know with regards to this whole thing, so I'll try and be nicer and more fair here. That is the better thing to do, after all.

There's actually a decent chance that not many of you have heard about this whole situation in general, but here's a quick bullet-point summary:

• New iPhone 4 is released, looks very nice and performs nicely and sells a whopping 1.7ish million units in the first three days
• People begin to notice their signal degrades severely, especially when the phone is held in their left hand
• Problem is traced to the bottom-left corner of the phone where there is a gap between the two antennas that can be bridged by touching that area of the phone
• People complain, a few class-action lawsuits filed
• Steve Jobs tells people: You're holding it wrong, hold the phone differently (not verbatim)
• Apple at first denies the problem, refuses to "appease" (their word choice, not mine) the horde customers with free $30 "bumpers" which were conveniently released along with the phone which covers the antenna and eliminates any and all issues with reception and the antenna
• Tests run by Anandtech show that the phone does show significant signal attenuation, but the phone does indeed perform better then previous iPhones and also that covering the antenna does fix all issues
• More complaining, more evidence mounts against the antenna design and other stuff
• Apple continues to be silent, but then announces a software update that should display the signal strength more accurately, however they neglect to mention that the update still won't fix the issue of the actual signal degrading when the antennas are bridged via human touch. No worries though, not all people were silly enough to blindly believe Apple had magically found a way to fix the problem.
• In fact, Apple hasn't fixed the problem and may not for the foreseeable future, see below

From Gizmodo's article "AppleCare: The iPhone 4 Update won't Solve the Antenna Problem":

We called AppleCare three times today to confirm it. We told them that we were experiencing voice quality problems and call drops, as well as problems with internet access. Their response was immediate and unequivocal, the same in the three cases:

• There is an antenna interference problem when you hold the iPhone 4 in a certain way (the tests by Anandtech and many demonstration videos in the internet show that the signal drop will happen every time when you touch the phone's dead spot, on the left bottom corner).

• One solution is to hold the phone differently, avoiding to touch the left bottom corner of the phone (coincidentally, this is how models hold the iPhone 4 in most of Apple's promotional material).

• The other other solution is to buy a case or one of Apple's $30 bumpers (we are hosting a petition to ask Apple for free cases. You can sign it here).

• The incoming software update will not fix this antenna problem, only change the way the phone displays the available signal, make it more accurate.

There you go everyone. Straight from AppleCare reps themselves. Having the antenna on the outside of the phone does cause issues with reception and the software update won't fix the update and was never meant to (big "duh" on that one). Their response to the situation, as it was initially, is still "tough luck, deal with it, and hold the phone differently".

Figures.

I'm not as upset about the actual design of the phone as I am at Apple's handling of the situation. Hell, I actually like this phone. The design is admittedly very slick, it has good hardware and the interface is nice. However, if a company won't back their product and help their customers and would rather refuse to "appease" (their word choice, not mine) the horde - I mean - its customers by offering them the simplest solution, a free bumper (which I think is way overpriced at $30) or SOMETHING, then it just makes the experience with the product worse in the end because you realize that the company that made it seems to care more about its own image and the product image than the people who paid for it and therefore contributed to the company's livelihood in the end.

So, there ya have it. If you have an iPhone 4, Apple doesn't want you to just enjoy it, they want you to deal with it. Good phone, but it has an unfortunate case of "two steps forward, one step backward". At least there's a net gain in progress, right?

Apple's politics and the way it deals with these kinds of situations is pretty obnoxious. Their products are good, but their PR is far from matching the quality of the company's products. It'll be tough for some to swallow, but Apple seems to no longer be fighting Big Brother, they are now more like Big Brother itself today (Jon Stewart brilliantly pointed this out earlier this year and I pretty much stand where he does: I'll admit that I like the products now, but really, what's going on, Apple?). That's an entirely different conversation that I won't get into. Just think about it though.

This all makes for a more convincing argument to switch over to an Android OS phone further down the line, especially since the newer offerings simply kick a whole hell of a lot of ass. Who knows though, some Android phone maker may drop a bomb of a defect in some phone, but I'd at least have more options to go to aside from just one from Apple.

For now though, I'll enjoy my iPhone 4 - and deal with it because aside from the handling of the whole situation with this product, it is a pretty good piece of kit (Otterbox, please hurry up and release your cases for it!).

I'd just like to add that I don't mean to bash the actual iPhone 4 and I especially mean no offense to the people who bought it with their hard-earned cash. It is a legitimately cool product and serves its purpose really well. The issue that I have with this whole thing is Apple's handling of the situation (and some other things in general), not so much the actual product.

I realize that Apple has its reasons for operating the way it does, but I choose to respectfully disagree with their practices and offer my opinions. There are thousands of other write-ups about how others disagree with Apple's business practices, but I won't go any further into that here. As it would also be unfair to single Apple out on this one, it should also be noted that Apple is certainly not the only company to handle things as such. Also, to its credit, Apple is offering to waive the restocking fee for now for those who are unsatisfied with the iPhone 4. So there ya have it. We'll see where things go from here I guess.

Toyota has a long uphill journey from here.

All right, for those of you who know me, you'll be quick to point out that I am not a particular fan of Toyota because I find their cars to be rather mundane to drive and that a lot of their drivers on the road tend to be rather, well, slow. I will not deny this, but I should also mention that I am a performance-minded gearhead, so of course Toyotas won't appeal to me. I otherwise consider Toyotas to be a good option for transportation, as long as you don't hope to get there in a spirited manner. Granted, that "good option" is facing some serious issues right now.

This isn't usually the kind of stuff I'd write about, but I figured this was too big to ignore.

Take a look at the following articles:
-NHTSA: Toyota legally obligated to halt sales
-GM Woos Fearful Toyota Owners With New Round of Incentives

For those of you who aren't aware of the situation, Toyota has been in the spotlight in automotive news because of the recent-ish discovery of an issue with regards to stuck accelerator pedals/throttles. Naturally, such an issue is very dangerous. In fact, there have been more than a few reported cases of deaths because of the problem.

Consider this:

You're driving on the interstate and suddenly your Toyota Camry's accelerator pedal gets stuck and the next thing you know, you're going over 100. What do you do? You can't hit the brakes because with the car going so fast and the engine still getting gas from the stuck accelerator, you'll only roast your brakes. Maybe turn the key and shut off the engine? Unlikely, because some newer Toyotas have push-button start systems. You can turn off the engine though by holding down the button for three seconds or so. The problem there is that if you're going 100 MPH, you'll also travel approximately 440 feet in the 3 seconds it takes for the engine to shut off. That's an awfully long distance to be traveling that speed. Let's also not forget the distance required to stop the car if you're going that fast.

I believe putting the car in neutral and hitting the brakes may be a solution, but I've heard that some newer Toyotas do NOT have physical linkage between the gear selector and transmission. This means that the transmission is told what to do via electronic signals based on the selected setting via the gear selector. This doesn't sound too bad, however as a safety feature to prevent people from grenading their engines, it was also programmed such that if the gear shift lever were moved to neutral while the car was accelerating, the command would be ignored so that the engine would not rev freely (to say, redline) for extended periods of time which would of course, destroy the engine. If you ask me, I'd rather have the engine be toast than crash into something at ridiculous speeds. Better to lose the engine than the entire car and potentially some lives. And anyway, isn't that what fuel cuts/rev limiters are for? To stop the engine from over-revving? Granted, damage will still be done, but fuel cuts/rev limiters definitely stop the damage from being done too quickly.

So, as you can imagine, this is a pretty big problem for Toyota drivers, other cars on the road with the faulty Toyotas, and of course, Toyota.

Anyway, with this in the spotlight, Toyota initially blamed the problem on faulty floormats that would somehow accidentally be moved over the gas pedals and hold them down. The NHTSA called Toyota on their bluff as the floormats were basically a quick excuse for a big problem that seriously needed fixing. If anything though, it did work to stall things as Toyota was likely working on a real solution at the time. That recall for the floormats involved around 3.8 million vehicles. Definitely a HUGE recall.

Fast forward a bit, and the true problem has been found. It was indeed the design of the gas pedals that was the problem. Apparently gas pedals produced from supplier CTS Corp. in Elkhart, Indiana were faulty in design whereas the interchangeable part from Japan-based Densco is just fine. CTS Corp. is only in the picture because it is cheaper to get the parts from them for U.S.-produced Toyotas. This means that JDM-produced (Japanese Domestic Market) Toyotas and Lexuses (Lexii?) are not going to have the stuck accelerator pedal issue. With the problem found and the solution at hand though, Toyota is having problems finding a way to procure enough gas pedals to fix all of the cars from Densco and CTS Corp. alone. They'll no doubt have find other suppliers to help meet the extra demand for parts to fix the problem.

That said, Toyota has had to issue a stop-sale on all affected vehicles as well as suspend production in their factories so that they can fix/replace the required parts. This now brings the total number of affected vehicles to a staggering 6.6 million (approx.).

Toyota now finds itself in a PR shitstorm as well as in a deep hole trying to find a way to get enough fixed pedals to remedy the issue in their cars that are on the road, on dealer lots, in storage, and yet-to-be-produced in their factories. Even car rental companies find themselves with some problems as they've removed their Toyota rental vehicles from their fleets for the time being.

Is this perhaps because Toyota grew too big too fast? Maybe. Can you blame them though for wanting to be so big and to sell so many cars? Not really. It's business after all, right? I just hope Toyota and other automakers have learned something from this. Cars will always have their problems, but it's best to own up to those issues right away and not try to excuse the issue initially as something smaller than it really is because now Toyota's reputation for reliability is not only hurt, but also their trustworthiness. By initially blaming the problem on floor mats and now suddenly saying the issue is something else, they've basically lied. At least they don't seem to be lying this time when they say the issue is with the gas pedal itself. To lie about something that has actually resulted in death for some people will usually be perceived negatively by the public. Just a hunch, you know.

At least one other car company is taking advantage of the situation though. GM is going to offer special rebates and finance rates for people looking to buy a GM vehicle as long as those potential buyers can prove that they own or are leasing a Toyota. Interesting, to say the least. I've yet to read or hear anything about other car makers offering similar incentives. I'd bet money though that they are thinking about it.

Toyota has been the poster child for reliable, safe vehicles for a while now, but they have now fallen far from where they were even just half a year ago. This will no doubt deal a huge blow to their reputation and of course, sales. I wish them the best and good luck in fixing the problem as well as recovering from this fiasco.

EDIT:

Toyota's woes have grown as they've added more vehicles to the recall:

http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/27/autos/toyota_recall_expanded/

In all, effected vehicles are:

2008-2010 Highlander

2009-2010 Corolla

2009-2010 Venza

2009-2010 Matrix

2009-2010 Pontiac Vibe.

"General Motors' Pontiac car is included in the recall because the Vibe and Toyota's Matrix are similar vehicles that were produced under a partnership between the two companies." (From the article)

Vehicles from the original recall:

2007-2010 Toyota Camry

2005-2010 Avalon

2004-2009 Prius

2010 Tacoma

2007-2010 Tundra

2007-2010 Lexus ES350

2006-2010 IS250 and IS350.