This is Apple’s $100 million state-of-the-art antenna test lab. It has 17 different antenna characterization chambers (or anechoic chambers) for measuring antenna performance.

Our anechoic chambers are connected to sophisticated equipment that simulates cellular base stations, Wi-Fi networks, Bluetooth devices — even GPS satellites. These chambers measure performance in free space, in the presence of materials simulating human tissue (“phantom” heads and hands, for example), and in use by human subjects. Over a one- to two-year development cycle, Apple engineers spend thousands of hours performing antenna and wireless testing in the lab.

Apple has also published several new pages on its website explaining smartphone antennas, including pages showing off the company’s antenna design and test lab. There’s a video of the lab here.

And here’s some more pictures:

Steve Jobs’ press conference this morning tried to address two problems: reception and perception.

He failed on both counts.

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The iPhone 4 press conference offered some new (and unexpected?) declarations from Steve Jobs, including “Phones aren’t perfect. It’s a challenge for the entire industry” and “The iPhone 4 went through all of these tests. We KNEW that if you held it in a certain way, the bars would go down.”

After a presser that lasted nearly an hour and a half  and the promise to give free bumper cases, what’s your impression of how Apple handled the “antennagate” issue?

Vote and let us know your reasons in the comments below.

Asked if he has learned anything from Antennagate, Steve Jobs’ response basically boils down to one thing: haters gonna hate.

” I guess it’s just human nature, when you see someone get successful you just want to tear it down,” said Jobs.

“Look at everything they’ve created. Would you prefer we’re Korean companies? Do you not like the fact that we’re an American company leading the world right here?”

Am I reading that right? Did Jobs just say that people shouldn’t criticize Apple as much as other companies because they are Americans? Yeesh.

Luckily he followed it with a better argument:

“I look at this and think wow. Apple has been around 30 years. Haven’t we earned the credibility and trust that we’re going to take care of our users?”

“Of course we’re human, of course we’ll make mistakes,” admits Jobs. “But sometimes I feel that in search of eyeballs for these web sites, people don’t care about what they leave in their wake.”

Like dipped Apple stock value, perhaps?

“We weren’t just innocents in this. But the reaction has been so overblown.”

Jobs ended his answer with a plea. “Help us out here.”

[image, quotes via GDGT]

Answering a question about whether or not Apple will refund users who already bought an iPhone 4 case, Jobs candidly explained what should be obvious: Apple’s secrecy about new products is all about not tipping people off that they should wait for a new product before they buy.

“We’re not going to refund the 3rd party cases — it’s a very small number because we didn’t sell as many cases because we didn’t share the phone design with case manufacturers in advance of launch. But now we kind of wish there were more cases out there!” Jobs laughs.

“It’s really simple why: when people find out about your new product, they stop buying your old products. Sometimes websites buy stolen prototypes and put ‘em on the web, and we don’t care for that. But if we give the designs to case makers, they have a history of putting them up on the web as well.”

“The case vendors haven’t had a history of helping us through that. It’s a conundrum,” admits Jobs. ” We’ll consider things on a case by case basis.” Groan.

In a Q&A after the iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference, Steve Jobs says that Apple is happy with the antenna design of the iPhone 4 and they won’t be redesigning it.

“We’re happy with the antenna design of iPhone 4… it’s better than 3gs in every way,” says Jobs. “Looking at the data, we don’t think we have a problem.”

Instead, he blames Apple accidentally painting a bullseye on the iPhone 4’s antenna design. “If we were to fault the iPhone 4, it’s that we waved a red flag in front of the bull by putting a “grip me here” mark on the iPhone 4,” by which he means the black lines marking the separation between antennas.

Steve Jobs is closing up the iPhone 4 Antenna Press Conference by re-asserting Apple’s love and commitment to its users.

“We love our users,” Jobs said. “We try very hard to surprise and delight them, and work our asses off doing it. But we have a blast doing it. What motivates us is for ours users to love our products and connect them with great apps and content.”

“When we fall short, we try harder,” Jobs says. “And when we succeed our users reward us by staying loyal. That’s what drives us. And when we have problems like this and people are criticizing us, we take it personally. Maybe we shouldn’t, but we do.”

“At the end of the day, we think we’ve gotten to the heart of the problem, and the heart is that smartphones have weak spots,” claims Jobs.

“But the data supports the fact that the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone in the world. There is no ‘Antennagate.’ There is simply a challenge for the entire smartphone industry to improve its antenna performance to where there’s no weak spots.”

We close out another week of deals with something for everyone. Out top deals include “Tower Madness HD,” a 3D tower defense strategy game for the iPad — and it’s free. Next up is a web site tool for the Mac, allowing you to add photo albums and other content to your site. Lastly, is the iFrogz hard case for the iPhone 3 and iPhone 3GS.

Along the way, we’ll check out other items, including a charger for your iphone or iPad, as well as the Logitech Pure-Fi dock. As usual, details on all of these bargains (and more) are available at CoM’s “Daily Deals” page right after the jump.

Now that Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna Fix is out of the bag — free cases, software update — Jobs is closing up the conference by covering some miscellaneous issues.

First, Jobs knows there’s a proximity sensor issue with the iPhone 4, and there will be software fix coming sometime soon.

Apple hasn’t forgotten the white iPhone 4 either. It’ll be shipping at the end of July.

Also coming at the end of July (specifically, July 30th?) The iPhone 4 will be rolled out to 17 more countries.

After laying all the data groundwork, Jobs has just announced what they will be doing about the iPhone 4 reception issues… perceived or no.

First of all, they just released iOS 4.0.1 which changes the signal display algorithm yesterday.

Second, free casesfor everyone: the bumpers solve the death grip issue, so now everyone will get one free of charge for every iPhone 4 through September 30th. In September, they’ll re-examine the issue and see if they have a better idea.

Apple will be mailing out the cases themselves, but since they can’t make enough bumpers themselves, they’ll be mailing out a selection of cases, some third-party.

Interested? You can apply for a free case next week. Pick your own case and they’ll mail it off.

Finally, still unhappy with the iPhone 4? You can still bring it back for any reason within 30 days for a full refund, no 10% restocking fee charged.

The comparisons between the iPhone 4 and the iPhone 3GS aren’t all good though, Jobs has just admitted.

According to Jobs, the iPhone 4 definitely drops more calls than the 3GS. However, he insists this is still less than one dropped call per hundred.

What’s Jobs’ theory about this? He says it’s because 80% of 3GS customers accompanied their purchase with a case, while only 20% of iPhone 4 customers do.

Maybe you should have been quicker to get those bumpers out there then, Apple. Here come the freebies, I bet.

So what’s the extent of consumer dissatisfaction with the iPhone 4? According to Jobs, it’s minimal.

“We have some really interesting data from AppleCare, we looked at the statistics, we asked what’s the percentage of all iPhone 4 users that have called AppleCare about the antenna or reception, or anything near reception problems. Because you would have thought ‘Jeez, it must be a lot of users complaining about this'”

“So what percentage have called AppleCare?” asks Jobs. ” 0.55% Just one half of one percent.”

AT&T confirms Apple’s findings, saying that their return rate is just one-third of what it was for the 3GS.

One take-away Steve Jobs wants us all to know is that Apple’s serious about antenna.

How serious? They have a state of the art antenna testing facility, with 17 anechoic chambers. It’s a $100MM investment, and employes 18 PhD scientists and engineers working in reception.

In these reception chambers, which as Leander notes, look straight out of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil, Apple noticed the death grip issue… but found it acceptable, since it is prevalent in the smartphone industry.

Steve Jobs has just argued that all phones have a problem with the death grip. But he still says Apple is culpable of making a mistake.

“We went to a lot of trouble to put this beautiful line in the stainless steel band,” Jobs said, pointing to the iPhone 4 antenna. “This was to say, ‘Here’s where you touch it everbody!'”

“The problem is we had incorrect bars, so when it did drop the drop looked far more catastrophic.”

“We screwed up on our algorithm,” Jobs admits.

“To fix this, we decided to put the correct algorithm into iOS 4.0.1. Your bars will still drop in a death grip, but all smartphones seems to do that.”

[image via Engadget]

According to Jobs, the perception of an iPhone 4 problem is real.

“We’ve been getting reports of people having issues with the antenna system when they touch this spot here, “Jobs said, pointing at the “Death Grip” spot.

“We only heard about this 22 days ago. It’s not like we’ve had our heads in the sand about it for months.”

“We’ve been working on it, and no we want to share what we’ve learned.”

“First of all, “Jobs said, “It’s not unique to the iPhone 4. You can go on YouTube and see videos of other phones doing the same thing.”

To prove the point, Jobs demos videos of the Blackberry, the Samsung Omnia 2 and HTC Droid Eris dropping bars. The Droid Eris video is particularly severe: it shows the Eris dropping from four bars down to zero over the course of a minute.

“This is life in the smartphone world,” says Jobs. “Phones aren’t perfect. We’re all doing the best we can.”

In case Apple’s humility in this isn’t apparent, the slide backing up Jobs’ words says “We’re not perfect.”

Steve Jobs has just taken the stage at Apple’s iPhone 4 Antenna press conference.

“We’re not perfect,” Jobs starts off by saying, “And phones aren’t perfect either, but we want to make all of our users happy. We love making them happy. We’re going to talk about how we’re going to do that today. But first, let’s talk about the data we’ve got. Is the iPhone 4 making consumers happy?”

Jobs says it is. He says it’s been judged the number one smartphone by numerous publications, and has sold over 3M in three weeks.

People are clearly happy with the iPhone 4 as a device. Jobs’ evidence is compelling. It’s the phone and reception problems that need some work. Next up: Jobs explains the problem.

Apple has just kicked off a press conference responding to the much publicized iPhone 4 reception problems and the so-called “Grip of Death,” but to start things out, a dose of humor… they are now playing the iPhone Antenna Song to the collected audience.

Does this mean Apple thinks the iPhone 4 antenna issues are a joke, or just trying to lighten the proceedings? My money’s on the latter. Good start, Apple!

Over at Infoworld, Galen Gruman has written a blistering critique of Microsoft’s forthcoming attempt to fight back against Apple’s iPhone in the mobile market, Windows Phone 7.

Gruman attended a detailed demo by Microsoft representatives, and left feeling “appalled, flummoxed, and stupefied.”

Windows Phone 7 is a disaster in the making, Gruman says. Worse than that: it’s a pig. A lump of coal. It’s awkward. Unsophisticated. It’s outdated and hamstrung. It’s a clay pigeon. Those aren’t my summarized versions of what Gruman wrote, they are the actual words used.

With all of the rumors swirling around Cupertino today, many of the early adopter iPhone 4 owners are wondering what Apple will have to say today at 10am PST (1pm EST). Could Apple be issuing a “voluntary” recall for those owners who’ve experienced increased drop calls from the “grip of death”? Could they be issuing a rebate for the early adopters? Will they anger a lot of us and tell us that a software fix is all that’s needed? I’ve had the new iPhone for a week now, and I haven’t had any problems with it. In fact, I’ve noticed a drastic difference in improved voice clarity when talking on it. Those of you with the 3G remember how the slightest background noise sounded like a screeching vulture on your end. I asked followers on Twitter if they’ve experienced problems from the “grip of death” and many of them have not, and many of them believe the entire issue has been blown out of proportion. But, there’s obviously a problem for some customers, so Apple is doing the right thing by addressing the issue before it become an even bigger nightmare.

Anyway, we’ll be following the news conference closely so you have up-to-the-minute information on iPhone-gate. Make sure you follow us on Twitter and “like” our fan page on Facebook to get real-time updates about the news conference that starts in about 30 minutes.

Jonathan Mann — the “Song a Day” dude — is at it again.

Steve Jobs probably won’t show this video at the press conference today. But he should.

Foxconn, an Apple supplier, has been at the center of controversy and rumors about its reaction to a series of suicides by Chinese factory workers. Now, a Foxconn executive is denying a rumor suggesting the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker is paying a 2 percent subsidy to offset a recent worker pay increase.

The executive made the denial Friday in comments to the National Business Daily, according to the trade publication DigiTimes. The executive “said the rumor is purely speculation and Foxconn has never received any subsidies from Apple,” the report said. In May, the Chinese website Zol claimed Apple was paying workers subsidies comprising a portion of profits made from products they manufacture. The rumor also said Apple was paying Foxconn 2.3 percent of the retail price of a product, a statement Foxconn now denies.

In early 2009, Apple loudly announced support for the hardware interface concept — a fusion between third party hardware and apps created specifically to communicate with that hardware. Unfortunately, no one came to the party, and our initial enthusiasm faded.

But it may be time to get excited again, especially if outfits like Wilmington, North Carolina-based New Potato has anything to say about it. They’ve even trademarked a name for their new gadgets — they’re calling them “appcessories.”

Despite reports to the contrary, some analysts are predicting a limited ‘voluntary’ recall of Apple iPhone 4s. A voluntary recall would be limited to only those iPhone 4 owners who experience reception problems. The analysts also expect CEO Steve Jobs must take be humble during a Friday press conference expected to address the antenna issue.

Thursday, both the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal cited sources denying Apple will announce a recall. The Cupertino, Calif. company also publicly denied a Bloomberg report that Jobs new of potential reception problems as early as 2009, but overrode the objections of an in-house antenna expert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhbGgLOxc-Y

For those one-foot-in-one-foot-out Cult readers who have an iPad and a Windows machine (or running Windows on a Mac), there’s now an iPad app called Maxi Vista that lets users turn their iPads into a second display — just like Air Display, which we reviewed last month, does for Macs.

We haven’t tried it yet (we’re somewhat allergic to Windows devices) but it looks like it works practically the same way as Air Display does, seamlessly creating additional screen real estate wirelessly over a wifi network. At $10, it’s even priced the same as Air Display.

Apple may be able to avoid a PR disaster of recalling the iPhone 4 in favor of a software fix, according to a Thursday report. The problem of dropped calls “exposed a longstanding weakness with the basic communications software inside Apple’s phones” rather than hardware trouble, the New York Times reported.

The newspaper also became the latest to claim Apple will not announce a recall of its latest iPhone. The Wall Street Journal has also reported Apple will not unveil a product recall of the iPhone 4. The Apple insider also told the Times the problems with reception were caused by what the newspaper described as a “complex interaction between specialized communications software and the antenna.”