iPhone 4 launch day has come and gone so let’s discuss how it all went down.  At WWDC ’10Apple CEO Steve Jobs called iPhone 4 “the biggest leap since the original iPhone”, piquing the interest of his most devout followers, so much so that they lined up in droves to preorder and purchase the latest gadget to come out of Cupertino.  On June 15, Apple, AT&T, and other authorized Apple retailers begain taking preorders for iPhone 4.  On that single day, iPhone 4 preorders maxed out at 600,000.  According to AT&T, that’s ten times as many orders as it took for last year’s iPhone 3GS.  Due to this insanely high number of preorders, Apple and AT&T were forced to halt all preorders until the phone hit store shelves one week and two days later.  And that brings us to launch day.  On June 24 iPhone 4 launched nationwide and in the UK, France, Germany and Japan to an excitable population ready to get their hands on the shiny, sleek new handset.  At Apple Retail Stores those who preordered waited in line to nab their guaranteed iPhone while overnight campers tried their luck at receiving the leftovers.  The latest tallies reveal that Apple sold 1.7 million iPhone 4s through June 26 (that’s just three days on the market!).  In an official PR, Jobs stated, “This is the most successful product launch in Apple’s history.  Even so, we apologize to those customers who were turned away because we did not have enough supply.”  According to the Apple Online Store, more iPhone 4 units will ship in about three weeks.  Soon enough, Apple Stores will be chock full of new iPhones for everyone who missed out on the initial launch supply.

What began as a cheery launch quickly turned into a melancholy situation when iPhone 4 users started to cry foul about reception and screen issues.  Let’s start with the latter issue that has seemed to disapate as of late.  A number of iPhone 4 users are discovering slight yellow spots at the bottom right-hand corner of their retina displays.  An AppleInsider forum poster has come up with the best explanation for this:

Apple is using a bonding agent called Organofunctional Silane Z-6011 to bond the layers of glass. Apparently, Apple (or more likely Foxconn) is shipping these products so quickly that the evaporation process is not complete. However, after one or two days of use, especially with the screen on, will complete the evaporation process and the yellow “blotches” will disappear. How do I know? I was involved in pitching Z-6011 to Apple.

Since the time this explanation was outed (just a couple hours after the launch on the 24th) the desperate cry for help has waned.  It appears that those affected with the yellow spots will notice them disappear after a day or two of use.

The same cannot go for the next (and more dire) iPhone 4 problem: the tale of reception woes.  iPhone 4 users first noticed this problem when they gripped the phone in a certain way (in a very common way, mind you).  On the affected devices, if you hold the phone in any way that covers the lower left-hand side where the black strip is located (pictured above) you will notice your signal drop almost immediately from five to zero bars.  Preposterous!, you’re thinking.  But it’s true, so let’s dive into this a bit more.  At WWDC ’10, Jobs announced that the new iPhone packs a new antenna system that actually wraps around the outside phone so as to provide better signal strength.  The metallic band that wraps around the phone contains one piece for Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and GPS and the other for UMTS & GSM.  When you cover the bottom left-hand side of the phone where the GSM band wraps the phone all signal is lost.  What’s rather ironic is that what Jobs called “brilliant engineering” has turned into an engineering EPIC FAIL in the minds of many iPhone 4 users. Continue reading iPhone 4: 600,000 preorders, 1.7 million sold, reception & screen issues addressed →