Allison’s podcast is one of my favorites, so if you haven’t checked it out yet, you should. In this episode I discuss the Hulu Plus service and the many uses for an Airport Express. We also have reviews of the Noterize notetaking app for the iPad, the the Square mobile credit card payment system, an alternative podcatcher app for the iPhone called Podfisher and the PLop boot manager for virtual machines. Here’s the direct link to the episode.

Another big issue for me was the AT&T contract. I have had nothing but trouble with AT&T since signing on with the iPhone more than three years ago. Believe me, I would love nothing more than to kick AT&T to the curb. Keeping the iPhone 4 means committing to AT&T for another 2 years or paying them a $300+ early termination fee. While I was maybe willing to swallow a $175 early termination fee should the iPhone become available on Verizon, $300+ makes that a significantly larger burden. If I returned the iPhone, I would have reverted back to my old AT&T contract terms, which would put me on a month-to-month contract.

Returning the Phone Also Would Have Cost Me:

When I upgraded to the iPhone 4, I gave my iPhone 3G to my dad. He needed the iPhone 3G to use with his microcell. (Microcell wouldn’t work with his iPhone 2G.) In return, he gave me his iPhone 2G which I sold on Gazelle for about $75. (Not exactly a windfall, but enough to buy a few iPhone 4 accessories.) So if I returned the iPhone, I would have no phone to go back to. I was in a no-win situation because I wasn’t about to ask my dad for my phone back and leave him in a lurch.  If I returned my iPhone 4, I would have to turn around and buy another phone to replace it. That meant buying an iPhone 3GS from Apple or AT&T and signing another AT&T contract – that didn’t make any sense. If I’m going to be stuck in an AT&T contract and use up my eligibility for a subsidized phone, might as well have the latest technology.

The other option to stay without an AT&T contract would have been to buy a 3G or 3GS without a contract. Used iPhones hold their value well and are still selling for $300 – $350. My iPhone 4 subsidized was only $299. Although I had many twitter friends who I trusted willing to sell me their iPhones, it’s always a bit of a mixed bag when you buy a used phone. Regardless of which way I went, I would still out $300 or more compared to where I was 30 days ago. I either had an iPhone 4 that was a much better device, but a worse phone. Or a comparable phone, but only a slightly better device.

If You Don’t Like It…Take It Back…

Apple says “if you don’t like the phone, return it for a full refund.” Sounds great., right? What more could you possibly expect from Apple? Well, I could expect them to deliver the phone they promised. Here’s the problem: I took Apple at their word that the iPhone 4 had a revolutionary new antenna design that was better than any previous iPhone and I would have even better reception than before.  Granted – I would have been okay with an iPhone 4 that had just as good reception as I had before and still had all the fancy new iPhone 4 features. Now, I’ve got a phone with worse reception and nothing to go back to.  What more could I ask for? I want what Apple promised me! Unfortunately, Apple let me down in that they couldn’t deliver on what they promised. It’s one of the few times that’s happened.

But, I’m Keeping The Faith:

While I haven’t been thrilled with the way Apple has handled this whole situation, I still have faith that they’ll come through and do the right thing. Apple acknowledged at their press event that despite the new design of the iPhone 4 antenna, it drops more calls than the iPhone 3GS. Something is wrong.

My AppleCare advisor tells me that Apple is continuing to work on this problem. They are not just giving away free bumpers and calling it a day. Steve Jobs specifically said that the free bumper program was only going to last until September 30^th so Apple could “reevaluate” the situation at that time. That statement in itself implies they’re working on a fix so bumpers won’t be necessary.  Apple may never say another word about antennagate, but I would bet you the purchase price of an iPhone 5 that the iPhones that roll off the assembly lines a few months from now will not be as prone to these antenna problems as the ones that rolled off the assembly line 30 days ago.

My AppleCare case is still open, and my support tech promises me that he’ll keep in touch regarding the situation and if I want to swap out my iPhone again in the future, all I have to do is say the word. We’ll see.

What I Know Now:

If I knew 30 days ago what I know now, would I have ordered the iPhone 4? In a word: No. I wish I could turn back the clock and have my old iPhone 3G back, my $300 back, the money I’ve spent thus far on accessories back, and all the time I’ve spent dealing with this issue back. For now, I wait and hope that Apple comes up with a fix, that AT&T starts building towers and that Verizon announces they will start selling the iPhone.

I know there are a lot of people out there who are fed up with this topic. So this is the last I’ll say until there’s some kind of new information. For the vast majority of you who are not having any type of problem with your iPhone, I’m happy for you and sorry to have bored you with my tale. But I do at least hope that I have shown you that there are real people out there with real problems. Is “antennagate” over-hyped? Probably. But for those people like me who are having problems, it doesn’t feel like Apple has taken it seriously enough.

Apple has called a last-minute press event on Friday, June 16^th to discuss the iPhone 4 and this seemed like a good time to share my experiences.

General Observations:

First, I seem to be having two reception related problems with my iPhone 4, it’s unclear whether they are related or not. The first problem is the well documented “death grip.” Both on my Microcell at home and out around town when using the iPhone without a case, I am noticing a significant decrease in signal to the point where my calls become garbled or dropped as soon as I pick up the phone. In this case my signal strength and call quality starts out good, but then drops off suddenly once the gap of the antenna is bridged. This issue seems to be fairly well documented around the web, so I’ll spare the details.

The second issue is that I am having is problems with low signal and dropped calls in general. Even when using the iPhone in a case or sitting on a desk my iPhone 4 has significantly poorer reception when compared to my iPhone 3G. Calls will drop or become garbled in areas where I’ve never had any problems before. This is obviously amplified when using the iPhone without a case by the “death grip” but exists as a baseline poorer signal. This issue has not resolved, even with the purchase of a bumper.

Here are couple of examples from my everyday use while using the Apple Bumper. (This is pre the iPhone 4.0.1 update.)  In my office, I have always had 4-5 bars of signal strength on my iPhone 3G and have been able to successfully hold conversations for an hour or more. With the iPhone 4, I consistently show only one bar of signal strength, and calls may drop out or become garbled even with the bumper. Without the bumper, they drop within minutes. Around my house while connected to my Microcell has the same problem. My upstairs bedroom is directly above the Microcell. Again, I was previously able to hold a conversation for hours with 5 full bars of signal strength on my 3G. Even with the iPhone bumper, my signal is showing somewhere between 3-4 bars, and it is not uncommon for the audio quality to stutter. Without the bumper, calls drop audio regularly, and will eventually drop. These are both cases where I have had excellent results with my iPhone 3G. I’ve also noticed a general increase in the number of calls dropped when driving around town talking on my Bluetooth speakerphone.

Enter AppleCare

The problems with the iPhone 4 reception were immediately apparent and I began my own troubleshooting techniques which included:

• Powering on and off the iPhone
• Hard reset of the Phone
• Restore to clean iOS 4 from a backup
• Restore to a clean iOS 4 without a backup (re-sync and reconfigure)

The problems persisted and I placed my first call into AppleCare on June 25^th, within 2 days of receiving the phone. The first level support walked me through all of the steps above and then added the additional suggestion of pulling out and re-inserting my SIM card. When none of that worked, the AppleCare tech advised me the iOS 4.0.1 software would be coming out that day and I should try that and call back in a few days if it did nothing. Of course, iOS 4.0.1 was not released until three weeks later. But we’ll get to that shortly.

Enter AT&T

When I couldn’t get any relief from my first call to AppleCare, I thought it best to also log an incident with AT&T. My first question to AT&T was whether they were experiencing any network outages that might explain my dramatic reduction in signal at my office. AT&T reported no problems with their network in my area and blamed the problem on Apple and referred me back to AppleCare.

Escalated AppleCare

I called AppleCare back on Tuesday the 29^th and after confirming I had already tried the prior troubleshooting tips, I was escalated to the most senior level of iPhone support under the engineers. At this point, I have my own AppleCare rep assigned to my case, let’s call him Carlos. (Not his real name.) I had a very nice conversation Carlos and he gave me his direct contact information and hours and advised that he would be taking care of my issue personally until it was resolved. I gave him my story and passed along screen shots of my speed test results while holding the phone and while not. He advised me to go to AT&T and get a new SIM card and if that didn’t work he would dispatch a replacement phone.

On the 29^th I went by AT&T store and got a new SIM. This turned out to be an interesting experience as that was also the day AT&T was able to sell the iPhone to people who had not pre-ordered. It was a zoo, but because I already had my iPhone I was able to get through to a rep who swapped out my SIM.  The AT&T agent who helped me claimed to know nothing about any reception problems. His only response was “sounds like it’s a bad phone.” Unfortunately, after using the new SIM for a couple of days I couldn’t tell any difference. I’ve read reports online indicating that some issues are being resolved by repositioning the SIM or trimming the edges of the card slightly. Because of the size of the microSIM, the contacts of the SIM card sometimes touch the tray of the SIM holder and cause issues. I played with mine a bit and even trimmed the edges, but couldn’t see any noticeable difference in the reception.

I also read reports that resetting the network settings on the phone could help the problem, unfortunately it did not help me.

A New Phone

I called Carlos back with the results on July 1^st and after a little discussion over the logistics of the swap, a new phone was ordered.  We had a brief disagreement over how the swap would take place. Initially they wanted me to mail my phone back and wait for a replacement (which would take about 7 days due to the 4^th of July Holiday) or drive 90 miles to the nearest Apple Store to do the swap. Finally, they decided to ship me a replacement phone, put a hold on my credit card and I would mail back my old phone. My new phone shipped same day and arrived the next day on Friday, July 2^nd.

I used the new iPhone over the long weekend and early the following week and saw no difference between the old phone and the new phone. I also went out through the same series of troubleshooting steps as outlined above with the new phone. Power cycled, reset, restores, reset network settings, manipulate SIM card, etc. Nothing seemed to make any difference.

The Ugliest Case

I have never used a case with any of my previous iPhones and prefer to use my iPhone without a case and only use an Invisible Shield for protection. I don’t like adding extra bulk to my iPhone and I also like to use several iPhone docks and accessories with built in docs that won’t work while the iPhone is in a case. Given the continued problems, I figured I had no choice but to go out and get a case for the iPhone and see if that offered any help.

I ran around town to both Best Buy and AT&T only to find that there was a serious run on iPhone 4 cases. I finally ended up with one of the only iPhone cases available, Best Buy’s house brand case which has to be one of the ugliest silicone molded cases you could possibly find for the iPhone. Nevertheless, I swallowed my pride and bough the ugly case hoping that it would only be a temporary need. Thankfully it was fairly cheap, only $15.

I immediately noticed that the case helped the “death grip” problem. However, the problem with generally low reception continued. Although I wasn’t dropping nearly as many calls, I was still having problems with some garbled calls and poor voice quality in places like my office and upstairs bedroom. Although the case was clearly helping, I wasn’t dropping calls. Remove the iPhone from the case in one of these locations and the call dropped within minutes.

My Free Bumper

Given that the case helped the dropped calls, I resigned myself to the fact that if I was going to keep the iPhone I would have to use it with a case and keeping the ugly Best Buy thing was not an option. When I ordered my iPhone I also ordered a couple of docks and dock adapters. Those items shipped separately so they arrived after my iPhone. I haven’t even opened the box because I wanted to see how the reception issue resolved.  At this point, a couple of the accessories were still with FedEx. My hope was that I could just refuse delivery of the docks that I wouldn’t have to pay the return shipping back to Apple.

I called up the Apple Store to inquire about the return and the rep asked me to explain why I wanted to return the items so I recounted the short version of my problems. Without my prompting, he offered me an iPhone bumper free of charge and asked me to keep the dock and dock adapters for now and see how things went with the bumper. He said the bumper was very easy to remove and I could still probably use the docks. He said he’d note my file and if after the bumper arrived I decided I wanted to return the docks that would be no problem. This was an unexpected surprise, especially because there are rumors of an internal Apple memo that specifically says not to offer free bumpers to people. Maybe my guy didn’t get the memo, but I’m thankful for his assistance.

The bumper took about two weeks to arrive but it’s here. Although it doesn’t offer a ton of protection, I really like how it custom-fits the iPhone and doesn’t add much additional bulk to the phone. Once installed, the bumper looks like it was part of the iPhone and has a very nice feel.

Unfortunately, the bumper didn’t seem to do quite as good a job as my ugly Best Buy case for my reception issues. The bumper is still significantly better than using the iPhone unprotected, but I am noticing a small drop in bars when holding the phone as confirmed with speedtest.net  as well continued problems with poor call quality in areas I’ve never had problems before. Using the iPhone with a bumper keeps most of my calls from dropping, but even with the bumper the reception of the iPhone 4 is noticeably worse than my iPhone 3G.

The other problem with the bumper is that it will not work with many accessories, including Apple’s own iPhone 4 dock and Universal Dock Adapters. It also doesn’t work with older iPhone/iPod cables and many third party accessories including my car stereo dock connecter. Although I like the bumper and got it for free, it’s still going to cost me more than $100 to buy adapters and compatible accessories to use my iPhone as intended.

If I had my choice, I wouldn’t use any case at all. But to keep the iPhone 4 (which I love in every respect except for the reception) it’s a compromise I’m willing to make.

Fun Times with Carlos

After the 4^th of July weekend I touch base with my friendly AppleCare rep Carlos again and report all of the above. Carlos seems at a loss, but we continue to press on towards a resolution. At one point Carlos and I conference with his counterpart over at AT&T, and as suspected AT&T places the blame squarely on Apple. That was a particularly interesting conversation. Talk about awkward!

Over the course of the past two weeks Carlos and I have stayed in touch every couple of days and spent several hours working on this issue together. Carlos walked me through enabling Baseband logging on my phone so that I can send him a record of my phone’s reception. We also perform several experiments with the iPhone connected to my computer using the iPhone configuration utility to live-capture what’s going on with my iPhone and make several test calls with and without cases from various areas of my house.

Carlos shows me how to download my baseband logs from my phone and every couple of days I zip up that file (which can be several gigs) and upload it to my iDisk overnight for Carlos to retrieve the next morning. Carlos analyzed the data for himself and reported to me that my phone was defiantly showing some “unexpected inconsistencies” but advised that he would have to forward the logs on to the engineers for further analysis. However he was able to see several instances of calls dropped and fluctuations in signal. As of the writing of this blog post, we’re still waiting on the engineer’s report.

Over the course of several hours of troubleshooting, Carlos and I start to get a little more comfortable with each other. He realizes that I’m a fairly advanced Mac user and have done my homework regarding this issue. I realize he’s a really good guy and is committed to helping me. He still carries the “company line” that there is no design flaw with the iPhone. He admitted to me that holding the phone can cause the signal to drop, but held firm that it doesn’t cause the call to drop.

I do have to commend Carlos for his responsiveness to this issue. He has always called me back as promised, he has worked diligently towards a resolution to the issue and he has never given up. He assures me no matter what the outcome that he “will take care of me.” One of my concerns all along has been that I only have 30 days to return the iPhone before I’m stuck in a new AT&T contract for the next 2 years. That clock is still ticking, but given Carlos’ assurance and the fact that Apple has some kind of press announcement scheduled for Friday, I have hopes that one way or another a resolution is coming.

4.0.1 [Updated]

Just today, on Thursday, July 15^th, Carlos called me within minutes of the iOS 4.0.1 being released to tell me that it was available and to update my phone. I told him I would update tonight when I got home from work and he promised to check back in with on Monday after I had a weekend to play and see if it helped. I asked Carlos if this fix just changed the representation of the signal bars. We previously discussed that changing the signal calculation and bar representation alone would not be a solution to my problem. He simply told me that “it does more than that, but I can’t disclose any details.”

Besides showing fewer bars in more places, I really can’t tell any difference with iPhone 4.0.1 in terms of my iPhone’s reception. I’m not noticing any difference with regards to call quality or the number of dropped calls.

If we are to assume that 4.0.1 is now showing the “true” reception of my iPhone, I am quite disappointed in the ability of the phone to hang on to a signal and AT&T’s network. In my own home, I’m seeing my bars drop when I move more than a few feet away from my microcell. Instead of having whole house coverage, I now have to be in the same room as my microcell with a direct line of sight to have 5 bars. Move to the kitchen or the office on the same level as the Microcell and I drop to 4 bars. Move upstairs directly above the microcell and I drop to 3, 2, or 1 bars, even though I may only be 10 – 15 feet away from the device. I was really disappointed to find that even after buying a microcell the coverage in my home was still not great.

Around town I’m seeing many more instances of only 1 or two bars of service compared to seeing 3, 4, or 5 before. This is probably a testament to just how sub-par the AT&T network is in my area. Having a more accurate representation of this is a good thing. However, I find it hard to believe that Apple didn’t know it was being more than a little liberal with it’s bar calculation for so long before. Of course it would be to Apple’s advantage to erroneously display a stronger signal than was actually available.

The Response [Updated]

I wasn’t thrilled with Apple’s press conference, but it was a start. Of course Apple tried to sugar coat the issue to the extent possible, but I personally felt that the marching out of the other cell phones and demonstrating that they too had problems made them appear a little desperate. While I will take Apple at their word and believe everything they said to be factually true, they are going to put a spin on things.

A couple of thoughts in no particular order:

• While it may be true that the iPhone 3G was also susceptible to antenna attenuation in 2 years of using the iPhone 3G, I never noticed it. I noticed it within 2 hours of using the iPhone 4.
• While only 0.55% of people may have contacted AppleCare about antenna reception issues, I think that number does not accurately represent the number of people actually havening problems. How many people simply didn’t call in or saw the press coverage of the issue and simply decided not to bother calling since it seemed clear there was nothing Apple could do for them.
• Apple acknowledged that he iPhone 4 drops < 1 call per 100 more than the iPhone 3GS. I thought the wording on this quote was awkward. So let’s put it another way. The iPhone 4 drops about 1% more calls than the iPhone 4. That’s a statistically low number, but in reality, it’s a lot of calls. All this from a phone that Apple still claims has significantly better reception than any prior iPhone. The data would seem to suggest differently and that there is in fact a problem.

Free bumpers are nice, and while the bumper has helped my problem, it has not solved my problem. Even with the bumper, my iPhone 4 has worse reception than my iPhone 3G. It really irks me when I hear people say that a case is a solution. It is a help, but not a solution. The real solution will come through possibly (but doubtful) a software update and/or a tweak in the hardware design.

I would have liked to hear Apple assure users that they were continuing to work on the problem and that they would do whatever was necessary to make things right.  Whether it be a software update or a hardware swap-out program down the line for those down the line who continue to have documented problems with their phones.

Final Thoughts

If you don’t have any problems with your iPhone, I’m thrilled for you. But please don’t tell me that there is no problem or that people who claim there are having problems are making much ado about nothing.

As an Apple fan, I have found Apple’s response to this issue thus far to be disappointing. The alleged emails from Steve Jobs telling people to hold the phone differently and the non-response response about being “shocked to find the signal strength calculation was wrong” is embarrassing.

Responses like “buy a case” or “don’t hold it that way” are unacceptable from anyone, whether it be an Apple fanboy or Steve Jobs. Anyone who seriously thinks this needs to take a step back, they’re far too close to the reality distortion field for their own good.  It is not the consumer’s responsibility to buy a case in order to correct a defect in a product. It is poor design to have such a critical antenna junction in a place where phones are commonly held. I should not have to alter my usage or buy a case to make my phone function properly.

I know a lot of people are fed up with reading about “antennagate,” especially those people who aren’t having problems. Therefore, I’m going to do one more post on this issue before I drop the subject. I have until June 23^rd to decide whether or not I keep the iPhone 4. I’m going to give this some serious thought between now and then. I’ll do one final blog post to let you know how it turns out.

I also noticed the steel antenna band wrapping around the phone. At first glance, this seemed a little odd and out of place. It gives the edges of the phone a rough and industrial feel compared to the smooth edges of the iPhone 3G. Because the iPhone 3G had a curved back, it also felt a little more comfortable when cupped in your hand. After a few hours with the iPhone 4 I quickly got use to the new form factor.

I turned on the iPhone and was immediately blown away by the screen. I’ve never had a problem with the iPhone 3G screen. I thought the iPhone 3G had a gorgeous display. But the iPhone 4 is phenomenal, everything Apple cracked it up to be. Crisp text, smooth lines and a bright display. Even with the brightness turned down to about 50% the iPhone 4 was just as bright, if not more so, than my iPhone 3G. It’s like the first time you look at the new LED screens on the current generation MacBook Pros when you’re use to the older style LCD screens. There was really nothing wrong with the old LCD displays, but the new ones are so much better. Maybe it’s like the difference between watching standard definition and HD TV? Standard seemed just fine, until you started watching HD.

Durability and Protection
I don’t usually use my iPhone with a case, but this is the first time I may consider doing that to offer additional protection. I really like using the iPhone dock and have a number of devices that I dock my iPhone into. Unfortunately, using a case (even Apple’s overpriced bumper) will ensure that the iPhone no longer fits into the dock. Though with the antenna issues (discussed below in more detail) I may need to make an exception to my usual policy. In my previous experience, usually you can get an iPhone with a case to fit in Apple’s Universal Dock by either removing the adapter or using an adapter for a larger product. Unfortunately, the universal dock is much more expensive than the standard iPhone dock so even if this is a solution to my iPhone with a case dock problem it will be an expensive one.

I can also see scratching being a problem, although Apple claims the screen is fairly scratch resistant. Nonetheless, I very quickly applied an Invisible Shield for the front and back glass panels. I’m a big fan of the Invisible Shield product and have used them on all my iPhones, iPods and iPad whether I decide to use a case or not. I have a hard time getting the invisible shields installed just right so I usually opt to take it to a Zagg retailer and have them apply the shield for an extra cost. Because the Zagg retailer near me recently closed I opted to go with the “easy install” kit which includes protection for only the front and back of the device. While the kit was true to it’s word and very easy to install, I wish now that I had opted for full body coverage and made a special trip to a Zagg retailer to have it installed. (There’s one about 2 hours from here.) So, I think I’ll probably do that next time I’m in an area that has a Zagg retailer or booth. Another benefit to the invisible shield is that it really cuts down on fingerprints and makes the iPhone much less slippery. Less slippery = fewer drops.

I also opted to buy a SquareTrade warranty for my iPhone. They were running an iPhone promotion where the warranty was $100 for two years of coverage and included accidental protection. Again, the glass front and back make me nervous. I haven’t had insurance on my previous iPhones, but this one feels like it needs it. In the past I’ve bought AppleCare for my iPhones, but never used it, except perhaps to have a battery replaced near the end of the coverage. I decided to spend the extra $30 on the SquareTrade warranty compared to AppleCare because SquareTrade covers some accidental damage (with a deductible) as well as manufacturer problems.

Camera and FaceTime
I’ve never been one to use the camera on my phone all that much, but the improvements to the iPhone 4 camera are quickly apparent. A few sample photos and movies I’ve taken have all turned out to have significantly higher quality than the previous iPhone. For once, there are photos taken from a phone camera that I would actually consider having blown up into prints. The video quality seemed comparable to my old Flip Mino HD and I’m sure there will be an occasion or two where the video camera will come in handy. The LED flash is very bright and seemed to light-up nearby objects well.

I initially wrote FaceTime off as being a gimmick that I would never use. I will probably use it rarely, but it’s a nice treat. I had my first FaceTime call with Allison and Steve Sheridan and was pleasantly surprised by the audio and video quality. While on the call Allison took me on a mini-tour of her house and introduced me to her son, Kyle. I had another call with Victor Cajiao and while the quality was just okay, I noticed there was a little lag in the audio and the video wasn’t quite as crisp. So your mileage may vary. I’m the only member of my family and my immediate circle of friends who has an iPhone, so for now FaceTime will have to be the occasional treat between me and my podcasting buddies. I think this is a feature that will take off far more than I anticipated, especially when Apple brings FaceTime to the iPad, iPod Touch and iChat. Phone manufacturers have been promising video conferencing for decades, but it’s never really taken off. If anyone can make video calls work, it’s Apple.

Speed and Battery
I skipped the iPhone 3GS so my basis of comparison is a two year old iPhone 3G. I can tell you the iPhone 4 is fast. It’s no doubt a combination of the 802.11n Wi-Fi, the faster A4 processor and the doubled RAM capacity. Web pages load faster, applications launch faster and overall the iPhone feels quite zippy. The regular syncing and backups with iTunes are also significantly faster. I should note that the 802.11 n Wi-Fi is only 2.4 GHz so if you don’t have one of those fancy new dual-band Airport Extreme, now might be a good time to pick one up so you can keep your network traffic segregated for maximum speeds.

My results with the iPhone battery have been very good. Granted, my two year old iPhone 3G had probably lost some of it’s battery life over the years so my frame of reference is probably skewed. I’m able to get through a full work day of 10-12 hours with normal usage and still have about 50% of the battery or more by the time I get home. I still charge my iPhone every night but I’m trying not to charge it constantly at work in order to try to preserve overall battery health. I am also making a conscious effort to let the battery run down completely at least once a month to try to keep the battery in good shape.

I’ve had some people comment that the iPhone 4 battery life is less than their prior iPhone, but I think this is primarily a matter of usage. I don’t use very many apps on my iPhone and I rarely use apps that take advantage of multitasking. I rarely have music playing in the background or apps that are constantly accessing data.

iOS 4
I won’t say much about iOS 4 since it’s not specific to the iPhone 4. However, I will say that I am generally enjoying the upgrade. The funny thing is that the upgrades I’m appreciating the most are folders and integrated inbox. Multitasking and fast app switching is nice, but I’m finding I’m not using the features all that often. Perhaps it’s because I’ve gotten use to not having multitasking all these years I’ve grown accustomed to not having the ability. Perhaps as more applications update to take advantage of multi-tasking this will become a more useful feature.

I’m finding that the unified inbox is encouraging me to deal with my email more quickly rather than letting it sit for a while. My great wish is that we would gain the ability to customize our email signatures to the specific email accounts, but that’s an easy software fix that will hopefully come soon. I’m also really enjoying the threaded view as it tends to cut down on a lot of the email clutter.

Using folders has allowed me to consolidate my iPhone from six screens to three. I’m also able to find my applications more quickly and am enjoying the reduction in clutter. Home screen real estate is at a premium so I’ve setup one folder in the bottom left corner of my home screen with 4 of my commonly used applications that wouldn’t otherwise fit on my iPhone screen. I call this folder “launcher” and when I click on it the four applications inside form a single row of my commonly used applications. I limit this to only four icons so they line up neatly in a row. I can’t have everything in a luncher on the home screen, but this approach seems to work very well.

iOS 4 seems more evolutionary than revolutionary upgrade for the iPhone, I think the bulk of the changes were made “under the hood” for developers to take advantage of. Though I still hope we see features like wireless printing and over the air syncing come with an update to iOS 4 rather than having to wait another year for iOS 5.

The Phone
This is where things turn sour. I’m sure you’ve seen online the “iPhone Death Grip” phenomena. I’m sorry to say that my iPhone has it bad. I don’t pretend to understand the engineering behind the new iPhone or whether this is a problem that can be totally resolved by a software update or whether it’s a fundamental design flaw. I can share with you my experiences.

I have two problems which may or may not be separate issues. First, my iPhone signal strength meter drops when the iPhone is held in my bare hand without a case. As has been demonstrated by others, the issue is much more pronounced the further away you are from the tower or in an area with weaker signal. I can replicate this out around town on 3G and Edge towers as well as when using a Microcell and moving from room to room.

For example, in my living room, where I’m only a few feet from my microcell, the signal may drop only a bar or two, or may not drop at all when I hold the phone. However, moving upstairs to my bedroom, where I’m probably 10 – 12 feet from the microcell and with an interior wall between us I can consistently cause the signal to drop from 5 bars to 1 or none just by holding the phone normally for 10 – 15 seconds. When the bars drop, so does the call. When downstairs in the same room as the microcell I’m able to hold a call with no problems. Upstairs, a few more feet away from the Microcell the audio quickly becomes garbled and spotty. Using the SpeedTest.net application, I can verify that I am effectively stopping network traffic when holding the phone vs. letting it sit untouched. The screenshots I’m posting were all taken from my 2nd floor bedroom within a few minutes of each other. In one shot the phone was sitting untouched, the other the phone was held in my hand casually for about 10 seconds prior to starting the test.

The second problem I’m having with my iPhone I believe may be an issue separate from the “Death Grip” and that is that I’m generally having poorer reception compared to my 3G. For example, I would consistently get 4-5 bars of reception on my iPhone 3G and could carry on a conversation for an hour or more when sitting in my office at work. With the iPhone 4, in the same location I have 1-2 bars of service and regularly drop calls or experience garbled audio. This occurs both when I’m holding the device in my hand or sitting it on the desk and using it hands free.

I’ve had similar problems elsewhere. When out to lunch with a friend who had a 3GS, her phone showed 4-5 bars of signal strength where mine consistently showed 1-2 when the phones were sat side by side on a table. I’ve checked this in a few places with a few different people and my results are fairly consistent, my iPhone 4 tends to show less signal strength than other model iPhones. I’ve also notice that just driving around town, I’m dropping more calls than I did before in areas where I don’t usually drop calls. I’m hoping the reception issue is defect in my particular phone, because there are other reports where people are finding their iPhone 4 holds signal better in weak areas.

There are a lot of unknowns at the time I write this blog post. Is this a software or hardware issue? My guess, is that it’s a little of both. Holding the phone and watching signal strength drop before my eyes appears to clearly be a design defect. However, I can see how this is amplified by bad baseband software that may be interfering with reception? I’ve read Apple’s statement about being “shocked to find they calculated the signal strength wrong.” This is really a non-answer to the issue. I don’t care how many bars my phone shows, I care if I can make a call. My experience is thus far that regardless of bars, I was able to make calls and hold them longer on my iPhone 3G compared to the iPhone 4.

There are reports around the web that indicate that there may have been something with the baseband programming of iOS 4 because some users are reporting problems with older model iPhones that have been upgraded. I only have 2 days of experience with iOS 4 on my 3G so that’s hardly a basis for comparison. However, I can at least tell you that the reception with iOS 4 and my iPhone 3G in my office was sufficient such that I did not have any trouble with dropped calls or a decrease in strength on the signal meter in my office.

There are also varying reports as to the severity of this issue. What I’ve pieced together is that if you live in an area that has strong AT&T coverage, you’re less likely to see the impact of these problems. However if you’re in an area that has spotty or sub-par AT&T coverage, and I think pretty much my entire city qualifies, then you’re going to have more trouble. I’m not expecting AT&T to reengineer their network and build a bunch of towers in my town to solve my problem (although hat would be nice.) However I do expect that the iPhone 4 have the same basic ability to make and receive phone calls as the prior model iPhones.

Responses to the Reception Issues:
I’ve gotten quite a bit of grief online from people who say that this is really a non-issue or that I should just get over it and buy a bumper. I apologize if my tweets or this post come across as “whiney” as that’s not my intention. This is a very real problem for many people, myself included. If you’re having no trouble with your iPhone 4, I’m thrilled for you. Just because you’re not having trouble doesn’t mean that my issues aren’t real.

I should not have to spend $30 or more on a case to make my $300+ phone work. As wonderful as the iPhone is, it’s a phone first. My phone should work at least as well as prior model iPhones, and in fact better since Apple touted the antenna design as one of the revolutionary features of the iPhone 4. I’m sorry, but responses like “get a case” and “you’re holding it wrong” are simply unacceptable. Even a fervent Apple Fanboy should get this is wrong. I’m really offended and embarrassed by Apple’s response thus far and hope that they will change their tone.

Apple has announced that they’ve sold 1.7 million iPhones in the first three days with more devices being sold as fast as they can get stock. I promise you, Apple will not conduct a worldwide recall of their phones. If they do, I’ll eat my iPhone. My guess is Apple will quietly make some minor modifications to the iPhone and we’ll see the iPhone 4’s that come off the assembly line will have some kind of additional clear coating over the antenna and will not be as prone to this problem. Unfortunately, any hardware modification will take time. The question is what will happen to early adopters of the iPhone? My guess AppleCare will quietly take care of these issues either by providing bumpers or replacing out iPhones for those who complain.

I already have a ticket in with AppleCare that is being actively worked. There’s too much to go into on this post, so I will post a separate entry with my experiences dealing with Apple on the issue and if I’m able to get any resolution.

Unexpected Surprises
Moving back to more pleasant things, I ran into a few unexpected surprises with my new iPhone 4 that may end up saving me quite a chunk of change. One of my biggest gripes is that I have multiple iPods that I have to keep updated. My iPhones never worked in my car so I have a 5th Generation iPod for the car. I have an iPod Shuffle for the Gym, iTunes library on my home computer streaming to multiple speakers and an iPhone for listening everywhere else. Since most of my listening is podcasts, keeping everything in sync was quite a pain.

When the iPhone 4 arrived, my plan was to upgrade my car stereo to eliminate the car iPod from the mix. This raised another problem because I have a pair of cheap unshielded speakers in my kitchen that I regularly connect my iPod so I can finish listening to a podcast while I’m cooking dinner. The GSM buzz from the iPhone was overpowering to those speakers, so I also planned to buy a mid-range portable speaker system for my iPhone that would live in the kitchen.

Much to my surprise, the iPhone 4 has negated the need for me to spend the $400+ for these additional devices. On a whim the other day, I plugged my iPhone 4 into my car audio system. I have an old JVC KD-AR370 system that was installed in my car to replace the factory unit back in 2005 or 2006 before the iPhone existed. The JVC system has a dock connector but no auxiliary port. I thought this was fine because the dock connector would both charge iPod and play my audio. This speaker set has never worked with any model iPhone, but it works with my iPhone 4.

I don’t know if this has to do with the iPhone 4 hardware or the iOS 4 software or a combination of both. There are a couple of caveats. First, the iPod application on the iPhone has to have been opened before the iPhone is plugged in. It doesn’t necessarily have to be the active application, but it has to have been used and something played since the last time the iPhone was power cycled or synced. A minor annoyance, but to save the $200+ of having a new in-dash system installed, I can deal with it. Also, the iPhone will play audio but will not charge. This is because the old system was setup for FireWire based charging. A $30 PASSport adapter will solve this problem. Again, a small price to pay. (I plan to post a review of the PASSport once it arrives.)

Also to my surprise, the iPhone 4 has not produced the expected GSM buzz to distort speakers. Using my cheap kitchen speakers, even getting my iPhone 3G near the speakers would immediately set them off. I have the iPhone 4 plugged into the speakers for a couple of hours at a time and haven’t gotten a single blip. Nice!

Closing Thoughts and Buying Advice:
If you don’t already have an iPhone 4 and in hand, and aren’t in a position where you need to upgrade right now, I would say wait a bit. Let’s see what happens with iOS update 4.0.1 and if the reports of these issues subside. I also think after a few more product runs, you’ll start to see the issue become less pronounced due to Apple’s modifications. If you’re in an area where you always have good AT&T reception, especially if you’re planning on using a case, you’ll probably be fine. Still, make sure you’re aware of your return options.

Reception issues aside, the iPhone 4 is a great upgrade to an original iPhone or iPhone 3G. It’s a less compelling upgrade if you have an iPhone 3GS and are happy with your current screen and camera quality. iOS 4 already brings a lot of improvements to the iPhone 3GS.

The biggest question for many will be whether they want to commit to AT&T for another two years. With the increased early termination fees, leaving AT&T becomes a lot more difficult. Just today, I read a report from Bloomberg saying that Verizon was going to come out with an iPhone in early 2011. I take all these Verizon iPhone rumors with a grain of salt, but it has to happen at some point. If you’re happy with AT&T, this is a non-issue.

So it’s a mixed review for the iPhone 4. My hope is that a combination of AppleCare and future software fixes will resolve my problem. However, I am keeping a very close eye on the 30 day return window for my iPhone. As a last resort, if I’m not able to resolve my reception issues reasonably, I may opt to return and downgrade to a 3GS. I’m not happy about that prospect, for now I will hope for the best and cross that bridge when I come to it.

About a year ago, I made a job change and moved back to my hometown. While I love my new job and being closer to family, I’ve been plagued by poor AT&T coverage. My current city has multiple dead zones in highly populated areas and in general suffers from poor connectivity. It’s quite common to be in an area with 5 bars of coverage yet calls go directly to voicemail or text messages are delayed, sometimes hours. Making matters worse, I live in one of those dead zones and literally have no service inside my home. Outside isn’t much better, I can usually only maintain a call for a couple of minutes before it drops.

My AT&T contract is up on July 11th and I knew that a new iPhone would be released about that time. With AT&T unable to provide me any kind of answers, I was really struggling to decide what I was going to do. Short of the iPhone changing to another carrier, something that I think will happen but will be later rather than sooner, my only hope was the promise of the AT&T 3G MicroCell. I watched the WWDC keynote with mixed emotions. Lured by the appeal of the iPhone 4, but at the same time dreading signing a new contract and committing myself to two more years of cell phone purgatory. But something else happened on June 7th that was perhaps more appealing to me than anything Steve Jobs had to say in his Keynote address, the mythical 3G MicroCell came to my city.

What is the MicroCell:
I’m not going to get into all the technical specifics of the MicroCell. I’m sure there are data sheets you can read. In short, the MicroCell is a mini 3G tower for your home. The MicroCell uses your home broadband connection to connect your call to a local AT&T tower. From there, your call is sent out on the AT&T network. It’s using a broadband connection to bridge the coverage gap between your home and the tower.

The device needs to be connected via Ethernet to your home network. There are various ways to connect the device depending on your home setup. It also has a GPS chip inside that is used to confirm the location of the MicroCell. AT&T says this is a requirement for the e911 service so emergency responders will know your location.

Requirements:
The MicroCell only works with 3G capable phones on the AT&T network. If you have a first generation iPhone or other non-3G cell phone it won’t do you any good. You are also required to have a broadband internet connection to connect the device. Lastly, AT&T’s network must also be ready for the MicroCell. In order for the MicroCell to communicate with the towers, there must have been an update to the towers in your area. The MicroCell isn’t available everywhere, but interestingly, availability opened up to a slew of new areas on June 7th, the day the iPhone 4 was announced. Coincidental? I think not.

You can check AT&T’s website to see if the MicroCell is available in your area. If not, you’ll be prompted to enter an email address and they will supposedly notify you when the MicroCell arrives. This didn’t work for me. The MicroCell has been available in my area for a week now, but I haven’t received AT&T’s email message. The only way I knew the MicroCell was available is because I’ve bookmarked the availability website and make a point to check it every day. So, don’t trust the email system to notify you.

Cost and Plans:
The MicroCell costs $149 to purchase from AT&T and must be associated with an active account. You can buy the device outright to use with your current plan. Without an optional MicroCell plan, any minutes used will be deducted from your minute package.

AT&T has an optional $20 a month plan that will allow all calls made from the MicroCell to be free. If you’re the type of person who makes a lot of calls from home, then this might be worth considering. I’m already on the lowest cost voice plan and have plenty of unused rollover minutes, so the extra expense is not worth it for me.

However, at the time I bought the MicroCell AT&T was running a promotion where you would receive a $100 rebate if you signed up for the $20 monthly MicroCell plan. I quizzed the store manager and read all the fine print on the brochure I was given and could not see any requirement that you have to keep the plan. The manager at my local AT&T store assured me that I could sign up for the plan for one month, send in my rebate and cancel the plan once my rebate came 4-6 weeks later. I’m not sure I believe him. But I got all of his information and decided to give it a try. My guess is this will come back to bite me, but I’ll let you know. If you decide to try this, make sure you fully investigate the terms and conditions and are comfortable doing this.

There was also another rebate option for customers who used AT&T as their home ISP. This didn’t apply to me, but check your area to see if there are promotions that may reduce the cost of the MicroCell.

Setup:
Before setting up the MicroCell you must register it online with you AT&T account using the device’s serial number and your address. You also must register the numbers of the phones that you want to allow to access the device. The MicroCell allows you to register up to 10 AT&T phones that can have access to the device. Up to four devices can be connected at a time. So you’re not sharing your MicroCell with the neighborhood, only the friends and family you choose. You can register any AT&T phone number, it doesn’t have to be someone you share a plan with and you can modify the numbers as needed.

There are a couple of ways to connect the MicroCell to your home network. If you don’t use a router, the MicroCell sits between your modem and your computer. It has a port to connect to your modem and a port to pass through the connection to your computer. If you use a router, you can plug the MicroCell into any open ethernet port just like you would any other connected device. Lastly, you can plug the MicroCell in between your modem and router.

If you don’t have a router, or you don’t have a router with any wired ethernet ports, then you don’t have much choice in the setup, you have to connect the MicroCell between your modem and computer. However, I think most people have some kind of wired router in their home. In this case, you want to give a little thought to about how you want to connect the device to your network. When active, the MicroCell works just like another device on your network, it’s going to be sending and receiving data and will impact the overall speed of your network.

By connecting the MicroCell in line before your router, you give it priority over you other connected devices. When you’re on a call, your network speed to your other devices will suffer, but your call will take priority. The only problem with this setup is if the MicroCell has a problem, it will bring down the entire network. If you connect it just as another device to your router, it will share bandwidth with your other devices and if you’re doing any heavy downloading or file transfers while you’re on a call, the call quality may suffer.

In my case, I opted to setup the MicroCell before my router so it would have priority. I figured that I would want my phone call to take priority over any file downloads if they happened to be going on at the same time. However, the first day I setup my MicroCell I had some kind of hiccup that brought down the MicroCell and my home network and required a restart of everthing. I should note that this happened during the initial setup of the device. The MicroCell has now been running fine for 5 days without any type of problem or network interruption. I haven’t noticed any kind of slow-down to my network while the MicroCell is in use, although I don’t usually check the status of my file transfers while I’m on a call. But while idle, I haven’t noticed any network hit.

From time to time you may need to reset the MicroCell just like you would any other router or connected device. Be aware that the device takes some time to power up and connect to AT&T’s network. Although subsequent restarts don’t take as long as the initial setup, you can expect it will be 10 – 20 minutes after restarting the MicroCell before it will be ready for use.

Because my ISP doesn’t have any way to check my bandwidth usage I can’t speak to how much data the MicroCell is using. I would imagine that data usage would be in line with a VOIP telephone service like Skype or Vonage. If you are on an ISP that caps data usage, you’ll probably want to keep an eye on this.

When first connected, the MicroCell can take up to 90 minutes to activate. AT&T says that you need to place the MicroCell near a window so it can get a GPS lock and that this is the cause for most activation problems. Once activated, you can usually move the MicroCell to another location within your house, but AT&T says the it needs to be fairly close to a window so it can transmit GPS information.

In my case, the MicroCell was about 6-8 feet from a large window with a clear path to the window and I was able to acquire a GPS lock without any problem. I’ve since moved the MicroCell a little further away from a window to sit behind my TV on my entertainment console and it still seem s to function without any problem about 8-10 feet away from a window.

The initial setup of the MicroCell took me about 45 minutes from the time I plugged it in until it was fully operational. There’s probably another 10 minutes or so of time to register the device and plug in the appropriate phone numbers. The first time your phones connect to the device may a while. Once the device status showed as ready, it took my iPhone 3G about 10 minutes to find it. Sometimes turning your phone off and back on again will force it to go out and look for a connection to find the MicroCell. Your phones will have some kind of icon indicating they’re connected to the MicroCell rather than a standard cell tower. Mine displays “M-Cell.”

Finding the right placement of the MicroCell can be a bit of a compromise. It has to be in a location relatively close to a window, that has power and a wired connection to your router or modem. You also want to place the MicroCell in an area of your home that is centrally located to make sure that you can cover your entire house. One more complicating factor – the MicroCell is fairly big, and it’s pretty ugly. The device is much larger than a standard wireless router, it’s got an odd “upside down Y” shape and it’s bright white and orange. I ended up putting my MicroCell on my entertainment console in my living room and hid it behind the TV.

Usage:
Now, for the part you’ve all been waiting for…does the MicroCell work? In a word…yes. I live in a 2,500 square foot townhouse with two levels and a rooftop terrace. I have 5 bars of coverage throughout my entire house and on the terrace. I also have MicroCell coverage on my porch and out in my garage and driveway. It’s about the same coverage area as my wireless router.

I also setup a MicroCell in my parents home. They have about the same square footage as me, except their house is spread out over one floor and their square footage is more “horizontal” where my square footage is more “vertical.” In my parents house they have coverage throughout the house, although it does drop to 3 or 4 bars on the outskirts of the house. Still, much better than their prior level of service.

I have made several calls on the MicroCell in the past week and have never dropped a call. One call was over two hours long. I am very pleased with the coverage, as far as I can tell the MicroCell works as advertised. Of course, it’s going to be susceptible to interference so the build of your home will make a difference.

The MicroCell is supposed to hand calls off to the local cell towers when you leave the range of your MicroCell. Just like cell towers hand calls off when you’re traveling. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true. Calls transfer out, but don’t transfer in. Calls initiated on the cell tower do not transfer to the MicroCell. So I can’t start a call on the road and then take it into my house. (In my case it only takes a few seconds of walking into my house before a call drops.) However calls started at home should transfer out to a tower. This is the only problem I’ve found so far with the MicroCell, hopefully it will be resolved with a future software update.

Conclusion:
Overall, the MicroCell seems to work as advertised and has solved the bulk of my coverage problems. I’ve gone from no service to 5 bars within my home and haven’t noticed any negative side effects of having the MicroCell connected to my network.

I’ve heard from several friends across the US that the MicroCell suddenly became available in their area on June 7th as well. If you’ve been waiting like me for a MicroCell, you may want to re-check your availability.

Editorial:
I’ve tried to be very objective in my review of the MicroCell, but I do need to throw in some editorial comments here, both good and bad.

I have been angry for a very long time about the situation with my AT&T coverage. I spent nearly $100 a month on cell phone service that I couldn’t use. I understand that AT&T can’t guarantee coverage inside buildings, but my issue is outside as well. Additionally, AT&T’s coverage maps clearly show that my area should be blanketed by excellent 3G coverage. That’s just not the case. When investigating this issue with AT&T last year, they even sent out network testers who verified that despite the coverage maps, my area was a dead zone and the only solution was to build a new tower. Of course, the maps still show this area as having excellent coverage despite AT&T knowing better.

Quite frankly, the idea of me having to pay AT&T $150 for a MicroCell and having to use my own broadband internet connection to compensate for their poor service that I’m already paying for, is offensive. If I had excellent service outside my home or if the maps showed poor or no coverage, I would have no problem with AT&T. But that’s simply not the case. My fear is that AT&T will use the MicroCell service, at the expense of their customers, as a reason not to beef up their network. The MicroCell works great in my home, but it does nothing about the poor network service around town.

On the other hand, I’m very happy to have the option to use a MicroCell in my home. It’s an a lifeline for people like me who otherwise wouldn’t have service. I understand that AT&T can’t cover every square inch of the US with a reliable network. I’m sure if they could do so in a manner that was reasonably cost effective they would. I also don’t have to stay with AT&T. I could switch to another carrier, but I don’t because I love my iPhone. So I’ve made a choice to tolerate a sub-par network to have my preferred phone.

Currently, AT&T’s official line is that they are not discounting the MicroCell under any circumstances. I had more than one AT&T rep read me that official policy over the last week. The store managers claim that they have no authority to discount a MicroCell and the first line telephone support apparently doesn’t have the authority to do so either. That being said, and in full disclosure, after a little “gentle pressure” and refusal to accept no for an answer, I was able to work my way up the chain and explain my situation. I received a number of credits on my bill from AT&T that will just about offset the price of my MicroCell. (I never once played the “do you know who I am?” card or told them I was a podcaster or blogger – I doubt that would have made any difference anyway.)

One thing that helped me was using AT&T’s “Mark the Spot” iPhone app to report network problems. Much to my surprise, the higher level AT&T rep was able to see how many reports I had logged of poor service. So AT&T is at least paying attention to the reports it generates. Of course, your experience may vary. I’ve always found polite persistence to be the key in obtaining help from customer service. Please don’t yell at the salesclerk who has no ability to help you.

My feelings towards AT&T would be much more positive if they had some kind of official program in place to provide MicroCells to customers either free or at a greatly reduced cost if they had a documented and legitimate coverage issue. My hope is that they’ll change their current “no discount” policy and help other customers who are in situations like mine.

All things considered, the MicroCell has changed my daily life. I can’t even begin to explain to you how nice it is to have a working phone again after living a year with this constant frustration. As I said, I had been angry with AT&T for a very long time, and after about 5 minutes of starting at my phone with 5 bars, I felt a lot of that anger lift away.

AT&T’s network still has much to be desired in my area. But the MicroCell has just about resolved my issues with making and receiving calls at home which takes care of most of my problems. The availability of the MicroCell has made up my decision that I’m okay with staying with AT&T for another two years and I plan to upgrade to the iPhone 4 on day one.

Thanks for reading my monster MicroCell review. I’d love for you to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.

As a general rule, I don’t like extended warranties and almost universally refuse to buy them. However, the major exception to that is AppleCare. I always buy AppleCare on my portable Macs and strongly recommend it for the purchase of any notebook or iMac. Notebooks are prone to everyday bumps and jostles that can cause damage to the internal components. Notebooks have a higher failure rate than desktop machines and a repair can cost anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to practically the price of a new machine.

I recommend AppleCare on the iMac because the compact form factor and large display is another source of problems. The iMac is very difficult for even the most technically advanced consumer to repair themselves, and the cost of even a minor repair will be very expensive.

On the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini I’m a little more neutral on the idea of AppleCare. Every machine comes with a 1 year standard warranty and my experience is if something was going to go wrong it will likely so in the first year. These machines are also less prone to everyday wear and tear simply because they’re stationary. On a Mac Pro or high end Mac Mini, AppleCare may make more sense because of the cost of replacement. It’s also worth noting that if you buy a display with your MacPro or Mac Mini it will also be covered by AppleCare, so you get a little extra bang for the buck.

I do not recommend AppleCare on iPods, AppleTVs, iPhones or iPads. On these devices AppleCare only extends the warranty of the device from 1 year to two years, so you’re paying for not a lot of extra coverage. These devices are also most prone to accidental damage, loss or theft, which are not covered by AppleCare.

In Summary:

Notebooks and iMacs – Strongly Recommend AppleCare

Mac Pros and Mac Minis – Neutral/Recommend (strongly recommend if buying with a covered display)

Portable Devices – Discourage AppleCare Purchase

David Sparks and I spoke at length about the topic of AppleCare on Mac Power Users Episode 14, Buying and Selling Macs. If you’re interested in this topic, I’d recommend you take a listen.

Insurance vs. AppleCare

Typically, insurance and AppleCare cover different things. AppleCare only covers manufacturer defects. It does not cover loss, theft, accidental damage, etc. By constrast, insurance typically doesn’t cover manufacturer defects but may cover loss, theft and accidental damage. If you want to be fully covered, you may need to purchase both AppleCare and insurance. (SquareTrade is the exception in that it provides some extended warranty benefits.)

Insurance Options:

There are a couple of different insurance options. These options will vary depending on your area and your situation. I can only speak from personal experience and quotes that I have received. So the information I provide below is based on my quotes, your coverage options and prices may vary.

Local Agent:

I consulted my local State Farm agent to find coverage for my notebook, this is my preferred method of insuring mobile devices. I’ve found the costs to be the most competitive and I’m much more comfortable dealing with someone I have a personal relationship with and can deal with locally. I have auto and home insurance through State Farm so I called them up to discuss the possibility of adding coverage for some of my mobile devices and this is what I learned:

Homeowners/Renters insurance will only cover technology under specific circumstances, and typically there’s a deductable. There is also the concern of the adverse impact filing a claim will have and the risk your insurance company will drop you or raise your rates. You should contact your insurance agent to determine what coverage you have under your policy, or ask about the possibility of adding a rider to cover your mobile devices. However, I found that having a separate policy made the most sense for me.

My agent recommended a Marine Policy for my MacBook Pro. It would be a policy separate from my homeowners and auto insurance so that if I had to file a claim on that policy, I wouldn’t run the rick of my homeowners or auto insurance rates going up or being canceled. I also had the advantage of the policy having no deductable and would cover my MacBook Pro for replacement value. Unfortunately, the agent could not sell me coverage on my iPhone or iPad. He told me they use to offer phone insurance, but had to stop. My $0 deductable policy for my MacBook Pro costs me around $35 a year and covers theft, loss and accidental damage. For me, the peace of mind is worth the minimal cost.

You can probably get the best deals from a company you already do business with. But if you don’t get the answer you want form your local agent, try the agent for another company. They all have different policies and different options. Insurance varies by state. For example, I know some of my podcasting friends in California can’t get this type of coverage from their State Farm agent, so availability varies.

Technology Specific Insurance Companies

There are a couple of insurance companies out there that specialize in insurance for mobile devices. Safeware and SquareTrade are the most popular options, although there may be others. David Sparks turned me on to this idea and has policies on his mobile devices with Safeware and SquareTrade however he’s never had to file a claim so can’t speak to that process.

Both these companies offer insurance for notebooks, iPhones and iPads. Safeware offers protection from theft, accidental damage, power surge, and theft.  SquareTrade takes a slightly different approach and offers a more traditional extended warranty plan with the option to add accidental damage protection for another premium. (Loss or theft protection typically isn’t available from SquareTrade.) Because each of these companies offer different solutions depending on the product you want to cover, I suggest you look at both options to compare the features.

I have no personal experience with either of these companies. Please perform your due diligence and investigate their terms and reputation.

Insurance from the Retailer

Insurance may also be available from your carrier or retailer. Most phone companies and retail stores offer some kind of insurance or extended warranty policy. Make sure you investigate these options and their cost. Be sure to look out for unexpected deductibles and monthly fees. BestBuy has an extended warranty program and AT&T is supposedly getting into the iPhone insurance business soon.

Do Warranties and Insurance Make Sense?

This is a highly debatable issue. As a general rule, I avoid extended warranties. My philosophy is that devices will typically fail within the normal warranty coverage due to some kind of design or manufacturing defect or they’ll last until they wear themselves out, typically after a warranty period has ended. You can spend a lot of money on additional warranties and insurance that you never use and wish you had that money in your pocket to buy other things.

If you’re particularly accident prone, or the device is going to be used by someone who is accident prone (teenage boys for example) then insurance may make more sense. Just keep in mind, it is insurance and if you file a claim or two, you’ll probably be dropped or non-renewed.

Insurance or extended warranties may make more sense if the cost of replacing the device would be a significant hardship or impossible due to your financial circumstances. However, you also must ask yourself, if you don’t have appropriate savings to cover an unexpected device replacement, should you really be spending your money on that device in the first place?

There is also the peace of mind factor that comes into play. If you’re so paranoid that you’re going to loose or break your laptop that you never take it out of the house, why did you even bother to buy a laptop? In this case, your fear is depriving you of using the device to the full potential. If this is a serious concern, you may want to consider buying the insurance and living your life.

Other Options:

Explore what type of insurance you may already have on your devices. Does your existing insurance cover your devices? If so, under what circumstances?  Do you have any alternative sources of coverage? Some credit cards may offer extended warranties or replacement protections on some purchase. Make sure you explore these possibilities as well. If you use your device for business, is it possibly covered under your employers insurance or will they pay for repairs or replacements? There are all kinds of special circumstances out there, make sure you explore your options fully.

Read the Fine Print:

Make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into before you buy anything. What’s covered and what’s not? What’s the deductable? What’s the claims process like? Can you immediately go out and replace the device or is their some kind of waiting or investigation period?  What are the remedies if you’re not satisfied with your service? Make sure you understand the terms and conditions of your contract before you hand over your cash.

Always Have a Plan B:

Insurance coverage may not be perfect. In many cases there is a period of time when you’re without your device while the claim is investigated or the item is off for repair. In the case of a phone or computer, that can be a big deal. What’s your contingency plan?

Be Smart

Insurance only covers the replacement of the device: not the data on the device or the potential consequences of lost data. As always, make sure you have appropriate backups and security methods so that if your device is destroyed, lost or stolen, you don’t also have to deal with the possible repercussions of data theft or reproducing your work.

Well, I’m once upgrade eligible for a fully subsidized iPhone, (plus $18 upgrade fee) yet I’m not sure I’ll be pulling out my credit card on June 7^th. Here’s why the purchase of this iPhone is a tough decision for me:

AT&T’s Poor Network

Anyone who follows me on twitter or listens to my occasional ranting knows that my AT&T service sucks. I live in a city with a population of over 260,000. Not a metropolis by any means, but still large enough to justify reasonable cell coverage. AT&T has been a miserable disappointment. Sure, every city has their dead spots, that’s to be expected. But I have bad service just about everywhere I go. Voicemail can be hours delayed, my phone regularly doesn’t ring, even with 5 bars of service and text messages sometimes show up timely, sometimes not. I love the iPhone, but I hate AT&T.

Complicating matters for me personally is that my home is in a known dead spot for all cell phone providers in my city. Because of the geography of the land, we have an area that is recessed between a series of hills and has notoriously bad coverage. There have been efforts to get a tower in my area for years, but because the area contains a major park, two schools and several hundred residential homes, there has been community concern over the possible health risks associated with a tower. (Apparently there are those who think the cell towers are going to cause children to grow gills or something.)

The Verizon Question

The “experts” have gone round and round over the issue of AT&T exclusivity. The generally accepted notion is that the original exclusivity deal was for 5 years, but that there may have been modifications to the contract. Buzz seems to be at an all time high that a Verizon iPhone is coming but no word on when.

I had Verizon before and still had that same dead zone around my home. But generally after I left home and traveled around the city and state I had no problems making and receiving phone calls and messages. So for me, Verizon would likely have the same dead zone in my home, but probably be better service overall.

Also, let’s be real – everyone hates their cell phone company. They all suck. It’s 2010 and we sill haven’t figured out a way to make cell phones operate reliability. As one blog post pointed out, the grass may not be any greener over on the other side. We all saw how AT&T’s network crumbled under the iPhone’s popularity, what makes us think Verizon’s network will be that much better?

Let me weigh in with my two cents regarding this issue: I think we’ll see a Verizon iPhone within the next 2 years. Or put another way, I think anyone who signs a new 2 year contract with AT&T when the iPhone 4G comes out will be faced with a decision as to whether or not they want to switch carries badly enough to pay the early termination fee to dump AT&T. I do not think we’ll hear any announcements about a Verizon iPhone at WWDC.

Early Termination Fee

This just has me fuming. You may have heard that effective June 1, 2010, AT&T is drastically increasing their early termination fee on smart phones, including the iPhone. The ETF increases from $175 to $325. AT&T did lower the ETF by $25 on non-smart phones from $175 to $150. I should also note that for iPhones the ETF drops $10 a month for every month into your 2 year contract you go. Their rational is that the current ETF does not adequately cover the phone’s subsidy.

This may be true, but let’s just say the timing is interesting. True, Verizon made a similar move in raising early termination fees last year, (Verizon’s ETF is $350 and drops every month as well) but one can’t help but wonder why AT&T is doing this now. Part I’m sure is related to the iPhone 4G release, but is some part of it related to the fact that they know their exclusivity deal is coming to an end and they want to make sure that they can take one more swipe at their customers as they jump ship and head for Verizon?

The Promise of the Microcell

I’ve got mixed emotions on this one. First off, when the heck is AT&T going to release the damn thing nationwide? We’ve been promised the Microcell for over a year now with the nationwide release being right around the corner. Then AT&T announced the Microcell came out of the “testing phase” in Mid-April but it still isn’t available in most areas. Apparently AT&T has to push out a network upgrade for the device to work with the towers. I check the AT&T website every day, no Microcell yet.

I’m not sure I like the idea of the Microcell. Of course I like the option for customers who have very poor AT&T service to have an alternative way to use their phone. But, I already pay for AT&T service that I can’t use. On average, I use around 200 minutes a month on my phone, not because I don’t want to use any more minutes, but because I can’t. My phone doesn’t work in the areas where I make most of my phone calls. So because AT&T has poor service, I have to pay them another $150 for a device to connect to my broadband to supplement their network. That doesn’t quite seem fair. I pay for the minutes, I can’t use them so I have to pay for the Microcell and I have to pay for the broadband. By the way, for the first time in years, I also now pay for a home phone line because I can’t use my cell phone at home.

If AT&T had some kind of policy that would provide the microcell to customers for free or at a drastically reduced cost if there were documented network issues in their area, I would feel much better about this whole situation. Unfortunately, they’ve got me. I can’t make a call, I don’t want to give up my iPhone, so I’ll pay the $150 for the microcell. But all the while, I’ll hate them a little bit for it.

What to do?

While writing this blog post I called up AT&T customer support. They were polite and tried to be helpful, as always. Unfortunately they had no news on the possibility of any new towers or Microcell availability in my area. One thing I do have to say for AT&T is that their customer service has been great. So long as you’re polite, the AT&T reps will do their best to help you and throw a couple of bucks credit at you for you troubles. Unfortunately, they can’t build a tower or upgrade a network. So for now, I sit and wait as I have been for the past year.

Which brings me to the question of what do I do next? A lot of that depends on what’s announced at WWDC. I’ll have to see how magical and revolutionary the new iPhone 4G really is to justify me upgrading and how strong Steve’s reality distortion field is. Although I’m doing the best I can to mentally prepare myself for iPhone launch day and resist the urge to immediately pre-order an iPhone online, we all know there’s a pretty decent chance of that happening.

My iPhone 3G is adequate for my needs for now, but my AppleCare is due to expire soon and with the new iPhone 4.0 OS having limited functionality on the 3G iPhone, I’m really about due for an upgrade. At some point I’m afraid I’ll drop my 3G or it will finally die and I’ll have no choice but to buy a new iPhone. But for now, it’s adequate for my needs.

A lot also depends on the Microcell. Right now I don’t even have the option to use the Microcell, but I can’t help but wonder whether I could live with AT&T another two years if I could reliably make and receive calls in my home. This would alleviate about 80% or more of my problems. It won’t solve my problems everywhere, but it’s a start. Assuming of course I can actually buy it at some point.

Depending on the new pricing that is announced on the iPhone, it looks as though the cost of buying an iPhone at the subsidized rate and paying the early termination fee is a few bucks cheaper than buying a contract-free iPhone. I might also look at waiting a while and trying to pickup a refurb or gently used 3G S or 4G without a contract.

I’m sure I’m not the only one facing this dilemma. I’d be curious to hear what others are going to do. Leave a comment below with your thoughts.