∞ iPhone 4, Ping on CNN's 'fails' of 2010

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CNN just published its list of the top 10 biggest technology failures of 2010 — topping the list is the iPhone 4.

[ad#Google Adsense 300x250 in story]Apple’s iPhone 4 drew a lot of attention when it was released for its design. Later that design was criticized as the cause what came to be know as “antennagate.”

This, of course, is the “death grip” where you can hold the iPhone tightly and cause it to lose signal strength. Considering Apple has shown that other phones also suffer from the same antenna problems and the iPhone 4 has sold so well, it seems harsh to put it as the No. 1 fail.

Other items on the list include 3D TV, Microsoft Kin, Nexus One, Facebook privacy, Google Buzz, Gawker Media sites hacked, Content farms, Digg relaunch, and iTunes Ping.


  • The Cappy

    Then what was really pathetic was a few months ago, an HTC Android phone got briefly in the news for it’s own antenna issues. And they got away with their “all phones do this.” They didn’t get hammered in the press for their hypocrisy. People (at ArsTechnica for instance) just shrugged and accepted it. It’s only a problem if it happens to Apple… as CNN proves.

    • http://www.loopinsight.com Jim Dalrymple

      And they sold 14 million iPhones in the last quarter alone.

      • The Cappy

        Truth. Which brings up this: why wasn’t the Kin #1? Huge resources dumped into a project stretching out forever, and then the product is canceled right after it debuts? That was a disaster of epic proportions. The iPhone problem was mainly a problem in how overblown the news media and blogosphere made it.

  • Anonymous

    Of course, if CNN had said “Android Phone Antenna Fail”, no one would bother to click on the story.

  • http://twitter.com/darxmac Thomas von Hassel

    yet another lame “list of…” … put on instant ignore :)

  • IcyFog
  • IcyFog

    HTC had its own antenna problem. Was HTC on the fail list too? Is CNN biased much?

  • jared

    CNN beating up on Demand Media for being a “content farm” that will post “anything” to get clicks…in the same breath as headlining the iPhone 4 as the year’s #1 tech fail.

    Is that another item we should file under “fail is relative”?

  • Dan

    Dumb article, but I have to admit… Facebook privacy? The ultimate oxymoron!

  • Anonymous

    Ping may be like the Apple TV. A hobby at first and then evolve into something pretty good.

    The number 1 fail of 2010? The chattering class of TV news.

  • Anonymous

    Let’s not go into another Cupertino reality distortion field.

    A few people did the math: that ‘tiny’ percentage (disputable) added up to almost 15,000 real human beings. Consumer Reports did not underestimate the problem. They tested phones. Many phones. CR has a large proportion of Apple users. They had nothing to gain, and most CR reviewers liked the iPhone.

    But the iPhone was shitting something, and when CR told the truth, out came the Steve Jobs BS job.

    Yes, that does qualify as the biggest tech failure of the year. If Jobs had kept his mouth shut, maybe it would have been only the second biggest; but no, he had to make it the biggest.
    .

    • The Cappy

      Reality distortion field… Like when HTC immediately when on record to condemn Jobs for trying to act like it was a problem affecting all phones, and then months later, when their own phone did it, they shrugged and said it happened to all phones? THAT reality distortion field, you mean?

      Or do you mean the reality distortion field that happens when people do what you’re doing? Remembering only one part of one side of a complicated story?

    • Anonymous

      The iPhone 4 didn’t fail, it worked then and it works now.

    • Anonymous

      But how many times out of those 15,000 did the person say that ATT sucks in general for them. Hell even the whole CR article pointed out ‘in areas with weak ATT coverage’ as the only time there was really an issue with the issue.

  • IcyFog

    15,000/14 million = .001 = not a big deal = no way it’s 1 fail.

    • Anonymous

      Yep. The real fail was the tech media making way more of a deal out of it than it was.

      As for Ping, it is still in the early stages. To soon, in my book, to call it a win or lose

  • Anonymous

    In comparing the two, I remember Apple’s videos showing various death grips on various phones. However, the one that sticks in my mind is the one with the iPhone where all you had to do was touch a particular spot and the signal went down. No “death grip” required–just bridge two antennas.

    “Oh, that was a bug in the signal meter.” Well, yes, it was. This bug had been sticking around since Apple “fixed” the signal strength meter in the original iPhone to make your reception look better than it actually was.

    Is there a problem with the iPhone 4 antenna? I believe so. Apple has a history of doing a poor job with antennas.

  • IcyFog

    Where’s the totally objective CR, and the rest of the media for that matter in relation to HTC antenna problems?
    http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2010/12/06/244306/HTC-defends-HD7-handsets-after-antenna-problems-reported.htm

  • Anonymous

    CNN. “The Most Trusted Name In News!”

    Ya, right.

    CNN is so far from that statement that there is no device on earth that could measure that gulf!

    No, CNN is only a shadow of what it once was, more than 15 years ago.
    Why do you think Bernard Shaw left the network after the debacle of the 2000 election. Any real talent that truly was devoted to news & fact checking left that network years ago.

    They are simply irrelevant and laughable now.

  • Mark

    Most the people that talk about the problem I’ve found don’t have the phone. I got mine and couldn’t even duplicate the issue. I’m even out in 2G/Edge land when home, and my iPhone 4 has held more calls than my 3GS did – specially behind this 5 ft wide chimney which is commonly when I’ll drop a call.
    If I didn’t like it, I would of taken it back – don’t understand what the big deal is.

  • Master

    Really Apple fanboys ??? I know this is a pro Apple site, and don’t get me wrong, Apple has some good stuff, but the iPhone 4 was a fail which was further highlighted by the dictator’s infamous you’re holding it wrong fallout. So next time get your facts straight.