Looks like the sky at night...
...Get a few more scratches and it will begin to look like a galaxy.
One of Apple's newest iPhones is being slammed by fans for its lack of quality, in what should be a worrying development for the Cupertino iStuff slinger. Loyalists have taken to Apple's support forums to complain that the matte black model of the Sir Jony Ive-designed iPhone 7 is prone to easily chipping off, even when a …
>Sir Jony only dictates the appearance. Real engineers design it. Mechanical, Electronic, Software, Product, Manufacturing.
And just who do you think co-ordinates those specialist, Mage? Yep, the Product Designer. The design process is one of communication and liaison. If you ask an electronic engineer to 'design me a computer', they will look at you weirdly because you haven't defined any constraints, thermal, power, enclosure size etc. Ditto the mechanical engineer. And it should be self-evident that it is inefficient to just dump a 'finished' design on the desk of a manufacturing engineer - in reality, his team's input will be sought at all stages of the process.
If you have problems with Apple, that's fine. But please, don't denigrate the entire discipline of Product Design, because the last thing we need are more shit products in this world. It's about showing respect for professionals who work in a field you might not have taken the time to fully understand. If you need some case studies to grok this, let's work on some. Maybe a Reg article about Product Design is over due? The Reg did recently run an obituary of Richard Sapper (ThinkPad, Alessi), who was from a more conventional Industrial Design generation - and the differences are informative.
>He design's the stuff, I'm sure they'll be some chemical-paint-engineer who decides what paint is used.
And some suit who decides that the proper coating is too expensive or doesn't suit their vision and to use something else.
>And some suit who decides that the proper coating is too expensive or doesn't suit their vision and to use something else.
Aye. The 'proper' coating would be Physical Vapour Deposition, as used on Rolex watch bezels, if you really want deep blacks.
From what I can make out, Apple are using an uncommonly thick anodising layer, which is porous and absorbs the black dye they have used. This hard anodisation process is often used on aluminium saucepans, but in not as thick a layer - hence the grey colour commonly found on cookware.
At this stage, we don't know if this chipping is due to a bad batch (bloody chemistry, with all it's fussy variables!), or an inherent issue with Apple's process.
@Dave 126 I believe Apple are currently using 7068 aluminum which offers some strength advantages over both 7075 and 6063. Like 7075 it doesn't take anodizing quite as well as 6063 or 6061, which are about the top of the class in that respect, but both 7000 series are better than the 2000s like 2024 which is only fair. I will say a hard anodize on 7068 will get some additional abrasion resistance over the others but that may actually hinder the ability of the dye to take although I've not seen any research on that.
And some suit who decides that the proper coating is too expensive or doesn't suit their vision and to use something else.
Years ago Ford attempted to go to water based paint, partly owing to VOCs and partly to speed up the production line. A manager noticed that the paint wasn't adhering properly - and stopped the production line, which at Ford was a win-or-get fired decision. He was right, and he became something of a hero figure in Ford.
A colleague got a Scorpio which had the paint on it, from before it got stopped. He parked under a tree, a pigeon crapped on the bonnet, and the result was three big holes down to the metal. The car had to go back to be fixed.
I wonder what happens to anyone who stops the line at Foxconn?
Vauxhall were notorious for this in the mid-90s. So much so I remember Watchdog making a big deal about it. By then there wasn't much they could do about it as they weren't able to switch back due to the banning of lead paint. They eventually got it sorted though, but I wouldn't buy a late edition Cavalier if I were you.
I will have to inspect the little admin's new phone for this, but I suspect like 99.999% of "problems discovered with Apple products" are the user. So, my idea is that I would pay people like this to return the product, accept an unlocked Samsung Note Whatever; only after promising never to purchase an Apple product ever again. Even the fiery samsungs could not make people protest as loudly as they do at their shiny other thing from the high-end fruit flinger. Here's a tip: if it's so expensive and shitty, stop buying so many of them! Even in the cell-glut-slump people are crapping all over themselves to get a phone without a headphone jack in it. Calm the fuck down, idiots. Go get a Pixel and stop your foul whining, you filthy pieces of distended rectum!!1!
Don't get the Pixel yet. There is a problem with the loudspeaker ( see Google Pixel forums / problems on the internet ). I have the Pixel, two weeks ago the haptic feedback when you touch type makes scratchy noises , not sorted out by the latest update from Google that is supposed to cure the fault ).
The camera is superb , better I think than the iphone 6 Plus , I have no iphone 7 to compare it to .
If I were you I would wait for Pixel 2 which hopefully will be launched later this year and Google would have sorted out the loudspeaker and lens flare issue.
> ... accept an unlocked ... Whatever
I like how you threw unlocked in there for seemingly no apparent reason. Are you ass-u-me-ing that phones over here are all locked?
They're not. AFAIK nothing is locked any more. My current phone was not locked, ever. My previous phone was locked, and after a year Sprint unlocked it for the low, low price of asking for it to be unlocked.
I suspect the other commenters are correct, you should switch to decaf.
They're not. AFAIK nothing is locked any more. My current phone was not locked, ever. My previous phone was locked, and after a year Sprint unlocked it for the low, low price of asking for it to be unlocked.
Not true universally. I did a brief stint as tech support with T-Mob USA. Their handsets were always locked. They would unlock on request provided the device was paid for in full. Outstanding credit on it - no dice.
I would assume most other carriers are at least as strict, T-Mob tended to be kinder to the customer than average in that sort of thing at least.
Problems not with the user if the paint is chipping, it's with the people who make the phone. Whether it's a design fail, QC fail or something else.
My non iphone is a couple of years old, adnd while admittedly not being worried about taking it out of it's case for a weeky wipe down. (why?) It's not showing any chips or issues with it's covering. I would expect it not to and especially not if I am payng £600 odd quid for one.
"It seems that the black anodised paint had been chipped off"
An anodised surface doesn't chip/flake off like paint because it isn't paint. If Apple are advertising it as anodised then they're lying. It's flaking off then it's because it's a crap paint/coating job.
>An anodised surface doesn't chip/flake off like paint because it isn't paint. If Apple are advertising it as anodised then they're lying. It's flaking off then it's because it's a crap paint/coating job.
Sorry, you're incorrect. Apple isn't lying. It is anodisation, but not the common form of 'Colour Anodisation' that you may be thinking of. Links to evidence at end of this post.
The common Type II - or 'Colour Anodise' - is often seen on bicycle components - metallic blues, reds and purples, amongst other shades. It takes a colour, isn't very hard, and is too thin to chip off. However, the process of 'Hard Anodisation' produces a thicker, harder layer* than can chip off. This kind of anodisation is sometimes seen on bicycle chain rings and cranks, and usually results in a dark grey or muddy colour. It is also very common on aluminium saucepans. I've seen parts where this coating has chipped. If you pop to your kitchen, there is a fair chance you can inspect such chipping with your own eyes.
* It's actually layers: the aluminium is penetrated by about a 0.025mm, and the chemistry results in an oxide layer of similar thickness 'growing' from the surface. It may be that Apple's process results in a thicker layer, making it more prone to the type of chipping that has been reported.
https://wickwerks.com/anodize
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcA7oE8yMvc
https://www.wired.com/2016/09/apple-jet-black-iphone-none-more-black/
"An anodised surface doesn't chip/flake off like paint because it isn't paint"
It depends. It depends on the thickness, the sharpness of the angle, and the underlying alloy. Anodising can chip if the stresses built up in the anodised layer are sufficient to peel it off the surface, since the thermal expansion of the oxide is about a third that of the metal.
Personally I don't like anodising much but then nor do I like PVD on aluminium. It's an annoying metal to coat.
I have an "anodised" ipod mini from which the coating comes off the edges in flakes if you hit it with something sharp, so Apple products were already doing this more than ten years ago.
(Bought it second hand and upgraded with a 64GB CF card and uprated battery. Pretty decent device after the upgrade, though it's a shame most docks and cars won't recognise it these days.)
Wow.
kyoukoku posts a demonstrably incorrect comment. I post a correction, with evidence. He gets a further 16 upvotes.
I'm sympathetic to what led to kyoukoku's error - and we all make mistakes - but not to those people who upvoted him after they were presented with clear evidence to the contrary.
The amazing thing is that 100% of Reg readers are literate and have access to the internet so can educate themselves - so I can't understand why they don't.
kyoukoku posts a demonstrably incorrect comment. I post a correction, with evidence. He gets a further 16 upvotes.
You notice there's a day or so between their post and yours, and have logged the differences? Wow you make me feel like my life is considerably less sad.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BI14wfWJax8
kyoukoku posts a demonstrably incorrect comment. I post a correction, with evidence. He gets a further 16 upvotes
Follow this link to facebook if you want assurance of your existence (maybe post some photos of your dinner).
' the Cupertino idiot-tax operation'
'We have contacted Apple for comment but have received no reply'
I wonder if these 2 quotes from the article are related in some way?
Still, I lke the Cito name - unfortunately a quick search reveals that it is used by a large number of organisatons already.
"regularly abrade the phone surface by removing and replacing the cover..."
If it looks like this after one insertion/removal per month, I don't even want to begin thinking of how it'd look if it was pocket carried without protection...
Another USian twit. The word you're looking for is American.Or 'Merkin if you think you're being funny.
And some of us may call it a blinker (here in New England that'd be 'blinkah') but I believe most of us call it a turn signal.
(Many years ago, during a particularly pedantic period I was in, I tried to convince people that American was incorrect as all of us, Mexicans, Canadians, Argentines, etc., were all Americans by virtue of living in North or South America. I was heartily shouted down, mainly by Canadians, who righteously declared that they were Canadians and that was that. But just the other week I had a Canadian tell me that here in the good ol' USofA can't claim the title of American, as we have done for some 200 years, as there are more Americans in these North and South American continents than just, ahem, us Americans. I laughed at him.)
Give it up. Nobody else on the continent wants to be related to the toxic branding of "American".
People from the united states are yanks, burgers, Amerifats, or Amerilards. Our flag is exactly the same as your flag. Except on fire.
anyone who cares about their device
<Ring, ring> Sounds like reality calling - that'll be for you:
It's a mass produced phone, mate, not a cuddly toy or a pet.
If you want to fondle your electronics, then there's no law against that (well, certain religions get hot and bothered about all manner of trivia, I'm assuming you're not in those places), but even so, if I was going to cuddle an electrical device, it's be something genuinely covetable, like Quad electrostatics, or something similarly classy. And even then, I'm thinking that maybe the religions are right - cuddling any digital device....welll, it's just wrong.
In over 30 years of having cell phones, I've never done such a cleaning. The most they get is a wipe with the back of my hand to get the smudges off the screen. And I have yet to have a phone fail on me apart from some prototype phones.
I occasionally clean the screen with some alchohol cleaner, but thats really only when it's to hand and I remember. Otherwise it goes in a case and lives in my pocket, if it was the sort of device that needed removing from a protective case and a weekly wipe down I don't think I'd be just shoving it in my pocket it would be to delicate. Only things that have failed on my phones have been batteries.
Seems OK to me, it behaves just like the ablative paint I'm about to apply to my boat's hull.
If this was an Android based phone, people would be "meh" and buy a case to cover over the pealing paint. But this is an Apple: a status symbol whose logo shall not be blocked by any case for fear people may not know you are using an Apple product. The sin here is, not that the paint is peeling, but that the peeling paint will detract from the status symbol.
... I generally only see what my phone looks like until a proper case for it is found, usually Case-Mate, and shipped out. It's a three step process - buy phone, apply ballistics glass screen protector, insert into case - wait 2-3 years, repeat.
My latest phone, a Moto Z Force, is a good phone but slippery as hell without a case. Even with an allegedly shatterproof screen, I was afraid of throwing the damn thing across the room by accident, until the case was delivered.
The Register's circle jerk of Apple bashing journos squeals with adolescent delight again!
"Idiot tax" -> sure bubba, but an Android S7, or the eye-roller of the Google Phone that's just a sorry LG parts bin concoction, are even more expensive. And they're 5x slower on JS.
https://medium.com/@addyosmani/javascript-start-up-performance-69200f43b201#.au9kbzqwi
Maybe you haven't noticed, but apple has been taking *a lot* of stick from across the tech commentariat in recent months. You're no longer the hubristic little rebel voice against the sea of Apple yes-men. Move on.
Disclosure: S7 owner.
My 4 year old (or is it 5?) HTC One S is as matt black as they come (and the OLED screen blacks are Hotblack Desiato-quality) thanks to its unusual micro-arc oxidation finish. I carry it around in my pocket (funnily enough it fits...), though not with anything scratchy like keys, it has never had a case or screen protector (what's the point of buying a super-thin phone then putting it in a big bulky case?) and it is still pristine. No chips, no scratches. None.
Maybe the micro-arc oxidation process is too expensive for Apple? Just kidding, my phone has similar specs to an iPhone 5 but was half the price.
Before the fan-bois kick in, I'm typing this on my iPad, which does need a silicone cover, otherwise it's uncomfortable to handle one-handed.
I admit I don't know much about physics, but is there any reason behind the use of metal instead of plastic?
Or is it just so that mobile manufacturers can shaft their customers a little more?
If I remember correctly, the "holding it wrong" malarkey only happened because the case was made of metal. I could be completely wrong here, but that's how I remember it.
So - long story short: they make you pay more to shave a millimetre from your phone. I guess it's really important for people to be able to keep an extra bookmark in their pockets / bags. Fair enough.
Then they use metal, for no reason I can understand. But I am happy to be corrected if there is one. So they also a buy a plastic cover, making, effectively, the back of the phone made of plastic. An extra millimetre thick.
Am I missing something?
Metal should help with cooling versus plastic, also considering how thin they are making the devices and how thin the case material would need to be structurally it might be slightly better.
Plus plastic is passee Apple wer very againtst plastic saying it was cheap and tacky, (until the released one made from plastic of course). I think a lot of people now look at plastic and it's not status symbol enough for them.