Yesterday PC Pro a story about how system administrator Lewis Peckover had discovered that O2 were transmitting customer’s mobile number when you visited a web page. Lewis even produced a web page where you could if your phone was doing this. However, by the afternoon O2 appeared to have back-peddled quickly and removed this functionality, as my phone was not displaying any information.

Why would O2 be doing this in the first place? Well, they’ve since given a few reasons but the most important, as far as I’m concerned, is so that their website can identify you. Unlike other networks who make it difficult for you to find your remaining balances, O2 give you a useful web link to visit – it reads your phone number from the web page header and then displays the information.

Sadly, now they’ve removed the phone number transmission, that site no longer works (see screenshot from my phone). Boo. Of course, I equally don’t want my phone number spread about the internet – would it have been too much to ask to have O2 encrypt it?

For a while I’ve been after a new monitor – my 17″ Viewsonic may have been a PC Pro a-listed cutting-edge monitor back in 2005 (when it cost me £187.22!) but now it’s a little small and the colours aren’t quite as vibrant as they were 6 years ago.

Now, I was happy to spend a bit more to getter a higher quality monitor and there were  certain things I wanted (in no particular order)…

• (Ideally) a zero dead pixel guarantee
• 23″ – 24″ screen size
• Not bothered about speakers
• A USB hub would be nice
• Good general output quality and a lack of external light bleeding
• HDMI or DVI input
• Adjustable stand

After much searching I settled on the Dell UltraSharp U2311H – reviews gave me all the above at a price of around £260. Ordering was easy and the delivery quick – I couldn’t be around for the drop-off so I arranged to pick it up from my local UPS office.

Inside the unassuming brown box was the monitor, various leaflets, a CD, power cable, VGA cable and DVI cable. I needed neither of the connection cables as I was going to use my existing HDMI to DVI cable¹.

The monitor is not sexy but it’s not ugly either. It’s more functional – matt black plastic with menu buttons integrated into the side of the display. The stand is highly adjustable and can rotate around for portrait display. It has DVI, VGA and DisplayPort inputs, as well as a side-mounted 2 port USB hub, with a further 2 USB ports mounted on the back near to the video connections². The stand connects via a standard VESA mount, so the monitor is also wall-mountable. It uses a standard power connection and the PSU is built-in. As you can probably guess this isn’t, unlike the LG, a slimline stunner at 18.4 cm deep but neither is it overtly large.

Cables are routed through a hole in the top of the stand but, unlike some of their other monitors, I find this to be a little too low (especially if you have the stand at full height) so the cables are still visible. It doesn’t come with built-in speakers but you can buy a separate “sound bar” to attach to provide this functionality, if required.

I had some initial problems with the included CD, as the software didn’t want to launch under Windows 7 64-bit. Sadly, it’s a real struggle to find downloads on the Dell website without a Service Tag, and these aren’t provided on monitors under 27″. A google search found no official download link from Dell either. However, Microsoft Update automatically picked up on the new hardware and supplied the appropriate software for download.

The CD also contains the manual and, thankfully, that is available from the Dell website.

PC Pro, when recently reviewing the monitor, had the following to say about the image…

After installing the monitor driver supplied by Dell, we weren`t entirely impressed by the image quality. Colours appeared wildly oversaturated, and in gradient tests we noticed obvious banding artefacts.

However, changing the monitor to its Custom (RGB) setting, leaving the individual Red, Green and Blue controls set to maximum and uninstalling Dell’s driver swiftly improved matters. Our test images and Blu-ray discs now looked amazing, and the gradient test showed a smooth transtition [sic] from black to white with no banding.

However, I couldn’t see a difference when I changed the RGB settings. Running the Windows 7 calibration tests, it showed that gamma was a little low – increasing this and re-running cleartype adjustments made a huge difference to the image quality. The end results, and probably all thanks to the IPS (In-Plane Switching) panel being used, are stunning.

Shunning an LCD backlight it means the Dell does draw more power but, as a result, has an impressive level of brightness. Having said that, with no USB devices in use it does still only use 33W (and less than 1W in standby).

Does it have any downsides? Not that I can find.

However, and this isn’t aimed at this monitor in particular, I’m not overly impressed by the aspect ratio of these monitors. The width is good, but the height is barely any more than my old 17″ Viewsonic. For those not wanting to watch films regularly the current ratios don’t work for normal PC usage. When, say, I’m in a code editor and all the code is “butted” up against the left hand side of the monitor, that’s a lot of lost real estate. Like most people I sit centre of the monitor, but just end up spending a lot of time twisting around to look at the left hand side. I’d much rather loose horizontal resolution to gain more vertical (and, no, turning the monitor into portrait mode isn’t a solution – that’s too far the other way!). Bring back the 4:3 ratio monitors!

Summary of Dell UltraSharp U2311H

An excellent monitor with features galore. It’s a little pricey but you get what you pay for, especially in terms of image quality. And if that quality is important to you, then the Dell is an essential purchase.

Reviewed by David Artiss on 21st March 2011.

1. and for those who read my previous post about the problems I was having watching Blu-Ray movies… yes, this monitor does resolve the issue! [↩]
2. note that the USB hub powers off when you switch off the monitor’s power via the corner power button – I therefore use the rear ports for my wireless mouse receiver and a webcam [↩]

Apple offers free iPhone case to tackle reception problem

The iPhone 4, evolutionary rather than revolutionary, has had users reporting signal strength problems since its launch. It continues to sell well, despite what appears a big flaw and Apple refusing to be helpful.

Let’s have a quick run down of what’s happened since the iPhone 4 launch on the 24th June.

June 24th
The same day as the phone launches, CNET report that users are having signal issues when holding the phone a certain way – in particular having your hand over the left hand corner of the phone (left handed users are more likely to do this whilst holding it).

When Ars Technica contacted Steve Jobs via email, he responded that users should “avoid holding it in this way”.

June 25th
Apple tell the press that losing signal whilst holding a phone is “normal” and that they should “avoid gripping it in the lower left corner”. Alternatively, “Simply use one of many available cases”.

June 26th
Engadget report that a Danish Professor warned Apple about their antenna design back in early June.

June 30th
In an internal memo, Apple tells staff not to offer customers free accessories that could resolve poor reception problems if they complain about low signal strength.

July 2nd
Apple decides to blame software rather than hardware for the signal problems, stating that the algorithms for displaying the signal strength were wrong.

July 12th
Consumer Reports says it can’t recommend the iPhone 4 after conclusive and extensive tests show “there is a problem with its reception”. It also says that its findings call Apple’s explanation of a miscalculated signal meter into question.

Engaget reports that Apple is deleting posts from its forum that make mention of the Consumer Reports article. It also tests the signal issue and reports that they have “confirmed and clarified that the antenna issue affects every iPhone 4″.

So…
I don’t really know where to begin with stating just how wrong this whole debacle has been handled. Apple’s ability to not accept any responsibilty for something that is blatantly a fault, goes beyond shoddy. The signal strength “bug” is simply the equivalent of sweeping rubbish under the rug – the problem is still there, just will now be reported differently.

Therefore, in the middle of all this, would you expect a well respected PC magazine to not only give the phone their top award BUT state “We have managed to replicate the problem, but to do so we had to grip it so hard, and in such an awkward manner, that it wasn’t a problem for us”. Which is odd, as all suggestions are that the signal strength problem occurs when simply holding it in the hand, with your palm gripping the lower left-hand corner. When I hold my phone I hold it like this, but on the right hand corner – if I was left handed, I’m sure I’d recreate the fault. Not only, that but the above tests by various other sites have shown conclusively that this is happening. If, indeed, it only happened when gripping it in “an awkward manner”, would there have been such a flood of users experiencing the problem?

So, stand up and be counted PC Pro, for your review. A review which has been, by the majority of commenters on their website, berated but which they still stand by.

A review, where although the iPhone gets a lesser score that than the HTC Desire, they are now recommending it over the Desire. A review which leaves the signal issue to the end and quickly moves past it after a half-arsed attempt to test it. A review where they admit it’s stupidly expensive (and only give it 3 out of 6 for value for money). I expected better of PC Pro. Even if you ignore the signal issue itself for a moment, the way that Apple are treating their customers (who have, after all, spent rather a lot of money on this product) is shocking. How can you recommend a faulty product, supported by a company that shows nothing but contempt for its customers?

Except, PC Pro is not alone.

Engadget, who are quoted above as stating that thet have “confirmed and clarified that the antenna issue affects every iPhone 4″, says in its review that “the iPhone 4 is the best smartphone on the market right now”.

Consumer Reports - you know, the people who can’t recommend buying an iPhone 4 – has it as their highest rated smartphone. So, they recommend it, but don’t.

What’s going on here? I’m not going to suggest anything dodgy (which many do), but are they getting caught up in the Apple hype, like so many other people? Why don’t they, once they know the extent of the issues, go back and change their review? Or, as is the case of Consumer Reports, you appear happy to have completely opposing views.

In these reviews I don’t notice the other problems with the iPhone being mentioned – for example, the sealed non-replaceable battery (well, unless you send it to Apple with a big fat cheque), the lack of Flash, the iTunes lock-in, etc. It’s as if these venerable, and respected, sites just accept this now as the norm and ignore it rather than keep bringing it up (which, let’s be honest, is the only way this is likely to change).

So, PC Pro, Engadget and Consumer Reports – do you still stand by your review? Will you look further into the signal issue, in light of thedamning evidence that it’s a lot more serious?

Update on 14th July:

Tim Danton, editor of PC Pro, replied…

We do still stand by the review, but I’ll leave it up to our reviews editor whether or not to comment any further…

I’ve not yet had a comment from their reviews editor. Or, indeed, Engadget or Consumer Reports.