Stress Testing the iPhone
Apple's 'Surprise and Shine' iPhone Event: Follow along
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The USA Today article we had previously referenced also contains an interesting sidebar interviewing Balsu Thandu, one of the individuals who has been field testing the iPhone over the past two months.
Approximately 200 field technicians have been secretly testing the iPhone for 10 weeks, logging over 10,000 hours on the phone, including over 5,000 hours of voice calls and 5 gigabytes of data usage. This is reportedly twice as much testing as other phones.
Users worried about durability can rest easier that testing included dousing the iPhone in water, dropping it onto concrete and bouncing it off sidewalks. Real life usage testing was also a big focus:
"Many people don't realize it, but walking gives you the worst channel conditions," Thandu says. Cell signals tend to bounce off buildings, causing interference, and background noise is a constant problem in cities.
Apple reportedly made ongoing adjustments based on the feedback, including improving audio quality which was originally "not loud or clear enough".
According to the article, Thandu feels comfortable that the iPhone is ready for launch.
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