Apple has done a lot of damage control lately for its iPhone 5. Released Sept. 21, users first complained of scratches on their brand-new phones, then the Maps app feud with Google made international headlines, followed by photos of a "purple haze" users circulated on the Web.
The company has been making lots of public statements explaining exactly what is going on with the long-awaited smartphone.
When some buyers opened their iPhone 5, their excitement may have quickly been blown as some found their brand new devices scratched. "Scuffgate," as it was called, prompted the company's Vice President Phil Schiller to respond to claims of "scruffs, scratches and marks,"
"Any aluminum product may scratch or chip with use, exposing its natural silver color. That is normal," he said in a response email to an inquiry from a customer.
ExtremeTech analyzed the phone and said the problem seemed to be the anodized chassis. Unlike previous generations, the iPhone 5 is made of aluminum and not stainless steel. This is what made the phone lighter. The back and sides of the phone are anodized.
"In its base state, the surface of a piece of aluminum very rapidly forms aluminum oxide. Aluminum oxide makes the aluminum more resistant to wear and tear, among other additional benefits. The problem is, though, this natural oxide layer is very thin (on the order of a few nanometers). Anodization is a process that creates a much thicker layer of aluminum oxide (a few microns; a few thousand times thicker than normal oxidation). Anodization also tends to create a bumpy texture, which can then be used to apply paints/dyes (which don't stick to raw aluminum)," the article reads.
In regards to the "purple haze," Apple said that most small cameras, including those in every generation of iPhone, may exhibit some form of flare at the edge of the frame when capturing an image with out-of-scene light sources.
"This can happen when a light source is positioned at an angle (usually just outside the field of view) so that it causes a reflection off the surfaces inside the camera module and onto the camera sensor," Apple said in a statement. "Moving the camera slightly to change the position at which the bright light is entering the lens, or shielding the lens with your hand, should minimize or eliminate the effect.
The solution is simple: minimize the camera's exposure to bright light.
Apple's Maps app has gained the most attention. iPhone 5 buyers said Maps lacks key details on prominent cities and has bizarre quirks. In one instance, an entire town was in the wrong location, and some users also found duplicate islands.
Apple's new app displays more road names than place names, and does away with color-coded roads, so, navigating to a specific point using pinch and zoom is much trickier.
The negative criticism led CEO Tim Cook to issue an apology, saying the company "fell short" on its commitment to deliver.
'"We are extremely sorry for the frustration this has caused our customers and we are doing everything we can to make Maps better," Cook said.
Is it possible that this generation's kinks and quirks could warrant a better iPhone next time around?
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