Flaws in Iphone 5 - Case Study Example

FLAWS IN iPHONE 5 Apple Computers Company is a global brand recognized by many consumers due to high innovations and high quality of its products. iPhone 5 is the latest version of mobile communication device produced by Apple enjoy very high sale immediately after its launch. Even though the product represents high innovativeness of Apple, it also unveiled numerous system flaws that surprised and shocked consumers of Apple products. This paper will discuss the nature of the flaws discovered in iPhone 5 and possible remediation. Flaws in iPhone 5 Introduction Apple Computers Company has its headquarters in California America and is one of the successful and innovative companies across the world. Apple Computer Company has a big market name across the world, which is due to the high innovation and production of unique products. Steve Jobs was the actual founder of Apple Computers Company in 1976 and began to design and produce iPhones, iPods, iOS and iTunes. Apple also produces computes like the Macintosh, Power Mac and Apple Brands. Apple Computers Company under the headship of Steve Jobs was the first company to innovate and design iPod that was unique in the entire electronics markets. “iPhone” is a brand for mobile communication devices designed and manufactured by Apple Computers Company. iPhone exists in series ranging from iPhone iPhone2, iPhone 3, iPhone 4 and latest iPhone 5. Apple Computers Company released iPhone 5 in September 2012 and managed to sell neatly 5000000 units of the product. Such big sale attributed to the perceived unique features that iPhone 5 exhibited and that created serious anxiety and curiosity among the consumers who could not hesitate from buying the product. One of unique features that Apple Computers included in the iPhone 5 series was Siri, which is software that recognizes voice and can answer questions as well as help one accomplish phone setups and even browsing without necessarily touching the screen. Siri software has can help individual phone user update face book and twitter without having to touch the screen or dial any pad. The iPhone 5 also has an inbuilt eight-mega pixel camera that significantly attracts more consumers of the product. Long battery life of up to 225 hours on stand by mode and 8 hours talk time, and super lightweight are among other features that attract iPhone 5 much praise and consumers. Moreover, iPhone 5 is considerably unique innovation bearing its wireless charging capability. Flaws in the iPhone 5 Despite the excessively acclaimed beautiful and unique features, iPhone 5 has particular design flaws that have made customers regret over their decisions to buy the phone. The flaws are only unique to the iPhone 5 series and never occurred in the other previous series of iPhone. a) Breakable security locks and passwords b) Misleading maps c) Soft and easily scratched body d) Appearance of purple pigmentation on photos e) Produces rattling sound from inside f) Unresponsive and inefficient touch screen g) Inability to maintain correct time and date Scratching body The menace of scratch on the bodies of iPhone 5 gadgets began to occur immediately after the launching of the phone into the market. The body of iPhone 5 is an anodized aluminum cover that is relatively soft. The body easily scratches to remove the silver coating and leaving the inner aluminum exposed (Margid, 2012). Scratches are prone around the edges of the phone that scrubs when forcing the device through a narrow enclosure or pocket. Some consumers also claimed to have realized the scratching menace on removing the gadget from the box immediately after buying. To improve on the problem of scratches on the body, it is important tat the company use vulcanized metallic case of just use uncoated aluminum cover to avoid the =bad impression. Purple Coloring on Images Caught Using the iPhone 5 Camera Many customers of iPhone 5 voiced their surprise with the appearance of purple pigmentation on the images captured by the camera of iPhone 5. This realization shocked many customers as they expected that the big camera power depicted as one of the features of f the gadget would ensure that its camera be the best in the market with very attractive picture quality (Margid, 2012). The purple pigmentation on the picture purportedly occurs due to presence of stray light in the scene of to picture. This made the quality of the pictures produced by iPhone 5 is of poor quality compared to the initial series of iPhones. To avoid reoccurrence of the flaw, the company should determine proper ratios of coating material used to coat particular lenses of camera to prevent the intense reflection and scattering of stray light into the lens. Unreliable Mapping Application When Apple Computers Company designed iPhone 5, it also designed iOS 6 that was going to be the software to run the application of the iPhone 5. Having expressed satisfaction with the iOS 6, Apple computers moved ahead to abolish use of Google’s Android and its mapping application. Apple instead activated its own mapping application and made it be default-navigating software for its iPhone 5 gadgets. The iOS 6 designed alongside iPhone 5 resulted have demonstrated inefficiencies in mapping such as portraying the Madison’s square garden as a green space and identifying a farm as airport,. The software application in the iPhone 5 also showed places that are far from railway lines to be railway stations in Japan. The application software also showed the Tokyo airport to be a paper factory. Some individuals also complain about the small texts of distance and time indicated by the mapping software in the iPhone 5. The flaw discovered on the mapping application in iPhone 5 bears serious lesson to the general engineering fraternity. First, it warns about rush and over ambition in marketing a product without subjecting it into thorough test. It also warns engineers from being over obsessed with competition to an extent of offering malfunctioning product to consumers with misplaced intention to provide stiff competition to the competitors. To avoid this form of flaw in future, the company should subject its new software to thorough examination with respect to particular planned functions. Rattling Sound Customers reported release of rattling sound from the inside of the iPhone 5 gadgets whenever turned. This problem could be due to rush in assembling that saw loose screwing and fitting in bid to catch targeted customers. This flaw is of great significance in engineering since it points out to consequences of rushing operations and failure to perform tests before certifying a product as of standard quality. The flaw depicts and passes lessons about how ignorance and assumptions in engineering can lead to serious inaccuracies and malfunctioning of machines and products. This mistake is highly avoidable and the company should ensure to subject its products to nearly all forms of tests before releasing any single product to the market. Unresponsive and Inefficient Touch Screen A UK based mobile game company was the one that first discovered the unresponsiveness of the screen of the iPhone 5 gadgets when scrolled diagonally (Eadicicco, 2012). The company discovered this problem when testing their games in the iPhone 5. Since then is when many customers who bought the iPhone 5 gadget immediately upon release reported unresponsive and inefficient touch screen especially one drag a finger back and forth in diagonal direction and cutting the display. Some consumers of iPhone 5 gadgets also reported complete failure and unresponsive touch screen. According to Eadicicco (2012), some consumers also reported to have had the touch screen of their iPhone 5 gadgets going completely blank but after short seconds. At some moments, the touch screen of the iPhone 5 registers touches and responds with certain applications even when the particular operators have not touched any part on the screen. Understanding this flaw is very important to the technologists and engineers as it can help in innovation of better screens by analyzing eliminating the mistakes that resulted to the flaws. To improve and if possible eliminate this problem, it is important that engineers and phone technologists subject any innovation to thorough test and scrutiny before releasing their products to the market. Failure to perform thorough tests and give room for customers to identify flaws is very risk to the survival of the particular company. Breakable Password and Security Lock It is now a widespread fact that is very easy to hack and break the password and security codes of iPhone 5 gadgets. This realization became apparent to the public when one of the Spanish who use the iPhone 5 and who posted videos demonstrating the procedures that one can follow to hack and break password of a typical iPhone 5 gadget. As reported by CNN with reference to the Spanish who discovered and shared the flaw, hacking the password of an iPhone 5 only requires one to use a nearby phone to make a call to the iPhone 5 (Gross, 2013). Once the iPhone 5 tested begins to ring, the operator should quickly cancel the call and then dial answer button on the tested iPhone 5. The operator should then fiddle with power button of the iPhone 5 and then it will open and allow access to the contacts, photos and music. This flaw purportedly emanates from the iOS 6 software that defines the basis of operation of the iPhone 5. To improve on this problem and prevent reoccurrence of the same in future, the company should update its iOS 6.o.1 software and if possible conduct security tests for all its software before marketing. References Eadicicco, L. (2012). Apple iPhone 5 Problems: Touch Screen Glitch Causes Freezing and Slow Scrolling. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.ibtimes.com/apple-iphone-5-problems-touch-screen-glitch-causes-freezing-slow-scrolling-867976 Gross, D. (2013). Security flaw allows snoopers to access locked iPhones. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/14/tech/mobile/iphone-password-hack Margid, L. (2012). iPhone 5: First the Hype, Now the Gripes. Retrieved April 11, 2013 from: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2012/10/02/iphone-5-first-the-hype-now-the-gripes/ Read More