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Some iPad Pros ship a little bent, and Apple says that's normal
Gadget-makers have long played with the idea of bendable displays, but this isn't what they were going for: Apple has confirmed that some brand-new iPad Pro units have a slight bend to them—and this is expected and not a defect.
There are numerous stories and images of very slight bends on brand-new devices on the MacRumors forums, and The Verge's Chris Welch observed the same issue in his own iPad.
When The Verge reached out to Apple for comment, the company told the publication that the bending is "a side effect of the device's manufacturing process and shouldn't worsen over time or negatively affect the flagship iPad's performance in any practical way." (The Verge's words.) Apple says the bending happens as a result of a cooling process used on the components when the device is manufactured.
Defective gadget return policy:
- Have you recently purchased a nice shiny "defective" gadget? Good, it should be under warranty.
- Is it actually defective? Maybe it's bent or has some other flaw? Good, good, we wouldn't want to be selling you something broken.
- Did you purchase it from Apple? Specifically, did you buy a nice, shiny new iPad Pro? You know, the one that can cost you upwards of $1k? Don't worry, it's supposed to be that way. You didn't get a defective device or damaged goods. You got what you paid for. A bent iPad Pro.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday December 21 2018, @02:12AM (7 children)
N/T
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Friday December 21 2018, @02:19AM
1. Paste a photo of Steve Jobs on it.
2. Frame it.
3. Submit it to the Museum of Modern Art.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 21 2018, @02:28AM (5 children)
Like the stamp with the upside-down plane?
But being serious here, there are probably ways they could mitigate that. I know this because when I worked on Gay Jewish Robots, the fussiest part about it was getting the rails for the Renishaw linear encoders perfectly flat so that the encoder would have a healthy read (super fighting tight on that dial-gauge) across a travel of approximately a whole meter. And when it takes a month to build a machine and that's by far the fussiest and most annoying aspect of it, I speak with authority in these matters.
Unlike what I build, though, Apple stuff is cheap Chinese shit. These monkeys are manhandling already-bent frames and probably aren't even using proper patterns to torque their fasteners. They're using power-torquers they just stab into the fastener psycho-style and probably move in a rectangle pattern rather than a star-like one, because doing that saves an extra 2 seconds per unit. Those power-torquers are probably not built nor calibrated to the precision required for the work, and, well, Chink-shit.
I saw the image of the "bent" iPad and frankly I'm amazed that they can even do it that well given the circumstances (see the image yourself, only a super-autist would throw a shit-fit at that bend).
This is why countries like America and Germany still make the best shit -- things like this are torqued by hand, moving back and forth and using equal parts experience and instinct, using very precise dial-gauges. This is why Apple should start an "extra-premium" factory using the American-and-German style techniques I outlined above and then sell those extra-straight pieces of shit at a ridiculous markup. Then put a stamp on it so that everybody knows you paid 3K for an extra-straight iPad.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday December 21 2018, @02:52AM
Yeap. They'll fix their shit in manufacturing soon. 'Cause if not, they'll be losing the hipster market share.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 3, Informative) by khallow on Friday December 21 2018, @03:09AM (3 children)
Welcome to Apple's target audience. I'll note that a key selling feature of the Apple brand is that it's pretty damn perfect in visual appearance. I even see a few edge-on ads for these things which sell the straightness of the devices (for example, here [cultofmac.com] or here [wordpress.com]).
So when they suddenly have a "bend" and say it's "normal"? That means they're screwing up the brand. Maybe they'll get back on track, but maybe this is the tip of the iceberg and there are a bunch of other potentially suicidal compromises to the design which aren't so visually apparent.
(Score: 4, Funny) by edIII on Friday December 21 2018, @07:09AM (2 children)
Yes, but Apple's target audience would've also eaten up the following PR, had Apple thought of it:
"The bend is by design after careful study of ergonomics and it allows a slight shift in the center of gravity to make holding it more comfortable in our consumer testing groups"
Apple is more art than science :)
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Freeman on Friday December 21 2018, @04:14PM (1 child)
Then you would have the other half that didn't get the bend, gripping that they didn't receive one with a bend.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Funny) by toddestan on Saturday December 22 2018, @12:08AM
Well, if they complain just tell them they're holding it wrong!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @02:22AM (1 child)
The next version will be even THINNER!
It will have all the strength of a sheet of aluminum foil which is what it will be at that point.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by JoeMerchant on Friday December 21 2018, @02:30AM
I got (actually still have) a VAIO SZ around about 12 years ago, it came with a lid/screen so thin that if you lifted it by one corner it would warp over an inch before it started to open - ultra light weight and flexible. Nice machine -except- it ran so hot that the ultra-thin fans worked so hard that they jammed full of dust in less than a year, it has been cleaned out twice and spent most of its thin life at the bottom of the sock drawer. Also, unfortunate fact: it ran/runs Vista and many of the gee-whiz internal gadgets like camera and fingerprint scanner only ever came with Vista drivers.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @02:24AM
Rounded corners (TM).
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @02:34AM (6 children)
Seriously, what is it going to take before the Apple Board of Directors tells Cook to retire ?
I've been a long-time customer of Apple products but as long as Cook is in charge, they will get not one dollar more from me.
Bean counters = a guaranteed path to mediocrity. Every single time.
It happened with Ferrari, it happened with BMW, and now it is happening with Apple.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 21 2018, @02:39AM (2 children)
Apple's always been shit, just that now they don't have a stinky junkie megalomaniac deadbeat-dad cult-leader as their figurehead. So to get back into that mode, they would make more sales if they hired Donald Trump as their CEO. Not only does he know business and the art of the deal, but will release a gold-plated Trump edition that will sell like hotcakes amongst the Arab and Armenian demographics -- and he will bring Apple manufacturing back into America and create American jobs, and those iPads may be a little more expensive but you know they will be made right, not like cheap Chinese shit.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)
It'll be interesting to see if the GM workers do anything in January and if Trump will respond. If January, then watch GM get raided by ICE.
If not January, wait until August. The heat makes people agitated. I might have been off just by a year in predicting 2018 riots. They've been rescheduled for 2019. (I realize I am now doomed to post the same thing next year around this time.)
- Stock market is about to crash.
- Next BRICS moves away from the US dollar, and the BRICS bank may also operate in the EU. (Probably also unofficially as the "special purpose vehicle.")
- Martial law locking us behind a Big Beautiful Wall.
- The car runs out of gas on the side of the road. The walk to the gas station will be for your own good.
unless
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday December 21 2018, @04:29AM
Modded up. But disagreed, because GM will be between a rock and a hard place. They will have to choose between replacing cheap labor with citizens and maybe even moving factories, which may turn the rest of America against them especially after the bailout.
Whatever happens, the rest of America will hear about it. And if the truth is something they don't want to hear, then they will push politically. I agree that your first two points are a possibility, but common Middle America (well-paid unions) do not like cheap labor and they will not be sad to let it go in favor of those who keep their money in the country and don't shout, "Viva la Raza" every 5 seconds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @03:40AM
What's it going to take to get people to stop buying garbage items that are also vastly overpriced? As long as people are too stupid to avoid buying the products the assrapings will continue.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @03:58AM
I've come to the personal conclusion that Apple really make overpriced junk now. I was never a fanboi, but I did like many of their products.
But alas, I've finally given up on Apple, except maaaybe for genuine refurbished iMacs, and they would have to be last years model at a heavily discounted price-at least iMacs come with more than two ports. But a $700 Windows laptop with better specs than a $1500 Apple laptop is a no brainer now.
MacOS is still much better, stronger, faster than Windows 10, but most releases of MacOS tout useless features like 5000 more emojiis, dark themes (whooopdedoo-win3.1 had them 25 years ago!), or reversed natural-scrolling that is opposite of what we've been using for 20 years. Plus they've been at the forefront of this horrendous low contrast, low differential monochrome grey-text, grey-icons, grey-active-button, more-grey-inactive-button trend that's been going on for the past few years.
It's difficult for me to think of the last thing Apple came out with that made me go ooooo, ahhhhh. Maybe the first iPhone? Love it or hate it, that was one delicious looking device when SJ showed it. Or something that made me think 'that is so convenient, why didn't someone come out with that earlier". Maybe TimeMachine? Since Jobs 'left' we have the Apple of today, run by the only beancounters as you said it seems.
Apple of today:
Replaces ubiquitous USB-A ports with USB-C ports so they can squeeze another $10-$50 from customers for dongles.
Can't use the mouse when it's charging because the charging port is on the bottom of the mouse.
Horrible, horrible current generation of keyboards that feel like you typing on a gummy bear.
Removing function keys and replacing them with a plastic strip.
Apple raises prices for mediocre hardware upgraded models. (eg. Macbook Air)
iPhone switching the default photo format to highly compressed .heic instead of .jpg when you uprade to IOS11. None of my photo applications can read .heic files (except for their own crappy apps but no, I am not ever ever using Photos or iPhoto)
Major rewrites of Aperture, Final Cut Pro, and Apple Office that have so much major functionality removed from previous versions that they are essentially unusable.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @09:40AM
And apple customers love to bend over and get bent.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday December 21 2018, @03:20AM (1 child)
Am I referring to my deeply troubled friend? No.
I'm referring to an iOS App that I simply must have: Venmo. It's money transfer service published by PayPal.
Except it doesn't want to work for me anymore, because "some changes have been made" so I need to update.
Which update requires that I run at least iOS 10.11. I'd been holding back to 10.1.11 Just In Case I wanted to jailbreak. Note that I haven't actually jailbroken, rather that I wanted to reserved that option.
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 4, Funny) by takyon on Friday December 21 2018, @04:05AM
Be a mad lad and switch to Android [usatoday.com].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 4, Funny) by black6host on Friday December 21 2018, @04:06AM (1 child)
I read the comments, at least as much as I could stand of them discussing whether it was bent or not. Jeeez, have these people never heard of a damned straightedge?
(Score: 5, Funny) by takyon on Friday December 21 2018, @04:46AM
What's that, an older version of the iPad? :^)
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(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 21 2018, @05:48AM
We see this. We have parts that are moved straight from the mold, onto a table, and clamped down onto the flat, level table surface, to cool. And, we still get some that are bent a little bit after cooling. That much is perfectly true.
From that point, the story not being told is, that QC checks those parts for straightness, and approves or disapproves of them. Not all of our QC actually use a straight edge, instead just eyeballing the parts.
If we are ahead on production, the talking heads will almost always reject the parts that QC barfed over. If we are behind, and under pressure to ship parts, some of those bent parts are assembled into the finished product.
And, fact is, our parts can be warped quite badly, and still perform the intended function. Many of these items pass final inspection, with the final purchaser, some don't. We do get some back, but not many.
How a little warpage might affect the functioning of a cell phone, I can't say. Depending on assembly, it might destroy the board, or it may not affect the board at all. Ultimately, each phone will have to be tested, to ensure that it actually works. That's what QC is for, after all.
If I had a phone that was warped, would I give a damn? Not unless it were warped into a near pretzel shape. If you dropped it, and it rolled, and rolled, and rolled, you might get upset too. Especially if it fell through a storm drain as it rolled along.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @06:41AM (1 child)
jPad
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 21 2018, @08:30AM
jOBPAD?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @07:13AM (1 child)
Or maybe don't buy their stuff
(Score: 3, Informative) by Nuke on Friday December 21 2018, @10:23AM
Or tell them to stuff it where the sun doesn't shine. Oh wait, perhaps that's how it got bent in the first place.
(Score: 2) by ilPapa on Friday December 21 2018, @07:49AM
Apple did this on purpose. They're playing 4-D chess while the rest of the industry is playing checkers. By saying "this is normal", they're distracting from other issues they have. Apple won and you lost, so suck it up, buttercup. iPad purchases have consequences. And it's still better than a Surface.
#WhereAppleUsersGoOneTheyGoAll
#TrustThePlan
You are still welcome on my lawn.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @07:03PM (1 child)
Hopefully, if Apple keeps this kind of stuff up, they will finally break the mesmerizing hold they have on their fanbois and those same fanbois will finally wake up to: "why am I paying a 4x premium for the same old crap I could have for 1/4 the cost"? and then they will stop buying the Apple crap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 21 2018, @09:19PM
Apple gear is "overpriced", but the problem is that its competitors are just such shit quality and designwise.
Yes, the competition is cheaper, but it has been cheaper also in terms of quality.
Apple's quality has been dropping too, though. Apple is hardly worth the premium anymore for its new gear; the old stuff was worth it.