iPhone tester speaks

An AT&T field technician who has been testing an iPhone for nearly two months says that the device is ready for launch. Balsu Thandu, who has been conducting iPhone usage tests for AT&T, looking for technical glitches and checking network access, describes some of the methods he used to conceal the device during testing. These include putting a sock over the iPhone, keeping it in a pants pocket, or hiding the device in a piece of newspaper. In order to test network accessibility, Thandu went to office buildings, subway platforms, stairwells, elevators, crowded bars, suburban malls and city streets. Mobility Today reports "They also showed up incognito at Apple and AT&T stores.

In order to test durability of the iPhone, technicians poured water over the device and dropped it off concrete. "Feedback from the field was relayed to Apple, sometimes hourly, Thandu says. Early on, he says, technicians discovered that the iPhone's audio was "not loud or clear enough." Apple designers quickly fixed the problem, he says.

by MacNN Staff