Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple's silence

M

matttye

macrumors 601
Original poster
Mar 25, 2009
4,957
32
Lincoln, England
Ok, I can understand Apple keeping new features under wraps, but does anyone else find Apple's silence in the face of severe problems maddening? There have been literally hundreds of posts on the Apple forums (and also stacks of articles on various news websites) about this bug where the phone decides to become unresponsive at random times, yet Apple haven't even posted a simple "we're working on it."

To add to that, geniuses are still recommending the old restore as a new phone solution, even after people show them these articles!
 
On forums you'll generally find more problems than praises. I'm not saying its a bad thing, but people generally come here for help. What severe problems are you referring to?
 
Roessnakhan said:
On forums you'll generally find more problems than praises. I'm not saying its a bad things, but people generally come here for help. What severe problems are you referring to?
Click to expand...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...tware-causes-iPhones-freeze-stop-working.html
http://theappleblog.com/2009/09/14/iphone-os-3-1-update-causing-crashes-on-iphone-3gs/

Lots of people are reporting their iPhones go into a permanent sleep state and need to be hard-reset. Whilst in this state if they call the iPhone it still rings according to the phone they are using, but the iPhone doesn't make any indication that there's a call.

Seems to affect 3G users mostly but there have been several 3GS reports too.
 
I have an iphone 3g and my iphone turns off by itself atleast once a day, and i have to hard reset it. Its getting really annoying. 3.1 is horrible
 
PCboarder said:
I have an iphone 3g and my iphone turns off by itself atleast once a day, and i have to hard reset it. Its getting really annoying. 3.1 is horrible
Click to expand...

That exact same thing happens to me. and it never happened b4 so it had to be 3.1
 
matttye said:
To add to that, geniuses are still recommending the old restore as a new phone solution, even after people show them these articles!
Click to expand...
Don't forget that Geniuses can only offer Apple-approved solutions.

If Apple hasn't given the Geniuses a solution, then there's nothing for the Geniuses to give to you, regardless of the number of articles you show them.

They're in a really crappy position when Apple acts like this.

I hope Apple can fix ya'lls problem soon.
 
PCboarder said:
I have an iphone 3g and my iphone turns off by itself atleast once a day, and i have to hard reset it. Its getting really annoying. 3.1 is horrible
Click to expand...

dmanes said:
That exact same thing happens to me. and it never happened b4 so it had to be 3.1
Click to expand...

Using the back-up file after the update/restore is a bad idea. It just puts back conflicting data. What is needed is "Set-Up as new" option. That leaves your iPhone in the pristine situation right after the restore/update.
 
I've been having this happen to me since I got the 3G on launch day over a year ago. It continued when I got the 3GS. It doesn't happen often but it's been happening to me for a long time.
 
aristobrat said:
Don't forget that Geniuses can only offer Apple-approved solutions.

If Apple hasn't given the Geniuses a solution, then there's nothing for the Geniuses to give to you, regardless of the number of articles you show them.

They're in a really crappy position when Apple acts like this.

I hope Apple can fix ya'lls problem soon.
Click to expand...

Don't get me wrong, I agree with what you're saying. It would be irresponsible and stupid for geniuses to hand out their own advice.. but they could at least acknowledge the fact there might be a problem and just tell customers that they're sorry but they'll have to wait and see what Apple comes up with.

jav6454 said:
Using the back-up file after the update/restore is a bad idea. It just puts back conflicting data. What is needed is "Set-Up as new" option. That leaves your iPhone in the pristine situation right after the restore/update.
Click to expand...

This doesn't solve the problem.

Just to show you how widespread this issue is..

Here's a 14 page thread.
And a 33 page thread!
 
JeffBalls said:
I've been having this happen to me since I got the 3G on launch day over a year ago. It continued when I got the 3GS. It doesn't happen often but it's been happening to me for a long time.
Click to expand...

It happens to most smart phones on occasion, my BB 8820 did it way more than my 3G does.
 
This has happen to me several times on my 3Gs that is running on 3.1. I had to hard reset it about twice a day. But I did restore from a new phone (not as a back up & I haven't had a problem since)
 
I called an "Apple Expert" and she told me my problems with 3.1 were going to be cured by restoring back to new phone not a backup. Well that obviously didn't do anything, They can't just say whoops 3.1 wasn't quite ready.

On top of this I have crazy service problems with 3g in random areas in my house that I never had before.
 
My theory is they released 3.1 knowing it would need to be corrected quickly by another firmware release which they have ready to go, but they are waiting to see how the JB community reacts to their new firmware signing system so they can "fix" the exploits and work arounds the devs are figuring out. Yeah it sounds paranoid and probably be wrong but then again I am paranoid and wrong most of the time.
 
matttye said:
Acknowledge the issue and assure their loyal fan-base they are working on a fix..
Click to expand...

They get thousands of complaints like this. They can't just say "we're working on it" to everyone because then they'd be lying to most of them. They can't know which are real problems and which are flukes without doing a lot of research.

It takes time to find these kind of problems sometimes. When the laptop batteries started blowing up they investigated, found out it was Sony's fault, and then started fixing the problem. Had they just said "we're working on it" before they had an answer they would have:

A) Possibly been lying if it turned out there was no easy fix.
and
B) Opened themselves up to lawsuits by admiting guilt when, in fact, it turned out it was Sony's fault.

It's very, very dangerous for a large company to say something if they don't have all the facts. And gathering facts takes time.

But I've seen Apple go through far too many fixes, recalls, and repairs over the years to honestly believe they don't care. But in every case, it took time for them to work out what was wrong before they said anything about it.

EDIT: You also need to try being a little more assertive with a genius. They can't fix your phone and they will WANT you to just leave, but if you complain about it being 'unusable' long and loud enough they do have the ability to trade it out for another one for you. It's not a given, but it's worth pushing for to see what happens.
 
The fact is, you showed about 40 pages, or 4 or 5 hundred people. Now you gotta realize apple has sold over 10 million of these things. thats less then a tenth of a percentage, even one thousandth of a percent of iPhone owners are experiencing this. They are probably just working on something else instead now, and have fixed that already internally.
 
mackmgg said:
The fact is, you showed about 40 pages, or 4 or 5 hundred people. Now you gotta realize apple has sold over 10 million of these things. thats less then a tenth of a percentage, even one thousandth of a percent of iPhone owners are experiencing this. They are probably just working on something else instead now, and have fixed that already internally.
Click to expand...

good point...
 
mackmgg said:
The fact is, you showed about 40 pages, or 4 or 5 hundred people. Now you gotta realize apple has sold over 10 million of these things. thats less then a tenth of a percentage, even one thousandth of a percent of iPhone owners are experiencing this. They are probably just working on something else instead now, and have fixed that already internally.
Click to expand...

So your saying that if it was happening to everyone, that every single person is going to jump on the internet and write on a forum about it. Well that is very wrong. Most people are like my mom, who just complain about it. Only a select few are actually using forums. But the people on the forums are usually the technology junkies and Apple should take that seriously.
 
mackmgg said:
The fact is, you showed about 40 pages, or 4 or 5 hundred people. Now you gotta realize apple has sold over 10 million of these things. thats less then a tenth of a percentage, even one thousandth of a percent of iPhone owners are experiencing this. They are probably just working on something else instead now, and have fixed that already internally.
Click to expand...

Because EVERYONE goes on the Apple boards.
That has to be some of the worst logic I've ever heard of.

1. Not everyone that has an iPhone goes onto an apple discussion board
2. Even if it is a smaller percentage, it is still an issue and something that should be addressed with that many people in a message board having the SAME EXACT PROBLEM.
3. I'm sure if you used the percent of regular people that go on Apple's iPhone board and divide it by the amount of people having a problem there, you'd have a much larger "percent" than your horrid calculation of 1/1000th of a percent.

I am sick of people sticking up for Apple blindly, and I haven't had this particular problem, but you can't IGNORE a problem when there are a NUMBER (a growing one at that) of people that are having an issue.
 
I'm sure Apple is aware of the problem and are working on a fix.
It's not like they're sitting around reading these forums about it and laughing maniacally that their plan to screw up every iPhone in the world is coming to fruition.
"MUAH HA HA HA HA! It's working! It's WORKING!!!"

Yes, it's frustrating. Yes, it's flipping annoying. But really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not like people are dying because of it.

"Apple's Silence...."

Please, it's not like Apple is the Catholic Church and 3.1 is the Holocaust, people.

Breathe, relax, wait, and make due.
 
chgojcs said:
I'm sure Apple is aware of the problem and are working on a fix.
It's not like they're sitting around reading these forums about it and laughing maniacally that their plan to screw up every iPhone in the world is coming to fruition.
"MUAH HA HA HA HA! It's working! It's WORKING!!!"

Yes, it's frustrating. Yes, it's flipping annoying. But really, in the grand scheme of things, it's not like people are dying because of it.

"Apple's Silence...."

Please, it's not like Apple is the Catholic Church and 3.1 is the Holocaust, people.

Breathe, relax, wait, and make due.
Click to expand...


See your missing the point. The point is that Apple has not acknowledged it. It would be nice for them to come out and say "We know there is a problem with 3.1, we are working on it".

And when I pay for a top of the line phone, and pay a ridiculous monthly fee for it (I love the iphone tho, so dont tell me to get a new phone) I expect it to work. Not turn off randomly and freeze multiple times a day. So Im sorry if i dont just "reellaaxx and make due"
 
PCboarder said:
See your missing the point. The point is that Apple has not acknowledged it. It would be nice for them to come out and say "We know there is a problem with 3.1, we are working on it".

And when I pay for a top of the line phone, and pay a ridiculous monthly fee for it (I love the iphone tho, so dont tell me to get a new phone) I expect it to work. Not turn off randomly and freeze multiple times a day.
Click to expand...

No, I am not missing the point. What I am missing is the need to act as if this is end of the world due to the fact that my phone has frozen on occasion.

It's happened to me many times. And yes, it is frustrating. But, on the same token, things happen. Apple made a mistake and released a buggy software update. They didn't kill baby seals, they didn't pollute the water of Lake Michigan. It's just a buggy software update.
Should they say something? Yes, of course. But they're not, and until they do (which will most likely be with another update, rather than a mea culpa and explanation of their game plan) we will have to deal with it.

Sure, it's a top of the line, top dollar, A#1, numero uno device. But at the end of the day, it's just a bloody phone.

And before anyone mentions it, I use mine for business, too. As well as my computer. Yada yada yada.
But that is also why I have cheap, POS back ups for both.
Why? Because technology is fallible.

S*** happens. Buy a helmet.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back