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Decided to return our iPhones today....
- Thread starter hevaKmaI
- Start date
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Me too. I'm returning mine today. I've been waiting for a phone like this forever, and after buying it, it just has too many flaws to justifiy a revision A purchase.
I will be ordering a $13 replacement battery for my trusty beat-up Sidekick II and waiting patiently for revision B which I hope comes soon!
I have a Sprint treo 755p, I bought both the treo and the iphone within the last month. Both have their pro's and con's. Coming from my 4th treo the iphone is an amazing device. The treo has not had any real upgrade in 3 or 4 yrs. The things about the iphone I am not happy with are because the treo's fuctionaity spoiled me. Here is a small list I made of things the treo can do, that the iphone cannot. By the way, I have decided to keep them both, and just use the treo for my tomtom app, and as a modem for my macbook pro. I cut the service down to 200 minutes and unlimited data. Sprint sells this plan for 55 bucks, about the same as any pcmcia card plan.
1) edge network is slow
2) no real gps , cannot merge google maps with bluetooth gps receivers
3) camera cannot do video
4) no bluetooth file transfers
5) cannot SMS pictures
6) no mpeg or flash support in safari
7) cannot save images to photo albums from email, or web
8) cannot use your mp3's as ringtones
9) any 3rd party software has to be run through safari
10) email, and text alerts cannot be assigned, and are too low of volume
11) no copy and paste
12) no expansion slots for memory cards
13) no AIM, or instant messaging of any kind
14) did i mention the edge network is slow???
1) edge network is slow
2) no real gps , cannot merge google maps with bluetooth gps receivers
3) camera cannot do video
4) no bluetooth file transfers
5) cannot SMS pictures
6) no mpeg or flash support in safari
7) cannot save images to photo albums from email, or web
8) cannot use your mp3's as ringtones
9) any 3rd party software has to be run through safari
10) email, and text alerts cannot be assigned, and are too low of volume
11) no copy and paste
12) no expansion slots for memory cards
13) no AIM, or instant messaging of any kind
14) did i mention the edge network is slow???
I live in San Diego and my iPhone flies when I pick up a Wi-Fi hotspot but it is painfully slow when using EDGE. Heck, my iPhone struggles to even send an email on the EDGE network much of the time.
Mind you, I love the phone but EDGE almost unusable in San Diego much of the time.
I also returned my iPhone yesterday. It had nothing to do with the phone itself-I was very happy with it and had no real issues. However, AT&T's coverage map showed best coverage in my area, but that turned out to be VERY inaccurate. My iPhone was basically unusable. I do agree with the original poster in that the signal bar strength is not very accurate either, with full signal strength resulting in very garbled phone calls then dropping-and this happened reguarly.
Regardless, I hope that AT&T can expand their coverage in this area to match the already well established cellphone carriers here. When that happens, I will buy another iPhone.
Regardless, I hope that AT&T can expand their coverage in this area to match the already well established cellphone carriers here. When that happens, I will buy another iPhone.
Let's not forget that the phones he actually compared it to in his slides side-by-side included the Treo and the Blackberry, both devices considered to be smartphones and can be oriented either for the consumer or for business.
The iPhone has been ripped apart by several sites. There's no 3G capable UMTS chip in there, and if there was, if Apple wanted to enable it they would have to file with the FCC months in advance to be approved. No, 3G will likely come to the iPhone in the form of newer hardware.
Someone said it best that the owner's impression of the iPhone and their overall satisfaction will depend greatly on their previous phone and service.
I equate this to my Cingular 8125. It was a remarkable phone without 3G. 3G came in the next version of the phone. However, it did have edge, which somehow was supposed to compensate for something.
My experience with Cingular has been a true love hate relationship. As much as I loved the idea of dropping $600 on the iPhone I couldn't do it with Cingular's current service. I live in an area that somehow gets spotty service. Oddly, down the hill where the store actually is, I get amazing service. I live up top of a small hill surrounded by apartments and houses. I drive up the hill from the opposite direction and spend about 2 blocks where I get no service. Then it comes back and I turn the corner and it's gone. In my house it's spotty and hard to use. I had to get a landline in the end because the cell phone thing was really annoying me--and causing stress on callers when I'd constantly lose their call.
My Blackberry is Sprint. It's through work. I know of two areas where a call will be dropped if I am in it longer than a second. Usually it can pull itself out of it because those two areas are middle of a road on my way home. One area is worse than the other and almost always drops. That said, I talk on my Sprint phone at home with nearly all bars. Odd right? Well probably not to some but Sprint definitely wins me over there.
The iPhone interface in my opinion will change the way future phones are made. I truly believe it is a remarkable device but it is a 1st time thing for Apple. I would say for a first shot Apple did amazingly well. Sure, they missed the cries for 3G, but that in my opinion can be fixed overnight. I also believe web browsing on the iPhone smokes the treo and blackberry. I know I was a bit jealous when I used an iPhone and then had to go back to the blackberry.
Other factors noted by the OP and that I can completely understand being a total downer is the fact that you can't SMS pictures. Well, I thought that was MMS but whatever. Video on an iPhone is a non-issue for me, but maybe an issue for others. The biggest thing is the expansion slot. This is a toss up. 4gb or 8gb is a lot more space than we've ever seen in a phone. My guess is that the design of the phone may not have been as sleek as Apple wanted to they figured all that space who needs a 2gb card? Well the answer is all of us because it allows us to transfer files from places where BT is simply not an option. Also, the lack of ability to use MP3s as ringtones seems silly and almost a step in the wrong direction. However, giving more consideration to the storage card slot there are two schools of thought for me. One, the lack of the ability to stick any card in it means it'll never be a photograph storage device (wouldn't that be nice to take digi photos and stick your CF card in?!) and music won't be shared. Maybe they think you can share your music too easily if you had that card? I'm just thinking about why they'd ditch the expansion slots all around aside from design.
I think the OP has many points and the iPhone won't be for everyone. I knew it wasn't for me because spending money like that on a device that I cannot use at home is a downer. At best I can get text messages and on a good day take a call plastered up against my back door windows. That's kind of uncomfortable and makes for a difficult conversation. I do admit though, I would love to have that device. Not that I need another PDA since I have a work PDA, but still...I like shinny new things.
I equate this to my Cingular 8125. It was a remarkable phone without 3G. 3G came in the next version of the phone. However, it did have edge, which somehow was supposed to compensate for something.
My experience with Cingular has been a true love hate relationship. As much as I loved the idea of dropping $600 on the iPhone I couldn't do it with Cingular's current service. I live in an area that somehow gets spotty service. Oddly, down the hill where the store actually is, I get amazing service. I live up top of a small hill surrounded by apartments and houses. I drive up the hill from the opposite direction and spend about 2 blocks where I get no service. Then it comes back and I turn the corner and it's gone. In my house it's spotty and hard to use. I had to get a landline in the end because the cell phone thing was really annoying me--and causing stress on callers when I'd constantly lose their call.
My Blackberry is Sprint. It's through work. I know of two areas where a call will be dropped if I am in it longer than a second. Usually it can pull itself out of it because those two areas are middle of a road on my way home. One area is worse than the other and almost always drops. That said, I talk on my Sprint phone at home with nearly all bars. Odd right? Well probably not to some but Sprint definitely wins me over there.
The iPhone interface in my opinion will change the way future phones are made. I truly believe it is a remarkable device but it is a 1st time thing for Apple. I would say for a first shot Apple did amazingly well. Sure, they missed the cries for 3G, but that in my opinion can be fixed overnight. I also believe web browsing on the iPhone smokes the treo and blackberry. I know I was a bit jealous when I used an iPhone and then had to go back to the blackberry.
Other factors noted by the OP and that I can completely understand being a total downer is the fact that you can't SMS pictures. Well, I thought that was MMS but whatever. Video on an iPhone is a non-issue for me, but maybe an issue for others. The biggest thing is the expansion slot. This is a toss up. 4gb or 8gb is a lot more space than we've ever seen in a phone. My guess is that the design of the phone may not have been as sleek as Apple wanted to they figured all that space who needs a 2gb card? Well the answer is all of us because it allows us to transfer files from places where BT is simply not an option. Also, the lack of ability to use MP3s as ringtones seems silly and almost a step in the wrong direction. However, giving more consideration to the storage card slot there are two schools of thought for me. One, the lack of the ability to stick any card in it means it'll never be a photograph storage device (wouldn't that be nice to take digi photos and stick your CF card in?!) and music won't be shared. Maybe they think you can share your music too easily if you had that card? I'm just thinking about why they'd ditch the expansion slots all around aside from design.
I think the OP has many points and the iPhone won't be for everyone. I knew it wasn't for me because spending money like that on a device that I cannot use at home is a downer. At best I can get text messages and on a good day take a call plastered up against my back door windows. That's kind of uncomfortable and makes for a difficult conversation. I do admit though, I would love to have that device. Not that I need another PDA since I have a work PDA, but still...I like shinny new things.
Damn, EDGE is actually pretty fast here in NYC...not that it really matters since there is free WiFi access everywhere around here, so you rarely even need EDGE. Benefits of living in a big city I guess. The iPhone has been absolutely amazing for me - from battery life to browsing speeds. It's a shame some of you are having negative experiences, because this is the greatest phone I've ever used..and I've pretty much used them all.
Sorry to hear youre returning your iPhone... As I was responding to this post, my iPhones safari quit
-air
If Safari quits repeatedly, you can solve this by powering down your iPhone and restarting. Some have recommended doing this once a day. Hold the "sleep" button down until you see the power off slider screen. Slide to off, then press the "sleep" button again to power back on and you will see the apple screen. After about 4 days I had my Safari browser quitting after several minutes repeatedly. Since I did this it has not happened again!
Well, I have a Treo 750 via work, but I'm definitely keeping my iPhone. Unfortunately, I have to use two phones for the time being, but that is not a big issue as I have always had a personal cell phone account. The issue is that the iPhone is not designed to replace a corporate Treo 750 right out of the box. It doesn't do Exchange and it does not have the plethora of third-party applications available (yet). I think that it is erroneous to think that it can replace a Blackberry or Treo in its immediate form. But the potential for this device to grow is immense and some of the things it does right now are simply amazing.
However, I agree that this is not a Treo/Blackberry replacement in its current implementation. But it also defines the expectations for all future cell phones and their interface from this momentous day forward.
From what i have read,this crashing safari thing is really common. Mine does it everyday and the fact that apple did not catch this in its extensive trial period shows that they really did everything they could to simply get it out, and the poor schmucks who paid for it right away are now up **** creek til they release an update I'm sorry the logo on the back of my iPhone is getting blurry, does that say Microsoft on there?
I'm sorry the logo on the back of my iPhone is getting blurry, does that say Microsoft on there?If Safari quits repeatedly, you can solve this by powering down your iPhone and restarting. Some have recommended doing this once a day. Hold the "sleep" button down until you see the power off slider screen. Slide to off, then press the "sleep" button again to power back on and you will see the apple screen. After about 4 days I had my Safari browser quitting after several minutes repeatedly. Since I did this it has not happened again!
Well then the OP can always buy it again when updates are released.
I'm happy with my phone and could care less about lack of 3G. I don't get it and I live in Los Angeles! I had a Blackjack before this, 3G enabled, and 3G service in LA is only in random places. None of which I live or work so even though I had a 3G device, I only got EDGE service. Occasionally I would find myself in a 3G part of town though so I did get to experience both.
EDGE isn't horrible but of course not as fast as 3G. So for me lack of 3G isn't a dealbreaker or an option.
Because where I was calling and where the other person was recieving was the same set of locations I spend 30% of my calls per month that I used with Verizon.
Buisness of course
And there are many other locations that are really iffy connection wise that were never like that with Verizon.
I could take it apart, who cares how many sites did that, did they actually BUILD the phone, they don't know everything.
also, 3G isn't new, why would they need to get approval for something that already exists? It's just a chip with a faster processor.
We could only wish, although...
The first Core 2 Duo Macbooks shipped with "N" class adapters but listed G/B compatibility in the specs and N wasn't enabled yet....Hmmm.
The first Core 2 Duo Macbooks shipped with "N" class adapters but listed G/B compatibility in the specs and N wasn't enabled yet....Hmmm.
When did Treo's start playing Flash?
The windows mobiles variants can support them and I believe Opera Mobile does too.
3G is new. It's a completely different technology from GSM. It no longer uses a TDMA-based air interface, opting for a superior WCDMA-based air interface instead. Modulation schemes are far more complex and as a result it requires more processing. It would 1) require dedicated hardware that was capable of UMTS (GSM's 3G), and 2) would need to be approved in the 850 and 1900 MHz bands by the FCC for operating with UMTS modulation schemes, not just GSM.
The article talks about HSDPA which is not true 3G, but a combination of GSM and EDGE to achieve 400-700kbps. Seems like this would not require a different chipset than what is currently in the iPhone.
On a side note, I am sitting on the beach at the jersey shore as I post this with my iPhone. Just ran a speed test and am pulling down 186kbps. Not too shabby if you ask me.
HSDPA is based on UMTS/WCDMA, which is different technology than GSM. And it is true 3G (faster than EVDO).
Wikipedia Link
I think Apple will be getting a lot of returns, and it won't be the big home run everyone thought -- just my personal opinion.
We discovered, in the three days with our iPhone before returning it, that the cell antenna is in the BASE of the unit. What this means is that whenever you hold the phone in your hand to dial or use any of its internet features, you hold it in the palm of your hand. Covering the bottom black area with your hand causes the iPhone signal to immediately drop 2-3 bars.
This is a MAJOR DESIGN FLAW, and could be the cause of dropped calls and poor connectivity for many people. If the problems are widespread, Apple may have a recall on its hands.
We discovered, in the three days with our iPhone before returning it, that the cell antenna is in the BASE of the unit. What this means is that whenever you hold the phone in your hand to dial or use any of its internet features, you hold it in the palm of your hand. Covering the bottom black area with your hand causes the iPhone signal to immediately drop 2-3 bars.
This is a MAJOR DESIGN FLAW, and could be the cause of dropped calls and poor connectivity for many people. If the problems are widespread, Apple may have a recall on its hands.
Isn't the RAZR's antenna in the base as well, where the plastic is? I think that if putting the antenna in the base is a design flaw, we would've heard about this considering all the RAZRs sold.
Actually...it is. HSDPA is over UMTS, not GSM. If you'd do your research you'd know this.
And here in the bay area, with my sim in the treo 750 I pull upwards of 900kbps with HSDPA enabled over UMTS.
didnt even bother to read the "book" you wrote.
one thing: its your problem, and who cares..
i have mine, you dont.. soon will have updates , thats so obvious. You buy a phone and want to be the exactly way you want in 1 week ?
hope you cry when you see updates and hackers letting us save files, modify home screen and install widgets , ringtones etc..
clients like you are so boring , you guys want to perfect signal , the perfect internet working at 100% etc... if iPhone is not enough for you, so buddy wait another 10 years until something with voice command come. or go and buy a beautifull and smart TREO hahaha..
one thing: its your problem, and who cares..
i have mine, you dont.. soon will have updates , thats so obvious. You buy a phone and want to be the exactly way you want in 1 week ?
hope you cry when you see updates and hackers letting us save files, modify home screen and install widgets , ringtones etc..
clients like you are so boring , you guys want to perfect signal , the perfect internet working at 100% etc... if iPhone is not enough for you, so buddy wait another 10 years until something with voice command come. or go and buy a beautifull and smart TREO hahaha..