iPhone 3G and 2.0 affected by buggy software, sensors, wireless

[AppleInsider]

While iPhone 3G itself is hard to buy, those who do own the new handset are reporting a number of common problems that range from crash-prone third-party apps to lag, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Of all the problems, the most widespread is simply the tendency for third-party software to crash, including at times on launch -- a problem that participants in Apple's support forums notice is absent from Apple's own built-in applications.

In many cases, users are able to resolve some of the problems by reinstalling apps or resetting the iPhone, though at least some caution that the problem gradually reappears over time and isn't simply a byproduct of their early state.

"At first, it was just a couple of free applications which all worked for the first few times, then suddenly stopped working," one user says. "Deleting and re-downloading them fixed the issue but [the problem] came back, eventually."

Other problems, however, are more immediately troubling even on stock devices. A large number of owners observe that the iPhone 2.0 software is suffering from interface lag where the response to a command follows well after the actual input. While resetting can again temporarily fix the problem, the issue is widespread enough to affect both old and new iPhones and is always gradual, which leads some to believe a memory leak is present and sapping away at available performance over time.

And for more users, the hardware itself is becoming a noticeable problem. Early adopters of iPhone 3G are now complaining of echoing audio on their side of calls when paired with a Bluetooth audio system, particularly in cars. The feedback doesn't occur on the receiving end but is known to be tied to the device itself, as fully updated original iPhones don't suffer from the echo.

BMW drivers in particular are suffering from an apparent flaw which refuses to sync contact data over Bluetooth with their phone integration systems, with multiple 2006 and newer vehicles refusing to show contacts through their iDrive interfaces or to properly identify an incoming call. Some Land Rover SUVs also appear to suffer the flaw, though some note the problem also crops up in first-run iPhones using 2.0 firmware while some with new software or phones have no problems at all.

GPS mapping also proves to be unreliable or even non-functional, according to some reports. At its most basic level, some find the device locating itself in Google Maps well away from its actual position -- in one case, claiming a British owner was located off the coast of Canada. More serious instances see users needing to reset the iPhone to invoke GPS or, in the most extreme circumstances, receiving no lock whatsoever. AppleInsider itself can confirm at least periodic GPS issues.

A handful of problems are independent of wireless, including an unresponsive tilt sensor and the refusal of many in-car audio kits to charge while playing, though the latter is described by iLounge as part of a hardware change that no longer supports legacy docking systems that deliver power over a FireWire interface rather than USB.

Two reports (1, 2) also note the ringer volume resetting regardless of individual preferences.

For all these initial complaints, Apple is nonetheless showing signs that it's addressing problems soon. Those same BMW drivers complaining of contact sync have been contacted by Apple with hints that the company is aware of a problem it intends to resolve.

Website logs at multiple websites, including AppleInsider, also reveal Apple working on an iPhone 2.0.1 update that may fix one or more of the outstanding issues upon its release.[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ] (http://www.appleinsider.com/article.php?id=4380)

[sowza1]

Yes, on my 1st Generation with 2.0 apps kept crashing and I have had to reset the phone a few times, which did resolver the problem.
But, today, I started getting dropped calls. This happened several times talking to different people.

I called apple, and they said to pull out the sim to clear any debris.
2. Turn on airplane mode for 15 seconds then turn back on.
3. Reset the phone.

I'm sure it will get better with the 2.0.1.

[Virgil-TB2]

Yes, on my 1st Generation with 2.0 apps kept crashing and I have had to reset the phone a few times, which did resolver the problem.
But, today, I started getting dropped calls. This happened several times talking to different people.

I called apple, and they said to pull out the sim to clear any debris.
2. Turn on airplane mode for 15 seconds then turn back on.
3. Reset the phone.

I'm sure it will get better with the 2.0.1.I've had almost all the issues mentioned on my iPod touch as well (w/2.0 installed) so I would point my finger in the direction of the software for sure.

Sometimes the UI lag, (which occurs for me primarily with contacts, mail, and calendar), seems like it's a result of the poor performance of the syncing software though. MobileMe not only does not work for me (still!), it actually loses data and (apparently) freezes the apps sometimes.

In my experience, opening MobileMe from the browser takes 10 or 20 seconds to load and is buggy, slow as molasses and occasionally even freezes. It's not a stretch to think that the failures and general slowness of MobileMe sync might have something to do with freezing the apps on the iPhone/iPod at times also. It would make sense programmatically for instance, that the Contacts app would check with the MobileMe server when you open it, and this is exactly where it freezes.

Alternatively, since the MobileMe sync is still not working properly for me (and for many people), my iPod often has a different set of mail, contacts, and calendar info than any of my Macs or the server (yes, hard to believe but MobileMe *is* that busted for some of us). That alone could easily cause problems with slowness. This assumes of course that the set of people experiencing the problems with their iPhone are the same set or a subset of people still having troubles with MobileMe.

[wanchaiman]

While iPhone 3G itself is hard to buy, those who do own the new handset are reporting a number of common problems that range from crash-prone third-party apps to lag, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Glad I waited & avoided the early adopter headaches. The "push" on mobileme less than satisfactory and along with this there are multiple, repeated application crashes.

Hope they can get these bugs fixed soon. It seems to be the same with all new tech hardware these days....(not only Apple).

[ghostface147]

This launch, while financially successful for Apple, is an end-user disaster. 3g reception is garbage for a good number of users, slow interface, 3rd party App program crashes. Personally for me, no App store apps have crashed for me. I don't use bluetooth. Very disappointing product from my viewpoint, but I am sticking with Apple to fix them.

[joe in miami]

I updated to 2.0 and downloaded Bloomberg News (simply awesome) and New York Times (but I prefer the older one).

I have noticed a lag, especially in contacts from the Phone icon ( I don't see why the additional contacts icon is even there...is there a reason to have two access points/icons for the same data?)

So far no problems with Bluetooth integration on '08 BMW as described above.

[crees!]

In my experience, opening MobileMe from the browser takes 10 or 20 seconds to load and is buggy, slow as molasses and occasionally even freezes. It's not a stretch to think that the failures and general slowness of MobileMe sync might have something to do with freezing the apps on the iPhone/iPod at times also. It would make sense programmatically for instance, that the Contacts app would check with the MobileMe server when you open it, and this is exactly where it freezes.

A good deductive reasoning, but that gets shot out of the water with me. I do not have MobileMe and I do see those exact lags when going into Contacts. Also times when bringing up the keyboard to type it takes a few seconds (4+) to show.

[MacVicta]

Today, for the third time since updating to 2.0, I found upon going to Safari that I'd lost all of my opened pages. I had some real good news articles lined up for later, too.

[LanPhantom]

Sorry folks, but these are all minor nuisances you get when one chooses to be an 'early adopter" of new technology. I had the 1gen iPhone and had a few problems, two that warranted swapping out the phone over. This 2gen iPhone is much better but it's got it's share of glitches. I'm sure Apple is getting plenty of feed back and they'll tweak the software to run better and be more stable. In the mean time figure out the work arounds and be happy. You are part of an elite group of people that have the coolest phone on the planet.

And for those who complain about the iPhone being a "closed" platform; I spent 3 years with Verizon and EVERY phone I got was a hunk of shit that made satisfactory calls and that was it. THEN I noticed that people on other carriers had other things on the same model of phone, I was pissed. Come to find out, the carriers program their own software for the phone to suite their needs and desires, sometimes locking out cool features of the device. While the iPhone is being tightly controlled by Apple appears to be bad, consider if they left it open and let the carriers lock and unlock features based what they want you to have. Now that would truley suck.

Sorry ANDROID, but I can see your future of a bastardized unrecognizable platform that any carrier can do with whatever they want, not a very stable future in my opinion.

[k2director]

Apple seriously needs to slow down its development schedule, and focus on the minutia of making sure everything works very reliably.

Of course, there's no 100% guaranty that a product will be bug-free, but lately, Apple has gotten noticeably sloppy. The iPhone/Mobile Me launch is one example, but Leopard is another poster-child for Apple's tendency to rush a product out before it's truly solid.

Case in point: It's more than 9 months since Leopard's launch, and my RSS feeds in Mail regularly disappear (only to re-appear after a relaunch), and also mysteriously stop updating for days at a time. Plenty of other people have this problem, so I know it's not just me (plus, it happens on the three Macs I have in my house). To go 9 months without a fix for this is just unacceptable.

Also, iDisk synching has partially broken in Leopard. Everytime you change a document on one computer, Leopard gives you a Conflict Resolver dialog box asking you to choose which version--your new version or the iDisk server's older version--to keep. This never happened before; the system used to be smart enough to simply pick the new version.

Anyway, I truly hope this isn't going to become a trend....otherwise, sooner or later, it's going to be very hard to tell the difference between a Mac and a Windows PC....

[anantksundaram]

Apple seriously needs to slow down its development schedule, and focus on the minutia of making sure everything works very reliably.

Of course, there's no 100% guaranty that a product will be bug-free, but lately, Apple has gotten noticeably sloppy. ....

I couldn't agree more.:\

More than anything else, it worries me as a shareholder.

[stormj]

I've also seen poorer GMS reception than the original iPhone and problems dropping calls when I go in and out of 3G coverage areas. I'll be driving along and go from a 3G area to an EDGE only area and the call will drop, the iPhone will report "No Service" for a moment, and then be back with full bars and EDGE. This does not occur when I disable 3G.

Which is odd, because the 3G data channel is separate from voice, right?

Anyone else had this experience?

[zanshin]

The real fun must be in standing in long lines and getting to be one of the first to become frustrated. I mean, nobody around you in Starbucks really knows if your iPhone 3G is working, right? It's so cool just to be seen having it... just keep talking loudly like nothing's broke.

:D

edit: I admit, I want one... trying hard to justify the extra $100/month the plan would cost me, and my Cingular reception was poor (nonexistent) at my home. Can't say I trust AT&T. I will, however, certainly wait till the furor wanes.

[aplnub]

I couldn't agree more.:\

More than anything else, it worries me as a shareholder.



What did you all think about OSX 10 - 10.3? Success or failure? I think Apple has done a good job especially seeing that they are on the forfront and not in the back of the line.

[wilco]

You are part of an elite group of people that have the coolest phone on the planet.

Elite in the sense that they're someone who can afford to spend $199 on a cell phone?

Aim high!

[ghostface147]

Which is odd, because the 3G data channel is separate from voice, right?

No. EVDO (which is what verizon and sprint use for 3g) seperates voice and data. 3g GSM encompasses both voice and data. That also explains the battery draining faster.

[markymarc]

As a long time avid Mac/Apple fan it saddens me to report that the upgrade to the 3G has been perhaps the most disappointing Apple experience I've had..

Without going on about the misleading Mobile Me issues (no Mac to MM push, no calendar groups support or address book groups syncing) this is really about the phone itself..

Here are the initial observations:

1. Compatibility with Mercedes Benz- my old iphone worked flawlessly. There was even a cool feature that by pressing single digits on the dashboard keypad, it would speed dial my iphone's favorites .. So pressing #1, would speed dial the first favorite, #2 the second, etc. With the new phone that feature no longer works. Calling AWS (Mercedes dedicated wireless support group) actually stated "the new phone is not compatible, so the fact you even get it to work is a positive thing!"

2. Current model Mercedes also have a built in iPod integration kit. This allowed me to plug in my iphone and have it charge the iphone, use it as an iPod through the on dash system, but didn't allow for phone functioning. So when trying with the 3G, i got a weird yellow warning symbol on my new phone saying that "This device cannot be charged". this is BAD BAD BAD given the battery life on the new phone.

3. Battery Life- I left the house yesterday at 6:30am with a fully charged iphone. I flew to a meeting in Las Vegas (1 hour flight) and by noon, my phone was already needing a recharge. Keep in mind, this was simply due to checking email (no Fetch was activated), no wifi searching, etc. THIS WAS NOT 5 hours of constant talk time, but simply having the phone "on".

4. GPS- when I wanted to show off the GPS feature, it took several attempts before it located me. It just was frozen on a map from the previous day.

5. Signal Strength- I'm not yet clear on the virtue's of 3G network. Not once have I experienced the signal bars exceeding 1 bar. I've tried to get clear information if the singal bars are irrelevent on the 3G system, but i've never had more calls dropped, or just the mind bender of constantly thinking I'm going to drop a call because of not seeing any signal strength bars.

So what I wind up having to do, is turn off 3G to preserve battery life and then ask WTF? This is WORSE than the first one and can't even use it in daily life.

I can't tell if the battery or reception issues are due to a bad phone or simply the new "state of the art" of this thing. Any ideas?

Thanks.. I just HATE to have to be so DISAPPOINTED about something I want to love so much!

UPDATED INFO: Apple graciously exchanged the phone for a new one with a new SIM card. While the new phone is still incompatible with the Mercedes iPod integration kit, hopefully battery life and reception will be improved.. Was cool that the store had new iphones to be used for exchanges but none for sale.

[wizard69]

Really?

Let's face it if you where not tuned into the state of rev 2 before buying then you have no right to complain! I just got my first iPhone and must say I'm pretty impresssed.

Is it perfect - certainly not but that was expected if you where up to speed on development of have had recent experiences with apple. The most rational reason to go with Apple is that they have a history of continously improving there systems. If I didn't believe that each release of mobile OS 2 wasn't going to improve I would have stayed with a dumb phone.

So yeah some rough spots but think about this how many other smart phones out there get the sort of support iPhone does? I'd say about zero. Let's face it even a common user can update the iPhone 10 times a year if need be.

Dave



P.S.

It has been mentioned all over the web that for the size of this roll out Apple did an excellent job. I tend to agree. There wasn't much of an option to spread all the various parts out.

D.

[solipsism]

0x00: How Apple thought it could do tackle this "perfect storm" of releasing an iPhone HW update, and iPhone OS update and a .Mac update all at the same time is behind me. This seems like a bad idea just writing the sentence. Not because Apple is a bad company or any other pejorative point that will certainly be made on this thread for sake of being anti-Apple, but because it's a logistic nightmare.

0x01: I would have preferred Apple to release 1.1.5 with the iPhone 3G as 2.0 clearly wasn't ready for primetime, but with the GPS chip that probably wasn't and option for them Still, having a 3G iPhone would have worked for many people until a few later when a proper 2.0 could be released and the App Store launched. Would this affect the first weekend sales? Sure. Would this affect the quarterly total? Not at all.

0x02: I think Apple should have released 'parts' of .Mac with Beta portals to MobileMe by placing the MM icons at the top of the .Mac page or by allowing to switch between MM and .Mac. it's only a header to input, it's not difficult. AJAX is complex and MM looks great and works well (now). I don't understand these comments about it not working as I've had fast access since last Sunday and even my Push for all things are working as advertised.

0x03: I also think that they should have removed the 60-day free trial from the site. I suspect a torrent of new iPhone 3G users wanting to try out Push signed up for the service which slowed it down and made them not want to buy MM. I mentioned earlier about logistics; Gmail did an invite only method with limited invites that automatically ramped up as they could handle the load. This was smart. Of course, you can't do that with the paid service in the same way, but they could have worked out something similar with allowing a certain number of 60-day trials at a time or by allowing hte oldest .Mac members try out MM until they felt they got all the issues fixed. They could also have offered ,Mac member a free month or two for reporting issues. As Teckstud mentioned, it's an empty gesture in some ways, but at least people feel they are getting something.

0x04: Syncing and Backing up takes hours. I don't understand what is happening with these small apps that is taking so long. I could write some of these apps faster than it takes to load them on the iPhone from iTunes.

0x05: The interface and transitions are slower. Besides Safari's crashing, having to wait 15-20 seconds for the keyboard to catch up makes typing very difficult. The audible click when typing a letter made the lack of a tactile response okay.

0x06: It took 3 system restarts before I was able to access Settings. There was just a blank page and I couldn't get back to the Home screen.

0x07: As stated, there are a lot of bad apps. I preferred Apple being the judge, jury and executioner of the App Store (and I still do) but to me that mean they were testing these apps and telling the developer to fix this or that before they will hist it. Like an editor for a book. This does not seem to be the case. With 20% more apps on the App Store since last week and Apple accepting me into the program i think this issue will get worse. I'll have to find a site I respect that lists the 'good' apps. Perhaps on this forum?

0x08: My sensors seem to work fine. I get excellent 2G and 3G coverage.The accelerometer is fine too. I think any issues with these is purely software-based so while it's lagging.

0x09: The screen is brighter. Even the minimum brightness seems to be more than the original iPhone. Does anyone notice that the display shows prints more? Perhaps I'm more oilier than a month ago, but even at the highest brightness prints still show up, whereas I could never see them with the original iPhone. (This could very well be my imagination



Now for things that aren't bug fixes, but things I want.....

0x0A: The 3G On/Off needs to be above Airplane Mode under Settings. WEll, it would be ideal for me with the way i use the device. As of this writing I'm already at 418MB Tx/Rx without using WiFi. I also have 1 hour 28 minutes in call time, but over an hour of that is on hold with AT&T about my account. But it was for something not related to an actual issue, I was looking for info about buying multiple iPhones. (I know, I'm arsehole for buying many when people are still waiting)

0x0B: Like a fanboy I DLed all 150 free App Store apps and some paid ones. I DLed most of these on my iPhone 3G. I have 9 screens on apps I probably won't use. I'll try one here and there and then delete, but then later forget which I deleted when I get back to iTunes so it syncs back up again. That is my 'jackassery' there, but I realized that the one thing that is missing from the home pages are folders. A hierarchal method of accessing apps without using multiple swiping pages.I'm certain this is coming, it just makes since. What probably won't be coming is an iTunes interface that lets me organize my Homepage(s) using a proper mouse/trackpad and keyboard.

0x0C: I wish I could delete the Contacts app. I know some people have been wanting it but hitting the Phone icon is plenty efficient for me. In fact, we should be able to remove most of the native apps that we don't want, the exception being Phone and maybe Safari, Mail and iPod. Though if this were allowed and was marketed as a feature for corporations, not as Parental Controls then iPod would certainly have to be an option to remove. I don't see this happening either.

[iVlad]

Although I am little frustrated, I must say that knowing that Apple is working on Updates which can be fixable, makes a whole world better.

When I used to have a Razr, there was so support what's so ever. They used to be $299 too, and no updates.

I wish Apple find more great developers faster, but its very hard in this market. )

[teckstud]

I couldn't agree more.:\

More than anything else, it worries me as a shareholder.

That's what happens when you choose to grow from a top notch computer company- Apple Computer and go the Sony route into an trendy electronics company - Apple Inc.

[Rot'nApple]

Apple seriously needs to slow down its development schedule, and focus on the minutia of making sure everything works very reliably.

Of course, there's no 100% guaranty that a product will be bug-free, but lately, Apple has gotten noticeably sloppy.

Anyway, I truly hope this isn't going to become a trend....otherwise, sooner or later, it's going to be very hard to tell the difference between a Mac and a Windows PC....

I read an article where Microsoft was going to battle back against Apple with regards to their "Get a Mac" ad campaign highlighting Vistas problems. I guess the iPhone 3G launch will give them plenty of fodder!

I can see it now, their version of PC and Mac and the PC guy talking on a typical smart phone and the the Mac guy trying to get his iPhone to work. Or PC Guy touting apps available for WinMobile that actually work and Mac complaining about the app crashes and having to restart the iPhone.

Sounds like iPhone 3G is Windows 95 without the SP-#'s. Price it even lower Apple that way people won't mind that you are selling them crap. Isn't that what was said about Windows?

Anyway, love Apple, but love the fact that I am not the proud owner of the iPhone 3G. I'll wait until the articles in AI start talking about how the iPhone "Just Works" and that the App store apps really work.

Does anyone out there know of how well the apps for the jail broken iPhone faired? Did they work like a charm or did you have to deal with a lot of crashes while using them as well?

[teckstud]

Really?
It has been mentioned all over the web that for the size of this roll out Apple did an excellent job. I tend to agree. There wasn't much of an option to spread all the various parts out.

D.

?? Didn't you happen to turn on a TV at all last weekend and see any news that constantly reported the less -than -stellar launch?

[JeffDM]

It's apparent that there are problems, but for a device that's supposedly exceeded a million units sold, those support threads aren't that long.

[TenoBell]

True enough it is buggy. I was waiting for a story like this. Apple will issue updates to fix the bugs. This story will pass, it's not that big of a deal.

[solipsism]

3. Battery Life- I left the house yesterday at 6:30am with a fully charged iphone. I flew to a meeting in Las Vegas (1 hour flight) and by noon, my phone was already needing a recharge. Keep in mind, this was simply due to checking email (no Fetch was activated), no wifi searching, etc. THIS WAS NOT 5 hours of constant talk time, but simply having the phone "on".

That sounds about right, but it's clear the OS isn't optimized as well as it should be. Did you turn WiFi off for the entire duration (I don't mean unconnected to a network)? Did you go into Airplane Mode for the duration of the flight? If the phone was 'on', do you mean that you weren't listening to music, watching vids, or playing games, etc?

[jcar901]

My wife and I each have an iPhone 3g. The both work perfectly in our late model BMWs. Pairing, contacts, calls - all perfect. We share cars and both phones are paired to each car. In addition my car has the iPod interface and the iPhone works perfectly - all data is displayed on the main screen. Playlists, genres, artists etc. and control is via the steering wheel buttons or iDrive. I am surprised to hear that others are having problems!

[teckstud]

That sounds about right, but it's clear the OS isn't optimized as well as it should be. Did you turn WiFi off for the entire duration (I don't mean unconnected to a network)? Did you go into Airplane Mode for the duration of the flight? If the phone was 'on', do you mean that you weren't listening to music, watching vids, or playing games, etc?

If he says he simply had the phone "on"- why would you think he did all of that?

[teckstud]

My wife and I each have an iPhone 3g. The both work perfectly in our late model BMWs. Pairing, contacts, calls - all perfect. We share cars and both phones are paired to each car. In addition my car has the iPod interface and the iPhone works perfectly - all data is displayed on the main screen. Playlists, genres, artists etc. and control is via the steering wheel buttons or iDrive. I am surprised to hear that others are having problems!

Is the car charging the phone? Are you using its battery?

[mgoodman]

I tend to be more of an Apple apologist or "Fanboy" than most when it comes to Apple products. What can I say, I'm just passionate about Apple. Since 1997 I've owned 4 laptops, 5 ipods and one iphone (Gen 1). My immediate family currently has 5 more computers, 4 more ipods, and 2 more iphones. The point being that I have plenty of experience with Apple products upon which I base my opinion. Lately, my apologist ability is getting worn thin. Iphone software version 2 sucks. It really does. I loved my iphone so much last week that I have convinced dozens of people to buy one this year. Seriously, I'm an evangelist. Today, I would no longer recommend that anyone buy an iphone - the software is that bad.

safari - when i fill in form blanks the screen shifts with each keystroke, making it impossible to type. I use a webmail service so this has resulted in my inability to use the iphone for email.
new apps - wow, the app store is a great idea. unfortunately, with the crashing it is a failure and remains just an idea.
maps - used to work great. now, since it tries to track where I am it freezes constantly.
phone - i can't type a number or even select a contact - the delay is so long that by the time it realizes I've pressed a button the screen has already changed.
crashes - never thought i'd see the day when the black screen of death on my apple product gets me more upset than windows' blue screen of death. My phone now (since the download) just goes black sometimes and I have to turn it on again.

This is worse than I've ever seen Apple do. If they don't release a patch soon, and I mean within days, we will see a serious hit to new sales as the grapevine will no longer be supportive. I just can't in good conscience recommend this product.

[markymarc]

That sounds about right, but it's clear the OS isn't optimized as well as it should be. Did you turn WiFi off for the entire duration (I don't mean unconnected to a network)? Did you go into Airplane Mode for the duration of the flight? If the phone was 'on', do you mean that you weren't listening to music, watching vids, or playing games, etc?

It was a quick flight, and I did listen to some music but only about 20 minutes worth. Wifi was turned off.. It was really annoying and frustrating..

I would say that's the biggest issue.. A friend did show me a device called Mofie (sp) that provides her with 16 hours of time on her first iphone, but it does add a lot of bulk to the phone. Haven't looked to see if a 3G model is out yet.

So it just added insult to injury when i got back to my car and tried charging it with the iPod integration kit, only to find that scary yellow triangle/exclamation point warning on my phone.

[solipsism]

If he says he simply had the phone "on"- why would you think he did all of that?

I find most people don't communicate well. To him having it 'on' could be implying that he took all other precautions to conserve the battery. Since I have no history with this person it would illogical for me to assume such things. Hence my inquiry.

[teckstud]

The real fun must be in standing in long lines and getting to be one of the first to become frustrated. I mean, nobody around you in Starbucks really knows if your iPhone 3G is working, right? It's so cool just to be seen having it... just keep talking loudly like nothing's broke.

:D

edit: I admit, I want one... trying hard to justify the extra $100/month the plan would cost me, and my Cingular reception was poor (nonexistent) at my home. Can't say I trust AT&T. I will, however, certainly wait till the furor wanes.

Well if you're stupid enough to wait in long lines after last year's $600 iPhone, that people waited in lines for hours to buy, is now actually 2/3rds less- than you deserve it.

[markymarc]

It was a quick flight, and I did listen to some music but only about 20 minutes worth. Wifi was turned off.. It was really annoying and frustrating..

I would say that's the biggest issue.. A friend did show me a device called Mofie (sp) that provides her with 16 hours of time on her first iphone, but it does add a lot of bulk to the phone. Haven't looked to see if a 3G model is out yet.

So it just added insult to injury when i got back to my car and tried charging it with the iPod integration kit, only to find that scary yellow triangle/exclamation point warning on my phone.

The 3G model doesn't come out until September :(

[jcar901]

Is the car charging the phone? Are you using its battery?

The phone charges when plugged into the iPod adapter. When initially plugged in the iPhone displays "not compatible with this device would you like to use airplane mode?" Press "no" and all is good! works perfectly and charges.

[rob05au]

Apple needs to look closely at the power consumption that the 3G iphone is using and make some serious changes. I had a Nokia 3G phone previously and had the same type of battery and I was surfing the net and making calls and could easily get 2+ days from one charge.

Also the version of safari on the iphone 3G and possibly the first gen one is still lagging behind and would more than likely have the same security issue and the 3.1.1 version we had on our macs which is now at 3.1.2

This may well help some people with battery life I let my iphone 3G fully drain and switch off before recharging upto 5 or 6 times this allows the full capacity of the battery to be usable and prolongs the life of it.

I have seen any crashes of apps as yet maybe I am just lucky in that way so far. But I do see the lag a lot when doing certain things.

I am hoping apple will fix as much as possible before releasing the next FW version and they really should look at testing in more countries as different carriers may be having some different affects on reception, battery life, GPRS and alike which should really be addressed fully.

[solipsism]

The 3G model doesn't come out until September :(

I, too, am looking forward to the Mophie Juice Pack. It took them 10 months to get the first one out for the iPhone, I hope this one is faster. I like it because it acts like a case and keep it on indefinitely as it has a iPod-connector pass through in it.

If you are just looking for a battery pack and don't care about a seperate charging unit there is one with almost as much mAh as the current Mophie unit and half the price. • http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/07/18/several-backup-batteries-can-extend-your-daily-iphone-3g-use


PS: You can edit your previous posts.
PPS: Welcome to AI.

[jcar901]

As a long time avid Mac/Apple fan it saddens me to report that the upgrade to the 3G has been perhaps the most disappointing Apple experience I've had..

1. Compatibility with Mercedes Benz- my old iphone worked flawlessly. There was even a cool feature that by pressing single digits on the dashboard keypad, it would speed dial my iphone's favorites .. So pressing #1, would speed dial the first favorite, #2 the second, etc. With the new phone that feature no longer works. Calling AWS (Mercedes dedicated wireless support group) actually stated "the new phone is not compatible, so the fact you even get it to work is a positive thing!"

Thanks.. I just HATE to have to be so DISAPPOINTED about something I want to love so much!

Works perfectly in BMWs!

[teckstud]

The phone charges when plugged into the iPod adapter. When initially plugged in the iPhone displays "not compatible with this device would you like to use airplane mode?" Press "no" and all is good! works perfectly and charges.

Well then maybe that explains why you are not having battery issues like the other that are mentioned? I suspect you referring to the apps problems mentioned .

[Postulant]

I'm quite pleased with my 3g iPhone. Sure, some apps are a little buggy... but it's still the best damn hand held device out there.

[jcar901]

I'm quite pleased with my 3g iPhone. Sure, some apps are a little buggy... but it's still the best damn hand held device out there.

couldn't agree more!

[markymarc]

I, too, am looking forward to the Mophie Juice Pack. It took them 10 months to get the first one out for the iPhone, I hope this one is faster. I like it because it acts like a case and keep it on indefinitely as it has a iPod-connector pass through in it.

If you are just looking for a battery pack and don't care about a seperate charging unit there is one with almost as much mAh as the current Mophie unit and half the price. • http://arstechnica.com/journals/apple.ars/2008/07/18/several-backup-batteries-can-extend-your-daily-iphone-3g-use


PS: You can edit your previous posts.
PPS: Welcome to AI.

thanks .. Yes this was my first post!

[markymarc]

If he says he simply had the phone "on"- why would you think he did all of that?

Sorry for being unclear.. My point was that with minimal use of the ipod, wifi turned off, Fetch turned off, i only got through 6 hours from a full charge to needing a recharge.. (got the 10% warning)

Also, as I mentioned, 3g iphone not compatible with 2008 iPod integration kit in the Mercedes, so it won't charge.. I never saw the "yellow triangle" warning before, until now.

So like one of the other posters.. This was one of the worst Apple experiences ever.. and it just kills me to have to say that..

[icfireball]

As a few others have mentioned, the contacts have been especially laggy for me... after I press a name it's unresponsive for a few seconds or slow.

I'm a bit mad at myself...I bought the Fox racing game and Monkey Ball, and they're kinda neat but really I just wanted to try them and now I've wasted $20 on games I won't play very often. Both's controls are overly sensitive, but monkey ball's especially overly sensitive.

[solipsism]

As a few others have mentioned, the contacts have been especially laggy for me... after I press a name it's unresponsive for a few seconds or slow.

I'm a bit mad at myself...I bought the Fox racing game and Monkey Ball, and they're kinda neat but really I just wanted to try them and now I've wasted $20 on games I won't play very often. Both's controls are overly sensitive, but monkey ball's especially overly sensitive.

Since the apps have a way of allowing you to sign in to get access, they need to offer a trial app. There might be apps that I would buy if I could try them, but as of right now I either don't realize I want/need them or I fear they are just too buggy to bother with at this point.

[iPeon]

?? Didn't you happen to turn on a TV at all last weekend and see any news that constantly reported the less -than -stellar launch?

You expect otherwise from the media? :lol:

[hankx32]

I agree that AAPL is getting ahead of themselves in terms of releasing products before they're ready for prime time, but I also don't hold them 100% responsible, it's fueled by the people on these very forums who strike up drumbeats of when to expect new product launches, and these things snowball into full-blown rumors and then into Wall Street expectations, and then god forbid if they don't release the iPhone at such-and-such event the damn stock is gonna plummet like an anchor in the sea! I mean AAPL never mentions any sort of time frame for anything, but if they let down the rumor mongers the stock is toast (And the product is shit cause it was rushed)! I hate all of you! B~)

[quinney]

0x07) As stated, there are a lot of bad apps. I preferred Apple being the judge, jury and executioner of the App Store (and I still do) but to me that mean they were testing these apps and telling the developer to fix this or that before they will hist it. Like an editor for a book. This does not seem to be the case. With 20% more apps on the App Store since last week and Apple accepting me into the program i think this issue will get worse.

Don't be so tough on yourself :lol:

[iPhone91]

I have an original iPhone with the 2.0 software and my problems have been fairly minimal. The two problem apps have been Safari, which crashes more than 1.1.4, especially when I visit TUAW, and the settings app. It is nonfunctional when apps are downoading or installing from the App Store. Other than that and the minor freezes that have always been present, the 2.0 software has not significantly changed the experience on my iPhone. I hope those of you with problems have them resolved soon.

Steve

[Mr Underhill]

Sorry to disappoint some of you rumour mongrels and apple disses but i got my 3G on the morning of the launch, had it up and running within an hour, everything works perfect, no crashes or dodgy app experiences, GPS works like a dream, Car Phone Warehouse/O2 service fantastic and great value for money and the battery life seems more than adequate when comparing with other friends and colleagues 3G phones.

The only minor issue i have seen is if i get a spammy/junky email on my iPhone and pop it into the junk folder, then when i log into my MobileMe account in the cloud the email isn't in my junk folder but still in the inbox.

I know a lot of Apple users and they do tend to be a fussy lot. Most suffer from OCD and the like, so i'd expect to hear some grumblings as it's the nature of the beast.

But for any of you out there reading these forums who don't own an iPhone, then i couldn't praise the iPhone 3G high enough. Believe me there's now't better than seeing your colleagues dribbling at the mouth when your sitting beside them during lunch watching a bit of YouTube or surfing the net whilst their trying to fathom out their bricks.

[sapporobaby]

True enough it is buggy. I was waiting for a story like this. Apple will issue updates to fix the bugs. This story will pass, it's not that big of a deal.

I'm right with you tenobell. Apple maybe bit off a bit more than they can chew but as funny as this sounds, I am glad they did it. In this case only Apple would have the guts to make such a colossal leap forward. While I am not overly impressed with the phone, I am impressed with the process. This is what will make me pay for Apple products in the future. The fix is coming within days and hopefully many things will be fixed and new things added. This process, the 3G iPhone, MobileMe, etc.... was bound to have those that will complain over anything, so this is to be expected. What I want to see is how Apple responds.

[winterspan]

This launch, while financially successful for Apple, is an end-user disaster. 3g reception is garbage for a good number of users, slow interface, 3rd party App program crashes. Personally for me, no App store apps have crashed for me. I don't use bluetooth. Very disappointing product from my viewpoint, but I am sticking with Apple to fix them.

"disaster" ? That's a little rich... These are all very minor problems. For god sakes, we are talking about a major hardware and software update and the first release of it's 3rd party platform. This a *MAJOR* project and you would have to be very naive not to expect many bugs to appear... Anyone who just bought a new iPhone or upgraded their old phone is an "early adopter". If you get very frustrated dealing with the annoyances of new technology, I'd suggest waiting at least 4-5 months to upgrade after ANYTHING is released.

Give Apple a month or two to get their ducks in a row, and I'm sure everything will be working great. FWIW, My iPod Touch is running firmware 2.0 and many 3rd partys apps flawlessly. I haven't even noticed one bug or error since I've upgraded.

[Bergermeister]

Me, too. Overall, my phone is working really well. There are a few things, but nothing major. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones (this time).

[sapporobaby]

Me, too. Overall, my phone is working really well. There are a few things, but nothing major. Maybe I'm one of the lucky ones (this time).

I am with you here as well. I have only one app that is suffering from a personality disorder but for the most part things are going well.

[NasserAE]

The only complaint I have is related to how easy is it to get scratched all other the new iPhone. After one day in my pocket, mine is already showing scratched on the back!! All 3G iPhone cases and screen protectors were sold out when I bought my iPhone :embarrass
I really hope someone comes up with a product to remove those scratches (Which I am sure will happen).

[Marvin]

So one of the main reasons Apple decided to lock down the software distribution was to ensure stable 3rd-party applications. Sure it was.

I know people with the 3G iphone and also experience the lag. Those with unlocked 2.5G iphones on firmware 1.1.4 seem to be ok and have pretty stable, free 3rd-party apps.

I'm sure the issues will be resolved but between these things, the carrier signups, the itunes store going down, the whole upgrade experience didn't leave a very good impression.

[TenoBell]

When exactly was this supposed golden age when every product Apple released worked flawlessly and never had a problem? I don't seem to recollect that time the way some people do.

[k squared]

When exactly was this supposed golden age when every product Apple released worked flawlessly and never had a problem? I don't seem to recollect that time the way some people do.

The time was before the Web, before a few people could complain on a message board, which in turn signals the world is collapsing.

Could Apple have done a better job on the roll out? Sure. But it's over with and really not a big deal anymore.

So Contacts has a lag in opening...if Apple would have delayed the launch to fix the issues, rather than issuing an update in 2.01, people would be complaining about that too.

[wolfneuralnet]

As a long time avid Mac/Apple fan it saddens me to report that the upgrade to the 3G has been perhaps the most disappointing Apple experience I've had..

Without going on about the misleading Mobile Me issues (no Mac to MM push, no calendar groups support or address book groups syncing) this is really about the phone itself..

Here are the initial observations:

1. Compatibility with Mercedes Benz- my old iphone worked flawlessly. There was even a cool feature that by pressing single digits on the dashboard keypad, it would speed dial my iphone's favorites .. So pressing #1, would speed dial the first favorite, #2 the second, etc. With the new phone that feature no longer works. Calling AWS (Mercedes dedicated wireless support group) actually stated "the new phone is not compatible, so the fact you even get it to work is a positive thing!"

2. Current model Mercedes also have a built in iPod integration kit. This allowed me to plug in my iphone and have it charge the iphone, use it as an iPod through the on dash system, but didn't allow for phone functioning. So when trying with the 3G, i got a weird yellow warning symbol on my new phone saying that "This device cannot be charged". this is BAD BAD BAD given the battery life on the new phone.

3. Battery Life- I left the house yesterday at 6:30am with a fully charged iphone. I flew to a meeting in Las Vegas (1 hour flight) and by noon, my phone was already needing a recharge. Keep in mind, this was simply due to checking email (no Fetch was activated), no wifi searching, etc. THIS WAS NOT 5 hours of constant talk time, but simply having the phone "on".

4. GPS- when I wanted to show off the GPS feature, it took several attempts before it located me. It just was frozen on a map from the previous day.

5. Signal Strength- I'm not yet clear on the virtue's of 3G network. Not once have I experienced the signal bars exceeding 1 bar. I've tried to get clear information if the singal bars are irrelevent on the 3G system, but i've never had more calls dropped, or just the mind bender of constantly thinking I'm going to drop a call because of not seeing any signal strength bars.

So what I wind up having to do, is turn off 3G to preserve battery life and then ask WTF? This is WORSE than the first one and can't even use it in daily life.

I can't tell if the battery or reception issues are due to a bad phone or simply the new "state of the art" of this thing. Any ideas?

Thanks.. I just HATE to have to be so DISAPPOINTED about something I want to love so much!

Due to the battery life/signal strength issues you are having, it sounds like something is very wrong with your phone. I would return or exchange it in the 30-day period when they have more stock. I presume you have tried restoring the phone already. Check your mail settings. If you have push on it shouldn't be "checking" your mail too.

[wolfneuralnet]

This is worse than I've ever seen Apple do. If they don't release a patch soon, and I mean within days, we will see a serious hit to new sales as the grapevine will no longer be supportive. I just can't in good conscience recommend this product.

If you are having this many issues, there is a problem with the software on your phone. I have the 1G and have been using 2.0 for months with none of these issues.

Wipe the phone and start again.

[teckstud]

You expect otherwise from the media? :lol:

Yes I expect them, the liberal media, to stay to the business of helping send this country off to a baseless war, elect more morons like W, and impeach our presidents for lying about oral sex.

[roehlstation]

I couldn't agree more.:\

More than anything else, it worries me as a shareholder.

Need I remind you that Windows XP SP3 rendered any HP/Compaq with an AMD processor unbootable, and the only way to fix it was restore the software.


to those saying this is what early adopters deserve I will remind them that this is revision 2 possibly 3 of the iPhone and revision 2 of the software. Granted the only thing I've noticed is a slight lag with the contacts, but there is a lot of information there. Otherwise, this device is by far the most favorite thing I've ever purchased.

[teckstud]

The time was before the Web, before a few people could complain on a message board, which in turn signals the world is collapsing.

Could Apple have done a better job on the roll out? Sure. But it's over with and really not a big deal anymore.

So Contacts has a lag in opening...if Apple would have delayed the launch to fix the issues, rather than issuing an update in 2.01, people would be complaining about that too.

You only need to go back 8-9 years ago when the original iMac G3s were all the rave. That's why Apple grew to what it is today- from fantastic word of mouth- on the Web!
And why are people always"complaining" when there are real malfunctions with their iPhones? The title of the thread even attests to it. And the roll out is not over if there is a shortage of phones and now malfunction issues. When their IPhone dies after a 3 hour charge- that's not a complaint but a problem.

[teckstud]

Sorry for being unclear.. My point was that with minimal use of the ipod, wifi turned off, Fetch turned off, i only got through 6 hours from a full charge to needing a recharge.. (got the 10% warning)

Also, as I mentioned, 3g iphone not compatible with 2008 iPod integration kit in the Mercedes, so it won't charge.. I never saw the "yellow triangle" warning before, until now.

So like one of the other posters.. This was one of the worst Apple experiences ever.. and it just kills me to have to say that..

Hopefully you never experience the "sad Mac" - now that can send you on a bender.

[teckstud]

I'm quite pleased with my 3g iPhone. Sure, some apps are a little buggy... but it's still the best damn hand held device out there.

That's not what my girlfriend tells me.
- bad joke , bad joke.:lol:

[jeChe]

Ever since upgrading to 2.0 and again since buying the 3g i have had problems sending and receiving emails. The .mac push only works some of the time. For gmail and my nyc.rr.com (road runner) email, it stinks. It will get stuck on the searching for new mail or connecting commands and then nothing happens. You pretty much have to turn the iphone off and on again to begin receiving emails again. I haven't seen much if anything about this here, but there are tons of questions/comments about this on apple's own blogs... with no posted solution.

[teckstud]

Ever since upgrading to 2.0 and again since buying the 3g i have had problems sending and receiving emails. The .mac push only works some of the time. For gmail and my nyc.rr.com (road runner) email, it stinks. It will get stuck on the searching for new mail or connecting commands and then nothing happens. You pretty much have to turn the iphone off and on again to begin receiving emails again. I haven't seen much if anything about this here, but there are tons of questions/comments about this on apple's own blogs... with no posted solution.

So your phone doesn't work- stop complaining!:lol:

[iFerd]

There is a long thread on the Apple support forums (here (http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=1603761)) of people who find that since updating firmware to version 2.0 (both on first generation and 3G phones) Mail becomes unreliable in picking up email. It will work fine for a time, but for those with the problem, it will eventually stop fetching mail at all. Going into an inbox results in notice that the phone is "Connecting..." and the pinwheel spins, but nothing further happens until the phone is powered off and back on or Mail is forced to close by holding the Home button down for five seconds while the update is trying. This problem afflicts POP and IMAP accounts, as well as push and fetch.

No amount of deleting and reconfiguring email accounts, deleting settings, or restoring as a new phone or from backups has successfully solved the problem. There are some reports that Apple knows about this and others that support has never heard of it.

It is EXTREMELY frustrating! :mad:

[solipsism]

[T]he settings app. It is nonfunctional when apps are downoading or installing from the App Store.

I discovered this, too. It looks like we have our first workaround (sort of). This is a recrateable issue. So, if you want to use your Settings don't install App Store updates or wait it out.

[aaka]

I spoke to AT&T support for email problems and they told me that is a known problem. The fix is to switch off and on the phone once a day.

That is a pain but I am assuming that Apple will fix it at some point.

That is the only problem I have seen so far. This is my first iPhone and I love it.


A

[Linj]

The following is for the purposes not of complaining but of adding to the general feedback and hopefully helping Apple.

Have had the phone for 3 days. Am a .mac subscriber now on MobileMe. Have set up the phone for MobileMe.

Initially, Mail seemed to work but no contacts or calendars were pushed to phone, despite iTunes' claim they were.

Called Apple and turned iPhone settings for sync off and back on and did same with phone power and contacts appeared in phone. However, since then, new contacts added to Mac not appearing in (or being pushed to) phone. Calendar appointments from mac still not going to iPhone and vice versa.

Had fully charged phone out last night for a few hours. Did a very small amount of browsing (5 minutes), movie watching (3 minutes), and texting. After 4 hours, had about 25% battery life remaining.

Have also had User Interface delay/lag problems and the odd black screen.

Until these items are fixed, not likely to download 3rd party apps and risk further difficulties.

On a different subject, don't understand why still only Safari works in landscape mode (and not email, for example), cannot copy and paste, SMS cannot access unsaved (not in contact list but in recent call list)) numbers, so must write unsaved down on paper and then compose SMS text message. Also, SMS function cannot access recent recipients list (if there is one) of recently sent text messages while composing a new message -- a very basic functionality disorder.

Have much yet to learn about the iPhone and how it works, so please forgive if have missed something.

Thanks and hope this helps.

[Johnny Mozzarella]

Today, for the third time since updating to 2.0, I found upon going to Safari that I'd lost all of my opened pages. I had some real good news articles lined up for later, too.

Safari can open up to 8 tabs but the iPhone can only hold about 2-3 pages in memory. The others will have to be reloaded when you access those tabs.

[ikir]

Wow, am i the only one without problems? GPS is working fine for me (outside of course lol), and i don't have an yissue with my third party software.... sometimes it seems to slow down, this is the only problem for me.

[Right_said_fred]

Wow, am i the only one without problems? GPS is working fine for me (outside of course lol), and i don't have an yissue with my third party software.... sometimes it seems to slow down, this is the only problem for me.
I currently have access to 4 iphones - 1 3g(mine), and the rest rev 1 phones. All upgraded to 2.0
ALL have a LAG sometimes in contacts and its NOT SLIGHT its 10 seconds sometimes. Nice when someone asks you for the number - bad enough we cant email or beam the contact info - now i have to wiggle my thumb on the screen for 10 seconds before i get response.
Its not the end of the world of course, but its irksome for people to say 'slight' lag that to me would imply 0.5 seconds of 'lag'
if some people see no problems at all it implies that its hardware not software.
On my 3G, I have gps sometimes is there sometimes is not - waiting doesnt help, relaunch the app does help. LAGGING contacts - most of the time, and more dropped calls than my previous iphone.

[Akac]

Today, for the third time since updating to 2.0, I found upon going to Safari that I'd lost all of my opened pages. I had some real good news articles lined up for later, too.

I've had a radar bug report at Apple for this since early 2.0 betas. Using Google Reader on the iPhone is far less useful than in 1.1 because Safari can't keep more than 1 tab open without losing the contents of the second one now. 1.14 could hold 8 pages open at once.

[Hoosier 171]

well I purchased an iPhone 3G on the day that it came out and I have been quite happy with it. The only problem I had was my ringtone wouldn't play when I got my texts. So I tried restoring it and bow I have a whole lot of trouble. My camera crashes everytime that I try to use it. Photo quit on me and I can't edit my settings because that crashes also. As for my third party apps they work without a flaw and don't crash.

My calls into apple were answered with that I needed to return it foe a new one but now I am unsirie seeing how I could end up with problems that are posted here. Talking to AT&T they told me that the one that they have had more problems with are the 16gb white ones (the one I have)

This is ridiculous

[solipsism]

well I purchased an iPhone 3G on the day that it came out and I have been quite happy with it. The only problem I had was my ringtone wouldn't play when I got my texts. So I tried restoring it and bow I have a whole lot of trouble. My camera crashes everytime that I try to use it. Photo quit on me and I can't edit my settings because that crashes also. As for my third party apps they work without a flaw and don't crash.

My calls into apple were answered with that I needed to return it foe a new one but now I am unsirie seeing how I could end up with problems that are posted here. Talking to AT&T they told me that the one that they have had more problems with are the 16gb white ones (the one I have)

This is ridiculous

I'd restore again if the camera is crashing, and not from a backup. The SMS thing is a known issue with many people. Some aren't even getting tests as they should.

I know you are just relaying what you heard, but I wouldn't take anything an AT&T CSR states about tech at face value. They really don't know anything except either what they were told by another retail employee or the limited scope that their job entails over the past week of iPhone sales.

[sapporobaby]

I'd restore again if the camera is crashing, and not from a backup. The SMS thing is a known issue with many people. Some aren't even getting tests as they should.

I know you are just relaying what you heard, but I wouldn't take anything an AT&T CSR states about tech at face value. They really don't know anything except either what they were told by another retail employee or the limited scope that their job entails over the past week of iPhone sales.

Hey solipsim,

Some quick observations:

1. The handover from 3G into 2G during a phone call will usually crash the call.
2. Lag time.
3. Seems to run smoother and faster after a phone reboot. Could be a memory leak.
4. WiFI does not seem to be that fast. I am using 24 mbp/s DSL connecting to an Airport Express.
5.MobileMe seems to really work now. I make a call correction and blame it arrives about 1 min later. Same with contacts.

These are just a few. Have you noticed any of these? For the most part, I do not even use WIFI as 3G seems to be faster. I also have 7.2 mbp/s here in Finland so this might be the reason for things seeming faster than on WIFI.

[Hoosier 171]

I've restored about four time and twice from a non back up. So looks like I'm SOL

[success]

Elite in the sense that they're someone who can afford to spend $199 on a cell phone?

Aim high!I was thinking the same thing. Elite? Get your priorities straight man. 99% of everyone in these G8 slave nations can't even think without someone on the tele telling them what to do. Looks like you're one of them.

[coffeetime]

I've experienced many of these problems on my original iPhone after upgrading to the 2.0 software (interface lag, Super Monkey Ball game crashing before it gets to the second ("Sega") screen). Additionally, I've had a heck of a time trying to connect to my home WiFi network since the upgrade. Sitting in the same chair that I've been in for years, with my Apple AirPort base station where it's also been for years, my iPhone now rarely "sees" my hotspot, whereas before, I didn't have much problem.

[iphoneuser]

Anyone else experiencing reduced battery life on V2 software running on the first generation iPhone? For a while I thought it was increased screen usage due to all of my experimenting with the new applications, but now that I am traveling and back to my normal usage patterns I am experiencing a noticeable reduction in battery life.

[anantksundaram]

That's what happens when you choose to grow from a top notch computer company- Apple Computer and go the Sony route into an trendy electronics company - Apple Inc.

Two data points do not an empirical generalization make.

[anantksundaram]

As a few others have mentioned, the contacts have been especially laggy for me... after I press a name it's unresponsive for a few seconds or slow.

Turning off 'Fetch' in individual (Mac, Gmail, Yahoo) mail settings got rid of the problem for me. Everything now responds instantaneously.

Of course, it means that I don't get to use the push feature. I hope this will be sorted out soon as a software fix by Apple. In the meantime, I'll have to manually download mail.

[anantksundaram]

Need I remind you that Windows XP SP3 rendered any HP/Compaq with an AMD processor unbootable, and the only way to fix it was restore the software.

I am not an MSFT shareholder. :D

(Well, I guess I could be indirectly an MSFT shareholder through my 401k plans and such; what I meant was 'direct' holdings.)

[wilco]

Should I order some cheese to go with the whinning guys?


No, but you might want to order an original thought.

[TenoBell]

You only need to go back 8-9 years ago when the original iMac G3s were all the rave. That's why Apple grew to what it is today- from fantastic word of mouth- on the Web!
And why are people always"complaining" when there are real malfunctions with their iPhones? The title of the thread even attests to it. And the roll out is not over if there is a shortage of phones and now malfunction issues. When their IPhone dies after a 3 hour charge- that's not a complaint but a problem.

The original iMac shipped with OS 9. OS 9 was plagued with such problems the only way to fix them was to abandon the OS entirely. Its easy to look back through rose colored glasses.

[Sam Damon]

The original iMac shipped with OS 9. OS 9 was plagued with such problems the only way to fix them was to abandon the OS entirely. Its easy to look back through rose colored glasses.

OS 9.0.4 had issues, but it wasn't nearly as bad as you make it out to be. Keep in mind the hardware/software technology we had available to us circa 1999. Mac OS X is easily the best OS I've been lucky enough to use on a regular basis (anyone else here remember TOPS-10 and TOPS-20?), but consider just how much work had to happen to get the OS to where it is now.

IIRC, the Bondi iMac shipped with Mac OS 8.1. Setting up the first one on my block was such a treat. For my home computer, I waited until the iMac DV came out. That iMac DV was the best computer I've owned, before or since. #1 Daughter still uses it as a word processor. But I'm getting off the subject.

My iPhone 3G makes me feel like I felt when I was running a Macintosh that used System 7.5 (or so). IMO, iPhone 2.0 software seems about as buggy as System 7.5 was in its day. In particular, Mobile Safari seems buggy. OTOH, it is light-years ahead of any other mobile phone browser. This just serves to show just how lousy the competition is, and how much work the iPhone dev team has ahead of it.

[MacVicta]

Safari can open up to 8 tabs but the iPhone can only hold about 2-3 pages in memory. The others will have to be reloaded when you access those tabs.I understand that much. That's how it's been normally (though I wish all of the pages would stay loaded).

I mean having three or four pages open and exiting Safari. Then when you open Safari again, getting taken right to your bookmarks as if you just activated the phone for the first time. The pages disappear entirely.

[joe in miami]

Anyone else experiencing reduced battery life on V2 software running on the first generation iPhone? For a while I thought it was increased screen usage due to all of my experimenting with the new applications, but now that I am traveling and back to my normal usage patterns I am experiencing a noticeable reduction in battery life.

Big time YES the first 2 or 3 days. Now after a week its been better but still noticeably less than before. Battery running out after 12 hours of little use. Used to be easily double that.

[Foo2]

No. EVDO (which is what verizon and sprint use for 3g) seperates voice and data. 3g GSM encompasses both voice and data. That also explains the battery draining faster.

As with pre-3G GSM (GPRS/EDGE), EV-DO devices can not make or take calls while simultaneously using data, whereas 3G GSM (UMTS/HSDPA) can do so. In that sense, 3G does separate voice and data.

[k2director]

Anyone else experiencing reduced battery life on V2 software running on the first generation iPhone? For a while I thought it was increased screen usage due to all of my experimenting with the new applications, but now that I am traveling and back to my normal usage patterns I am experiencing a noticeable reduction in battery life.

Yes, I am. Battery life seems to be 15-25% less on my original 8GB iPhone since I upgraded to the 2.0 OS, and that's even after I've set Mail to check for new messages once an hour, instead of every 15 minutes. Push email on my .Mac account is disabled, but it does use Push for contacts and calendars.


Also, I notice that the iPhone sometimes reports 1 bar of Wifi reception with my airport signal, even though I may be only a few feet away.

[nagromme]

Even rare problems seem widespread in a forum--but widespread or not, I'm glad they all seem fixable by software. Thus, they won't delay my purchase the way a defective hardware batch would.

[Stormchild]

This entire rollout has been a complete disaster. The software is buggy as HELL. People are blaming third party applications for crashing their iPhone/iPT, but it's the OS. After installing a new application, the system becomes unstable, and soon you'll have apps quitting on launch, or -- more commonly -- causing a kernel panic and resetting the iPhone.

Today I've just had even more fun. My iPod Touch spontaneously crashed, rebooted, and wouldn't get past the Apple logo anymore. Had to do a full restore, took hours to restore the backup and put all my stuff back on it again, and a few hours later it happened again. Had to restore again, and this time, start fresh without a backup, so I've lost all of my settings, bookmarks, web apps, and saved data for all applications. I have to spend hours copying everything back onto it, and setting it all up again. And it's starting to drive me nuts how long it takes to organize all the damn icons, dragging them around one at a time and having them shuffle out of your way and off the page you wanted them on. Annoying.

Both times before this happened, the Settings app had stopped working, and I just got a blank "window" instead of any buttons. Shortly thereafter, it exploded.

App management is a mess too. When you remove a program from the iPhone itself, iTunes isn't smart enough to figure out you deleted it on purpose, and promptly copies it right back on when you sync it next. And the reverse happens too. I've deleted apps from iTunes, hoping they would go away on the iPhone too, but no, they simply copy right back into iTunes again. There are various other problems with installing and updating apps on the iPhone and getting iTunes to realize you've done so, and vice versa. This is not advanced package management with complex interdependencies, guys, this is real easy shit. Whoever couldn't figure out this problem is not smart enough to be working at a company like Apple. Get with the effing program.

Some other great new features in the 2.0 "upgrade":

- The delete key on all keyboards now has weird latency and seems to build up an event queue, causing it to continue deleting long after you've released the button. I've lost entire emails when I just wanted to delete a few words. And there's no undo function. I could kick someone at Apple right in the nuts for this one.

- The ambient light sensor is now braindead. When I wake up the iPod, it doesn't immediately adjust the backlight, but sits there looking dim until I point it directly at a source of light, at which point it finally wakes up and sets the brightness appropriately. I've had to turn off auto-adjust brightness and I'll just have to deal with the loss of battery life from not having it turn down when it's dark.

Oh, and I love how I'm not allowed to install FREE updates to FREE apps when there is an outstanding charge on my account, until I have paid up (which would have never happened in the first place if Apple had charged me at the time of purchase -- Friday, July 11 -- instead of waiting till Monday, July 14). Maybe we don't want VersionTracker and the software store to be the same place after all.

I'm going to pull out my hair if I have one more issue with this piece of crap. Way to launch a new platform, Apple.

[Linj]

The following is for the purposes not of complaining but of adding to the general feedback and hopefully helping Apple.

Have had the phone for 3 days. Am a .mac subscriber now on MobileMe. Have set up the phone for MobileMe.

Initially, Mail seemed to work but no contacts or calendars were pushed to phone, despite iTunes' claim they were.

Called Apple and turned iPhone settings for sync off and back on and did same with phone power and contacts appeared in phone. However, since then, new contacts added to Mac not appearing in (or being pushed to) phone. Calendar appointments from mac still not going to iPhone and vice versa.

Had fully charged phone out last night for a few hours. Did a very small amount of browsing (5 minutes), movie watching (3 minutes), and texting. After 4 hours, had about 25% battery life remaining.

Have also had User Interface delay/lag problems and the odd black screen.

Until these items are fixed, not likely to download 3rd party apps and risk further difficulties.

On a different subject, don't understand why still only Safari works in landscape mode (and not email, for example), cannot copy and paste, SMS cannot access unsaved (not in contact list but in recent call list)) numbers, so must write unsaved down on paper and then compose SMS text message. Also, SMS function cannot access recent recipients list (if there is one) of recently sent text messages while composing a new message -- a very basic functionality disorder.

Have much yet to learn about the iPhone and how it works, so please forgive if have missed something.

Thanks and hope this helps.

Ok -- UPDATE! Apple tech helped me solve a couple of the problems listed above.

1. The sync issues were caused by my .mac preference pane's settings. The computer was set to sync with .mac (MobileMe) weekly, rather than hourly or, better, automatically when changes to contacts or calendars are made. Changing the setting has fixed my problems.

The battery issue may have been related she told me to the iPhone's WiFi setting being left on. The Apple tech said this uses a great deal of battery life. Still seems like a lot to me, though. She said I can go to the Apple store and have a genius do a battery diagnostic if problems continue.

She said the OS 2.0 lag issues might be due to the fact that the new OS creates a lot more overhead -- guess we'll find out eventually.

Hope this helps.

[k2director]

Ok -- UPDATE! Apple tech helped me solve a couple of the problems listed above.

1. The sync issues were caused by my .mac preference pane's settings. The computer was set to sync with .mac (MobileMe) weekly, rather than hourly or, better, automatically when changes to contacts or calendars are made. Changing the setting has fixed my problems.

The battery issue may have been related she told me to the iPhone's WiFi setting being left on. The Apple tech said this uses a great deal of battery life. Still seems like a lot to me, though. She said I can go to the Apple store and have a genius do a battery diagnostic if problems continue.

She said the OS 2.0 lag issues might be due to the fact that the new OS creates a lot more overhead -- guess we'll find out eventually.

Hope this helps.

I had solid battery life on my iPhone under 1.14, even with wifi on all the time. I honestly hope Apple doesn't try to convince people to start turning on/off their wifi and 3g and bluetooth settings, just to achieve a reasonable level of battery power. That's not convenient, and the iPhone is supposed to be convenient, if nothing else.

[shokk]

You say these issues are absent with Apple's own apps, but I experience the most trouble with Safari. It crashes way too often and the keyboard input lagging usually precedes the crash. Very disappointing, but I'm holding out on the hopes that they'll fix things soon.

How is it they get away with this crap and Microsoft gets royally reamed for Vista? Just saying that it seems like a double-standard.

[voodooru]

sooo f-kn disappointed with this software 2.0 and apps.

my iPHONE was flawless before. now, issues. crashing, freeezing, horrible battery life.

tisk tisk on Apple for the guerilla style launch. impressive for promotion but ultimately the end user gets the shi-t end of the deal

think i'll go home and delete as many apps as possible. don't give a rat's ass about apps all of a sudden. it would be nice for my phone not to FREEEZE when answering a call! LOL!!! (which it never did before, d'uh!)

I've restarded my phone in one week more times than the one year I had it. no excuse from Apple is gonna change that fact!

[solipsism]

How is it they get away with this crap and Microsoft gets royally reamed for Vista? Just saying that it seems like a double-standard.

It's been out for only a week and we already know Apple has an update on the horizon. Vista has been out for a 18 months for retail and longer for businesses who were brave/stupid enough to take the plunge. Besides the fact there are plenty of complaints so I don't know how you think there is some 'away getting' happening here, you need to allow for a certain time frame for bugs to be fixed.

[steviet02]

True enough it is buggy. I was waiting for a story like this. Apple will issue updates to fix the bugs. This story will pass, it's not that big of a deal.

Actually, I think it is a bigger deal than that. If these 3rd party apps are going to be able to effect the core operation of the phone thats a big problem. Isn't this the biggest issue with all the other phones out there? Wasn't this supposed to be the reason Apple was the gate keeper? Apple doesn't seem responsible for 3rd party apps issues so I doubt apple will be issuing fixes for them. But I thought they were to be testing these before acceptance.

[8CoreWhore]

... I know these apps don't have any background processes running when not launched, but I was wonder if having lots of apps installed - and thus lots of icons on desktop use enough CPU to cause problems? Anyone?

That said... I got a 16GB black yesterday. I love it. The screen is beautiful - no yellowing or warming, just seems "normal". But the whites are white and the blacks are black and all the colors fall where they belong. Nice! It shipped with that latest update, I didn't have to add it.

I have had some apps crash. Also, my remote can't find my iTunes library - I need to tinker with that.

I haven't been experiencing what could be considered "lag", but I have no experience with the 1st Gen to compare it with. My 3G calls have been fine, but I haven't used it while driving. My GPS is accurate so far.

I wish videos hosted on videos/google.com would stream, but they're all flash.

My first iPhone confession: I slept with it last night. xoxoxoxo :lol::lol::lol:?

UPDATE: I was able to get my REMOTE working by changing firewall settings to: SET ACCESS FOR SPECIFIC SERVICES AND APPLICATIONS. Is this secure?

[steviet02]

...

My first iPhone confession: I slept with it last night. xoxoxoxo :lol::lol::lol:

So you're just a 1CoreWhore now? :lol:

[solipsism]

Ok -- UPDATE! Apple tech helped me solve a couple of the problems listed above.

1. The sync issues were caused by my .mac preference pane's settings. The computer was set to sync with .mac (MobileMe) weekly, rather than hourly or, better, automatically when changes to contacts or calendars are made. Changing the setting has fixed my problems.

The battery issue may have been related she told me to the iPhone's WiFi setting being left on. The Apple tech said this uses a great deal of battery life. Still seems like a lot to me, though. She said I can go to the Apple store and have a genius do a battery diagnostic if problems continue.

She said the OS 2.0 lag issues might be due to the fact that the new OS creates a lot more overhead -- guess we'll find out eventually.

Hope this helps.

1) Your MM preference pane setting s on your Mac need to be set to automatic. That makes the update go every 15 minutes. The Push currently does not occur upstream from Win-to-MM or Mac-to-MM, but you can adjust the interval of the sync down to one minute if you wish by using the hint below.• http://www.macosxhints.com/article.php?story=20080713174705717

Any coders here want to make Push active by writing a Daemon that will monitor the Modified Date of Bookmarks.plist, Addressbook.abcddb and the Calaendar Cache and initiate the sync when thee is a change? Respectively, the locations for these files are ~/Library/Safari/, ~/Library/Application Support/AddressBook/ and ~/Library/Calendars/


2) The WiFi thing might be an issue with a memory leak or something with the current v2.0 build, but I'd bet that it's an erroneous comment by the support person. Either one she was told or one she though to because it made since as WiFi is potentially faster than the other wireless communication services. WiFi requires the least amount of power to use, however, if you aren't going to be using WiFi you might as well turn it off as it's pointless to waste what little energy it does use. IF you don't need BlueTooth (which most people don't) turn that off. it's a huge power drain, more than EDGE. But HSDPA/3G/UNTS/W-CDMA uses the most.

[solipsism]

... I know these apps don't have any background processes running when not launched, but I was wonder if having lots of app.

I wish videos hosted on videos/google.com would stream, but they're all flash.

Unless there is an issue with the app not quitting they are just sitting on your drive no running.

Some of the vids on Google Videos are H.264 and will send you YouTube's site. I suggest just using that. Gogole only updated that site for playback on the iPhone. Probably because most people use it. I didn't even know it was still around. :\

[jbrowdy]

First Gen iPhone with 2.0 with big time lag issues, especially on contacts. Glad it's not just my phone....

[wizard69]

I'm quite pleased with my 3g iPhone. Sure, some apps are a little buggy... but it's still the best damn hand held device out there.

I never had a chance to purchase the first gen device so my experience is new. That doesn't make it invalid though.

One just has to realize that version two of the software is basically starting over for Apple. On the surface everything looks similar but it really isn't as a huge amount of work went into the SDK.

Now I just picked mine up yesterday and basically have been playing with it since. So far pretty damn good if you ask me. This included a complete sync, loading iTunes and other tricks. All have worked well except for AT&T transfer of accounts.

Now Safari has crashed but it does that on my desk tops too, as does firefox and other software.
This isn't to imply that crashes are good but highlight that the problem is wider than iPhone.

The issues with battery life are to be expected. In fAct we where told this by none other than Steve himself. So what is up guys have you stopes believing in Steve Jobs? Moerso have you guys no sense of battery management.

I mean really is it that hard to turn off what you don't need. It is not much different than turning the lights off in a room you are not using.

The last item to hit upon is 3G. Of course reception can be bad in places, AT&T has only accomplished a phase one roll out. The number of 3G towers is extremely limited and will be for some time. Just be happy that 3G is there when you need it. Now what really burns my ass is that many people have said in the past that 3G is over hyped and not the last word in RF communications. No one wanted to listen. The simple matter here is that one needs a 3G tower near by for the iPhone to use it.


Of course like everything else iPhone could be better. What one has to focus on here is Apple. They have a history of making things better over time. This i'm expecting many updates to version 2.0. Frankly it is the reason I went with iPhone, a well supported little device with the potential for money making apps.


Dave

[johnthebaton]

None of the problems I've been experiencing with my iPhone 3G have been as bad as my first few years with Pocket PC phones. I remember performing soft resets at least daily for the first 3 years. With that platform, you had to wait long stretches between updates (1 or 2 a year at most), and then hope that your carrier allowed you to install the update. For some devices the carrier wouldn't provide the software for half a year past when Microsoft released it, and for many devices you simply couldn't upgrade.

If you were lucky to upgrade, you'd find it still buggy, and then not know if it was the result of third party apps or Microsoft or the phone company's tinkering with the software, since none of them communicated with each other.

Compare this to Apple's approach: they can provide frequent updates directly to the phone, bypassing the carrier entirely. They actively work with the 3rd party software developers, and have the power to remove software that is too buggy or malicious. And the fact that last year's software was considerably more stable is actually very reassuring to me, sine we know Apple knows how to do it right; they just have to work out the bugs to get things stable again. With Pocket PC, things were very buggy from the beginning, and stayed that way, so you had less hope of things improving. Apple was very smart to not release the SDK at last year's launch, and to focus on stability over features. They developed trust in the brand name that way.

Sure, things are buggy now, but Apple, more than any other mobile OS company, has the right business model and deployment tools to fix things quickly. That's what switched me over to the iPhone, and that's why I will stick with it happily though this.

Think about how stretched Apple is right now. Last year they delayed the release of Leopard so they could put more staff on the iPhone. And this year they've added an incredible amount of very new platforms. It'll take time to work this all out, but I believe they will. Their reputation is on the line. Can't say that about Microsoft.

[JeffDM]

Yes, I am. Battery life seems to be 15-25% less on my original 8GB iPhone since I upgraded to the 2.0 OS, and that's even after I've set Mail to check for new messages once an hour, instead of every 15 minutes. Push email on my .Mac account is disabled, but it does use Push for contacts and calendars.


Also, I notice that the iPhone sometimes reports 1 bar of Wifi reception with my airport signal, even though I may be only a few feet away.

Does the actual communication seem weak? I managed to use my iPhone maybe 100ft from my AP, though there were a couple times it switched to cellular data. That hand-off between networks seemed to work pretty well.

You say these issues are absent with Apple's own apps, but I experience the most trouble with Safari. It crashes way too often and the keyboard input lagging usually precedes the crash. Very disappointing, but I'm holding out on the hopes that they'll fix things soon.

I've seen Safari collapse several times today.

The input "suggestions / corrections" feature seems pretty useless. Its prediction powers just aren't all that great, many common word ending variations don't seem to be there, I think "runni" should bring up "running" but it doesn't .

I noticed that my "smart" groups in contacts aren't synced.

The "backup{" operation iTunes does on every sync seems to be quite slow, I don't understand that.

Overall, it's a pretty nice device, just needs a bit more refinement to get to what we expect from Apple.

[lkrupp]

It should now be painfully obvious to everyone but the most zealous fanboys that the iPhone is a complete, abject failure. Apple should remove the device from the market and let companies who know what they're doing produce a working smartphone. Every single user is complaining about problems. Every single blog and web site is trashing it. All Apple centric news sites are reporting that the device is a complete failure. Don't believe me? Just visit the sites and read. AppleInsider is no exception. Just read this thread.

[guinness]

It should now be painfully obvious to everyone but the most zealous fanboys that the iPhone is a complete, abject failure. Apple should remove the device from the market and let companies who know what they're doing produce a working smartphone. Every single user is complaining about problems. Every single blog and web site is trashing it. All Apple centric news sites are reporting that the device is a complete failure. Don't believe me? Just visit the sites and read. AppleInsider is no exception. Just read this thread.

While I think Apple rushed the gun, and couldn't pull off the 2.0 update, the iPhone 3G launch, the App store launch, and MobileMe transition at the same, due to poor foresight, planning, and poor testing/QC, a couple updates will likely do the trick. But I won't call it a failure by any means.

Apple just bit off way more than could chew, and if they want to be a major player, they'll get it fixed, less they want to lose customers.

[lkrupp]

While I think Apple rushed the gun, and couldn't pull off the 2.0 update, the iPhone 3G launch, the App store launch, and MobileMe transition at the same, due to poor foresight, planning, and poor testing/QC, a couple updates will likely do the trick. But I won't call it a failure by any means.

Apple just bit off way more than could chew, and if they want to be a major player, they'll get it fixed, less they want to lose customers.

No, they should pull the device from the market, cease production, recall and refund every single iPhone, both original and 3G, and leave the building of smart phones to people who know how to build them. Apple doesn't know how. Everyone is dissatisfied with them. Not a single user likes them. Just read this very thread. Not a single poster here is satisfied. AppleInsider itself has trashed the device. I don't know why anyone would buy one. Every iPhone is defective off the shelf. Just read the blogs for heaven's sake.

[8CoreWhore]

No, but you might want to order an original thought.

you're whining about whining. (ignore - wrong quote)

[galore]

I worked with all major cell phone manufacturers except Apple in the past 5 years (SW engineer / multimedia - Symbian/Linux/WinMo) and am impressed by Apple's iPhone SW engineering. It is not even funny how behind the competition is. That includes Google Android.

So the iPhone has some issues - I've got a 3G iPhone and haven't experienced the lag problem (don't use push service, though, and have only installed 5 apps) or anything really annoying. Given how _incredibly_ complex a device like the iPhone is, it is a wonder that it works as well as it does. If you have never seen source code for a HLOS with the complexity required for a modern smartphone you wouldn't believe how complicated that is.

For me the main disappointment is the rapid attenuation of the 3G signal inside buildings. Hope that this can be improved via SW (maybe gain tweaks vs. power consumption...).

[Bergermeister]

While I think Apple rushed the gun, and couldn't pull off the 2.0 update, the iPhone 3G launch, the App store launch, and MobileMe transition at the same, due to poor foresight, planning, and poor testing/QC, a couple updates will likely do the trick. But I won't call it a failure by any means.

Apple just bit off way more than could chew, and if they want to be a major player, they'll get it fixed, less they want to lose customers.

They are in the position where they HAVE to get things fixed, rapidly, or they could really be screwed. If the really work on these issues and correct them, it could work in their favor... much like Lexus a few years back.

[Bergermeister]

you're whining about whining.

That is all some people do... that is also why the ignore list is useful.

[TenoBell]

OS 9.0.4 had issues, but it wasn't nearly as bad as you make it out to be.

OS 9 was problematic because there was no easy way of adding needed functionality such as real time process based multitasking. Apple would not be able to be where it is today with out dumping OS 9.

Mac OS X is easily the best OS I've been lucky enough to use on a regular basis (anyone else here remember TOPS-10 and TOPS-20?), but consider just how much work had to happen to get the OS to where it is now.

iPhone OS X is the same it will need time to mature.

[TenoBell]

Actually, I think it is a bigger deal than that. If these 3rd party apps are going to be able to effect the core operation of the phone thats a big problem. Isn't this the biggest issue with all the other phones out there? Wasn't this supposed to be the reason Apple was the gate keeper? Apple doesn't seem responsible for 3rd party apps issues so I doubt apple will be issuing fixes for them. But I thought they were to be testing these before acceptance.

You have to keep it in context. We are in version 1 of everything. The iPhone 2.0, the App Store and all of its apps are all version 1. Developers did not have much time before Apple's deadline. Its not that big of a deal that there are some bugs to resolve.

[TenoBell]

No, they should pull the device from the market, cease production, recall and refund every single iPhone, both original and 3G, and leave the building of smart phones to people who know how to build them. Apple doesn't know how. Everyone is dissatisfied with them. Not a single user likes them. Just read this very thread. Not a single poster here is satisfied. AppleInsider itself has trashed the device. I don't know why anyone would buy one. Every iPhone is defective off the shelf. Just read the blogs for heaven's sake.

It seems your aim is to be more pejorative than actually informative or knowledgeable of what you speak.

[solipsism]

It seems your aim is to be more pejorative than actually informative or knowledgeable of what you speak.
:lol: I thought he was being sarcastic with that comment.


Just to be clear, I wrote a laundry list of issues I have with v2.0 and how I think Apple could have managed their tri-wreckta launch of MM, v2.0 and 3G. While I'm unsatisfied with the issues I have I'm not unsatisfied with my purchase and certainly considerably more satisfied than with any other cellphone I've ever owned. Plus knowing that firmware updates are already being tested I am not worried.

[fazekas]

I have been getting interface lag, sometimes takes time for interface to re-draw or change to a new screen.

I have had issues with accelerometer and photos on the iPhone. Sometimes the orientation freezes, won't change when tilted, and will have to re-set the phone.

Some applications do have issues loading up from time to time...sometimes requiring re-booting the phone.

It's all becoming a concern. 2.0 clearly has some bugs and needs some patching up, hopefully Apple will get with it soon, these sort of things are not only annoying to the end user, but will be a buzz kill for the iPhone if it persists...I hope they come through.

[sapporobaby]

It should now be painfully obvious to everyone but the most zealous fanboys that the iPhone is a complete, abject failure. Apple should remove the device from the market and let companies who know what they're doing produce a working smartphone. Every single user is complaining about problems. Every single blog and web site is trashing it. All Apple centric news sites are reporting that the device is a complete failure. Don't believe me? Just visit the sites and read. AppleInsider is no exception. Just read this thread.

This wins the award for the most ridiculous emotional post of this forum. The entire forum. I do not know if you are in the States or somewhere else but the worlds leading phone manufacturer, Nokia, released a phone called the N95. It was a disaster. Shorter battery life than the iPhone, manufacturing defects, etc.... They then released the E90. Same thing. Plenty of blogs, and dissatisfied users as well. Nokia did the smart thing. They fixed them. Period and they both went on to lead the market in sales and satisfied customers. Point of this story. Don't speak unless you are 100% sure of your facts because you are lacking in them. Apple will fix these software problems while Nokia's were also hardware related.

Sorry dude but your post was OTT, and emotional.

[sapporobaby]

:lol: I thought he was being sarcastic with that comment.


Just to be clear, I wrote a laundry list of issues I have with v2.0 and how I think Apple could have managed their tri-wreckta launch of MM, v2.0 and 3G. While I'm unsatisfied with the issues I have I'm not unsatisfied with my purchase and certainly considerably more satisfied than with any other cellphone I've ever owned. Plus knowing that firmware updates are already being tested I am not worried.

Hi solipsism,

DId you post the list somewhere or is it embedded in posts. It might be good to have a consolidation point.

[charanischiu]

Unable to use iPhone 3G to open/lock in CITIBANK bank account, when my first iPod Touch works fine using WiFi?

[steviet02]

You have to keep it in context. We are in version 1 of everything. The iPhone 2.0, the App Store and all of its apps are all version 1. Developers did not have much time before Apple's deadline. Its not that big of a deal that there are some bugs to resolve.

Sure, I understand that, but the fact that it appears that some apps can cause that type of instability to the core is alarming to me considering the way Apple had presented the apps and app store. My impression was it was going to be convenient because they were all in one store but also that they were running memory leak tests etc on them before they were accepted to the store. I realize they didn't come out and explicitly say they were going to do that, but that was my impression.

[teckstud]

OS 9 was problematic because there was no easy way of adding needed functionality such as real time process based multitasking. Apple would not be able to be where it is today with out dumping OS 9.



iPhone OS X is the same it will need time to mature.

Stop being a history revisionist. The original G3 iMacs were a smashing success and turned the company around- OS9 and all. OS9 was actually fun to work with-It actually made you do some thinking while using it.
That iMac is more responsible for where Apple is today rather then the "dumping of OS9" as you claim.

[teckstud]

You have to keep it in context. We are in version 1 of everything. The iPhone 2.0, the App Store and all of its apps are all version 1. Developers did not have much time before Apple's deadline. Its not that big of a deal that there are some bugs to resolve.

One shouldn't be releasing buggy products with such hoopla in 2008.
If the product get known as being "buggy" -that could be a problem.
Would you make the same excuses for Vista?

[Mazda 3s]

Anyone else experiencing reduced battery life on V2 software running on the first generation iPhone? For a while I thought it was increased screen usage due to all of my experimenting with the new applications, but now that I am traveling and back to my normal usage patterns I am experiencing a noticeable reduction in battery life.


My iPod touch seems to have about half the battery life from before with the 2.0 firmware -- and this is with fetch set to thirty minutes.

We did a road trip from Raleigh NC to Winston Salem and back with Wifi off, a fully charged battery and a Kensington FM transmitter. After about five hours of total in-car music listening only, the battery was at ten percent when we got home last night.

[teckstud]

This wins the award for the most ridiculous emotional post of this forum. The entire forum. I do not know if you are in the States or somewhere else but the worlds leading phone manufacturer, Nokia, released a phone called the N95. It was a disaster. Shorter battery life than the iPhone, manufacturing defects, etc.... They then released the E90. Same thing. Plenty of blogs, and dissatisfied users as well. Nokia did the smart thing. They fixed them. Period and they both went on to lead the market in sales and satisfied customers. Point of this story. Don't speak unless you are 100% sure of your facts because you are lacking in them. Apple will fix these software problems while Nokia's were also hardware related.

Sorry dude but your post was OTT, and emotional.

Sorry- but your response seems much more emotional than his post- ease up!
What are you - the Apple disciplinarian? :lol:

[snegopad]

Rather than folks focusing on issues they're seeing with their iPhone(both old and new) and iPod touch with the new 2.0 firmware folks are ranting and bashing Apple. The only Apple products I own are a few iPods and the iPhone 3G (I passed my 1st gen iPhone on to a friend). I enjoy the variety and selection I get in the Linux and Windows worlds so I don't own a Mac. Frankly, I'm not all that impressed with the Mac platform and don't get me started on the "genius bar" flunkies. A bit pretentious on Apple's part if you ask me.

Back to my original point-

Guys and gals, these issues are typical of a company enjoying rapid success. The iPhone isn't popular solely due to Apple's marketing and image... it's popular because it's an awesome phone. A phone that's only been in existence for a year-ish. It's a new arena for Apple, there will be growing pains. If you want bug free/fewer bugs I'd suggest waiting a while, like a year or two, for the rest of us trailblazers to suffer through the inconveniences so Apple can apply more spit and polish to the phone. Look back at the evolution of the iPod... find a 1st gen iPod and compare it to the iPod video... The platform works and Apple has been fairly speedy in addressing major issues and taking care of their customers... let's hope they don't lose their customer-friendly approach.

The test now is how Apple handles all this growth. One challenge I'm most interested in watching unfold is 3G. The marketing around the 3G iPhone is that it's "twice as fast" as the 1st gen iPhone. For those that haven't purchased a 3G iPhone yet, check ATT's 3G coverage area. If you're not in the coverage area or you're toward the edge of it, expect little to no 3G action. I already knew that 3G wasn't available at my house, however, it is where I work. My home is in the coverage zone according to ATT, but I'm able to get EDGE only. Same with the ATT mobile broadband card for my work laptop. I don't think 3G is necessarily "there" yet either. My experience with 3G in the Wash D.C. area and in Las Vegas (The two occasions I've had to use it for mobile broadband on my laptop) were spotty at best. Speeds varied greatly... usually starting out really fast, but then (within a few minutes) dropping down to about EDGE speeds while remaining on the 3G network.

The 3G piece is going to be a challenge for Apple to "resolve" since they have no control over it. They're stuck dealing with ATT and how quickly/slowly they get things rolled out. I expect to see more complaints from folks about 3G coverage as ATT beefs up their infrastructure.

My point - you have a right to be disgruntled as a customer since the marketing lead you to a level of expectation from this product and the product isn't necessarily living up to those expectations... but keep it in perspective. It's technology and it's fairly young technology - expect issues. With that said - we're all entitled to our opinion and thanks to the internet - we can share that opinion with a large audience.

My experience with 2.0 and iPhone 3G vs 1st gen iPhone.

There are definitely bugs - I've noticed them on both the 1st gen iPhone and now on my 3G iPhone... same issues.

Safari -
Safari continues to be flaky - even under firmware 1.1.4 if I was surfing a lot I would find Safari crashing back to the "desktop"... happened frequently if I was listening to music while surfing. However, upgrading to 2.0 on both the 1st Gen iPhone and the new 3G I've actually had Safari trigger reset of the iPhone - the app simply freezes and if you wait for about a minute, the screen goes black and then the apple logo appears as it reboots.

3rd Party apps -
They're buggy - Is it Apple's fault? I'd have to lean toward no, but there is a possibility of a bug in the firmware that contributes to some of the bugginess. The bulk of the blame would go to lack of testing and QA on the app before it's launched. I'd expect it to be easier to work the bugs out of your software on the iPhone because it's a controlled environment. Unlike say a Windows or Linux environment where their are nearly limitless possibilities with hardware and software configurations.

Battery life (iPhone 3G)-
Honestly, I've noticed shorter battery life over the 1st gen iphone... I chalk most of that up to the fact that I'm constantly messing with the phone though.... As well as the fact that the Monster FM transmitter I use in my jeep to play audio books/music from the iphone no longer charges my iphone to and from work. A bit annoying that apple made the hardware change since I've had the car adapter for less than 6 months.

Side-by-Side however - the iPhone 3G vs the 1st Gen iPhone surfing, emailing and playing with apps over Wi-Fi - battery life appears to be equal.

User Interface -
The UI on both the 1st Gen and 3G tends to be a bit sluggish compared with 1.1.4. I'm not using MobileMe or syncing with MS Exchange. Contacts and phone app seem to be the most laggy when bringing them up. The camera app is also extremely slow to bring up.

Keyboa