Prof, I was pretty pissed several months back about my MacBook Alu 2ghz. The trackpad was unresponsive, I noticed the display clutch was out of alignment, and discs got stuck in the DVD drive because a tiny metal piece on the bottom covering came out. It took me about a few good weeks out here (remember no Apple Stores here, just Resellers) and some time on the phone with AppleCare (official Apple phone support). That said, after a month or so things were sorted out. New display, new trackpad, new bottom case.
I would say the Mac quality control has decreased in the past several years but iPad seems quite good.
iPhone, well, it is a unique case because of how desirable yet somewhat risky in terms of the design.
Sorry to hear about your experience with being offered only a refurbished/etc unit? That's the weird part.
Apple is not perfect, and they can be frustrating.
I got my free case now (InCase Snap Smoke) so while it does make my iPhone 4 brick-ish I feel more secure if it drops. Using it naked is super stylish but yeah, you wouldn't want to know how much it would cost to replace it*, assuming if they even have stock.
From all comments about the sides past the display being too large when the iPhone has always tried to minimize that it does crack me up a bit to here someone say that it?s too thin. It did seem a little more awkward to type on without a case.
I haven't read that but I don't doubt it. Some of the patents from Apple i've read seem to be heading toward a solution by the case being -aware- of where your hand is. I almost never had the problem with the earlier style. Cases are difficult I find because they create a ridge around the edge and the ridge creates issues with flicking or getting near the screen edge.
I never used any kind of case for prior models, the 4 though, it's mandatory or it's dead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by screamingfist
Apple really pushed the limits with the design of the iphone 4. it is a marvel. however, when you push the boundaries then you may have things that aren't optimal in everyday use. look at the architecture of Frank Loyd Wright. He pushed the limits and some of his houses had leaks, etc because he did things with glass, concrete etc that pushed boundaries and the technology.
same here.
I'm with you on that. I saw the 2G as a pure beta model, not just the unit but the limited roll out and everything else. It was a test to figure out how to do it globally. I see the 4 the same way, the 5 will not be the same, it will use what has been learned. I would not be surprised to see the end of glass, like an entire liquid metal unit.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Biomusicologist
Exactly what happened to me. Mine fell from a lawn recliner barely 12-14 inches on to a concrete porch. Cracked from the home button to the antenna gap. Another $199 down the drain.
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
They need to invent FoamGlass™. Either that or hopefully in the next 100 years we have devices made out of self-healing biological material. Or nanobots, maybe. Then they'll take over the world and that'll be the end of life as we know it.
Is it just me or do you all see a nice improvement in battery life with a case on. I also turned off Notifications though MobileMe mail is still set to push. I might have used it without Notifications and without a case for a few days, with the case it seems to have better battery life?
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
Apple?s marketing was pretty slick about that. They used Jonathan Ives with his authoritative British accent to say how it was "30x harder than plastic? (scratch resistance though they didn?t note which plastic) and compared it to the "strength of sapphire crystal? (which is extreme scratch resistance but not exceedingly unbreakable). It?s by far the best phone on the market which exceptional design and build quality but it?s still glass sandwiching that milled stainless steel frame.
Everything I said, was from my personal experience with the iPhone and my generalised experience with "Apple products lately." Primarily I was talking about my personal experience with the current iPHone 4 and everything I said was just a factual rendition of what happened to me.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I’m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn’t sound like you aren’t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise. It happens and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Even if the percentage defective units is cut in half over the previous model if you are selling more than twice as many means you’ll have more total defective units on the market. Add to it the potential for some bad customer service and you have a unfavorable but typically rare double whammy.
I frankly find this article misleading. Saying it's "more prone to damage" seems to imply that it is more prone to damage under normal conditions. In reality, just the opposite is true. It's far more durable than its predecessors unless you drop it on a hard surface or what not. Under normal use though, it's better. It's the first iPhone that doesn't NEED a case. I had a 3G without a case for a few months. I bought one after noticing the back was getting seriously scratched under normal use. I also had no case for my iPhone 4 until I got a free bumper. No scratches to speak of during that time. The only defect is a small chip on one of the edges that resulted from me dropping it on asphalt.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I’m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn’t sound like you aren’t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise. It happens and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Even if the percentage defective units is cut in half over the previous model if you are selling more than twice as many means you’ll have more total defective units on the market. Add to it the potential for some bad customer service and you have a unfavorable but typically rare double whammy.
This thread is pretty much dead now anyway but you're making a classic logical mistake here. You have no more evidence that Apple's quality isn't "dropping lately" than I do that it is, less in fact because I have the anecdotal evidence of experience with a large amount of hardware over a long period of time and as far as you've stated, everything you know about the issue seems to come from reading the press. You've mentioned several times about how "rare" my issue is, but you simply don't know that to be a fact.
The thing I find shocking (and deserving of that word), is the policy of replacing a brand new phone with factory faults (however slight), with a refurbished phone and a 90 day warranty.
So instead of a 12 month warranty on your new phone, they wanted you to accept a used phone with a 3 month warranty?
the phone cost 800 bucks or so and they want me to take a second hand replacement (currently worth about two hundred dollars), and lose all but 90 days of the one year warranty.
(
Never in my life have I heard of a company treating its customers in such a shabby manner.
This cannot possibly be Apple's official position. It is sleazy.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I?m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn?t sound like you aren?t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise.
I once bought an expensive digital camera at a local good camera store. It was a gift. It broke on day 2.
I took it back to the store. The owner loudly proclaimed "You shouldn't have to put up with that!". My wife didn't want another one of the same. So he sold me a Nikon at a deep discount.
Ever since then, I have always bought every camera I've ever bought from that local store. I once decided on a nice Canon, and looked up the prices online. He couldn't match the prices available from Amazon, et. al. I still bought it from him.
The moral of this story is to NOT buy from a big chain like the Apple store. Go to a local merchant who takes care of his customers, and whose primary goal is to make you a customer for life.
There's also other places to buy Apple products that have customer-oriented policies. If you go to Best Buy, for example, you get both the Apple policies AND the Best Buy policies. So in your case, you could have pointed out that you could return the phone for a full refund, and then turn around and get a new one. But likely, Best Buy would have simply replaced your defective Apple product with a new one, with full warranty, without stupid games. you also get free coupons for discounts at Best Buy - last I knew it was somewhere around 4%.
ISTM that the Apple store is far from the best vendor if customer protections and policies are what is desired.
While running a few weeks ago, I dropped my iphone 4. Time stopped as I watched it tumble out of my armband and fall from five feet to the concrete sidewalk and then bounce a couple of times.
I picked it up, expecting the worst only to be extremely happy to find only a couple of nicks on the stainless steel. The glass survived the fall uninjured.
Everyone has their story, but mine turned out well.
Everything I said above is pure un-exagerrated truth. I'm not that upset about the damage to my phone when I dropped it though because it was my fault I dropped it.
The thing I find shocking (and deserving of that word), is the policy of replacing a brand new phone with factory faults (however slight), with a refurbished phone and a 90 day warranty. That's just too close to out and out theft for my liking and I never would have thought they would do it until it happened to me.
Also, the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
Hang on a minute. You dropped your phone, damaged it and are now angry at Apple because they won't replace it with a new one?
Comments
I would say the Mac quality control has decreased in the past several years but iPad seems quite good.
iPhone, well, it is a unique case because of how desirable yet somewhat risky in terms of the design.
Sorry to hear about your experience with being offered only a refurbished/etc unit? That's the weird part.
Apple is not perfect, and they can be frustrating.
I got my free case now (InCase Snap Smoke) so while it does make my iPhone 4 brick-ish I feel more secure if it drops. Using it naked is super stylish but yeah, you wouldn't want to know how much it would cost to replace it*, assuming if they even have stock.
*One month's salary, in my case.
From all comments about the sides past the display being too large when the iPhone has always tried to minimize that it does crack me up a bit to here someone say that it?s too thin. It did seem a little more awkward to type on without a case.
I haven't read that but I don't doubt it. Some of the patents from Apple i've read seem to be heading toward a solution by the case being -aware- of where your hand is. I almost never had the problem with the earlier style. Cases are difficult I find because they create a ridge around the edge and the ridge creates issues with flicking or getting near the screen edge.
I never used any kind of case for prior models, the 4 though, it's mandatory or it's dead.
Apple really pushed the limits with the design of the iphone 4. it is a marvel. however, when you push the boundaries then you may have things that aren't optimal in everyday use. look at the architecture of Frank Loyd Wright. He pushed the limits and some of his houses had leaks, etc because he did things with glass, concrete etc that pushed boundaries and the technology.
same here.
I'm with you on that. I saw the 2G as a pure beta model, not just the unit but the limited roll out and everything else. It was a test to figure out how to do it globally. I see the 4 the same way, the 5 will not be the same, it will use what has been learned. I would not be surprised to see the end of glass, like an entire liquid metal unit.
Exactly what happened to me. Mine fell from a lawn recliner barely 12-14 inches on to a concrete porch. Cracked from the home button to the antenna gap. Another $199 down the drain.
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
They need to invent FoamGlass™. Either that or hopefully in the next 100 years we have devices made out of self-healing biological material. Or nanobots, maybe. Then they'll take over the world and that'll be the end of life as we know it.
Okay... I have to say it...
That's vaporware.
Ever seen a working iPhone 4 that is not in a case?
mine is... i hate those bumpers and cases... makes the iPhone 4 look like iPhone 3G/3GS upfront...
btw... do you own one??
Exactly, it is a weak point. All the talk of rigid body and harder than sapphire glass simply doesn't get that actual strength comes from flexibility / give. Hard just equals brittle.
Apple?s marketing was pretty slick about that. They used Jonathan Ives with his authoritative British accent to say how it was "30x harder than plastic? (scratch resistance though they didn?t note which plastic) and compared it to the "strength of sapphire crystal? (which is extreme scratch resistance but not exceedingly unbreakable). It?s by far the best phone on the market which exceptional design and build quality but it?s still glass sandwiching that milled stainless steel frame.
Everything I said, was from my personal experience with the iPhone and my generalised experience with "Apple products lately." Primarily I was talking about my personal experience with the current iPHone 4 and everything I said was just a factual rendition of what happened to me.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I’m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn’t sound like you aren’t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise. It happens and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Even if the percentage defective units is cut in half over the previous model if you are selling more than twice as many means you’ll have more total defective units on the market. Add to it the potential for some bad customer service and you have a unfavorable but typically rare double whammy.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I’m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn’t sound like you aren’t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise. It happens and that won’t be changing anytime soon. Even if the percentage defective units is cut in half over the previous model if you are selling more than twice as many means you’ll have more total defective units on the market. Add to it the potential for some bad customer service and you have a unfavorable but typically rare double whammy.
This thread is pretty much dead now anyway but you're making a classic logical mistake here. You have no more evidence that Apple's quality isn't "dropping lately" than I do that it is, less in fact because I have the anecdotal evidence of experience with a large amount of hardware over a long period of time and as far as you've stated, everything you know about the issue seems to come from reading the press. You've mentioned several times about how "rare" my issue is, but you simply don't know that to be a fact.
The thing I find shocking (and deserving of that word), is the policy of replacing a brand new phone with factory faults (however slight), with a refurbished phone and a 90 day warranty.
So instead of a 12 month warranty on your new phone, they wanted you to accept a used phone with a 3 month warranty?
I find that abusive.
Have you seen this case?
http://www.elementcase.com/iphone4.html
Those things look great. I hope they make it to market. I signed up for the pre-order.
the phone cost 800 bucks or so and they want me to take a second hand replacement (currently worth about two hundred dollars), and lose all but 90 days of the one year warranty.
(
Never in my life have I heard of a company treating its customers in such a shabby manner.
This cannot possibly be Apple's official position. It is sleazy.
I see that your anecdote was a personal experience and I?m sorry it was frustrating, but your conclusion seems to be all encompassing, hence my comment. To me it doesn?t sound like you aren?t being objective.
The reality is that all CE is mass produced and there will be issues that arise.
I once bought an expensive digital camera at a local good camera store. It was a gift. It broke on day 2.
I took it back to the store. The owner loudly proclaimed "You shouldn't have to put up with that!". My wife didn't want another one of the same. So he sold me a Nikon at a deep discount.
Ever since then, I have always bought every camera I've ever bought from that local store. I once decided on a nice Canon, and looked up the prices online. He couldn't match the prices available from Amazon, et. al. I still bought it from him.
The moral of this story is to NOT buy from a big chain like the Apple store. Go to a local merchant who takes care of his customers, and whose primary goal is to make you a customer for life.
There's also other places to buy Apple products that have customer-oriented policies. If you go to Best Buy, for example, you get both the Apple policies AND the Best Buy policies. So in your case, you could have pointed out that you could return the phone for a full refund, and then turn around and get a new one. But likely, Best Buy would have simply replaced your defective Apple product with a new one, with full warranty, without stupid games. you also get free coupons for discounts at Best Buy - last I knew it was somewhere around 4%.
ISTM that the Apple store is far from the best vendor if customer protections and policies are what is desired.
I picked it up, expecting the worst only to be extremely happy to find only a couple of nicks on the stainless steel. The glass survived the fall uninjured.
Everyone has their story, but mine turned out well.
Everything I said above is pure un-exagerrated truth. I'm not that upset about the damage to my phone when I dropped it though because it was my fault I dropped it.
The thing I find shocking (and deserving of that word), is the policy of replacing a brand new phone with factory faults (however slight), with a refurbished phone and a 90 day warranty. That's just too close to out and out theft for my liking and I never would have thought they would do it until it happened to me.
Also, the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
Hang on a minute. You dropped your phone, damaged it and are now angry at Apple because they won't replace it with a new one?