[Macworld]

Post your comments for Bugs & Fixes: The iPhone ?dead strip? here

[mactarkus]

Don't forget that replacement iPhone is superior in one very major way. The unused battery!

[bbryan]

She did do you a favor. The phone is out of warranty! I'd being doing backflips if they gave me a new phone, no charge. Try that with any other stuff you own :)
New phone, louder volume, new battery...very nice!

[stephenrea]

It's probably someone else's broken iphone, that has been repaired. complete with used battery.

[stephenrea]

Just to note, this is common across the industry, not just Apple. It's much faster to complete a repair by swapping a component and sending the customer on their way. Then, in some other secret back room, components are repaired and put back into the service channel.

[rcgregory]

I had the exact same experience. Brand new 2G phone after 16 months due to dead strip. No questions asked.

[distortedloop]

My 18 month old iPhone 8gb has just started displaying this behavior with the volume slider on the Apple Remote application, which is about all I use this model for anymore (upgraded to 3g). I'll have to test it out more thoroughly to see if I have a real issue. My situation is complicated by having that Invisible Shield product on the screen, which I originally thought was the culprit.
Thanks for the article.

[flybynight]

I have been told that these "service parts" for iPhones and iPods may contain some refurbished or rebuilt parts, but anything cosmetically visible or components that wear out like the battery will be new. They don't do any iPod or iPhone repair in the store - they are all swapped and sent back for repair.

[jedi228]

I doubt they would give an old battery. Most of the cost of replacing the battery is the pain of handling the device, tracking it, opening it up, testing, etc. If they open a device, they might as well put in a new battery (for their benefit). There is no point in paying for the labor of opening the device up and putting in a battery taken from another old device and risk having to open a device again!

[Chris1780]

Same thing happened to my phone 3 months ago. It was under warrenty and replaced with no questions asked. I think that there must be someting wrong with a batch of iPhones and Apple is replacing them quietly.

[bradchoate]

On reading this, I decided to take my iPhone to the local Apple store to see what they would do with it. It was a release-day 2G iPhone, so definitely not still under warranty. They looked up the warranty status and said it wasn't covered; that I could purchase a $199 replacement instead. Since I already have the 3G model, I was hoping to get this older model fixed for resale, so I left.
Then I realized that since 2G iPhones are still selling for $300-$400 (or more) on eBay, I'd be ahead by buying a $199 replacement and reselling that on eBay!
When I went back and they started processing my old iPhone, they said it did fall into a category that allowed them to replace it outright with a refurbished unit! Needless to say, I was floored.
So even if your phone is out of warranty, be sure to ask -- it doesn't hurt. AND, even if they say you can't get a replacement, go ahead and buy the $199 replacement -- it's still worthwhile and you can probably get that back by turning around and selling it.

[distortedloop]

Looks like these "release day" iPhone Edge models are reaching the end of their hardware life, which is kind of disturbing considering you're locked into two year contracts on an 18 month life product.

My "release day" 8gb iPhone Edge (mentioned earlier in this thread as having the dead strip problem beginning to show) has just this morning lost all sound from the external speaker. I've tried everything short of a total reset of the device's firmware to get it back. Feels like a hardware issue.

I'd been holding on to mine (using it as an iTunes and TiVo remote) for nostalgia purposes, it was purchased first day, after all, but it may be time to let it go and get a new phone. I, foolishly perhaps, considering your luck exchanging yours without AppleCare, did get an AppleCare contract on it just few weeks before the one year warranty expired, so I should certainly be covered on an exchange.

As far as eBay resale goes, I'm not so sure buying one at $199 with intent to sell for a profit on eBay will pan out as you suggest; I checked prices a few weeks ago, and they weren't going for anywhere near what they had been. Right now, there's one going for $227 with 27 bids on it. $199, plus eBay costs, doesn't leave much profit in it at that sales price. I'd rather just keep it for an iTunes remote. Blame it on the economy, iPhone 3g becoming availble (and unlockable in a week), or market saturation, but those of us who upgraded to 3g and hung on to our Edge models seem to have missed the frenzied resale market by a few months.

Good luck.