[LondonRuss]

The only issues I have are:
1. The hysterical use of column inches by a journalist who dropped a few calls (however frustrating) reporting a yet unproven issue, which would be tolerated on any other device.
2. The somewhat extreme judgment of the Iphones shortcomings tolerated on every phone. BTW Maxonly point 7 of your ridiculous list makes no sense, the Bluetooth on an Iphone does not operate in this way, so I can only assume you don't have one!
Come on grow up - a multi million selling device, with some early issues, try a Sony Ericsson for a few months, I got through 7 with 'known issues'
As a journalist you should know better!

[feefer]

MacPCJustCreate said:

Boy am I glad that I have not jumped on the iPhone YET. Maybe I never will? Who needs all of these hassles? I need something that just works and works well ALL the time.

And that's the irony, the impossible dream: you want to have something exciting and new that "just works", but you aren't willing to accept the bumps along the way. The irony is the more complex systems become, the more likely they are to run into the unanticipated. And by the time the 'bugs' are worked out, the features won't be so 'new and novel' any longer, and you'll be on to something else.

The only 'answer' is to discover products that have been around a long time, but are new to YOU. For many, the Apple products are the 'answer', as long as the technology is a few years old (e.g. the iPods, etc). Don't be on the cutting edge unless you're willing to accept the bleeding, too.

Frankly, I decided a long time ago to pass on the 2nd-gen iPhone, as there's little functional improvement to be had: no doubt a "stronger, faster" version is in development for release next year, so we'll see what new features it offers. If it's worth it to me to risk getting the latest version, then I'll be replacing my 1st-gen iPhone, but at least I'll be going into it with my eyes wide open, realizing there's always a risk when adopting the 'latest greatest' device.

(Although, a 3rd or 4th generation device is USUALLY less risky than a 1st-gen device, but remember that Apple intentionally ham-strung the 1st-gen iPhone so it WOULDN'T run into issues that very well could've killed the infant in it's crib. They wanted it to be stable, but I stlll see it as a good sign that Apple is now willing to push the envelope with the 2nd-generation iPhone, confident that reports of problems won't kill off the device's sales (as happened, for example, with the Zune)).


PS after posting this message to the Macworld forum, I encountered the following message:

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We're sorry but a serious error has occurred in the system. If you are a system administrator please click "more details" below for more information about this error.

Message was edited by: feefer

[Olu]

I haven't had problems with dropped calls. I have noticed when surfing the 3G signal drops often.

I've had relatively good luck with the iPhone until about 1 week ago when the application sync stopped working well and back up times began to increase. When 2.02 came out I decided to restore the phone BUT NOT USE MY BACK UP. I figured that permission issues, or corrupt files maybe the cause of my problems and thougt it might be better to start fresh. The good news? The iPhone has worked flawlessly since. Application updates work as billed, speed is DEFINITELY improved. Contacts appear almost instantly and are searchable instantly. No more lag in typing. Applications aren't crashing.

If you're having trouble, try a complete wipe. Be warned, you will loose application settings and data as well as SMS messages and call history. Well worth it for me

Even with these issue, this phone simply rocks. I'd say that my laptop use has dropped over 50% with all the applications.

[LondonRuss]

The struggle is this, most of these reports are as guilty of hyping the issues as they accuse Apple of being with their promises.
Complaints that Apple hyped up the launch of the Iphone? It's called marketing, every company does it and if people are stupid enough to swallow it then they have only themselves to blame.
Iphone came to market with issues? Shall we talk about Sony PS1, PS2, PS3, PSP, Windows XP, Vista, Office, or perhaps Wii? The list is endless and is just the cost of manufacturers delivering new products to, what on the whole, is a petulant market who have hissy fits of they have to wait a few extra weeks for a new version/product. They make a judgement call on when to get a product to market with a profit vs perfection trade-off, and not being charities they often make it earlier than perhaps they should. It's a competitive market economy, to be frank it's even worse when car/airplane/drugs manufacturers do it, no one is going to lose their life using an Iphone. If you want to vent your spline try it on something more worthwhile!
Come on grow up! Cut Apple some slack, for some they have become the nemesis of Apples fanboys and on the whole their cynicism is far less attractive and helpful - if nothing else it shows a lack of maturity, both as a consumer and more worryingly an adult!

[MLO]

The battery is horrible. I charge my iphone over night and by 7 - 8 pm it's about DEAD. Thats not doing a whole lot with it.
Others, have great battery power.

[Katybjensen]

My 3G phone is not any faster with the fix but who cares because my problem with the phone is connection. The Chicago Apple Store (Old Orchard) told me I could fix the problem by turning off my 3G. MMMM. Or I could move to Arizona where the Genius's friend did not have a connection problem. MMM. AT&T gave me a new SIM card, showed me a coverage map with plenty of 3G coverage,virtually pated my head and told me "see no problem." The problem is not my "seeing" but the connection my phone delivers. A call to AT&T corporate--yield 4 disconnects and over 2 hours on hold to be told "WOW (I kid you not they used the word WOW!!) you are the only person to call with this problem." Perhaps, everyone else just gave up after multiple disconnects and impossible hold times.
APPLE and AT&T are you listening? Or is this another disconnect? Take responsibility, own the problem, value your customers, fix or explain how the problems will be addressed and fixed. Please.

[Yosh007]

Dropped calls after 2.02 are just as bad as before when 3G is enabled. Just to give it another try, I enabled 3G today and called a client. It wouldn't even ring, only reported, "call failed".
When I disable 3G, I have no problem.

[davidlfoster]

Having restored my iPhone 3G for the 12th time last night (I got the crazy crashing app and missing media syndrome) I have essentially lost all patience. If someone wants to place a class action lawsuit, count me in. I am ready to give up. I love my iPhone, but...I hate my iPhone. Only Apple can set this relationship right and given the stakes they should have 100-200 programmers working 24-7 to get this right. There is something terribly rotten in the software (and I wouldn't be surprised about the hardware) and they need to fix it yesterday (and certainly not as late as 'sometime' in September.

Just for kicks we should start invoicing Apple and AT&T for our lost time...

[Katybjensen]

Count me in. I would just like an acknowledgement that they understand there is a problem. The time, not forgetting to mention mental anguish :) should at least be worth a "Yes, indeed we have a problem, and this is what you can expect from in the way of a rresolution

[davidlfoster]

Steve supposedly sent someone (what CEO in their right mind replies to a single user when tens of thousands are in anguish) a note that (cynical paraphrase here) ...hey, we screwed up and there will be a fix for this sometime in September.

Makes you feel warm and fuzzy, doesn't it. And for my family plan I am chucking out $160+ for a phone I get to restore every 3-4 days, can't trust the backup at all (besides who can wait out hours for it anyway), flickers on and off 3G with deplorable data transfer rates (the original iPhone was at least dependable on EDGE-slow but the tortoise wins the race every time if the rabbit is busy being restored).

And who do they think they are to release updates to fix...what? I spent hours restoring my phone and all it did was speed up my access to contacts (and who knows, maybe that was the restore) and lose what 3G reception I already had. Steve needs to be a tad more transparent on this. Apple could rule the world with the iPhone -- if they don't mess up.

I don't care how many they are selling NOW, they are messing up. And those sales are building up something they don't need.
Really annoyed, irritated customers.

[sheilanolan]

Count me in as well. I'm in the process of putting back the apps I had to un-sync as all apps and music failed late last night. Yes, there is supposed to be a fix coming for this in September but what are we to do in the meantime? The process I have to go through each time this happens takes up several hours - perhaps we should be billing Apple for our time spent sorting out their problems, then they might actually get off their butts and sort this out now rather than promising us something that might not be out for 5 weeks!

[davidlfoster]

How many apps do you have installed? Do you work your way through most of the battery in a single day? Do you sync frequently with iTunes? Rather than make us envious with your good fortune, perhaps you can help shed light on why you have been so lucky...

[viclen]

I'm in the UK with O2 as a service provider. I've had sketchy 3G coverage but even with one bar, I could still connect acceptably. No dropped calls, no real problems.
With the 2.0.2 update I now have full 5 bars at home (previously I had 2-3) and no problems - no apps quitting, no dropped calls.
Still sounds like a problem with AT&T...

[merosen]

Reply to David Foster
I have 45 apps (including the original apps). Iv'e set sync on mobileme for every hour(on my primary computer), fetch to every hour.
my laptop is manual sync - its off most of the time
I fetch mail as hourly
I'll do a manual sync as needed -usually when i want to send changes right away to mobil me
Brightness is a little less than halfway
GPS is off turned on as needed barely use - yet
WiFi is off " " " " " ' turn on to surf web then turn off
Bluetooth off - never use
Ringer volume Full
Vibrate off
I have 8 calendars and 3 email accounts ( however i only really use one).
some days i'll listen to 2-3 hours of i itunes
I try to keep syncing to only once a day
I upgrade apps from Iphone as itunes interface doesnt give the proper display of what needs to be updated
Battery needs to be charged every night, sooner if i use itunes alot
some times i let the battery run out completely before recharging
Let me know if i left out any settings
Mark