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Just A Thought - An iPhone! Finally!

Friday, August 15th, 2008 at 8:35 AM - by

There I am, driving through a torrential downpour while crossing a bridge a few miles east of Mobile Alabama, on my way to a wedding (my niece on my wife's side of the family) when my ancient RAZR vibrates.

I always check the numbers nowadays because telemarketers (who aren't supposed to use computerized calling to call cellphones) call every so often, seemingly just to irritate anyone silly enough to answer. The number was not familiar to me, but since it didn't show up as being "Private," I answered.

A nasally voice greeted me. "Mr. Seward, this is Dan (not his real name) at AT&T. We have your iPhone here. Can you come in today?"

It was Friday morning, August 1, a full 2 weeks after I reluctantly ordered my 16 GB black iPhone from AT&T. Reluctant because they gave me bogus info by telling me that Apple could handle my special account. Apple couldn't, of course, and it peeved me mightily to have to go back to these bozos people to get my phone.

To add insult to the 2 week injury, the guys where I work had pestered me mercilessly about my lack of iPhone.

"Got it yet?"

"No," I'd answer in a tone that would stop a charging rhino.

"Hey Vern, got that iPhone yet?"

"No."

"Yo! Vern! You got that..."

"No!"

Also, it seems odd how office conversations seemed to always wind up centered on iPhones and Apple while everyone whips out the latest gen Blackberries and RAZRs.

My only solace was the receipt I had tucked in my wallet that promised, at least on paper, that I owned an iPhone.

A week had gone by and my wife reminded me of the impending wedding trip. While I planned the route we would take I lamented that the trip might be better planned, or at least a lot cooler if I had my iPhone.

I imagined getting lost on some well-rutted dirt road in some forgotten part of Mississippi, where women and children still go bare foot out of necessity and no one has ever heard of Starbucks. In the distance, adding to the cacophony of cricket and frog songs, a banjo, played by some blind kid sitting in a tree, is being plucked lazily, waiting for a city slicker challenge.

Instead of risking my machismo to the whims of the locals I would whip out my iPhone while safe in the air-conditioned mosquito-free comfort of my SUV and have it plot a course for me back to civilization.

If things got really weird I could confidently call in the Marines instead of depending on my wife's archery skillz.

Technology to the rescue. Ned Beatty would be envious.

Days before I was scheduled to go to Ol' Miss I told a friend that with my luck AT&T would call me about my iPhone while the vows were being said. Reality, as it turns out, was bad enough.

I picked up my phone the following Monday and I've had it for a little more than a week now.

Was all the running around, the wanting, and the waiting worth it? Well, yes and no.

First let me state that I really, REALLY like my iPhone. It is everything I had hoped it would be, but...

There are some things that I don't like. These are mostly niggling little annoyances or things I wish were better. Here's my list:

  • Battery life is bad in certain circumstances. If fact, I did something, and I'm still not sure what, that caused the battery to almost completely drain in 3 hours. I thought the iPhone was off, but every time I fired it up the little battery charge indicator showed less time remaining. The problem seemed to be linked to GPS or 3G usage. I haven't used GPS in a while and I've cut back on 3G web surfing, the battery charge seems OK now. This is probably the most serious issue I have with my iPhone.
  • Sometimes an application or a phone call just stops after using it for about 1 minute. This is a weird problem and I noticed it first while making calls. Sometimes, not always, after about 1 minute into a phone call I'll hear 4 beeps and the iPhone will indicate that the call failed. It presents me with the option to reconnect and it usually does, but it's very annoying. After reconnecting it always works fine.

I also noticed this with some applications. The app will start up fine, run for about a minute, then the screen will blank and I wind up at the home screen. Restarting the app will work and it won't blank again. It's just the first time using it after turning the device on. It's very annoying.

  • When in iPod cover-flow mode the only controls I have is to play or pause the music, the other controls are not on the screen. Some genius thought it would be cool to move the next/previous buttons to the remote. What if I don't or can't use the remote? I have to pick up the iPhone and rotate it vertically get to the controls I want. Silly.
  • Earbuds! I can't use them! Worse, I have nothing to replace them with. No vendors I'm aware of sells small wired stereo headsets with built-in mic and iPod controls. Very frustrating.
  • I can't use most of my iPod charging equipment to charge the iPhone. None of my direct iPod wall and car chargers work with the iPhone. I get a message on the phone that says the charger is incompatible with the iPhone. Now I have to buy all new chargers. My powered speakers with an iPod dock works, however, and that's a good thing.

There are a bunch of things I wish the iPhone would do that it currently does not. For instance, I wish it had better Bluetooth support. I see no reason why I can't use a Bluetooth keyboard with my iPhone, or a Bluetooth stereo headset. Both of these features are available on other devices, but the iPhone won't even recognize a Bluetooth keyboard, and you get no stereo if the Bluetooth headset connects at all. Silly, silly, silly!

So, I finally have an iPhone 3G and I am, for the most part, a happy camper. Life is good.

Vern Seward is a writer who currently lives in Orlando, FL. He's been a Mac fan since Atari Computers folded, but has worked with computers of nearly every type for 20 years.

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Wings said:

member since 30 Mar 2004 with 89 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:59 am

I don't share his pet peeves with the iPhone, but he doesn't share mine either. I really only have one, and that is no reminder beeps when you've missed a call. Tell me, what modern day cell phone doesn't beep at ya when you've missed a call? None that I've ever owned, until the iPhone. Apple needs to provide this feature. To some people, a missed call is missed income. A phone like this should be reminding ME of things, not making me go check whenever I've stepped away from my phone for a minute.

And while they're at it, make the reminder beeps an option, allow me to choose my beep, and include them for missed messages as well. Hey, and even a different kinda beep if you have voice mail waiting. How hard can it be?

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 9:40 am

um, griffin makes a great replacement in-earbuds; coverflow is mainly just another view for SELECTING music - not scanning forward and backward. who really LISTENS to their media with the iphone/ipod in coverflow orientation? btw, there is no "previous" control activated by the remote; your apps constantly crashing is not the norm - reboot, reinstall, or take your phone in for a replacement

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vasic said:

member since 09 Aug 2005 with 278 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:24 am

to Wings:

I have yet to own a cellphone that will beep (how does it beep? when?) after a call was not answered. Same thing for missed messages (text or voice). Every cellphone that I had owned behaved in exactly the same way, as follws:

A phone rings; nobody picks up; it stops ringing and that's it. Somewhere, in the corner of its display, there will be a red arrow or a flag, indicating that an incoming call was missed;

A phone rings; nobody picks up; caller leaves a voice mail message. Carrier sends a SMS (text) message to the phone indicating a new, unheard voicemail. Phone beeps (as usual, when an incoming text messagea arrives). Somewhere in the corner of its display, a little envelope symbol appears, indicating an unopened SMS message.

No phone I ever owned would periodically beep if a call wasn't answered, or if a message wasn't opened. I fail to see how iPhone is different from any other phone in this regard.

Whenever I'm abroad, I'm reminded of this feature that exists on very many GSM providers, and which US carriers chose not to provide/use/turn on. When your phone is turned off, or has no signal, incoming calls would automatically go to voicemail. Caller may, or may not leave a message. When your phone re-acquires that signal, the carrier will send you an SMS notifying you about the calls that came while your phone was off the network. In other words, you will practically NEVER miss a call. For the life of me, I can't figure out why US carriers (at least GSM ones -- AT&T and T-Mobile) don't turn this on, as surely this must be one of the built-in GSM features.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 10:25 am

A company called Ultimate Buds (http://www.ultimatebuds.com) puts a number of different earbuds on Apple's iPhone cord. I sent them my iPhone earbuds and an old pair of Etymotics and they put them together for about $40. Great service, quick turnaround, and I could not be happier.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:39 pm

I have the first phone and I agree about the BT keyboard. The iPhone has become a huge part of my business.

The earbuds ARE a bummer. I figure that they are buds are similar to the included mouse you get with every new computer. They work, but if you're serious, you upgrade to one that fits your needs better. I replaced the foam covers with tapered silicone versions that better fit my ears. I think I paid $3.50 for them from Amazon.

My wife went to a BT headset that comes with an assortment of covers so that she has just the right fit, it would be nice if Apple did the same.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:42 pm

Hope your experience is better than mine. Here is the log I am now keeping.

iPhone Units

iPhone 3G was purchased on June 12, 2008

Crashed constantly with apps quitting all the time, 3G issues - 22 restores needed.

Came with 2.0 software and later I updated it to 2.0.1 when it came out.

First iPhone 3G replacement - August 1, 2008

Crashed constantly with apps quitting all the time, 3G issues, content disappeared from iPod app - 10 restores needed.

Received it from Tices Apple Store with 2.0.1 - new unit from new box.

Second iPhone 3G replacement - August 14, 2008

Apps quitting, 3G issues, content disappeared from iPod app - 1 restore needed.

Received it from GSP Apple Store with 2.0 and I updated it to 2.0.1 on first sync - was a replacement service part.

Crashing and Quits

Apps bought from App Store quit constantly. Many times when one app quits, then none of the others will launch anymore. Does not seem to matter which app or how many I have installed. Deleting and re-installing the apps does not help. Only a total restore and syncing the apps get them to run again. Until the next time they quit.

Sometimes an app will quit, killing the iPhone, leaving me with a white Apple logo. Once this happens nothing but a total restore will help. Holding down the Home key, restarting the iPhone or hard reset of the iPhone does not allow the iPhone to boot normally. Of course I am then left without even a phone.

Sometimes deleting or installing apps directly on the iPhone will crash it leaving you with white Apple logo that only a total restore will fix. I no longer install or update directly on the iPhone.

Running the iPhone without any apps from the App Store. iPhone still experienced problems with the Mail, Settings, Contacts, and Safari quitting. Lagging keyboard, slow scrolling, and slow Contacts (I have about 300) still present.

I have had to restore my first iPhone 3G about 22 times and I have restored this one about 9 times already. Most every time the iPhone has crashed I have lost the pictures I took and had to restore it as a new iPhone as iTunes tells me my backups are corrupted.

I have restored this using three different Intel Mac running Leopard 10.5.4 and iTunes 7.7.1, did not matter. I even went as far as uninstalling iTunes, setting up a new account and reinstalling iTunes, re-downloaded the iPhone firmware and the apps I bought, did not matter, still crashed and apps quit within a day.

The longest the iPhone has ever worked without needing a restore is 3 days. Usually I get a day, maybe two. I have had it crash twice in the same day.

3G Reception Problems

iPhone constantly switches between 3G and EDGE even in a strong 3G area like North Jersey or NYC. This results in dropped, garbled calls and slow Internet. Sometimes I must restart the iPhone to let see the 3G network.

iPhone iPod Problem

After syncing the iPhone and adding about 300 purchased music and video tracks, a few audiobooks and some podcasts the iPhone says there is no music on it when I launch the iPod app. Yet if you connect it to iTunes you can see the content and under Settings -> General -> About on the iPhone it shows the that the iPhone is almost half full.

This happened on first and second replacement iPhones that was synced with a different Mac. Both times I has previously played them and after the apps started quitting, they were no longer seen by the iPhone 3G.

iTunes 7.7.1 Problems

It takes forever to backup the iPhone, only to find out that the backups are useless as iTunes reports they are corrupted when trying to restore the iPhone.

iTunes has NO idea when an app has an update available. It reports updates when none are needed, it sometimes reports there are no updates when there are. Sometimes it wants to install 6 or 7 copies of the same app when it reports an update.

iTunes has a serious bug in that it does not delete or overwrite old app files it just re-creates them! Looking in the iTunes -> Mobile Application folder I found many versions of the same app, loading up my Macs hard drive with incremented numbers. This is true on three different Macs I have tried to sync with. Itunes does not overwrite or delete old version of the apps. At one point I had over 1 GB of files when it probably should have been one third of that.

If the iPhone is syncing with iTunes and a phone call or SMS message comes in, the iPhone sometimes either stops syncing or crashes so bad that it needs a restore.

I have had to change my iTunes Store password over 20 times this month as iTunes or the iPhone will tell me my password is no good. I then reset it and a few days later it says it is no good again.

MobileMe Problems

Can not sync subscribed calendars. Mail outages.

Sometimes Mail app will report I have emails, but when I open the Mail app I have to manually hit the refresh button to see any of them.

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jimothy said:

member since 04 Jun 2004 with 612 posts, unranked, send him a message or view his profile

Fri Aug 15, 2008 12:59 pm

vasic wrote:
to Wings:

No phone I ever owned would periodically beep if a call wasn't answered, or if a message wasn't opened. I fail to see how iPhone is different from any other phone in this regard.

My old Motorola RAZR on Verizon's network would do this, and I found it excruciatingly annoying. I couldn't find anyway to turn it off. It's not a feature I miss on my iPhone, but I suppose I can see why somebody might want an option to turn it on (just as I wish there was an option to turn it off on my old RAZR).

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:05 pm

Hi Vern, nice article, the dropped call thing might be related to the recently uncovered Infineon chipset issue. Apple plans to fix with a software update...

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080813_430402.htm

To my limited knowledge, most phones come with earbud headsets. With the 3G you can use any headphones for music and speakerphone for calls. This is what every cell phone user deals with if they can't use earbuds.

Also, you should be able to use your ipod charging stuff with the iphone. Ignore the incompatible message and it should just charge. They likely wants you to buy iphone-specific accessories, and that's not a new thing for Apple. But by virtue of your speaker dock working, everything else should work, why wouldn't it?

I definitely agree with you on cover flow and bluetooth though.

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A guest said: (hide)

Fri Aug 15, 2008 1:29 pm

jimothy wrote:
vasic wrote:
to Wings:

No phone I ever owned would periodically beep if a call wasn't answered, or if a message wasn't opened. I fail to see how iPhone is different from any other phone in this regard.

My old Motorola RAZR on Verizon's network would do this, and I found it excruciatingly annoying. I couldn't find anyway to turn it off. It's not a feature I miss on my iPhone, but I suppose I can see why somebody might want an option to turn it on (just as I wish there was an option to turn it off on my old RAZR).

I'm stuck with a RAZR that has this 'feature'.

trouble is that it seems to pick its own time to alert me to this (and like you, I really don't care... I'd rather that it just had a proper 'recent calls' feature that would clearly show me missed, outbound or inbound calls with something approaching understandable icons.)

Literally, just now, the stupid thing beeped a 'missed call' message to me, and when I inspected it, it was referring to a call that I missed over 12 hours ago. Really useful.

Again, THIS is what the iPhone is leaving everyone else in the dust over. Currently a few less (dubious) features, but the critical ones are there and THEY ACTUALLY WORK!!!

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