iPhone Woes

[SegLegs]

Hi Everyone -

I rarely post here but I had to ask opinions on the iPhone - either the first or second version.

I have to say - I like the features - a lot. I love having access to my "world" outside of my office blah, blah, blah - there are a couple of issues I have with the phone and AT & T.

One, I live three miles outside of Manchester, NH - count them, three and I get no service with AT & T - ok, fine, not an iPhone problem but still - it's annoying when you have no carrier choice. I understand on the surface that AT & T gets so many dollars for each iPhone Mac sells - ok, fine, whatever. Every time I see one of AT & T's commercial about "more bars in more places" I want to scream. It's like New Hampshire and lots of New England were left off the map.

My phone issues arise when I go to hit the 'update' for my email to come in and it doesn't work - Apple said that their software updates were supposed to correct this - mine falls into the first generation of iPhone - so far none of the updates have fixed this issue. I've also had my phone ring and the screen go black, I don't know who is calling nor can I answer my call at all. This happens every now and then, but enough to be annoying. My sound also comes and goes as it pleases (or so it seems) sometimes I can hear text message alerts, sometimes I can't - sometimes I can hear the button tones when I dial, sometimes I can't. It has also completely froze on me and I had to "reset" my entire phone and lose some important text messages and voicemail. I routinely backed up my phone but I'm not sure I have them (really for sentimental reasons - the last contact I had with my brother before he suddenly passed away).

I am sorry, I hate to be negative, but I've had some frustrations building. Does anyone else have any issues with their iPhones? I know we have quite a few users here on SegChat so this is why I am posting here. I've been a loyal Mac convert (bought a MacBook, AirPort, iMac, Nano, and iPhone) for the last about three years but I am at the end of my rope - I'm starting to look at the new Blackberry.

Thanks for letting me vent!

[Bob.Kerns]

I don't have any info, but I'm interested in people's observations myself, as I've been considering getting an iPhone precisely to get away from that sort of problems with the phones I've had to date.

Phones should NOT crash.

In fairness to AT&T, a lot of the time the barrier to getting more bars in more places is local regulatory processes and local opposition on unfounded fears of "radiation".

I don't know if that's the case in your situation. New Hampshire isn't exactly known for excessive local regulation. But it's worth checking into and making your opinion known if it is a factor.

[BillK]

Originally Posted by Bob.Kerns

I don't have any info, but I'm interested in people's observations myself, as I've been considering getting an iPhone precisely to get away from that sort of problems with the phones I've had to date.

Phones should NOT crash.

In fairness to AT&T, a lot of the time the barrier to getting more bars in more places is local regulatory processes and local opposition on unfounded fears of "radiation".

I don't know if that's the case in your situation. New Hampshire isn't exactly known for excessive local regulation. But it's worth checking into and making your opinion known if it is a factor.

Try the Tilt by HTC - It is Windows 6.1 Mobile - it has:
Built in GPS
Can play MP3s
Can watch videos
Syncs with outlook
Has word and EXEL on it
Works great as a phone
You can easily add programs
New ROMS are available all the time
Send emails and receive them as well.
3 mega pixel camera that can double for panorama shots

Pretty nice phone - I like it better than the IPhone as it is unlocked and open.
Bill

[Bill Seright]

Originally Posted by BillK

Try the Tilt by HTC - It is Windows 6.1 Mobile - it has:
Built in GPS
Can play MP3s
Can watch videos
Syncs with outlook
Has word and EXEL on it
Works great as a phone
You can easily add programs
New ROMS are available all the time
Send emails and receive them as well.
3 mega pixel camera that can double for panorama shots

Pretty nice phone - I like it better than the IPhone as it is unlocked and open.
Bill

That's the same phone we both have. TomTom works fine with it, and since TomTom is a feature program of the Tilt through HTC, if one knows where to look, one can find a fully working TomTom that, because it's installed on the Tilt (aka HTC TyTN II), it's also fully licensed and legal.

But one has to know where to look.

Or as my spouse just told me, one has to know where to find someone who knows where to look.

William Seright

[Bob.Kerns]

Originally Posted by BillK

Try the Tilt by HTC - It is Windows 6.1 Mobile - it has:
Built in GPS
Can play MP3s
Can watch videos
Syncs with outlook
Has word and EXEL on it
Works great as a phone
You can easily add programs
New ROMS are available all the time
Send emails and receive them as well.
3 mega pixel camera that can double for panorama shots

Pretty nice phone - I like it better than the IPhone as it is unlocked and open.
Bill

I haven't been happy with its predecessor, the 8252. It lacks GPS (which isn't a fatal flaw, but I wish it did). more importantly, while I can play MP3s, it tends to crash when doing so. The filesystem on the micro-SD card gets corrupted, thus losing your MP3s and photos. I do use Word and Excel.

It works horribly as a phone -- no built in voice-dialing, and the add-on Microsoft product doesni't integrate properly with bluetooth.

In fact, the phone doesn't work properly with bluetooth; it's random whether it uses the bluetooth headset or not. If the headset gets switched on by accident, and it happens to be using it that day, it's very difficult to switch it off from using the headset.

Notifications don' go to the headset. They also don't work reliably -- sometimes it freezes and won't notify you of anything until you reboot, or sometimes it waits until you unlock the phone, or do something that makes it suddenly sit up and pay attention.

And it does the same thing with notifying you of incoming calls -- though that seems to be a separate problem -- sometimes notifications will work, but not incoming calls, and sometimes vice versa. And sometimes it won't make outgoing calls.

The usual solution for many of these problems is to reboot. It doesn't work TOO badly, if I remember to reboot it twice a day.

I like it better than the phone I had before, though (the Blackjack) -- it doesn't crash as often!

My Segway just works. My car nearly always works. Why can't my phone?

[Mamrax]

I had the lockup problem on my phone and took it to the Apple store. They replaced my phone and the problem has not occured since. I lost a voice mail of my son in law calling me when my first grandson was being born.

[bud01234]

I had many of the same problems plus, with the Iphone, I had no choice of plans- It was either AT&T at $85 a month for a lousy 400 minutes or nothing.

The Simple solution?
I kept my current plan (2000 unlimited minutes at $30 per month), my morotola cell phone RAZR that I really like except for the browser. Then, I bought an ITOUCH which is pretty much an Iphone without the phone. It has a great browser, and the other goodies and if you're in a wifi hotspot (my house, my work, most of my favorite eateries) then you get internet for Free with no monthly charges.

Yup, you carry two little units, but it's worth the price.

Bud

[segsurfer]

While I have had some innermittent problems with my iPhone 3g, as a general rule I've been very happy with it. I've been having issues with my email, but that's more of an outlook issue as apposed to an iPhone issue. As for crashing, it occasionally crashes or freezes but I just wait a few minutes and the issue resolves itself...a small price to pay in order to be able to consolidate my pocketfull of devices (iPod, razr, and palm pilot) into one device. My biggest gripes, no spellcheck or copy and paste (if it did have spellcheck, I would be sure of the spelling of innermittent) I also would like to see the ability to type/view SMS messages in landscape view, but all of the above gripes could be easily resovled with a software update.
-segsurfer

[vocalcoach]

My wife and I and many of our friends have iPhones and just love them. We have no problems, can download hundreds of free apps and use them while gliding. They ARE the benchmark for a phone/minicomputer combo.

[Bill Seright]

Originally Posted by vocalcoach

My wife and I and many of our friends have iPhones and just love them. We have no problems, can download hundreds of free apps and use them while gliding. They ARE the benchmark for a phone/minicomputer combo.

My spouse and I have AT&T Tilts, also 3G, and feel much the same way. We actually tried and tested the iPhone and returned them to go with the Tilt.

Bill Seright