iPhone 5 Rant

AppleBoyFreak said:

I love Apple, but honestly I can say that their quality control this round was not to par. I have bought many iPhones on launch day and not a single one had problems as bad as the one I got almost a full month after launch. My iPhone 5 was chipped out of box, the lock button doesn't work unless I tap the very left tip of the button, the battery life is horrible (I'll be down to 33% within 2 hours when I BARELY use my iPhone), and the biggest flaw i recently found is that there is a ton of dust INSIDE the camera. I would be more understanding if it was one of the first one's made, but it isn't. Honestly, it has frustrated me so much that I am almost willing to go back to my iPhone 4S. This kind of quality control is not accepted for a phone manufacture let alone Apple. I have included a picture of a plain white wall I just took. I counted about 8 circles from either dust or a defective camera.

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I agree with you, I just got a new iPhone 5 two days ago and so far I've been a victim of the mysterious "green glow" and several nicks/blemishes from the factory.

Honestly, though, you're covered under warranty for a year. If you can reproduce or document the problems, as it seems you have, take it back to the Apple store or call Apple Care and you should get a replacement without hassle. Sounds like the lady you talked to thought you just wanted to return it for your cash back, if you say you want a warranty replacement they should be able to do that for up to a year. Unfortunately I haven't been able to reproduce my problem in the presence of an Apple store employee, so I'm stuck with mine until I can properly document it.

darster said:

You have 30 days to return for a refund or replacment. So why tell us?

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Why not tell us?

Prospective buyers might want to know about potential problems, in fact I'd say they have a right to know.

Thanks to people speaking out I put off getting an iPhone5, I had my broken iPhone4 replaced with another iPhone4.

Sure I don't have 'bragging' rights, but then on the other hand I do not have
complaining' rights either.

I am a huge fan of Apple products, but not everything Apple is good .... unless of course you like Kool-Aid!

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darkcoupon said:

and several nicks/blemishes from the factory.

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I'll defend Apple on this one .....
Considering the materials being used and specifically the aluminum alloy, blemishes are too be expected. Aluminum is not a perfect metal and I deal with aluminum related problems on a daily basis. Go look at an aluminum wheel from the factory on a car/motorcycle, all but impossible to find one without some minter imperfections. Yes, nicks can be included. I saw a write up on the process and alloy used on a Miller Welding company web site.

There there is the process Apple had to use to join the case halves together.

FSW - aka Friction Stir Welding

An interesting process to be sure.

If Apple would have used a harder alloy there may be less blemishes and nicks but then they could not us FSW and making the iPhone5 as it is would not have happened.

It's a new phone .... new metal allow .... new process.


This video shows the weld process ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCe8-QYKZf4

harcosparky said:

Why not tell us?

Prospective buyers might want to know about potential problems, in fact I'd say they have a right to know.

Thanks to people speaking out I put off getting an iPhone5, I had my broken iPhone4 replaced with another iPhone4.

Sure I don't have 'bragging' rights, but then on the other hand I do not have
complaining' rights either.

I am a huge fan of Apple products, but not everything Apple is good .... unless of course you like Kool-Aid!

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I'll defend Apple on this one .....
Considering the materials being used and specifically the aluminum alloy, blemishes are too be expected. Aluminum is not a perfect metal and I deal with aluminum related problems on a daily basis. Go look at an aluminum wheel from the factory on a car/motorcycle, all but impossible to find one without some minter imperfections. Yes, nicks can be included. I saw a write up on the process and alloy used on a Miller Welding company web site.

There there is the process Apple had to use to join the case halves together.

FSW - aka Friction Stir Welding

An interesting process to be sure.

If Apple would have used a harder alloy there may be less blemishes and nicks but then they could not us FSW and making the iPhone5 as it is would not have happened.

It's a new phone .... new metal allow .... new process.


This video shows the weld process ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCe8-QYKZf4

Click to expand...

Couple things. 1) The OP's complaints about the product were valid, but his main point was about not being able to return it outside the return window. His gripe isn't helping any potential customer decide on a phone.

2) What case halves are you talking about with that welding link? The iPhone and most (if not all) of Apples products are machined from a single piece of aluminum. No welding is needed.

harcosparky said:

I'll defend Apple on this one .....
Considering the materials being used and specifically the aluminum alloy, blemishes are too be expected. Aluminum is not a perfect metal and I deal with aluminum related problems on a daily basis. Go look at an aluminum wheel from the factory on a car/motorcycle, all but impossible to find one without some minter imperfections. Yes, nicks can be included. I saw a write up on the process and alloy used on a Miller Welding company web site.

There there is the process Apple had to use to join the case halves together.

FSW - aka Friction Stir Welding

An interesting process to be sure.

If Apple would have used a harder alloy there may be less blemishes and nicks but then they could not us FSW and making the iPhone5 as it is would not have happened.

It's a new phone .... new metal allow .... new process.


This video shows the weld process ....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jCe8-QYKZf4

Click to expand...

I realize finding blemishes on a new black iPhone is to be expected, and they're really not my concern. Most of the blemishes I've found would have been completely invisible to the naked eye had the aluminum been bare, brushed aluminum rather than the anodized slate. There are a few, however, that look to be marks from being hit or bumped during the assembly process and that all comes down to QC.

My main gripe is the "green glow" that I get on the bottom of my screen whenever my phone has been asleep for more than a few minutes. It looks like a light leak and is obviously a hardware problem as I've not been able to catch it in a screen capture even though it persists for several seconds. That is definitely a QC issue that should have been caught before it shipped out.

vastoholic said:

2) What case halves are you talking about with that welding link? The iPhone and most (if not all) of Apples products are machined from a single piece of aluminum. No welding is needed.

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Well the iPhone5 is not like previous models, which is why I brought it up.

I never in my welding life hear of FSW until someone brought it up in conjunction with Apple and the iPhone5.

I bet you think the new iMacs are machined from a single piece of Aluminum but APPLE says differently. This is a direct quote from an Apple site .....

One of the biggest challenges our engineers faced was how to join the front and back of the new iMac. The enclosure is so thin, it’s not possible to weld the pieces using traditional methods. So we searched far and wide for other ideas, and we found one in a process called friction-stir welding.

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In case you want to believe I made that up here is the URL ..... http://www.apple.com/imac/design/

Use of FSW is rumored to be behind the delay in the new iMac release.

Apple is using FSW to 'slim down' several of its products.

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darkcoupon said:

Most of the blemishes I've found would have been completely invisible to the naked eye had the aluminum been bare, brushed aluminum rather than the anodized slate.

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Anodizing does tend to bring out be bad in a metal.

Also the aluminum alloy used in the iPhone5 is softer than in previous versions.

As to Apple's QC?

I have to agree from what I have been reading there are problems in China, and Apple better make short work of addressing those.

Blemishes in a base metal is one thing, but dust on camera lenses and behind screens is another thing.

harcosparky said:

Well the iPhone5 is not like previous models, which is why I brought it up.

I never in my welding life hear of FSW until someone brought it up in conjunction with Apple and the iPhone5.

I bet you think the new iMacs are machined from a single piece of Aluminum but APPLE says differently. This is a direct quote from an Apple site .....

Click to expand...

That's a completely different beast. It started out as two pieces. Why do you think the MacBook line and iPhone have been dubbed "unibody" design? Because they are machined from single solid pieces of aluminum.

Well, my fourth replacement from Apple, which I received today, is a real winner. The upper antenna seams are brownish in color (almost look kinda rusted), and the back has some minor scratches. I could deal with the scratches, but those seams being discolored like that bugs me. I called Apple and politely asked to speak to an AppleCare Senior Advisor. I got Kristal. Trust me, you don't want Kristal. LOTS of attitude. I explained the situation and she asked me to send her photos of the marks right then. I took three photos and sent them to her. She complained because they were "too blurry". Okay? What do you want me to do? You made the phone I was taking the photos with. I did the best I could with what I have to work with. I don't own a digital camera, so I couldn't take better pictures right at that moment.

She told me to send the phone back and she would credit me back the $29 shipping fee. Fair enough. Then she said I had to go to an Apple Store for further service. As it was "only 10-15 miles away it shouldn't be a problem." Yeah, okay. I make that decision, not you, sweetheart. She then told me she would call me back next Tuesday or Wednesday once they received the device I'm sending back tomorrow morning. At that point in time she would personally make the Genius Bar appointment for me. Well, not only will I NOT be taking her call next week, I will not be making that trip to my local Apple Store, either. I'll call Apple back and get a new Senior Advisor on the case tomorrow when I get home from work. I work full-time and also attend Pharmacy School full-time, so getting down time these days is a real challenge for me. Waiting to be seen by an Apple Genius isn't at the top of my list of priorities.

I spent an hour and a half at that same Apple Store when they sent me my first defective iPhone 5 (auto-focus), when I had made an appointment to be seen. Appointments mean nothing. My time is valuable to me at this juncture in my life. I've paid for two Express Replacements and have also made one trip to the Apple Store. I won't be making another. I've been pretty understanding up until this point. Apple can figure something else out. Kristal is dead to me. I'm done with her. Her curt "bye" at the end of the call was the icing on the cake.

On a side note, when I placed the last Express Replacement request I was accidentally shipped two iPhone 5's by Apple. The credit card only had one hold placed on it for $635. I think what happened was when they processed the replacement the first time I got no replacement request confirmation or shipment confirmation e-mailed to me from Apple, so I called back to see if the replacement had actually been shipped or not. The rep told me it hadn't for some reason, and that he would immediately have another one sent out to me. Well, an hour later FedEx knocked on my door with a phone. The following day another came. But my card only had one hold placed on it. Weird. I called Apple back and explained the situation, and said that I had something that belonged to them. The rep this time confirmed he had no record of two phones being sent, and thanked me for my honesty in returning the second phone. I'm just that, an honest person. I wouldn't keep something that doesn't belong to me. And tonight Kristal gave off the vibe that I was making the whole defects on the replacement issue up. Sure, I like paying $29 over and over again for no apparent reason. I enjoy throwing away money. What a joke.

I had a problem with my iPhone 5. I rang apple and they sent me a new one. They even... get this.... took the defective one back! It was amazing.

True story!

My lock button started to stop registering presses, getting progressively worse until it nearly stopped working altogether.

The Apple store genius took it out back and opened it up and couldn't see any reason for the lock button to be faulty so swapped it out straight away

Just go to the genius bar for a swap?

Kissaragi said:

I had a problem with my iPhone 5. I rang apple and they sent me a new one. They even... get this.... took the defective one back! It was amazing.

True story!

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+1

Defender2010 said:

yes, but it's almost guaranteed! The 3GS and 4S have been the best phones yet, regarding build quality too....each new model is like an experiment except the "s" version, which usually improves the device in every way.

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I had 3 replacement 4s in the first 4 weeks of ownership before I had a 4s which worked properly. My 5 is working 100%, is almost 2 months old with no chipped paint. The battery life of the 5 is no better than my 4s was which was no better than my 3g.

AndrewR23 said:

my phone is fine except for chips in black bezel right out of box. 3 months later and holy hell the phone has chips everywhere lol.

Gonna replace it once JB comes out.

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What is JB?

rukind2 said:

What is JB?

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I assume he is referencing the inevitable jailbreak (jb) that is due out sometime for the iP5/iOS6.

Quality control doesn't test your phone. Do you think they actually a human looks at every lens and takes several pictures on each phone to make sure it's perfect? Do you think they make a phone call with each phone? Quality control is really just production control, who makes sure phone keep getting built and boxed.

I bought an ipad "4", and the home button didn't work. I called apple and asked for a replacement, and they shipped a new one in less than a week. They shipped the wrong model though, and I mailed both back for a refund. It was easy to deal with and get a refund (or a replacement if I really wanted one). No big deal.

My first iphone 4 developed a bad home button after a couple of weeks, and I replaced it for a refurbished one in an apple store (I could have called for them to ship me one too) and it was no problem. Sure Apple's quality has gone downhill, but customer support has been pretty good in the states.