2% of users my a**!

[Ntombi]

No problems here. All morning I was in a place that kept my iPhone switching between one bar of 3G/full bars of EDGE, and I was talking for a long time with no problems.

I've actually had one dropped call since I got the phone 3.5 weeks ago, which is actually better than I expected when I switched to AT&T.

 

[kdarling]

It's a mind game. They tell a truth, but not the whole truth. Works every time for Apple..

Every company does that. It's standard procedure and not really a surprise.

Sure, but the problem with the blogosphere these days, is that most writers are not as bright as you, or I, or the other people reading this

They simply see "We're fixing some bugs that affect 2%" and immediately change that to "Apple says only 2% of people have 3G problems" and "Apple is fixing the 3G and GPS problems" ... when they said nothing of the sort (assuming the email was genuine and accurate to begin with!).

I swear, sometimes I think we should start a website with just corrections to the rumors of the day!

 

[Phil A.]

I don't see any evidence to contradict what Apple have said (if they have indeed said it), and in fact being a listed company I would have thought they could be in deep, deep trouble if they misrepresented the scale of any problem.
I've actually found the iPhone to be better at handing off to non-3G than my previous 3G phones on Orange, but that could be O2's network rather than any inherent design fault in the iPhone:
Where I'm working at the moment the lifts (elevators) do a very good job of completely blocking any 3G signal whilst letting 2G signals through fine. This has the effect of forcing a handoff if you get in the lift whilst on a call. With all my previous 3G phones (Nokia, HTC and Samsung) I never managed to keep hold of a call when the lift doors shut. With my iPhone, I've only lost the call once out of dozens of calls. This suggests to me that there isn't an inherent design flaw in the iPhone that's causing it to fail to handoff on loss of 3G signal, but rather it's affected by specific local conditions that could well be fixable via a software upgrade. It also means "Apple's" 2% figure could be the number of people who are affected by lost 3G calls.

 

[Anuba]

I've owned my white 16GB for 18 hours now, and so far I've had 5 dropped calls.

Am I surprised? No, it's what I've learned to expect from Apple. Quality control has gone down the drain over the last couple of years.

They rush out products that haven't been thoroughly tested due to extreme secrecy (half a dozen insider volunteers in Cupertino doesn't suffice). Every goddamn piece of hard- and software they've released over the last few years has had problems. iMac 24" gradient... MBA cooling paste... extremely scratch-prone iPods (1st gen Nano would be destroyed if you coughed in the same room)... dropped calls/sluggish interface/abysmal 3G speeds on iPhone 3G... and don't get me started on Leopard bugs...

I for one am mighty sick of being a hardware beta tester for Apple... beta-ish software is acceptable, but not expensive hardware.

 

[automatickyle]

Over the last couple of years? Please.

After Apple releases a fix to this reception problem this threads will become ghost towns. I never owned anything but Apple products for computing and they have always made right if something is wrong. There is nothing else to expect from them.

 

[Anuba]

Over the last couple of years? Please.

After Apple releases a fix to this reception problem this threads will become ghost towns. I never owned anything but Apple products for computing and they have always made right if something is wrong. There is nothing else to expect from them.

Well, then at least someone here belongs in a "2%" category.

Come on, you know perfectly well things have changed. I never thought I'd live to see the days when real hardcore Macheads finally wake up and smell the coffee, but since the release of Leopard there's been something of a paradigm shift. 5 years ago you didn't get thousands of Google hits on "Apple is the new Microsoft".

 

[xgman]

Count me in as a 2%er. Well at least I have no cracks yet.

 

[automatickyle]

Well, then at least someone here belongs in a "2%" category.

Come on, you know perfectly well things have changed. I never thought I'd live to see the days when real hardcore Macheads finally wake up and smell the coffee, but since the release of Leopard there's been something of a paradigm shift. 5 years ago you didn't get thousands of Google hits on "Apple is the new Microsoft".

I did not. I will agree that this particular product could have been handled better because it seemed there were more physical problems this time with the iphone 3gs and how they were made. As for software, I haven't experienced the deep problem that some are experiencing, but I still have seen and had my far share of fun with it. That being said, this is really the first time with Apple that I have seen such terrible software come out and I believe that was a mistake by them because they decided to release it early. I am sure that it is something right now that Apple is taking a look at and trying to fix so it doesn't happen again. I have faith though that they will not disappoint in fixing this issue, I just can't see them doing otherwise.

 

[Nicolecat]

I've owned my white 16GB for 18 hours now, and so far I've had 5 dropped calls.

Am I surprised? No, it's what I've learned to expect from Apple. Quality control has gone down the drain over the last couple of years.

I'm not convinced the dropped calls are all Apple's fault...my husband and I had our fair share of dropped calls two years ago with at&t (back when they still called themselves cingular).

We didn't have snazzy phones, so I don't know whether to chock it up to the service provider or the phone itself. But, I feel rather confident in saying that...it couldn't possibly be ALL Apple's fault.

 

[Anuba]

I'm not convinced the dropped calls are all Apple's fault...my husband and I had our fair share of dropped calls two years ago with at&t (back when they still called themselves cingular).

We didn't have snazzy phones, so I don't know whether to chock it up to the service provider or the phone itself. But, I feel rather confident in saying that...it couldn't possibly be ALL Apple's fault.

Right, but this issue is being reported from many other countries thousands of miles away from AT&T's domains. Over here in western Europe where we've had 3G since 2003-2004, all those initial snags with the 3G technology were sorted out a long time ago and it's been smooth sailing until the iPhone came along. My previous two phones were 3G and over the course of the three years I used them I had like one or two dropped calls. Yesterday I bought an iPhone 3G and the two calls I placed were cut short 2 and 3 times respectively due to the iPhone bailing out...

While we're on the subject of iPhone problems, how about them spontaneously catching fire? Here's an article about a guy whose iPhone started smoldering in the middle of the night... it's in Swedish so I'll translate the first couple of paragraphs -- but have a look at the picture:

http://www.aftonbladet.se/nyheter/article3133594.ab

"Awakened by the smell of fire"

Emil Ahlén had owned his iPhone for only a month when it suddenly caught fire. The charger had melted completely and flames were rising from in.

- It was fortunate that the phone was on the floor and not the bed where I usually keep it, that might have ended in disaster, says Emil."

 

[ChrisA]

I say bull-honkey! I returned my first iPhone for just this problem. And guess what, my 2nd iPhone HAS THE SAME PROBLEM.

He did not say "2% of the iPhones" have the problem. He said "2% of the users". I think Mr. Jobs picks his words carefully for a reason. In your case replacing the phone had no effect because you still used in in the same geographic area where 3G coverage is not perfect. Apparently the phone uses a to-strict criteria to decide if the 3G signal is strong enough so if you live in an area where the signal is below this (not quite correct) threshold you will have problems. Move that same phone 20 or 100 miles and it may act differently. As he said 2% or users not 2% of the iPhones.

It seems reasonable that changing the criteria the phone uses could fix the problem.

There is another issue. No matter what there will be times when the iPhone can't get a signal and will drop the call. When I bought my last really-cheap-phone the guy at the phone store told me that while people like the small phones the big cheap clunky thing that I bought actually gets the best reception. I think it's a trade off. You just can't get long battery life, good reception and small size all in the same phone.

When they do change the iPhone's software to allow connections with low signals my bet is the side effect will be much reduced battery life. My gues is that this is the reason the iPhone was programed to use such strict signal strength criteria, to conserve battery power. In poor signal areas any phone has to ramp up its transmit power.

 

[elgrecomac]

2%...BullSheet.

I have issues with 3G, my wife does, my son does, my brother does and so does my sister-in-law.

Attention ATT and Apple: that is 100%.

I avoided the iphone last year because I do not believe in paying money to QA Apple products. Now, a year later, I am QA-ing Apple products....ugh.

Now cut the Bovine Scat and fix the problem before I switch to RIM. Not a threat, just a fact.

 

[mark34]

I am in the 98%... no unusual reception problems or dropped calls. Better performance than my blackjack had on AT&T for sure.

 

[aristobrat]

Now cut the Bovine Scat and fix the problem before I switch to RIM. Not a threat, just a fact.

Actually, if you would be so kind as to switch to a 3G RIM device on AT&T (when RIM releases their first one later this year) and let us know how it compares to the iPhone 3G problems on AT&T, that'd be doing the community a great service.

 

[kevo0822]

Actually, if you would be so kind as to switch to a 3G RIM device on AT&T (when RIM releases their first one later this year) and let us know how it compares to the iPhone 3G problems on AT&T, that'd be doing the community a great service.

+1

 

[alFR]

I have issues with 3G, my wife does, my son does, my brother does and so does my sister-in-law.

Attention ATT and Apple: that is 100%.

Actually your sample is more like 0.0005% of the 1 million phones that were sold on the first weekend, even less if you count in all the ones sold since.

 

[plumbingandtech]

As most of you probably have heard, Apple is aware of the call drop issue (especially when switching from 3G to EDGE) and will (attempt to) fix with an upcoming software update (in hopes of avoiding a product recall). Jobs sent a personal email to an angry customer saying that this bug is only affecting 2% of iPhone 3G users. I say bull-honkey! I returned my first iPhone for just this problem. And guess what, my 2nd iPhone HAS THE SAME PROBLEM.

So, how many of you are experience crap cell service with your new iPhone 3G?

ps-For those of you who say 'stop complaining,' put a sock in it! When you buy a cell phone, no matter what cell phone, you EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO MAKE CALLS! Especially a phone from a company where things are supposed to just work.

No problems here. Maybe it's just you and your asterisks.

 

[sye46]

i've had the phone since launch... no dropped calls, no cracks, no crooked screen, no dead pixels, no scratch on the glass, no messed up sleep button, no jagged edges... and whatever else this forum can find to complain about.

i love my jailbreaked 3g. it has its flaws, but the pro's totally outweigh the cons.

 

[Phil A.]

I have issues with 3G, my wife does, my son does, my brother does and so does my sister-in-law.

Attention ATT and Apple: that is 100%.

I have no issues, neither does my wife, my daughter or anyone else I know with a 3G iPhone.

Attention O2 and Apple: that is 0% - there are no issues at all with the iPhone 3G and you can stop development now

 

[diabolic]

I have issues with 3G, my wife does, my son does, my brother does and so does my sister-in-law.

Attention ATT and Apple: that is 100%.

The problems have to do with the phone communicating with the towers in your location, not each individual phone, so of course all the people in your area would most likely notice the problem.

 

[IBradMac]

Mass production..