Apple Taking Heat for Switching to Custom Screws on iPhone 4 and Portables

Pentalobegate?

I cannot believe I just read eleven pages of comments. Shall we append "-gate" on the end of "Pentalobe" so we can call it a real controversy?

I understand both sides of the issue, but here are my (personal) sticking points:

greytmom said:
While I agree that it won't take long before there's a reasonable solution available, I have to say - once I've paid for the damn thing, it's not theirs anymore.
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thejadedmonkey said:
It's only a big deal because the original iPhone didn't use them, but if you take your phone in to get serviced, Apple changes the screws...Apple's changing your device, post-facto.
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chris975d said:
Actually, I think the biggest issue is that they are replacing the old screws on existing customers' phones with these new screws during repairs...i.e., modifying equipment that they (Apple) do not own. I have no problem with them using whatever fastener they choose, but that needs to be with new devices only. They don't have the right to change the existing screws in a phone owned by the customer without the customer's permission. It's not "Apple's property", like some in this thread have said.
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Exactly. While I don't appreciate Apple's standoffishness in using pentalobular fasteners from now on, who are they to swap my existing screws? It just doesn't make sense. I understand how petty this sounds. After all, I'm causing a fuss over two tiny Phillips #00 screws, but they are my tiny Phillips #00 screws. At the very least, the individual doing the swap should say something. The fact that their Geniuses are trained to swap the screws without saying a thing about it makes the issues much creepier than it would be if they just said something about it when they did it.

Osnabrueck said:
I for one, welcome our new pentalobular overlords.
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And this one gets me EVERY time. Got to be one of my top five favorite message board memes. :)

MJ
 
Zzzz....

Use of these funky screws seems fine to me: less likely that some noob will break their iPhone and stick Apple with the bill. That's good for all of us, reallyt, because that will ultimately help the cost of iPhones. If you know what you are doing you can still get in there and monkey around.

No problem here. I don't see any reason Apple should get a "shame on you." for this.
 
nikhsub1 said:
Waiting for people to start defending this move. I mean, it's one thing to ship ALL phones with these screws but quite another to replace regular screws with these in customers phones. I would be pissed.
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If they took it in for repair, how often do you think they needed to open the phone?
 
Reminds me of when Compaq started fitting Torx screws to their consumer PCs we got here back in the mid 90's to stop people from upgrading their own PCs. Must have got complaints from the dealers as the user upgradeable parts got revised Torx screws that also worked with a flathead driver on the next range.

As an ACP and someone who will happily service his own kit, I don't like it one little bit. Big up to iFixit for calling Apple on this.
 
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melissajenna said:
I cannot believe I just read eleven pages of comments. Shall we append "-gate" on the end of "Pentalobe" so we can call it a real controversy?

I understand both sides of the issue, but here are my (personal) sticking points:







Exactly. While I don't appreciate Apple's standoffishness in using pentalobular fasteners from now on, who are they to swap my existing screws? It just doesn't make sense. I understand how petty this sounds. After all, I'm causing a fuss over two tiny Phillips #00 screws, but they are my tiny Phillips #00 screws. At the very least, the individual doing the swap should say something. The fact that their Geniuses are trained to swap the screws without saying a thing about it makes the issues much creepier than it would be if they just said something about it when they did it.



And this one gets me EVERY time. Got to be one of my top five favorite message board memes. :)

MJ
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Holy hell...you're actually the woman in the video, aren't you? :D Your homepage on your profile here would indicate that.
 
iSee said:
Zzzz....

Use of these funky screws seems fine to me: less likely that some noob will break their iPhone and stick Apple with the bill. That's good for all of us, reallyt, because that will ultimately help the cost of iPhones. If you know what you are doing you can still get in there and monkey around.

No problem here. I don't see any reason Apple should get a "shame on you." for this.
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Yeah, that's why iPhones are so cheap.
 
I have 2 iphone 4's and they both have different screws at the bottom. first thing i noticed when i opened the second one. They were purchased 2 months apart.
 
Got my iPhone replaced Jan 2 and just looked. It has the pentubular screw heads. Guess what: I'm still going out with friends tonight and I'm still taking my phone with me. What has changed? I now wasted 5 seconds to look at the bottom of my phone and 1 minute typing this post.
 
The idea behind this "liberation kit" is okay: if you ever need to open your phone, this is what you need.

But. Why do they give Philips screws? These are the worst ever! :eek: They could have provided regular Torx screws...
 
When apple 'repairs' an iOS device, the usually just replace the unit. So they are not replacing your screws, they are giving you a replacement that has the new screws.
 
renewed said:
Got my iPhone replaced Jan 2 and just looked. It has the pentubular screw heads. Guess what: I'm still going out with friends tonight and I'm still taking my phone with me. What has changed? I now wasted 5 seconds to look at the bottom of my phone and 1 minute typing this post.
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My thoughts exactly. Well said.

WTF does anyone need to get into your phone for in the first place? To replace the battery 3-4 years from now (and iPhone 8 is out?) Do you REALLY think you are going to still have the iPhone 4 then? Come on people, it's a freaking screw. This is to keep people from tampering with their devices, and claiming the tampering under warranty. I love how Apple does something an EVERYONE jumps all over their case about it like it's the end of the world. :confused:
 
tarkeybear said:
it only makes sense that they try to keep the "numb-nuts" out of the case! If you are a hardcore hobbyist, you will find a way to break in, but for John-Q-Public, this creates an adequate barrier that they might think twice and bring the device into an authorized repair shop before causing more damage.

Apple is trying to improve the customer service experience (i.e. recent announcement to drop restocking fees) but all this product handling takes an employee's time, and eventually that time has to be paid for in product pricing. Reducing the opportunity for butter-finger customers from further making a bad situation worse makes perfectly good business sense to me!

I guess if I want to practice neuorsurgery on my children, there is nothing physically stopping me, but it might not be a smart idea if I am not a surgeon.

I apologize for my griping but I get tired of whiny customers who think their prerogatives always take priority over everyone else. Hobbyists, have your fun...
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Apple wants you to buy the iphone 5 that all this is, they figure this is just another way to help that alone.
 
It may jst be the this new screw save five cents per phone in manufacturing. The Philips screw was designed to save manufacturing cost over the slot head screw. But it was designed for human operators and is VERY hard for robots. Torx was designed for humans who used power driven drivers with slip clutches in them to limit torq. Pilips is designed to "cam out" if to much fors is applied.

Still a very hard task for a robot is to pick a screw from a bin and place it into something like a phone. This might just be a "robot freindly" screw design.

It is very unlikely Apple really thinks this will prevent anyone from opening the phone. I mean really, it would take me 10 minutes to make a tool that would fit by filing down a slot head screwdriver tip. Or one could drop a bundle of fine steel wires into the hole and then solder the bundle together and make a pretty good tool. I can think of many other ways. The worst case is I'd have to super glue an upside down flat head screw to apples' screw head, fill the screw head with glue then insert a paper clip or,.....
 
Koken out of Japan has this screwdriver model number 168T-PR(250) and a whole set of bits in either 3/8 or 1/4" drive.

But I can't fault Apple for wanting to make it harder for people to get into their devices and potentially cause trouble. I remember years ago I ran into an electronic device that had a spring that was held in place but when you opened the case, the spring flipped over and disabled the device. A simple piece of dental floss fixed that, once I figured it out.

It seems like Apple's penchant for secrecy though has become a little more aggressive. Hiding moisture sensors in their devices too. Heck, the first MacBook Pro I ever opened to replace the hard drive I almost tore the heat sensor that was apparently glued and taped onto the hard drive. I figured that it was made that way to insure that someone wanting to do their own upgrade would 'toast' the sensor and need it replaced for big money. (And void their Applecare?)
 
macus3r said:
This prevents a lot of illegal/unauthorized repairs from happening... illegal repairs do not add to a manufactured unit's service history.
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I just want to make one thing straight here. THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS AN "ILLEGAL REPAIR".

If you bought the product, you own it and it is yours to do with whatever you please. I suppose you could make an illegal modification to something you purchased, say a semi-automatic rifle into an automatic one, but there is no law governing who is allowed to repair your property.

Apple's EULA may or may not cover this, however it has questionable legal strength (so many aspects to this document...).

My $0.02
 
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