iPhone 1.1.1 Aftermath

[flipperfeet]

1.1.1 eliminated support of G3 iBook

While Apple officially never supported the iPhone on non USB2 hardware. Like iTunes my iPhone worked flawlessly with my G3 iBook. Ver. 1.0, 1.0.1 & 1.0.2 worked without hitch. Now attempting to sync throws an error code. Funny it let me install the update, it just will no longer mount the phone.

 

[macUser2007]

... Apple is burning the geeks (i.e. the ones everyone else turns to for advice) and they will pay for it for years.

Bam! Right on the head.

My wife bought an iPhone (I've had an HTC Trinity (3G, GPS, etc., heavily hacked to do everything I want) for a while, even though I am a mostly Mac user (At home, I started using MS' MCE when Apple failed miserably at providing a decent HTPC front-end).

Once I played with the iPhone, I was all excited about the UI, and started raving to everyone about it. I am a loudmouth, so I have sold at least 3-4 iPhones with my enthusiasm.

When someone asked for stuff like VOIP (people who call or travel overseas often) or MMS, my response was: Hey, wait a little, 3rd party developers will get those things into the iPhone. And someone just came up with a VOIP app.

I was also thinking, when Apple goes to 3G and hopefully GPS, I'll get one as well.

But now, I am done. And I hadn't even modified my wife's iPhone yet, although I was going to install the VOIP app for her to use when traveling.

Hopefully when I need a new phone, there will be some choices with similar UI, from other vendors and with better expandability.

 

[Dasmo]

I like apple as a company, but I won't let them screw me. There's way too much fanboyism in this thread. When apple does something wrong, you should let them know they're doing something wrong, no matter how much you like the company. Even if you're not affected by this, at some point in the future, if they think they'll get away with it, they'll screw you too. Speak up now for consumers so they're too afraid to even try.

 

[Viberantmind]

Bottom Line

Apple is the only company that feels that it needs to make GSM phones that are completely, 100%, unlockable, and that it needs to punish any customer that dares challenge this state of affairs.

Hey, thanks Peharri.

I think the bottom line is that the Apple iPhone is a US-based device. As Apple rolls the iPhone out in more countries and builds more partnerships with wireless providers, I'm sure we will see more leniency on the usage of iPhone.

I mean the phone doesn't even have country-specific features, e.g.: a chinese keyboard or character pallet. And while some may deem this information as irrelevant; it's simply to emphasize how unready the iPhone is to be treated like any other unlocked quad-band GSM world phone and how new Apple is to this market.

Additionally, and in my opinion, I think it's a little unfair to demand that Apple deliver some of the said features right away.

Give them some time and they will get people what they need.

Do remember that, indeed, the iPhone is a device that functions as a quad-band GSM phone. Even if it does not necessarily function in the sense that people would like use to.

If you can't wait, then don't.
If you can, well that's fine too.

Vm

 

[winterspan]

95%? you are clueless

Sorry fella, what planet do you live on? If you think 1.1.1 is going to derail the iPhone train, well... seriously. I'd go as far as to say 95% of iPhone users aren't running any kind of mod. The jailbreak community is a vocal minority that has been given a great deal of attention for their admittedly stellar efforts (and some of the things they've made have been truly unbelievable). But if you think sales of iPhone aren't going through the roof because Apple got the boot into a few hobbyists, then you need to look again.

95%??? Are you kidding? Think of the people who have purchased the iphone so far. The "mass" public haven't even started to buy it up yet. At least a large minority of early buyers < 90 days are going to be more of the enthusiast type.
Acknowledging the obvious point that many of the people who would take an iphone poll on a website are going to be more "enthusiast-type" than those who wouldn't be on a mac site, I have not seen ONE poll which indicated any less than 20-35 percent of users have installed third party applications.

when you have David Pogue publishing a video on NyTimes.com demonstrating the usefulness of 3rd party apps on the iphone, you know that it is just stupid to claim 95% of users have never installed ANYTHING, not even a ringtone.

On a sidenote, I just wanted to say that I have decided to no longer even VIEW the threads about the iphone, as the density of Apple Apologists/Fan-boys on this forum has reached fever pitch. I've never seen ANYBODY defend a company to such a extreme degree. Someone even mentioned "Stockholm syndrome". I have always loved apple's products and been a very loyal customer. I have also cut them a lot of slack over the years about certain issues I disagreed with them on. But this is where I draw the line. At a time when many companies are starting to embrace the philosophy of openness and flexibility, and a customer-first attitude, I just CANNOT support this type of behavior from a company who has always claimed to be different and even instilled this attitude deeply into the core of their business. Apple is no longer the underdog, the little guy fighting for their loyal customer base. I can no longer do it anymore.

 

[Stella]

Jobs didn't learn the first time round, why do you think he'll be any different the next time?

The Fan Boys will be saying Apple invented the smartphone and the whole concept was stolen from them.

Already there are people who think that the iPhone is capable of functionality that no other smartphone OS can achieve, which is entirely false, of course. Such as example are ( you can find the posts on this thread ):
* internet roaming ( switching between carrier based internet connection ( edge, gprs, 3G ) and WIFI based upon availablility ) was a concept completely new to iPhone!!
* no other phone could use MP3's ringtones as 'freely' the iPhone ( LOL )
* the iPhone was the only phone that could establish SSH connections!

All of which is already possible with existing smartphone platforms.

In a couple of years when someone else has made a 90% there copy of the iPhone that is wide open, no doubt Steve will discover the virtues of openness. Why not make the same mistakes more than once? It'll take less time than it took for Apple to get from the Mac to the Mac II but it'll still be too late. I imagine the fanboys in a couple years will be griping how someone "stole" the iPhone interface an d everyone else will roll their eyes and buy the "good enough" device that is at a fair price and open to expansion. Apple is burning the geeks (i.e. the ones everyone else turns to for advice) and they will pay for it for years.

 

[macbookProSF]

this is what you paid for

This closed iPhone policy is a high profile disaster in the making.

It certainly is customer-unfriendly.

I understand that O/S or firmware updates can break user added apps. But what we are talking about here is a hostility to iPhone owners who have a legitimate desire to expand the capability of THEIR phones. To intentionally disable a customer's phone is definitely NOT the way to keep customers. Maybe Jobs doesn't care about keeping customers anymore?

By extension, I would expect that owners of the new iPod Touch would also experience the same kind of treatment should they dare to install non-Apple approved apps on THEIR iPods.

why are you and everyone upset. You knew it would be this way. SJ said no 3 party app and that this would be locked. No everyone is upset the iPhone is what we were told..... I want a million dollars and someone needs to give it to me or there will be trouble. You sound like old ladies.

It is what it is!!!!!

 

[mr.steevo]

why are you and everyone upset. You knew it would be this way. SJ said no 3 party app and that this would be locked. No everyone is upset the iPhone is what we were told..... I want a million dollars and someone needs to give it to me or there will be trouble. You sound like old ladies.

It is what it is!!!!!

No man.

No one really cares what you (as in the individual) thinks. It's what the media says to the public that counts. And what they are saying is that Apple is turning iPhones into bricks in the headlines. You don't have to read further than the headlines as most people could care less about a fricken tech company. And the headlines are going to kill the iPhone. Period.

Apple balls'ed this one up. Stupid.

s.

 

[macbookProSF]

i understand

No man.

No one really cares what you (as in the individual) thinks. It's what the media says to the public that counts. And what they are saying is that Apple is turning iPhones into bricks in the headlines. You don't have to read further than the headlines as most people could care less about a fricken tech company. And the headlines are going to kill the iPhone. Period.

Apple balls'ed this one up. Stupid.

s.

I understand what you are saying and appreciate your view. I can say from a good contact that if your phone is not working it is because it was tweeked with, if they tell you is was not consider the source.

 

[Super78]

iphone rf interference

I want to know if everyone is experiencing a certain annoying level of RF noise coming from the phone and broadcasting audio through TV, computer, stereo speakers, and other electronic devices. I was at a funeral and the Rabbi was speaking into mic his iphone network noise started broadcasting through the mic. It was incredibly disruptive. I can't bring the iphone into video or audio edit bays because of the constant network chatter it spits out.

Every I phone owner I know has the same issue. Is there something we can all do to demand that apple fix this bug? Is this an FCC issue?? Class action? Thanks!

 

[gr8tfly]

I want to know if everyone is experiencing a certain annoying level of RF noise coming from the phone and broadcasting audio through TV, computer, stereo speakers, and other electronic devices. I was at a funeral and the Rabbi was speaking into mic his iphone network noise started broadcasting through the mic. It was incredibly disruptive. I can't bring the iphone into video or audio edit bays because of the constant network chatter it spits out.

Every I phone owner I know has the same issue. Is there something we can all do to demand that apple fix this bug? Is this an FCC issue?? Class action? Thanks!

You'll have to use Airplane mode.

My wife has the same problem with her church's PA system. It's not just the iPhone. All cell phones needed to be turned off (or, in the iPhone case, put into Airplane mode to turn off the cell modem).

The phones (not just iPhones) are adequately shielded and filtered (based on many standards and testing). There are things that can be done to the affected a/v systems to help, but it can be complicated and frustrating.

 

[Mitthrawnuruodo]

The Fan Boys will be saying Apple invented the smartphone and the whole concept was stolen from them.

Smartphones... what smartphones...? Steve Jobs was relatively clear about distinguishing the iPhone from smartphones:

Before we get into it, let me talk about a category of things ... the most advanced phones are called smartphones. They typically involve a phone, have plastic little keyboards on them, the problem is they're not so smart and they're not so easy to use. If you make a biz school 101 graph, cellphones are at the bottom... smartphones are a little smarter, but they're harder to use."

We don't want to make either one of these things -- we want to make a leapfrog product, smart and easy to use. This is what iPhone is.

[Engadget's live coverage from Macworld 2007]

 

[Jarcrew]

95%??? Are you kidding? Think of the people who have purchased the iphone so far. The "mass" public haven't even started to buy it up yet. At least a large minority of early buyers < 90 days are going to be more of the enthusiast type.
Acknowledging the obvious point that many of the people who would take an iphone poll on a website are going to be more "enthusiast-type" than those who wouldn't be on a mac site, I have not seen ONE poll which indicated any less than 20-35 percent of users have installed third party applications.

when you have David Pogue publishing a video on NyTimes.com demonstrating the usefulness of 3rd party apps on the iphone, you know that it is just stupid to claim 95% of users have never installed ANYTHING, not even a ringtone.

They have sold one million of these things. A thousand thousand. A whole million. David Pogue is a technology columnist who is given an almost extraordinary control over what he puts in his videos - like stuff that just happens to interest him personally, like iPhone hacks and those slightly unsettling sequences where he makes his kids act out 'skits' for whatever reason (is it just me who finds those bits... not creepy, essentially, just a bit difficult to watch for a reason I can't quite put a finger on? Maybe it's just me). I'd say that you'd be lucky to find one in twenty iPhones with a serious mod - and I'm talking a SIM unlock or a 3rd party app, not somebody who slapped down fifteen bucks for iToner.

 

[waldo99]

UK O2 iPhone coverage

I live in the U.K. I am considering buying the iphone, but one thing i am confused about is that if I am locked to O2, what if I am lost, stuck up a mountain, crashed my car in remote area, in a foreign country. If there is no 02 coverage, does this mean I am ****ed. I have read and heard of individuals who phoned home and then the person relatives have contacted the emergency services. Further more people who new they were not going to make it, shared their has last moments over the phone. I know regardless of carrier u should be able to dial emergency services in the U.K., but what if while waiting for rescue I want to talk, will I be denied this because of lack of O2 coverage and the phone locked to O2.
waldo.

 

[sananda]

I live in the U.K. I am considering buying the iphone, but one thing i am confused about is that if I am locked to O2, what if I am lost, stuck up a mountain, crashed my car in remote area, in a foreign country. If there is no 02 coverage, does this mean I am ****ed. I have read and heard of individuals who phoned home and then the person relatives have contacted the emergency services. Further more people who new they were not going to make it, shared their has last moments over the phone. I know regardless of carrier u should be able to dial emergency services in the U.K., but what if while waiting for rescue I want to talk, will I be denied this because of lack of O2 coverage and the phone locked to O2.
waldo.

when you are abroad, it will roam. i don't know about calling 999 but perhaps it uses whatever network is available since it's an emergency call (that would make sense). anyway all phones use the network of the sim card you have inserted. unless you carry around a vodafone sim, an 02 sim, a t-mobile sim, an orange sim, and an unlocked phone ...you won't be any worse off with an iphone.

 

[goosnarrggh]

Smartphones... what smartphones...? Steve Jobs was relatively clear about distinguishing the iPhone from smartphones:


[Engadget's live coverage from Macworld 2007]

And yet there will still be people (maybe the minority, but still a very noisy minority) in the future who will try to falsely claim that every comparable device which happens to include feature XYZ must have been "copying" the iPhone, even if the precedent for such a feature existed before the iPhone came into existence.

 

[diamond.g]

At a time when many companies are starting to embrace the philosophy of openness and flexibility, and a customer-first attitude, I just CANNOT support this type of behavior from a company who has always claimed to be different and even instilled this attitude deeply into the core of their business. Apple is no longer the underdog, the little guy fighting for their loyal customer base. I can no longer do it anymore.

Just think of it this way: Apple is Think(ing) Different(ly).

Jobs didn't learn the first time round, why do you think he'll be any different the next time?

The Fan Boys will be saying Apple invented the smartphone and the whole concept was stolen from them.

Already there are people who think that the iPhone is capable of functionality that no other smartphone OS can achieve, which is entirely false, of course. Such as example are ( you can find the posts on this thread ):
* internet roaming ( switching between carrier based internet connection ( edge, gprs, 3G ) and WIFI based upon availablility ) was a concept completely new to iPhone!!
* no other phone could use MP3's ringtones as 'freely' the iPhone ( LOL )
* the iPhone was the only phone that could establish SSH connections!

All of which is already possible with existing smartphone platforms.

But they don't have multi touch and the "real" (I guess as opposed to fake)Internet!!! You have to remember where we are. In a pro-Apple forum. It doesn't matter if the other smartphones could service someone sexually, my first sentence is what will be repeated time and time again.

 

[goosnarrggh]

Ignoring and violating the EULA.

I know this post was accidentally posted in reference to somebody who apparently didn't actually modify the iPhone's firmware at all and still ended up with a bricked phone. This is an exceptional case, which, if true, must be dealt with very carefully by Apple.

But, in general, the only people we're talking about so far who have actually violated the language of the EULA, are the people who jailbroke the iPhone for any purpose other than (or in addition to) achieving network compatibility.

The EULA's language acknowledges that people are exempt from the prohibition on modifying the iPhone's software if their actions are specifically provided for by applicable law. And in the USA the law says that modifying cellular telephone firmware for the sole purpose of network interoperability is specifically permitted.

Even if the EULA hadn't made that acknowledgement, that particular clause of the EULA wouldn't have been enforceable in the first place for people who've only modified the phone to operate on different networks, in light of that applicable law.

In response to all your other issues (for example, ignoring multiple disclaimers provided by Apple explaining the possible incompatibility of firmware version 1.1.1 with various 3rd party hacks), I agree with you 100% - the consumer has nobody to blame but themselves if their phone ended up bricked.

[edit]Sorry for multiple posts, I forgot about the forum option to reply to multiple topics in one post again![/edit]

 

[mccldwll]

No man.

No one really cares what you (as in the individual) thinks. It's what the media says to the public that counts. And what they are saying is that Apple is turning iPhones into bricks in the headlines. You don't have to read further than the headlines as most people could care less about a fricken tech company. And the headlines are going to kill the iPhone. Period.

Apple balls'ed this one up. Stupid.

s.

"[H]eadlines are going to kill the iPhone. Period."
Only Dvorak, Enderle (or Ballmer) could say something this stupid on its face. Are you quoting one of them without attribution, or posting under a pseudonym?

 

[peharri]

What baffles me is that "bricks after an update" have been happening since updateable devices have been out.

New iPod firmware? Posts about bricks.
New AppleTV update? Posts about bricks.
New Wii update? Posts about bricks.
Verizon releases a new ROM for the Windows Mobile PPC6700? Posts about bricks.

Why all of the concern and sympathy now for iPhone owners?

Because most bricking does not appear to at least have the appearance of being intentional. And the vendor will generally fix it when it happens.

Firmware is firmware. It's just software. There's very little reason to refuse to fix broken updates if there's still a way to reflash the firmware (it doesn't entail a hardware cost - at worst, with some firmware fixes, you might have to open the box and attach equipment directly to the chips involved, but by all accounts that's not true here), and it's also relatively easy to implement a set of simple checks and refuse to actually do a potentially damaging firmware update if it's likely to result in bricking.

Apple's made a number of "errors" that resulted in bricking (I place it in quotes because I'm 99% sure Apple knew what was going to happen, and went ahead anyway because it wanted it to happen, to send a message to the open iPhone community.)

And, ultimately, the bad press is probably what it was seeking. It's like the RIAA - the RIAA wants you to know it'll sue 80 year old grandmothers and take them to court over alleged copyright infringement because it wants you to know that if *you* are caught, you have absolutely no chance. Likewise Apple wants you to be scared of them if you have the slightest desire to treat an iPhone you've bought and paid for as your own. From their standpoint, you're buying the experience, and they don't want you to deviate from that, because in the long run the thing will sell on the basis of what they've made it to be, not what you've made it to be.

That's ultimately what the issue is about. My view is that Apple is making a massive error in doing this, but Apple seems to be doing fine without my help. Some of us are never going to trust Apple again, others will be happy with Apple controlling their experience because that's what they want. The good news is that the iPhone was never a compelling gadget in the first place, there are many cheaper, more usable, phones out there that do not have anything like the same restrictions. Unless you're desperate to integrate your iPod and phone into one device, and want a pretty good web browser at the same time, there's no reason to get one.

 

[pwalkin]

Is this a reason?

Will keeping the iPhone closed increase stability? When creating native applications, it is possible that poor coding could result in causing the iPhone to become unstable (much like the person using it) and crash. This is one of the reasons we see "blue screens" in Windows. Sure, could be hardware causing the issue but more than likely it is a software issue.

I have mixed feelings about keeping iPhone development closed. I want to see more native apps but also want a stable environment.

Apple, how about a native MMS application??????????? The email solution does not work. Verizon does not accept an email with a jpg attachment being sent to 1112221212@vzwpix.com.

 

[3282872]

You'll have to use Airplane mode.

My wife has the same problem with her church's PA system. It's not just the iPhone. All cell phones needed to be turned off (or, in the iPhone case, put into Airplane mode to turn off the cell modem).

The phones (not just iPhones) are adequately shielded and filtered (based on many standards and testing). There are things that can be done to the affected a/v systems to help, but it can be complicated and frustrating.

Funny this was mentioned. Believe it or not, it occurs more with GSM phones that CDMA/TDMA units. I used to be a Verizon customer, and my RAZR never caused such disruptions when it was on my desk. When I switched to Cingular and got a RAZR with them, it was almost constant. At first I thought it was my Mac Pro, but then after researching it online found that it was interference with my GSM RAZR. Of course the iPhone is no better.

 

[Stella]

The UI is the only thing that sets the iPhone apart, but that doesn't mean the iPhone is 'miles' ahead of everything else. You can have the ease of use - but little functionality, with little option to expand ( apart from Web2 apps). I'd rather have the not as great UIs.

Nokia have their own browser that uses WebKit. How is that not the 'real' internet? It supports Flash too ( which iPhone totally lacks ) - and with FlashLite 3 coming out - it'll support YouTube embedded in the browser.

Opera is a good mobile browser - I'm not talking about the Java mobile ( free ) version, but the native mobile browsers that is available for other platforms.

Do you want a list of **basic** functionality that the iPhone cannot provide but all other smartphones can?

Just think of it this way: Apple is Think(ing) Different(ly).



But they don't have multi touch and the "real" (I guess as opposed to fake)Internet!!! You have to remember where we are. In a pro-Apple forum. It doesn't matter if the other smartphones could service someone sexually, my first sentence is what will be repeated time and time again.

 

[gr8tfly]

Funny this was mentioned. Believe it or not, it occurs more with GSM phones that CDMA/TDMA units. I used to be a Verizon customer, and my RAZR never caused such disruptions when it was on my desk. When I switched to Cingular and got a RAZR with them, it was almost constant. At first I thought it was my Mac Pro, but then after researching it online found that it was interference with my GSM RAZR. Of course the iPhone is no better.

It does seem like GSM is worse, but I seem to remember my CDMA doing it to some extent through some cheap computer speakers.

 

[3282872]

It does seem like GSM is worse, but I seem to remember my CDMA doing it to some extent through some cheap computer speakers.

Yeah, CDMA does interfere, but personally (and I'm sure every phone and system is different) my iPhone has some demons when it comes to interference lol. All this wireless technology, makes me wonder what it does to our cellular structure...