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iPhone 4S Poor Build Quality

D

DRPTHPHN

macrumors member
Original poster
Mar 4, 2011
41
0
For such an expensive phone the quality is poor.

I took my phone to the Apple store on Saturday because when i was making calls the person on the other end would not be able to hear me at certain times. I think the phone was confused on whether I had a headset in or not. The woman at The Apple Store made me feel a bit awkward like there wasn't a problem but hey she swapped my phone for a new one.

When I got it home I discovered when it vibrated it made a horrible noise as if it was rattling all the components and when I use Siri the speaker distorts. So I am taking this one back tomorrow. I feel like an idiot for taking it back but it is sub standard not only that but I bought a £12 screen guard at the store on Saturday and now its on the phone I am taking back so I have lost out there.

I am really dissapointed in the quality.
 
I agree with the concerns over quality. I have had 3 phones now (1 retail, 2 replacements) and each one had different issues including a crappy/washed out screen, wonky/distorted earpiece, front glass separation, loose/loud buzzing vibrator, and earpiece static. I am likely to return the current one for a refund and wait for a while to let the hype (and hopefully the production issues) die down.
 
I had problems with dead pixels. Also noticed the white plastic next to the front glass looks slightly warped on the left side. It's perfect on the right side.

Only other issue is with the flash. Pictures look washed out when taken from a distance using flash. They looked perfect on my friends on iPhone 4.

Apple quality control has been iffy especially with iPhones.
 
Legion93 said:
I'm just trying to say if you don't like an iPhone get another phone.
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wasn't that so much easier to say?

To the OP, just keep trying. I know the quality control is slipping, they aren't charging you, and you've paid a lot for that phone. Eventually they will give you one that you like.
 
My 4s is my 3rd iPhone and first one that has had a problem. The volume control is malfunctioning which makes the phone virtually unusable, a replacement is on its way.

Just hoping the new one doesn't have the battery/screen/home button or some other issue with it. Too much of a pain in the ass to deal with the long hold time with Apple or driving to a store an hour away to swap it again.
 
Legion93 said:
... I'm just trying to say if you don't like an iPhone get another phone....
Click to expand...

Just to be clear, this is not about 'not liking' the iPhone. I really like the iPhone 4/4S in terms of design and features. I am, however, much less than impressed with the QC for individual units.

The problem lies in the knowledge that I would love the phone if I could find a good example. It should not be this difficult to find one -- 3/3 of the launch-day units my coworkers have are perfect. I don't know what is up with my luck there.
 
Yeh it's just for a premium product I am disappointed in the errors everyone is finding.
 
ignore the fanboys, op - it's difficult to complain about problems with any apple product without them acting like you just insulted their mother.

keep trying tho... theres definitely users out there with no issues at all. im happier with it than my old 4 for sure.
 
DRPTHPHN said:
Yeh it's just for a premium product I am disappointed in the errors everyone is finding.
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Well it actually isn't "everyone," it's almost certainly a minority of purchasers. Obviously, anyone who finds an issue with their phone should immediately return it. That's what the warranty is for.
 
No problems on mine so far, except for the battery drain issue anyway.
 
trouble747 said:
Well it actually isn't "everyone," it's almost certainly a minority of purchasers. Obviously, anyone who finds an issue with their phone should immediately return it. That's what the warranty is for.
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Exactly. That's the case with this board, and all the others. God forbid if you state you're not having a similar issue, only to point out it's the exception and not the rule, only to labeled as a "Fanboy"...

Although one response was curt, and stated to go to another phone/device. I happen to agree a bit that if you're not happy overall, there are alternatives. I know if I consistently had issues with one product/vendor, I'd go elsewhere.
 
Any manufacture no matter how good will have lemons in the batch.

If you got a new replacement and exhibit the same problem while other users do not, it could be some other factor. Maybe the person on the other end has a bad phone.

As for the rattling, its probably around the camera lens area making the noise. I'm assuming it is the gyroscope or image stablizer
 
ShionoyaTamaki said:
Any manufacture no matter how good will have lemons in the batch.

If you got a new replacement and exhibit the same problem while other users do not, it could be some other factor. Maybe the person on the other end has a bad phone.

As for the rattling, its probably around the camera lens area making the noise. I'm assuming it is the gyroscope or image stablizer
Click to expand...

iPhone manufacturer (Foxconn) assembles the phones in China. Their quality generally is not as good as the phones manufactured in South Korea (Samsung) or Japan (Sony)
 
I really think apples quality is slipping a bit :( i hope i'm wrong. I think everyone understands mass production inevitably leads to some lemons, but the truth of the matter is regardless of where a phone is manufactured the quality is in the hands of the company itself. A phone made in China can be better than a hypothetical phone made in America, it's down to how much money Apple is willing to pay suppliers/Foxcon to make these things, if they spent more money on the manufacturing process we'd see better quality control and the impression i'm getting is at the moment Apple isn't investing enough resources in making a quality product. I went through four Macbook airs before I got one that didn't have faults, I'm definitely not OCD either. I had screen problems on some, speaker problems on others. The problems with your 4S are reminiscent of the issues I experienced with my MBA.
 
Legion93 said:
So... Switch to android?
Click to expand...

Just because one buys apple does not mean he can't make a complaint. What kind of a world is this? My iPhone 3GS' headphones would not work after 1.2 years - no applecare, so I bought an amplifier which connected to the data port and allowed me to listen to music - not that convenient to carry around all the time. And now my iPhone 4 droops 5 out of 20 calls I make.

This is not perfection. But it sill is the best phone in the market due to the ecosystem. But guess what, I wrote in with complaints for both cases.

My iPad has a dead pixel right in the center of the screen - and my white macbook does not align all that well when closed.

Should I switch to windows?
 
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