Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
iPhone nightmare
- Thread starter ghostshadow777
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
LOL, nevermind. The principle is basically the same, take apart the RC car to see how things work, maybe add a more powerful motor, maybe screw up a few things in the process. Not too much difference from modding an iPhone.
So, you think if you soaked your phone in kerosine that Apple should honor the warranty because it doesn't work anymore?
My take on this: Apple is under no obligation to make sure 3rd party apps built without an Apple SDK (which doesn't exist) work across updates. Same rules apply to regular software on regular computers. Lots of things broke with Vista, for example.
Apple is under less obligation when the internal firmware or hardware is modified. Firmware is really just hardware which can be easily modified; geez, 360/30's used to have "firmware" on large cards with capacitors inside. If you went in there with a soldering iron and some wire clippers to "modify the firmware" (those tools were the SDK ;-), and your big honkin' computer failed, well, IBM would just laugh and charge you several thousand dollars to get new firmware cards.
But where I differ with Apple is their approach with the 1.1.1 update. Wiping out software apps doesn't brick your phone; modifying firmware/OS so that unlocking firmware mods then brick your phone is NOT the right approach. Since firmware can be read back in general, the update app should simply have examined the firmware (or whatever else had to be in the original state so that the phone would continue to work after the update), and if it was not qualified, stop the update with a message, "Your iPhone has been modified in such a way as to make it impossible for this update to work. If you restore the phone to its original state (contact the vendor who modified your phone), you may be able to perform this update; otherwise, you're out of luck, chum, live with 1.02."
I suspect that even if Apple bricked your phone "unintentionally," that since they had a pretty easy way to detect that problem BEFORE the fact, that they were negligent, but IANAL. I'm amazed that no class action suit has been filed yet. Maybe the terms of service are enforceable, and there is no merit to any case. We'll just wait and see.
Eddie O
I agree, that sounds like fun, but, don't expect the manufacturer to support your warranty. Does it blend?
You still didn't get me. I am not asking apple to honor their warranty. What I am most disgusted about was their decision to INTENTIONALLY brick a phone in working order simply because the user had put 3rd party apps on it.
I'll put it in another simple way. You put a more powerful engine in your Honda within your warranty period, you take it in for a regular maintenance, they discover you got a different engine in there, so they go into your car's computer, put some code in so your car can't drive anymore. You confront them, and they say, see, I told ya! You walk away a happy camper.
Does it gel?
No sir, please see my reply to megafilm. But I agree with the rest of your statement.
Man, if they were being INTENTIONAL about it, they did a pretty poor job, as it seems like (if you can believe the forum posts) most iPhones with just third-party apps on them didn't brick.
Engadget says the bricking level is about the same between "virgin" iPhones and iPhones with third-party applications.
http://www.engadget.com/2007/09/28/iphone-update-facts-and-fiction/Engadget said:
Bad analogy.
Any way, you don't own the software, you screw with it, the iPhone has issues because of that. And Apple didn't intentionally brick iPhones. My iPhone which had been heavily modded (no sim unlock) updated flawlessly, but my gfs which was fresh out of the box, bricked. So there goes that silly argument.
Car analogies usually fail, but I'll bite on this one. It's more like you changed the fuel management chip in the Honda's control system, and the new one pretty much looks like the old one except for the addition of a little red dot on the chip's surface. You take it in for service, and the service guy says, "By the way, if you've modified the engine in any way, this service will probably break it because we update the firmware in the emission control systems." You say, "Sure, go ahead, do the service."
It turns out that the new emission control system talks to the fuel management system, and is expecting certain actions. When those don't occur, the engine shuts off.
None of that is Honda's fault, and they didn't intentionally do anything wrong.
But you note that the new chip YOU put it has a red dot on it and is right next to the new chip THEY put in. You wonder why they didn't notice the red dot and call you up to tell you that they can't do the service until you put the old chip back in. Honda service may not have done anything wrong, immoral, or illegal, but it sure would have been nice if they had instructed their techs that lots of folks put performance chips in their Hondas and to abort the service if they see one of the after market modification.
Eddie O