This is used EVERY time if your phone is replaced at an Apple Store.
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iPhone Screen Repairs to Get Faster as Apple Moves to Software-Only Calibration Process
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This is used EVERY time if your phone is replaced at an Apple Store.
I left Apple in 2014 when we first got these ugly office fridge machines. They were clunky and unreliable - at best.
Why did they specify the Mac Mini and MacBook Air, the only two Macs left with USB type-A ports? I thought USB-C was the future?
You have your USB cable ends confused. The reason for the Mini/Air is because Apple is going to loan those to the service providers at no charge.
Every time you take your phone to Apple service to replace the screen they run this calibration. If it is not successful they hand you a white box brand new phone at the price of screen replacement. I got this twice for my sister’s phone.
How so? USB C is the future, in 2 years we probably won't see anything being made with USB A.
Most probably because they’re the cheapest option to run the software. But iMac, Mac Pro and iMac Pro also have USB-A, and would presumably be able to run the software as well. So if the shop already has one of those machines, they’re likely usable with this new software.Why did they specify the Mac Mini and MacBook Air, the only two Macs left with USB type-A ports? I thought USB-C was the future?
Only MacBook and MacBook Pro are USB-C. Those machines would require a USB-C to Lightning cable instead of a USB-A to Lightning cable. But they’re a little pricey at $19, and certified third party cables aren’t available yet.
To give some light as a former repair tech at an apple store, these "calibration machines" were a required step whenever a display was replaced on any iPhone, though there were two specific types: one for 3D Touch, and one for without (basically, is it an iPhone 6s or newer vs iPhone 6> | iPhone 5/5s/SE). The machines were multi purpose for the repair process, first it verified the phone would boot into a form of iOS or custom software, perform various pressure sensitive touch tests (hence the 3D Touch vs non-3d touch), and then finally, re-assign serial numbers or pairing of Touch ID to the logic board. The biggest problems we ever had with these machines would be service outages (since the software had to communicate with servers to authenticate the display replacement and re-assigning the serial numbers of the display/touch-screen/touch-id to the logic board), or when the machine would refuse to calibrate any phone display, leading to delays and downtime (queue 30 minutes worth of angry customers asking where their phones are when the new display is still waiting in line for the now one and only working calibration machine for that type). All in all though, for what would usually take an at most 20 minute display replacement repair would turn into the full 45 minutes just because the calibration machine would be sitting there doing it's "thing" for 15-18 minutes. Worst yet, if we had to restart because of a dreaded adhesive failure message (the 3D Touch calibration machine would somehow "magically" test for this, no idea how it ever tested or how it was triggered, just thought it was some failure somewhere else), it would mean an additional 30 minutes added... Oh, and don't forget, these machines are vibration sensitive, so "vibration detected" would be an additional 15-18 minutes to redo the calibration... If all goes well, the phone successfully restarts into whatever iOS it entered in with, with no data loss, and a new functioning display! If not... well, as some people already mentioned, a new white box replacement iPhone of the same model and spec was given for the cost of the display.
This change of being only software is a little interesting from this perspective, since it might mean that the technician performing the repair will have to manually perform a touch sensitivity test in place of the calibration machine doing it (anyone in AASP or Apple may recall the touch pad calibration test for MacBook pros with those weights).
This change of being only software is a little interesting from this perspective, since it might mean that the technician performing the repair will have to manually perform a touch sensitivity test in place of the calibration machine doing it (anyone in AASP or Apple may recall the touch pad calibration test for MacBook pros with those weights).
Another former Apple employee chiming in:
The biggest impact this should have is speeding up screen replacement times. The calibration process (when running smoothly) actually didn't take that long, but the machine itself could go out of commission for a full day or so. I had never been in a store that had more than one of these machines, so having that one machine go down meant a LONG queue of phones waiting to be calibrated (after already having had the screen replaced). Like a previous commented mentioned, this meant managers coming around telling us to just do a full swap on the device for the cost of a screen repair.
Getting rid of this machine should hopefully mean that you can calibrate as many phones at once as you have "Geniuses" on staff that day (as opposed to one-at-a-time).
The biggest impact this should have is speeding up screen replacement times. The calibration process (when running smoothly) actually didn't take that long, but the machine itself could go out of commission for a full day or so. I had never been in a store that had more than one of these machines, so having that one machine go down meant a LONG queue of phones waiting to be calibrated (after already having had the screen replaced). Like a previous commented mentioned, this meant managers coming around telling us to just do a full swap on the device for the cost of a screen repair.
Getting rid of this machine should hopefully mean that you can calibrate as many phones at once as you have "Geniuses" on staff that day (as opposed to one-at-a-time).
I seem to be in the minority among my friends, as someone who actually uses 3D Touch. Curious if this change is also a symptom of 3D Touch not being that popular, or heavily used.
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Me too, I always find it handy to quickly fire up one of my Ring cameras, and also it is invaluable to get a cursor on the keyboard with a hard press. I will sorely miss this if Apple removes this feature from all iPhones.
I'm almost sure it's a combination of 3D Touch being removed from the iPhone XR needing either a redesign of the machines or for the expansion of AASP's being able to perform display replacements leading to expanded costs of maintaining those machines. From my store alone, we probably had three machines replaced or "sent back" due to various problems, so having Apple's IT department for these machines expanded to deal with the extra load of AASP's troubleshooting/repairs would be more costly than eliminating the machine altogether and doing a more manual approach to verifying touch functionality and then letting the software still do Touch ID pairing etc.
I've always enjoyed being able to use 3D Touch, and always used it as a "did you know" feature during appointments to maybe inspire some people to learn more about how to use their devices more efficiently. It'll be interesting to see the "equivalent" feature of haptic touch that will be introduced.
It’s not really that obvious unless you think software development and deployment is free.
It is something I complain about not being available on Android phones, and always ends up in a mini debate (even on here) with other Android users. Long press (as the name eludes to) is not as fast as 3D Touch, and doesn't resolve the extra input as iOS also has long press, giving it an extra layer of input for those that use it. It's funny that it is an actual Apple innovation that is almost always overlooked, and dismissed.
Like Keyboard commands on a Mac, not everyone will know how to properly use 3D Touch, I just hope Apple keeps it, and perhaps expands capabilities.
It would be nice if they could fix the UI so users would actually know where it can be used. Hard to believe they expect us to just stumble upon its various uses, and then remember them.
You're not wrong, though, there are some decent guides out there from 3rd party sources. Really wished they pushed it to developers and put it into the tips and tricks. I care much more about this function than Memoji.
Well cheat sheets are fine, but it really needs to be part of the UI. Ive’s got to take responsibility for figuring out a way to indicate 3D Touchability. There must be a least one creative UI designer there who can pull it off with the elegance and taste we expect from that department.
This is one of my pet peeves, right up there with that abomination known as iTunes. Hopefully none of you have had occasion to use iTunes on Windows; it’s hard to imagine it could be possible, but it’s so much worse than the Mac version.
I look forward to when there are rumors about the new Mac Mini.
As far as software, given Apple’s track record over the last two years, I hope this is better than High Sierra and iOS 11.
As far as software, given Apple’s track record over the last two years, I hope this is better than High Sierra and iOS 11.
Day one upgrader here; never had any real issue with any of the iOS 11 updates on my 6s, despite the meme.
There was one weirdness with the time on the lock screen with one of the 11.0.x releases but it was no big deal.