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Safe to get the black iPhone 5?

Bigboibbp said:
Yep. and we didn't find an unscratched one. The "Specialist" i spoke to even tried telling me that he had never seen a perfect iPhone... (then pulled his out of his pocket and showed me how his had no scuffs minutes later)

Realistically i would have just been okay with the 2nd one but the fact that he was being pretty unhelpful and overall pretty annoying is what got to me.

I do feel stupid for returning my black 32 which really was perfect and i do regret it, but nice thing is that i have 30 days to think about it.

Pic or it didn't happen right? here ya go...
Click to expand...

I was someone who thought the issue was overblown, as I didn't have scratches on the one that came in the mail on launch day. Then I started noticing that the screen was popping out of the frame on the bottom left and took it in for a replacement. They swapped it out with one that looked like someone had taken a nail to the sides. I pointed it out, and he swapped it out for another.

Same thing.

This went on 2 more times. After the fourth I got one that had a couple very small nicks and told myself 'eff it, it's a phone'. I'm convinced the complaints that we're seeing about phones coming shipped with cosmetic damage are definitely real, especially after seeing the kind of condition the first replacement they gave me.

I might wait a bit if you're someone who will be bothered by anything short of flawless - and operating the assumption that the quality control issues have been ironed out. Bear in mind though, the replacements they had in this particular store have probably been there since the phones initially went on sale and very likely 'first batch' iPhones.
 
has anybody gone to an apple store and looked at the dock connecters on ALL the black phones? they are all beat up. looks horrible.
to me they all will have issues which is sad.
 
My iphone 5 is perfect. No scuffs or physical blemishes. The good ones go unreported versus the damaged ones.

C2D
 
children said:
Why Apple didnt use the metal painting technique used in the Nokia n8 is beyond me..

http://gadgetstress.com/2010/12/nokia-n8-stress-test/

the metal itself is coloured so that even when scratched, the natural silver colour is not exposed..
Click to expand...

???

The Nokia is painted (I am assuming it is powder-coated), and if you review the same link provided, you will see the silver is exposed from the scratches and that the scratches are not the same color as the paint, but in fact exposed the silver color of the naked metal. The iPhone is anodized, not painted. I don't know that you can embed pigment into metal to change it's color.

My black iPhone was perfect out of the box. It spent a week naked, before I got the Skinomi on it, but it didn't suffer any scratches or scuffs in the interim. In fact, while it appears super-safe with the skin on, I hate that the skin obscures the contrast between the flat finish of the anodized aluminum back and the glossy colored glass inserts that shield the addl antennae.
 
Had mine less than 24hrs & already there's 5+ nicks on the top front edge. Hasn't even left the house yet & I've been handling it like a newborn baby!

I know they're only small, but I dread to think how it'll be after a few months use..

6uvyhu3a.jpg

ajaveras.jpg
 
Just touched it up with a Sharpie. Not perfect, but definitely catches your eye less..

Ridiculous that this has to be done at all though!

yzu4u4uh.jpg
 
The black model scuffs are more noticeable then the white and that's really it. A lot of replacement ones seem to be getting the green signal. You should get what colour attracts you the most.

I wanted black but got the white on the day after hearing the "scuff" news. Though my white one looks superb I still wish I had gone for black (I just like the look more). Damage to the phone whether from the box or by you are inevitable. Just enjoy it! :apple:
 
As long as you don't feed it after midnight...
gremlin.jpg


Or try and act cool by using "gate" to describe your problems.
 
magnificent me said:
The black model scuffs are more noticeable then the white and that's really it. A lot of replacement ones seem to be getting the green signal. You should get what colour attracts you the most.

I wanted black but got the white on the day after hearing the "scuff" news. Though my white one looks superb I still wish I had gone for black (I just like the look more). Damage to the phone whether from the box or by you are inevitable. Just enjoy it! :apple:
Click to expand...

I prefer the black version, which is why I risked it. But if it continues to chip at this rate, I'll have no choice but to get the white one (I've always had black, so it'll be hard to adapt). Have you experienced any light leakage?
 
marcobrien said:
Had mine less than 24hrs & already there's 5+ nicks on the top front edge. Hasn't even left the house yet & I've been handling it like a newborn baby!

I know they're only small, but I dread to think how it'll be after a few months use..

Image
Image
Click to expand...



Would you mind posting that wallpaper? It would totally fit my springboard.

Thank you.
 
marcobrien said:
Just touched it up with a Sharpie. Not perfect, but definitely catches your eye less..

Ridiculous that this has to be done at all though!
Click to expand...

That is what I was thinking about doing. It looks like it came out pretty good. I started a thread here about trying to repair scuffs so I hope you don't mind me posting your pics in that thread.
 
Gooberton said:
I've had two black ones and they both had the black wear off horribly, 1 of them I dropped and holy **** it looked really really bad, nothing like the 4s, traded for the white on Craigslist and i couldn't be happier. You guys can keep your crap black ones, good luck selling them in a year
Click to expand...

It's a darn good thing I have enough money that I can buy a new one in a year and KEEP my old one as an iPod touch or maybe a toy for my kid.

Good luck with all of your craigslist transactions though... the "shady back alley" of ecommerce... ;)
 
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marcobrien said:
Looked at that Birchwood flat black aluminium touch up pen mentioned in another thread (links below). Looks good. Anyone tried it?

My chips are on the front edge adjacent to screen which are matt black. Thinking about buying one but not sure if the colour will match as the iPhone 5 black is more gunmetal grey.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0049Q5JX4/ref=aw_d_detail?pd=1

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&id=261045279177&globalID=EBAY-GB
Click to expand...

That’s what I'm trying to find out as well. I started a thread here hoping someone had tried it and would post pics but nothing so far. I might go ahead and buy one and see if it works. I think the glossy would look Ok for the chamfer but I don't the flat or glossy would look good on the back or flat edges. If you do try it out please post pics.
 
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mjpearce023 said:
That’s what I'm trying to find out as well. I started a thread here hoping someone had tried it and would post pics but nothing so far. I might go ahead and buy one and see if it works. I think the glossy would look Ok for the chamfer but I don't the flat or glossy would look good on the back or flat edges. If you do try it out please post pics.
Click to expand...

Let me know if you decide to get one..
 
Mine is scuffed. I've had it since launch day but its naked. I'd go w white to be honest.
 
Useful information received from Birchwood Casey regarding their touch up products..

The Birchwood Casey Black Touch up pen is essentially a paint pen. It has a chisel end, and once the ink starts flowing it comes out in little puddles of ink.
I am assuming that the area that you need to touch up is small, and we think that it might be too much ink.
We do make a product called the Universal Touch Up pen # 13202 It is very similar to a Sharpie marker, but it is industrial strength.
It can be used on nearly all material, metals, plastic, textiles.as a touch up or a permanent marker. It is a flat black marker ink.
I checked around, and no one here has an IPhone 5 so I couldn’t test out to see if the color is an exact match.
I have inserted a picture of the pen below.

ry2e2apu.jpg
 
As another two marks have magically appeared today, I've just moaned loudly to Apple online & they've agreed to send me a brand new replacement.

If I have the same issues with that one, I'll reluctantly have to swap for the white model. My OCD will do my head in otherwise!
 
marcobrien said:
As another two marks have magically appeared today, I've just moaned loudly to Apple online & they've agreed to send me a brand new replacement.

If I have the same issues with that one, I'll reluctantly have to swap for the white model. My OCD will do my head in otherwise!
Click to expand...

nice do you send the one you have now back first? or you get to send it when you recieve your replacement? did you buy it from apple.com?
 
applefanboy5 said:
nice do you send the one you have now back first? or you get to send it when you recieve your replacement? did you buy it from apple.com?
Click to expand...

They initially tried to get me to send it back or pay £30 to upgrade my protection & then charge my credit card until the first returned, but after I escalated it to a senior manager, they approved the replacement for free & can keep my existing one until it arrives.

Done it before after numerous faulty iPad 2's, iPhones 4S's & iPad 3's. It's a shame I know the procedure inside out, but Apple's quality control has definitely slipped the last couple years.

Yes, bought from Apple online (UK).
 
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