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thelostone
24-06-2010, 11:36 AM
A bit long winded but interesting me thinks
More than one in four Apple iphones break or fail within two years, a company that provides after-sale warranties said today.
SquareTrade, which sells extended warranties for the iphone, said that 26% of Apple's smartphone suffer a breakdown - or simply breakage - within the first two years. But that's an improvement over the iPhone's past reliability rating.
"Twenty-six percent is actually pretty good," said Vince Tseng, vice president of marketing at SquareTrade. "And it's encouraging that the failure rates have decreased."


According to SquareTrade, which examined more than 25,000 customer warranty claims, the iPhone 3GS is more reliable, and apparently sturdier too, than its predecessors, the iPhone 3G that first went on sale in July 2008 and the original model, which debuted in 2007.
Last year, a similar SquareTrade analysis found that 31% of all iPhones failed or were broken during the first 24 months of ownership, compared to today's 25.6% of customers who have owned an iPhone during the last 22 months.
iPhone claims based on both hardware failures and accidents - SquareTrade's warranties covers both - were lower this year compared to 2009. While 21% of iPhone-owning customers reported an accidental damage claim and 10% filed a hardware failure claim in the 24 months preceding last summer, only 18.1% and 7.5% filed an accident or hardware-related claim in the 22 months prior to June 2010.
Phones kept longer than standard two-year carrier contract, of course, fail at a higher rate. SquareTrade's forecast: Three-year-old iPhones will sport a failure rate of 35%-40%.
Tseng credited improvements that Apple made to the iPhone 3GS's touchscreen for most of the lower number of warranty claim rates in the last 22 months.
"The iPhone 3GS is sturdier and can withstand a higher degree of shock," said Tseng, referring to the drop in accident claims, the bulk of which are due to dropping the smartphone. "But the overall reliability of the iPhone has improved, especially in the touchscreen."
The iPhone 3GS has fewer than half the reported touchscreen problems as the iPhone 3G, SquareTrade's data showed. Overall, Tseng estimated that the iPhone 3GS will have 20% fewer issues than the iPhone 3G.
On the downside, iPhone 3GS owners have reported almost 50% more power issues than those with the older iPhone 3G.
The past year's improvement in iPhone reliability will likely continue, said Tseng, a good sign for the millions who have ordered the iPhone 4, which Apple will start selling Thursday.
"Over the last years, Apple has gotten its manufacturing lines in shape and failure rates have dropped year to year," said Tseng. "The iPhone 4 should be a good, solid device."
But Tseng has one major worry about the new iPhone: The all-glass back
With the iPhone 4, Apple switched to a glass back, dropping the plastic cover of the iPhone 3G and 3GS. Industry watchers have speculated that Apple went for the glass to improve call and data reception, problems that have plagued the smartphone since its 2007's launch, especially in high-density cities.
"It all depends on how consumers treat the device, of course," said Tseng. "The front glass touchscreen has been fairly prone to cracking, but then people don't put protective covers [that shield] the front of the device."
The best way to protect any iPhone, said Tseng, is with a cover, case or silicon skin.

Diablo13
25-06-2010, 01:50 AM
I watched a report on Watchdog a couple of weeks ago about Iphones failing due to damp.
Apparently sellers will not honour the guarantee if one of the 3 sensors on it goes from white to orange.
Two sensors on the outside of the case,(one being at the bottom where the charger plugs in, if I remember rightly), can turn orange just from sweaty palms! So don't keep it too close to your nutsack!
The third sensor is inside and this one doesn't change colour so easily. Unfortunately though traders will not take an Iphone apart to check this sensor, so they will just look at the outside ones and refuse to repair or replace it under warrenty because "it has water damage"!
I wonder how many of you have Iphones already where the "moisture sensor" has changed colour invalidating any guarantee?

Gazer
25-06-2010, 08:19 AM
A number of users are reporting problems with their iPhone 4.

The issue relates to the mobile phone signal, with users reporting a drop in signal strength when the phone is held.
The casing of Apple's latest phone is made of stainless steel, which also serves as its antenna.
"Apple have created a phone that has an antenna on the bottom left-hand side of the phone."
"This means that when you hold it in your left hand, the signal bars slowly fade until there is no signal," he wrote.

'Complaints'
A number of videos have been posted on video sharing site YouTube complaining about the reception issue.
One video had an American user running a speed test, with hands on and hands free.
In it, the user 'awington' says that, while holding the phone "it won't even run the test when I am holding the phone... once I let go, it makes a connection and runs the test.
"Hold it a second time, and the upload test will not start."
Social networking site Twitter was full of chatter, with numerous tweets on the reception problems.
The issue might stem from the way the integrated antenna is constructed. One section provides mobile reception, while another is for wi-fi.
Some users have speculated that touching the bottom of the phone bridges this gap, affecting signal strength.
However, it is not yet clear whether the problem affects all phones, or if the signal deteriorates when the phone is making a call or only when held in standby mode.
When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone 4 at Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, he described the integrated antenna as "really cool engineering".
Apple has yet to make a comment on the current controversy surrounding the latest version of its popular phone.

thelostone
25-06-2010, 02:33 PM
Is this another fault?
Numerous iPhone 4 owners have produced photos of yellow lines or blotches on the phone's supposedly "resolutionary" retina display.
Yellow Lines and Blotches

As for the screen discoloration, that problem may resolve itself automatically according to a post on AppleInsider's forums. The author claims that Foxconn shipped the iPhones out so quickly that the bonding agent used on iPhone 4's glass hasn't fully evaporated on the new phones. Some MacRumors forum contributors are reporting that the discolouration is fading, but others say the yellow blotches return after extended use.

Diablo13
25-06-2010, 06:50 PM
So many problems with such an expensive phone is just BAD!
No matter how the market is clamouring for new versions, things like this should not be sold to the general public, until they have been properly tested by a large user group under REAL WORLD conditions.
Not just in a lab!
Greed makes such rubbish marketplace drivers.

thelostone
26-06-2010, 09:57 PM
So what has been the response from Apple? Well read Steve Jobs' reply for yourself and see what you make of it:
According to this email you are all holding it wrong:roflmao:

Diablo13
26-06-2010, 10:44 PM
:lol: During hot summer weeks when thou dresseth down to thy skivvies, shalt thou never, under any circumcision, carry the afore-mentioned phone betwixt the crack of thine ar$e!
Under pain of having thine warranty cut off and receiving a negative signal to thine nether regions!
Thus spaketh the lord Jobs. :roflmao:

turner123
27-06-2010, 10:36 AM
There seems to be alot of bugs with the iphone 4, NOW also the iphone 3gs etc on os4, since i updated the phone to 4.0 when in a call the phone now switches off and get the little white apple!! this happens anytime between 5-15min on the phone, there has also been many complaints about this, apple need to sort this out, i have tested with no apps running in the back ground still the same as apps running, hope they listen to there customers and sort this problem out asap.

anyone else here had this bug