One phone to rule them all?

LOL!

I only just realised that the actual Maps icon is the same one as on the invite.

I recognised the map on the invite straight away but didn't realise it was the same as the actual proper icon.

I always find it amusing that for the last few years there have been rumours of another cheaper handset. I did not believe them then and still do not now. One handset and the old iPhone 3 will be still on sale at a lower price. While I love the rumours I do not worry about it until the actual launch. I will be watching the event online.

Well people do call it "My precious" and it does make more money than the rest of the industry combined.

No me, or my boss. I don't think his description of his iPhones is suitable for a public platform, but roughly translated "useless piece of junk," would be family freindly.

I've had mine replaced twice in 2 years and I've given up on it and bought an htc Sensation.

My boss has had 6 replacement iPhones in the last year (3 iPhone 3GS', then 3 iPhone 4s, after upgrading, he is now waiting for another replacement - the current one is only usable, because he has a Mofi Juicepack, as the battery died within a month of use!). He now uses a Samsung Galaxy SII as his main phone. He likes it and likes the fact that he can carry a spare battery with him.

In the end, he paid the 50€ annual fee to have the iPhone replaced, when it is faulty, as opposed to being without his phone for 2 weeks, while Apple try and repair it or replace it.

Why do I get the feeling I've heard this story before?

My problem is the fanboism that seems to go on a lot (I'm not talking about this forum), where the iPhone is raised up on a pedastal of perfection. Yet, after 20 years of mobile phones, the iPhone is the most unreliable I've ever had - they only one I've ever had to replace or send back (yes, I've had broken LCDs, because I rolled over with it in a pocket), but this is the first one that has really failed on me, twice. In the same time, I've had two htc devices (an old Touch Pro, wiht Win Mo 6.0 (3 years old) and the htc 7 Mozart (1 year old)) and I've just bought the Sensation.

The Mozart has been replaced, but that was due to the touch not working, after it got wet in my pocket, when it rained. htc swapped it out on the spot, no questions asked. Apple will only collect and return, here in Germany, and that takes 2 weeks.

From 6 users, I've had to arrange for over 12 repairs or replacements in 2 years. That isn't a very good track record. And that goes from heavy phone users (3 - 4 hours of talk a day) to light users (20 minutes a month, plus collecting e-mails and no apps installed).

I am constantly baffled by your track record with them Dave.
Off the top of my head, I can think of 3, maybe 4, people who've had their iPhone replaced.
The most recent was a 3GS that got caught by a wave breaking over a sea wall while my boss was using it.
I've another friend who's perpetually dropping hers in the toilet, or just plain dropping it onto concrete (they usually go eventually), or leaving it in taxis.
And probably one or two more people who've managed to crack the display through general ham fisted-ness.
None of those things are iPhone specific, it's just bad luck or carelessness.

Same here. My friends with the iPhone have said it is the best phone that they have ever had, this despite them all being windows users and it being the very first Apple product they have bought. One had problems with it identity being cloned so that its IMEI number was blocked. The store actually replaced it with a new iPhone. That was a network problem not a phone problem. Dropping them is hardly iPhone specific.

Yesterday, I had my iPhone in the breast pocket of a jacket. It was very hot round my way so I didn't have the jacket on, I was carrying it. At one point I threw the jacket over my shoulder to pick something up and managed to throw the phone out of the pocket onto the road. That's a standard tarmacced road. And not just dropped, slingshotted. I doubt I could have thrown it much harder. From shoulder height.

The result? A tiny scuff in one corner. No cracks, no functional damage. That's the first mark I've got on it since I bought it at UK launch, despite never carrying it in a case and sticking it in pockets with cash and having it slide off desks.

I wouldn't claim iPhones are indestructible or that you can't get unlucky and get a 'lemon' but from my experience the iPhone design is not in any sense fragile. The one thing I would say is that because it's glass it does have a tendency to slide it if it's not on a surface that's level. If I was doing the next one that's one thing I'd try to find a fix for..

Jon

The casing has been very resillient and, apart from iffy headphone socket, due to moisture, the 3GS casing has been fine and stood up to my dropping it on several occassions.

The problems we have had, have nothing to do with rought treatment, but manufacturing QA...

2 delivered with dead batteries, or batteries that died within a week.
3 with iffy bluetooth or Wi-Fi antennes.
2 with faulty memory (random lockups, which could only be recovered from by removing power - on a normal phone, no problem, remove the battery, on the iPhone, wait a day and a half for the battery to die, then reboot).
1 with a faulty display chip (white screen, but touch still worked).
3 with faulty batteries within a year of purchase
1 with dodgy shielding, giving the brrr-da-da-brrrp (that you normally hear through loudspeakers on electrical devices near the phone) through the internal speaker and microphone, making use without a bluetooth headset impossible.

8loody hell, that would be impressive it it wasn't so tragic!
Does your boss play football with his phones?
He hasn't crossed any gypsies in the past, has he?!!

No and no, he telephones for 3 to 4 hours a day on it though. The iPhone doesn't really seem to be up to doing the Phone part of its name.

Same here - it does seem like an unusually awful run of bad luck to hit one small part of the world. That Goldfinger quote seems somehow appropriate:

"Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. The third time it's enemy action."

Or maybe you're just not holding it right?

Ooh, another speculation based on the invite and the potential upcoming "Assistant"...

Let's Talk iPhone.

i.e. you can now taly to your iPhone to get it to do things for you!