Posts Tagged ‘iPhone’

AppleFail

// October 14th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Tech

I don’t consider myself an Apple evangelist, or PC/Microsoft evangelist for that matter. I’m a firm believer in ‘the right tool for the right job’. So, at home I use a PC and a laptop for browsing the web, etc – I don’t need oodles and oodles of processing power to watch a YouTube video, and I don’t need it to be ‘pretty’ either. If I ever get enough cash together, I will, for sure, get a Mac Pro 8-core machine to serve as a ProTools machine, but not until I get the £6000 together to do so.

I like my kit to be value for money, and when I spend a fair amount on something, I expect it to work. If it doesn’t, I expect a good level of service. I got my iPhone through The Carphone Warehouse, and I decided that, as this is such a high-value handset, I would take out the Geek Squad subscription.

So when my iPhone developed a fault, I wanted someone to look at it. I took it into my nearest Carphone Warehouse and described the fault to the Geek Squad agent. He advised that this was a hardware fault, but due to its age, it would be a warranty fix. Unfortunately for me though, he told me that Apple don’t allow anyone to tinker with their hardware, so it must go back to Apple for examination/repair/replacement. This would take up to 4 weeks.

4 WEEKS? FOR A BUZZING NOISE? As an alternative, he suggested that I take it into the Apple store and go through the issue with one of their Geniuses. I phoned the Glasgow store only to be told that yes, this did sound like a hardware fault, and yes, it would probably just be replaced in-store, but no, I could not come today. “Why not?” I asked. I was advised that I must make an appointment to see a ‘genius’, and that the next available appointment was in 2 days time. Disappointed, I decided that I should just make the appointment and get my phone fixed. Oh, but I can’t make the appointment on the phone with the girl I’m speaking to – I have to do it online at the Apple website.

So not only can I not just walk into the store and get a replacement, I can’t even make an appointment ON THE PHONE? How difficult do you want to make this, Apple? You suck. #fail

iPhone Troubles

// October 11th, 2010 // No Comments » // Tech

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve noticed something very strange about my iPhone 3GS… no, it’s not the fact that it’s not an iPhone 4, it’s more the noise that it’s been making. When I first got my phone, it performed well, and when I upgraded to iOS 4, I started to get some issues with dropped calls, random reboots, etc. All of this I can live with – a software update will eventually sort these issues.

However, I appear to be experiencing something more hardware-related. It’s what I can only describe as GSM buzz. When I’m making calls, I can hear a buzzing noise in the earpiece which sounds like the noise you get when you place a mobile phone too close to a set of speakers. It’s also getting so loud that I now hear it faintly when the phone is just sitting, unused, on my desk.

Do any of my readers experience such an issue? Should I be taking it into Apple for a warranty repair? Comments welcome!