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Comments on: More major, minor iPhone upgrade problems and how to fix them

Over the last week, iPhone Atlas readers and users on Apple's discussion forums reported additional problems with iPhone OS 3.0 and iPhone 3GS upgrades.

Add a Comment (Log in or register) Showing 1 of 2 pages (33 Comments)

by Honest-Abe June 29, 2009 1:31 PM PDT

The phone is quasi-garbage. Apple's policies for address, quality control, and any phase of customer service are full-blown garbage. I am absolutely sick of making appointments to have some wannabe "expert" who isn't qualified to make a shake at a fastfood restaurant or press the green button on a copy machine tell me that my phone is fixed after a reset only to have the same problem manifest while I'm still in the Apple store. Never had an issue with a blackberry, but should have known that a company that is so afraid of competition would put more effort on their legal fronts than on a quality product. Serves me right for buying a "toy".

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by thecizco June 29, 2009 2:37 PM PDT: What's with all the Apple hate? Have you forgotten that Apple is just like every other company and suffers from manufacturing problems? Of course there are going to be problems with ANY device. Nothing in this world is perfect. Just because you never had a problem with your blackberry does not mean it is a better device. I've had many different phones along with my iPhone and I personally have never had any issues with any of them. Besides, if there is a hardware problem, just take it back to Apple and they'll give you a brand new device. Their quality control and customer service is in fact much better than other companies. If I had equipment protection on any other phone, you can bet I could get a new device, but it wouldn't be new.

And who says Apple is afraid of competition? Just like every other company, they are going to sue anyone who violates their IP. Two years into the iPhone's life, they haven't sued anyone. So where do you get off making that assertion? Stop hating them just because they have been successful.; Like this


by ikramerica--2008 July 1, 2009 4:33 PM PDT: 4 iPhones in my extended family, all work fine. One had the "double contacts" issue when updating from old 2.0 3G to a new 3Gs, but it was simple to fix.

What I love is that people think that if they get a DOA or defective phone, that means that ALL the phones ever built are defective. Apple sold 1 million in a weekend. At a 1% failure rate, that's 10,000 you'd expect from the first weekend lot. With 20 million total phones sold, that's 200,000 defective phones, minimum, out of the box.

Then, if you look at the laptop failure rate over time, you can expect at leas 1 million iPhones to need repairing or replacing over time, and that's GOOD by modern technology standards.

That's reality. Some people just can't seem to handle reality.; Like this

by velodoug June 29, 2009 1:52 PM PDT

My phone stopped going into landscape mode in iTunes, Safari and Mail, but other accelerometer apps (like the free level or labyrinth game) still worked. I am currently trying to restore for the 6th time, but keep getting a "can not read data from iPhone" error once the iPhone restarts. One more try and I'm going to the Apple store to let them figure it out.

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by velodoug June 29, 2009 2:15 PM PDT: Here's the error message:

iTunes cannot read the contents of the iPhone "<name here>". Go to the Summary tab in iPhone preferences and click Restore to restore this iPhone to factory settings.; Like this


by velodoug July 1, 2009 1:21 PM PDT: I turns out my issue was faulty hardware... the Apple store replaced it last night.; Like this


by ikramerica--2008 July 1, 2009 4:34 PM PDT: Sure sounded like it. All you can ask is that they replace it, and be happy that it's so simple to restore your new phone.; Like this


by Haroldnca June 29, 2009 2:03 PM PDT: I've had the mysterious changing icon problem. Easy fix. Simply unsync the apps via itunes... then resync. This will fix that problem.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Apple's customer service and I love my phone/iPod/navigator/game system/compass/personal voice recorder/video player/alarm clock/TOY. :-); Like this Reply to this comment


by cosminiuga June 29, 2009 2:04 PM PDT: The digital compass does not work to well. I've found that most of the time it is inaccurate. I switched back and forward from magnetic and true North to see if it would help and it doesn't. Any knows which we're supposed to use?; Like this Reply to this comment

by kravkid02 June 29, 2009 2:13 PM PDT

My ipod on the iphone randomly goes from play to pause after about 10 to 15 minutes of play. I am also just having issues with all application being stable. A lot of the time the just stop working and shut down for no reason.

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by ikramerica--2008 July 1, 2009 4:35 PM PDT: You may be having the overheating problem some are experiencing. They are usually replacing those phones for customers having those problems.; Like this

by cnetpre June 29, 2009 2:16 PM PDT

Help me..my iPhone 3Gs has overheated and has altered the color of my iPhone. It gets so hot against my cheek that it literally turns off by itself. I don't understand why Apple released the iPhone 3Gs running in this condition. Who's in charge of quality control for this product? Do you have any solutions to this overheating problem or should I simply consider returning the iPhone 3Gs and get my money back?

I hope your advise is not to use certain applications because there are a lot of new smartphones out there that don't have this issue. This should be a major iPhone 3Gs problem addressed in your article - that would be helpful.

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by jayiowan June 29, 2009 2:44 PM PDT: I also have the same problem with overheating and battery life being shorter than my old phone, the first iPhone from two years ago.; Like this


by Haroldnca June 30, 2009 10:16 AM PDT: Take it back... You have a one year warranty. They'll swap it out for you in 2 seconds flat.; Like this


by cmhansen2000 June 29, 2009 7:16 PM PDT: My New iPhone 3GS works great. Maybe you should get a replacement. I have seen enough posts about people getting a lemon and apple switching them out no questions asked.; Like this Reply to this comment


by eddiemit June 29, 2009 8:01 PM PDT: I upgraded from original iphone to 3GS. My new phone is unable to save text messages and is deleting text messages.; Like this Reply to this comment


by peterandjulie June 29, 2009 9:37 PM PDT: my 12 year old playes games on my iphone 4-6 hours a day (summer time), never had a single problem, get's warm with some games, so what?
i enjoy the phone, not planning to keep it for the rest of my life,at some point it will break like my old phone did and i will get a new one.

cha cha for now.; Like this Reply to this comment

by lucid55 June 30, 2009 4:57 AM PDT

Since I upgraded to 3.0 on my iPhone 3G 16MB, the phone keeps telling me that my wireless network password isn't correct. At times the wireless connection works, but then after a few hours, it will give me the error message. If I type in the lengthy password (or use the handy cut & paste from the notepad) it still says it's the wrong wireless password.

The 3G connection still works OK, so I'm not freaking out. This was not an issue before I upgraded. Does anyone else have this bug and/or a fix?

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by ikramerica--2008 July 1, 2009 4:41 PM PDT: Delete the wireless network from your list on the phone, turn wireless off, turn it back on, then reconnect to your network like it was the first time. This should solve your problem.

This isn't just a problem with iPhones, it's a problem with the wireless password checking standard in general and happens to laptops and wireless desktops, too. By erasing the connection from the list on any of these appliances, then cycling wireless on and off, and reconnecting, the problem is usually solved.

If not, try the above method again, but before turning wireless back on on your phone, power cycle the router as well. The router can "hang on" to an old connection for a device and refuse that same device access because it hasn't let go of the previous connection.; Like this


by patrickcoopert June 30, 2009 5:39 AM PDT: While Im happy CNET is even bothering to write about iphone software glitches, the information is incomplete and could be causing issues in themself. All the discussions of incorrect icons I've had on the apple board point to one thing:

THE "FIX" TO THE WRONG ICONS ISSUE ON 3.0

1. If you have this problem, remove all your apps from your phone.
2. Resync all your apps back on.
3. DO NOT RESET YOUR PHONE!!!!!!!!!!
For me, and a bunch of other people, its the reset that causes the icon problems. I know what you're thinking, with 2.0 the reset was the cure all, but in 3.0 it causes the problems. Resist the urge to reset (Obi Wan), its your only hope!; Like this Reply to this comment


by jscott418 June 30, 2009 6:30 AM PDT: I think its becoming more apparent that Apple is not the company for quality that it used to be. Sure it has some very innovated products. But they are backed up by inferior quality control. How long Apple fans will continue to overlook this is anyone's guess. I do think their will come a time when the average consumer will not think as highly of Apple as they have. Apple needs to realize that if you brag about how great your products are and you charge a premium price for them. You had better expect the user is going to expect something without bugs and overheating issues.; Like this Reply to this comment


by roamerblogger June 30, 2009 7:08 AM PDT: The link below has step by step instructions for fixing the icon problem. It worked for me
as a temporary fix. Hopefully Apple will patch this soon.

http://thefifthcorner.com/2009/06/23/iphone-app-icon-duplication-problem-fix/; Like this Reply to this comment


by Michelle Steiner June 30, 2009 1:04 PM PDT: I have a rented movie on my iPhone 3G that I can't get rid of. It is no longer available at the iTunes Store, and does not show up in any listing, on either the computer or iPhone, where I can select it in order to delete it. Short of resetting the phone, is there any way I can get rid of the file? It's taking up about 1 gig of the phone's memory.; Like this Reply to this comment


by TheMatthews27 June 30, 2009 8:38 PM PDT: I've had only one problem with my iPhone since I upgraded to OS 3.0. When I first installed the new OS, I had to rearrange all my app icons. It pushed most of them onto page 3, and a few onto page 4. Took five minutes to fix manually.

On the subject of Apple's Customer Service, I'm yet to see anyone else do a better job. They fixed my MacBook in three days, including shipping time.; Like this Reply to this comment

by Jack Suben July 1, 2009 8:06 AM PDT

3G S is way faster than the original iPhone 8G. Battery life is not as good as the original. Only glitch is that Voice Control does not work with my contacts loaded (close to 7,000 contacts); same ones as on my old iPhone. I have had Sr. Tech's at Apple working on the problem for 1.5 weeks. Hoping they will be able to isolate one or more corrupted contacts, which never caused any problems in the past. Haven't seen any other posts on the Voice Control conflict. Other than being so hot that I was mugged at knifepoint for my first 3G S, it's a phenomenal hardware/software "toy", on its way to being the serious business instrument it can be. Apple, please add syncing of notes from the computer to the iPhone (functionality that Palm always had)... it's been two years already and it's an important function.

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by ikramerica--2008 July 1, 2009 4:45 PM PDT: You never had Voice Control before, so not sure how you can know it never caused problems before.

I think Voice Control is fun. It has a mind of it's own. It REALLY likes the Eagles. Whenever I tell it to play something, and it can't figure it out, if it has an eee sound it in it, it plays the Eagles. It also doesn't like the Beatles. No matter how hard I try, it finds something else.

My friend had some fun with it. She has different taste in music than me, and so she would tell it to play things, and instead of saying "I don't know what that is" the phone makes it's best guess. And those guesses are funny...; Like this


by TWeeaKK July 1, 2009 11:50 AM PDT: After the 3.0 update on my iPhone 3G, the Wi-fi and Bluetooth settings were greyed-out so they could not be set or enabled. The only resolution appears to be to replace it with a new one. There is a long discussion under the Apple support forums... http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=2043310&tstart=0.

I am still surprised that Apple has yet to comment on the problem.; Like this Reply to this comment


by Pound3501 July 2, 2009 8:09 PM PDT: my iphone is stuck on a screen where it shows a cord and a arrow that points to itunes but there is no slide emergency bar at the bottom ether, i try to restore it in itunes but it never finishes no matter how long i let it sit it will never finish . any one any suggestions?; Like this Reply to this comment

by steve641234 July 3, 2009 1:16 AM PDT

I picked up my new iphone 3 G yesterday and it worked fine so I updated the software to 3.0 last night.
The result is the Phone is now locked, I have tried reset etc but no change, it will not sync with my I tunes and i can not even register the phone on the itunes web site as it does not accept the date.
Now i find out there is no support in the UAE for the iphone so it has to be shipped to the USA.
So after less than 5 hours of becoming the proud owned of the new Iphone 3G, I have an unusable expensive paperweight, I should have bought the Blackberry !!!

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by jjcmontana July 4, 2009 2:24 AM PDT: No, what you should have done is not buy some hacked, jail-broken, unlocked phone from some schmoe halfway around the world! I can say this, simply because the first iPhone I bought, was the same thing.... I bought mine off a guy on craigslist, it was like new, and it was working great! However, it was unlocked and jailbroken. When I went to put my sim card in, and register the phone with iTunes, I noticed the previous dude's account was in the phone, so I just did a system restore as a new phone, and blamo... iPhone which was new (to me) was now locked and useless. Wasn't the guy I bought it from's fault, nor ANYTHING to do with Apple. it was my own fault for not being certain I was buying a device which had not been tampered with.; Like this


by suego1 July 4, 2009 6:55 PM PDT: I have a 3G which synchronizes thru push with my work Exchange calendar and contacts. Since upgrading to OS 3.0, many of my calendar items don't sync and IT guys can't figure out what the issue is since I didn't have this problem before. no one else at work seems to have this problem but I am one of the ifrst few who has updgraded to 3.0. (They are rolling it out in the office next week.)

I have searched different discussions boards and cannot find anyone else reporting this...nor any solutions to try.

Can anyone help??? Thanks.; Like this Reply to this comment

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iPhone Atlas helps you navigate the ins and outs of Apple iPhone ownership with how-tos, troubleshooting information, news, reviews, and more. Got a tip? Want to contact us? E-mail iphoneatlas@cnet.com.