Unfortunately I’m starting to think that Apple did in fact rush the iPhone 3G. There are many different indicators pointing to this.
The first major problem is the fact that the iPhone 3G’s phone call reception can be at times very poor. It’s almost like the sound is muffled or something. This has happened to me on my iPhone a few times and also for my wife. I can usually just walk around until it gets better but I did have to hang up and use a landline once. It was almost like the days of analog had returned when you are pressed up against the window trying to get service. I have not had this problem while on Edge, although, I don’t use Edge all that often.
Apple has acknowledged this problem. What they are saying is that it affects 2% of all iPhone 3G owners. I think it affects a few more percentage points than that. People all over the world have reported this problem. The 2.0.2 firmware was supposed to fix the problem but it has not. In fact, the 2.0.2 firmware has highlighted another problem with the iPhone 3G. Apple is supposed to release another update (possibly 2.1) in September which should fix the reception issue.
Since updating to 2.0.2, my battery life has gone down the drain. Basically it has been about twice as bad as it was on 2.0.1. My battery life wasn’t good to begin with, now it’s worse? Come on! I was willing to live and be happy with the battery life before which would give me 4 hours of usage and 18 hours of standby. If I’m only going to get 2 hours of usage and less standby time, I’m not going to be a happy camper.
Ultimately, the biggest battery drainer is the cellular connection from the phone to the network. If the signal and connection is good, the battery lasts longer. If the signal and connection is bad, the battery dies relatively quickly. I think the iPhone 3G is at a disadvantage already. The problem lies in the fact that the phone is not communicating with the network properly or optimally.
Other indicators of Apple rushing the 3G includes the iPhone cracks. The cracking problem could have just been a production issue that was resolved or it could be due to the fact that they rushed the design. I haven’t had any problems with my replacement iPhone and the problem doesn’t appear to be as widespread as first thought.
So did they really rush the 3G? Yes. Did they have to? Yes.
Imagine what the fallout would have been if the iPhone 3G was not announced at the WWDC in June. There would have been millions of furious customers and their stock might have dropped significantly. The one month delay between announcement and release was probably just due to logistics. I don’t think they were still working on getting it ready at that time.
It also appears that this is an Apple issue, not a Rogers issue. Now Rogers could do more to improve the network, but these problems are more hardware/software related. The issue where pages wouldn’t load while on 3G is a Rogers issue related to high network traffic.
So Apple has sold millions of 3G’s which include some problems. I think they are better off trying to fix these problems now then if they were to fix all of the problems first then release it.
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One Ping to “Did Apple rush the 3G?”
15 Responses to “Did Apple rush the 3G?”
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1. Bryan Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 12:08 pmI am with you on this one. 1st gen iPhone gave me no trouble at all compared to 3G!
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2. generalinq Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 1:03 pmI don’t think they rushed it. Too many happy campers out there with 3g’s compared to the small amount of people who are complaining. We are only seeing the negative.. not the hundreds of thousand happy people.
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3. Myke D Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 1:15 pmAs far as Rogers doing more to improve the network, while I agree to a certain extent, they are the 2nd fastest 3G network according to this WIRED survey: http://blog.wired.com/gadgets/2008/08/global-iphone-3.html
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4. Teebs Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 2:32 pmI thought the reception problem was the transition from Fido to Rogers but it seems more apparent that it was rather the transition from first gen iphone to iphone 3G.
I have a question for those of you who live in an apartment/condo building:
How many bars are you getting with 3G enabled/disabled from your home?
-with 3G I get 2 bars most of the time, 3 sometimes, 1 at others.
-when I disable 3G and run on EDGE settings, the reception goes up to atleast 3, sometimes 4 bars.Should I be worried about this enough to exchange, or is it “normal” for the 3G to act like this at the present moment?
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5. Flop Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 2:57 pmi only get the reception problem when im at home + im well in the 3g coverage area so i hope they fix that.
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6. Teebs Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 3:37 pmOverall, I’m happier with 3G from the first Gen iPhone. I don’t experience dropped calls, just once to Rogers and it was funny because it was Rogers I was on the phone with, they called backa second later and played the dropped call nonshelantly.
I am happy with the GPS ability and just faster web browsing.
I’m fairly confident that Apple will come out with further updates to better the reception/3G/battery problems. I don’t mind waiting for the software updates either.
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7. Teebs Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 6:21 pmHi everyone, Pwnage 2.0.3 (for software 2.0.2) is now available for Mac OS X. I think I might try my first jailbreak with the iPhone 3G. I’ve done it to my first gen before, I think I’ll do it again.
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8. Neil S. Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 6:27 pmToday a new upgrade popped up.. 2.1.0
No lie..
I was like WTF? And didn’t download it.. as I didn’t want to jailbreak again..Anyone see this? Only happened once.. for like a 5 min window..
Shoulda downloaded it.. :(
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9. DavidK Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 6:33 pmLooks like it’s not all Apple after all.
http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/08/08/25/study_points_to_network_weakness_as_source_of_iphone_3g_woes.html -
10. Teebs Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 8:33 pmThey are either Apple Fanboys, sponsored by Apple, or really love their iPhones and would hate nothing more than to criticize their lovetoys.
Can we hear from people with other 3G phones other than Apple iPhones? …anyone?
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11. Ted Says:
August 25th, 2008 at 10:17 pmI have a Blackjack II (a 3G windows mobile/Samsung phone). Typically, I get 2 days of usage (which includes calls, email, and some web browsing) no problem. I can talk for ~5 hours on a single charge.
I was hoping to get a iPhone, but, frankly, after following this and a few other sites closely since the launch, I think I am going to stay away until Apple cleans up the mess they have made. I want a phone, not a computer project :-).
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12. ruffdeezy Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 12:41 am@ Ted
I like the way you put it, “I want a phone, not a computer project”, lol. It’s starting to seem like that…that’s for sure. -
13. ruffdeezy Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 12:44 am@ DavidK
I believe they might be referring to the data problems with the 3G
http://www.ehphone.ca/2008/08/error302/
not sure if the network problems include the reception problems.
Hopefully Apple gets the 2.1 out soon so we can hopefully leave these problems behind us. -
14. Brian Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 10:58 amWow, you have 2 hours of usage? I have about 8 on my iPhone with like 48 hours standby.
Wired has essentially proved, along with that cell phone engineer, that the hardware is sound and that a lot of reported issues are not iPhone issues but network issues.
Its kind of hard to distinguish both. You can’t rely on the iPhone to have perfectly written firmware, espestially after the bugs at launch. But you also can’t rely on Rogers, AT&T, or other international carriers to be running a network where suddenly X million high-use 3G phones are introduced to a new network.
I have zero connection problems. A co-worker of mine was unable to make calls with 3G on, so he took it to a Rogers store and the simple fix was “Reset the Network”. There is a button somewhere under settings which resets the network settings, and bam his phone was working perfect again.
Seems to me a small number of problems are firmware related. A small number of problems are due to faulty hardware. And a large number of problems are due to overloaded networks (we’ve already seen Rogers network go offline in many cities for a few days).
I wouldn’t say Apple rushed the launch. What I would say is that several serious bugs cropped up at the end, but once that machine started rolling, they couldn’t delay the launch date.
btw: 2.1 is the big feature release next month, which I’m pretty sure these bug patches (2.0.1, and 2.0.2) have been pulled out of.
Cheers,
Brian -
15. Harith Says:
August 26th, 2008 at 1:06 pmAre you having buyer’s remorse?
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