I said I wasn't going to do it.... (iPhone 4)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I’ve said I wasn’t going to do it, that I wasn’t going to upgrade from my two year old iPhone 3GS 16GB, I was perfectly happy with it, and treated it well, with a Zagg Invisishield screen protector and an OtterBox Defender case (with the Otter polycarb screen protector punched out, as the Zagg invisishield was better…

the 3GS did everything I needed and did it well, internet surfing, videos from Netflix and YouTube, iPod music and video, and was even a passable camera, it even made phone calls**, if you could believe it, a pocket computer that actually had a phone tossed in as an afterthought…

I used it more as an iPod and internet surfing device than a phone, heck, I have around 4,000 rollover minutes stored up, I just don’t talk on the phone all that much, thank Og I’ve got the “Grandfathered” $30 Unlimited data plan, it’ll be a cold day in Hades when they take that away from me, I’ll switch to one of the other two “Big Three” carriers in a heartbeat if they do something as shortsighted as that…

Anyway, back to the point of this thread, and yes, there is one…

As I said in the opening of this thread, I had no plans to upgrade, why spend another $200 for a device I don’t really need and basically duplicates what I have in a newer, sexier package, and with a few dubious “improvements”…

Sadly, my 3GS had other plans, and indeed was conspiring against me, trying to force my hand…

Set the Wayback Machine for Monday, I get up bright and early at around 11:30 AM :wink: grab my fully charged 3GS, slip it into my right rear pocket and go about my tasks, working in the garden, doing some plinking on my little airgun range with my nephew, just relaxing and enjoying the Memorial Day long weekend, I decide to do a quick check of my 3GS, to check the weather forecast and check for e-mail, I pull the 3GS from my pocket, and hit the Home button to wake it from sleep…

That’s strange, no reaction, I KNOW it had a fully charged battery this morning, I hit the sleep/wake switch, nothing, hold the sleep/wake switch, nothing, the phone appears to be comatose, I take it upstairs, plug it into my MacBook, no “iPhone connected” chirp from the phone, open iTunes, phone does not even appear in the device list…

I put the phone into Forced Recovery mode, iTunes detects it, asks if I want to factory restore it (thank Og I backed it up last night…), I say yes, as I won’t be losing any data anyway

iTunes churns away, valiantly trying to restore the phone, only to error out with an unknown “1601” error, five times I tried the restore, no luck, failure every time…

I call Apple, having already covered all the troubleshooting steps, they reccomend to send it in for an out of warranty repair, but won’t quote me a price until they have the phone in front of them (understandable, but all I wanted was a ballpark figure anyway), so, I search the net for 1601 error solutions, not finding much, and also discovering the average out-of-warranty repair is around $200 for a logic board failure…

I confirm this with one of the vendors I used to deal with when I was working at my local independent Mac store

I take a trip to my local AT&T store, they try to restore it, only to get the accursed 1601 failure…

looks like my old 3GS is well and truly dead :frowning: , bereft of life, it rests in peace, it is an ex-smartphone…

A moment of silence for the passing of a good little device, and a great little electronic friend (dear Og that sounds sadly pathetic, doesn’t it :wink: )

Thankfully, I was out of my 2 year contract, and qualified for an upgrade, I narrowed it down to that new big Samsung Android-powered phone with the 4.5" AMOLED screen, or the iPhone 4, the Samsung had a great, bright screen, and a nice large image area, but the thing felt fragile, it was so thin and plasticky that I felt like I could break it without even trying, visions of my clumsy meathooks snapping the thing in half swam before my eyes, so I went over to the iPhone 4 display, the first time I had really had an opportunity to play with one (never felt the need before, my 3GS did everything I needed it to…)

Immediately, I noticed that the iPhone 4 felt much more SOLID, it felt rigid, and far more rugged than that big Samsung, and the gorgeous Retina Display really caught me off guard, I wasn’t expecting it to be that good…

…Still, I DO like the Open Source angle of the Android OS, but the Samsung’s so sodding fragile…
…But I still have a lot invested in the iPhone platform, lots of apps, and a lot of experience with the iOS, iOS is second nature to me, it works the way I expect it to, plus, I don’t want to lose access to Pocket God or lose my progress in Plants Vs. Zombies…

Anyway, to bring my decision to a close, I had to bite the bullet, as it were, and pick up a replacement smartphone, so I went with the “safe” choice…

An iPhone 4 16GB, why 16GB?, because I’m a cheap bugger, and it was the least expensive iPhone 4, plus, I also had to pick up an OtterBox Defender for it (and will be putting a Zagg invisishield on it next week…) and the 16 was the least expensive way out

They also gave me a free Microcell device, as I made an offhanded comment about considering the switch to Verizon because my house was in a weak cell coverage zone, and the ability to talk and surf

I still held out hope that I could somehow get my 3GS working within 30 days, that way I could return the 4, and not deal with another unexpected bill, but after spending the last few days getting to know the iPhone 4, I don’t WANT to go back to the clunky old 3GS…

Everything’s marginally faster on the 4, the phone call quality both when held to the ear, and speakerphone, is absolutely stellar, the screen is absolutely gorgeous, I always thought the hype over the Retina display was just more of the Jobsian RDF at work and that it was all a bunch of “moichandizing” B.S., but in this case, the hype is true, the Retina display is jaw-droppingly good, everything just looks brighter, sharper, more vivid and more real, photos, YouTube/Netflix movies, and even text, even humble text has a clarity and sharpness that’s, frankly, just stunning, the text rendering has been likened to that of the printed page, and yes, it’s that good

But to me, the biggest surprise was the camera, I’m a high-end photographer, an old-school film holdout (my two main film cameras are a Nikon F4S professional 35mm camera and an old Mamiya RB67 medium-format camera, so I have high expectations when it comes to camera quality…

the 3MP camera in the 3GS was just servicable, nothing special, it got the job done and nothing more, I was never happy with the results beyond a strictly brainless casual photography level, it was a modern Instamatic camera

Now, to be fair, the digicam in the iPhone 4 can never hope to compete with a decent film camera, but compared against the common point-and-shoot digicam it can hold its own quite capably, the P&S will have the advantage of a true optical zoom, wheras smartphone cameras generally are limited to the craptacular digital zoom (wich I sodding HATE), but kept at it’s native optical resolution, the iPhone 4’s 5MP camera is certainly more than capable for casual snapshots, or some light macro shots, especially when you turn on the “HDR” High Definition Recording feature, you can get some rather nice results using HDR

I just set up a quick MobileMe gallery with some photos taken with my iPhone 4, all the flower pics are from the iPhone 4 and taken in HDR mode, and the purple “Hal/Deathstar Superlaser” pics were the last images recorded by my sadly departed iPhone 3GS

Bear in mind that the detail and color saturation you’re seeing in the flower photos was taken by a lowly 5MP camera in a cell phone

iPhone gallery

So, long post longer, I’m happy with my new iPhone 4, and even happier that the camera captures decent quality images at it’s native resolution, now I’ll always have a decent camera with me at all times, in a nice convenient pocket sized package

** As long as I was willing to chant a silent prayer towards Cupertino (Jobs be Praised, may the mercy of His Steveness shine upon me… :wink: ) and as long as the planets were aligned and the Demons Of AT&T were not feeling unduly malicious at that moment…

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Fixed link to gallery;
iPhone gallery

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I was going to say If you see an error when you update or restore your iPhone, iPad, or iPod - Apple Support, but it appears they moved the actual error messages to another doc.

The 160n error messages are all about USB issues, so mebbe something happened to the USB port on the phone or some connection inside the phone.

Apple wouldn’t quote you a price? Odd. Out of warranty repairs (whether you broke it or the warranty just expired) are always $199 in the US. For every make of iPhone, no matter how old it is. There is no chart of different repairs at different prices. You give them the phone, you pay $199, they give you a different phone. Period.

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That’s what I eventually figured out anyway, something on the logic board crapped out (USB controller chip or something) taking the phone down for the count…

Thing is, the phone was never abused, was treated well, heck, I treated it like it was made of bone china, kept it in a nice secure Otterbox case and kept the screen protected with the invisishield, the thing was pampered, yet it crapped out prematurely

that said, I did use it every day, and used it heavily, streaming video, music, websurfing, it was a Mac that fit in my pocket, perhaps I simply “used it up” faster than I expected, I wasn’t expecting an Apple product to have such a short service life, my collection of Macs range from an original 128K made back in '84 (still works even now) all the way up to a Mirror Door G4 made back in 2004 as my primary desktop machine, and a MacBook made in 2008 is my most current Mac computer, the iPhone 3GS, lasting around 2 years, has been the shortest-lived Apple product I’ve owned yet

Anyway, since I was going to have to end up spending $200 either way, I figured it’d be more logical to spend it on a new, upgraded phone with a 1 year warranty (I may bite the bullet and get AppleCare on this one, as it would have covered the repair/replacement of my 3GS had I put it on it) instead of on a refurbished 3GS with a 90 day warranty

I just hope this is not the way of the future for the iPhone, to only last two years, if this one craps out in two years (or sooner) then I will cut my losses and abandon the iPhone platform for an Android based smartphone…

the iPhone 4 is the final acid test that determines if I stay with the iOS platform devices, it had frakking better last more than two years, a two year lifespan is unacceptably short for any consumer electronics device

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I’m not sure that really holds true for smartphones. Not a one that I’ve ever seen is all that rugged. Hell, I’ve never owned a laptop PC, but the people I know who have them seem to go through them in less than two years. I wouldn’t expect longer than that out of a phone.

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Dunno, got a motorola Razr 3xx (I know, not a smartphone) that still works fine and has seen far harder use than my iPhone 3GS, it’s at least 4-5 years old

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Check out a Steinheil screen protector rather than that Zagg! http://www.amazon.com/SGP-iPhone-Protector-Steinheil-Oleophobic/dp/B003SQP986/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1306982001&sr=8-1

They apply with zero bubbles, no liquids involved, and are fantastic. No, I don’t work for them, just love 'em. They have the oleophobic one as well as a regular “crystal” version, and and anti-glare version. I use the anti-glare, it’s got a matte finish. Some folks don’t like it as it makes the screen a bit fuzzier. I think it looks kind of like it’s antialiased, but I have an Evo, so I don’t have that newfangled fancy retina display. :cool:

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I still have my 3G, and took my screen protector (InvisiShield) off after 6 months. The responsiveness is so much better straight off the glass. Doesn’t have a scratch on it.

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My 3gs’s back case is cracking now that I’m a month away from my contact being up…can I have yours? :stuck_out_tongue:

What really pisses me off is the permanent subsidy you pay, whether you’re actually paying for a phone or not…about $17 IIRC

I guess I’m hold out for whatever replaces the 4, but what I really want is to pay $60 for the iPhone to be a conduit for my iPad, as I grab it’s bigger screen any time theyre both within reach.

But alas, I’m paying $85, plus any time tethering happens to be on.

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My friend’s iPhone 4 (about 1 month old) also had a problem where it wanted to be connected to a computer, but couldn’t. Not sure if his error code was the same.

It’s a bit worrying that a well taken care of iPhone can fail so soon. Mine is approaching 1 year and I’m about to replace it because the home button is fuzzy. Just wondering if I should: buy AppleCare? hope the replacement lasts another year? sell it and buy an iPhone 5?

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Your home button is fuzzy? I’m not sure that’s a hardware issue. :smiley:

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I’m not the type to buy extended warranties, but on a small, delicate, portable device you carry with you all the time, it may make sense…

Bear in mind though, AppleCare does not cover accidental damage or abuse, drop the phone, crack the screen, get it wet, etc, any physical damage would not be covered

That said, AppleCare would have covered my 3GS’s failure had I purchased it, I gambled and lost this time as I didn’t have AppleCare on the 3GS …

I will be getting it for the iPhone 4 though

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I really want to hold out for an iPhone 5. I’m out of contract on my 3Gs now, but I don’t really care for the chunky 4 with the same size display. If the 5 is still chunky, I’ll take it as long as it’ has the 4" screen or larger as rumored. I’m thinking it may end up a little longer, but thinner again. That’s what I’m hoping for anyway.

If the 5 isn’t to my liking, I’m still looking at some of those Droid phones, they’re fairly impressive - I won’t rule them out!

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Yup, I just bailed on my iPhone two weeks ago for a Nexus S and could not be happier.

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Get your iPhone 4 button fixed if it’s fuzzy - I’ve already had mine replaced due to a lousy button. May as well do it while it’s under warranty.

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Yeah, it mixes up clicks, double clicks and no clicks. Doesn’t happen all the time though, so I hope I can prove it to them. I know if I replace it they’ll give me a refurbished one, but how long will that last? Maybe it has an undetected battery problem? I’m worried I may be changing a problem for another, more serious one.

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Chunky? The 4 is a wee bit smaller in everything but weight, which is the same.



	        h	w	d	oz
iPhone 3GS	4.55	2.44	0.48	4.8
Iphone 4	4.54	2.309	0.37	4.8
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I’m sort of lusting for a 4, but my current plan is to wait on the 5.

What do you all think of this photo I took with my 3G? I think it came out stellar. I have it on a slide show on my iMac and it looks just incredible. I’m surprised I got such a sharp shot on a phone camera!

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Well, what’s the lesser of two evils? a phone with a known bad home button, or a refurb?

I’ve had EXCELLENT results with Refurb units from LOTS of vendors, they’re typically tested harder, are cheaper, and have the same warrantee.

Also keep in mind that all of these devices are built to be two-year things. It’s the rare person that has a 5 year old cellphone.

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Great shot. That seems to be the lighting that really works well with the 3G, and that’s a perfect range. My outside shots are good, but indoors aren’t much to write about.

How’s your 3G holding up beyond that, Ellen? What firmware version do you have? I couldn’t deal with the 4.x OS, and reverted back to 3.1.3.