If you have not bought an iPhone and are considering getting one, my advice is WAIT! The iPhone 2.0 software is got to be one of the buggiest releases in years from Apple. As I think the iPhone is a fantastic product being an early adopter may come with shredded patience, lost time, and lost of frustration, not to mention the loss of a phone to use.

I have been wanting to write sooner on the iPhone 3G experience, but have been plagued by so many problems I decided to wait to see if it was a defective unit, if was more widespread or Apple would address the problems in a software update.

My experience has been terrible, although there may be quite a few happy iPhone 3G users, I have to say I am not one of them. Let me explain.

I bought my black iPhone 3G 16GB on Saturday July 12th, the day after the launch. I waited online like many others. In about 20 days I had to totally restore the iPhone 3G no less than 22 times.

The device was plagued with problems from day one with apps quitting, mostly third party apps purchased from the iTunes App Store, but sometimes even included iPhone apps like Mail, Safari, and contacts. Third party apps were constantly quitting making them unusable for more than a few minutes sometimes.

Sometimes a third party app would quit and then what followed was none of the third party apps would run anymore. Restarting the iPhone fixed this a few times, but more often even after a restart none of the third party apps would run anymore. Worse yet, at least 15 times the iPhone would die leaving me with an Apple logo and thats all. The iPhone would basically “brick” leaving me with no usable phone, not even emergency calls could be made.

There seemed to be no pattern to the problems except I would usually end up with a brick each day that had to be restored completely using iTunes. When the iPhone would crash when I was on the road this left me with no phone for hours until I could get to restore yet again.

These crashes would occur from what I can tell using any app, no matter how many I installed, if I installed or updated them directly on the iPhone or with iTunes. I tried restoring the iPhone 3G by deleting and re-downloading the 2.0 firmware from Apple. I tried restoring and setting up the iPhone as a new phone instead of a backup. I tried restoring and syncing the iPhone with a different Mac. All without any luck. Speaking of backups, some of the backups took 6-8 hours!

Apple Releases iTunes 7.7.1
When Apple released an update to iTunes I immediately updated my machines and tried again. The iTunes update seemed to help mounting the iPhone faster, but that was all I can say. Same problems existed.

New iPhone 3G Replacement
On August 1st, after 20 days of struggling with the iPhone I purchased I went to the Genius Bar at the Apple Store I bought the iPhone in. I explained my problems, they checked the logs on the iPhone and saw many crashes and agreed to replace the iPhone.

Problem was they had no black iPhone 3G 16GB iPhones in stock. They told me they could order one or I could check at another Apple store. After a call to the next closest Apple Store to confirm availability, I drove over to get the iPhone replaced.

They replaced my iPhone with a brand new unit from a sealed box. Activated the new iPhone and took away my troubled unit. The activation with iTunes in the store took only a minute, but it actually took about 45 minutes to have an iPhone that had service.

Unfortunately, my problems still exist. The new iPhone “bricked” on the first day of use after a third party app quit! I only had a few apps on the unit. I performed a total restore on the new iPhone and installed only a few apps again (different ones). The next day I was using Safari on the replacement iPhone and it quite leaving me with the familiar Apple logo flashlight. I was using no third party app this time.

I have restored the replacement iPhone again, this time I installed NO third party apps on it at all. I spent about $80 or more on apps, but am afraid to use them.

The iPhone is a remarkable product and when it works more fun and useful than any other phone or mobile device I have owned or used. But it is clear after spending time in the Apple discussion forums and some iPhone forums around the web I am not alone. This device’s software was NOT ready for market. It was clearly rushed.

I was under the impression that Apple had tested the new iPhone and software more extensively, especially with the third party apps they are said to have to certify. It sure does not look this way.

I can live with short battery life and even an app that quits once in awhile, but no app quitting should be able to totally brick your phone! This is unacceptable.

I have restored my replacement iPhone last night and have NO third party apps on it. I have 200 purchased songs, a few podcasts, and a few audiobooks on the device now. This morning I was checking email in the Mail app and that quit. At least it did not brick the phone.

I am used to being an early adopter. In other words a test case. In 24 days after the launch of the iPhone 2.0 software and the iPhone 3G still no word or acknowledgment from Apple. Word on the street is 2.1 iPhone software is coming in September. I sure hope a fix comes before that.

My advice is if you have not bought an iPhone, wait until a software fix comes that resolves these problems or pay the price in frustration.

UPDATE: Installed the latest Apple iPhone update 2.0.1. Almost got through an entire day without a crash. I guess it was not to be. The 2.0.1 software did not fix my problems with the iPhone. Apps are STILL crashing and killing the iPhone. I had a third party app quit tonight. After that NO other third party app would launch anymore. All of them quit as soon as you try and launch any of them. Restarting the iPhone did not help. I tried several times. Even a hard reset does not help. I tried this several times also. So I am doing what I have had to do just about every day I owned the new iPhone 3G. I am doing my 26 TOTAL RESTORE!

Apple is rumored to be scheduled to release iPhone 2.1 software in September. If I have to wait until September for a working phone, I will NOT be happy. The iPhone 3G and the 2.0 software (or the 2.0.1) should have never shipped like this. I am very disappointed in Apple. They should be ashamed of this shoddy release. I could not with good conscious recommend this to anyone. One crashing third party app should not be allowed to kill all of them or kill the iPhone. Terrible!

    | Tags: Apple, iPhone