Archive for the 'Apple' category

Rogers iPhone 3G: A Deal With Frustration

Aug 31 2008 Published by under Apple

A few days ago, I posted about my defective iPhone 3G. I received this phone last Monday, but by the evening, I realized that it was broken beyond repair. That night I went through some troubleshooting with a friendly and responsive Rogers iPhone specialist and she assured me that I would receive another unit within 48-hours. So, assuming that the phone would ship out on the Tuesday, I expected it to arrive sometime on Thursday. Thursday came and passed, and by midday Friday I felt something was wrong.

I called up Rogers and went through the usually steps to speak with a representative. After a couple transfers I was connected to an iPhone specialist. I told the representative that I was still waiting for a replacement unit, and he perused my file to see what had happened. After putting me on hold to chat with his boss, he came back to tell me that my order had been cancelled!

Apparently, the lady who submitted my request for a replacement iPhone did not complete the troubleshooting checklist correctly, and as a result her boss decided to scrap the entire order. Needless to say, I was a bit perplexed. Clearly, I was expecting the imminent arrival of a replacement phone, but I guess this didn’t concern someone in management who deleted my order without making any effort to contact me or to correct the mistake made by his or her subordinate.

Later that night, after my frustrations had died down, I looked over at my almost-perfect iPhone with somewhat mixed feelings. The thought that it was going back was good and bad. On one hand, I felt annoyed by the extended delay of receiving a replacement — I hate being stuck at home waiting for deliveries and it’s almost impossible to get a tracking code from Rogers — but on the other hand, I’ll have a brand new iPhone 3G to unbox next week!

So I’ve begun to see my current iPhone as much like a test model that I’ve been allowed to take home and review. I have it in a soft case with a screen protector so that it’ll remain pristine, but short of destroying or losing it, there’s really nothing holding me back from pushing it to its limits. I’ve thought of running some battery tests, like draining it from full charge under various settings, or seeing how many free apps I can install until it breaks or shows signs of slow down. There’s always a silver lining if you look for it, and I have to remind myself that dealing with telecoms is rarely a smooth process when you have issues.

Do you have any suggestions for testing my temporary iPhone 3G? Do you want to know how many hours of continuous Youtube it will play before dying or catching on fire?

No responses yet

Iphone 3G Inaccurate Accelerometer

Aug 27 2008 Published by under Apple

If you couldn’t tell from my last post, I am somewhat infatuated with the new iPhone 3G. So with a lot of joy, I found a UPS box sitting on my counter top when I got home the other day. Inside, was the nicest phone I’d ever owned, but an hour later I knew I’d have to send it back!

The iPhone 3G, like the original iPhone and the iPod Touch, have accelerometers that sense the orientation of the device. Unfortunately, the iPhone 3G that I received had an inaccurate accelerometer. In fact, you could describe the tilt sensor as being ‘stuck’.

Using the Dual Level app that I downloaded from the iTune’s app store, I confirmed that my iPhone was getting incorrect readings from one of the accelerometers. Because of this defect, my phone believed that it was permanently placed in a landscape orientation. After witnessing the anomaly in a couple tilt-based games, and also when using the built-in calculator, I called up my telecom and got a replacement shipped out pronto.

Now here’s where it gets interesting. During the phone call to tech support, they had me reboot the iPhone a couple times and they also activated my SIM. By the end of the call, the accelerometer was no longer stuck, but it was still showing a heavy preference for the left landscape orientation — it wouldn’t even sense a right tilt. But then, several hours later, I noticed that it was suddenly responding to right tilt movements and that the Dual Level app was showing the accelerometer’s inaccuracy down to just ~15 degrees. Had the phone came like this, I probably would not have requested a replacement. However, the problem is more noticeable when apps, like games, delicately use the accelerometers. I could easily live with the phone in this state, but reselling it down the road could be a bit sketchy, and I have no plans to keep this thing into the next decade.

I’ve dealt with a lot of tech gadgets in my time, and to occasionally receive a defective product is not surprising at all. Sure, it’s disappointing, and I’d really like to start loading my iPhone with all sorts of apps and media and be on my merry way, but I’ll have to tough it out for a few more days while I wait for the replacement. In the meantime, I still get to use this almost-perfect iPhone, and it’s already made me realize that having a web browser in my pocket at 3G speeds is something that I’ll never be able to live without now that I’ve experienced it!

Do you own an iPhone or have an opinion about it? As much as I like the product, I am a bit weary of Apple’s quality control measures…

One response so far

Beatmaker for the iPhone 3G / iPod Touch

Aug 25 2008 Published by under Apple

The other day I was browsing through iPhone / iPod Touch apps, hoping to find something that would catch my interest because I am seriously considering getting an iPhone 3G.

I am ecstatic to report that there’s a whole lot more than just Super Monkey Ball to load up on the iPhone. The most exciting app I found is Beatmaker. This app is a surprisingly capable music sequencer that uses 16 touch pads to hold and playback audio samples that you can upload to the iPhone. If you don’t know much about samplers, sequencers and music composition in general, it’s not very hard to pick up. Basically, you strike the touch pads and they playback a short segment of sound (e.g. drums, stringed instruments, vocals, etc.). Then you record the pattern than you played and loop it. Finally, you can string together different loops for a song.

The app costs $19.95, which is relatively expensive compared to the other offerings at the iTunes Store, but with Beatmaker, you are getting a professionally developed app that has a lot of features and capabilities; don’t confuse this app with the torrent of amateur projects that you’ve seen released for the iPhone, in fact, check out some videos of it in action to see just how awesome it can be!

No responses yet

How To Buy a Macbook Air

Aug 22 2008 Published by under Apple

My regular backpack is looking pretty beat up. The zippers often get stuck, and on various places the bag looks worn and discolored. I think it’s time for a new bag, but what kind of replacement should I get? I’ve used shoulder bags in the past, but I never found their capacity large enough to carry all my gear. But then again, shoulder bags have some nice advantages: they’re a lot more fashionable to wear, and in hotter weather they don’t contribute to excessive sweating by smothering the back.

How do I decide what to buy? Well, if I want to look cool I’ll need to get a shoulder bag, but this means I’ll have to lighten my load somehow. So what in my daily arsenal weighs the most? My 5.5 lbs laptop. It’s unfortunate, but there’s no way to remedy this problem without completely replacing it. That’s the tough reality of ditching my juvenile backpack!

What are my choice of laptops? Since last year I’ve been very happy with OS X, so I’ll have to stick with Apple products for now. This narrows my options down to two notebook models: the Macbook or the Macbook Air (my current laptop is a Macbook Pro). Obviously, there is only one real choice here — the super sleek and sexy Macbook Air! It’s literally made for slender luggage.

So there you have it. I have successfully traversed, using flawed but deeply satisfying logic, from buying a $60 bag to owning a Macbook Air. Now I just have to wait until the Penryn upgraded models are announced before I put in my Christmas-in-September pre-order.

What’s the most outrageous or expensive thing you’ve bought using this style of reasoning?

No responses yet

« Newer posts