Apple's IPhone 3G Firmware Update Bombs

JagsLive writes "After lots of complaints about iPhone 3G connection issues, Apple released a firmware update Monday with hopes it would fix the issues. But early reports suggest it didn't work as planned. Complaints have included dropped calls, abrupt network switches, poor reception, and service interruptions. Apple declined to offer details about its iPhone 2.0.1 update, other than saying it included 'bug fixes.' However, comments in Apple's support forum say plenty about the latest attempt to rectify poor user experiences. In fact, the update seems to be causing new issues, apparently interfering with the GPS function, among others."

2.0.1?

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

The crap linked article doesn't even get the version number right - I recommend reading ars techinca's take [arstechnica.com] (the amusingly named Hope you didn't plan to actually make calls on iPhone 2.0.2) or even Apple insider. [appleinsider.com]

I for one welcome our new haha overlords.

terrible article

[jettoblack]

First off, the firmware that was just released was 2.0.2, not 2.0.1 which had been out for a while already. Second, Apple never claimed that this update contains the 3G fix. As usual, they have been secretive and cryptic about what the update actually contains, but this was just a minor update, not the big radio firmware fix we've been waiting for. And finally, although a few people have complained about the GPS in the new version, most of the reports seem to indicate that the GPS has IMPROVED.

Disclaimer: I own an iPhone and am suffering from the 3G issues. I'm certainly no fan of the way Apple has handled this so far, but this article is just a pointless and error-filled troll.

Re:2.0.1?

[lymond01]

Well, in the summary's defense, they were referring to 2.0.1 and the lack of information Apple put out about that one. But the new update (unnumbered in the summary) has "plenty of information", at least from the people who had the misfortune of installing it.

Anyway, thanks for the links.

I have 2.0.2

[TofuMatt]

For what it's worth, I have a 16GB White 3G iPhone that I bought about a week after launch, and have had no call issues (call quality is actually reported by people I talk to as being "amazing"), no GPS issues, etc.

The first weekend I had it I lost internet and had to restart it, and since then have had no issues with big things like GPS/3G/etc. I updated to 2.0.2 last night and used the GPS in town and it was actually super-fast and stable.

That said, the contact/SMS slowdown business, and somewhat crash-happiness it exhibits haven't gone away, although seem somewhat better. 3rd-party apps, especially games (I'm looking at you: Super Monkey Crash-a-million-times Ball) seem really rushed and quick to fail.

Some of us are having no problems...

[CitizenDan]

I'm running 2.0.2 on a 3G with no visible issues so far. In fact, 2.0.2 fixed a lot of the app slowness that I was seeing, especially the Contacts app, which previously had a 5-10 second lag when starting. With 2.0.2 the contacts app is usable as soon as it opens up. As for the 3G problems, the 3G coverage in the areas move between is less than stellar, so I typically just leave 3G off.

Re:So what?

[BronsCon]

The only interesting part is that iPhone users can drive the software update process without it being forced upon them by the carrier, and/or users can upgrade it without having to buy a rarely-available cable.

As can BlackBerry users. With a standard mini-USB cable. And the software included on the CD that comes with the device.

Exactly. AT&T Employee admits problem with net

[aristotle-dude]

Check out this quote from this page:

"After complaining to a manager, Goodman was able to get a replacement unit, but the reception issues persisted. On Thursday, he was told by an AT&T customer service representative that its cell towers are having trouble recognizing the iPhone 3G on the network, and that a fix was forthcoming."

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-10017657-37.html?tag=nefd.lede [cnet.com]

This is the first comment by an AT&T employee where they appear to admit that these issues are partially their fault. Did I call it or what? I bet they decided to call Fido as I suggested on various boards and ended up finding something.

Re:The update was to 2.0.2

[Mad Quacker]

2.0.1 was the last update 2.0.2 is the most recent. And for the record my first gen iPhone works fine. The update fixed the slow typing bug and the battery drain bug. I don't know yet if it fixed the shuffle my home screen icons bug. True I wish Apple would give a complete change log. It sure would make it easier for us to give them feedback about those bugs if we knew what they were.

Well let me prefix this with "I love my iPhone 3G, but..." *cough* yeah right..

Apple doesn't want feedback. It's a privilege to use their products, if you don't like it, you know where to take it.

The audiobook reader speed adjustment is *STILL* broken on my 5G iPod, I haven't dared to try on my iPhone 3G. Apple will never fix it. I'm afraid the same applies for many bugs on the iPhone.

And no, I still have the slow keyboard bug with 2.0.2, except now my contacts list of 60 is unresponsive for up to 30 seconds after launching it. Excellent!!

My experience... bad gets worse.

[froboy11]

(Before the happenings of this post, I had replaced the SIM cards in my and my wife's 3G iPhone's once previously, about 2 weeks ago, with no significant improvement in service.) After updating to 2.0.2 I am completely unable to make or receive calls when 3G is enabled. Disabling 3G while standing in the same location results in 3-5 bars of EDGE, and turning on 3G again results in "No Service" (when previously the phone would at least drop down to EDGE when 3G was unavailable). Also, even with 3-5 bars of EDGE, I had 5 calls last night that did not ring at all to my phone (I got the voicemails about 30 min later). Disabling Wifi, doing a Network Reset, and rebooting did nothing to resolve the issue. I reported these issues to AT&T Technical Support after getting bounced to Apple and then back, and requested a refund for the month or so of incredibly poor phone service that I've received. The representative was happy to comply, discounting a significant portion of next month's bill. I refuse to pay for poor phone service, and I suggest any who are having issues do the same until these problems are resolved.

Location features not working since 2.0.0

[Builder]

The location feature on every 1st gen iPhone I know of (around 12) have not been working since the 2.0.0 update. Apple say that they know about this, but there has been no sign of a fix yet :(

2.0.2 vs 2.0.1 wifi issues

[eegad]

Here's a practical experience from last night: I upgraded to 2.0.2 the night it came out. Last night I was sitting next to a friend in a coffee shop who still had 2.0.1. We both joined the coffee shop's public wifi network. She was able to surf, but I kept getting connection errors and freezes and was not even able to view a web page. And as I was sitting in the coffee shop in the middle of a major metropolis, my signal bars kept fluctuating from 3 to 0. In conclusion, :(((((

Re: a free pass?

[jmpeax]

I got the distinct impression that results were quite mixed. A good percentage of people reported about 1 more bar of signal strength on the 3g network than they saw before the update

It appears that Apple may have changed how many bars are displayed for different signal strengths. [apple.com]

That could explain the contradictory information.

Re:Disabled Apps

[e4g4]

The issue you're having is DRM induced - the phone needs to be reauthorized to run the software installed. Install a new app from the app store (anything, even a free app) and you should be good to go.

Re:Oh, come on

[SoulRider]

Its only $200 stop blowing the price out of proportion.

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[mmkkbb]

But the chances of that happening are zero. apple has never did a recall and replace of defective equipment.

Not true, there have been numerous defective logic board and battery replacement programs.

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[Idaho]

Tweak the firmware so the hardware issues are less obvious. Drop to edge quicker.

Yes, except that several European countries do not have an Edge network (we went straight from GPRS to UMTS/3G), so people *will* notice if they do that. The issues have been quite widely reported in the Netherlands, also in mainstream news.

I predict more drama bombs if it turns out this is indeed what the update is mostly about...

Re:Obligatory...

[Achromatic1978]

The Nokia model numbers are generally fairly logical to deduce (though could always be easier).

• 1000 series - Ultrabasic series
• 2000 series - Basic series
• 3000 series - Expression series
• 5000 series - Active series
• 6000 series - Classic Business series
• 7000 series - Fashion and Experimental series
• 8000 series - Premium series
• 9000 series - Communicator series (discontinued)
• E series - Enterprise series
• N series - Multimedia Computer series

Within each series, typically, the higher the number, the better, newer the model.

And they won't sell the same models under 3 other names with yet different model numbers: an AT&T version, a Sprint version, and a Verizon version.

No, but if they ever did it cross-platform they'd end up with the iPhone Sprint, instead. Hint: this joke is an affectation of the carrier, not the manufacturer, either wanting custom firmware or using different radio frequencies. So unless you want either a) to stick with one carrier for your phone offering, or b) are planning on getting a six-plus band radio installed in it, whoever you are, you'll be making different models for the US carriers. It's a sad travesty that any other tri/quad band phone can work with every other carrier on the planet (leaving aside GSM vs CDMA etc), yet you can't get a GSM phone in the US that'll work on all US GSM networks, everywhere (pockets of [unique]mhz coverage only).

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[timster]

I haven't seen any official source that was that specific -- even the notion that the 2.0.2 update was supposed to fix the 3G issues seems unsupported. Any references?

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[voidptr]

Never?

They just announced TWO yesterday.. One for bad batteries in first-gen iPod nanos that stopped being sold in December 2006, and one for MagSafe adapters with bad connectors on the end.

Can no longer sync after loading 2.0.2

[MirthScout]

No problems with using my iPhone 3G with the 2.0.2 firmware. Updating from 2.0.1 to 2.0.1 was and still is a problem though.
I started the update in iTunes.
iTunes downloaded the 2.0.2 firmware and started the update.
About 40 to 60 minutes later iTunes reports a problem updating my iPhone and the iPhone is in recovery mode. You must restore this iPhone from backup before iTunes can ...
So I restore the iPhone.
iTunes then gives me the choice to setup as a new iPhone or restore from an existing backup.
About 60 minutes later the restore from backup is done but same iTunes screen is present: setup as a new iPhone or restore from an existing backup.
With seemingly no other choice I chose restore from existing backup and clicked continue again.
Another 60 minutes or so...
Same setup screen in iTunes!
OK. Disconnect iPhone. Power off iPhone. Close iTunes. Logout.
Login. Start iTunes. Power on iPhone. Connect iPhone. Same damn iTunes setup screen: setup as new iPhone or restore from existing backup.

With that Setup screen in iTunes you don't get the iPhone sync screen. No new music, no new apps, sync of data, no new backup. No control of the iPhone from iTunes at all.

The iPhone itself has all of the data and apps exactly as before upgrading to 2.0.2 and reports that it is running 2.0.2. It works just as before except the battery is definitely not draining as fast today and it won't sync with iTunes.

It was late last night when I was done with the above. I'll call for support when I get home today.

Re:It's all Steve Jobs' fault for yelling

[randyest]

Shielding does not improve radio reception or transmission. There are no heat problems with the 3G iphone. You are confused. And the grandparent is lying; the same team, including its leader, did the RF for iphone and iphone 3G.

Re:2.0.1?

[sbeckstead]

I installed it and it works fine. Don't know what all the fluster is about.

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[gunnk]

That's what I have: 2.02. No problems here.

Nothing to see, move along...

Re:Tough to fix hardware issue with firmware patch

[PC and Sony Fanboy]

since when does 2nd gen end product = first try? Usually, it means 2nd try. Or 2nd revision... or something other than first.

Re:Obligatory...

[DECS]

Take a closer look at your list of Apple failures:

Apple didn't sell the Bandai Pippin, which is why it was the Bandai Pippin and not the Apple Pippin. Bandai licensed a Mac reference design and failed for a number of reasons.

The Newton was more successful than any other PDA until the much cheaper and much less capable Palm Pilot came out. The PDA market was impossible for Palm to sustain and WinCE hadn't been able to do anything with it either. In ten years, the global market for PDAs is at 680,000 units per quarter and dropped 50% year over year, according to Gartner.

The Cube was a luxury PC shipped right as the dotcom bubble popped.

Is the MacBook Air Another Cube? [roughlydrafted.com]

Now look at the iPhone: highly publicized reception problems and third party app instability. Wow, fresh territory for a mobile phone huh? At the same time, Apple has 79% of its users claiming to be very satisfied. Even RIM's BlackBerry only gets around 50%.

Apple is selling the iPhone 3G hand over fist. It's releasing regular updates, and promises additional fixes next month.

Compare that to Microsoft, which plans to release the next Windows Mobile 7 at the end of 2009 (!).

Will Windows Mobile Play DOS to Apple's iPhone? [roughlydrafted.com]

The industry is full of analysts who desperately need to contain the iPhone's success for their clients. It should come as no surprise that "Nomura analyst Richard Windsor" is repeating his claim from last year that there will "possibly" be a massive recall of iPhones due to some plausible-sounding technical issue that does not add up.

Last year it was a faulty heat-sensing touch layer that didn't even exist. Now it's the Infineon 3G chipset that works fine in Samsung phones.

The iPhone has collected a group of telco stooges fronting for Verizon, Nokia, and Sony Ericsson that make Windows Enthusiasts Rob Enderle, Paul Thurrott, and Mike Elgan look amateurs.

Inside the iPhone 3G dropped call complaints [roughlydrafted.com]