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Keeping abreast of disappointing Apple products

Does anyone have the young nympho's number?

Comments The iPhone continues to dominate this week, with many comments telling us or fellow readers to shut up. Nobody seems to have any intention of doing so, which is as it should be.

Reg reviewer Cade Metz decided to return his iPhone and moaned about the restocking fee. This led to a great many comments. As usual, there was a difference of views and a slight altercation:

Maybe the problem is you? I know that the iPhone isn't for everyone, and never could be. But I find it funny that you seem to think that just because YOU don't like it suddenly it's a bad phone, and that you are SOOO intellectual because you don't like the phone. I mean you certainly could be, but this article doesn't prove it. My issue is not so much that you don't like the thing, it's that you seem to look down your nose at those that do enjoy the phone, and don't have a problem using it.

Anon


A lot of my co-workers asked me if I was going to buy an iPhone when they came out. I answered 'no' for the reasons that Dan had stated, plus the fact that I don't exactly *have* $500 or so lying around. (if I did, I'd be replacing my 2 year old Sidekick II with either a CrackBerry or a the newer iteration of the sidekick.)

If people pressed the point, I tell them that I'm waiting for the six months or so to pass to see how well the devices stand up to Joe Consumer pressing his greasy hands on it, and for various and sundry bug fixes.

J. Cook


I'm not surprised the author returned the iPhone (and I am certainly not surprised to see the person attacking the author posted anonymously). I have had a smart-phone for years now and when I read the list of so-called features the iPhone would sport, my only comment was "yeah.... and...?" I simply couldn't believe that there wasn't an "..and..." to this list, considering how much of a "new paradigm" this phone was supposed to be.

Oh, and before someone posts about my being an "Apple-basher", I'd like to point out I refuse to upgrade to Vista for exactly the same reason... I read the list of features and... well... was utterly un-enthralled. I am now working on downloading all of the MS patches I can make myself a XP SP3 CD before MS cans XP support to force us to upgrade.

Aubrey Thuron


I have been considering getting an iPhone when they come out in Europe. Considering, I should add. Naturally, because I don't want to waste a large chunk of cash, I have been reading all of the reviews. All of the good things, bad things, annoyances, niggles and omissions are all very clearly detailed all over the internet.

Surely other people did this too before rushing out to queue up with a wedge of cash, and therefore should have known what to expect?

Tony Chandler


Apple fans have had their work cut out this week, because on top of the continuing iPhone frenzy we ran an article in which freelancer Emily Turner detailed her experience with Apple support after being burned by a MagSafe cable. The response kicked off with a 'The Register hates Apple' spiel. Yes Anon, yes we do.

What are you doing trying to burn DVDs and CDs? The feature is clearly just unimplemented so that Apple could push out a better product and I'm sure it'll be fixed in a future upgrade. As for the cable, it's obvious that you shouldn't use electrics anywhere that they could start a fire and just because your cable burned and a few others, it's not the majority of users, in fact, every review I've seen of the MacBook is amazing! Just because the Register hates Apple, they write a new article knocking wonderful Mr. Jobs every second day. What a joke.

As for getting a courier, it IS rocket science, and complaining about the logic board is silly when it lets you do so much cool stuff. Look at PCs, their hard drives burn out every couple of days!

Anon


Apple are completly useless at fixing their products. I have an iPod nano, after a few months the headphone sockets stopped working (no apparent reason, not dropped it on the floor, off a 5 story building or in a lake), did the sensible thing and tried several different headphone, including some of apple's own. Nothing. So The courier turned up and took it off to the repair center. As directed I had put a note in with it to tell the monkeys at the repair center exactly what was wrong. I got it back a few days later telling me it was fine and no, there wasn't a problem with the battery. Battery?!?! I rang up again and again and finally got it fixed. That was a year ago and I'm still waiting on my 'compensation'. Next time I think I'll avoid the iPod section.

Louise


So you got a lemon. Boo Hoo.

Telling people you can't run a business off an Apple because of this is just stupid.

I'm sure you could have borrowed/rented one for a month. Where are your business contingency plans?

Would you have gone fifty-whatever days without a car if that had failed? No, you would sort something out wouldn't you.

Then you complain about a free upgrade to a MacBook Pro? Well there's just no pleasing you is there?

Get Real.

Mark Fell-Crook


If i had a pound for every time i've heard a story like this for any kind of computer on the market i'd be a millionaire.

The authors case is unfortunate, and is presented in a somewhat melodramatic fashion. One has to question the sensibility in leaving a computer to charge under a sofa and on the carpet, aside from potential heat issues it could cause, it also presents a fire risk, something which may have also contributed to the state of electrical damage which occured.

Thing is manafacturing defects and product issues happen to people in general, as do servicing issues. It's just a case of lucking out to have it happen to you, and yeah it would be highly annoying, but keep some perspective.

If it was really a common issue you'd hear a general uproar about it and it would generate a fair degree of publicity, but it hasn't, because for all the people who may have issues, it's still not that common.

Apple's done recalls before for their batteries, but it's something of great expense to a company, and when it only affects a small percentage of people it's often measured as a minor business risk compared to the expense of a product recall

Also sure there was a fair bit of hassle, but the machine the writer ended up with was a far superior machine by comparison, and will be a much greater investment, so in some respects the writer is lucky to have such issues in terms of short term hassle, but long term gain.

And really.... did it take this for the author to realise that leaving electrical equipment near flammable material is not the smartest idea?

Anon


The sad truth is that most companies these days seem to have crap so called 'customer support'. I guess some bean counter decides that it's cheaper to piss off a few people, rather than offering first class support.

Unfortunately, most computers are made in the far east these days and you inevitably seem to get the occasional turkey.

One point I would make is that if your business depends on use of a computer it's a bit risky to rely on just one machine. You should really have a backup machine in case of problems.

Jeff Paffet

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