{"id":57,"date":"2010-08-15T10:27:25","date_gmt":"2010-08-15T17:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/?p=57"},"modified":"2010-08-16T10:15:20","modified_gmt":"2010-08-16T17:15:20","slug":"why-i-returned-the-iphone-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/2010\/08\/why-i-returned-the-iphone-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Why I Returned the iPhone 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

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It was nearly a month ago when I got the email “Your iPhone is waiting at the Apple Store”\u00a0from the Apple Store. My friend and I quickly took the train down to SoHo so I could finally become a proud iPhone 4 owner. From the issues I kept running into on my iPhone 3g running iOS4 <\/a>I couldn’t be any happier with new hardware that could handle the new features in the OS. The retina display and the speed alone completely obliterated my 2nd generation iPhone. With the exception of changing the word “Delete” to “Archive” in emails, Apple has really mastered the UX of the touch interface to the point where even babies<\/a> can use it.<\/p>\n

Even though the iPhone 4 is a 4th generation iPhone, the complete redesign of the hardware technically makes it the 1st generation of its respective form factor. And I guess that’s what puts early adopters in such a risky position. I’ve had my fair share of 1st gen issues, especially on the 1st gen iPod Touch and it’s “negative black<\/a>” effect. But I got it replaced, and had no more issues. From yellow screens<\/a> to the now infamous “antennagate<\/a>,” it’s pretty obvious that iPhone 4 hardware design is flawed.<\/p>\n

The first day I got the phone, I noticed something was already wrong with the unit. When we got out the subway station, the phone would not connect back to the network, and would read “No Signal.” I was confused, asking my friend if she had signal on her phone and wondering if it was just because we were in a spot with terrible reception. No, in fact she had full bars. I restarted the phone and was back on the network, so I shrugged that issue off. Then it happened again, and again, and again, every time I was coming out of subway stations.<\/p>\n

I brought the issue up with a Genius at the Genius Bar and he decided to reset the network settings and told me to restore the phone if it was still happening, but he noticed that the reception on the phone was acting a little more strange than other iPhones. I found it extremely amusing that he was testing reception issues and showing me how other iPhone 4s should act by holding it in the “death grip.” He took note of the issue and told me that if the problem still persisted, to come back and to get it swapped.<\/p>\n

Low and behold, still got the problem, even after a restore, so I took it in for a swap. Another Genius read the notes that the first one left and after hesitating and making me seem like I was just trying anything to get a new device, decided to give me a “1-time courtesy replacement” as if he was doing me a favor. So I was on my 2nd device now, and extremely happy I didn’t have this “No Signal” issue anymore. However, I did notice that the battery life was much more terrible than my 1st device. Then I started making phone calls and as if the phone was a zombie, started dropping calls or switching to speakerphone during conversation. Another widespread issue, proximity sensor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And then the reoccurring rumors of the fabled CDMA iPhone started flying again. I never had issues with the carrier, but as I was reading a particular article<\/a>, this particular excerpt stood out:<\/p>\n

Sources with knowledge of this entire situation have assured me that Apple has submitted orders for millions of units of Qualcomm CDMA chipsets for a Verizon iPhone run due in December. This production run would likely be for a January launch, and I\u2019d bet the phone is nearly 100% consistent with the current iPhone 4 (with a fixed internal insulator on the antenna).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Could it be that Apple was revising the hardware design? I quickly became optimistic and decided that maybe it was time to return my iPhone before my 30-days was up, and wait it out for a few months to see if they really do come out with a fix. So I packed everything back up in the box, headed down to SoHo and returned the iPhone 4.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

So I’m back using the iPhone 3g, enduring the sluggishness of iOS4, and staying optimistic that I’ll have an iPhone 4 again in the future.<\/p>\n

Update<\/strong>: Erik<\/a> just told me that you can change “Archive” back to “Delete” in the mail settings. Apparently “Archive” would move emails from your inbox into another folder for “All Mail.” Here’s the tutorial I found on how to revert back to the “Delete” process: http:\/\/www.gilsmethod.com\/delete-gmail-emails-ios4<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It was nearly a month ago when I got the email “Your iPhone is waiting at the Apple Store”\u00a0from the Apple Store. My friend and I quickly took the train down to SoHo so I could finally become a proud iPhone 4 owner. From the issues I kept running into on my iPhone 3g running […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[30,31],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-personal","tag-apple","tag-iphone"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/65"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jeffsoo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}