I’ve had my black and slate 16gb iPhone 5 for 21 days. The iPhone 5 has been riddled with issues, from faulty manufacturing to poorly thought out engineering: nearly as many people received iPhones with damage or blemishes right out of the box as did perfect ones, and now, it appears the anodized aluminum back and side casing may be prone to spontaneous bending, warping the phone to the point that it will not lie flat and causing the housing to separate back from front. Even Steve Wozniak has admitted that Apple got “arrogant” with the iPhone 5. The Apple co-founder, by the way, is a major fan of Android as well as iOS, and he’s known for his unbiased but frank opinions.
Aside from my own scuffgate episode, which has still not been resolved and isn’t likely to be anytime soon since Foxconn has launched an open rebellion against Apple’s recently tightened QC standards, I feel lucky that I haven’t experienced the other issues — yet. But I have to admit I’m afraid. Very afraid. I’m afraid I’ll wake up with a warped phone one morning for no good reason. I’m afraid that my aluminum was improperly heated and cooled during the anodization process, or machined incorrectly as evidence currently suggests, and that I’ll be stuck with a very expensive lemon of a phone.
I even dreamed about it last night. I had a genuine nightmare that my phone suddenly took on the silhouette of one of Batmans’s miniature boomerangs, and Apple told me it was normal for aluminum to shape shift over time.
Should a person have to feel this insecure and anxious over a smartphone? Especially an iPhone? I really enjoy the Apple ecosystem. I love my iPad, my Macbook Pro, the family iMac. I love that my son’s phone uses the same OS as mine, so we can easily share photos and media, send iMessages, use Find My Friends and other things. But I hate this feeling that I’ve got a piece of poorly thought out trash on my hands that might have been semi-cool 25 months ago and made out of more durable stuff: yes, even nice, flexible plastic or polycarbonate, like the Samsung phones, which don’t seem to take damage from simple things like giving it the occasional nasty look during a moment of frustration.
During World War II, it was appropriate for the British to bolster their flagging spirits with the phrase “keep calm and carry on,” but in 2012, we shouldn’t have to keep repeating it like a mantra, over a smartphone. This isn’t a world war. It’s an expensive consumer device that has cost Apple in ways yet to be seen in terms of trust and reputation in the mobile industry — and unlike in 2007, today we have plenty of alternatives. Signs indicate that we are electing to choose them.
The Samsung Galaxy Note II will be here in a couple more weeks, and I still have a few days to return this iPhone 5 to Best Buy. And you know what? I just might do it.
Why not try a Samsung or Nokia WP7? Or maybe wait for any of the upcoming WP8 phones? They won’t have any of the security flaws/holes that Android has.
I’ve thought about Windows Phone 8, especially some of the new Nokias. I just don’t use Windows anywhere else in my life (except on one of my work computers) so that whole, unified “lifestyle” aspect wouldn’t be there. With Android, it’s kind of a non issue since Google is so ubiquitous anyway across all platforms.
Actually, I don’t think the instances of these really horrific iPhone 5 problems are as widespread as some of the forums I read lead me to believe. I’m kind of OCD about my iPhone, so I really shouldn’t read them at all.
My own iPhone really isn’t that bad, and I don’t have any good reason to think it’s going to cave in on itself or snap in two while sitting alone on a tabletop. Just had a bit of a panic, I suppose. I’m over it now.
What one company ships 5 million of ANYthing inedible in one weekend? Even providing for a quite respectable defect rate of 2% (ala Panasonic, the most reliable HDTV brand, and HDTVs are significantly less complex than the latest microcomputer), that’s 100,000 defective units shipped – just in the first 3 days. In today’s “always on” socioblogopathy, it’s not surprising these incidents would be documented and left to fester and amplify in the echo chamber surrounding the world’s most valuable company.
The IBTimes has a list of known Galaxy S III issues about as long as The iPhone 5′s. Where’s the clamor? I think it follows the glamour. Samsung defects aren’t sexy in a link-baiting interworld. And in the end, Apple pays the expected price for being the biggest kid on the block. Everybody watches you very closely.
If viewed from some measure of distance and perspective, I suspect you’ll have no problem keeping calm and, indeed, carrying on
Yes, you’re reasonable and correct. Between your reassurances, the barely detectable cosmetic flaws in hard to see places on my iPhone, and my psych meds, I should be able to finally lay all of this to rest now.