iPhones "just work" - Stop the nonsense.... (3G, Verizon, computer)

[Peregrine]

Yea, I am doing it. Bashing the iPhone. Bear with me.

/Disclaimer: This is ONLY to rant about "those people" that think the iPhone is SO PERFECT, and that inane comment I hear all the time from the Fanbois: "It just works". Nails on chalkboard.

It just works, huh?
Prior to iOS5, you HAD to connect your phone to a computer before you could activate it. Go to Verizon, buy a phone, TAKE IT HOME and activate it. That's "just working"? With ANY other phone it was just *228. Literally took about 3 minutes.
OK, so they fixed that in iOS5. Cool.

Got my wife the new iPhone. Upgrading from the 4.
She calls me at work
"Can I do this myself?"
"You can try, honey."





I explain to her

• Install iTunes (new computer at home)
• and do a BACKUP of your old phone
• and connect your new phone
• and do a restore to the new phone.

Easy cheesy, right? Worked pretty good on her iPad.

Well that takes AN HOUR. 10-15 minutes to download and install iTunes. A few minutes to find BACKUP. 20 minutes to backup iPhone 4. Another 10 screwing around. 10 to restore iPhone.

She calls me: "I have none of my text msgs. The phone works. I have my email. I have NONE of my apps. I have half of my contacts."

-sigh- Here we go... with that phone that JUST WORKS.

I get home:
"O honey, you didn't activate this computer in iTunes."
"Acti-what???"
Wait, where's that menu bar that Apple thinks I don't need apparently?? O yea... CRTL-B to bring it back. Had to Google that because it's just oso intuitive.
I activate it.
Figured out the problem. Her 4 is called "Carrie's iPhone" in iTunes. Her 5 is called.... can you guess??? "Carrie's iPhone". BRILLIANT. She restored the wrong backup or something because it isn't real clear which phone backup she restored. Huh?

Ok, now we need to connect your old phone and TRANSFER PURCHASES from the 4 to the PC.
Really? Why wouldn't this just happen automatically? It JUST WORKS, right?
Connect 5. Go to FILE > DEVICE > ... um... it says TRANSFER PURCHASES FROM IPHONE5. No, no, no I want to put them ON the 5.
Google. Getting crap results. All the Apple sites that come up refer to iTunes 10. Really?
I click over to Apps. O... there they are. Select them all, and drag them to the right. A pane opens: iPhone 5. Drop in the pane. Didn't work? I thought it JUST WORKED?
Ohhh, you need to drop ON TO the iPhone5 icon/name. Y'know, in case you have like 6 iDevices hooked up you wouldn't want to drop them on the wrong device.
Do that. It JUST WORKS, finally.
Really, Apple people? Really? You call this JUST WORKING??

You know what happens when I switch Android phones? No?
I walk through the 2 minute setup. Enter my username and password. And everything synchs. Automatically.
You know what happens when I switch Windows phones? No?
Same thing.
You know what happes when I switch Blackberry's? No?
Ok... I don't either. (lol) (I do, comic relief, and it's not all that easy either).

As I ALWAYS say on this forum. I love ALL technology. Do NOT call me anti-Apple.
I am anti-"it just works" people.

I love the 5. I really do!!
It is SO damn slim. So sexy. So light in the hands. How did they make it THIS LIGHT? Unreal! Adore the profile.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new connector that so many whine about. You can insert it EASILY in any direction. GENIUS! (Why they didn't go with the incredible magnet connector from the laptops, I just don't know).
The camera on the 5, bar none, is the best I've ever used on a phone.
Call quality is near the best I've used.
The keyboard has always been great.

Viva La Competiton!

But just STOP with the insanity of this "it just works" comment. Please? It can be a PITA! Take off the rose colored glasses.

Lastly, before some fanboi comes along and says it, let me just answer the question that I know will get asked: why didn't I just use iCloud to backup and transfer?
Here you go.
Because my wife signed up for iCloud the day it came out. Yep!
We had a baby 2 years ago. My wife has taken over 3,000 pictures on her iPhone. Guess what started popping up 6 months after she signed up for iCloud?
"Your iCloud account is out of room and unable to back up your account anymore".... EVERY DAMN DAY....
Really? O yea... because Apple wants me to pay for more space.

That's just working baby.

[Peregrine]

/Disclaimer2/ Switching Android phones as I stated above will NOT bring back all your texts. You need an app for that.
Slight advantage: iPhone.

[MikeJaquish]

Jitterbug "just works."

[shmoov_groovzsd]

5 years ago, I would have completely disagreed with you as smart phones were simply horrific to put it mildly.

Fast forward to now and its like calling the Honda Accord or Toyota Camry, back then, the car of the future

[RedZin]

I dunno. I worked part-time in an AT&T store back during grad school. Activating phones took forever. This was in 2004. First iPhone came out in 2007. No subsidy. Only way to activate was through iTunes at home. Took nearly 24 hours due to AT&T system overload.

I reckon every other year was so easy in comparison that it never occurred to me that late adopters might be confused by it.

[Fargobound]

Regardless of what phone deity you subscribe to, a phone just needs to work. To me a phone is just an appliance, and I don’t remember the last time I invited someone to checkout my toaster.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

Jitterbug "just works."

Wait til you upgrade to Jitterbug 5.0!
LOL

I am hardly a "late adopter", meh.
Didn't say I was confused. Just remarking how it didn't JUST WORK.

[Mr5150]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't seem to have the issues that one finds mentioned on this forum. Come to think of it I can't recall any of my friends or coworkers have said issues.

Got my first iPhone a year ago. It took about the same time to set up (in the ATT store) as my previous flip phone. Three months ago my wife upgraded her 3GS to a 4S. The process took about the same time to complete as I experienced. Was told how to tranfer her apps. Took all of five minutes. I then downloaded her photos from her 3GS into the Pictures section of my Windows 7 desktop. Easy. I connected the phone to the desktop, it detected the phone, I clicked the folder and did a copy and paste.

Sure the texts didn't transfer, but so what. They remained in the 3GS for review-if desired.

I'm not saying the problems mention here don't or didn't happen. It just seems that for the vast majority eveything goes smoothly or requires some sort of a learning curve.

Sorry that the OP's wife had problems.

[jdhall1]

My Iphone 3G contract was up last week but I haven't been to the sotre yet to upgrade. I have issues with it including the phone chargers being non functional, the car charger not working with it, a SIM card that decided not to work, a few days where I had full service at the house but couldn't answer calls or text messages, apps randomly closing and taking forever to reload minimized safari pages. The phone just working with 6 months left on the contract and there was nothing they could do for it without me either breaking the contract for a few hundred dollars and getting a new phone or purchasing the cheapest 3G phone at the apple store without a special new contract for $150. It took several tries to get music to sync to the phone from laptop.These are just the issues I remember.

I got the Iphone with the $49 AT&T special promotion. Needless to say, the Iphone 4 or 5 will not be in my future.

[Peregrine]

Originally Posted by Mr5150

or requires some sort of a learning curve.

But it's SO much easier then Android! It just works! If you want the easiest phone evar(!) get the iPhone.

Thanks for backing me up there.
There is NO learning curve on an Android. Log in. That's it.
It JUST WORKS.