The real problem with iPhone4

I am an Apple developer. I've ridden the roller coaster of AppStore deployment and always come off the ride ready for the next one. I cherished my 3G. I've experienced the rush of WWDC, and I've stood in awe on the grounds of the mother ship. I openly mocked the iPad, then fell in love with it when i actually came into possession of one.

You could say I am a fan of Apple.

I fought through the reservation system issues when the iPhone4 was announced. I stood in line 5 hours on the day of the launch. Looking back, it was all a little silly. I don't regret it in the least. The past few weeks with my iPhone4 have been great. The camera is incredible. The screen is incredible. I've felt in almost every way it's delivered on Steve Jobs' promises.

Last night, the honeymoon ended.

My problem is not with the antenna. In all honesty, i don't care about how easy it is to choke the signal from the phone. I understand that some people may want a phone that they can hold in whatever fashion they want to make long uninterrupted phone calls with. The iPhone4 may not be for those people.

The phone functionality is the functionality i care least about. It's true. I like apps and games. I like the email client. I like the calendar. I like safari. I like the camera. I like using my phone as a garage door opener. The phone aspect is a distant last in the things i like to do with my iPhone.

Because i don't care about the phone part, i don't particularly care about the antenna issues. I figure that no product is perfect. When one buys a car, there is usually some compromise. You can't get the sports car AND haul a lot of luggage around. You can't have a serious off road machine and a wonderful silky ride. The best you can do is find a product that excels at what you like to do, and pools it's weaknesses in areas that you don't care about.

That's exactly how i feel about the antenna issue. I know it's there. It's a valid critique if that's what you want an iPhone4 for, but it's a non issue to me.

So what happened last night that brought my world crashing down?

I dropped my phone.

I was seated on my patio. I reached to pull my phone from my cargo shorts pocket. When i unbuttoned the flap, gravity beat me to my phone and pulled it two feet down to the patio surface. My heart skipped. A series of clacks arose below me and were swallowed by the darkness. It only took a second.

I carefully retrieved the phone from the ground. I didn't know what to expect. My 3G had certainly taken worse spills than this. I prepared myself for scratches or a ding in the metal casing.

As I brought my phone back into the light i felt some relief. The face was bright and free of any marks. It didn't take long for the true nature of the phone's injury to reveal itself though. I could feel pockmarks in the back. Turning the phone over revealed the horrific spiderweb of cracks that now infused the surface. This seemed bad.

At this point There wasn't much i could do. I made an appointment with the genius bar as soon as i could and hoped that the genius would look upon my plight with mercy.

The brand of mercy offered at the genius bar wasn't quite as benevolent as i had hopped. They told me standard phone replacement is $200, but, because they felt bad, they would replace it for $100.

I thought this over a bit. $100 seemed steep. I considered a couple of other options.

I had looked online during the day and found rear glass panels available from china for $11. I consider myself a handy guy and i feel i could easily dismantle and reassemble the phone. I could replace the panel myself.

I could also just own the damage. Maybe if i put some duct tape over the back it would prevent the glass from slowly splintering away. Maybe it would look cool too. Anyone can have a sleek iPhone, but none would have the time tested character of my duct tape encased monstrosity. In time something that is legitimately covered by my AppleCare might turn up, and i could be eligible for a nice trade in then.

I asked about the likely outcomes of my two options. Surprisingly the genius said if i replaced the back competently, it was likely nobody would ever know and my warranty would remain intact. He did caution that if i were to fail, i would be in a worse situation. What really surprised me though was his answer to my second proposal. If i were to simply mask the cracks, i would not be covered for any other phone defect in the future. That's right. Because the cracks look bad, they would simply assume my phone was heavily damaged.

Let me expound upon this situation. My iPhone4 suffered a fall that i have never seen a phone not handle. Indeed, nothing major seemed to happen to my phone. It still works fine. I don't believe the damage is anything but cosmetic. I'd like it to be fixed because it seems as though the glass will continue to splinter and break off in dangerous shards, but it certainly seems like the internals of the phone are perfectly fine. However, because the cosmetic damage looks far worse than what one would expect to see on the previous phone models, even a minor fall will prevent them from honoring AppleCare.

This doesn't seem right. It almost seems like a racket. Create a phone with one exceedingly fragile part, then refuse to honor consumer's extended warranties unless they shell out $100 for every little bump the phone takes.

I doubt the structural integrity of the phone is a calculated scheme to milk consumers for repair money. However, Apple has created a fragile product that can not withstand the normal wear and tear expected of a phone. If i could choose to only drop my phone onto surfaces that ranged in the very low end of the mohs scale of hardness i would. Unfortunately we don't often get those choices. I would expect that this phone could handle the same kind of falls that my older model could. Clearly it can't. One small fall shouldn't result in damage that puts your extended warranty into question.

I used to and still feel the antenna issue is overblown. I would have recommended the phone to anyone but the most die hard phone callers. Now, I don't know if i can really recommend the phone to anyone who lives where there is gravity.