[a_ukboy]

Ok, just been to the Apple store in Bluewater, booked an appointment yesterday!!

I've been having a few crash problems with my handset, so wanted to see what they'd do about it..

Asked me a few questions, then replaced the handset :D All took about 10 mins!!

The Apple Genius showed me what his iphone case was like as he liked mine which is a Griffin case from Carphonewarehouse, anyway i asked him what he thought of the reception, he says its ok and he gets good reception, i told him that i get poor 3g reception and i apparently live in a high 3g coverage area, so he laughed and said oh yeah o2's 3g coverage is poor, and said only put the phone on 3g for browsing and the rest switch off the 3g!!

Hmmm, i said that mine gets 1 bar 3g at home and my N95 gets full signal, he just pulled a funny face and said its the opposite for him, his Nokia gets nothing in his kitchen where as his iphone gets a great signal!!!

Is he telling porkies?

Anyway there you have it, switch off your 3g if your not browsing!!! and thats from an Apple genius :eek:

But i got my phone replaced so im happy, hopefully no more crashes!! Thanks Apple :D

[Ben]

The geniuses unfortunately have a certain amount of creative licence with their advice. Best ignored, imho :)

Glad you got your phone replaced. My experience has also been that Apple will keenly replace iPhone 3G's that are not functioning as expected.

The coverage issue, however, will take much longer to figure out.

[Hands0n]

Yea, I've had good experiences with the Apple Store Geniuses - they're a nice bunch and seem to have quite a bit of licence to resolve customer issues.

[a_ukboy]

My first afternoon with new iphone 3g.. So far so good, no crashes or lags but have to admit my last iphone got better 3g signal then this one, BUT this new one seems to work better when on the 3g network, i've just taken the dogs for a 90 min walk over the forest and i listened to internet radio via the tuner application with no problems at all, my last phone would stop every 30 to 60 secs...

So so far im happy :)

[Hands0n]

I have just returned from the Bluewater Apple Store where I can echo the experience of a_ukboy when I took my iPhone 3G in for a replacement.

Since I bought it there has been an intermittent fault when typing text and using the delete key. The iPhone would carry on deleting the text until it had all gone or I had caught it in time by pressing another key on the keyboard. Initially I thought this was down to the 2.0.0 firmware. But the fault carried across into 2.0.1 and latterly 2.0.2. The chances are, then, that it is a fundamental hardware fault with the iPhone 3G itself.

So rather than carry on in ever increasing frustration I decided to take it in and I booked myself an appointment with a Genius using the on-line booking facility. It is very efficient and guarantees a time slot with a Genius.

As may be expected I could not make the handset misbehave in front of the Genius who asked me a series of questions and ran a diagnostic on the iPhone. I explained that the fault had persisted through three iterations of the firmware, which the Genius made notes about. After a few more formalities the Genius fetched me a new replacement iPhone 3G, job done. All completely effortlessly and without any hassle.

I am pleased with the replacement which seems to be working as well as it can under 2.0.1 firmware. As I write this I am wrestling with getting the original iPhone 3G backup to restore to the new iPhone. It isn't entirely obvious - and was a bit of a tussle going from the 2G to the 3G handset.

But there you have it. Apple support in store is world class. One wonders how long they can keep this up for, we've seen other world class operators and suppliers turn into a right dogs dinner (I'm thinking of a colour that results from mixing Red with Yellow). Let us all hope that Apple don't go that way in the future.

[miffed]

Is the Apple store exchange only limited to handsets purchased there ?

...I am just contemplating a dream scenario where I take mine to an Apple store and they give me a White one as a replacement :D

[Hands0n]

The Apple store Genius Bar will accept any iPhone no matter where purchased. It is all part of Apple's warranty service :D You couldn't want for more.

[selena]

Yea, I've had good experiences with the Apple Store Geniuses - they're a nice bunch and seem to have quite a bit of licence to resolve customer issues.

me too !!!