iPhone issues AGAIN, would like a new phone (AT&T)

[Adrenaline]

My iPhone would NOT sync with my computer for the third freaking time. I had to wipe my phone completely and redo everything to the way it was. I am tired of this 3GS. This is a long process as my phone is a 32 GB and I use almost all the memory.

I would like a new phone that browses the web well and uses flash great. I am open for suggestions. I just want a reliable phone, ANYTHING that can keep a contact list longer than 2 months would be awesome.

 

[Muadib]

Are you sure the problem with your iPhone isn't with your pc, or the usb cable? If you are sure the problem is with the phone, why don't you take it to an Apple store? It's still under warranty. If you want a new phone, then take a look at the Nexus 1. At&t has no discount for it, so it will cost you $529.

 

[vshah]

android phones sync contacts OTA with the cloud...sounds like that would be nice for you. and media is as simple as copying straight to the phone, no syncing required. are you still on contract with at&t?

 

[Phobic9]

I had similar problems trying to sync when I had my iPhone but it was more of the fact that I think iTunes is trash even when you manually want to manage everything. I used it on my Mac Mini and my Windows 7 PC and syncing sucked on both. It's real fun when you just want to sync 1 song and iTunes has to back up all your apps and whatnot but I digress...

Unfortunately, AT&T currently only has one "real" Android phone and that's the Nexus One. The Backflip is as gimped of a phone as you can get from them.

 

[M0oG0oGaiPan]

4gs!

 

[vshah]

OP, if you are on a contract, how much would it cost to break? you could probably sell your 3gs for ~$400, pay the termination fee, and get a Nexus one on tmobile for 179 or an incredible on verizon, on contract. you might only end up being out a small amount depending on the termination fee...

 

[gorcorps]

Have you ever thought that maybe this particular phone is just broken? I've had my 3G for a while and don't have sync issues. Take it to apple and get a new one.

 

[pm]

If it was me, I'd see if I could get an iPhone store to replace it under warranty. Then I'd keep it and if I had problems again or if Apple wouldn't replace it, I'd cancel with AT&T and pay off the ETF, ebay the iPhone 3GS, and then buy a T-Mobile Nexus One or a Verizon HTC Incredible and sign for a new contract. 3GS's go for a lot of money on Ebay, so even with the early termination fee from AT&T, you'll probably come out ahead.

Then you get the Nexus One for a steep discount due to the contract and then go with that. You'll have an SD card and you can manage your music as you want. About the only problem is that a 32GB microSD card is a hefty chunk of change (~$200).

My personal second pick after an iPhone is a Nexus one. My next pick after a Nexus One is a HTC Droid Incredible (due in a couple of days) based on glowing reviews.

 

[McWatt]

Warranty replacement probably won't help. The problem is with iTunes and the related sludge Apple installs with it. A large fraction of Windows 7 x64 installs (and some other Windows versions, but it seems worst on 7x64) cannot connect to an iPhone "because of an unknown problem," according to iTunes. The problem is Bonjour, a security vulnerability and generally schlocky piece of software Apple forces you to install with iTunes. On the plus side, there's a fix.

After a fresh reboot, connect your iPhone and then run iTunes. Assuming you get the "unknown error" message, close iTunes. Then run services.msc and tell Bonjour to stop. Rerun iTunes and you can sync.

On some systems you can disable the Bonjour service and sync on your first try, but on several others you actually must load iTunes, get the error, and THEN stop Bonjour.

There are other possible causes, but hopefully this fix will help some readers.

 

[Adrenaline]

Are you sure the problem with your iPhone isn't with your pc, or the usb cable? If you are sure the problem is with the phone, why don't you take it to an Apple store? It's still under warranty. If you want a new phone, then take a look at the Nexus 1. At&t has no discount for it, so it will cost you $529.

I looked up the problems I was having with my phone and found others having the same issue. One person said they has zero issues until they went to Windows 7 then they had numerous issues. On XP I had no problems, but with Windows 7 I have just had issue after issue after issue with it refusing to sync out of nowhere. None of my backups worked either.

I have thought about swapping it out, but others have tried that with iPhones and iPods and still had issues.

android phones sync contacts OTA with the cloud...sounds like that would be nice for you. and media is as simple as copying straight to the phone, no syncing required. are you still on contract with at&t?

I love the no syncing sound of this. I am still under contract but that will not bother me to ETF it or swap it out to get something that will work.

I had similar problems trying to sync when I had my iPhone but it was more of the fact that I think iTunes is trash even when you manually want to manage everything.

I am not a fan of iTunes either.

Have you ever thought that maybe this particular phone is just broken? I've had my 3G for a while and don't have sync issues. Take it to apple and get a new one.

I looked it up and others have had issues with Windows 7 or syncing in general like I have. I am looking for some solid suggestions and have gotten some.

If it was me, I'd see if I could get an iPhone store to replace it under warranty.

Then you get the Nexus One for a steep discount due to the contract and then go with that. You'll have an SD card and you can manage your music as you want. About the only problem is that a 32GB microSD card is a hefty chunk of change (~$200).

My personal second pick after an iPhone is a Nexus one. My next pick after a Nexus One is a HTC Droid Incredible (due in a couple of days) based on glowing reviews.

I may try the replacement phone first but if it does the same thing, as other people I found looking through the net had happen to them, I will be looking to swap to a new phone of course. I will look at those other phones suggested.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[Raduque]

Adrenaline, try McWatt's suggestion before you start throwing money at the problem. It couldn't hurt.

 

[vshah]

Adrenaline, try McWatt's suggestion before you start throwing money at the problem. It couldn't hurt.

agreed, sounds like a easy and painless way to save a couple hundred bucks if it works...

 

[BigDaddyD]

This is one of the many issues I always had with Itunes with my iphone and Ipod. I no longer use Itunes for the Ipod, and no longer have the Iphone..(I had 3 1st gen phones. The 3rd is still a brand new never used replacement from Apple in box.) I just gave up. I use winamp to sync music now to my ipod to escape the rest of the nightmare. Sounds like they are right...Itunes is horrible. I got blasted in the ATA section for saying that.

 

[pm]

I like my iPhone generally, but I agree iTunes is not exactly super easy to use, and it's fragile. I've had an issue where it wouldn't sync and it gave me some error code every time. I messed with it for a while and finally after Googling and trying things, I had to totally uninstall it, uninstall all of the pieces (Bonjour, Apple Helper), delete all of the pieces and then do a regedit search through my Windows registry to remove every mention of it, then hand-delete all of the remaining iTunes files in my programs area. And then I installed the latest version and everything worked after that... and has still been working ever since... more or less.

I don't think it's total crap, but it's definitely a fragile piece of software, and it's not really super intuitive. I still have an issue where I have two icons for all of my movies after I moved my movies directories around while cleaning up, and there's something funky with the way that's it's updating podcasts (it's not updating podcasts) that I haven't looked into yet.

I think the iTunes store implementation is pretty good - although they can improve the apps searching capabilities - I think the way they do backups in iTunes is slick, I'm not at all a fan of the way it does playlists but it works. In my opinion, iTunes isn't awful, but it's bloated, fragile and not immediately intuitive. I actually think Microsoft's organizing system for Zune is substantially better... and generally I'm not a fan of Microsoft either.

The 3rd is still a brand new never used replacement from Apple in box.

Give it 25 years and that thing will be worth some money I bet. Either sell it now, or keep it... if the lithium ion battery doesn't totally disintegrate (and it might well do so), an original iPhone in mint condition in the original box with everything unopened will be worth a fair bit to the crazy people who buy computer memorabilia.

 

[ChAoTiCpInOy]

Google.com/phone

Nexus one.

 

[Rottie]

nexus one or moto droid your choice if you decide to leave iphone

 

[Adrenaline]

Adrenaline, try McWatt's suggestion before you start throwing money at the problem. It couldn't hurt.

McWatt had typed that out when I was typing mine out and replied. I then had shut down the pc and did something else. I had made an appointment with the apple store. I am running Windows 7 64 bit.

I have never noticed bonjour, so I guess I will look it up on google and research it a bit. Is it possible to run iTunes without Bonjour?

Thanks.

 

[Adrenaline]

I came across this thread searching through google and am reading it. At least I am not the only one. I am reading through it trying to see if anything will help.

Edit:

Reading through the thread it appears to be a p55 chipset error. I have a Gigabyte UD4P motherboard in my pc. There is a BIOS fix for it, so I will have to update the BIOS and hope it works. Thanks for the headsup.

 

[BigDaddyD]

Give it 25 years and that thing will be worth some money I bet. Either sell it now, or keep it... if the lithium ion battery doesn't totally disintegrate (and it might well do so), an original iPhone in mint condition in the original box with everything unopened will be worth a fair bit to the crazy people who buy computer memorabilia.

Actually, I will probably try and sell it soon to try and offset the cost of whatever I get next. I swore off another Iphone since the first gen, but haven't found anything else yet so might go back when the new ones come out, since it seems a few things I hated have been fixed. Hopefully they will have fixed the horrible phone call quality.