Want to buy an Iphone 6 or 6+? read first

[PA5COR]

Bending problems with the new fangled IPhone 6 and 6+
Normal use bends the thin phone, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencete...cket-long.html (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2767465/On-bend-er-Just-days-iPhone-6-Plus-launched-come-reports-bends-leave-pocket-long.html)

The reason for the bend is due to the iPhone 6 Plus being made out of aluminium.


Aluminium is a relatively soft metal and is fairly ductile and flexible so, if enough pressure is applied, it will bend and move.


According to iMore, no part of either of the new iPhones has more than a quarter of an inch (0.64cm) of aluminium in any spot.


This means that, in areas of the phones that are weakest, it’s possible it could be susceptible to bending.


This is noticeable in images, with many of the bends occurring near the volume buttons and the SIM card slot.


These areas have segments of the shell cut out to make room for the buttons and SIM card, so there is less aluminium - and they are more likely to bend.


To stop the phone bending, users need to ensure that they do not put increased pressure on the middle of the phone.


For example, do not have it sideways in a pocket, as your pocket will push it against your leg, possibly causing bending.


Putting it in your back pocket could also have a similar effect, so storing it in a shirt pocket or bag might be a better option.


Another option would be to make sure you have a case for the phone so that it can maintain its rigidity even when pressure is applied.


So, better think again before handing over a lot of cash...http://theden.satpimps.co.uk/images/smilies/disapointed.png

Having said that, my el cheapo Samsun S5 clone of 150 euro's with quad core processor and 5 inch screen is quite sturdy, maybe a bit thicker, but I don't care for that.
For that money I also had 2 batteries I can change in a 10 second time as well.
No contract just bought the phone.

[N2CHX]

Another option would be to make sure you have a case for the phone so that it can maintain its rigidity even when pressure is applied.


Saw this about these monster phones the other day.

Another option would be not to buy a pricey piece of shit status symbol.

I do not understand why anyone buys an iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has one hates it.

[kd6nig]

Kind of like a newly revamped model of car or totally new line of vehicle, its best to let others "test it out" and get the bugs worked out before making the investment yourself. The same could be said for ham gear.

I have an android phone personally, and although there are android users who are also this rabid when it comes to a new incarnation of a device, Apple has them beat by a longshot.

I personally would wait about 6 months before I'd consider getting one. Probably why when my phone comes up for upgrade, I tend to get the free one off of Verizon. By then its been out a few years and should be bug free.

I'm not worried about being "cool." I'm almost 40 years old and I'm a Ham Radio Operator. A iPhone 6+ isn't going to change that fact....

[KJ3N]

I do not understand why anyone buys an iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has one hates it.

I have the iPhone 4. My wife has a Motorola Droid2 Global. They were bought at the same time, a little over 3 years ago.

I have no major complaints about my iPhone. I'm trying to think of anything it does that really bothers me, and I just can't. It just seems to work, without any real quirks or weirdness. I took to it without having to want to tear my hair out. It takes decent pictures and even at 3+ years, I can usually get 2 days between charges. When it was new, I could go 3 or 4 days without a charge.

My wife's Droid2 drives me up a wall. It's battery life, 3+ years on, sucks. It has to be charged every day, sometimes twice a day. Even when it was new, it rarely went more than 2 days between charges. It's constantly doing weird shit. Out of the blue, it will receive a text message twice, then 15 minutes later, receive that very same message for a 3rd time. On the rare occasion I try to navigate the damned thing, I'm usually cursing it inside of 5 minutes. It takes lousy (in some cases, horrible) pictures. I've rarely seen a photo she's taken with the thing that didn't look either over-exposed, under-exposed, grainy, or out of focus.

Maybe I'd think differently if she had something else that ran on Android, but as it stands right now, I'll keep my iPhone.

[NQ6U]

I do not understand why anyone buys an iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has one hates it.

Like the Delaware Troglodyte, I like my iPhone 4 just fine. It's four generations out of date, but I see no reason to buy a new one. Also like the DT, Android phones drive me up the wall. I understand that they make sense for someone who wants to hack their phone and make it do all kinds of cool things but I only want/need my phone to be a phone. Okay, a phone, an audio player, an occasional Internet access device and casual gaming platform, but it does all those things quite well.

[N2CHX]

@Jim and the Pope:

You guys are exceptions lol. In all seriousness, you're both obviously not "latest and greatest" Apple fanboy/worshipers who use their phones as a status symbol. The iPhone 4 was/is a decent phone from what I've heard. It works for you and there's nothing wrong with that.

The Droid 2 was definitely quirky and had battery life issues. A lot of battery life depends on what you have running on it. That said, I don't think a once-a-day charge is unreasonable.

Personally, I really liked my HTC One. Best phone I ever had (It still sits on the corner of my desk, in mint condition, crying because it wants to be loved). Unfortunately I had to give it up when Cricket got bought out by AT&T, but since I now only pay $100 a month for five smartphones, I can't complain. I bought an LG L70, which isn't bad. By the end of a 15 hour day I usually have about 70% battery life left and it does everything I want it to do. Pretty rugged as well.

[W5BRM]

If you got ANY IPhone, DO NOT UPGRADE to IOS8. It breaks the cell service and u get dropped calls.

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/dont-update-ios-8/

http://mashable.com/2014/09/24/apple-ios-8-update-broken/

I had Samsung Galaxy S2 for both me and the wife. LOVED those phones. Never had any serious issues with them. Then I got tired of the 2 year contracts Sprint required to continue service and upgrade new phones. We went to the (now defunct) Pay As You Go system and had to get new phones. They wouldn't let us transfer the S2's to the Pay as you go service. We had to get Iphone 4's which were used refurbished and resold by Sprint. She HATES me now...lol

I can't STAND these Iphones. Too small and clunky! Mine keeps crashing and the wife's wont keep a charge more than 12-15h. Definitely a downgrade from the S2 of the same age. The ONLY thing I like about the IPhone is the ITunes and ability to match and access my entire library. Unfortunately due to Sprint's crackdown on internet usage, I can't really use it cuz it takes too much data and wipes out my data usage in a week or less. Adding music can be done manually but seeing as I only have about 4gb storage, thats far too limiting to even bother with.

Sprint has a new service that is a Prepaid service in which I can get Galaxy S3 or S4 mini's. Once I get back to work and get income rolling again, I plan on moving to that service and getting back to Galaxy Android OS. I'm still on the Pay As You Go system but it's more expensive than the prepaid plan.

[N2CHX]

If you got ANY IPhone, DO NOT UPGRADE to IOS8. It breaks the cell service and u get dropped calls.


The IOS8 bug is easily fixed by either putting your iPhone in the microwave for a minute and a half or putting it in a bowl of warm water for a half hour :snicker:

[W5BRM]

The IOS8 bug is easily fixed by either putting your iPhone in the microwave for a minute and a half or putting it in a bowl of warm water for a half hour :snicker:

Film your own episode of "Will It Blend?"

[KJ3N]

If you got ANY IPhone, DO NOT UPGRADE to IOS8. It breaks the cell service and u get dropped calls.

http://www.wired.com/2014/09/dont-update-ios-8/

http://mashable.com/2014/09/24/apple-ios-8-update-broken/

Not a problem for an iPhone 4. It's not compatible with iOS 8. You need a minimum of a 4S. My Wi-Fi only iPad 2 is also probably safe.

Now I get to sit back and enjoy the schadenfreude... :rofl:

[wa6mhz]

I have the iPhone 4. My wife has a Motorola Droid2 Global. They were bought at the same time, a little over 3 years ago.

I have no major complaints about my iPhone. I'm trying to think of anything it does that really bothers me, and I just can't. It just seems to work, without any real quirks or weirdness. I took to it without having to want to tear my hair out. It takes decent pictures and even at 3+ years, I can usually get 2 days between charges. When it was new, I could go 3 or 4 days without a charge.

My wife's Droid2 drives me up a wall. It's battery life, 3+ years on, sucks. It has to be charged every day, sometimes twice a day. Even when it was new, it rarely went more than 2 days between charges. It's constantly doing weird shit. Out of the blue, it will receive a text message twice, then 15 minutes later, receive that very same message for a 3rd time. On the rare occasion I try to navigate the damned thing, I'm usually cursing it inside of 5 minutes. It takes lousy (in some cases, horrible) pictures. I've rarely seen a photo she's taken with the thing that didn't look either over-exposed, under-exposed, grainy, or out of focus.

Maybe I'd think differently if she had something else that ran on Android, but as it stands right now, I'll keep my iPhone.

I was annoyed cuz I was only getting one day out of my DROID 3 battery so I just bought 2 more off of Amazon. So far, the newer batteries suck even more! they only last 1/2 a day, but alteast I have 2 spares now.

[K7SGJ]

The IOS8 bug is easily fixed by either putting your iPhone in the microwave for a minute and a half or putting it in a bowl of warm water for a half hour :snicker:

I would think doing both at the same time would be quite effective, as well.

[W5BRM]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBUJcD6Ws6s&list=UUnFP0IU4gpnmcLnVzDLUtfw

[NQ6U]

Not a problem for an iPhone 4.

Not a problem with Android phones either because they never get OS updates.

[KG4CGC]

I was annoyed cuz I was only getting one day out of my DROID 3 battery so I just bought 2 more off of Amazon. So far, the newer batteries suck even more! they only last 1/2 a day, but alteast I have 2 spares now.

Did you throw a charge on them before using them? Because if you did, you cut their battery life in half or by three quaters depending on how much charge they had on them from the factory.

[KC2UGV]

I have an iPhone 5 cheap. It's my work phone, and I had the choice between an Android phone and an iPhone.

I choice the iPhone because it's not easily tinkered with, and I didn't want the temptation of rooting/etc etc.

[K7SGJ]

Rooting? These guys can help.....

https://forums.hamisland.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=13114&stc=1

[W3WN]

I still don't want one.

My boss finds that pretty funny; I could have a company iPhone, I'm allocated one, all I have to do is ask. But my old flip phone is just a phone, that's all I want, that's all I need. (Besides, I have the company-issued iPad that was inflicted on me, should I need portable/mobile access to anything.

Last Friday, my sister-in-law went to the Apple store to get a new phone; she had no idea that the iPhone 6 was now out (yes, she's that clueless sometimes... and she's a high school science teacher too... don't go there). She got a brand spanking new iPhone 5. For $50.

[kd6nig]

I still don't want one.

My boss finds that pretty funny; I could have a company iPhone, I'm allocated one, all I have to do is ask. But my old flip phone is just a phone, that's all I want, that's all I need. (Besides, I have the company-issued iPad that was inflicted on me, should I need portable/mobile access to anything.

Last Friday, my sister-in-law went to the Apple store to get a new phone; she had no idea that the iPhone 6 was now out (yes, she's that clueless sometimes... and she's a high school science teacher to... don't go there). She got a brand spanking new iPhone 5. For $50.

Your boss wants you to have it so they can rely on you more. They already did it with the iPad. With the phone you'd have no excuse when they call.

They wanted to have me carry a work phone for work too at one point. I told them the one I had was fine and they didn't push it. Everyone who has one says they get called a lot more to try and cover shifts, etc. They make you feel obligated because its their phone.

[n2ize]

Saw this about these monster phones the other day.

Another option would be not to buy a pricey piece of shit status symbol.

I do not understand why anyone buys an iPhone. Almost everyone I know who has one hates it.

i know a lot of people who have them and love them. Indeed it is a pretty sturdily built phone. however, it soubnds like that has changed with the iPhone 6. as for me I am a Samsung/Android guy. Even though I broke the rear camera lenst cover and dropped it and put some cracks in the front glass it's still works great. And yeah... I intend to get it foxed...eventually. :)

[n2ize]

Your boss wants you to have it so they can rely on you more. They already did it with the iPad. With the phone you'd have no excuse when they call.

They wanted to have me carry a work phone for work too at one point. I told them the one I had was fine and they didn't push it. Everyone who has one says they get called a lot more to try and cover shifts, etc. They make you feel obligated because its their phone.

Tell them your hobby is exploring deep underwater caves.

[K7SGJ]

Tell them your hobby is exploring deep underwater caves.


Nekkid

[n6hcm]

Not a problem with Android phones either because they never get OS updates.

my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 (via AT&T) has had two major updates since I bought it in December. You could have knocked me over with a feather. I expect another update before very long to cover the bash issue (assuming bash is installed with this distribution of Android).

[n6hcm]

actually, the bendability thing has been debunked by consumer reports, among others.

IOS8 itself hasn't broken phones, but IOS8.0.1 has bricked about 40,000 phones before it was withdrawn. IOS8.0.2 is out now. All these people who update at the drop of a hat deserve what they get.

[NQ6U]

actually, the bendability thing has been debunked by consumer reports, among others.

Apple says they've had exactly nine complaints about bent phones and the Consumer Reports article said that the iP6 still worked even after the screen separated from the case.

[PA5COR]

Without taking a pot shot at their new phones and the urge to get thinner ones out with the added risk of bending and failiure, there is also a finger to point to the consumer who thinks the larger and thinner phones are indestructable and handle them like they are.

You simply cannot expect a large phone and thin to be as sturdy as a thicker phone with a better sturdier frame.
My Samsun S5 copy with 5"screen is about 1.5 x as thick but won't bend, but I treat it with the respect it needs, and carry it in my shirt pocket or it's carrying holder with stiffened front and back adding protection.
Internal frames of phones are made of soft aluminium, if they really need to be able to be carried in your trousers back pocket it should be titanium, and the phone would cost 3 x as much.

As electronic and Ham radio nutter and having worked with all sorts of metal as T,I.G. welder pipefitter and 1st mechanic I know the limitations of metals under duress.

So, I'm not blaming them only I also put the blame at the unrealistic demands of the costumers driving the makers of phones to the wall and sometimes well over the borders of good design to fulfill the expectations of the costumers and even then still try to keep a low price.

[N2NH]

Yep. Apple is real unapologetic about this 'feature.' The story I read claimed 6 cases of cases bending.

[n2ize]

Yep. Apple is real unapologetic about this 'feature.' The story I read claimed 6 cases of cases bending.

And you can probably take those 6 cases and multiply them by at least 1,000,000. Not to mention the spyware that is loaded into the iPhone.

[W3WN]

Your boss wants you to have it so they can rely on you more. They already did it with the iPad. With the phone you'd have no excuse when they call.

They wanted to have me carry a work phone for work too at one point. I told them the one I had was fine and they didn't push it. Everyone who has one says they get called a lot more to try and cover shifts, etc. They make you feel obligated because its their phone.
Yeah, you figure that he'd have figured out that I'm pretty unreliable, by now... :hyper:


This is one thing I remember from the engineering firm I worked at, quite a few years ago. My boss (there) was quite adamant that neither of us be issued pagers, and that when we got our individual cell phones, we didn't "officially" list the numbers for the company. Otherwise, we would be effectively on call 24/7. His attitude... he called it "The Westinghouse Way", incidentally... was that if they wanted us on call 24/7, they should compensate us accordingly.

I'm neither the head of IT nor the network admin (that's KB3ERQ). There's simply little to no need for me to be on 24/7 access. (And if either of these gentlemen need me for something, they have no problem getting a hold of me -- I'm referring specifically to general access for the whole company). So I don't need a company-issued phone of any kind. Waste of money and resources.

[W3WN]

Tell them your hobby is exploring deep underwater caves.
NekkidEyebleach!

[kd6nig]

Yeah, you figure that he'd have figured out that I'm pretty unreliable, by now... :hyper:


This is one thing I remember from the engineering firm I worked at, quite a few years ago. My boss (there) was quite adamant that neither of us be issued pagers, and that when we got our individual cell phones, we didn't "officially" list the numbers for the company. Otherwise, we would be effectively on call 24/7. His attitude... he called it "The Westinghouse Way", incidentally... was that if they wanted us on call 24/7, they should compensate us accordingly.

I'm neither the head of IT nor the network admin (that's KB3ERQ). There's simply little to no need for me to be on 24/7 access. (And if either of these gentlemen need me for something, they have no problem getting a hold of me -- I'm referring specifically to general access for the whole company). So I don't need a company-issued phone of any kind. Waste of money and resources.

When my Dad worked for PG&E part of the contract the Union managed to get for them (and was grandfathered the rest of the time he was there, and it was changed for new hires later on) was that when he got called in for overtime, the pay started the moment he answered the phone and accepted.

Because of that, he'd get pay for the 40 minutes (in good weather) he had to drive each way to the yard to get the truck he needed to do the task.

They finally got smart after a few years and let him take the truck home if it was anticipated he would have to work OT.

There were a lot of times in the winter months a big dump truck with a snowplow blade on it was parked in the driveway.

Saved them money, saved him 1.5 hours of drive time, and for some odd reason our driveway was always clear....