Poll: Has iPhone OS 3.1 screwed up your phone?
By Darren Murph 
posted Sep 17th 2009 10:41AM
posted Sep 17th 2009 10:41AM
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No issues here, though I'm on an iPod touch (1st-gen) rather than an iPhone.
No, cause I don't have an iphone.
No issues here either. My Android is just hopping right along.
no issues on my 3G. That's not to say that it takes any less than about 15 seconds to open the SMS app, choose the convo i want from the inbox, and bring up the keyboard, though. Oh wait, just timed it. Only 13 seconds.
My 3GS hasn't had any problems... it seems better than 3.0.1 for me. But my friend's 3G is having issues.
It takes about 15 seconds to open SMS application on mine too. I have also see a hit on my battery life. Has anyone else had issues with safari crashing when looking at a website with a bunch of images? Without fail, I can have a browser open with a bunch of images and then I will click to open a new page and it freezes and shuts down safari.
These polls are USELESS because iphone haters will vote "YES i have got all sort of problems omg the phone is trying to kill me"
I hate the iphone myself (I prefer ipod touch contract free) but i voted for donuts however don't expect others to do the same.
THE DONUT IS A LIE.
There really should be an option in the poll for "I haven't upgraded my iPhone yet because I'm a smart consumer that waits for positive user reviews before I put new a upgrade on something I depend on as much as my phone."
:D
Still have the spotty wifi connection issue.
Sometimes it will connect, sometimes it won't. This has been a problem since 3.0.
What Farris said.
Being that my phone is jailbroken, i would be waiting on that fix regardless, but then came the Exchange issues which were granted "upgraded support", that was a huge blindside to the IT community.
How about a heads-up next time Apple? Dare I say, maybe a "KB" article that explains exactly what the update entails? I don't know, maybe thats just the next logical step in support for your user-base.
Thank you to those who don't have the phone for letting us know their nonexistent phone upgraded ok. Really, that helps a lot.
Anyway, no issues with my upgrade. Though - am I the only one that hates that whenever i move the phone in texting it says nothing to undo. That's annoying.
I'm a smart consumer waiting for the 3.1 jailbreak
@Ryan F.
...Then you should download it. It's been out.
@Comment_System: You simply need to realize the truth. There is no donut.
I HATE donuts!! >:|
...wait.
e-mail freezes when I'm typing in profile and switch to landscape. WTF. Not to mention it never got any quicker after 3.0 made it slow as hell. I'm beginning to think the conspiracy theories that pin Apple with purposely slowing the OS down in the 2G and 3G to sell 3GS's are true...
Wow, I was the 4th person to post my vote and all the options were at 25% lol
Yeah, totally. My GF updated her phone, meaning that I had to jailbreak it all over !! -_-
You can't jailbreak 3.1 yet
Mine got screwed up so bad that Apple replaced it with a new one. And it was out of warranty.
Yes you can jailbreak 3.1 :)
Yes, you can jailbreak 3.1, but I put it back to 3.0 because I had it all ready.
She only uses the thing for phoning and music anyway. No need to jump at every update.
You can jailbreak 3.1, but only on earlier hardware (iPhone, iPhone 3G, and iPod Touch 1st gen). Even when the jailbreak comes to more recent hardware, 3GS users won't be able to unlock the phone due to the baseband upgrade. At least until a new hole is found...
By the way, would it *kill* the iphone dev team to create a flowchart of "this model > this software -> do this"? Especially when we have fragmented releases like this, it's a damn mess.
How funny timing is this. I was just pondering why my battery was already down to "20%" after being off the charger for 2 hours. I was going to give it a few days, but maybe I'll call now.
Reboot your phone (turn it off and then back on). Sometimes the things get wonky and a nice reboot clears it up.
Yep... my battery life is suddenly horrible, too. I didn't think to blame the update, though.
I was having the same problem. Battery life went down the tubes. I actually let my phone completely drain until I got the "plug me in" icon. Now it is perfect again. Seems like letting it drain resets the battery somehow after the update.
The iPhone users in my office including myself have had this problem since the 3.1 update, although some have upgraded with no problems. I have resolved this issue by restoring my phone with a fresh 3.1 firmware and then restoring my most recent phone backup. This process works for most people but if it doesn't then you have to restore with 3.1 and then setup iPhone as a new phone under iTunes. Yes, I know it sucks, but it's the only way I've found to resolve this issue.
Yeah last night I was thinking that I used to only charge my iPhone once a day and now I've been charging it both at night and during the day when I'm at work. I was just thinking maybe I was using it harder or the battery was getting old.
I did a full restore as a new phone and still had problems up the wasoo: battery life, gps, PLACING AND RECEIVING CALLS >:(
Wound up downgrading to 3.0.1, waiting for 3.1.1 before I upgrade again
Oh, and IMO Apple Support SUX if you actually know what your'e doing and trying to get an answer above your own knowledge...
For me, it's occasional screen freezes. The phone would slow down after recovering from a freeze so that required a reboot.
Then two times so far, audio was jacked up. There were no sounds coming out of the iphone, either through its own speakers or headphones. Volume was up, mute was off, and I checked it through youtube, safari, ipod, and other apps. That required a reboot as well.
@Chris & Matt
What HW version? I got a 3GS less than a month ago and it seems to be doing better on battery life with Wifi on, but location service off. It only dropped a few % over 3-4hrs checking emails every 30 minutes in standby.
Currently I have 1h17m usage, 20h36m standby and sitting at 76% on battery with Wifi off 3G connected.
I've only had a few problems with some apps where it'd totally freak out and freeze. That's pretty much it. The 3GS still feels quite speedy coming from someone who used the 3G. Battery life still seems to be great as well. Just wish multi-tasking was available, because switching between IM clients off and on can make the phone buggy.
I had the battery issue too, I was wondering why it was dying so fast, so I charged it fully during the day and unplugged it over night. Woke up to the battery at about 20% and checked my usage...it looks like it was constantly disconnecting from wifi, and asking to join other wifi networks. I turned off the ask to join a network setting and now my battery is back to normal.
I had soo many issues so I downgraded back to 3.0 on my 3GS... Smartest choice I have made in a long time... I want more functionality in a phone a pay out the ass for not less
Mmm, donuts. Huh? Oh, this post is about a phone? How devilishly sneaky...
Seriously though I think it makes the poll useless or just less useful - don't get why Engadget has to be "Gizmodo" funny with their polls*
3.1 works brilliant on my 3GS on the Danish carrier 3 (both tethering and MMS OOB), but for some strange reason it's not possible to disable 3G and use EDGE. Luckily they've got the best coverage (88-90% of the mighty kingdom) - still an odd limitation.
*Sorry for this everything but fun comment.
Maybe they're referencing the new Android update named 'donut'. :)
Last night I had to Restore my phone. I've been running 3.1 nearly flawlessly for the last week or so. But last night, I found all my iTunes media had disappeared... but it was still taking up space in the form of "Other". Restoring took a long time, but I did it overnight and it worked fine.
Mine too. After a reboot and some hours later the library was back, but the "other" section of the memory is growing exponentially since yesterday...WTH?!
I've been having problem with apps while playing music too; many used to work just fine and now music just stops when launching the app and it won't let me bring the music control pop-up.
My iPhone was fine for a while then suddenly froze and refreshed the screen, now all my icons have been jumbled to default more of a pain than anything!
It did a real number on my StarTAC!
Startac = best phone ever.
You stole my joke :(
Of course he did.
My first cellphone was a StarTAC. Goddamn that was a great phone. Didn't do a damn thing except make calls and it did it well.
Motorola StarTAC... Top PRO!! Times when they used to build phones... now... what are they?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9cU8cUIITDk
(kidding)
I loved my StarTAC!!! It was my first phone when I was a junior in high school. I wish I still had it : (
No issues as far as I can tell. Interestingly enough... and I may be mistaken, but it seems as though my battery life has improved since the update.
Same, my battery life is better than ever.
My 3GS battery life is about the same. It has never been great but it definitely has not gotten worse. I did turn off push notifications though and that seems to help a bit.
Is iphone OS a windows product?
I thought apple stuff always worked without issue...
Somebody's been drinking too much Kool-aid
hahah... My thoughts exactly.
Now that a substantial amount of people are now using Apple Products than in the past, we are just now starting to notice when things don't work perfectly.
Mine has not had any issues. Update was smooth. But my friends have had issues.
this item was posted because some whiney fanboy dude was bitching last night in the comments for another device that engadget is so biased and never, ever reports on any problems in Apple products... ha.
I agree. More people use Apple products, and more people have issues than ever before. I know more people who have tried Apple products and have either wanted to go back or have gone back to Windows. I've got a MacPro which I use for work (final cut...) and never will I use OSX for anything besides just that. I gave Snow Kitten a try, and quickly jumped back to Windows 7. Even in RC form it's better. Don't give me this fake GB definition BS.
Anyways, back to topic, yes 3.1 has screwed up my phone. So did 3.0, 3.1 just created more issues. I want to go back to 2.1, or maybe even 2.2. Apple just seems to be making everything worse these days. Problem is they are requiring too much control. They were able to do this when they had a small, almost non-existant user base, but now that it's increased they can't keep up at the level they require.
The sad thing about this is that by next week all the Apple hating freaks will be back to their "Engadget is biased for Apple" rants.
I think mike was just being funny:) I lol'd anyway:)
After the upgrade, mine came up with a Windows Mobile logo then asked to calibrate the screen with a stylus!
Mine has been having some really odd issues.
First, I can have full battery power, lock the phone and after an indeterminate amount of time, try to unlock my phone and nothing. It is acting like it is completely dead. I can't turn it on either, its just dead. Sometimes it will fix itself after maybe 10 minutes, sometimes a few hours. Very frustrating.
Latest bug that occurred yesterday was when both my home button and the lock button were mysteriously mapped to a "take screenshot" function. No matter if I tried to turn the phone off or go to the home screen, all I could do was take screenshots.
Very odd.
Same here , after few hours i visited Apple store ... , phone screen came back right after i left the store with appointment.
The device is mostly unusable with 3.1
This has happened to me a couple of times also. You can reset it pressing the lock and home keys at the same time for 10 seconds or so. Happened twice the first day I upgraded and I think twice after that at random times.
I'm having the exact same issue. When hitting the home button to "wake" it up, it seems to be dead. Only thing that fixes it is a hard reset.
Patiently waiting for an update to fix this....
Had the same problem, Apple will replace it for you though.
yesss i had the same thing wit you! woo hoo
I've had this happen twice since the 3.1 update. screen just blank, had to do the reset and then it's fine for a while. My battery life seems to be a lot worse, too
I am having the same problem. Is very annoying when I need immediate access to data. I have taken to just holding power/home to force a reboot because waiting 2-minutes for a reboot is better than the unknown of when it will decide it wants to work.
This is also happening to mine. I did find that if I let it go to blank screen by itself instead of pressing the lock button to go to blank screen it doesn't seize up. Holding down the lock and home button for a second has always been the way to take screen shots.
Do you guys have a mix of 3GS and 3G, or all have the same device? What about capacities of the devices? Maybe it is a particular model.
Haven't upgraded my 3Gs yet. I'd rather have jailbreaking and tethering at the moment.
hilarious. tethering? So you carry around your iPhone + an antiquated laptop from 1993 that doesn't have Wifi?
Brilliant? So you can work on the Great American Novel? At Starbucks, no less? Genius!
Plus you look so cool with your whole techno-setup on those little tiny tables.
Can I be you?
Or, you can have your cool laptop with WiFi and no access point tethered to your phone that has a 3G connection and get out to the web to make snarky comments on Engadget posts....
Who would pay for a WiFi data plan to get a laptop online when you can just tether it to the phone that you already pay for? It's not about speed unless you have a slow phone because they connect to the same towers.
@Mike
WHAT are you talking about? WIFI?
I'm not even going to try explaining to you the difference between tethering and WIFI, it'd be a waste of internets breath.
I think the point is: where are you using a laptop that you don't have WiFi access and need to tether to your cellphone? Most gas stations, fast food restaurants, rest areas, coffee shops, airports, hospitals, etc. have free WiFi. I've never been in need when trying to find free WiFi for using with my laptop.
Tethering has its uses, like when you live with losers who 'forget' to pay the cable bill and the internets get turned off. In those times, tethering can be useful to look at... important work related spreadsheets.
I was on a road trip and working (yes, actual work not... spreadsheets) with my phone tethered to my laptop via Bluetooth. My buddy was driving and I was connected working on our VPN for well over an hour. You can't do that jumping between hotspots.
iTunes 9 gave my vista laptop a black screen of death so i wouldn't know...
option #5 - "to lazy to update, no issues for me"
well i was having plenty of issues with 3.0 also...
Everything has been great except when my phone connects to my car via bluetooth. It will work fine for 5-10 minutes and then the phone locks up (black screen, non-responsive) and I have to reset it to get it back. Apparently this was an issue with some Lexus and BMWs in 3.0 but 3.1 seems to have broken it for Audis now.
Haha,
Jailbreak and Insomnia:
Yup, there's an app for that!
I did have battery issues prior to and after the update-
then i found this link and the phone is much better now- (after following some of them)
http://www.apple.com/batteries/iphone.html
I'd really like to see people complaning about battery issues post what HW they're on, I'm willing to bet a lot of "the update kills my battery life" folks are people running 2g iphones whose batteries are just starting to get run down from years of daily use.
That said, 3.1 is running like a dream on my 2G. JB and unlocked on Tmobile. I'd say that battery life has improved and generally the whole experience seems a bit snappier imho.
iPhone 3.1 perfect, Snow Leopard perfect.
Garbage IN Garbage OUT.
What an Apple response - there's nothing wrong with the software, it's you!
Actually.
From my years using/supporting/administering Windows / MS I'd say the same for it
it actually is mostly the user. If not it is either widely experienced or very esoteric.
it's not so much my iPhone that's messed up (there are some minor things here or there.. nothing for me to cry about really).. as much as it is.. ITUNES.
seriously... this thing is becoming an OS.. soon there will be Office support and a PDF reader. I'd like to see it trimmed down so it can WORK A LITTLE FASTER. seriously. I plug in my phone and it takes a bit of time for it to show in the itunes browser window and switching categories (podcast to music to iphone to movies, etc) takes FOREEVERRRR. I seriously just leave it open because it TAKES TOO LONG TO OPEN.
i love my iphone though *sipping more kool-aid*
Your Mac is just getting older, so the "logic board" is slowing down. You need to go buy a new Mac. iTunes is not bloated. This iTunes release is the fastest and most useful ever. We've always been at war with Eurasia. Etc.
I've had the random shutdown problems (which essentially makes my phone useless, as it's completely unreliable now) and pitifully sluggish performance in the iPod application. I was told by Apple support that even though my phone worked just fine up to the very moment I installed 3.1, my problems were "unquestionably" hardware related and therefore, since I'm out of warranty, my only option is to fork over $199 for a new phone. Thanks a lot Apple.
I thought it was my imagination. My phone shut off 4times radomly since i've updated. Had to hold the home+power to start it back up. They need to fix this soon :(
It's cumbersome and kinda hard to do, but down grade to 3.0.1...
P.S. You'll need QuickPWN 2.2-1, and you're iswp (or ispw)'s are sitting in your recycled folder if you haven't emptied it yet. (You can thank apple for that)
Ever since upgrading to 3.1 I have been having random periods where my idle signal will go dead. I'll get voice mails a couple hours later, and if its idling with no signal and i try to send an SMS, it fails. I usually have to turn off the phone and once it starts back up, full service. My 3G is barely over a year old and i can already feel it beginning to fail. Apple sucks.
I've been getting massive hour long lags in voice mails and texts showing up, too, but I'm on 3.0.1 and have been having the problem for months. I think AT&T's network is gasping and wheezing. Here's an idea! Every iPhone/AT&T subscriber send an MMS message at exactly 6:40 pm EST on Sept. 26th (the launch date if I'm not mistaken). We'll see how they handle that. I can only imagine ... that'll teach them to give us MMS capability!
i was having a few issues when I first did the upgrade that were similar to yours. on a lark I ran a sync back to my computer, did a factory erase/restore and then set up as a new phone (I never set up off of the backups) and did a resync without my apps. no issues anymore. so i'm now adding back in my apps a couple at a time to see if one of them did something funky to the phone that the update didn't like.
Yah the other night I was getting a ton of random shut downs, I will say I haven't noticed a battery issue or anything else but the random shut downs did upset me. I was a little scared my iPhone was bricked for a while cause pushing buttons wouldn't help. Each time I had to do a hard reset on the phone to get it back up and then a few minutes later back to the same. Its working for now but who knows how long that will go on.
iPhone 3G
That being said it won't stop me from buying my next iPhone next year :) but I want apple to fix this and fast!(3.1.1)
No problems, but I still am running the EDGE version of the iPhone.
On my iPod Touch, I've noticed when scrolling through my podcast list that it is nowhere near as smooth as it used to be, giving more of a jumpy scroll.
Apart from that, I haven't noticed any other problem yet.
sometimes i click on the music and instead of getting the movie screen, it just goes white and stays blank
Every time i try to unlock my iphone after it have been sitting for 5 min. or more it takes about 20 sec. of waiting to get passed the unlock screen. also the phone just seems to be noticeably slower. i have not restored the phone yet but i am going to do that this weekend when i have time.