Marianne Schultz

the musings of a geeky girl

Musings of a geeky girl. About | Contact

Social

iTunes, App Store, iBookstore, and Mac App Store

Categories

A defective iPhone 4S and a trip to the Genius Bar

by Leave a Comment

I got a warranty replacement for my iPhone 4S on New Year’s Eve. My original iPhone 4S had been acting wonkier and wonkier over time, rebooting itself occasionally for no apparent reason, freezing during phone calls, emitting a buzzing/rattling noise in the earpiece speaker during calls and other nefarious actions. The straw that broke the camel’s back was a volume problem that started a few weeks ago. I noticed that the volume would change by itself when I wasn’t even touching the phone (and there was no case on it to put pressure on the buttons) and I could watch the on-screen volume indicator dwindle down to zero or up to the maximum level without any input from me.

The first time this happened, I shrugged it off since I was holding the phone and figured I might have bumped the volume button or something. But then it happened more and more often. I concluded that my iPhone was either possessed or broken. Or it was trying in a very roundabout way to say that I talked to myself too much and silence was really the way to go, you crazy lady, you.

Regardless of my thoughts about the cause of the problem, I had a little WTFBBQ moment, punctuated by several, if not all, of the words on George Carlin’s list, each time it happened. This had to stop.

Investigating a little further, I realized that I could reproduce the problem myself simply by wiggling the volume buttons a little. Even though I never fully pressed them, the volume indicator would appear on the screen and keep adjusting long after I stopped touching the buttons. This made me believe that it was a hardware issue and so I made a genius bar appointment late last week. I was starting to miss alerts since my iPhone made itself silent regularly without my knowledge.

(A little googling revealed this thread in the Apple Support forum but there were no panic.plst entries in my iPhone’s diagnostic logs.)

The Apple store was absolutely crazy when I went in and the Genius Bar was running a little behind. When a genius finally appeared to help me out, I described my problem and wiggled the volume buttons  for him (why does that sound so wrong?) to reproduce at least one aspect of the problem. He took my iPhone from me and said he needed to take it into the back to “open it up” and see if he could fix it.

What? Open it up and fix it? Huh. I didn’t know they were doing repairs like this in the store but I shrugged and let him take it to the back room and troubleshoot away. I instantly felt naked without my iPhone as soon as he was out of sight.

I actually think he whisked it away more to inspect my iPhone to verify it hadn’t been dropped, abused, or doused in water before moving forward to find a resolution. He was gone for about 5 minutes before making his way through the crowded store back to me. He said he didn’t think he could fix it and was going to try to authorize a replacement for me. He asked me if I’d tried restoring it and I told a lie here – I said that I had but it hadn’t worked. He said that sometimes a DFU restore could help but since I was pretty sure this was a hardware problem, I didn’t want to drag out the troubleshooting procedure unnecessarily by endorsing that troubleshooting step. Plus, restoring an iPhone as a new device and getting it set up the way I need it, apps and all, is a bitch.

He left me again and went behind the genius bar to document my case and, I assume, to get authorization for the exchange. He came back a few minutes later and handed me a shiny new (most likely refurbished, of course) iPhone 4S. I was a little worried that he might not have given me a 64GB model and I wanted to double-check before I left the store. So, I started it up and went through the iCloud screens to restore from a back-up I’d made just before I’d left for the mall. That took a few minutes and I was finally able to go to the home screen to get to the Settings app to check the phone’s capacity. It was indeed a 64GB model. Phew. Paranoia effectively banished.

I have noticed that this iPhone feels a little tighter in that the buttons have less play than the first one. Also, that buzz/rattle noise during phone calls is gone, thank goodness and this one isn’t haunted or trying to send me not-so-subtle messages about my mental stability or lack thereof.

Of course, I realized after I left the store that I hadn’t prompted the genius to delete everything off my original iPhone 4S right then and there. It was passcode locked and I hadn’t told him what it was so I wasn’t too worried but I later went online to iCloud and used the Find My iPhone feature to prompt a remote wipe of it. Dang, that’s one handy service. Thanks, Apple!

I installed the second set of my SGP Steinheil EX Ultra Fine protector set earlier this week and my new iPhone is now just like my old one. Except not wonky and broken. Super sweet.

How soon we forget (a fangirl confession)

by 2 Comments

A few days ago,  I noticed that a teammate in my volleyball league had a shiny new Windows Phone (I think it was an HTC Radar). I asked her how she liked it and she frowned, complaining that she couldn’t set custom text message tones for individual contacts.

I laughed in response and said, “What? Really? That’s silly. ”

“Yeah,” she replied, “I was finally just able to set custom ringtones after the last software update but still can’t change text tones. This phone is the suck.”

I’m a little ashamed of my reaction here since the ability to set custom text tones just became possible in iOS 5. Which means that as an iPhone user for more than four years now, I have only been able to set a custom default text tone or specific tones for individual contacts for a little over 2 months (since the gold master release of iOS 5 in October), a small change which has thrilled me to no end.

Why was I so quick to ridicule her Windows Phone for a limitation I experienced with the iPhone myself (jailbreaking aside) for more than 4 years?

Oh, well. At least I’m earning my iPhone fangirl stripes. Is there a Game Center achievement for that? XP points? Anything?

Dear Apple: Please fix the Reminders app

by 2 Comments

Dear Apple,

Hi there. It’s me again. I am enjoying my iPhone 4S immensely (even though pre-ordering one was a right pain in my ass). I think Siri is great and I use it all the time to draft text messages and create calendar events and reminders. It’s definitely a feature you can call “magical” all you want, in my book. But that new Reminders app… that could use a few changes, please.

First and foremost, why aren’t my lists in Reminders sortable? I have to admit that I’m pretty stumped you guys overlooked this basic feature in an app that’s mean to store tasks. Sure, there’s that Date tab at the top but this only shows me tasks scheduled I have for today (and subsequent individual days if I flip through them sequentially). But I want to see my entire list sorted by due date. Some of my tasks are several months in the future, you know, and swiping through page by page is a horrible way to get to them. Maybe make it how the default Completed list displays items? See? You already know how to do this one!

Adding on to that, I’d love to be able to set a priority for my tasks as well. So if I have a number of tasks due on a certain date (and you let me sort them) I can view the most important ones at the top of the list. You get how that makes sense, right? Not all tasks are created equal, even if they are due on the same day.

Also, I’m not perfect (clearly!). I don’t complete tasks on the scheduled date sometimes often. Time escapes me every now and then. I get sucked into a good book. I play way too much Fruit Ninja or Jetpack Joyride. Or I give in to the old puppy dog eyes routine and take Jake out on one more walk because the weather is so nice. And then stuff doesn’t get done as planned. How about some help with that? Like some options for repeating alarms for tasks with due dates? And a little visual reminder that turns the text red or something? These additional cues don’t need to “surprise and delight” me with any particular slickness or anything. They just need to be there and work, please.

I know you can fix Reminders, Apple. I want Reminders to be my default to do app now that it’s integrated via iCloud with iCal on my Mac. There are a ton of other excellent to do apps in the App Store that have all of these features. Not that I want you to copy them, but at least catch up to them in terms of features, please?

Sincerely,

Marianne Schultz

P.S. Thanks for listening to me about the whole voice command feature thing. Again, Siri is really cool.

 

iPhone 4S camera tips and tricks

by 2 Comments

Last week I created a list of iOS 5 and iPhone 4S tips and tricks, mostly focused on Siri, iMessage and the new Reminders app. Since my iPhone 4S is pretty much my primary camera for nearly every occasion (I rarely break out my Nikon D40 DSLR except to take product shots for reviews) and this may be the case for many of you as well, I thought I’d post some camera-specific tips and tricks this week.

First, however, if you’re not convinced that the 8-megapixel camera in the iPhone 4S is a large improvement over previous iPhone models, check out these neat comparisons shots compiled by app developer Tap Tap Tap.

Now for the tips:

Tap to lock focus and exposure

As with previous versions of iOS on iPhones with auto-focusing lenses (iPhone 3GS and later), you can tap anywhere on the screen to lock the focus on a specific part of the scene you want to capture.  In iOS 5, tapping also locks in the exposure level based on this location as well. This is particularly helpful when lighting is uneven in the scene you’re capturing.

Some people have had problems with the autofocus function while recording video, as noted by this Macworld article. This is something that Apple could address with a firmware update. If you’re having this problem, you should submit feedback to Apple so they can understand how widespread it is.

Capture images using the volume button or headphone remote

Apple finally lets you use the volume up button to activate the shutter (which is a little ironic since they booted my favorite photography app, Camera+, out of the App Store last year for doing the very same thing).  Note that only the volume up button works for this; pressing the volume down button does nothing.

If you’re using the headphones that came in the box with the iPhone 4S or 3rd-party headphones that offer a similar remote control, you can also use that to trigger the shutter to capture images.

Easily access the last image captured from the viewfinder

(Thanks to Steve for the reminder about this one.) This is a nice little shortcut to get to see the last picture taken. In the Camera’s live viewfinder view, just swipe from left to right and you’ll be taken to the last picture captured. Swiping from right to left will take you back to the viewfinder.

Note that you can go further back in the camera roll by swiping some more and instead of swiping repeatedly to get back to the viewfinder, you can just tap once to bring up some navigation buttons that include a shortcut to the Camera’s viewfinder in the bottom left corner.

Enable the viewfinder grid

One feature I’ve always liked in Camera+ is its grid overlay in the viewfinder to help you line up shots evenly, and this has now come to the iPhone’s own Camera app. You can enable this feature by tapping on the Options button while in the viewfinder and switching the Grid option to On.

Pinch to zoom

In previous versions of iOS, a zoom slider popped up whenever you tapped anywhere in the viewfinder and you could manipulate this slider to adjust the zoom level. That zoom slider doesn’t show up when you tap on the screen anymore – instead you need to use the same 2-finger pinch motion that you use when zooming in on images in Safari and other apps to reveal it.

Double-click the home button to open the camera from the lock screen

This is my favorite new shortcut. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve missed a great photo opportunity because it took too long to get to the Camera app. Now, all you need to do is double-click the home button when the iPhone is locked and a camera button will appear next to the unlock slider. Tapping on this will open up the Camera app right away.

This works even if your iPhone is locked with a passcode. However, Apple was clever enough to disable the ability to swipe backward to see the last picture captured – it will show a message that the iPhone is locked and needs to be unlocked before these can be viewed, so your camera roll can’t be snooped even with this shortcut, thankfully.

_________
There you go! I hope these tips are as useful for you as they have been for me. If you have any others to share, feel free to post them in a comment here.

Oops, I did it again

by Leave a Comment

Last year, I purchased a gorgeous $200 hand-made leather case from Vaja Cases in Argentina for my iPad. Yes, that was $200, not $20. No, I was not under the influence of any illegal substances when I placed that order. Yes, I know there are starving children in Africa. No, I didn’t regret it.

After upgrading to the iPad 2 earlier this year and subsequently selling my iPad 1, I then had that $200 leather case that wouldn’t work with my new tablet gathering dust (it was a fitted case and the iPad 2’s thinner shape and different curves simply wouldn’t work with it). I did sell it eventually but for much less than I paid for it, of course. And I swore then that I wouldn’t do that again. What was the point of buying such an expensive accessory for a device I would most likely keep for just one year before upgrading to the next new model?

Clearly, that responsible thinking got me nowhere since I just bought another Vaja case for my iPad 2. The Libretto Limited Edition case, to be more specific. With a black exterior and red interior and that divine leather smell that Vaja products always have.

Its retail price? $190.

This is the part where you shake your head at my wanton foolishness and blatant consumerism.

And this is the part where I tell you I got it for nearly 1/3 of its retail price thanks to eBay. Now hold your hand up in the air with your palm facing away from you. And feel the virtual smack of my jubilant high five that is required to celebrate such a magnificent feat of deal-getting. Hot damn, I’m good.

The Libretto is every bit as fantastic as the Agenda 2 version I had for the original iPad (my review of that is here), and it has a magnetic closure and works just like Apple’s Smart Cover (my review) to automatically wake and sleep the iPad 2. And it’s absolutely lovely.

I still have my Treegloo case (my review), though I may sell it at this point because I am most thoroughly happy with the Libretto. I am tired of the Smart Cover and will probably sell that too. I had to remove the DODOcase BOOKback (my review) to install my iPad 2 in the Libretto and I regret this a little since I liked that skin, but c’est la vie.

So, yeah. I did it again. But at least I did it better this time. 😉

(Is that Britney Spears song now stuck in your head? Recalling her in that red latex suit from that video right about now? For that, I am really and truly sorry. But I just couldn’t help myself.

And I swear on all that is holy that this is the first and last time you will ever see a picture of this particular pop diva on my site.)

Verified by MonsterInsights