iPhone 3GS Bugs/Issues

[binduwavell]

I have an iPhone 3G and a 3GS, when I perform large network operations (download/upload lots of images, download podcasts, etc) over WiFi, the 3GS is often half the speed of the 3G, so now the S stands for slow? I've run several speed test apps, these seem to show download a bit faster on the 3GS and upload about 50% slower, however actual experience with real content is that download is 30-50% slower. I visited my local apple store and the genius' 3GS had the same WiFi performance characteristics as mine so probably not a hardware issue.

Are other folks seeing this? Anyone know if this is a known issue that Apple could be working to resolve in 3.0.1 (3.1?? whatever it's gonna be numbered...)???

 

[subie09lega]

I've noticed a few quirks on my new phone. I can't compare to the 3G, I only had the classic iPhone before my GS.
Compared with the 2G:
It has typically taken a lot longer to shut down the phone. Not such a big deal as it hasn't gotten stuck there yet.
When I have the phone charging via USB, the phone indicates a full charge but the computer indicator says it's still charging. A while later the computer meter catches up. The 2G always seemed to agree with the computer.
The battery does drain quickly. I fully charged overnight and have only used it to text a little bit today. It's already dropped to 92% with minimal usage. When I started texting, it dropped from 100% to 97% within a few minutes. I've not noticed that the battery is better than the 2G and I usually turn off the 3G unless I need the network. I just sent a couple more texts (received one) and it's dropped down to 90%.
A couple times, it has completely dropped the service even though I'm in an area where the signal is always high. This showed up on EDGE as well as 3G - hardware or network issue????
On 3G, it sometimes takes a long while to download. I was driving the other day and was using EDGE for maps. To speed things up I switched to 3G and, few for few minutes after connecting to the network, it was very slow even to load the simplest map - not a satellite image.
Wasn't sure how accurate the GPS function would be and generally it's spot-on. But it seems that when it's showing the direction I'm going it's skewed. Maybe this is the magnetic north/true north thing and I just need to switch to whatever it's not displaying. The digital compass is very sensitive to external interference.

The thing that I've found works better is when I'm on a call I can use wifi without issue. With my 2G it would work for a few minutes into the call and then the signal strength would quickly fade out until it wouldn't work at all - even though I'd be standing right next to the router. Once the call was terminated, it would return to full strength.

 

[newyork_1]

The only problem I have noticed is that somehow my phone always ends up at a voicemail password enter screen.. When I exit an app or get off the phone.. Or when I have my phone locked and hit the wake button sometimes it will simply be at this screen when I unlock it.

Pretty annoying..

Have you figured out how to get rid of it? I have the same problem with the voicemail password screen.

 

[nickname#IM]

If I shake or move my 3gs quickly while it's charging there is a chirping noise, if the sound is off the chirp is replaced by a vibration. I thought it may have been app related as I just downloaded Tetris but it only occurs while the phone is charging.

 

[Jellotime91]

If I shake or move my 3gs quickly while it's charging there is a chirping noise, if the sound is off the chirp is replaced by a vibration. I thought it may have been app related as I just downloaded Tetris but it only occurs while the phone is charging.

WTF? That's weird! Like the noise it makes when you plug it in?

 

[saloyo]

Ok so I had to shake my phone since it's charging now to see if I'd get a noise of some sort and I didn't. Lol Yours is freaky.

 

[chobbs1]

couldn't resist, even though this is silly, I just shook my phone while it's charging. Nothing. hope you get it figured out, thats weird!

 

[John T]

I live in an area with very good coverage and my radio will constantly drop to 1 bar and then looking for service. Reboot the phone in the same place and be at 5 bars. Anyone else have this?

I've just had exactly the same thing occur to my 'phone! First time ever I've experienced "No Service"! My wife and I are both on O2 and there she is with her 10 year old Nokia with 5 bars and me with 1-1.5 if I'm lucky!!!

 

[The Entertainer]

so far i'm enjoying my phone, but the battery does seem to drain faster than my old iphone. and when i charge with the provided charger, i never seem to get information about my useage since my last full charge, but when i use my old iphone charger, i will get that information.....

anybody else have this problem

 

[ulik]

Screen contrast / Gamma

Got a new 3gs two days ago, upgrading from 3g. Overall - all is well, but one thing drives me crazy. When comparing to 3g side by side, the screen looks a little washed-out, lacking contrast and, what seems like, wrong gamma setting. The black on the background of the springboard is not the "blackest" black. When comparing, I've set the same brightness levels on both phones, and 3gs just appears to be more bright, with less contrast. Anybody else noticing this, or do I have a replacement candidate? Once again, this is pretty much noticeable only when comparing to 3g side-by-side. Normally the colors just look a bit washed-up.

 

[jstracci]

Has anyone noticed that when you let the battery run down to 0% (3GS), it no longer shows the dead battery screen when you press the wake button? It definitely did this on the 3G, dunno about the 2G, and I even found somewhere in the 3.0 manual where it said it could take up to 10 mins. for the dead battery screen to show, and I've waited 20 and still nothing.

 

[MGT]

I love my phone about 90% of the time, but it's been pretty prone to crashing since day 1; it happens most often while in apps like TweetDeck, though it's also happened when in native apps (Messenger, Calendar). Usually, the app just crashes and I have to reload the app and re-enter whatever it is that I was working on, but at times the entire phone freezes and needs a reboot. I hate to think I'm going to have to take this gorgeous piece of tech in and have it replaced, but I don't see this as an issue a patch can fix.

 

[MC Hampster]

The 3GS is my first iPhone but I was wondering if this was expected behavior:

I had 3G, WiFi and GPS on. Was using RunKeeper (which tracks you by GPS while exercising) and by the end of about a 40 minute run, the thing felt very hot. The hottest it has been so far. I'm wondering if it even messed with the InvisibleShield I'm using.

Another possibly important fact: I'm in Phoenix and it was probably 95+ degrees F at the time I was running in the early evening. Maybe that affected it also?

 

[Jeremy]

I love my phone about 90% of the time, but it's been pretty prone to crashing since day 1; it happens most often while in apps like TweetDeck, though it's also happened when in native apps (Messenger, Calendar). Usually, the app just crashes and I have to reload the app and re-enter whatever it is that I was working on, but at times the entire phone freezes and needs a reboot. I hate to think I'm going to have to take this gorgeous piece of tech in and have it replaced, but I don't see this as an issue a patch can fix.

Did you use a backup file to transfer your info to the 3GS or is this your first iPhone? If you transfered your data over from a backup file and are having these issues I'd say go ahead and restore the software and start as a fresh iPhone. Could be something in that backup file that is corrupt causing these crashing issues.

 

[chadizze]

My camera app keeps freezing and when i look at photos if i try to scroll through them all the last few dont sharpen they just stay really blurry...is this typical? Sometimes when I try to turn it on it shows the play, rewind, fast button along with the unlocked slider. I usually have to restart to get it to all work right.

 

[jeuke]

Battery Life

I use Push Mail on my 3GS to exchange and it appears to have no problems at all and all Apps are working fine. I did read somewhere that you need to select the option for this is a new phone in iTunes when you first sync. When i was running the beta on 3.0, setting up the phone as new got rid lots of issues i encountered.

My main issue is the battery life. I'm going to start a new thread on this issue as i believe there is a definite problem with certain batches.

I dunno if I did this right but 3Gs battery life is awful. I contacted Apple they told me to return it. This would make the third one since June 20th. I haven't gone yet because I don't want to deal with the Genius bar because I don't think it's the phone I believe its the battery... ahh something like that.

 

[jeuke]

Battery life is the worst. My 3G never went dead. The 3Gs went totally out in my pocket. I returned it, the Genius bar folks told me it was in spec's but I had them replace it. The second one is about the same, I contacted Apple they said to return it. I don't know what to think because I love the phone, I don't want to go to something else because of the battery.

 

[shawnluke]

The 3 GS is horrible compared to the 2 month old 3g I owned. I live in an area with very good coverage and my radio will constantly drop to 1 bar and then looking for service. Reboot the phone in the same place and be at 5 bars. Anyone else have this?

I don't have the 3GS but I do have a 3G...and after updating to the 3.0 software I have noticed that my phone does this quite a bit.

 

[art-boy]

Speaker Issues

When my external speaker is turned up I have noticed quite a bit more distortion on my 3GS over my 3G. Songs, ringing and alerts all sound distorted at higher volumes. I have read that the 3GS has a more powerfull speaker, but I think they may have just overdriven the existing speaker, causing distortion. Any one else notice this?

 

[mketchum]

The 3 GS is horrible compared to the 2 month old 3g I owned. I live in an area with very good coverage and my radio will constantly drop to 1 bar and then looking for service. Reboot the phone in the same place and be at 5 bars. Anyone else have this?

3G signal will show 5 bars, but when making a call it will fail right away. have to make several attempts to make a call. why will it not switch to Edge if the 3G signal is too week. even replaced my first 3GS and the second one is doing the same thing. I have to manually turn off 3G in my house to be able to receive and make calls with a decent signal.