The power button on a woman’s iPhone 4 failed, and she’s not able to turn the phone on or off. That pretty much renders it useless, so she ditched AT&T and got a new phone. But she never forgot that shiny, shiny iPhone that broke down shortly after its initial one-year warranty was up. She filed a class action on behalf of herself and other powerless iPhone users. What raised eyebrows is that she sued under the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, accusing Apple and AT&T of conspiring together to sell expensive two-year contracts on phones that break after one year. [More]
Report: Apple Sent 5-8 Million Shoddy iPhones Back To Foxconn
By April 23, 2013
The Apple rumor mill is a-churning yet again, and this time it’s not another breathless bit of speculation about the newest version of the iPhone: A report out of China claims that the smartphone giant sent anywhere between five and eight million shoddy iPhones back to its manufacturer, Foxconn, out of concerns that the phones weren’t up to snuff. [More]
Watch What You Whisper: Your Secrets Might Not Be So Safe With Siri
By April 19, 2013
When you ask Siri late on a Friday night how to craft the perfect booty text, it’s not like the iPhone’s digital assistant is going to run off and tell your friends. But oh, she remembers what you tell her. As for how long she holds onto that info, well, it’s unclear. And that uncertainty over Apple’s data retention police is giving privacy advocates a severe case of the frownfaces. [More]
Make Sure You Get The Right T-Mobile iPhone Or You’ll Get Stuck In The Slow Lane
By April 15, 2013
Not all 4G networks are created equal. The iPhone 5 officially hit T-Mobile on Friday, April 12, but not all T-Mobile iPhones are created equal. You can buy a phone from T-Mobile itself, or an unlocked one from Apple that comes with a T-Mobile SIM, but not every iPhone for sale is compatible with T-Mobile’s 4G network. Many customers are going home with an older version that’s not compatible with T-Mobile’s network, defeating the point of owning a 4G LTE device. The problem is that many T-Mobile and Apple Store employees aren’t aware of the difference. [More]
$53M Apple iPhone Warranty Settlement Centers On Those Pesky Water Damage Strips
By April 12, 2013
Anyone who’s ever had to pay for a replacement cell phone, smart or otherwise, has tried the “But I swear, I didn’t get it wet!” argument when that little strip is pink, instead of white. But a new settlement has Apple paying out $53 million to customers who claimed the company didn’t honor warranties on iPhones and iPod Touches, all becuse of those pesky damage indicators. [More]
T-Mobile iPhone Preorder Customer Rewarded With Getting Her Phone Next Wednesday
By April 12, 2013
Today, the iPhone goes on sale from T-Mobile, which is something that many of our readers are very excited about. After years of being with the only major carrier without the phone, who can blame them? While people who line up in stores today will walk away cradling the precious, precious phone in their hands, some people who got a jump on ordering will have to wait for a while. [More]
T-Mobile iPhone Preorders: A Few Glitches, But Not A Disaster
By April 10, 2013
T-Mobile are pretty excited about the iPhone coming to the carrier, and many customers among our readership have pre-ordered the device. On Monday, we shared reader Richard’s preorder report that he wasn’t able to order at all, no one was able to place a preorder for him, and nobody knew why. We called in for some help from T-Mobile, and asked our readers how their preorders are going. [More]
Four Days Until The T-Mobile iPhone Goes On Sale…How Are Those Pre-orders Going?
By April 8, 2013
As you most likely know, T-Mobile will begin officially selling the iPhone on Friday, without a subsidy or required contract. That’s the good news. Excited customers could start placing pre-orders last Friday, a week before the official launch. How’s that working out for them? Reader Richard filed this report from Pre-order City. [More]
The $30 SIM Replacement Fee: When A Verizon Store Isn’t A Verizon Store
By April 2, 2013
It was a really exciting time for reader Poochie’s wife. She was getting an iPhone 5. Yaaay! Once everything was set up in her brand-new phone, though, the SIM card failed. No problem: Poochie pulled out his own phone and asked his trusty friend Siri where to find the nearest Verizon store. That store wanted $30 to replace the SIM of a phone that was just out of the box and under warranty. If that seems unreasonable, that’s because… it is. [More]
European Union Looking Into iPhone Contracts After Carriers Complain They Stifle Competition
By March 22, 2013
Regulators over in Europe are checking into Apple’s deals with cellphone carriers after complaints that the iPhone contracts the company uses stifle competition. There are no formal complaints yet, but a group of wireless carriers banded together to submit info about their various contracts to the European Commission, in a move reportedly started by French carriers. [More]
I Can’t Make My Son Use Less Data On HIs iPhone Without Giving AT&T More Money
By March 15, 2013
Mark has a teenage son. His son has an iPhone. Like many teens (and quite a few adults, come to think of it) his son has trouble managing his usage on his 200-megabyte data plan. Most of the time he’s near wi-fi…but that’s only most of the time. Mark called up AT&T to see whether there was any way that he could lock down the phone from his account so it just can’t access the data network at all after reaching its limit. That would be a nice feature, wouldn’t it? Too bad that AT&T doesn’t offer a way to do that without somehow giving them more money. [More]
Hey, What Happened To All Of My iPhone Contacts?
By March 7, 2013
Are you facing life without any of your iPhone contacts? Davin is, and so are a lot of other people. Apple’s response? Well, they don’t have a solution. Their best answer is that, well, these people should have backed their contacts up to iCloud. [More]
Yet Another Accused Thief Makes Rookie Mistake Of Uploading Pics From Stolen iPad To The Cloud
By March 6, 2013
The funny thing about those who steal technological toys like iPads and iPhones from others is often that they don’t really know the capabilities of the electronics they’ve swiped. Even if they do, incriminating photos have a way of showing up and biting them in the rear. A woman accused of stealing an iPad ended up providing her own mug shot when photos her kids reportedly took were uploaded to the owner’s cloud. [More]
“TelePod,” “Mobi,” And Other Bad Names Apple Could Have Given To iPhone
By March 5, 2013
We all know that most brand names are not the result of the first thing that pops into an inventor’s head. But it’s a little hard to imagine a world where everyone is going gaga for each new iteration of the Apple Telepod. [More]
Verizon Charges Customer $299 For Refurbished iPhone That Never Worked
By March 4, 2013
It hasn’t even been two years since a New Jersey teen first received his iPhone 4. He’s since been through four of the devices, following a string of faulty refurbished replacements. To rub salt in that wound, Verizon Wireless charged him $299 for the most recent refurb, claiming the damage was his fault. [More]
United Airlines Mobile Boarding Passes: Save Time And Trees, Lose Frequent-Flyer Points
By February 1, 2013
It’s incredibly convenient to carry your airline boarding passes on your smartphone. They save paper, save the airline money, and save really absentminded people from misplacing their tickets. The problem, though, is that using them means that Ralph loses out on a lot of frequent flyer miles that United Airlines owes him. He doesn’t have any boarding passes to show and prove that he traveled when he said he did, and evidently United doesn’t keep track of that kind of thing. [More]
Reporting A Stolen iPhone To Cops Is Smart If You Didn’t Just Steal It From Someone Else
By January 28, 2013
The sad reality is that many times a stolen phone is just not going to come back to you. There are a lot of iPhones out there and not enough police to recover them all, especially in New York City where so-called “Apple picking” is rampant. But one girl caught a break when none other than the person who stole her phone was the one who ultimately ended up reuniting her with it. [More]
Apple Pulls Photo Apps From App Store Because It Doesn’t Want You Seeing Any Nudie Pics
By January 23, 2013
While what you do with your smartphone in the privacy of your own home is totally your business, Apple has a strict policy against pornographic images, or really, any nude photos being searchable on applications made for iOS. As such it has issued a smackdown against two of Canadian company 500px’s popular photo-sharing apps, pulling them from its app store citing nudie shenanigans. [More]
