Poll: Are iPods, iPhones etc... as bad as people make them out to be?

[Not-here-anymore]

I was talking to a few friends earlier about various technological goodies, and one of us pointed out that a lot of people report their latest apple toys as broken or frozen, often very soon after getting them. The rest of us started to wonder if this was due to a high failure rate, or just that Apple are shifting so much stuff that probability suggests there will be enough breakdowns to be noticed.
So, escapists (who own or have owned iWhatevers), leaving aside the whole 'traitorware' issue (google it), have you ever had an iThing spontaneously become a very expensive, stylish paperweight whilst you were using it? And if so, how?
Was it your fault (So apparently jumping on it breaks it?)
Was it apple's fault? (software crash making it unusable before being jailbroken, for example)
Was it a total accident (like being run over by a car)?

Personally, I've had the same iPod for a few years now, and I'm not even having any problems with the battery.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

My iPod still works perfectly. It has occasional bugs, but none of them are that bad.

 

[Marter]

Neither iPod I've had has broken yet. My newest one (Touch) still works like it is new, and my older one I've had for about 3 years without any serious issues.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Oh, several times. I get so frustrated when all of a sudden my iPhone freezes on me. There's no practical on/off button, so I can't turn it off and then on, and it normally stays like that until either the batteries run out or I connect it to my computer.

Has happened to several iPods as well, both some belonging to me and friends wondering if I could fix it for them.

I don't know what Apple for those problems to come so often, but they really need to start manufacturing products with proper ways to turn them off in case of freezing.

 

[Harlemura]

I've had my iPod a year and a bit and haven't had any problems with it. The only problem I ever have is it sometimes not connecting to iTunes very well, but I think that's more to do with my computer needing a "dunce" hat.

My sister's had one for a few years now, and every now and again it either won't turn on or she'll skip a track and it will just keep skipping (which is kinda funny, but beyond the point), so they're certainly not perfect. But the amount of time it's spazzing out compared to the time it's working as it should is minimal.

I dunno, maybe all the problems lie in the iPhones.

Spoiler: Not entirely relevant, but...

... thought I'd share this anyway.

 

[Matt_LRR]

the only iphone I've had break was one I dropped on hard pavement at a full run. It hit hard, and slid about 10 feet.

Otherwise, I've found the tech to be impressively hardy.

-m

 

[Swarley]

Nope, its just cool to hate it, so most people do.

Kinda like everything popular.

 

[A random person]

My understanding of Apple products is that they're fun to use, but incredibly closed down (this greatly angers my Linux-loving friend).

 

[Cherry Cola]

Oh, several times. I get so frustrated when all of a sudden my iPhone freezes on me. There's no practical on/off button, so I can't turn it off and then on, and it normally stays like that until either the batteries run out or I connect it to my computer.

Has happened to several iPods as well, both some belonging to me and friends wondering if I could fix it for them.

I don't know what Apple for those problems to come so often, but they really need to start manufacturing products with proper ways to turn them off in case of freezing.

Easy to fix on an iPod. You just turn the hold switch on and off, then hold the menu and center buttons and it'll restart. With the iPhone, you just hold down the wake/sleep button and the center button.

Nope, does not work on my iPhone. Has never worked when it has frozen on me.

 

[Inco]

I see alot of broken ipod touchs and phones when i am on the trains. So it damages easily, but is still pretty resilient (if you can makes sense to that).

Considering that my itouch hasn't even hit the 20 month mark and it is almost completely redundant (the latest update did almost nothing).

 

[Amnesiac Pigeon]

My iPhone seems to be doing alright at the moment.

Even after my labrador chewed it up.

 

[Funkiest Monkey]

I've had my iPod Nano (5thGen) for 7 months, it has over 1200 songs, 3 films and multiple scratches but it works perfectly.

 

[Mandalore_15]

No, they're worse.

 

[Rhiehn]

My understanding of Apple products is that they're fun to use, but incredibly closed down (this greatly angers my Linux-loving friend).

This friend needs to jailbreak.

No, they're worse.

How so? Mine's lasted two years and after jailbreaking it, I think it's excellent and you can do literally anything with it.

 

[Disaster Button]

I've had three iPod Touches in the last year and a half but that's only because I'm stupidly clumsy and keep dropping them in toilets or leaving them in tropical locations. The one I have now has a giant 'X' shaped crack on the screen but it still works perfectly.

 

[Infinatex]

snipy.

The failure rate of there products in no different to any other product, it's just that they sell so many more of them that it seems high. If you sell 1000 items with a 1% fail rate you get 10 sent back. When you sell 10,000 you get 100 that die.