I with great anticipation and like any other technology buff of our times, bought the iPhone 5 about a fortnight back by paying a princely (yes, it is indeed princely for a mobile phone in India) sum of Rs. 44, 000/- from one of the Chrome stores here in Bangalore. The SIM card, I was told, is a nano version and only the mobile service provider could arrange for it and that it did, after 2 business days.
Finally armed with a nano SIM card, I migrated my entire emails and contacts on to the iPhone 5 and was ready to take on the world, because, apparently it was the best thing that has happened to iPhone since the iPhone. Little did I know that my problems with mobile communication would only multiple every day since then. Allow me to explain why:
My iPhone 5, bluntly and truthfully put, re-starts every 1-2 hours by itself and without any notice, mercy or concern. It re-starts in the middle of a conversation, or while I’m typing a long official e-mail, or when I’m sending a text, or when surfing the web or when it’s just about plain bored (i.e. when it’s idle and I’m not using the phone). When I first took it to the Apple/Reliance customer care centre on MG Road, a great connoisseur of Apple technology in the guise of a service representative, told me most condescendingly that it happens when I’m using too many applications at one go. I thought to myself that it was horribly odd advice to give because smart phones (of all things, made by Apple) shouldn’t re-boot just because I’m using it in multiple tasks (unless of course that’s running to 100s, which wasn’t clearly the case) and that’s why they’re called so - ’smart’ phones. In any event, after being told to limit myself to 6-7 tasks/applications at a given time, I returned home (tail between my legs) very disappointed but diligently committed to the cause of 6-7 tasks/apps open at one single time. In no time, the phone started booting itself again and I took it back the next day and met another service representative. This one, who seemed to be genuinely helpful and knowledgeable, explained to me (after examining the OS in great detail) that there were a few bugs with my OS installation and he re-installed the entire OS and assured nothing would happen again that would be of any remote inconvenience.
Well, my phone towed the line for precisely 6 hours (it really was just playing games with me now) and started booting itself right at the end of that day. Since that fateful day (which was about 10 days back), I have been going to almost every Apple store in central Bangalore to ask for a replacement and I have been made to hear the following responses with alarming uniformity: They will take 1 entire day to run its tests and arrive at a conclusion whether the hardware should be replaced or not. They can replace the phone only within the next 4-5 business days after the conclusion of the aforementioned test.
My only (and simple) objection to the entire solution is what happens to the 1 week where I will be without a phone. I mean, has Apple or Reliance forgotten that the iPhone 5 uses a nano-SIM and that cannot be used on any other mobile telephone instrument on this planet, unless of course there’s another iPhone 5. I sincerely hope nobody’s insinuating that I buy another iPhone 5 to ensure I can get the first iPhone 5 fixed.
Frankly, I’m quite disappointed and frustrated with Apple’s lack of apathy and understanding. While I acknowledge that in the demands of teeming millions who are crying and screaming for an iPhone 5 (still yet to discover why), a loss of one solitary customer who is just incorrigibly fed up with the hardware, software and any other ware associated with an iPhone 5 is as effective as losing one vote for Barrack Obama in the state of NY.
However, I sincerely do wish that the powers-that-be (how ironic, using this term for a phone manufacturer) sit up, take notice and realize customer satisfaction and understanding doesn’t necessarily have to stop with the swiping of the credit card.
Regards (or not),