Is Your iPhone Gunked Up?

I solved my problem the way Microsoft taught me on Windows: Reinstall the software. I used the iTunes "restore" option to wipe the iPhone software, reinstall to factory settings and to apply the most recent backup. An Apple Genius probably would have used a similar technique had I brought the phone into one of the retail stores.

The restore process also brought the phone back to snappy performance, after days of sluggish behavior before the procedure.

Today, a friend complained about his iPhone 2G. "E-mail takes too long to send," he said. Used to be that he would click "send" and the mail would fairly quickly send. We did an impromptu comparison, with the iPhones using the same wireless network. My e-mail shot out in seconds, while his lingered for about a minute.

I had seen this problem before, on my iPhone prior to the restore. Like my friend, my e-mail sending had gotten surprisingly sluggish. So, I told him to do a restore, too. I expect it will solve his problem. But should it have to?

GOT A TIP OR RUMOR?

About a month ago, I compared the iPhone 3G to Windows 95. Both products were highly anticipated, wrapped in hype and pivotal changing points in computing. But maybe iPhone 3G and Windows 95 are similar in another way: gunk. Windows 9.x was famous for the build up of gunk—dlls and other files—that slowed performance over time. Reinstalling Windows was perhaps the best way to clear out the gunk, or at least its influence, and bring back some snap to the operating system. Could iPhone suffer from the same gunk malady?

It's a question I'm asking after seeing how restoring my iPhone3G resolved calling and call-dropping problems, as well as ever-growing UI sluggishness. My friend similarly complained about his iPhone's slow responsiveness.

Many Apple Support forum posts for search term "slow performance" are similar to this one: "My phone has lately been doing this thing where the keyboard slows down considerably and types very slow. I tap a key, and the letter shows up seconds later. This has made texting difficult. Has anyone experienced this problem?"

Two iPhone users posted links to three YouTube videos showing their slow performance problems. Negative Apple Support forum posts are notorious for their tendency to disappear (Now how is that?). So don't be surprised if the link goes nowhere sometime after I blog this post. The first of the YouTube videos is familiar to me. I experienced similar response problems, although not quite as bad, in the couple days before calling went to hell.

I did not experience the slow typing response depicted in the second YouTube video. The user interface was generally unresponsive—sometimes, but not always. Increasing sluggishness and occasional UI unresponsiveness preceded my repeated "Call Failed" problems.

This post from the Apple Support forum for search term "call failed" describes my troubles last week: "Whenever I try to call someone, it usually says call failed at least 3 times before it will even call. Is anyone else having this problem? It's soo annoying. Or does anyone know how to fix it?"

Another: "It happens a lot. I will try and make a call and instead of ringing, I will get a 'call failed' message. It will usually work fine after that first failure but to be honest, it's annoying. Is it me, my service, or the phone? What can I do about?"

In the blog post about the calling problems, I asked: "Why are there so many iPhone 3G complaints coming at once—now and not in the days after the device's launch?" I proposed four reasons, but perhaps gunk, or something like it, is another plausible explanation.

Gunk build up could explain why so many people appear to be having iPhone calling and other problems seemingly around the same time. The suddenness of all these problems is somewhat mysterious for their timing. But a common problem manifested around the same amount of usage is a reasonable explanation for the mystery.

Apple includes a prominent "restore" option in iTunes for a reason. It's a simple way of solving many iPhone problems. What if the installation of those third-party applications builds up gunk, causing performance problems and giving another reason to hit the restore button? It's a question for which I don't have an answer, particularly since I'm not an iPhone developer.

Gunk buildup could be little more complicated than poor memory management, where applications remain open when closed or leak memory over time. Windows 9.x users would be familiar with this kind of problem.

It's just another theory and not necessarily right. But if gunk is a culprit, iPhone 3G may have more in common with Windows 95 than I previously blogged. That wouldn't be a good thing.

[Please send your tips or rumors to watchtips at live.com].

Posted by Joe Wilcox on August 17, 2008 9:11 PM