Getting rid of my iPhone

[mwhartman]

Hi Gary! Sorry you are have frustrations.

I've had iPhones and Android phones. Both have pros and cons. I rooted by Android but I've not jail broken my 4S. If you want customization then, IMO, a rooted Android offers a lot of different options.

If you want a phone with excellent call quality and stability then, IMO, iPhone is the better option.

When I had my 3G, like you, I found using a USB and iTunes frustrating. However, unless you use RomManager/Clockwork, which has issues, to backup your phone, you still need a USB to backup your Android to your computer. I've not used a USB with my 4S. The addition of wifi sync with iTunes and iCloud are a great improvement, IMO.

I note that you are updating iTunes. Here is a link How To Create Ringtone for iPhone on iTunes 10 that you may find useful.

Good luck with your decision.

Mike

 

[iamkimosabi]

For the part of it deleting things on your iPhone when syncing with iTunes, try these steps.

Go into iTunes and click on your iPhone on the left panel after its plugged in and recognized.

Scroll down to options and CHECK Manually manage music and movies. Hit apply. It might erase everything one last time, but now every time you want to add something, all you have to do us click drag and drop on to your iPhone tab on left under devices.

 

[Mickey330]

And, as far as stopping the syncing, make sure you (in iTunes) go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and ensure you have the box ticked that says "Prevent [iDevices] from syncing automatically." That's the very first thing I did and it works a treat.

That, and when your iPhone is plugged in - go to the Apps bar (right hand side) and scroll down to the bottom of the list that appears next to the screen representation of your phone. There is another box there titled "Automatically sync new apps." Make sure THAT box is UNchecked.

Having those two areas set up nicely means that I control what happens with my iPhone when I plug it into iTunes. I hope it'll help you, too.

Oh, and I make ringtones (and text notifications) using the very same method mwhartman linked to, which also works great. Any song, sound, file, etc. you can get into iTunes = a ring or text tone. Awesomeness!

Good luck.

Marilyn

Marilyn

 

[EWyatt]

Hi all, New to the forum, so please excuse any mistakes.

and especially itunes, which must be one of the most annoying, rubbish peice of software ever thought of.

Now I know I will probably get shouted down for saying the above, but i'm fed up with it deleting everything of the phone whenever I connect, The current version installed is 9.0.3.15, and all attempts to upgrade fail, if I could be bothered to waste any more time with this peice of rubbish, ...............etc...
Regard's,
Gazza.

I agree mostly. iTunes is garbage, very user-unfriendly, and bloated. I suspect the major reason Apple created such a bad piece of software was to (unnecessarily) distance itself from Microsoft's terrific "drag and drop" and folders/files concepts for smartphones. The result is what we now have. There are those who say "it's the user's fault." Well..... if a piece of software was clear and easy to use, then users wouldn't have problems that were "their fault!" And note to others: my comments are not about the iPhone, a fine device. It's strictly about iTunes. And I've read literally hundreds of people in forums condemning it.

 

[EWyatt]

And, as far as stopping the syncing, make sure you (in iTunes) go to Edit > Preferences > Devices and ensure you have the box ticked that says "Prevent [iDevices] from syncing automatically." That's the very first thing I did and it works a treat.

That, and when your iPhone is plugged in - go to the Apps bar (right hand side) and scroll down to the bottom of the list that appears next to the screen representation of your phone. There is another box there titled "Automatically sync new apps." Make sure THAT box is UNchecked.



Marilyn

Good info, Marilyn, and that's basically what check-marks I made after I lost everything on my iPhone the first few times! However, those manual options should be the DEFAULT options, not otherwise. In that way, if people want to go auto later, they can opt to do so. And thanks for posting the info!

 

[Getridofit]

Well seems my first post was correct, as the phone had not been connected for a while, the first thing it wanted to do was update the firmware, so I backed everything up, and after three attempts of timeouts, running diagnostics, which came back fine it eventually updated the firmware, but not before restoring the phone to the point where I have lost all the photos of my Grand Daughter, my contacts numbers are still there, but with no names, and texts, some from my Mother who passed away in July, Yes a grand bit of software, apple should be proud of themselves, give them a pat on the back for a job well done, I only wanted to change a stupid text alert, should have known better though, you can't go wrong if you follow the screen prompts can you.

Thanks to everyone who has posted, and offered help, and not suggested it's user error.

 

[xrayeyes]

One thing that many do not realize is that you can sync iTunes to your phone, but you don't sync your phone to iTunes.... First thing you should do, until you understand the process, is turn off sync, both on itunes and on your phone to ensure you don't delete files. Make sure you have those files downloaded, backed up, and protected on itunes before you sync them to your phone. For the best insurance, you should consider having all of your contacts with gmail or yahoo and sync with one of those services. That way your contacts will always be available if they accidently get deleted from your phone.

when you back up are you right clicking on your device and then choosing the option to back up? When it says it's backing up when it's syncing....it's not really...this is one of my biggest issue with itunes. they do not make the process of syncing and back up clear to the average user.

 

[iNurse]

Sorry you have had so much trouble.

 

[Getridofit]

One thing that many do not realize is that you can sync iTunes to your phone, but you don't sync your phone to iTunes.... First thing you should do, until you understand the process, is turn off sync, both on itunes and on your phone to ensure you don't delete files. Make sure you have those files downloaded, backed up, and protected on itunes before you sync them to your phone. For the best insurance, you should consider having all of your contacts with gmail or yahoo and sync with one of those services. That way your contacts will always be available if they accidently get deleted from your phone.

when you back up are you right clicking on your device and then choosing the option to back up? When it says it's backing up when it's syncing....it's not really...this is one of my biggest issue with itunes. they do not make the process of syncing and back up clear to the average user.

Hi
Yes, I read the notes before installing the latest version, and right clicked the phone and selected backup, Lucky I had all of the Data backed up over three hard drives, so as far as pictures and movies go I can put them back, I don't understand why I has kept my numbers but deleted the names, it's gonna be a pain working out who's who.

At the moment I'm trying to get my ringtone back "Sweet child o mine" and my alarm tone, Really noisy one by some Death metal band I cant remember the name of, but it does the job!!!! Just need to get it back so I can select as an alarm alert.


Regard's,

Gary.

 

[Getridofit]

Sorry you have had so much trouble.

Thank you, suppose these things are sent to try us.

Regard's,
Gary.

 

[SweetPoison]

So ~ how's it going, Gary? Things looking up?

 

[seneca18]

Hey there,
I agree with a lot of your complaints with regards to customizing certain aspects of your phone. However, given all you said you should have done much more research before buying a phone. You should know that many people like the fact that everything revolves around iTunes and also it is a known fact that iTunes plays a great part in the iOS experience. I have recently switched to iPhone because I had an iPad wanted to be able to sync everything. Given what you said I think an android would suit your needs much better. Honestly I loved my droid and the ability to customize every aspect of the phone also use it as a mass storage device. Just my thoughts.

 

[EWyatt]

One thing that many do not realize is that you can sync iTunes to your phone, but you don't sync your phone to iTunes.... First thing you should do, until you understand the process, is turn off sync, both on itunes and on your phone to ensure you don't delete files............

OK xray..., how do you configure the iPhone NOT to synch with iTunes?

 

[Getridofit]

Thanks again to everybody who has replied, and for all of the information.

I was up until 4am monday morning trying to get the phone back to something like it was, That achieved I had to be at work at Midday, and have only been home a short while, almost 1 am Tuesday, so a bit knackered and not really feeling up to playing about with the phone, But I will keep you informed as I go.

One thing I forgot to mention, is the fact that when I first got the phone, and started using iTunes I had no problems at all, I made my custom ringtones, and alarm alerts and was getting along fine, but then things started to play up, and after uninstalling and re-installing things didn't get any better, thats when I lost all faith in iTunes, and was fed up with having to put stuff back on that had been deleted for no apparent reason, and would just like to point out that the information given in this thread regarding which boxes should be checked and unchecked are the same as I have been using, as I made a few "User Errors"!! at the beginning, but a few googles later had found this information and applied it, so things were running sweet for quite a while.

If the latest version of iTunes behaves itself, and with the help and advice I've been given here regarding adding additional text alert's, (which I must admit is the thing I have had most problems with) I Might....Just maybe consider getting the 4s in the new year, after all, the old eyes aren't getting any better, so I need a big screen !!!

Regard's,
Gary.

 

[mwhartman]

Glad things are looking up for you, Gary. I have a 4S and can honestly say that I've not had any issues with iTunes, iCloud, or my phone. I think you would see a big difference with the latest version of iTunes, a 4S, and iOS 5.

Let us know what you decide.

Mike


BTW my eyes are old the the 4S's screen is very nice