Some Overheating 3GS iPhones Glow Pink 364
Hugh Pickens writes "The Telegraph reports that dozens of users of the recently released iPhone 3GS have reported overheating issues, with some iPhone owners unable to pick up the device because the handset gets so hot to the touch, while others say the casing turns pink with the heat. 'I am definitely experiencing issues with the iPhone running warm and quick battery life lost,' writes Tom Goldstein on one discussion board. 'The phone seems to warm up almost immediately if I am doing anything that pulls data over the network.' Some users have said the device has been too hot to put to their ear while making a phone call, and others say the overheating seems to occur when owners are using the iPhone's mapping software, which uses the handset's built-in GPS technology. Melissa J. Perenson writes at PC World: 'I became aware the handset had become very hot. Very, very hot — not just on the back, but the entire length of the front face, too.' Some gadget experts believe faulty batteries could be the cause of overheating and poor battery life. 'My guess is there's going to be a whole lot of batteries affected because these [iPhones] are from very large production runs,' said Aaron Vronko, who fixes iPods and iPhones. 'If you have a problem in the design of a series of batteries, it's probably going to be spread to tens of thousands [of device], if not hundreds of thousands, and maybe more.'"
Hmmmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
... testing anyone?
It seems Apple has a hard time learning that electronics cause heat and that this heat needs to be led away from the device.
I can remember several cases ( MacBooks, iMacs, what have you) where they've had overheating issues ... pretty sloppy engineering if you ask me.
Re:Hmmmm ... (Score:3, Insightful)
I doubt that it is sloppy engineering, but in their quest for ever smaller aesthetically pleasing case design they may be sailing a little too close to the edge of what is technically possible.
A bit like the Xbox360 really (ok minus the small form factor or the nice design, but at least they tried.)
Obviously the user's fault (Score:4, Insightful)
The iPhone was supposed to be used by cool people who can easily take the heat.
From what I hear about Apple fanboys (Score:5, Insightful)
iPhones Glow Pink
From what I hear about Apple fanboys this will be seen as an advantage.
Re:Hmmmm ... (Score:1, Insightful)
It's not just overheating, look at the rediculously easily scratch nanos, the fire hazard magsafe power adapters and the discolouration of MacBooks.
I wish Apple fans would let us drop the myth that Apple products are well engineered, the fact is they're not, they're shoddy as hell. People suggest the price you pay for Apple kit is for quality but that's just bollocks, it's low quality kit made in Asian sweatshops and poorly engineered without proper testing.
The fact is, all you pay for with Apple is the prestige factor, they're seen as high end devices that all the cool people have and nothing more. Apple does not produce quality products.
Re:Oh hey no problem (Score:1, Insightful)
Why would someone with a discoloured case just want a new battery? They'd go for a new device entirely.
Hence your post is pointless.
Re:It's Real Name (Score:3, Insightful)
Still, I've yet to find a phone that doesn't do this.
Maybe the manufacturers need to realize that many users will user their devices as advertised, and not at the designed-for minimal usage patterns. Some people actually will stream a video, just like the ads say you can; they won't just make calls, take photos, and SMS their friends. Manufacturers need to reconsider their expectations for actual current draw, and include routines and hardware to check for excessive heat and runaway processes drawing too much juice.
Re:should have released it in winter (Score:2, Insightful)
well take a quick look around at other smart phones. some 80% of them are what? black.
there are silver ones and a few random other colours but most are black.
No the only thing apple should be ashamed of is poor battery design and over clocking the processor to make idiots happy.
Re:Hmmmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
"little too close to the edge of what is technically possible."
exactly.
pretty sloppy engineering.
Re:That's to be expected (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes, I mean... who the hell wouldn't expect their new phone to quickly turn pink?
Re:Hmmmm ... (Score:3, Insightful)
... testing anyone?
It seems Apple has a hard time learning that electronics cause heat and that this heat needs to be led away from the device.
I can remember several cases ( MacBooks, iMacs, what have you) where they've had overheating issues ... pretty sloppy engineering if you ask me.
Well the first batch of Macbook Airs also had severe overheating issues, mostly crawling up in summer, Apple never fixed it, well they did, the fix was to sell a second generation after a few months where the heating issues occur less frequently!
So the list of Apples thermal design failures is pretty long starting btw. with the famous Apple 3 whichs thermal problems back then was Steve Jobs personal fault, because he refused to listen to his engineers and demanded a fanless machine!
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Early adopters.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Just goes to show you shouldn't be the first to buy any new gadget.
Early adopters always get burnt in some way. It is just more literal in this case.
Re:Oh hey no problem (Score:2, Insightful)
do you not think it might have something to do with being watertight?
just a thought....
Re:Hmmmm ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Some people on Palm boards or literally on their THIRD PRE because its so poorly constructed, yet a handful of iPhones get hot and Apple is this awful company.
I realize that in Macfanboyland this probably isn't true, but in the real world, it's possible for two companies to be bad at the same time.
In other words, just because Palm is bad, doesn't mean that Apple isn't either.
/me waits for fanboys to mod me down
Re:Unfortunately not uncommon (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't have an iPhone... I have too much invested in the Windows Mobile platform dating back almost a decade to really migrate at this point (plus, I write some of my own little applets and upload to my phone all the time... can't do that with the iPhone without jailbreaking)
Strictly speaking, it's not necessary to jailbreak. If you join the developer program (costs $100), you'll be able to upload your software to your phone. You can authorize other phones too.
Re:should have released it in winter (Score:3, Insightful)
How many people still blamed Dell for those bad batteries?
Also a good design on paper/computer screen is not always a good design in the field.
Re:iPhone 3GS - Cooled By Pure Apple Fanboyism? (Score:5, Insightful)
I guess I'm a bad owner...
I try not to talk about it unless other people drag me into it. (usually because a coworker got one of his own and is asking me questions about my favorite apps).
I generally try to hide my use of the device as I don't like being pestered about it by people who want to buy one but have not.
I don't flame iPhoine posts, I just flame FUD, and in many cases I've defended features of competing devices, and am always more than willing to discuss the iPhone's limitations and what I'd like to see changed as opposed to it's strengths.
Since I nearly always post in iPone forums where another poster has spread disinformation, or their own unfounded flamings, I'm usually incapable of using my mod points to bury them.
I also do not shamelessly promote the device simply because it's an apple product. Though my wife and I both own one (since I gave her my 2G when i got my 3G S last week), and we do plan to buy a MacBook Pro in August, we are both PC users on a daily basis and expect to stay that way for the forseeable future. When someone comes out with a device that I feel is genuinely as good or better than the iPhone, and I don;t have to break a contract to get it, then I might very well switch.
Re:should have released it in winter (Score:3, Insightful)
My new 3G S gets pleanty of sunshine, sitting in a dock on my black dashboard in full direct sinlight...
I have run it for 4+ hours straight, in SC sunlight, in a car with poorly performaing Air Conditioning, (about 80 in the car) running iPod in the background, full volume output, WiFi and BlueTooth on, and with Google Maps on, in hybrid mode, screen set to not sleep, with GPS real time tracking and the compass enabled, while and charging the battery.
It was 102 degrees on Saturday. After that much time under that heavy load, the device was warm, but placing it in my shirt pocket was not uncomfortable. I even made a phone call within a minute or two of getting out of the car and placed it on my ear and was not at all concerned about the temp of the device.
I also played an immersive 3D game the other night from full charge until the battery died (about 4.5 hours) with the iPod running in the background. My bluetooth headset was on in my pocket, and wifi was enabled. The device again got warm, but not even as warm as it did in the car. Far from uncomfortable. My (now my wife's) 2G gets hotter under those loads.
Reports I've heard from people with "pink" phones are people who left it running like this under a pillow, in a bag, outside in the hot summer sun for hours, and other extreme conditions.
Quite possibly there's a battery issue and some bad one's floating around. There's over a million of them out there already. An issue rate of a few dozen phones per milion is a SMALL issue. Also, being a LiPo, not a LiIon, though it may get hot, it;s not likely to explode or burn as cascade failure is fare more difficult to achive in LiPo.
Re:Apple had once 50% share (Score:5, Insightful)
Look at it this way. The device was nearly certain to be huge. However, prior to it's actual launch, who would finance a massive facility to make tens of millions of devices America had never seen?
Apple has "rolled out" their iPhone in the same way the did with the iPod.
They're STILL building new facilities to handle the market load of ther device. Same for their Macs. They COULD be a lot more popular, but Apple simply doesn't have a CAPACITY to build enough fast enough if the device was actually 100% perfect. They also don;t have the staff to support a user base growing on that scale. even with their slower adoption they're having major staff issues, even 2 years in...
Oh, and it does multitask, allways did. Wuit the "background" argument already. I'm sick of it. Short of them needing a "plug-in" system for the iPod interface, so things Like Pandora can use it's functions as a background app, i can't find a single reason why suspend (sleep and resume without using resources) and notify (same thing as backgrounding in my opinion, and easier to code for) functionality isn't equally as good. The only thing they're missing on top of an iPod plug-in is for multiple web pages to be loading, or downloading docs, concurrently. But Mail downloads in the background, SMS runs in the background, so does the phone, name any one app you background on another device that we can't do exactly the same thing with on the iPhone without "requiring" backgrounding... No one has yet given me ONE, not ONE.