Overheating iPhone 3GS handsets worry users

Telegraph UK ^ | 01 Jul 2009 | Claudine Beaumont

[Wooly]

The problem appears to particularly affect the white handsets of Apple's new turbo-charged device, which is twice as fast as its predecessor, the iPhone 3G, and boasts an improved camera and the ability to record video.

Dozens of users have reported overheating issues, with some iPhone owners unable to pick up the device because the handset gets so hot. Owners of the white iPhone 3GS say the casing turns pink with the heat. Some users have said the device has been too hot to put to their ear while making a phone call. The overheating seems to occur when owners are using the iPhone's mapping software, which uses the handset's built-in GPS technology to pinpoint their location and provide directions.

On Apple's support forums, iPhone owners have been complaining about the problems. "My iPhone 3GS back get somewhat warm when playing a few mins of games. Is this normal?," asks one user, Dreamcast DC. "I am having the same issue," reports Ron Lift

[Constitution Day]

Heavens to Murgatroyd!

You mean everything isn't perfect in smug Apple World?

[TXnMA]

"If I keep repeating it sooner or later it will be investagated." [sic]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2278092/posts

Mr. Jobs underwent a complete transplant evaluation and was listed for transplantation for an approved indication in accordance with the Transplant Institute policies and United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) policies.

He received a liver transplant because he was the patient with the highest MELD score (Model for End-Stage Liver Disease) of his blood type and, therefore, the sickest patient on the waiting list at the time a donor organ became available.

You were saying...?

[AFreeBird]

I should be able to back up your observations here starting, I think, tomorrow, as I have the exact same thing en route to me as we speak.

I guess it's my first "Mac".

[PA Engineer]

I also still have the first one and will make the leapfrog in December. No complaints.

Yesterday I was using the phone (checking the weather maps, forecast here and in the Baltic, checking the currency and metal exchange, checking oil prices, reading parts of the constitution, working with the graphing calculator, listening to different talk radio stations, checking the decibel readings on a generator at different distances, tracked a FedEx package, used the level on rehung pictures, took some pictures for hardware matching at Lowes, and of course using the alarm clock features at different times of the day). Did I mention I did all those things with the iPhone. That is just a fraction of the tools available at the Application Store and those which I regularly use.

Before closing my eyes for the night it dawned on me that I rarely use the phone for entertainment. Popped in the ear buds and tuned in The Band, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down and a few Globus pieces. I pondered how far we have come from the days of punch cards (Fortran) in college.

The iPhobia posters might be on to something. Maybe we should all go back to the Verizon Chocolate? I suppose that if man was meant to fly he would have wings.

I am waiting for iChat to include a stable video conference feature, then will make the jump.

[JaguarXKE]

I should be able to back up your observations here starting, I think, tomorrow, as I have the exact same thing en route to me as we speak. I guess it's my first "Mac".

I bought my wife an iMac about 6 months ago and took a liking to it, so I bought myself a MacBook. The mac paired with the iPhone is a perfect combination!

[Star Traveler]

You said — I also still have the first one and will make the leapfrog in December. No complaints.

—

Exactly..., leapfrogging technology is a very good strategy, I think and it works particularly well with Apple, because of its products being long-lasting and *functional* during that same period of time.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

And you were saying — The iPhobia posters might be on to something. Maybe we should all go back to the Verizon Chocolate? I suppose that if man was meant to fly he would have wings.

—

Yep, I sometimes think that’s going to be their next statement... :-)

[PA Engineer]

Wow. That Steve Jobs got his transplant in 2003. Boy you would have thought it was 2009. Interesting cherry picking when the current reports and MELD explanations are available up until June of 2009.

Your irrational and visceral hatred is more revealing then anything else in your posts. What are you so afraid of that you find the need to vent your hatred in a public forum?

[antiRepublicrat]

And you should completely discharge the battery before recharging as this somewhat increases the capacity of a new battery reducing the amp draw when discharging.

That's the old NiMH and NiCad days to get around the memory effect. You should never completely discharge a lithium-ion battery. Doing so will permanently damage it. The battery and/or the device usually has circuitry to prevent a complete drain. Taking a lithium battery down to the allowed minimum charge and back up is okay once in a while to help the charge sensors recalibrate, but don't do it as a regular practice.

[Swordmaker]

So what are you saying this article is a bunch of malarky or will you admit Apple screwed up big time. The Foreman Grill probably doesn’t get this hot /s

Big time? I don't think that is the case.

There apparently are a few white iPhone 3GS units that are discoloring (It may be that some black units are as well but black can't get any darker). How many remains to be seen. However, there were over 1,000,000 sold and only a few users are reporting this problem. Many others are claiming no problems. How many are overheating and discoloring? I have no idea.

Hypothetically, if even 1% are defective—a totally acceptable percentage of defective units in any manufacturing process—then that's 10,000 units. Many of the owners of those units are going to complain. The owners who do not have a problem aren't going be heard from. Being an Apple product, the tech pundits will jump on the reports because they somehow expect Apple products to be "perfect."

I recall a tempest in a teapot several years ago about new white iBooks batteries overheating. Reports were rife around the internet. A lot of FUD was spread. Apple recalled 28,000 iBook batteries (all made by Sony who picked up the tab for their defective batteries). When all was said and done, it turned out that the actual number of overheating iBooks was six. That's right six reported over heated iBooks... and none caught fire. None-the-less, Apple recalled and replaced 28,000 batteries.

There was one unrelated iBook—from another model and year—that caught fire, but that one was left charging and running on a shag rug which blocked the cooling vents for several hours before igniting.

Incidentally, HP and Dell, between them, recalled 280,000 batteries from the same series of internal cells that were recalled by Apple... but the news media hardly mentioned those, trumpeting instead the 28,000 recalled by Apple. I wonder why.

[Swordmaker]

. . . big time.

Consider this research into the iPhone 3GS "overheating problem" done by IT ChannelWeb. Their conclusion:

Searches of a host of Apple-focused Web forums prove otherwise. There are a few threads here and there touching on overheating, but not enough to consider it a rampant problem. Meanwhile, Wired reported that the overheating issue affects only a "small number" of iPhone 3G S smartphones.

A search of Twitter also uncovered few, if any, iPhone 3G S users complaining about overheating. Instead, the search returned a host of journalists and bloggers seeking iPhone users with overheating iPhones. But those users aren't there.

Right now, it's still too soon to tell if the iPhone overheating is a limited or isolated problem or if it will be widespread and prompt a recall. But as it stands it appears the issue is being overblown.

If it were a widespread problem, then Twitter and iPhone forums would be filled with complaints. They aren't.

[AFreeBird]

I'd be surprised if a MAC and iPhone didn't sync well. As for the desktops; I'm still running home builds with Linux; my laptop is a Lenovo (IBM Thinkpad) T61 running Linux. I'll have to run a Winders in a Virtualbox for iTunes to sync with the new phone. Oh well. As for the MAcbooks, I'd love to try one, but I've been spoiled by the IBM "Tackpoint mouse going back to the 486 days.

I cannot express to you or anyone else enough, how much I absolutely HATE (with a passion) a trackpad mouse configuration.

Talk about a Charlie Foxtrot. Heaven help the poor soul who invented that vile device if he were to ever cross my path.

I'm being facetious of course - sort of.

I can do more, and faster, with less effort, hand movement or thought with a trackPoint ,even more so under Linux, than I can with the pad under Winders.

Now from what I read and seen, the UI for the iPhone, given it's form factor, is something I can live with and am looking forward to playing with.

My first "Mac". LOL Now I can FReep form "where ever".

[TheBattman]

Wow - posting a possible “news” thread - that’s great.

Throwing in direct attacks on Apple users, Steve Jobs, and again Apple (and iphone) users for grins and giggles - why?

Yes, FR is about posting news, politics, and opinion, why do some feel that taking proactive swipes at other users, in an effort to build up their imagined self-righteous positions?

[TheBattman]

Apple labels their boxes “Designed in California” but everything is built by slave labor in Red China. A bit disingenuous, if you ask me.

Pretty picky, there... Absolutely zero is dishonest or "disingenuous" about saying it is designed in California. Every part of the iPhone (and other Apple hardware) is 100% designed in California by Apple's folks (other than the commodity stuff like hard drives/RAM/optical drive). Power supplies and motherboards - you won't find off-the-shelf commodity stuff - all Apple custom.

And how many computers are actually made here in the US today (or phones)? And don't give me the "DELL" argument - all Dell components are imported. Just looked at my previous phone - a Samsung Blackjack II. Guess where it was manufactured... Korea. My iphone appears, so far, to be of better build quality than that Samsung. My previous to that phone was a Moto Razr... I believe it was made in China.

[TheBattman]

Not always to save cost. Sometimes it is to stay within design parimeters. In this case, Apple wanted to keep the new phone (with a significantly faster processor - which usually means more heat and power use), in the same form-factor as the previous phone. Considering that battery life has been a complaint about iPhones since the first gen., I doubt Apple is intentionally using under powered batteries just to save money. Apple has always put design/aesthetics above money saving (which is part of why Apple traditionally has more expensive stuff).

But yes - good advice regarding turning off unused features. They just drain battery (also adding to the heat).

Don’t know about the battery “complete discharge” idea. As battery technology and materials have developed over the last several years - the method of maximizing batter life has changed many times. I think what I have read about (regarding the standard 3G version) is to drain it all the way once per-month.

[TheBattman]

I love it when a post about a possible product problem turns into a personal and completely unrelated attack on a person who has basically been the spearhead of a near miracle restoration and advancement of a company.

And the stock backdating (which I am quote opposed too), is more common than many haters would like to admit. And how can you say he didn’t profit from them by selling them because he got caught? He had tons of opportunities to make a fortune from it before the investigation began. Remember - this is the same guy, while CEO’s of many FAILING and near-bankrupt corporations were drawing mega-million salaries, Steve Jobs chose to draw $1 per year. The BOARD chose to offer the stock deal, and bought him the Gulfstream Jet. Steve could have asked for, and would have been gladly given, a salary that equaled far more than the stock deal.

[TheBattman]

And you have inside information on how long Steve Jobs was on the list and what his score was, right? And I am sure you are going to post that info, post haste?

[TheBattman]

Yet more personal attacks? I have never read Swordmaker denying when Apple has made a mistake.

Remember a few years back when Apple recalled a bunch of laptop batteries? Yep - no-one here denied the defective batteries. Of course, Apple did not manufacture the defective cells - SONY did. But that’s ok, Apple too responsibility for it and did a giant recall.

IN this case - maybe the battery design and capacity are not to blame, but the battery manufacturer. Or the plant that actually assembled the new phones had a run of bad ones, or there are a number of other possibilities. I have little doubt if this pans out to be a legitimate problem, that Apple will take care of them.

[Wooly]

Torqued to Spec!

[AFreeBird]

I just received a 3Gs (32G, back) last Thursday. I've been eating it up battery wise trying out every little thing it can do.

What a great little device!

I've had the battery get a little warm talking to the GF. She's talks a lot! My RAZR did too, but other than that, no appreciable heat coming from it.

If you want to pound Apple (And for the record: I've been a PC user since the IBM 5150 - and still am, only running Linux), pound them on the design aspects. They don't make the batteries, and battery chemistry can be a tricky thing. Probably a bad batch got in there.

Personally, I think the thing is great - my first Mac. The attention to detail that goes into it is amazing. It's intuitive as hell to use, and has great capabilities.

[AFreeBird]

(32G, back) should read: (32GB, Black).

Have 16GB left after putting 16GB of music on it.