iphone - too hot or too cold?

Extreme temperatures are horrible for battery life, and i'd wager to say bad for the whole unit.

EDIT: From Apple:

Environmental Requirements:
Operating temperature: 32° to 95° F
(0° to 35° C)
Nonoperating temperature: -4° to 113° F
(-20° to 45° C)
Relative humidity: 5% to 95% noncondensing
Maximum operating altitude: 10,000 feet (3000 m)

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http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_iphone/family/iphone?mco=MTAyNTQzMTI

Mad Mac Maniac said:

so what if it goes outside of those nonoperating temperatures? Does it explode?

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Those are just recommended temperatures. It won't explode if you go out on 120F day but if you're sitting on the beach and surfing on the net and the sun is shining directly to your iPhone for an hour or so, it may do some permanent damage.

Mad Mac Maniac said:

so what if it goes outside of those nonoperating temperatures? Does it explode?

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Operating it at temperatures above recommended may cause excessive heat buildup in your phone, shortening the life of many components. I imagine that cold temperatures are also not good for plastic components, etc. And if the humidity is any higher than recommended can cause corrosion or trip your water sensors.

I snowboard with my 3GS playing music for 6+ hours on a weekly basis at 10,000-13,000ft above sea level. With temperatures ranging between 0 degrees Fahrenheit to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

At the end of the day my phone still has at least a 75% charge left, and i've never seen any problems whatsoever.

I even get full bars at the top of most of the peaks here in Colorado.

sn0warmy said:

I snowboard...with temperatures ranging between 0 degrees Fahrenheit to 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

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But I assume that your iPhone is in a pocket or something. The temperature outside may be 0°F, but your phone isn't operating at that temperature...

thelatinist said:

But I assume that your iPhone is in a pocket or something. The temperature outside may be 0°F, but your phone isn't operating at that temperature...

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I used to keep it in an inside pocket but then I realized that there was condensation building up on the phone from my body heat mixed with the cold outside air.

So I started to keep it in an outside pocket that is not between my body and the insulation of the jacket. In the outside pocket I HIGHLY doubt the temperature is any warmer than the outside temp. In fact, since my jacket gets snow on it and I'm typically moving at about 20-30mph I would even argue that the ipod, while sitting in the outside/waterproof pocket is colder than the outside temp.

Mad Mac Maniac said:

so what if it goes outside of those nonoperating temperatures? Does it explode?

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When too hot, it may explode due to the battery while if too cold, I guess the iPhone will stop working.

Mad Mac Maniac said:

so what if it goes outside of those nonoperating temperatures? Does it explode?

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The first thing storing it outside the recommended temperature range does is most likely to degrade the chemicals in the battery. Your battery life will get shorter faster. At more extreme differences, it can start loosening connectors, cracking solder joints and weakening component packaging due to differential thermal expansion/contraction. And if you throw a device with an Li-Ion battery into a hot enough fire, it just might explode.

I had an older device with a Li-Ion battery, and it wouldn't even turn on if left out in really cold weather. Had to be stuffed inside my coat and warmed up for many minutes before it started working again.

sn0warmy said:

I used to keep it in an inside pocket but then I realized that there was condensation building up on the phone from my body heat mixed with the cold outside air.

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In those kind of conditions, I keep it in an inner pocket sealed inside a heavy-duty freezer zip-lock bag. To prevent condensation, I don't take it out of the zip-lock bag until it's temperature has equalized close to indoor room temperature.

firewood said:

I had an older device with a Li-Ion battery, and it wouldn't even turn on if left out in really cold weather. Had to be stuffed inside my coat and warmed up for many minutes before it started working again.

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That happened to me too.