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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Last week, Nowhere Else began receiving reports [Google translation] from owners of the white iPhone 3GS that had experience significant overheating, leading in some cases to distinct pink or brown discoloration on the iPhone's back case. A later report from Wired suggested that faulty battery cells may be the cause of the overheating and could lead to a significant recall of the affected iPhones.


144455-overheating_iphone_3gs_500.jpg


Image from Nowhereelse.fr
A number of reports today have pointed to an Apple support document providing advice on how to keep iPhones from overheating as an acknowledgement of the problem on the part of Apple. As Macworld points out, however, the document was originally posted many months ago, and was recently updated only to add references to the iPhone 3GS to the existing ones for the iPhone 3G. According to the Apple document, an overheating iPhone will display a warning screen and become inoperable with the exception of allowing emergency phone calls to be made. Apple also describes several situations that can lead to activation of the temperature warning screen.
- Leaving the device in a car on a hot day.
- Leaving it in direct sunlight for extended amounts of time.
- Using certain applications in hot conditions or direct sunlight for long periods of time, such as GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day or listening to music while in direct sunlight.
While heat is definitely a concern for any electronic device, particularly ones like the iPhone that pack a significant amount of power into a small space, Apple assures its iPhone 3G and 3GS customers that the devices do meet international safety standards for such devices. At this time, Apple has made no official response to these latest reports of overheating and discoloration on the new iPhone 3GS.

Article Link: Concerns of iPhone 3GS Overheating and Discoloration Gaining Publicity
 

djellison

macrumors 68020
Feb 2, 2007
2,229
4
Pasadena CA
"GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day"

So no SatNav in California, for example.

Lame, Apple. Very lame.

They rushed it out again.
 

Axl Rose

macrumors regular
Oct 16, 2007
192
0
woops..guess cant listen to music while sittin on a bench, or gps while driving..:p
 

synth3tik

macrumors 68040
Oct 11, 2006
3,951
2
Minneapolis, MN
These are the same problems Apple has had on a lot of other products. You would think they would have gotten it by now. You would think that after the third iPhone they would have gotten it.
 

almost30boohoo1

macrumors newbie
May 21, 2009
13
0
That discolouration... is terrible!

I think white, and black plastic looks tacky. The only thing worse is glossy black!
I wonder if the black version will do the same thing over time, with a greyish discolouration.
 

windywoo

macrumors 6502a
May 24, 2009
536
0
Its not heat, the iPhone is blushing from all the naughty naked bodies on it.
 

iOrlando

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2008
1,811
1
meh put your hand on an apple tv...that thing is burning all the time...

this isnt news....
 

manu chao

macrumors 604
Jul 30, 2003
7,224
3,031
"GPS tracking in a car on a sunny day"

So no SatNav in California, for example.

Lame, Apple. Very lame.

They rushed it out again.
The iPhone's primary purpose is certainly not be used as a dash-mounted GPS navigation device. Or would you say that any smartphone that cannot be used as a dash-mounted navigation device is not a viable product?
 

ryhno45

macrumors regular
Oct 13, 2008
130
0
Talking to someone late last night for about 45 mins. I noticed the phone was getting very warm, so I ended the call and took off the phone.

My house was about in 65-67's, so it was pretty cold.

I do not notice any discolorations though.
 

iOrlando

macrumors 68000
Jul 20, 2008
1,811
1
Talking to someone late last night for about 45 mins. I noticed the phone was getting very warm, so I ended the call and took off the phone.

My house was about in 65-67's, so it was pretty cold.

I do not notice any discolorations though.

my samsung gets high after a half hour call as well..

the phone will be hot...thats to be expected..

hot to the point of not picking it up = not to be expected.
 

slipper

macrumors 68000
Nov 19, 2003
1,563
44
The iPhone's primary purpose is certainly not be used as a dash-mounted GPS navigation device. Or would you say that any smartphone that cannot be used as a dash-mounted navigation device is not a viable product?

The phone is designed with GPS and ATT sells their GPS service. Its not viable for Apple to avoid and not acknowledge this specific problem.
 

dwsolberg

macrumors 6502a
Dec 17, 2003
858
835
That's an interesting pattern of discoloration. I wonder if it provides some clue as to what's happening. For example, does the battery touch the case in those places? Also, is there some way this might be color transfer from a case? I've only seen two pictures so far, so it could be something simple like that.

For what it's worth, I know about four people with new iPhone 3GS's, and no one has experienced any excess heat.
 

swagi

macrumors 6502a
Sep 6, 2007
906
123
Listening to music in the sun...

No one would ever do that! :rolleyes:

I don't know about you, but I very rarely expose the music playing device to direct sunlight.

Just a nostalgic habit - you could kill your tapes with direct sunlight back in the days, you know :D
 

zengod

macrumors member
Feb 18, 2008
76
12
Possibly Good news - I got a white one because that was all was in the store at 32Gb but I am starting to regret not sticking with black - If it turns pink it's going back and I'll get a black one.
 

Eidorian

macrumors Penryn
Mar 23, 2005
29,190
386
Indianapolis
I don't know about you, but I very rarely expose the music playing device to direct sunlight.

Just a nostalgic habit - you could kill your tapes with direct sunlight back in the days, you know :D
Molten cassettes does take me back.

My friend had his iPhone out buy the pool and got a heat warning message. I guess the sun in Illinois is just too much. :rolleyes:
 
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