Concerns of iPhone 3GS Overheating and Discoloration Gaining Publicity

[Victor Odin]

I hope Apple is keeping track and tallying some numbers to see if this is as huge a problem as it is portrayed as being.

Apple has been having thermal issues for so long that I can't help but think that they really don't care all that much.

"Look at that PC user with the 3" thick plastic laptop. What an inelegant idiot. I can't wait to show him a real laptop when my inch thick Macbook Pro comes back from the shop after they replaced the third fried motherboard".

There's a reason that Apple Care is ridiculously expensive. Apple knows a huge amount of machines are going to fail.

But you have to give it to them.

Whether you can use it or not, it looks really nice.

And really, isn't that the point?

Think different!

 

[DELLsFan]

all this didn't stop me from picking up my new white iphone today!

Now you have an advantage over black iPhone owners. White helps to reflect light and therefore heat - whereas black absorbs light and therefore more heat, right?

 

[applehappy]

What temp do people think the iPhone should handle? Really, you have it out in the sun, making a 3G call while using a GPS function and you get upset that the thing can't handle 120F? I just can't believe a few stories of hot phones gets this much press. Really sucks to be on top....everybody waiting to pile on the first chance they get.
I get that there might 1% of phones with a battery issue causing heating problems, but get real folks....nothing to see hear...move on.

 

[kurosov]

all this didn't stop me from picking up my new white iphone today!

Same here. Picked up the only 16gb white iphone available in the local area today and am more than happy with it.

This story is all over the place yet the number of reported cases seems miniscule.

 

[LAS.mac]

I had hot warning messages a couple of time, while using GPS and driving. Black 3G iphone, by the way. For the white discoloration: maybe applying a bit of sunscreen cream...SPF 30 should be OK

 

[Lanbrown]

Too many features for such a small device to push. Now faster!

There are plenty of other phones that have even more features and they do not have this issue. There are phones that use the same main processor that Apple uses at the same clock speed and they do not have this issue. To be fair, Apple is behind on the features they provide.

Cut and paste: 2002
Full GPS navigation built-in: 2007
MMS: 2002
Multitasking OS: 2002
HTML email on a mobile phone: ~2004
The list can go on.

 

[hayesk]

One dude with a small blog hosted on Blogspot?

Really?

I mean ... REALLY?

I notice you conveniently ignored the google link showing several others having problems with their Curve. You claimed you never heard of anyone having a problem with their Curve overheating. Well, now you have.

Come on, homey, you can do better than that. I know you can. Doesn't the CEO of RIMM club baby seals or something? I read it on Blogspot somewhere.

Hey, at least the author didn't blame Jesus and the nation of China, though.

There is a difference between logic and religion.

Yes, and you seem to be applying no logic whatsoever. I never claimed no iPhone ever overheated. You claimed you've never heard of a BB Curve overheating. A simple google search (like the one I provided) shows lots of people having a problem with their Curves - but you chose to ignore it because it doesn't fit with your anti-Apple vitriol - geez, and you want to talk about religion.

I don't give a $*^& about RIMM and wouldn't shed a tear if they went under tomorrow (it's a company, not a deity), but my Curve has been chugging along for 2 years and it's as fast as it's ever been.

As is mine and most users' iPhones.

Oh yeah, I live in Las Vegas. 105 degrees today and I've had it out in the heat several times.

And I've used my iPhone in a hot car - what is your point?

Everybody I work with has one.

And millions of people have iPhones - a good many of them in California, Las Vegas, and Texas - they're not reporting overheating problems either.

Not a single person has slowed down or overheated yet, but I'll let you know as soon as that happens.

At that point, validation shall be yours!

Now go pray to Steve and sniff the glorious mound of poop which smells like roses.

Oh yeah ... bring money.

Ah... you can't support your "All BB Curves are perfect, Apple is the devil" argument, so you bring up the tired old unsubstantiated "let's worship Steve" argument. Come on - better trolls at least try to come up with something substantial.

 

[Goona]

There are plenty of other phones that have even more features and they do not have this issue. There are phones that use the same main processor that Apple uses at the same clock speed and they do not have this issue. To be fair, Apple is behind on the features they provide.

Cut and paste: 2002
Full GPS navigation built-in: 2007
MMS: 2002
Multitasking OS: 2002
HTML email on a mobile phone: ~2004
The list can go on.

So?

 

[hayesk]

Apple has been having thermal issues for so long that I can't help but think that they really don't care all that much.

Put your money where you mouth is - I challenge you to find statistics proving that Apple's products had more thermal issues more than any other vendor.

There's a reason that Apple Care is ridiculously expensive. Apple knows a huge amount of machines are going to fail.

Again - show us proof their failure rate is more than the industry. Funny how I keep reading on how they top customer satisfaction surveys.

But you have to give it to them.

Whether you can use it or not, it looks really nice.

And really, isn't that the point?

Think different!

Actually the point is making logical decision on which tool provides the most productivity. Aesthetics are just an added benefit.

The point is not exaggerating about a few problem units as if they were endemic to the entire platform and every one of its users.

The point is certainly not trolling on a forum against a highly ranked company just because you don't like them for whatever superficial reasons you may have.

 

[Inspace]

is this really something new?

When I saw this post, the first thing that came to mind are the millions of discoloured white macbooks floating around. I figured that Apple would have figured this one out by now. This doesn't surprise me at all.

 

[MorphingDragon]

At least I'm allowed to tether on Verizon. Bluetooth $10? That's just ignorant. Good thing Apple and AT&T have never crippled the iPhone.

AT&T isnt world wide. Vodafone announced that they support tethering.

Try telling that to blackberry owners.

Good thing I dont live in a country with crappy providers (Oh wait theres telecom) Fine we have one decent provider. So 50% of NZ providers provide good service!!!

 

[Bubba Satori]

"It's only a flesh wound."

 

[Infrared]

Apple is responding to FUD. Plain and simple. They're addressing this issue because it's deliberately being blown out of proportion and the last thing they want is defamatory garbage being spread about a device they just released. It's damage-control they shouldn't have to do in the first place. And even the support article from Apple is being misunderstood completely (often deliberately, it would seem.)

Who would stand to benefit if some "iPhone problem" could be successfully ginned up in the press? Even one as far-fetched as Apple failing to do elementary product research? Apple knows all about thermal dissipation in small handheld devices, people. It's just a mistake that's very unlikely to have been made by Apple. Maybe, just maybe, besides being overblown, it's being planted by someone or some group for some reason? Follow the money. Apple's in the process of rearranging entire industries; some of the old guard have nothing left but FUD.

You think it could've been Nixon?

 

[Bubba Satori]

I think these are isolated incidents, just as a dead pixel or loose button would be. These things happen and that is why we have a warranty.

If, however, I am wrong, and there is a fault with all of the 3GS then surely a software update could address this by changing how the hardware is used?

Yeah, they could throttle back performance like they did with the junk nvidia 8000 video cards.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Apple is responding to FUD. Plain and simple. They're addressing this issue because it's deliberately being blown out of proportion and the last thing they want is defamatory garbage being spread about a device they just released. It's damage-control they shouldn't have to do in the first place. And even the support article from Apple is being misunderstood completely (often deliberately, it would seem.)

Who would stand to benefit if some "iPhone problem" could be successfully ginned up in the press? Even one as far-fetched as Apple failing to do elementary product research? Apple knows all about thermal dissipation in small handheld devices, people. It's just a mistake that's very unlikely to have been made by Apple. Maybe, just maybe, besides being overblown, it's being planted by someone or some group for some reason? Follow the money. Apple's in the process of rearranging entire industries; some of the old guard have nothing left but FUD.

We've seen this same last ditch attempt being deployed with the last several iPod and iPhone models and there are plenty of users who aren't complaining about any problem at all, much less "overheating."

 

[Infrared]

Hmmm...
Device with no overheating and promo picture with dirty fingernails -yep, that's definitely not Apple.

This whole affair is so typical of them. I've had a white 'CrackBook', it was running hot all the time and noisy. As mine was the 2nd generation, discolouration was not an issue. When the unibody MacBooks came out, I was not so wise, so I bought a first-gen Apple product. Big mistake! The display got upgraded, Firewire came back and the battery is now better. Of course, apart from the misaligned keys, I have to put up with constant fan noise, CPU whine and clicking HDD. Oh, and it's running hot, so the battery runtime is not very good either. On my girlfriend's MB Pro, the NVIDIA card is faulty - Apple actually admitted that problem.

Then you have the iPhone cracking problem from day 1...

WHEN WILL APPLE TAKE THE TIME TO TEST A PRODUCT PROPERLY, BEFORE RELEASE?! The profound clash between advertisements and reality is pathetic.

I've had five or six Apple computers in the last few years and I've always felt that they were just prototypes. This is especially true about the unibody MacBook - shame on Apple, releasing a fancy advert that focuses on finish, then providing me with this crap! I am looking forward to the day when we can have OS X or something newer on any hardware, we want.

They don't test OS X either

 

[dangleheart]

There are plenty of other phones that have even more features and they do not have this issue. There are phones that use the same main processor that Apple uses at the same clock speed and they do not have this issue. To be fair, Apple is behind on the features they provide.

Cut and paste: 2002
Full GPS navigation built-in: 2007
MMS: 2002
Multitasking OS: 2002
HTML email on a mobile phone: ~2004
The list can go on.

Providing them is one thing, providing them usably is another matter. I do not recall millions of pairs of hands using those features in the years you quote.

 

[MorphingDragon]

The faces are priceless.

 

[xIGmanIx]

So?

We get it man, you buy what ever apple makes and defends it no matter what. How about instead of flaunting how you think you do one thing really well, do all things pretty good? Copy and Paste is a smelly diaper in the iPhone bin

 

[MorphingDragon]

We get it man, you buy what ever apple makes and defends it no matter what. How about instead of flaunting how you think you do one thing really well, do all things pretty good? Copy and Paste is a smelly diaper in the iPhone bin

Do people even use copy and paste on phones?

 

[twoodcc]

i sometimes use the gps while driving in the car. it better not stop working b/c of it

 

[kernkraft]

7 Apple computers so far - all faulty at some level!

Apple is now largely a ghost company. They have an extremely bullied and secretive development team that cannot control production issues and it has one of the most powerful and aggressive legal team that is suing anything that moves. Litigation is now second nature to Apple. Meanwhile, it became the new Microsoft, exploiting its power and market position. How ironic?!

Once you outsource production to the Far East, you cannot control quality management properly - Apple should know, it used to make its own computers and that was the foundation of its excellent reputation. Today, overheating, CPU- HDD- and fan noise is the norm with cracking plastic cases. Not just for the iPhone, but for their computers too. On Monday, I will try to send my MacBook Air back to Apple. It has a high-pitched CPU noise that drives me mad. I'll argue, that it is unfit for purpose. Nobody should be put up with such issues with computers that cost the Earth. Also, once I've got the misaligned keyboard sorted with all the overheating and noise issues, I will put my 2.4 GHz unibody MacBook on Ebay. Then I'll buy a PC and I'll put OS X on it.

Does anybody know a good platform for an iPhone OS? I like the fancy ads, but I cannot pay the £440 for a handset, they charge in the UK. You know, Apple sucks, when from Stephen Fry through Jeremy Clarkson to elderly ladies and boring middle-aged bald men on the train, everybody is showing off their Apple products. It's time to go underground!

 

[MorphingDragon]

Apple is now largely a ghost company. They have an extremely bullied and secretive development team that cannot control production issues and it has one of the most powerful and aggressive legal team that is suing anything that moves. Litigation is now second nature to Apple. Meanwhile, it became the new Microsoft, exploiting its power and market position. How ironic?!

Once you outsource production to the Far East, you cannot control quality management properly - Apple should know, it used to make its own computers and that was the foundation of its excellent reputation. Today, overheating, CPU- HDD- and fan noise is the norm with cracking plastic cases. Not just for the iPhone, but for their computers too. On Monday, I will try to send my MacBook Air to Apple. It has a high-pitched CPU noise that drives me mad. I'll argue, that it is unfit for purpose. Nobody should be put up with such issues with computers that cost the Earth. Also, once I've got the misaligned keyboard sorted with all the overheating and noise issues, I will put my 2.4 GHz unibody MacBook on Ebay. Then I'll buy a PC and I'll put OS X on it.

Does anybody know a good platform for an iPhone OS? I like the fancy ads, but I cannot pay the £440 for a handset, they charge in the UK. You know, Apple sucks, when Stephen Fry through Jeremy Clarkson to elderly ladies and boring middle-aged bald men on the train, everybody is showing off their Apple products. It's time to go underground!

Get a Phystar Computer, A Palm Pre or HTC Magic? (I recommend the HTC Magic)

 

[gri]

The faces are priceless.

Especially the cat's one...

 

[veterator]

I thought the overheating was added design feature! I have been using mine to cook hotdogs in the car.