Concerns of iPhone 3GS Overheating and Discoloration Gaining Publicity

[*LTD*]

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!

Yet Apple consistently rates #1 is customer satisfaction year after year after year. Top sellers on Amazon.com. The smallest contraction in computer sales in the entire industry in this economy, and currently a substantial surge in Mac sales. That doesn't happen by accident, year after year.

Seems to be your own bad luck at work here.

 

[*LTD*]

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.

The temperature tolerances are all in the iPhone manual. It'll handle the same as any other device of its kind. Pretty standard. Nothing new and nothing surprising.

What Apple did do is update a previously published tech note advising customers of the safe operating temperatures of the iPhone. Now, why would Apple do this? Because it does it every time it releases a device like the iPhone 3GS. It's standard procedure for the company to continually update tech notes for all its products.

If there were real problems, you'd see a lot more than a tech note from Apple.

Dollar-to-dounuts they weren't able to replicate this issue. Those few, or that *one*, who are/is affected should simply get the unit replaced as per warranty and move on with life.

 

[Lanbrown]

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?

So how come this issue is unique to Apple? There are manufacturers that have sold hundreds of millions of phones that have more technology in them than the iPhone and they do not have reports of the phone getting to hot to hold or only being able to make emergency calls.

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.

Yeah, you re right, it isn't millions that have had these features for years, but hundreds of millions. That is our interpertation of usuable. So, where is the GPS turn-by-turn app for the iPhone. Something I have been using longer than the iPhone has been avilable.

 

[dangleheart]

Lanbrown: I do not want to pick a quarrel here but just want to understand what product you have in mind. Which cellphone hand-held computer form factor product that had more technology than iPhone under the covers sold hundreds of millions? ( If you are just using this 'heat issue' as an opportunity to take a pot-shot at Apple, that is perfectly fine )

Other companies have not made any design breakthroughs to do something the hundreds or thousands of Apple engineers can not do. Outside of design defects, any difference in hardware architecture is just marginal and one of judicious combination of parts for an overall engineering of the product. And on software Apple definitely has an edge, though it is narrowing. So, I do not see where you are getting this other handheld makers' superiority in hardware packaging and features compared to Apple.

 

[Lanbrown]

Lanbrown: I do not want to pick a quarrel here but just want to understand what product you have in mind. Which cellphone hand-held computer form factor product that had more technology than iPhone under the covers sold hundreds of millions? ( If you are just using this 'heat issue' as an opportunity to take a pot-shot at Apple, that is perfectly fine )

Other companies have not made any design breakthroughs to do something the hundreds or thousands of Apple engineers can not do. Outside of design defects, any difference in hardware architecture is just marginal and one of judicious combination of parts for an overall engineering of the product. And on software Apple definitely has an edge, though it is narrowing. So, I do not see where you are getting this other handheld makers' superiority in hardware packaging and features compared to Apple.

Nokia/Symbian has sold hundreds of millions of handsets. Where is Flash and Java on the iPhone? I have both on my phone. I have had copy and paste for years, MMS for years, been able to tether (legally) for years, have had a browser for years, have had HTML email for years, have had GPS with true navigation for years, SIP VoIP for years (built-in too), FM Radio for years, being able to edit Office documents for years (built-in too), WLAN for years (all features can be used over WLAN or the mobile network), Voice recorder, voice commands for years, video recording for years, being able to watch and play music/videos for years, being able to select any sound file as a ringtone for years (no hacks or addition ringtone purchase required) and the list can go on and on. Just as Apple releases video recording, you have people like Samsung releasing the Omnia HD which can record in 720P. When the original iPhone was released; 3G phone were available for a few years. When Apple released iPhone 3G, 7.2Mbps phones have been available as well. Want to take a guess about LTE, Apple will be about two-years behind the rest of the major players.

There is no need for anyone to take potshots at the iPhone; it's features do that. What Apple considers "new" is old to the rest of the civilized world.

Care to show me a phone that has heat issues like the iPhone, one that will only let you make emergency calls when it gets hot?

Hate to break the news to you, but Apple has to license technology from companies like Nokia. Nokia has a lot of IP when it comes to GSM, WCDMA and LTE.

 

[dangleheart]

OK, I thought you had Nokia in mind but I was not sure...Got it.

Here is a heat issue discussion on Nokia phones: http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=communicators&thread.id=14558

similar to what we are doing here.

 

[Tower-Union]

Could you please enlighten us as to which phone has (For years) had MMS, tethering, HTML E-mail, GPS, SIP, VoIP, FM radio, voice commands and video editing?

 

[dergoog]

The cheap way to cool it

I'm a little old school- my mount for my ipod touch when in use in the car is in front of the vent so cool air is always blowing past it.

Maybe its because I am an old geek who spent days figuring out how to cool his overclocked PC's but it just made sense to keep an ambient cooled device out of direct sunlight and if so, have something available to cool it. Even if apple didn't make a claim you needed to do so. My pc's never said you had to have a liquid cooled heatsink either

But I agree that they should at least give less geek oriented folk a statement... outside of the support doc.

 

[Lanbrown]

OK, I thought you had Nokia in mind but I was not sure...Got it.

Here is a heat issue discussion on Nokia phones: http://discussions.europe.nokia.com/discussions/board/message?board.id=communicators&thread.id=14558

similar to what we are doing here.

That heat issue is nothing like what the iPhone has. The is a difference between getting warm and the phone only allowing emergency calls. I asked for an example for another phone that has heat issues like the iPhone; try again.

 

[dangleheart]

I do not need to try again. We are now quibbling on details.

 

[NokiaRules]

Could you please enlighten us as to which phone has (For years) had MMS, tethering, HTML E-mail, GPS, SIP, VoIP, FM radio, voice commands and video editing?

Hahaha, I signed up for this forum just to answer your question.

The Nokia N95. Still going strong in my pocket. Released in 2007 and still way better than the iPhone in numerous ways. It has ACTUAL video editing built in. Not just "clipping" like the iPhone. About a billion more features too. And it's two years old.

One day Apple will catch up.... one day.

Pretty much every time you heard Jobs saying: "This is the FIRST phone to do this!" everyone on the Nokia forums were chuckling at you guys.

 

[*LTD*]

Hahaha, I signed up for this forum just to answer your question.

The Nokia N95. Still going strong in my pocket. Released in 2007 and still way better than the iPhone in numerous ways. It has ACTUAL video editing built in. Not just "clipping" like the iPhone. About a billion more features too. And it's two years old.

One day Apple will catch up.... one day.

Pretty much every time you heard Jobs saying: "This is the FIRST phone to do this!" everyone on the Nokia forums were chuckling at you guys.

Anyone can slap features on phones. That's the easy part. And the market is proving overwhelmingly that it takes much more to end up with a successful (and game-changing) product.

It's interesting that the iPhone, even lacking a few features that have been in other phones, has succeeded in making them look absolutely backward and primitve. Apple came at the concept of the handheld device from a completely different angle. That's what it takes.

 

[Lanbrown]

I do not need to try again. We are now quibbling on details.

Nope, that is where you are 100%. All devices that transmit or receive, generate heat. You have Apple that obviously has thermal issues and removes functionality from their product and then you have the rest of the industry that is able to avoid getting to that stage to begin with. I can use my phone all day long and not have a single issue. I can watch a movie, send and receives data, have the GPS active and BT running and have no issues at all. I can even have a document that I'm editing, a PDF file open, email open and syncing.

To be even more fair; my phone has TWO ARM processors, TWO DSP's and a GPU; where Apple is using a single ARM processor with a GPU. What generates more heat, a single processor with a GPU or two processors, two DSP's and a GPU? The iPhone doesn't even support true multitasking at all; thus much more limited.

 

[Lanbrown]

Could you please enlighten us as to which phone has (For years) had MMS, tethering, HTML E-mail, GPS, SIP, VoIP, FM radio, voice commands and video editing?

Which phone, no, it is phones.

MMS was first commercially introduced in 2002. So, as of when Apple has supported it, it is technology that is seven years old and has been widely deployed since 2003/2004 and was part of the original GPRS spec. The first iPhone was GPRS/EDGE and it was not new technology at all. Apple just didn't follow the standard that has been around for quite some time.

Tethering wise, I have been able to do that since I first got it back in 2002/2003. When BT was introduced, I was able to use it with tethering.

HTML mobile email; been using that since around 2004.

GPS; Nokia started to sell phones in early 2007 that had it built-in; most of the real smart-phones introduced in early 2007 had it. It was available before the iPhone was.

SIP; I can go back prior to 2007 and phones I had at that time had this capability. I can use SIP over WLAN or 3G.

FM radio; once again, a good number of phones have had this for years, some even have XM and this was a few years and still before the iPhone.

Voice commands; been using that since 2002 or 2003.

Video editing; try early 2007 and before the iPhone was released.

Opera has been on phones since 2003. Nokia started putting their browser on the phones staring in early 2007; it is based on KHTML; the same thing that Safari is based on. This too was before the iPhone was released.

As one person has mentioned, the Nokia N95 is just one such phone, but there are plenty of others from Nokia and other manufacturers. Pretty much all S60 3rd Edition phones have the above listed capabilities and then some. S60 3rd Edition was released in early 2007; before the iPhone.

 

[Lanbrown]

Anyone can slap features on phones. That's the easy part. And the market is proving overwhelmingly that it takes much more to end up with a successful (and game-changing) product.

It's interesting that the iPhone, even lacking a few features that have been in other phones, has succeeded in making them look absolutely backward and primitve. Apple came at the concept of the handheld device from a completely different angle. That's what it takes.

If the angle is to be behind the competition by two or three years and at least seven years in others, then you would be correct. The Compass that Apple is touting; Nokia showed that feature before the iPhone 3G was released.

It is more than just a few lacking features. Apple has sold what, 40 million smart phones in three years? Nokia sells more S60 smartphones in a single year than Apple has in three years. You are right about game changing though; the iPhone is just a toy. Nokia is selling over 1 million 5800's a month; that will be over 12 million per year; probably closer to 15 million. This is about what Apple sells in a year. So, one product to one product, they sell about the same. Using your thought process, S60 is even more game changing and successful that the iPhone. That means that the iPhone is primitive.

Apple has shown that they can toss a phone together with a few features and people will gladly pay for it.

 

[xIGmanIx]

Could you please enlighten us as to which phone has (For years) had MMS, tethering, HTML E-mail, GPS, SIP, VoIP, FM radio, voice commands and video editing?

stop calling it video editing, is video trimming. And i will say again, MMS and copy and paste were an Apple blunder, no way around it in my mind. I will say however that Apple did some things right, but the little stuff will kill you

 

[ronwasserman]

Never every buy the 1st gen of any new product Apple releases. Every time I've done it in the past it turned out to be a big problem.

1st notebook

The cube

1 gen iPhone

first gen G4 desktop

and a few others.

Took me a while to catch on.

 

[Inconsequential]

Mine gets warm, I leave it in a foof pod sock and its still fine.

No issues here!

 

[xIGmanIx]

Do people even use copy and paste on phones?

on my work BB curve i use it all the time. for links, names, addresses etc. It useful and i noticed it before on my iphone when i didn't have it

 

[sushi]

Do people even use copy and paste on phones?

Good question.

Based on the vocal bunch around here, it was needed badly. Now that we have it, I wonder how many actually use it. And if they do, how often.

Personally, I have an iPod touch and have tried out cut and paste. I like the way it works so far. Seems handy. Don't know how much I will end up using it.

 

[MorphingDragon]

on my work BB curve i use it all the time. for links, names, addresses etc. It useful and i noticed it before on my iphone when i didn't have it

Its just that I've never needed to use it whenever I use a smart phone so

 

[Victor Odin]

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.

I don't think any device is perfect nor to I think Apple is "the devil", but I do think that the tolerance and religious propensity of iPeople are directly responsible for preventing Apple from reaching the level of excellence that they purport exist -- but in reality does not.

For example, I don't think a single Dell user would allow the company to get away with blaming the weather or the nation of China, but I believe that most Apple users bend over backwards to place the blame, somewhere ... anywhere else.

Given the level of hardware & software autonomy, and the premium price commanded for both the systems and the warranty, it is my opinion that Apple would be a far better company if more of their users were less eager to rationalize the mistakes of the company.

And ... contrary to popular belief, the mistakes have been many.

Arguably more than any single computer manufacturer in history, which is especially egregious given the small market share.

Obviously, such defects are too numerous to mention, which is why an entire Wiki exists on the subject (which I'm sure will be rationalized as a product of Satan), but most of these are factual, and far too many are the result of thermal issues arising out of the form-over-function mantra.


http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

 

[*LTD*]

If the angle is to be behind the competition by two or three years and at least seven years in others, then you would be correct. The Compass that Apple is touting; Nokia showed that feature before the iPhone 3G was released.

It is more than just a few lacking features. Apple has sold what, 40 million smart phones in three years? Nokia sells more S60 smartphones in a single year than Apple has in three years. You are right about game changing though; the iPhone is just a toy. Nokia is selling over 1 million 5800's a month; that will be over 12 million per year; probably closer to 15 million. This is about what Apple sells in a year. So, one product to one product, they sell about the same. Using your thought process, S60 is even more game changing and successful that the iPhone. That means that the iPhone is primitive.

Apple has shown that they can toss a phone together with a few features and people will gladly pay for it.

Are you somehow comapring the S60 to the iPhone OS? The comparison itself seems like a mismatch out the gate.

I'm not sure where you're going with this line:

So, one product to one product, they sell about the same. Using your thought process, S60 is even more game changing and successful that the iPhone. That means that the iPhone is primitive.

So . . . the whole basis of your argument revolves around sales?

The S60 is used on what, 30+ devices? From the cheap and disposable to the better models, with varying degrees of success, with Lord knows how many carriers? It's common. That's it. Cheap, disposable and plentiful, tends to sell. So does plastic lawn furniture at Wal Mart.

Symbian in general is a pretty horrible environment (horrible, as in CRAP), and not just for users, but for developers as well. It's slow, error-prone, and looks like ****. Crippled C++ support, lousy string handling/multithreading support, you name it. I'm surprised you're actually comparing Symbian (extremely limited) to the iPhone OS, where developers are able to make advanced applications that run in a superior user environment. Who cares that other POS phones have had a compass. When the compass comes to the iPhone, THEN it becomes something. When features are wrapped in dog-vomit, what good are they? You can copy and paste on your generic Symbian-powered device or whatever other dated OS of your choice, or you can copy and paste on an iPhone. It's no accident that since its introduction everything is measured against the iPhone.

Anyway, Nokia is currently a non-player when it comes to smartphone operating systems. They just sell alot of models and cheap phones. Nothing special going on, aside from the Intel deal. Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has already admitted to The Wall Street Journal this year that the iPhone was the industry's wakeup call. But maybe you'd like to call him and convince him it isn't.

 

[dangleheart]

lanbrown: You demonstrate an uncanny ability for selective 'magnification' and 'minimization' when it suits you. I am not here to argue Apple is better than Nokia. Nokia has been in this game much longer than Apple, so there is no question about feature support and Apple taking a while to catch up.

I am specifically talking about the heat issues that have been reported on 3GS. We have heard some reports and probably a very small fraction of phones are affected. You are magnifying it as if it is there in every phone. You are probably quoting the Apple document which was an old document and that has nothing to do with the 3GS issue. What I am saying is, this kind of issues reported on the 3GS have been around with Nokia too. I just provided one example of a forum discussion on a Nokia phone. So you are minimizing any issues with Nokia and magnifying any issues with Apple. You seem to be arguing for the sake of arguing.

 

[Victor Odin]

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.

What money?

To the Victor (no pun intended) go the spoils. What will I win for doing the research that you are afraid to do? If the reward is sufficient, then I accept your challenge.

If you want to do it yourself, here is a place to start:

http://www.appledefects.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page

Divide the number of known issues by the number of unique products that Apple has created in the last 10 years.
The percentage might surprise you ... although you would never believe it.

There are a large number of UNRESOLVED issue for a very small number of actual products ... many involving heat.

You could also go to the warranty discussion thread on this very forum. The hell with objective "customer ratings", see if people put their money where THEIR mouth is by having faith in the hardware and not buying warranty.

Do they seem comfortable?

Look at the reports of Apple users themselves at how many times they have to use said warranty, and many indicate that they would never buy an Apple product without springing for the extra 20%.

Users themselves appear to have little to no confidence in the longevity of Apple products.

MacBook users report the rapid discoloration of surface plastics, particularly in the regions of the wrist pads and areas that recieve a lot of touch. Discoloration has been reported to appear as yellows, pinks, and grays. A recent TUAW poll suggests 20% of MacBook users are affected.

Funny how the warranty on a Macbook is about 20% of the price, sometimes more.

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

Which ones?

Also, PC users are far less willing to blame the users and have a persecution complex than are Apple users.

Catholics also report a higher satisfaction with God than do Agnostics.

I don't think that most Apple users are anywhere in the ballpark of being objective.

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

I think you are incorrect. I think it's about making it small, and then seeing what you can get away with, while maintaining a level of failure that will be offset by an extremely expensive warranty.

If Apple makes such a superior product, then why does every Apple user insist that the warranty is absolutely "mandatory"?

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.

Thermal issues are very endemic to Apple. They have been for a long time.

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.

And here is when they guy who talks about "logical decisions" reverts to hyperbole and thinly-veiled religious hysteria in what he think will bolster his point to fellow kool-aid drinkers (of which he will no-doubt succeed).

I simply do not subscribe to your religion.

Embrace tolerance and stop being a religious bigot.

And if you really thought that I was a troll, how would you explain your reply?

It would seem to be inconsistent with rational decision making to engage a troll in dialog and "challenges".

It is not conducive to credibility.