Are iPhones burning up in the infernos of processor overtaxation, or is it all a big misunderstanding?
By Paul Miller 
posted July 6th 2009 11:11AM
posted July 6th 2009 11:11AM
- Somebody's white iPhone 3GS grew some ugly brown markings during heavy use.
- A new development is saying that the discoloration came from a case (pictured), not from cooking the plastic.
- More users than usual have been reporting an overheated iPhone error after the 3.0 update, but as Apple's support documentation points out, this could just be from the time of year (summer, in case you haven't been outside lately).
- There isn't a large mass of evidence denoting a major fault to the 3GS, 3.0 or chintzy white leather cases.
| Yeah, none of these problems here | |
|---|---|
| My 3GS is a little warm, but not a serious problem | |
| My 3GS overheats more than is reasonable | |
| My 3GS has "burn marks" like this and I use a case | |
| My 3GS has burn marks like this and I don't use a case | |
| My older iPhone has started overheating after 3.0 | |
| I don't have an iPhone, I'm just on my way to give those suckers grief in comments |
"leodavinci314 @ Jul 6th 2009 1:20PM
Paul, just wanted you to know that many people on here agree with a lot of what you say."
Yeah sure. If there is, they are too embarrassed to express it because they know how bizarre they would sound.
People, regardless of what they use, should never behave like this guy.
@Dayne - That, and the fact that some of us just don't like touch-screen phones or see the need to shell out for a premium when we can get a cheaper Smartphone that does everything we need, without a shitty carrier like AT&T. :)
This poll is so much BS. 5 percent say they have burn marks on their iPhone. I put a lighter underneath my white iPhone 3g in the hopes I might get a new one if I bitched about discoloration at the genius bar but no luck. So if a 3GS can produce enough heat to discolor and burn an iPhone then it would have to produce more heat than a lighter. Which means Apple could go after the smoking demographic by saying that the 3GS has a built in cigarette lighter. Somebody needs to just write an app for it.
Why and how are the black versions not overheating?
I just wanted to be the guy to push the first comment thread past the 1st page.
Yay for trolls.
that new iphone 3GS sure is a HOT phone.... get it hot? glad my 3g doesn't give me this shit.
my 16gb 3g iphone was overheating even before the 3.0 update.
I think calling Apple the world's greatest technology company is over doing it a bit, don't you? Possibly the world's best consumer electronics company but I have my doubts they are the best technology company in the world, if only because a lot of the key components aren't made by Apple.
this is god punishing apple for not putting voice control in OS 3.0 for regular iphone and iphone 3G users. burn mutha burn!
Once the percentages for each category hit a bit of an equilibrium, will Engadget please summarize the results in a new post?
I'm in the market for a new phone and I find it alarming that (if the current numbers are to be believed) one out of every four or five iPhone 3GSs has an overheating problem.
Is that normal for a device of this caliber/expense? A device in its third generation?
I do suppose I travel quite a bit.
Dayne: Fail.
This is definitely an OS 3.0 issue. After I upgraded my 3G from OS 2.2 I noticed it would occasionally warm up and start burning battery at about 1% a minute. I found many message board posts that reported similar behavior by the 3.0 beta builds. It has something to do with WiFi and notifications - toggling both on, then off and rebooting always solved the problem for me. Disappointed to see Apple blowing this off (at least publicly) because a fix should be a priority for 3.1.
been having the same problem with my 3G...some days, works fine; other days can go from 99% battery to 25% in like 2 hours (idle) and gets hot, thanks for the toggle trick ill check.
One thing I have noticed with the 3.0 upgrade is that the response time for both apps loading, and keyboard response is that it has gotten SLOW.
often my music will skip if i am writting an email and listening to ipod at the same time.
I'm sure apple will deny it (as they have been) and we will have 3.1 out by the end of the summer, hopefully these issues will be fixed.
Wow,
While I usually can't stand the sheep mentality of the vocal minority Iphone owner I see during the day, who think that being able to afford a 199 dollar phone on a 2 year contract is a "status symbol". I think there is some irony when people say the site is full of apple sack acrobats, when you look at the numbers in the poll.
Oh well, I'll just sit back and use the comment stream to help pass the last 1/2 hour of the day.
Blackberries seem to handle high temps fine... I think at 400 degrees for 20 minutes and still functioning is pretty good...
http://crackberry.com/how-bake-blackberry
I don't think a phone can get so hot by itself that it actually melts or miscolors.
and i thought microsoft was the king of overheat failures.
yeah me too considering I had 5 RRoDs before I gave up on that...however my black 3g is doing just fine so far
I spend a lot of money on phones. I have owned more Blackberry, HTC, Nokia and Palm devices than I can count. Windows mobile sux. Symbian sux. Android, i don't have enough experience with to comment. Blackberry was the reining champ (in my view) of awesome phone manufacturers. But after you own an iphone I don't understand how people say these other devices or OSs are better. Seriously, the iphone is light years ahead of all those other devices. The only device that is comparable in ergonomics, innovation, and operating system is the Palm Pre. And as a final note: Having a long spec sheet of a bunch of features that the iphone doesn't have DOES NOT make your phone better. Having those features function in a streamlined manner is what makes your phone better (i.e. Blackberry-Email, iPhone-Music). Get real people, until you own (or at least thoroughly test) the other phones your opinion is worth squat.
Meh, a little discoloration is no big deal. I don't get why everyone is freaking out about it.
On the other hand... people who like Apple's products are generally into form over function. I guess that explains it.
My 2G was running hot with the short battery life, a restore fixed that real quick. Some people have success with a force quit from the home screen (hold lock button until the shut off screen comes up, and then hold down the home button until it quits to the home screen again). Either way, it hasn't come back. I imagine some process was stuck.
aside comment: While the north half of the planet is having summer now The south side is having winter. Dont for get our peeps down south. lol
Nope. If you're going to say a $100 phone works "just as well" as an iPhone, you're being intentionally disingenuous. If you're going to say a $100 phone suits your needs, that's great, but that's not what you said. Your further arguments only serve to show that you're using the old "I don't care for 'x' feature so therefore it's useless" argument in a lame attempt to justify your $100 dumbphone.
You can't say your phone, which is slower, has a worse interface, less features, less apps etc. etc. works "just as well" as an iPhone, because then you would be lying. You are perfectly welcome to use whatever phone you want and be happy with it, but you need to accept that just because a less fully featured and less usable phone does everything you need it to, doesn't mean it works "just as well" as an iPhone.
It's like saying a Kia Spectra works "just as well" as a Ferrari F430 because they both have 4 wheels and an engine. Sure, they can both get you where you need to go, but are they really the same?
BWAHAHAHA! What's this? A second article post from engadget exposing apple's inferiority? Of course apple takes no responsibility for its own sake. This will be irrelevant anyway in a couple of months when apple releases a "new" iphone.
dude, really?
First, Apple has historically put out a phone every year, not every "couple of months". See also - Samsung, LG, Nokia, and just about every other cell company that upgrades hardware regularly.
And no, Apple has not taken responsibility for it, because it's probably not their fault. Did you look at the pictures of the alleged overheating? It's a complete discoloration along the 2 rounded edges over the entire height of the phone, not localized. When CPU's (or GPU's, or hard drive, etc...) overheat and distort a case you get a spot on the case where the offending component is. It doesn't discolor the whole case.
These issues are likely due to cheap dye in case liners that rub off into the plastic. Same thing happened to me from keeping my white iPhone in new denim pants for a few hours.
True Story:
I read the story here about overheating iPhones. So, I took the Griffin Clarifi Case (shameless plug) off and lo and behold, there was a bunch of red/pink/peach colored stuff near the top. Holy crap, Batman! My battery was leaking! Thanks Engadget! Er...um, wait a minute...that doesn't look quite right...
I feel it. It's sticky. I look closely, but it doesn't seem to be leaking out of the case. I don't know why, but I lick it. It's sweet...and strawberry...Holy crap, my iPhone is somehow turning into strawberry ice cream. That's the only explanation. How could an apple turn into a strawberry?
Anyway, thanks for getting me to clean up my phone, I think it has really been a couple of months since it got a bath.
these marks appeared on my first generation white macbook. I never put it in a case, and yes it gets very hot but I think I used smc fan control but still... I get the almost exact kind of burning marks on the button of the case(straight brown yellowish lines). but strangely when I compare it with a ifixit striped macbook, the burning places weren't where the CPU or headsink are. unless there are other components that get even hotter than the CPU, i really dont know the answer.. i can only blame my old desk that's not perfectly flat..
Got enough choices in that poll, Engadget?
You forgot "My iPhone only overheats on a full moon"
Paul A. Chapel.
Eat $hit you liberal puke
GRIEF
I have the 32g iphone 3gs and keep it in a hard case and work outside in the humid alabama heat. The only problem i have encountered is an occasional freeze up but all i have to do is power it off and on and im good to go
its summer?
@Dayne
Fail
Looking at the manner in which the discolouration has occurred, I fail to see how it is related to CPU heat dissipation. The discolouration is spread very evenly over the entire 'flat' section of the back plate, which is not indicative of a localised heat source (such as a CPU).
I heard some mention the xbox 'analogy'. Well, I will tell you all one thing. F you. My ear hurts from even talking for a few mins. You are all just shitting here because you don't have have the new toy in the market. Apple makes great products. But when they turn out to be shitty in manufacturing, those particular pieces are still shitty. By making polls that don't verify if the voters are owners, Engadget is only making themselves ever more crappy. And to you xboxoles, try having one to your ear when playing. And the battery has way too shoddy life. 1 to 1.5 hrs on 3g talk time. Heats up during wifi or 3g browsing regardless.
AND I OWN A WHITE 16 GIGS 3GS!
@ Paul:
dude...SHUT...THE...FUCK...UP!!!!!!
GO SOMEWHERE AND BOTHER SOMEONE ELSE WITH YOUR INCESSANT FANBOYISM AND WHINING, BITCHING, AND SERIOUSLY OUT-OF-WHACK EGOTISTICAL OUTLOOK ON LIFE!!!!!!!!!!
JESUS CHRIST, I'VE BEEN ON ENGADGET FOR LESS THAN A MONTH, AND I'M GONNA GO FUCKIN' POSTAL ON YOUR SORRY ASS IF YOU DON'T SHUT UP!!!!!
*panting*
sorry...dumbass pisses me off. been reading engadget for longer than a month ('bout a year now) and i got tired of him in his first post that i saw. gives humans everywhere a bad name. sure he isn't a neanderthal?
"ooog, ooog, me right, you wrong"
ok, i'm good now. oh shit, cops just pulled up.
*tasered multiple times*
*thrown in asylum*
*breaks free*
*starts over*
FUCK...YOU...PAUL!!!!!!! YOU'RE FUGLY BITCH!!!!
probably gonna get reported for this one. oh well, it's worth it.
can anyone put in a good word for me, please?
wow, didn't think i got that pissed. eh, figures. been repressing it for a while now. stuff keeps happening, have to let it out sometime...
I'm a Blackberry owner, so I wouldn't really be able to tell you much about this.
however.. I do own a iPod Touch which I have updated to OS 3.0 and I haven't really had any problems with it,
but I really don't think this has anything to do with overheating, because not that many people had problems with it yet, obviously, so I'm thinking that whoever had problems with it maybe got a bad iPhone (it's a fact that 1 in so many iPhones has to have something wrong with it hardware wise) So, seeing how no one has tried to sue Apple for any heart problems on the new iPhone, there haven't been any serious injuries (correct me if I'm wrong, but I haven't heard of any of those). So my point is that people are giving Apple a hard time and whoever has their iPhone turn brown, needs to take better care of his or her phone.
I mean it is white! So Obviously the color with change depending on where you leave it.
And if the old iPhones never had this problem, don't really think that Apple is taking out any old features out of it to make it worse.
So yeah, that's just my opinion.
@Paul, By your own logic, Windows Vista must be a great and better operating system. Just because one or two people experienced problems with it must not mean it is a bad OS. with Similar reasoning, just because one or two Mac users feel OSX is better than vista, the problem must not be wide spread, so Vista must be a better OS than Mac OSX,
Zak: Maybe he's talking about the 3G with the new pricing.
But you're still right, it doesn't have the overheating feature.
Also, you're a d-bag.
"Thank you for testing our product."
If you have any experience in buying consumer electronics you should know that if you early-adopt something you will encounter faulty tech. But i guess i should tank all of you early adopters for taking on the shit that comes with allmost every new product.
I want to know, why do people think it's "cool" to have an I-phone.
Anyone with 200 bucks can get one from ATT. A kid working part time at Mcdonalds could have it in a week. Why do people act like it's such an "exclusive" group and a "status symbol", when basically anyone can own one for very little money..
It wouldn't be fair for me to base my opinion of Apple's products based on their worst fans. I think people need to separate their hate for the Apple and their product vs their hate for the whiny, poly sci major Apple fanbois.
I don't know I just think that this is a pretty isolated incident and the facts point to it being unlikely at best this is occurring on any large scale.
because it's APPLE. the kings of status. their products are good, but at least microsoft isn't flaunting how hip and trendy they are (or aren't...whatever) or their technological superiority (more like stranglehold on the market) but eh, what do i know? i got my foot run over by a lawn tractor when I was the one putting it back in the garage. so, don't know how much my opinion counts, but oh well. first amendment (not a comment for posting...actual right)
Paul, I think yoor a jeanus! To hell with thise other peepull! Thay Are juust geloos you have frinds like me!!!!!!!!!!
If this is an issue (which I doubt) I'd like to see actual numbers on cases that were discolored from heat. and compare that to the number of phones sold. What would that be, maybe 1/10 of 1%? Even a thousand bad phones out of a million+ is still excellent quality control.
That being said, I had a discoloring issue on my older iPhone 3G white case. I figured out it wasn't from overheating, but the dye form my black work pants rubbing into the plastic. A little plastic polish every few weeks took care of the "issue" that never was.