Apple Updates Page on iPhone 3GS Temperatures

[ssddx]

Posted numbers are normally conservative. I am sure you can exceed the limits and still get by fine, depending on the circumstances of course.Also, I have had phones/electronics stop working in hot/cold weather, even when they were within tolerances.

Hot: Do not leave electronics in a hot car or in direct sunlight. Avoid using microprocessor intensive applications for extended periods of time.(the generation of excessive heat is bad when its already hot out)

Cold: Store close to your body or in a heated area. Batteries and lcds tend to have trouble if you leave them in the cold for too long.

(un)common sense for the most part. Yes, apple may have a design problem. However, if you treat your new iphone right you shouldnt have as many issues.

 

[snowysoul]

ok even in some areas of Idaho it reaches over 100 F
I really did want to get the iphone, and have all those cools apps, geek out lol. But seeing as i can't even use it in idaho way up north two months out of the year i'll be looking for another phone.
Good job apple! Wish you could of handled this cash cow for you a little better.

 

[warezme]

I don't know if that is necessarily an iphone issue? I have had two phone in the past that would at times for no reason at all go Chernobyl. The phones were from different manufacture but they would suddenly heat up even when not in use and be so hot they could not be touched until I pulled the battery out. One phone actually fried because of this. It seemed as if they would just ramp up even when on standby and not being used like some sort of cascade effect.

 

[dainsane1]

what about below 0 operation?
oh ya thats right the iphone is useless while wearing gloves anyway.

funny bit of irony: apple did the big add in 1984 with smashing the screen and all; yet apple products only work the way apple tells you.

 

[masop]

I have a short wave portable radio that when used outside in below 32F temperatures, the FM tuner weakens and the lcd display slows down when changing frequencies. This is to be expected during subfreezing conditions. As far as being too warm, I've never reached a limit with it, though I've never used it when over the 90's F.

My LG VX8300 cell phone works in temps below 32F just fine as well as temps above 100F which we have had both of in the last 6 months.

As for digital cameras, the two sony models I have work fine in warm temps but when the temperature drops close to 32F or below, you can kiss picture taking goodbye, as neither of my sony digital models function properly, lol. Below 32F, you've got only a minute or two before they are incapable of taking a picture until they are placed in a warmer environment.

Desktop and Laptop Processors and Graphics GPU's have always sucked up cold temps since they run so hot. It would be difficult to make a CPU halt operations in real-life situations due to simply cold weather. The first thing to halt would be another component, not a processor. I'm curious how cold of an environment a desktop computer or laptop could function in before becoming unstable? The first thing to freeze and cease functioning would likely be the display, as lcd's are predominant these days. Not sure how sensative CRT's were compaered to LCD's these days. Likely less so I would guess.

Firefighters use specially designed radios that can handle temperatures as high as 260C (500F) for a short duration (typically around 5min, give or take) before failing.

In general, I think this whole thing is quite rediculous to put it nicely.

 

[JumpKickJoe]

The iPhone 3GS runs too hot and could stop functioning? An apple version of the XBOX 360? Man, technology is getting kinda worse these days in the name of advancement. I can't one of these is the Caribbean, cause down here is already hot as it is. Outside temp is around 30-34 Celcius most of the time.

 

[jarnail24]

Damn can't bring this to Hawaii way to hot and humid.

 

[jtsx1]

I live in Omaha where winters are in negative's to single dig, to teens and summers are 90-100's and have yet to experience any of these problems...wait, it wouldn't charge recently, but that was due to my laptop's USB's acting up. The screen sometimes goes dim when I save it just before it goes into sleep mode and it won't fully brighten for until I activate an application...usually have low to zero signal in the same spots, so I know its a coverage issue. Seems like seagate hard drives: sometimes you get lucky, sometimes you don't.

 

[jtsx1]

Oh wait, the battery would drain quickly due to applications not fully shutting down and running--fix was a restart, but it rarely happens since a few software updates ago. Not every phone is for everyone and not everyone always works as advertised. Find one you like and try it. I didn't care for the Storm, but I'm not bashing it every chance I get; I just didn't buy it.

 

[jerreece]

[citation][nom]scook9[/nom]Laptops suffer from the same temperature problems, store a lithium battery at 25 F and it will drain down to NOTHING quickly. This is the nature of electronics of all types, why give the iPhone all the attention.[/citation]

Except that electrons actually work better in colder temps. This is why CPUs actually can be pushed faster and faster at lower temperatures. You'll find evidential support for this is just about every single OverClocking article ever written. This is why it's all about temperature.

Though batteries can have issues in extreme temps (high or low).

The problem is, we're not seeing this problem with EVERY cell phone. In this case it's simply the new 3GS iPhone. So you can't blame this on electronics in general.

 

[jerreece]

The problem with these temp restraints, is that it's not even purely based on ambient temperature. 32F to 95F is pretty limiting. If you leave the phone in your car during Summer months, even 80F outdoor temp can become 100F inside a car.

And 32F isn't very cold frankly...

 

[Guest]

I had my own personal experience with it this weekend. I went to a waterpark...used maps on it to find it (just playing around with it).
Got there and didn't want to leave it in the hot car, so I brought it in with me and put it in the rental locker. Came back 2 hours later for lunch...it was still working.
Came back about 45 minutes later after lunch, checked it...and nothing.
My guess is the heat caused the battery to drain to nothing in a 3 hours span after arrival there and probably about 90% of battery strength.

I'll be sure to turn it off next time when I'm putting it in a non air conditioned space like that.

 

[doomtomb]

So instead of Apple manning up and doing what other manufacturers have done for years, like actually doing something to fix the issue, Apple says "Don't use your phone where it's hot." Thanks for the lifesaver Apple.

 

[Guest]

Temperature isn't an iphone thing, its an electronics thing. Almost all consumer devices have the same limitations. If you get them too hot or too cold they don't work well. Batteries drain when they get too cold and processors and memory don't work when they get too hot. I live in Texas and it gets hot and my 3GS is just fine at 103. Dumb article and even dumber responses to it. You don't need to search for excuses not to buy an iPhone, just admit you can't afford it and move on.

 

[kato128]

Certainly hope those are conservative and that warranty issues aren't created by this. Here we get regularly get as low as -7C during winter and regularly exceed 35C in summer. I'd hate to get one of these and have it die on me while I'm walking around outside on a 40C+ day.

 

[cobot]

[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom]Except that electrons actually work better in colder temps. This is why CPUs actually can be pushed faster and faster at lower temperatures. You'll find evidential support for this is just about every single OverClocking article ever written. This is why it's all about temperature.Though batteries can have issues in extreme temps (high or low).The problem is, we're not seeing this problem with EVERY cell phone. In this case it's simply the new 3GS iPhone. So you can't blame this on electronics in general.[/citation]

Electrons work better when it's colder? Interesting explanation.

I guess you could explain it that way, however a more accurate explanation is that the electrical resistance of a metal drops together with the temperature, until when at a certain temp (VERY cold) it looses all resistance alltogether and becomes a superconductor.

Regarding batteries, the efficiency of a battery is generally much lower when discharging at at a low temperature.

 

[Guest]

Some people (read: Iphone fanbois) are missing the point completely. If this article was about a portable music player it would not be a big deal, if at all.
The fact that it's a PHONE is what's causing all the bad press, and for a good reason. My POS phone -which I love-, Nokia 6085 works at temps below 0ºC, the lowest I've used it at was -8ºC, slower LCD response but other than that 100% functional; it also works at temps above 45ºC, and it doesn't burn my hand. That means that my phone will work virtually under any environment, which is exactly what I expect it to do.

Get a damn clue Apple.

 

[cobot]

http/www.hardmac.com/news/2009/07/05/iphone-3gs-turning-red-a-problem-with-some-protection-enclosure

 

[cimtaurus]

[citation][nom]jerreece[/nom]Except that electrons actually work better in colder temps. This is why CPUs actually can be pushed faster and faster at lower temperatures. You'll find evidential support for this is just about every single OverClocking article ever written. This is why it's all about temperature.Though batteries can have issues in extreme temps (high or low).The problem is, we're not seeing this problem with EVERY cell phone. In this case it's simply the new 3GS iPhone. So you can't blame this on electronics in general.[/citation]

Your generalized statement that electrons work better at lower temperatures is misleading. Overclocking is not about "better working" electrons at lower temperatures. All processors are nothing more than conduits for electricity. The more electricity that you run through that processor in a set amount of time the more heat you will generate. At some point the heat will effect the operation of the processor. That does not mean that electrons move better at lower temperatures. There is a range of temps that are ideal for transmission of electricity. The reason overclockers like to use things like liquid hydrogen is because they are generating so much heat that they need some substance to absorb that heat in order to keep the processor inside the optimal range for performance.
So while your statement that electrons work better at colder temps is not completely incorrect your justification for it is entirely false.

You are also misleading readers about not seeing this problem in every cell phone. The iPhone is more than an average phone. I am not speaking of features, I am talking about internal components. This phone has a faster processor than my first 2 computers and they required large fans to keep them at ideal operating temperatures. Again it is all about the energy you are transferring: electricity -> heat.
I am not promoting the iPhone, nor am I bashing it. I just don't want readers mislead into thinking that if they freeze their phone overnight it will work so much better in the morning.

The article and the discussion here is more about Apple and their lack of response or concern over this issue. It seems they have dropped the ball, rushed out a new version of their big seller in hopes to keep their grip on market share when they should have spent a little more time in hardware development.