IPhone 3GS Handsets Overheat, Turn Brown

By Charlie Sorrel
June 29, 2009 |
7:54 am |
Categories: Phones

3gs brown ring

The iPhone 3G may, at least for some users, have an additional, undocumented feature: It can be used to toast bread.

Reports are coming in that the new, million-selling iPhone is suffering from overheating issues. The handsets are getting so warm, in fact, that the plastic cases of the white models are discoloring to pink. The picture above is from Ben on the French site Le Journal du Geek.

It's not just anonymous forum posters, either. Melissa J. Perenson of PC World has a toasty 3GS, too:

And at some point, I became aware the handset had become very hot. Very, very hot — not just on the back, but the entire length of the front face, too. I was using a game, and then later the Web browser for reading the news about Michael Jackson, all over a Wi-Fi connection while plugged in. And in those circumstances, well…toasty doesn't even describe how surprisingly hot it got. It was too hot to even put the phone against my face. No discoloration to report, though; I have the black handset, and didn't see any effects.

Other reports across the web, including the Apple discussion forums, seem to point at GPS use and playing games as the culprits. Of course, there are problems with product launches all the time, and Apple users tend to be more vocal than most. And Apple is notoriously reticent to admit anything is wrong, Remember the first gen white MacBooks that turned yellow on top?

If true, these overheating issues may even end up in an exploding battery scandal. To add to the confusion, I have noticed my 2G iPod Touch getting a lot hotter than usual since updating to the v3.0 software. This happens while web browsing, and the battery is draining fast, too. I have no idea if this is related, but if it is it could point at some bad power-management software in OS 3.0.

Overheating problems with the iPhone 3GS [Nowhere Else]

Topic : Battery getting hot [Apple Discussions]

Worries of overheating for iPhone 3G S? [Le Journal du Geek]

[DAPB]