Heat: an unaddressed iPhone issue?

by WyldKard on June 21, 2010

We didn’t give much thought to iPhones overheating last summer, when reports were going around about iPhones shutting down after a certain internal heat threshold was met. But that’s because we never encountered this behavior, since we evidently didn’t put our through these types of paces. Things took a turn when we began using our 3GS as a daily device.

The problem.

In the car, while we’ve experienced exceptional heat emanating from our 3GS, we still haven’t witnessed the device overheating and shutting down the active program. We guess that’s because of where we mounted the ; it sits right in front of a vent. During summer months on the east coast, we usually run with the air conditioner on, so the isn’t at the same temperature as the outside world. Since it sits so close to a vent, it’s also getting the benefit of air flow, which isn’t the situation in our second use case.


On a motorcycle, our is more exposed to the elements, or at least the heat. This is doubly-problematic because air flow is effectively neutralized since a motorcycle-mounted is generally enclosed for protection, so the doesn’t benefit from the motorcycle’s movement. On hot days, this means that whatever case the is in acts like a greenhouse. Eventually, east coast summers with temperatures in the 80s will shut down any mounted to a motorcycle, making navigation-by- impossible.

Possible solutions?


Moving the to an unenclosed case, snapped into some sort of mount, may be a part-time solution. Mounts like this exist, but their protection is questionable; do you really trust a mount where the “snaps in” and “snaps out” by pressing a plastic tab? With the vibrations common on motorcycles (not to mention bumps from off-road riding), it becomes a huge question as to whether such a mount won’t suddenly pop an attached off mid-ride.

A better mount system might still work here, but an off-the-shelf solution doesn’t seem to exist. Touratech makes decent aluminum mounts for other devices, but not for the (probably because the isn’t water-tight).

Relocating the ’s mounting location may be possible with the proper . For example, if the could be mounted in a position that offers more shade, where it’s not always getting direct sun, perhaps it would last longer before shutting down. Still, this likely wouldn’t fix the problem entirely, and coverage may be hit too.

Another solution may be to simply keep the in a vented pocket, so it’s not getting sun and benefits from airflow directed against the rider. Unfortunately, this means the rider only has access to audible cues, can’t see the map, and needs to pull the out whenever the navigation software needs to be accessed.

In the end, no obvious solution exists if one wants to use -based navigation year-round on a motorcycle (at least in areas where it gets hot).

The 4G .

The latest , releasing later this week, uses the A4 processor, which we know to be faster than previous processors. This new should also sport better power efficiency, which may imply cooler operation. However, we couldn’t find any claims as to how much cooler the 4G runs compared to the 3GS. For us, this becomes a major factor in whether or not we upgrade, because if this new can handle higher heat environments, then it immediately challenges other units for motorcycle use; potentially, with an aluminum case, heat dissipation may be easier for this latest .

For those early adopters, drop us a line to let us know if the 4G seems to run cooler than the 3G or 3GS.

Update (06/23/2010): TiPb is proposing that Apple may have down-clocked the A4 processor in the 4G in order to get better battery life and “lower the thermal impact.” This would mean that the new has more RAM than the 3GS, but a slower processor, explaining why the iPad may still be faster than the 4G . This still begs the question as to how much cooler the 4G would run than the 3GS, however.

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