
Exploding iPhone?
There's an app for that!
A French teenager has been injured by his girlfriend's exploding iPhone, little more than a week after Apple was accused of trying to suppress news of an exploding iPod Touch. According to the AFP, Marie-Dominique Kolega contacted Apple after her son was hit by a flying piece of Jobsian status symbol. Apparently, the iPhone …
And how many devices from other manufacturers that use Li-on batteries are similarly affected? A little research shows this affects other OEMs as well, not just Apple.
In any case, Apple don't make the batteries. Nice to see the anti-Apple whingers miss that point completely as well. For 10 nostalgia points, which Japanese manufacturer was recently humiliated by a massive recall of their defective batteries?
=:~)
It's unlikely, and I mean HIGHLY unlikely a drop or a bump would cause the LiPoly battery to explode like that. Lithium ION batteries have a well-known "venting" hazard, and all of the exploding laptop/phone/(older)iPod stories we've heard so far involved Li Ion.
Current generation iPods, iPhones, and now even Macbooks use Lithium Polymer batteries. One, that's the only way they can get the batteries small enough to fit in really thin devices. Two, Li Poly is supposed to eliminate that so called "energetic decomposition".
As for the "exploding when dropped"? I have personally seen iPhones that were squashed flat in a variety of ways, including backed over by a construction vehicle and dropped several stories. In some cases, the battery was the only part of the device that wasn't damaged. In most cases, just the glass and LCD are cracked. The plastic cases of the 3G don't fare so well either.
Even if you did damage the battery pack? Hell, there's a "will it blend" video of the iPhone. When the battery gets ground up, all you get is a lot of black dust from the carbon substrate. No smoke or flames, although some other devices with Li-Ion batteries combusted visibly in the blender.
My hunch? When it was Nokia phones exploding, the cause was determined to be 3rd-party batteries. These 'Apple' products that exploded because someone looked at them funny are probably knockoff devices. There's a lot of them out there, and the one thing they have in common is shoddy quality.
Note to self: if iphone hisses, back away immediately!
Seriously I just wonder what these people have made their iphone/touches suffer for them to explode like that. And as usual ad of late at El Reg it seems, no real news--just headlines and beating a dead horse I MEAN repeating past headlines.
Tisk.
Apple advertise on the glen beck show in the states, their muck is proprietary they overcharge and they indulge in the scam which is software patents. Their cancerous god stevesi thinks polo necks are cool and their designs all look like trash from the late sixties painted white. AppleFanbois are suckers but at least there will be less of them now so that's a good thing.
I'd take a refund with no strings, thank you very much. It would be the least they could do. You'd get that for it just being under manufacturer's warranty!
"We're sorry your iPhone exploded, but we'd be happy to perform our contractual obligation and refund your money, if only you sign this piece of paper."
Apple is pround to announce its new line in Military Weapons
Introducing the iGrenade*
If the 70s disco music doesnt kill your enemy, the exploding battery will! **
Comming 2010, The iMine, Looks like a normal Tablet PC untill you step on it!
*Formally knows as the iPod
**Warning may explode without warning when dropped, damaged or looked at in a funny way!
I would NOT be accepting the refund conditionally on signing an shutup contract. Australian law REQUIRES the seller of a faulty product to refund the buyer unconditionally. What I would be doing is asking for that condition in writing and then take it straight to a solicitor with a view to suing Apple not only for the dangerous product but also violations of the Trade Practices Act.
And I thought Microsoft were scum. They're altruistic philanthropists compared to Apple. And that's why I've never bought an Apple product, and never will. Scumbags.
.. try to silence people if it were knockoff Iphones or if the user was responcible for the explosions. They would be very public about how tampering with them was dangerous or how knockoffs were made to kill or something. The last thing they would do was to cover it up. But they DO try which indicates that there is something VERY wrong with the Iphone.. Who should have thought..
can the fanbois PLEASE get a hold of this one.......it doesnt REALLY matter if there are a billion iphones and ipod touches out there, it doesnt REALLY matter if every other manufacturer has problems with exploding batteries. The fact of the story is this.....ipod touches and iphones CAN in SOME cases explode and Apple havent really done themselves any favours in sorting out the issue, instead just hoping to cover it up.
Im sure that these fanbois would suddenly change their tune (or should that be itune) if THIER iphone exploded in their faces.... bloody hell.......
anyway, I thought the iphone/ipod were built in China, hence ALL of them are cheap Chinese knock offs.......
"These 'Apple' products that exploded because someone looked at them funny are probably knockoff devices"
Errrr, FAIL
Apple has investigated each exploding device, and if there was the merest hint they were "knock-off" Apple would have not only kicked the claims into touch, they would have taken out played massively on how dangerous the knock-off devices are (e.g. jailbreaking can destroy cell towers!!!). However not only is Apple willing to refund the purchase price, they are attempting to hush the victims - an admission of guilt in itself!
further to ACs comments about (non)knockoffs, he's entirely incorrect about LiPo batteries, just watch a you tube clip of a LiPo from an RC model being overcharged
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DcpANRFrI4&feature=fvw
similar things happen if you dent them bad enough to perforate the container.
"In any case, Apple don't make the batteries. Nice to see the anti-Apple whingers miss that point completely as well. For 10 nostalgia points, which Japanese manufacturer was recently humiliated by a massive recall of their defective batteries?"
So a guy goes up a ladder given to him by his boss and the rungs break. The boss' defence is "Sorry guv, but I bought it cheap from a guy down the road, it must be his fault."
If the batteries are cheap and defective, why do Apple still buy them? And more to the point, if they're so shit why do you still buy them? Twat.
If it were the singed punter's fault Apple would be laughing at them, not trying to get a signed agreement to keep their mouth shut.
In a commercial world I can understand an apology, money back, compensation, good will payment and an NDA, but this just reeks of trying to sweep it under the carpet, falsely maintaining the 'iPerfect' image for the fanbois to propagate.
Sure, other companies and products have similar problems, but how many hold their customers in such low regard ?
"similar things happen if you dent them bad enough to perforate the container"
Nonsense. I've spent hours shooting LiPo batteries with air rifles, poking them with knives, throwing them around etc just to see if they'd burn (I was worried about my house insurance, see*). I've never managed to get any smoke out of one yet. I have however, managed to blow a hole in a concrete floor by messing around with an old Ni-Cd battery (you know, the ones that LiPos replaced that everyone said were completely safe).
You're right about the overcharging though. Also overdischarging can do this too. The iPod/Phone software will be responsible for monitoring this and preventing it from happening.
But I wonder how many of these exploding devices have been charged up using dodgy bits of wire they found in a cupboard?
*and I'm a pyromaniac