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iPhones, Android phones, music players, and other electronic things, if the weather is cold enough. Are we just trying to find anything bad to say about Apple s

iPhones, Android phones, music players, and other electronic things, if the weather is cold enough. Are we just trying to find anything bad to say about Apple so we can say it? Why is this on the front page?

Bartweiss 9y ago
The instructions on this page offer "Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F)." Hopefully Apple is just being cautious and giving a range where they're confident no one will have problems. But if not, that's a pretty narrow range. I've had problems with music players and Android phones down at <5F, certainly, but <32F is the one part of this that looks like an Apple-specific issue.
- deadcell 9y ago
  So not Canada, half of the year?
- vonzeppelin 9y ago
  I've never had a problem with my phone when it's been below freezing out.
  - pmjordan 9y ago
    This may be obvious, but when it's cold out, it helps to keep the phone in a warm pocket close to the body (e.g. on the inside of your coat) rather than a bag or so. I've never had any issues with iPhones that way; using it for more than a short period of time when it's very cold is unpleasant anyway, so it never gets the chance to cool down too much. (I can confirm this works even at -40°, although you've got to be very careful with charging cables at that sort of temperature. Don't try to bend them, they'll snap.)
  - plorkyeran 9y ago
    I had a lot of problems with my 4S spontaneously shutting down when snowboarding (when it was still pretty new) until it occurred to me to store it inside of my jacket rather than an outer pocket.
- tinus_hn 9y ago
  If you look at the manual the other devices probably have similar specifications.
  - jackhack 9y ago
    It's not just phones. The Toyota Prius is also vulnerable at extremely low temps. From the owner's manual: "When the hybrid battery (traction battery) is extremely cold (below approximately minus 22 degrees Farenheit [minus 30 degrees Celsius]) under the influence of the outside temperature, it may not be possible to start the hybrid system. In this case, try to start the hybrid system again after the temperature of the hybrid battery increases due to the outside temperature increase, etc." edit: of course, gasoline-only cars have a similar problem. Oil gets THICK at -22F and without an electric engine block heater, the starter may not be powerful enough to turn that engine over. At least you can put a phone inside your jacked to warm it up. Not so easy with an automobile.
    - em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
      My understanding is automobiles will use some battery power to simply keep the battery in an ideal temperature range. Maybe phones could have the ability to burn a bit of energy in cold weather to simply keep the battery warm, if desired by user.
majortennis 9y ago
I've seen people with 30, 40% batteries iphones die for no apparent reason. My samsung in the same temperature not shutting down. Theres plenty bad things to say about apple. This one i can confirm
wonton2 9y ago
iPhone from 6 and up are notoriously bad at cold weather. Previously people talked about reduced battery life in cold weather, but it was never really a big problem (I guess the batteries were thicker). But with the iphone it drops from 80% to 5% then dies in a matter of minutes. People I know have been talking about it and I dont go out on a cold day with the battery at less than 50%. Which was never the case before, even with iphone 5. Edit: now we are talking temperatures below -10c

Bartweiss 9y ago

The instructions on this page offer "Use iOS devices where the ambient temperature is between 0º and 35º C (32º to 95º F)." Hopefully Apple is just being cautious and giving a range where they're confident no one will have problems. But if not, that's a pretty narrow range. I've had problems with music players and Android phones down at <5F, certainly, but <32F is the one part of this that looks like an Apple-specific issue.

deadcell 9y ago
So not Canada, half of the year?
vonzeppelin 9y ago
I've never had a problem with my phone when it's been below freezing out.
- pmjordan 9y ago
  This may be obvious, but when it's cold out, it helps to keep the phone in a warm pocket close to the body (e.g. on the inside of your coat) rather than a bag or so. I've never had any issues with iPhones that way; using it for more than a short period of time when it's very cold is unpleasant anyway, so it never gets the chance to cool down too much. (I can confirm this works even at -40°, although you've got to be very careful with charging cables at that sort of temperature. Don't try to bend them, they'll snap.)
- plorkyeran 9y ago
  I had a lot of problems with my 4S spontaneously shutting down when snowboarding (when it was still pretty new) until it occurred to me to store it inside of my jacket rather than an outer pocket.
tinus_hn 9y ago
If you look at the manual the other devices probably have similar specifications.
- jackhack 9y ago
  It's not just phones. The Toyota Prius is also vulnerable at extremely low temps. From the owner's manual: "When the hybrid battery (traction battery) is extremely cold (below approximately minus 22 degrees Farenheit [minus 30 degrees Celsius]) under the influence of the outside temperature, it may not be possible to start the hybrid system. In this case, try to start the hybrid system again after the temperature of the hybrid battery increases due to the outside temperature increase, etc." edit: of course, gasoline-only cars have a similar problem. Oil gets THICK at -22F and without an electric engine block heater, the starter may not be powerful enough to turn that engine over. At least you can put a phone inside your jacked to warm it up. Not so easy with an automobile.
  - em3rgent0rdr 9y ago
    My understanding is automobiles will use some battery power to simply keep the battery in an ideal temperature range. Maybe phones could have the ability to burn a bit of energy in cold weather to simply keep the battery warm, if desired by user.

majortennis 9y ago

I've seen people with 30, 40% batteries iphones die for no apparent reason. My samsung in the same temperature not shutting down. Theres plenty bad things to say about apple. This one i can confirm

wonton2 9y ago

iPhone from 6 and up are notoriously bad at cold weather. Previously people talked about reduced battery life in cold weather, but it was never really a big problem (I guess the batteries were thicker). But with the iphone it drops from 80% to 5% then dies in a matter of minutes. People I know have been talking about it and I dont go out on a cold day with the battery at less than 50%. Which was never the case before, even with iphone 5. Edit: now we are talking temperatures below -10c