Slashdot Mirror
iPhone's Liquid Sensors Can Be Triggered By Wintertime Use
An anonymous reader writes "The Polish website Moje Jabluszko ran an experiment that proves the poor reliability of the liquid contact indicators (original, in Polish) installed by Apple in the iPhone. They performed three different tests to challenge the LCIs, which they recorded as a movie. They decided to mimic regular usage of the iPhone — meaning, you go outside where it could be cold or warm, then move inside in a building where temperature might be dramatically different, but still within covered conditions. So, they placed the iPhone in its box for one hour outside at -11 C, then moved it inside at room temperature for 24 hours. They repeated the experiment 3 times, and after the third cycle they could show that the LCI located in the audio jack plug started turning red! This is a clear proof that LCIs are not reliable and could turn red while the iPhone has been used under the defined environmental requirements defined by Apple. Here, only the condensing water could have been in contact with the sensor. In other words, even moving in and out during regular winter time will make you iPhone LCI turn red!" (In the tech specs for the iPhone, Apple rates the non-operating temperature range as -20 to 45 C.)
There's an undocumented clause in the warranty that says it's invalidated if the user is an idiot who don't know how to properly care for a piece of electronics. Like letting it cool to -11C before exposing it to humid air at about 20C, instead of keeping the damn thing reasonably warm in your pocket. Sounds like the "liquid sensors" are effectively enforcing that clause as well.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
Likewise, in much of the US the specification of 35 C is much too low for use during a large portion of the summer.
Are you trying to claim that the climate in the rest of the US doesn't mirror that of Cupertino?
Hmm... sounds like you need a little touch-up therapy from Jedi Jobs...
#DeleteChrome
Yes, Apple is doing something that lots of companies do! But the public will find a way to think this is ok because it's Apple
But there is no protest when other companies do it, so what's the difference? Seems like there are more people trying to come up with reasons why it is not OK because it is Apple.
Apple's cult following allows it to screw over their customers again and again without anyone thinking twice
And yet other companies also screw over customers, and you rarely see articles about it.
... and then they built the supercollider.
It's marketed as a PORTABLE PHONE. Look up "IMPLIED WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR PURPOSE". If the phone can't handle common environments where people tend to carry around phones, it's not a PORTABLE PHONE.
After all, I am strangely colored.
Implied warranty of fitness for purpose. That's why.
After all, I am strangely colored.
A very well played troll, sir. This silly "OMG, liquid sensors that are in every phone made today are a violation to my privacy!" thread got a lot of folks hook, line, and sinker. :)
Down with the career politician! SUPPORT TERM LIMITS
Yes. They specifically refer to it as a "mobile phone" and Safari as a "mobile web browser".
After all, I am strangely colored.
You can hit 100% humidity in Florida. That is enough to void the warranty, just by doing nothing at all. Is it common sense for these little sensors to trip and ruin your chances for replacing their shoddy, unfit-for-its-purpose product?
After all, I am strangely colored.
The difference is that Apple is probably the highest profile consumer electronics brand in the western world? With a somewhat high-quality/luxury/high-price image attached to many of the products? What's so difficult about that to understand?
So, only the highest profile companies are worthy of criticism? The irony is that Apple got the same kind of attention when it was "beleaguered" and sure to go out of business as a massive failure.
I'm just concerned over the state of modern journalism. If something is an issue, it should be an issue regardless of who does it.
... and then they built the supercollider.