iPhone motorcycle issues.

WyldKard — Tue, 21 Jun 2011 15:23:32 +0000

Last year, we talked about heat issues with the iPhone 3GS. That was before we got an iPhone 4, which may very well have better heat dissipation than the 3GS, but not by enough. One of the reasons we wanted a white iPhone 4 was because the surface would reflect more light and thus help, even if minimally, with internal heat buildup.

As far as motorcycling goes, the iPhone 4 isn’t much better in high-temperature environments than the 3GS was. We tend to use the iPhone 4 in a soft case attached to our motorcycle’s handlebars, where a silicone front allows us to control the phone even with our gloves on.¹ The problems remains, however, with heat building up in this case, even when the case is not fully zipped to allow some hot air to escape. We’re not convinced that even outside of a case, the iPhone wouldn’t overheat if it’s in direct view of the sun; even in the shade, the iPhone 4, in temperatures exceeding 90 degrees, gets quite hot under use, be that simply talking on the phone, or running an application making use of 3D graphics (like our GPS app).

Suffice to say, using the iPhone 4 as a year-round GPS device on a motorcycle still leaves much to be desired. We’ve explored several case alternatives, but as far as all-weather cases go, most have their issues:

They don’t allow touch-screen access while the phone is inside.
They have poor attachment points for use on a motorcycle.
They tend to produce heat build-up.

A possible option is to forgo all-weather cases and use the iPhone 4 as a GPS device only when the weather is expected to be good, which means not going on trips requiring a GPS when even the slightest chance of rain is possible. We could then mount the iPhone 4 in a way that allows a good part of the iPhone 4 to be exposed to the environment, which should help with heat dissipation. Still, the iPhone 4 may still overheat when directly in the sun.

We’re considering the Mirage 2 windshield for our F800GS, which comes with a GPS-mounting panel. We could hack it up to mount the iPhone 4, and possibly even throw something together that would be water-resistant. The problem is putting something together that could be modified later for future iPhone models, so we don’t need to buy a whole new Mirage 2 platform when we upgrade our phone. Since the GPS panel on the Mirage 2 seems like it has some depth to it, we could potentially throw a cooling fan on the inside, to help cool the iPhone.

We’re still curious how others have mounted their iPhones to their motorcycles, and how well they worked in high-temperature (above 80 degrees fahrenheit).

Similar Posts:

Heat: an unaddressed iPhone issue? – We didn’t give much thought to iPhones overheating last summer, when reports were going around about…
iPhone 3GS: wonder toy. – What’s most interesting about the [iPhone feature chart](http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/theiphoneblo…
Cell phone gaming. – While clowns like the guys behind the NGage tried their hand at mobile gaming via cell phones, the i…

The feedback through the silicone front and gloves isn’t ideal, but it works for simple tasks, like dismissing messages. ↩

Heat: an unaddressed iPhone issue?

WyldKard — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 20:31:45 +0000

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 iPhone through these types of paces. Things took a turn when we began using our iPhone 3GS as a daily GPS device.

The problem.

In the car, while we’ve experienced exceptional heat emanating from our iPhone 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 iPhone; 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 iPhone 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 iPhone 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 iPhone is generally enclosed for protection, so the iPhone doesn’t benefit from the motorcycle’s movement. On hot days, this means that whatever case the iPhone is in acts like a greenhouse. Eventually, east coast summers with temperatures in the 80s will shut down any iPhone mounted to a motorcycle, making navigation-by-iPhone impossible.

Possible solutions?

Moving the iPhone 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 iPhone “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 iPhone 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 GPS devices, but not for the iPhone (probably because the iPhone isn’t water-tight).

Relocating the iPhone’s mounting location may be possible with the proper hardware. For example, if the iPhone 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 GPS coverage may be hit too.

Another solution may be to simply keep the iPhone 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 iPhone out whenever the navigation software needs to be accessed.

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

The 4G iPhone.

The latest iPhone, releasing later this week, uses the A4 processor, which we know to be faster than previous iPhone processors. This new iPhone 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 iPhone runs compared to the 3GS. For us, this becomes a major factor in whether or not we upgrade, because if this new iPhone can handle higher heat environments, then it immediately challenges other GPS units for motorcycle use; potentially, with an aluminum case, heat dissipation may be easier for this latest iPhone.

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

Update (06/23/2010): TiPb is proposing that [Apple may have down-clocked](http://www.tipb.com/2010/06/23/iphone-4-teardown-apple-a4-1ghz/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed: TheIphoneBlog (TiPb: iPhone, iPad, iPod)&utm_content=Google Reader) the A4 processor in the 4G iPhone in order to get better battery life and “lower the thermal impact.” This would mean that the new iPhone has more RAM than the 3GS, but a slower processor, explaining why the iPad may still be faster than the 4G iPhone. This still begs the question as to how much cooler the 4G iPhone would run than the 3GS, however.