Samsung Outperforms Apple in Cold Weather Test

Very interesting article.

The apple on the back of the next iPhone will turn green when "cold", and red when "super cold".

[video=youtube;_9jIsXp8sQQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9jIsXp8sQQ[/video]

 

Ah, sigh, another dumb article at Apple's expense (from the headlines) :nono: Instead the article should be headlining components that all cell phones share in common ( and indeed are made by the same suppliers), and the physics of such. The article should have headlined that instead, and teach people something universally useful.

When your hands are cold, your brain tells you so, before frostbite sets in, and you can no longer feel your fingers, they die, and fall off (in severe cases). Keep that in mind.

Focusing on batteries, like people, they don't do well under stress situations; its not good for batteries or people's health.

Charging a Li- ion battery below 32F ( 0C) will permanently damage them

See chart below from Battery University This is where the 0 to 45 C probably comes from.

And while Li ion can perform in sub freezing temperatures, their discharge performance goes down, and also can permanently damage their long term performance, while maybe not killing them like charging will.

So Apple cleverly warns the user by shutting the phone down at near 32 F, warning the user to place the iPhone inside their coat and use headphones, or just warm it up a bit. They also shut the iPhone down at high temperature, to prevent battery and phone failure.

Personally, just like my hands without gloves, I can use the iPhone in sub freezing whether for long enough periods of time, as it is in my inside coat pocket the rest.

So I know that you don't want to hear this, but I think Apple did the right thing: They are protecting the users battery and phone investment by giving an early warning signal to take care of things...just like your brain does. The batteries are the same in all phones...it is the user experience that Apple is good at: They try to take care of their customers...

You may disagree and think that Apple should allow you to use the phone at your temperature...but realistically and in practice, you can use your phone outside in the cold for your few minute phone call...the thermal mass will prevent it from reaching 14 to 32F for quite some time, probably a good 20 minutes to half an hour. I like how my brain/body warns me to take action to protect myself...I know...I got frostbite once by not paying attention ( it was -40C outside).

I'm really getting sick of these physicless dumb articles and the viral newsfeeds that pick up on them.

 

And on the bright side, when they do find your frozen body (because you couldn't call 911) your heirs will have a perfectly functioning iPhone on their hands...

 

Yes the headline mentions Apple but the original article is from Macworld and under Iphone new with the title of "iPhone 4S can't compete with other smartphones in a sub-zero environment".

Blame Macworld.

That article talks about more than just the battery. I for one did not know that AMOLED displays fared better than LCD displays, which explains the Samsung win.

Feature phones faring better is definitely a surprise for me, and although there wasn't a detailed explaination given, I can speculate/guess at some of the factors.

All in all, the article was interesting.

 

Nope dumb article. Regardless of source. Sorry. Leaves out the most important info for users who wish to protect their phones.

I know it is from Macworld btw.

Sent from my iPhone 4S with TapaTalk.

 

:lmao::lmao:

 

Ok, we will have to do this test over again to make sure the results were accurate. Everybody put their phones in the freezer and report back what happens. Make sure it is on the coldest setting, we have to be fair. Also, don't forget to spray it with water first, we want as much front on it as possible!
:-/

 

I believe this MacWorld story is poor, because it leads one to believe that since something can be done, it can be done without adverse consequences. The authors of this article, didn’t think to ask that question at all! Even MacWorld is not perfect and my criticism is based on science, not bias.

I focused on the battery, because it is the weakest link. A phone with a dead or broken screen can generally still make phone calls (with voice commands or keyboard).

Li-ion battery internal impedance increases and output voltage goes down rapidly to 2.7 volts with lower temperatures (below 32F/0C). The phone measures this battery voltage to determine the displayed battery level. At 2.7 volts, the iPhone determines a dead battery condition, displays a battery warning and shuts the phone off. At very high temperatures, the voltage doesn’t rise really, but the iPhone measures the temperature, and if too hot, shuts the phone down, and the charging circuit, if that is being done. The phone circuitry is turning off the phone.

Why? Because charging or discharging a Li-ion battery outside the ‘sweet spot’, 32 to 45F, does irreversible damage to the battery. It the physics of Li-ion, even if the battery can be used to minus 20C/minus 4 F, damage is being done. The graph says that the battery will work at -20C, not that it was OK to do so, with no consequence.

A potentially bad situation: If someone is using a cell phone in very cold temperatures, they will see the battery meter go down very rapidly below 32F. If they are working outside, they may naively think that they need to charge it. They are damaging the battery by plating the anodes of the battery while at sub freezing temperature. But the article doesn’t cover this. FAIL.

The second problem? So after covering 15 odd phones in this article, one may chose one Nokia over another Nokia, or one Samsung over another, etc. The phone may remain on at 32F, 14F, or even down to 5F. But once in RF use, how long will the phone actually last? Answer: not very long as it begins to draw power to make a call: the discharge rates are faster at low temperatures too, and the battery Voltage is already low. They don’t really say how long any phone can be used at any temperature…another FAIL, without practical information.

This is why I find these articles so useless…because I am an experimental physicist and it just annoys me how poorly the information is written.

The saving grace reality here? These experiments were done in ‘cold ovens’ a phone by itself. In real life the phone is in your coat being warmed by your body, or even your hand when in use (we are at 98.6F) most of the time. I have used all my phones (Nokia, Moto and Apple) in sub freezing temperature (0Fto 32F)…with no problems…that is just how I use them. If it is 25F outside…your phone will not reach 25F for a long while…just like your gloveless hands don’t freeze right away.

So by shutting the phone down, the battery is not being discharged. The battery can be stored at much lower temperatures than it was meant to be in use.

 

1. Put my Samsung Google Nexus into my Samsung freezer
2. The freezer promptly shut itself down to prevent the phone from freezing over

 

On a related note my Nokia 6131 has been extensively used at 15°-20° F, during pheasant hunting through 6 winters and still humming along. Just changed out the battery with my less used 6126.

I don't believe my Atrix will be able to match that performance, and no I am not putting the Atrix in the freezer to check it out.

Ofourse having physical keys as opposed to capacitive touch screen helps.

Hope the icecream didn't melt.


*Off topic* didn't know I could multi quote with Tapatalk - neat!


Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk

 

Oh crap!

 

Just have a look at it.

 

If I had an Apple freezer, I would have it full of this:

Edy's®__Apple Pie Ice Cream



Unfortuantely, being an Apple freezer, there would be no room for this:

http://turkeyhill.com/products/premium-ice-cream-flavors.aspx?pID=148

 

That would be refreshingly wonderful if it were the case. Mostly I'm seeing sarcasm and ribbing, and sheepish acceptance of the article's results.

So, to stay on the 'new topic', I would say, based upon google results, most people are constantly having problems with their smartphone's freezing, and at room temperature, due to plain old Android crashes....

It is 21 F out here today, and I have no worries during my 20 min walk to the office.

From the original article, here is the chart at the bottom. I missed it during the first reading, maybe others did too.

 

I think you would have to jailbreak your Apple freezer to put those in there...

 

Either way it don't matter to me because me butt wouldn't get anywhere close to temperatures like that anyway, so neither would my iPhone.


Sent from my iPhone 4S using Tapatalk.

 

Very interesting article.Very useful to me, I buy a mobile phone