Smartphones in trouble in freezing temperatures

As the coldest time of the year is once again upon us and temperatures are forecasted to dip well below -10 degrees Celsius in much of Norway, Finland and Sweden, (and in some places to go as low as -30°C), economic activity tends to fall considerably. Even such basic tasks like making or answering a phonecall outdoors come with certain hazards, not only in the form of cold sores on your fingers, but also with potential harm done to your mobile device.

Last year we got to read a story from Bergens Tidende saying that Apple had refused to repair an iPhone that froze when a device used in freezing temperature broke. For instance in Apple 4S warranty, the company clearly states that the phone should only be used in temperatures in between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius, (with Nonoperating temperature requirement slated to be in between -20°C and 45 °C), and thus damage caused as a result of ignoring that warning can be easily interpreted as personal liability.

Consumer agencies in the Nordic countries opinionated, that a device sold over here should function in the local conditions, and that typically includes extreme winter weather. At the very least the sales personnel should make the consumers well aware of the normal operating temperatures prior to a purchasing decision.

Finnish IT magazine MikroPC, which is published by Talentum Oyj (OMXH: TTM1V) ran a study on the ability of 18 different cellphones to withstand cold in Technical Research Centre of Finland VTT’s premises. All of the tested phones could function in zero degree weather but shortly after that many of them started having trouble. Most frequent problem naturally comes in the form of phone shutting down as the battery is unable to release energy.

In minus 5 degree temperature iPhone 4S and Nokia N9 were already experiencing severe difficulties. That is an embarrassing result for a phone from Nokia (OMX: NOK1V), as the company’s devices have traditionally been known to be able to handle very cold weather. The majority of the tested smartphones were unable to handle temperatures below minus 20 degrees but one touchphone fared far better than that. Not surprisingly basic phones were in general much more durable. The article explaining the results of the test, which also included devices such as Samsung Galaxy and HTC Evo, is printed (in Finnish) in the most recent MikroPC magazine.