iPhone meltdown occurs during hardware hack

Not that it doesn't completely go without saying, but whenever you start hacking any battery-powered portable device, you need to freaking be careful. Otherwise you might end up like dude here who was pulling a Geohot on his iPhone when short circuited and became red hot, releasing the magic smoke hither locked inside the device's electronics. Lesson learned: you take your phone, even your life, into your own hands when screwing with components, so be gentle and careful, will you?

[Via Engadget Spanish]

[Arjy @ Sep 1st 2007 5:47PM]

Wow

[CongoZombie @ Sep 1st 2007 7:36PM]

iPhone smoke- Don't Breathe this!

[Ladoozieme @ Sep 1st 2007 5:51PM]

Whoa, I don't want to be that guy, then again a burnt iPhone might be better then no iPhone. it'd make a great souvenir at least haha.

[Don Wilson @ Sep 1st 2007 5:51PM]

Welcome Engadget to three days ago when this was new news.

[andrew harrison @ Sep 1st 2007 5:56PM]

well, we can't all troll the hackintosh boards all day like you can. I for one, have not seen this yet.

[Don Wilson @ Sep 1st 2007 6:01PM]

If "troll the hackintosh boards all day" means "check the digg rss feed", then you're correct.

[andrew harrison @ Sep 1st 2007 6:26PM]

sorry

well, we can't all check the digg rss feed all day like you can. I for one, have not seen this yet.

[Andrew H. @ Sep 2nd 2007 1:06AM]

this is the first time ive read this too.

[John Doe @ Sep 1st 2007 7:43PM]

Don. Do us all a favor and get bent. Not everyone has so much free time that they can spend half a day trolling around the web searching for random stories. So in conclusion...go away you useless troll.

[Don Wilson @ Sep 1st 2007 7:59PM]

Thanks for the informative comment, "John Doe", if that is your real name.

[Ryan Block @ Sep 1st 2007 8:16PM]

Don, we hear that complaint from time to time. Besides being asinine, it also doesn't take into account how a an editor-driven news site works. We put up the more important, interesting, or pressing news before the unimportant news. That's not how a site like Digg works. Was this more important to us than wall to wall IFA coverage? No. This wasn't something we had to get to immediately, which is why it's weekend news.

[Don Wilson @ Sep 1st 2007 8:50PM]

Thanks for the comment Ryan.

I understand how you guys operate, but I tire of seeing the same article posted multiple times over an extended amount of time, especially on a supposed up-to-the-minute gadget blog; I know you guys do not market as that, but the public does indeed see you as that.

I do agree that my comment was asinine, and as such, this will be my last comment in this article.

[Ryhan @ Sep 2nd 2007 12:00AM]

Don; don't bother commenting are clicking the link if you've already read it somewhere else, OK?

Damn iTroll...*curses under breath* :D

[Andrew Stone @ Sep 2nd 2007 1:37AM]

I love it when somebody gets so redic that the blog editor (who shouldn't have to justify himself because even in spite of the criticism, the critic is STILL CHOOSING TO READ THIS BLOG) decides to chime in.

Freaking idiot.

If your not a fan of what you are seeing here, do the same thing you'd do if you don't like whats on the TV channel you are watching... go elsewhere.

The rest of us are in to it and don't need your janky attitude around.

Although i suspect you are in to it, being that you took the time to not only read, but to comment. Seems like you are kind of just grasping for stuff to whine about, hum?

[dfsdfsfsf @ Sep 1st 2007 6:03PM]

Why would you want to hack the Iphone? It's like a perfect piece of hardware already.

[kenyy @ Sep 1st 2007 6:08PM]

because you may not want to switch providers and pay to break your existing and/or enter into another contract with at&t

[John Doe @ Sep 1st 2007 7:48PM]

You missed the smilie on your post. ;) Because if the iPhone is the perfect piece of hardware then the Ford Pinto was the pinnacle of the automotive industry.

[Dragod @ Sep 1st 2007 6:05PM]

EPIC FAIL!

Looks like an improvement to me! Haha, just messing with you guys, though I don't like the iPhone.

[AK Mac @ Sep 1st 2007 7:34PM]

Idiot.

Basically you are saying "I don't like cutting edge technology" or "Becuase it's Apple, I dont like it."

I bet you are one of those people who simply don't like something when it is "popular", and somehow think you are too cool for school when making the point.

I, for one, would actually like to meet you...you are a rare breed of person to dislike like the iPhone.

Somebody call Guinness.

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 8:11PM]

Windows is EXTREMELY popular, and their are a lot of people that don't like Windows.

Besides, what does popularity have to do with, *ahem* "cutting edge technology"?

[Ratchet the Lombax @ Sep 1st 2007 8:26PM]

@ AK MAC
I don't like the iPhone either so I don't think Dragod is a rare breed at all. In fact I've asked most of my fiends (like 20) and all but 1 really couldn't care less about the iPhone. And it's not because it's an Apple product because all of us have an iPod of some kind. It's just we don't need a $600 cellphone everyones taste differ that's what makes the world unique.

[Constable Odo @ Sep 1st 2007 9:32PM]

You don't like the iPhone, you say. You don't like the way it looks, you don't like the way it feels, you don't like how it operates, you don't like the price, you don't like the Apple logo. You just took a personal dislike to the iPhone as soon as you heard about it or saw it. It has not one saving grace. That's okay. Many humans also feel that way about each other. That's rather unfortunate.

[Ryhan @ Sep 2nd 2007 12:04AM]

Jeesh; I wouldn't say that the iPhone is "cutting edge", but cut it some slack, ok?

yes, plenty of people hate it because it's from apple, while many hate windows because it's by MS.

But few hate the OCEAN!!! And almost nobody hates Google... gPhone perhaps?

[Dragod @ Sep 2nd 2007 12:19AM]

"You don't like the iPhone, you say. You don't like the way it looks, you don't like the way it feels, you don't like how it operates, you don't like the price, you don't like the Apple logo. You just took a personal dislike to the iPhone as soon as you heard about it or saw it. It has not one saving grace. That's okay. Many humans also feel that way about each other. That's rather unfortunate."

I didn't say any of that. I just felt like posting while I was in a good mood, rather than when I'm in one of my "Everything sucks" kind of mood. Mainly, it was just to kind of... make fun of the guy. It's just how I roll... And the reason I don't like the iPhone is because it doesn't really deserve the attention it's got, IMHO. There are plenty of music phones, this one just happens to use one of the best online music stores out there. I just think that it should have been cheaper for the stuff it's lacking...
I know it has a lot of bonuses, but there are just some things I expect when paying for a $600 phone. Especially when it's a first kind of "Testing" device. I dunno... I just have my little things about it that I don't like. Just don't ask me about all of them, because I'm not even sure how to put it all into words, lol.

Oh, well. He failed. That was my main point.

[Ed @ Sep 2nd 2007 3:48AM]

The iPhone does SUCK for some people. I personally hate it. I have every one of my clients asking about it, everybody asking what I think about it all the time. For a IT consultant it's a nightmare, because it s not capable of doing ANYTHING. You have to hack it to get it to do anything interesting right now, and from what I have read, there is no SDK. I don't see robust 3rd party apps anywhere in the future, or VPN, etc.

It is not that I don't appreciate the iPhone either. It's freakin beautiful. For the right person, it is the coolest phone ever made. I have held one, and believe me I am impressed. It is just not for business and every freakin executive out there wants it AND wants it to do the exact same thing his Samsung i730, AudioVox XV6600, or HTC based PDA can do.

Not EVERYBODY likes it, and I am certainly not RARE in that category. So saying that you do not like the iPhone does not instantly put you in a Apple Hater category. That is a little simplistic and inflammatory.

[waiownsyou @ Sep 1st 2007 6:09PM]

Why do I foresee this for sale at eBay?

[Trace The Hedgehog @ Sep 1st 2007 6:14PM]

Because if you can find fresh turds on ebay, you can find ANYTHING on eBay.

[humpty @ Sep 1st 2007 6:14PM]

Shits.. and he still has to pay his monthly data/voice plans.. lol

[Alex @ Sep 1st 2007 9:51PM]

What really sucks is that his warranty is now probably void, so he can't even get a replacement unless he buys it.

[Anto @ Sep 1st 2007 6:18PM]

Who are the pricks that keep writing this Apple bashing bulls**t. Maybe they should get off their lardy geeky asses and go try setting up a company to rival Apple if they're so freakin bad!
Doh whaddya expect, if you use something for something it wasn't intended for, well whaddya know, it goes wrong. Wow big freakin surprise, hold the front page!
Engadget sucks man!

[waiownsyou @ Sep 1st 2007 6:29PM]

Your mom sucks! Literally.

ENGADGET PWNS j0O EZ NUB

[Michael C. @ Sep 1st 2007 7:20PM]

wow dude anger to the extreme. dude its all innovation, compaines come out with a product and private parties attempt to make it better its either a hit or a miss and its always a risk but some of the best pieces of gadgetry out there was thought up this way. if you do not like engadget dont go trolling around and bashing on it for giving news, they didnt do this and you should not take things personally. and if all the "geeks" out there did make a company to rival apple i would be completly content to purchase their products as long as they were up to par.

[McGinley @ Sep 1st 2007 7:24PM]

Seriously troll...where do they apple bash in this article?

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 7:59PM]

tisk, tisk, tisk... This poor guy has a classic case of Pro-Apple-Overhype-Success-Syndrome and Anti-Engadget posting Pro-Apple-Overhype-Success-Syndrome.

I say we all chip in to buy him an iPhone... what do ya say boys... Vote bellow in the next 2 feilds!

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 8:03PM]

aagghhh... I screw up my commenting fields.... oh well

The fields are a few post down.

[Penn @ Sep 1st 2007 6:33PM]

this couldnt have been doing the hardware hack, you can see the label of the battery melted onto the back cover of the iphone, which would have been removed to attempt the hack

[Dave George @ Sep 1st 2007 6:37PM]

geohot posted the obvious warnings...

[Dan @ Sep 1st 2007 6:48PM]

That Apple iphone is so hot right now

[bjrcboy @ Sep 1st 2007 7:04PM]

OH MAN! zoolander! best movie. HAHA

[kei @ Sep 1st 2007 7:01PM]

Looks like this iPhone has been bombed rather than burnt....I haven't got one myself but base on the battery capacity of my ipod the battery would never have enough charge to burnt/blasted the device like this.

Who knows...it could just be a trashed iphone pull off by AT&T/Apple...trying to deter ppl from hacking the phone???

[Khris @ Sep 1st 2007 7:08PM]

....but is it unlocked?

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 7:13PM]

Mission Impossible!

Upon receiving the "Super Stellar Communications Device", which this message is being relayed from. Your mission, if you choose to except it. Is to Uber Hack the "Super Stellar Communications Device".

Discover how to open the Communications Device to work on other networks. Install any software on the SSCD including DOOM! Extend the lifespan of the SSCD on a single charge. We want to know what makes this thing ring *ahem*, I mean tick!

btw, this Device will self destruct in 5 seconds, 4... 3... 2...

[moe @ Sep 1st 2007 7:43PM]

my kid likes to play with things. most kids enjoy taking things apart. there is a fine line between what adults know better and how kids use there spare time. your child could have picked up this and screwed around with while you were not looking. would you like your kid to suffer just like the xbox 360 baby? toys at toy stores are discontinued everyday because of things just like this. but what protects our kids from everyday objects? certainly not the manufacturer or fanboy! if the iphone does this regardless of who is at fault then it should be recalled, the same goes for the the 360.

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 7:59PM]

Click the Green Box to the right to get Mr.Anto an iPhone or leave empty and move to the next field below.


le-gal notification: In no way is this voting practices in association with Diebold in any way!
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/17/diebold-says-e-voting-sales-have-failed/

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 8:00PM]

Click the Red Box to the right for Mr.Anto to buy HIMSELF an iPhone. Regardless if he wants one or not! And not a refurbish one either -- :D
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/20/apple-trots-out-refurb-iphones-100-off-list-price/

le-gal notification: In no way is this voting practices in association with Diebold in any way!
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/17/diebold-says-e-voting-sales-have-failed/

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 8:00PM]

Well I don't know about you guys but I don't have an iPhone. They are nice and all. I wouldn't mind having one if the price was around $100-$200. All it is, is just a super lockdown phone anyway, IMO. But I can tell you right now... If I didn't buy myself one, well...

We have to wait to see what the voting results will be like tomorrow... Stay tuned!

[Xzavier @ Sep 1st 2007 8:01PM]

aagghhh... I screw up my commenting fields.... oh well

[Eldiablo @ Sep 1st 2007 8:43PM]

Surely Apple don't use the common-or-garden blue magic smoke in their devices? I expect more from them, like purple and green magic smoke. At least that would be less disappointing if you managed to accidentally release it.

[Constable Odo @ Sep 1st 2007 9:44PM]

I'll bet that dude felt kinda sick when his toy went up in smoke. It might make him think twice if he gets another iPhone. I wonder if AppleCare will cover that mess. That's a fairly risky proposition to tamper with a $600 device and not take serious precautions. It probably was just a fluke. A really hard short circuit. I'll bet this will happen quite a bit when people start trying to DIY battery replacements. Then come the lawsuits. The instructions didn't say it was really dangerous to replace the battery. Now I'm blind and Apple is to blame.

[Bee Hatch @ Sep 1st 2007 9:49PM]

This wont play Doom anymore will it?