Hot Phone

[charliez916]

Why is my phone getting so hot....especially when roaming in 3g in another carrier's area?

 

[FoxKat]

Cell phones heat up for a variety of reasons. Some are related to applications which cause the processor(s) to run at full speed for long periods of time, some are related to lots of data transfers happening and over either 3G, 4G, or WIFI, and some are related to the cellular radio (for phone calls), not letting go of the tower. Then there's the situations which are related to the battery and either charging or discharging batteries that heat up and as a result the entire phone heats up.

In your case, it appears to be the cellular radio and perhaps either poor signal level or a problem with handshaking between the tower and the phone, in any case causing the phone to raise the output power in order to maintain an active and viable cellular connection to the tower. When the phone is trying to strengthen its output power so the tower can "hear" it and keep the connection strong, it results in more power consumption of the battery, which causes the battery to heat up, but more importantly it also heats up the power amplification circuits which create the radio frequency transmission that is the cellular wireless communication.

Like any radio transmitter, all cell phones have are called "finals", a single or multiple stage RF transistor amplification circuit that takes the modulated radio signal and multiplies it to increase its wattage of output (strength), so that the signal will travel farther over the airwaves. That signal is then sent out through the transmitter antenna and results in a radio frequency transmission. If the tower the phone is authenticated to at that moment either has a difficulty capturing that signal due to being too far from the tower to the phone, or as a result of some other form of interference, the tower will command the phone to increase output. This heightened output if maintained over a long period of time can cause the phone in the area immediately adjacent to where the final transistors are will heat up significantly and can become very painfully hot to the touch.

In some cases the tower will not process the "hand-off" to another closer tower but instead keep the weaker signal of a distant phone tied to itself, and as a result the phone will push every bit of power it is capable of pushing out of that antenna in order to keep the connection alive. In other words, in many cases, it's not the phone that is at the root of the problem, but is instead a faulty cellular tower that isn't recognizing that it's time to hand the phone (and any active call) off onto another tower which is better suited to handle the phone and call - either due to being closer or simply having a better line of sight signal from its vantage point.

These problems usually resolve themselves in a short time and most often it's a one-up experience, never to be suffered with again. Let's hope this is the case with yours as well.

 

[charliez916]

FoxKat, great information, thanks for taking time to answer. I believe you are correct. This is happening when I leave my verizon area and go to the mountains entering another carriers area (golden celluar). Coverage is not that great.

 

[aarong03]

Cell phones heat up for a variety of reasons. Some are related to applications which cause the processor(s) to run at full speed for long periods of time, some are related to lots of data transfers happening and over either 3G, 4G, or WIFI, and some are related to the cellular radio (for phone calls), not letting go of the tower. Then there's the situations which are related to the battery and either charging or discharging batteries that heat up and as a result the entire phone heats up.

In your case, it appears to be the cellular radio and perhaps either poor signal level or a problem with handshaking between the tower and the phone, in any case causing the phone to raise the output power in order to maintain an active and viable cellular connection to the tower. When the phone is trying to strengthen its output power so the tower can "hear" it and keep the connection strong, it results in more power consumption of the battery, which causes the battery to heat up, but more importantly it also heats up the power amplification circuits which create the radio frequency transmission that is the cellular wireless communication.

Like any radio transmitter, all cell phones have are called "finals", a single or multiple stage RF transistor amplification circuit that takes the modulated radio signal and multiplies it to increase its wattage of output (strength), so that the signal will travel farther over the airwaves. That signal is then sent out through the transmitter antenna and results in a radio frequency transmission. If the tower the phone is authenticated to at that moment either has a difficulty capturing that signal due to being too far from the tower to the phone, or as a result of some other form of interference, the tower will command the phone to increase output. This heightened output if maintained over a long period of time can cause the phone in the area immediately adjacent to where the final transistors are will heat up significantly and can become very painfully hot to the touch.

In some cases the tower will not process the "hand-off" to another closer tower but instead keep the weaker signal of a distant phone tied to itself, and as a result the phone will push every bit of power it is capable of pushing out of that antenna in order to keep the connection alive. In other words, in many cases, it's not the phone that is at the root of the problem, but is instead a faulty cellular tower that isn't recognizing that it's time to hand the phone (and any active call) off onto another tower which is better suited to handle the phone and call - either due to being closer or simply having a better line of sight signal from its vantage point.

These problems usually resolve themselves in a short time and most often it's a one-up experience, never to be suffered with again. Let's hope this is the case with yours as well.

Foxkat, here is my question. Why is it when I have my razr maxx HD in car dock charging the battery temp will go over 115°F? It can go higher when I'm using Google maps. I wanted know why and is this damaging the battery?

 

[lloydstrans]

Well I'm not foxkat but here goes. °115 is not bad but it's not good either. The phone will shut itself off if it gets too hot, like wise the battery will also prevent itself from thermal runaway. I cringe when mine reaches that point. I place it in front of the A/C vent to cool it down. Besides it emits a funny odor from the ear piece at that point.

If it's not HD it might as well be a newspaper.

 

[94lt1]

IMHO.. the phone is designed to act as a turn by turn navigation device(think heat soak from the sun in the windshield)... and it has failsafes built in....if it gets too hot, it will shut down and cool off...it will even say that its doing that....

So I wouldn't be too concerned about it...

 

[aarong03]

IMHO.. the phone is designed to act as a turn by turn navigation device(think heat soak from the sun in the windshield)... and it has failsafes built in....if it gets too hot, it will shut down and cool off...it will even say that its doing that....

So I wouldn't be too concerned about it...

Thanks for your input!

 

[94lt1]

No problem, but the ac vent idea is one that I employ as well...phone gets warm from cycles from the processor, I stick it infront of the ac vent...