Droid dosn't like the cold?

[DJ_Skrull]

So when this winter storm came rolling across the east coast, i had my droid in the pocket of my coat as i was doing the last bit of xmas shopping. There were a couple of times when i would take it out to use, and it would either be unresponsive, or incredibly slow.

When it was slow, i tried to kill the apps that were running (thinking i had bogged it down with them), but as the phone warmed up in my hand when i walked into a store, it returned to normal even before i got the task manager on screen. And then i saw there were no running apps besides meebo and weatherbug widget. So it seems the cold temperature (18*) slows the phone down to a crawl.

The other time it was unresponsive with black screen (just the home buttons lit up)....not even sliding the keyboard open did anything. Pressing and holding the power button did nothing either, but the phone reset it self, and again, after warming up, it seemed to return to normal.

Anyone else have these experiences??

 

[zudien]

Most electronics have an operating temperature.

After it gets below a certain temperature a lot of them will stop working as a protective measure. I have seen both the too hot and too cold extremes on an old phone I used to have.

Nothing to be worried about as long as it works now.

 

[Backnblack]

Mine worked fine in 15 degree weather we had today..

 

[zudien]

Mine worked fine in 15 degree weather we had today..

Where were you keeping it?

The original poster kept his droid in his coat pocket. The radiant body heat would not of effected much there. If you were keeping it your pants pocket it would keep the temperature much higher since it's closer to your skin naturally. You would be able to pull it out and use it without the droid radiating it's heat and keep the core temperature warm enough to use.

You can probably find the operating temperatures in your owners manual.

 

[Serialkilla]

Mine does it every time I am in the cold weather - exactly what you described, but as I return to warmer temps, everything's fine. Never resulted in any damages from it, so I'd say there's nothing to really be too concerned with from this.

 

[zudien]

Here's an article from popular mechanics.

Can Cold Weather Damage Cell Phones? - Frozen Gadget Test - Popular Mechanics

There is probably a shut off built into the firmware OS that will turn it off before hand. Also wind you take into effect that it was windy that could also take more of the radiant heat away.

 

[Backnblack]

Belt clip is where I had mine.... would have been pain to get out of pants...Also wind chill has no bearing on non-living objects.

 

[zudien]

Belt clip is where I had mine.... would have been pain to get out of pants...Also wind chill has no bearing on non-living objects.

Actually it does. The non living things cannot "feel" the cold. However the wind will blow the heat away from things. Think overpasses freezing before the roads. Or hypothermia. It's the same theory.

It's not the wind chill. It's the wind itself sapping the heat energy away.


The wind chill will not neccesarily effect the device the same way the temperature does because wind chill is an arbitrary number we assign based on how things feel. But the more the wind blows against a device thats exposed the lower the radiant temperature.

EDIT: The owners manual also says to not expose the battery to temperatures below freezing. Granted you can but your battery preformance degrades signifcantly after that.

 

[MCoupe]

I think I responded to this same question in another post but I did a photo shoot for 3 days in zero(F) temps and my Droid kept right on chugging. Humidity was relatively low but my phone only went above freezing (32F) at night when I got home and no adverse effects. It's funny because it was so cold that the lube in my Nikon lenses froze and stopped working. Droid withstood the cold temps on Mt Hood.

 

[Xerozix]

I dropped my phone in the snow today (yes I know, stupid) but it still worked fine.

 

[DJ_Skrull]

ok cool thanks guys, just wanted to know it was a perfectly normal thing and that i didnt need to worry. I'll try to keep it on an inside pocket from now on, even tho that means i cant play with it as much.

 

[srothkin]

"Not working" in the cold might actually be the touch screen not responding below a certain temperature.

I remember working on a project in the early 2000s involving ruggedized handheld computers that technicians would have to use outside. "Standard spec" touch screens were able to operate down to about 32 degrees F -- which would be a big problem for techs working outside in winter in Maine. More expensive units were able to go below that, but back then I don't think there were any that could go all the way down to 0F (much less below).

I also recall a tech regularly leaving his unit in the truck overnight. At the start of the day it wouldn't work if it was too cold, but it would be fine as soon as it warmed up.

I suspect the same will hold true for the Droid (and other touch screen phones) -- the touch screen will stop displaying and/or responding properly below its rated operating temperature but will be fine once it warms back up.

 

[daddyd302]

Hmmm I'm wondering if mine is from the cold or it's just screwy. It seems when I'm trying to dail in phone mode, the number 3and 6 sometimes won't operate. All the other numbers type when I type it. It takes a few seconds before I can type 3 and 6. The phone is usually in my coat's pocket. I make my calls in the car, not outside. This was with temps in the low 30's. Weird thing is, when the temps were in the low teens, the phone worked fine. I just find it odd the phone works at a lower temp but sometimes won't at 32F or above.

 

[uptheforest]

i just repsponded to this issue in another thread... this sucks man. while i understand it may happen to protect the phone, i work in a warehouse and it gets pretty cold. i use my phone for important features within my job. Ive never had this problem with any other phone that isnt touch screen.

pretty dissapointed.

 

[hookbill]

This whole thread coming up kind of cracks me up. I saw the same thing about the Blackberry Storm over in the Crackberry Forum. It didn't like the cold in the Winter, and it didn't like the heat and humidity in the Summer. What do you want to bet that someone will post a "Droid doesn't like the heat" thread later this year?