iPhone Spontaneously Combusts In Moscow

While the entire blogosphere argues over how "hot" the iPad exactly is, the folks at Planet iPhone bring us news about a spontaneous combustion of an iPhone 4 in Moscow, at an Apple service center.

A customer brought the iPhone to the service center after he noticed that his device won't turn on. The service rep tried to hard reset the phone, while the device was connected to an original charger. After several failed attempts, the iPhone began to emit smoke and the back panel became red hot.

After letting the iPhone cool down a bit, the service rep dismantled the device and saw damaged components like the battery, front camera and the screen. But despite going through such high temperatures, the iPhone's motherboard survived the ordeal and worked perfectly fine when it was used in another iPhone.

After replacing defective parts, the service rep handed over a working iPhone back to the customer.

This is the fourth incident we've seen of an iPhone 4 fire related mishap. However, considering how many units of an iPhone 4 have been sold, we think this is an isolated incident and not a widespread issue to be concerned about.

[Planet iPhone via CNET]

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Apple Settles iPhone 4 Antennagate Lawsuit; Will Give Free Bumper or $15 to U.S. iPhone 4 Users

When Apple launched iPhone 4, users reported reception issues when they held the iPhone in a particular way.

The issue which was dubbed Antennagate received so much negative publicity that Apple had to call a special press conference to talk about it and forced them to give away iPhone 4 bumpers or third-party iPhone cases to all iPhone 4 customers.

Apple didn't do a good job of handling the Angtennagate controversy, they first said it didn't exist and that users should avoid gripping it in lower corner or use a case, then said that it was due to a software issue, which was quite bizarre, then they admitted it existed but was a industry wide issue and ended up giving a free iPhone 4 bumper case to all users and then stopped the program after a few months saying it didn't exist anymore.

This led a to number of class action lawsuit from iPhone 4 users. CNET reports that Apple has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit, which claimed:

"Apple was misrepresenting and concealing material information in the marketing, advertising, sale, and servicing of its iPhone 4--particularly as it relates to the quality of the mobile phone antenna and reception and related software."

CNET reports that the settlement comes from 18 separate lawsuits that were consolidated into one.

As part of the preliminary approval, Apple has agreed to give all original iPhone 4 users in the U.S. an iPhone 4 Bumper, which are available for $29 or $15 in cash.

If you're in the U.S. and had bought an iPhone 4 then you should be able to get information about the settlement and  how to claim it from www.iPhone4Settlement.com (which doesn't seem to be live currently).

Apple is also supposed to be sending emails to original buyers informing them about the settlement before April 30, 2012 and users will have 120 days to claim their iPhone 4 bumper or $15 in cash.

Though one can debate if the amount that Apple is paying is enough or not, the settlement seems to be fair as all iPhone 4 owners now have the right to claim it.

It remains to be seen how Apple plans to compensate international iPhone 4 users.

[via CNET]

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iPhone Bug Allows FaceTime Calls Even With Passcode Lock

A bug in iOS 5.0.1 can let a rogue person, in possession of your passcode protected iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S with voice dialing deactivated, make FaceTime calls and view certain fields of your contacts from the lock screen.

The hack, which was discovered by Canadian tech writer Ade Barkah, exploits the Emergency Dialer accessible via the lockscreen to accomplish this task.

You could reproduce this bug on your passcode protected iPhone with voice dialing disabled following these steps:

• "Slide to unlock" on the lockscreen, and instead of entering the passcode, hit the "Emergency Call" button to get the emergency dialer.
• Now long press the home button to bring up Voice Control and try to FaceTime with any of your contacts.
• The call goes through, and you'll be able to FaceTime with a person from your locked phone.

Even if a person in your contact list doesn't have FaceTime set up, you can see the contact's image on the screen.

Although the same process could be replicated for voice calling a person, the voice call doesn't actually go through, but it could be used to reveal other information as explained below.

The loophole could be used to see certain details of a contact by a hit and trial method. For instance, you have two entries for a contact named "Bob," and you tell Voice Control to "Call Bob," it would present the full names of both Bobs. Similarly if a contact has two phone numbers, with one of the phone numbers filed under a custom field, Voice Control would present both these fields (not the number), which could potentially leak private information.

This isn't a very serious flaw, though. For starters the phone would need to be connected to a Wi-Fi network. If it is, the person in possession of your phone would need to have some knowledge of your address book. And since the problem is only with Voice Control and not Siri, majority of iPhone 4S users won't be affected. (Only when Siri is disabled, does Voice Control show up.)

It is a bug nonetheless, and Apple would most likely fix this in the upcoming iOS 5.1 update.

Ade has, in the past, discovered similar bugs which make information that should ideally be private, accessible via the lock screen.

Does this sound like a security threat to you?

[Peekay via CNET]

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