Botched Repair Likely Cause of Combusting iPhone After Flight 181
aesoteric writes "The combustion of an Apple iPhone 4 after a regional flight in Australia was likely caused by a botched repair of the handset by an unauthorized repairer, according to air safety investigators in the U.S. and Australia. A small metal screw had been misplaced in the battery bay of the handset. The screw punctured the battery casing and caused an internal short circuit, making the iPhone emit dense smoke (PDF)."
Re:Waiting for facts (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Waiting for facts (Score:5, Informative)
Not to worry. They're far too busy feeling up 3-year olds and grannies to do anything about deadly weapons of any sort.
Re:Waiting for facts (Score:3, Informative)
I know you hear "You're holding it wrong" from your boyfriend all the time, but the joke, and any sort of brand bashing is tired.
It's only tired if you belong to the order of the Jobsian monks. Patiently waiting, cash and credit, upon the drops of technological dew that drops from Apple. To the rest of us, including non-devotees who have an apple product, it's still pretty funny. =D
Re:Five sided screws (Score:2, Informative)
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH
Re:Five sided screws (Score:5, Informative)
There aren't any easy sources. iFixit had to specially comission a build - they CNC cut their own pentalobe screws. Their cheaper kits use a star screwdriver that improperly fits, but since it's a single use item, it's not a big deal (and it'll leave marks on the screw that a proper screwdriver won't). They reluctantly sell these things to the public.
Basically, if someone is willing to go through the trouble of sourcing a screwdriver and paying $30 for it (plus shipping), it's already a one up from someone who'll just take a knife to unscrew it (yes, I've seen that happen).
It's basically one of those "if you're doing this, you probalby know what you're doing" intelligence tests. A 5 lobe screwdriver is pretty hard to find to begin with, and those that'll go through the effort of procuring one, well, probably have the skills and know-how to do it.
If you're going to places like iFixit to get tools to repair stuff, that's already a huge step up in the skills game. Sure a skilled repairman could make the same mistake, but they're also far more attentive and if they're missing a screw or have parts left over, will probably investigate. There I Fixed It [failblog.org] has some stunning examples of what people can do. (Unfortunately, it also contains some smart fixes as well, but the older entries are more interesting).
Re:Waiting for facts (Score:3, Informative)
Meh, only the conspiracy minded think that they would want to.
Having an iphone go up in smoke because an insufficiently trained tech botched the repair is great publicity for having your repairs done by certified repairmen.
Re:Five sided screws (Score:4, Informative)
What trouble in sourcing a screwdriver? You can buy one here [amazon.com] for $5. And there are others that are easily found with 5 seconds of Amazon searching.
Battery and screen (Score:2, Informative)
No, it DOES make sense.
A user replaceable battery is in a separate compartment as the rest of the electronics (you only need to remove a back cover, which reveals a battery compartment. You don't need to disassemble the whole electronics to change the battery). The point is to avoid the end-user messing with other non replaceable parts when playing with the battery. But in that way, the battery is also isolated from the rest of the phone, thus a botched screen repair isn't very likely to let a loose screw get in contact with the battery. (You need to disassemble the whole electronics to replace the screen. But the battery is some other place any way).
Also, there's a higher chance that, if the battery replacement is made fool proof enough to be done by end-users, a little bit more protection against shorts is going to be included in the batteries. (Although that is not certain).