Long Island Man Spends 10 Days in Hospital After iPhone Explodes in His Pocket

from patch.com "Best of 2015"
A Lindenhurst man recently spent more than a week in the hospital after his iPhone spontaneously exploded in his pocket.

Erik Johnson had reportedly just arrived at his cousin’s wake on Valentine’s Day when his iPhone 5c exploded as he bent down to pick up a set of keys he had dropped.

“I felt the burn instantly and a cloud of smoke instantly,” the 29-year-old told News 12 Long Island. “I couldn’t get the phone out of my pocket, so I had to rip my pants off to get the phone away from me.”

Johnson suffered a third-degree burn the size of a football to to his upper left thigh and spent 10 days in a hospital burn unit. He returned home on Tuesday.

The story was first reported by ABC 7. Johnson told the TV station that he heard a pop and then saw smoke coming from his pocket when he reached down to pick up the keys.

Johnson says his leg caught fire and the intensity of the heat melted his pocket shut.

“A couple of people actually said they could smell my body burning,” Johnson told ABC 7.

Apple says it is investigating the incident. Johnson is planning legal action against the electronics giant.

“Even if this only happened this one time, that’s one time too many,” Johnson’s lawyer, Mike Della, said according to the Daily News. “What if this happened to a child?”

There have been other recent reports of exploding iPhones. In October, an Arizona man claimed his iPhone 6 burst into flames in his pocket following a minor rickshaw accident. Last February, a middle school student in Maine suffered minor injuries after her iPhone 5c exploded in her pocket.

Flaming iPhone 5c Battery Sets 13-Year-Old’s Pants On Fire

from cultofmac.com

Batteries are potentially volatile things, stuffed with electrochemical cells practically humming with electrolytes. Every once and a while, then, they’re sure to break down, and companies like Apple do literally everything in their power to make sure it doesn't happen.

Here’s why. An iPhone 5c that exploded in the pocket of a 13-year-old girl resulted in a fire so severe that she was rushed to the hospital with second-degree burns.

The iPhone was in the girl’s back pocket at the time, so it appears that the failure of the two-month iPhone might have been due to stress. She may have cracked it sitting down.

As a bigger guy who stuffs his iPhone in his own back pocket, I should probably pay attention to this girl’s misfortune before I set my ass on fire.

Apple iPhone 4S / iOS 5.0.1 battery-life fix FAIL!

from ComputerWorld.com

"He's dead Jim..."

The iPhone 4S battery-life problem doesn't seem to be fixed in the iOS 5.0.1 patch; some users are even complaining that it's worse than before. Has Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) made a mess of the first OTA update? Many users are still reporting rotten-to-the-core power performance. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers troll frustrated fanbois.
  
Your humble blogwatcher curated these bloggy bits for your entertainment. Not to mention: They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: We will remember them... 


Gregg Keizer reports:

iOS 5.0.1 was the first update that Apple delivered "over-the-air"...without requiring users to [plug in] their devices. ... Apple did not spell out the specific battery-related patches.
...
Almost immediately after the launch of the iPhone 4S, owners began reporting that the phone was exhausting its battery at a prodigious rate.
...
[It's] too early for results reports to appear on Apple's support forum..    

  
Oh no it isn't, says Adrian Kingsley-Hughes:

[M]ost...are claiming that the update is a dud, and some [say] it makes the problem worse. ... Apple’s support forum is...abuzz with complaints.
...
It’s hard to find users who are happy with the new update. ... [I]t’s hard to pin down...whether this is a configuration issue, a app issue, or an issue specific to certain handsets.    

Mark Chubb adds:

iOS users who have updated to iOS 5.0.1 and have had their hopes of a better battery life dashed. ... Most complaints [say] battery life is still draining pretty much as it was before.    

And Paul Hontz finds more problems:

My iPhone...no longer remember[s] the names of any of my contacts! ... [They're] still there but if I got a text or a call my iPhone would have a sudden bout of amnesia.
...
It’s even more bizarre when you’re trying to create a new text. ... In the message pane...[it] forget[s] my contact’s name and just shows the number.
...
I mentioned this on Twitter and many of my followers had similar experiences.    

Nick Farrell is on good, sarcastic form this morning:

Apple did everything it could...including rushing out a patch and firing the incompetent people [responsible].
...
Actually, it denied there ever was a problem until there was enough press coverage.
...
The update also fixes some other problems...such as a flaw in the OS that may allow hackers to build apps that secretly install programs. ... Apple was told about this flaw recently and responded by kicking the developer who found it out of the walled garden of delights.    

Meanwhile, William Bastone tells us how not to react:

Michael Alan Skopec, 48, dialed [911] five times to beef about his malfunctioning Apple [iPhone].
...
Cops traced the calls to Skopec’s home, where he was arrested around 1 AM...according to a sheriff’s spokesperson. Skopec...was charged with obstructing or resisting a peace officer.
...
It is unclear what Skopec thought cops could do about his malfunctioning smartphone. ... Released on his own recognizance, Skopec is next due in court on November 18.    

Nicolò Martini complains on the Apple support forum:

I've updated to 5.0.1 and my battery still drains dramatically. ... [In] Settings->General->Usage, the Usage time is always more than 60% of Standby-time, even if I don't touch the phone, and with all settings turned off ... and no background application running.    

As does Beachgall:

I tried to update my iPhone 4s...and it got hung up in iTunes and said I need to restore the phone to factory settings. ... Then the phone came up as DEACTIVATED! ... Verizon doesn't open until the morning and I'm stuck without cellphone service.    

And Morbo42, too:

Before the 5.0.1 update I...didn't have any battery problems on my iPhone 4S. But...I now seem to have one. ... The phone was charging over night...now after 20min of ... reading some news...and 1h 26min of standby, it is already down to 92%. ... Up until yesterday it was at 97-98% at this time of day.