Help DINC overheats when running Navigation

[Dead_Droid]

I have Googled forum posts which dealt with this issue, they are surprisingly few. What I've seen posted on the Verizon Community forum is general advice based on the generally-accepted theories of why problems happen (or favorite company shill dodges) in response to this problem being reported, but my tests have proven all of it wrong in this case (at least). To put it simply, I have isolated all factors which have been mentioned, and even if one of them was contributory to the overheating problem (the widgets and apps which I run are all of a respected source, and the widgets factor out when you disable them and the heat persists), overheating should never be caused by using a stock app as intended!

I tested my stock car charger against the genuine Verizon article (as if one well-built 12-volt USB standard charges any differently). I also tried three other charging devices, with and without Navigation running.

I tested my mounting locations, from the dashboard on a hot day to the cold floor of my car on a cold day, and then if you have ever left a GPS device such as Garmin out in all temperatures (some still go after more than a decade like this) you know this shouldn't be a factor.

I have isolated the maximum screen brightness factor, as this is necessary with the AMOLED screen in sunlight. In the cool of my living room, I set the screen so that it would never time out. There was no heat whatsoever after 20 minutes.

Then there is bluetooth and wifi, such factors running at once were blamed for overheating during a Navigation session. With all of these factors disabled (including my Tasker widgets), and the screen brightness set on low, I set Navigation to tracking, without actually moving the phone around. All considered factors were shut down, with Navigation polling but not logging movement, and my phone heated up just as quickly as ever.

I am very frustrated by this situation, because the Navigation app has a much nicer interface than my Garmin products, which need updating (and I expect this to be ridiculously expensive). I hope somebody has some insight into this problem beyond the general theories. Anybody? I'm only closer to being sure that Verizon marketed a defective product, and should be held liable for failing to stand behind a device which cannot safely do what it was marketed for.

 

[ckelly33]

I just ran nav on my DINC2 on 4 different stretches about 20 mins.each. no heating at all. I checked.specifically because of how hot my thunderbolt got.

 

[zerocool79346]

I have Googled forum posts which dealt with this issue, they are surprisingly few. What I've seen posted on the Verizon Community forum is general advice based on the generally-accepted theories of why problems happen (or favorite company shill dodges) in response to this problem being reported, but my tests have proven all of it wrong in this case (at least). To put it simply, I have isolated all factors which have been mentioned, and even if one of them was contributory to the overheating problem (the widgets and apps which I run are all of a respected source, and the widgets factor out when you disable them and the heat persists), overheating should never be caused by using a stock app as intended!

I tested my stock car charger against the genuine Verizon article (as if one well-built 12-volt USB standard charges any differently). I also tried three other charging devices, with and without Navigation running.

I tested my mounting locations, from the dashboard on a hot day to the cold floor of my car on a cold day, and then if you have ever left a GPS device such as Garmin out in all temperatures (some still go after more than a decade like this) you know this shouldn't be a factor.

I have isolated the maximum screen brightness factor, as this is necessary with the AMOLED screen in sunlight. In the cool of my living room, I set the screen so that it would never time out. There was no heat whatsoever after 20 minutes.

Then there is bluetooth and wifi, such factors running at once were blamed for overheating during a Navigation session. With all of these factors disabled (including my Tasker widgets), and the screen brightness set on low, I set Navigation to tracking, without actually moving the phone around. All considered factors were shut down, with Navigation polling but not logging movement, and my phone heated up just as quickly as ever.

I am very frustrated by this situation, because the Navigation app has a much nicer interface than my Garmin products, which need updating (and I expect this to be ridiculously expensive). I hope somebody has some insight into this problem beyond the general theories. Anybody? I'm only closer to being sure that Verizon marketed a defective product, and should be held liable for failing to stand behind a device which cannot safely do what it was marketed for.

It was marketed to sit in a hot, sunlit dash while using GPS, streaming turn by turn directions, maxing out its 1ghz processor AND taking a charge? I think not. My Eris, with its tiny 528mhz processor would overheat if plugged in while navigating and not placed in front of an A/C vent. These were never meant to replace a Garmin or other dedicated GPS, they are just decent replacements if one forgets their dedicated GPS or only needs it for short occasions.

You absolutely cannot compare the performance of a dedicated GPS vs that of a smartphone. First off, our processors are seriously more advanced, in a seriously smaller casing with terrible heat diffusion, and are, generally, much more powerful. You can't have your cake and eat it too, when you have a 1ghz processor in a tiny environment with no reliable way to remove heat, and its doing 14 different things (just because you don't notice them doesn't mean the OS isn't doing them) in the background, its bound to get a little hot. This is why people have to air cool their PCs and Laptops.

There's two solutions to this problem: A. Mount the phone in front of an A/C vent and your problem will likely go away or B. Buy a dedicated GPS and I promise your problem will go away.

I could see your point if the phone overheated during normal usages (ie. Texting, Calling, Browsing...etc which are all things that one should expect to go without a hitch) but Navigation is a, mostly, gimick feature that is far more taxing than the others and just so happens to work pretty well for something that was never designed to do it at great length in the first place.

 

[CPR]

I have to disagree. The Google navigation app works much better than my Garmin, as does the Navigon app on iOS. I use my phone as a primary GPS. I haven't noticed overheating yet, but need to run the Dinc2 through its paces.

 

[zerocool79346]

I have to disagree. The Google navigation app works much better than my Garmin, as does the Navigon app on iOS. I use my phone as a primary GPS. I haven't noticed overheating yet, but need to run the Dinc2 through its paces.

There are far too many limitations to the GMaps app for it to be considered as a fully blown navigation replacement for most people. The main one being that it doesn't have offline support.

Some people will probably not experience the overheating, while some will. This has nothing to do with the phone being defective, but far more to do with minute differences between two different chips that occur because of variance in manufacturing process (not correctable variances). Some will be lucky and will never notice the problem, and some, like the OP will likely have to deal with it in one of the two ways I already listed.

 

[Stealthman]

I have to disagree. The Google navigation app works much better than my Garmin, as does the Navigon app on iOS. I use my phone as a primary GPS. I haven't noticed overheating yet, but need to run the Dinc2 through its paces.

Agreed, my X has completely replaced my Garmin. My Garmin is now my backup gps. One thing I love that kills the Garmin is that google maps on the droid is gives live traffic and constantly updated maps.