BlackBerry Bolds sales halted due to overheating

RIM has suspended sales of its BlackBerry Bold in Japan after receiving complaints of the keyboard overheating.

Apparently the problem occurs when the phone is being charged, and although it gets hot, none of the 30 complaints said the phone exploded or caught on fire, which is always nice to hear.

RIM and carrier NTT DoCoMo says they have "voluntarily" suspended sales of the Bold after the reports but will begin selling the device again soon.

Localised heat

TechRadar contacted RIM over the problem, and was told it was localised to Japan and no such problems have been reported in the UK:

"While the temperatures appear to have remained within the safety range of regulatory standards, RIM and NTT DoCoMo are voluntarily suspending sales of this specific model in Japan pending further examination.

"NTT DoCoMo began selling the product in Japan last week and the companies hope to renew sales in Japan soon. This issue appears to be specifically limited to the BlackBerry Bold devices sold in Japan since last week and sales of BlackBerry Bold devices in other countries are unaffected by this matter.

"Although RIM's analysis of the devices in question has allowed it to rule out a battery problem, the root cause remains under investigation. Quality is a priority for both NTT DoCoMo and RIM and we sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience."

We have a phone from a certain large manufacturer that went boiling hot in the pocket last week, causing the battery to run down in half an hour. We did the lazy thing and shrugged and recharged it. It's OK now.

Via Reuters