One of Apple's tips: "iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS should be used in environments where temperatures remain between 32 degrees and 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Temperatures outside of this range could decrease battery life temporarily or effect performance." Here's another: "Avoid using data intensive applications, like GPS or streaming-media apps, for extended periods of time on hot days or while in direct sunlight."

The most serious of the iPhone's problems concerns a new SMS vulnerability that could allow an attacker to remotely install and run unsigned software code with root access to the iPhone. Security expert Charlie Miller, who hacked a Mac via Safari in 10 seconds at this year's PWN2Own contest, said in a presentation that the weakness is in the way iPhones handle text messages.

The seriousness of this problem has spurred Apple's intent; Apple is reportedly working on a patch that should be available later this month. "I believe that the SMS vulnerability may be the most pressing, since stories of hijacked, zombie, misbehaving iPhones are more likely to leave a long-lasting negative impression than are the heat and battery life issues," says Forrester analyst Charles Golvin.

But is the vulnerability an Apple or AT&T problem? Does it affect other manufacturers? Apple's lack of formal releases and documentation frustrates analysts like Dulaney. For instance, Apple said the iPhone OS 3.0 SDK released earlier this year has hundreds of new features - "but you can't really find them," Dulaney says.

Dulaney also points to Apple's lackluster documentation practices with the iPhone 3GS hardware-based encryption. "You can't find out how the encryption is done," he says. "For those who know encryption, it's not a simple word. It's about how it's implemented."

Are you running into iPhone problems? Send me an email at tkaneshige@cio.com. Or follow me on Twitter @kaneshige. Follow everything from CIO.com on Twitter @CIOonline.