iPhone 3gs battery damage pretty bad

I had this iPhone 3GS for a while, and I was mostly using it as an ipod at home. Couple days back I updated iOS on this phone ( I dont remember which version I upgraded it to), but all of a sudden the battery started bulging. Intially, I thought the something wrong with the case that I was using, and I took the case out. With in just an hour, I see that the screen popped out as the battery started swelling. I understood that the battery started exploding and to be safe side, I put that phone in balcony. After couple hours I see that the battery completely ruined the back casing, cracked plastic piece its attached to, popped the screen out.

I took this phone to apple store and they say that, I have to pay $149 to get a new locked ATT iphone 3GS and it need a new sim (apparently big sim which I dont have) to activate to use it as a ipod. So basically, I need to activcate this new device as a phone initially to get to home screen, and I need to pay $50 for the two sims that I need to get this phone working. The total cost to get this phone replaced and working is $149+$50=$199. This is stupid, I would rather spend $149 to get a new iOS updated refurbished iPod from apple website.

I am very glad that my daughter or my dad wasnt using this phone while it started exploding. I just thought I should share my story and pics here. See the pics. Apple should really take care of this battery issue, otherwise it can hurt people. I am just glad that my dad doesnt have this phone in his pocket when the battery started exploding. This is very dangerous.