Agreed. In addition my Pine phone needed a heatsink to handle 95+ degree weather. That's in the open air... when sitting in the pocket it radiated a scary amount of heat.
They are a neat gadget. But I don't think they're more or less of a neat gadget than any other Quectel 25(?) based iot device. The phone form factor, for me, was rendered useless.
If you don't use WiFi, try turning the dip switch off. In my case it makes the phone 7-10 deg C cooler (~39 -> ~31). It'll also make your screen brighter; I can lower brightness from 25% to 0% for indoor lighting.
(This is regardless of whether you're connected to a WiFi network or not. ie just disconnecting from a network isn't enough; you have to turn the dip switch off.)
They are a neat gadget. But I don't think they're more or less of a neat gadget than any other Quectel 25(?) based iot device. The phone form factor, for me, was rendered useless.