Nokia Investigating Reported Cell Phone Explosions

Iphtashu Fitz writes "C|Net's news.com is reporting that a man in the Netherlands suffered burns to his leg when the Nokia phone in his pants pocket exploded. This is the second reported incident of Nokia phones exploding, the first one being back in August when a Dutch woman's phone exploded in her hand. Nokia blamed the first incident on a third party battery that the woman was using and warned customers to only use Nokia parts and accessories with their phones. However this most recent explosion involved a new Nokia phone with a Nokia battery installed."

Hey...

[The Human Cow]

Is that an exploding cell phone in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

Verizon

[damiena]

Can you hear me now?

*BOOM*

N-Gage

[BigDork1001]

One things for sure, the N-Gage sure isn't exploding off the shelves.

Big Deal!!

[whiteranger99x]

So you can say the message will self-destruct in 5 seconds.....

They've been doing that in Mission Impossible for YEARS! :P

If this were America...

[wrinkledshirt]

...you know those two poor souls would be getting sued by the company right about now.

IMPORTANT

[I don't want to spen]

Don't set your ring tone to the 1812 overture ....

Re:This is scary

[Richard_L_James]

> It can get Really Hot when I talk for a long time(>20 minutes).

Does this have anything to do with the type of calls you are making ??

Re:Verizon

[Anonymous Coward]

*BOOM*...

Can you hear me now? Cause I sure as hell can't hear you now...

Okay...

[Pig Hogger]

What's the DTMF sequence to make the phone explode, so I can blow the next telemarketer's phone?????

That hurts,

[TLouden]

now Nokia can't use explosions as an excuse to sell more of their parts. And they thought putting 'prizes' in some of the phones would help them sell more.

hmmm

[the_other_one]

Perhaps they should ban these things on airliners.
At least untill they have safe alchohol filled fuel cells.
Instead of these new fangled battery things.

Re:This sounds like ...

[eggmit]

I think it blew off more than his ear. If all they wanted was a removed ear, they could enlist the aid of Mike Tyson.

Singin' Soprano

[MeauxToo]

Sure hope he ain't singin' soprano with a cell phone exploding so close to the family blueprints.

Re:This is scary

[Lost Penguin]

"Any links on what signs to look for before your cell phone battery explodes?"

If the caller ID says "Mossad", do not answer.

Terrorism!

[Aardpig]

Obviously the work of the Teleban...

Sorry!

[PHAEDRU5]

The IDF deliveries to Fatah (et al.) got delivered elsewhere by mistake!

Whoops! Next: Suicide murderers in Helsinki.

(Where's Mannerheim when you need him?)

So THAT'S where they went!

[The One and Only]

I wondered where the designers of the PowerBook 5300 went...

Re:This is scary

[lgftsa]

Yes, long distance calls use more power, as they have transmit the signal further.

Talking loudly can mitigate this, as the AGC(automatic gain control) detects the higher volume, and so doesn't need to amplify the radio signal quite as much. Not a big saving, but every bit counts.

You can also (if you have a phone with an external antenna) lean the tip of the antenna against a metal object(street sign, light post, scaffolding, etc) and the signal will be inducted into the object and act like a really big antenna. You can see this on those car antennas which are mounted on rear windows without drilling a hole - they use electromagnetic induction as well.

Finally, if the signal is really boarderline, you can try changing the polarization of the signal from vertical to horizontal by holding the phone parallel to the ground. This is a trick used by people on the edge of TV coverage areas, and especially on campervans and RVs. Some antennas are even motorized so you don't have to get out and fool about with a spanner and the U-bolt.

If nothing else works, try circular polarization. This is tricky, as you have to spin around with the phone's antenna as the center of rotation.