Friday, August 22, 2003
Talk About Your Hot Phone Calls!
Posted by Brad Adrian in "OFF-TOPIC" @ 01:00 AM
Complain all you want about your mobile phone and it's unwieldy form factor, short battery life and dropped connections. At least you've probably never experienced what happened to this poor lady in Amsterdam: her mobile phone burst into flames!
"A 33-year-old Dutch woman sustained slight face and neck burns after her mobile phone burst into flames, the Amsterdam police said Thursday. The incident, which occurred Tuesday, happened after the woman dropped her phone in a music store in central Amsterdam. It caught fire when she picked it up and switched it back on, a police spokesman said. She was treated for superficial burns by an ambulance team that rushed to the scene."
The news report goes on to say that the woman had been using an aftermarket replacement battery in the phone and that a Nokia spokesperson claims that this is more common than you'd expect.
I guess I'd expect Nokia to say that aftermarket batteries are "bad," but sometimes we're not left with much of a choice, are we? For example, my Motorola phone is about a year old, and already the battery is shot; however, neither Motorola nor Verizon still even sell a replacement battery for it.
So, I guess this story has taught me several lessons:
• ALWAYS have your phone checked after it gets banged around or dropped.
• Don't assume aftermarket batteries are safe.
• Here's another way that hands-free sets make phones safer.
• Always carry your medical insurance card when visiting music stores in Amsterdam.
"A 33-year-old Dutch woman sustained slight face and neck burns after her mobile phone burst into flames, the Amsterdam police said Thursday. The incident, which occurred Tuesday, happened after the woman dropped her phone in a music store in central Amsterdam. It caught fire when she picked it up and switched it back on, a police spokesman said. She was treated for superficial burns by an ambulance team that rushed to the scene."
The news report goes on to say that the woman had been using an aftermarket replacement battery in the phone and that a Nokia spokesperson claims that this is more common than you'd expect.
I guess I'd expect Nokia to say that aftermarket batteries are "bad," but sometimes we're not left with much of a choice, are we? For example, my Motorola phone is about a year old, and already the battery is shot; however, neither Motorola nor Verizon still even sell a replacement battery for it.
So, I guess this story has taught me several lessons:
• ALWAYS have your phone checked after it gets banged around or dropped.
• Don't assume aftermarket batteries are safe.
• Here's another way that hands-free sets make phones safer.
• Always carry your medical insurance card when visiting music stores in Amsterdam.
