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Old 9th October 2009, 02:10   #1
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20 Mobile phone tips

1. Mobile phones are susceptible to liquid logging and there are chances that water / oil / milk / tea / cold drink / curry / shaving foam may get in and damage it. Please ensure you keep your phone away from all such things. The phone cannot be repaired if it's undergone moisture damage. The manufacturer does not give any warranty for such cases.
2. The Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) may get damaged in case pressure is applied on the surface. While keeping the phone in the pocket or while seated, always check that it is not in contact with any sharp/hard object. It's advisable to use pouches or mobile phone covers to avoid LCD damage.
3. Modern mobile phones are designed to squeeze in loads of features in a compact size. The Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are multi-layered and are mounted with surface-mounted devices. The contact of such Integrated Circuits and components on PCB are in microns (µm) (10^ - 6 meters) and a small impact / shock / jerk may displace the components or break the tracks. The manufacturer does not give any warranty for such cases. Mobile phone pouches or covers are of great help in avoiding such damages.
4. The plastic cosmetic parts lose their glare/color due to heavy exposure to sun light. To avoid direct sun exposure, one must use mobile pouches or covers.
5. Every mobile handset has an IMEI number (International Mobile Equipment Identity), which is a unique number and one can access this number by pressing *#06#. The mobile warranty is attached to the IMEI number, and it's also useful in the event of theft.
6. The Emergency Number worldwide for Mobile is 112. If you are out of coverage area, dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network. This number 112 can be dialed even while the keypad is locked.
7. If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone on your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the phone on their end. Your car will unlock.
8. Mobile phones should not be frequently charged, it may reduce the battery life. Always track the battery charge indicator, and carry mobile charger in purse/bag/car to avoid the contingency of battery discharge.
9. Electronic items have deteriorative effect if contaminated with dust. The use of the pouches or mobile phone covers shall be useful to keep your mobile phone free from dust.
10. Nokia handset comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370#. The cell will restart with this reserve and will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge the cell next time.
11. There are many authorized sources that provide entertainment software etc.
12. It's always advisable to install antivirus software on your mobile phone.
13. Make the best use of the user manual.
14. When your phone is out of network coverage, switch off the handset or else the battery may get drained.
15. Finger nails or sharp objects may damage the keypad. Use fingers while pressing the keys.
16. Bluetooth should be turned on only when it is required. Keeping Bluetooth on unnecessarily makes your phone open to malicious viruses.
17. To enhance the life of your charger, it should be unwound and disentangled.
18. While removing the battery, it's advisable to first switch the handset off.
19. When your mobile phone is not used for a long duration, remove the battery and keep it separately.
20. Always use accessories recommended by the manufacturer.

Source: The Mobile Store

Mods: Please remove if needless
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Old 9th October 2009, 10:12   #2
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Point 7 only works if you are very lucky. I for one have never seen it work.
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Old 9th October 2009, 10:21   #3
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Pt. 1 is very important as I have lost 1-2 handsets because of that (incl. a N95).
Pt 4 is essential as using a cover retains the newness of the phone for a longer period of time (my phones are scratchless even after 1-2 years). Different matter though that I have lost because of pt. 1. One can always get the cover replaced from an authorised centre.
Pt. 7 and 10 are very useful and I shall try these ASAP. Of course, my present car does not need 7. The last time I left the keys in my car was in Dec 1999, and had to brake the quarter panel glass of my Zen. Cost me 1700 at that time to get a new glass.
Pt. 8 is useful, but since batteries are usually low cost, people may prefer convenience over duration.
Pt2: Even if you get the cover replaced, the LCD screen is inbuilt and cannot be replaced. Example, I got the cover of my old N95 replaced for 2500 from Nokia. They cleaned the LCD screen.
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Old 9th October 2009, 12:17   #4
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#7 is an Urban Legend!
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Old 9th October 2009, 12:21   #5
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Pt # 10 doesnt work!!
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Old 9th October 2009, 12:48   #6
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# 10 - Only works for old models of NOKIA mobiles , not all of them
# 7 - Not Sure , as I as a rule lock / unlock my car by key ALWAYS
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Old 9th October 2009, 13:40   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by djjebs View Post
3. Modern mobile phones are designed to squeeze in loads of features in a compact size. The Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) are multi-layered and are mounted with surface-mounted devices. The contact of such Integrated Circuits and components on PCB are in microns (µm) (10^ - 6 meters) and a small impact / shock / jerk may displace the components or break the tracks. The manufacturer does not give any warranty for such cases. Mobile phone pouches or covers are of great help in avoiding such damages.
I can tell you from my experience as a PCB designer that PCB tracks don't get broken and components don't get displaced by minor impacts (like phone falling from 4-5 feet). Also, handset manufacturers do a lot of rigorous testing of these phones which includes dropping the phone on the ground or even throwing it at the wall. (Seriously, not joking)

Quote:
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7. If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone on your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the phone on their end. Your car will unlock.
This topic has already been discussed to the death. It doesn't work. Car remote locking operates in the Radio Frequency range, which cannot be transported across mobile phones which operate at the audible frequency range (much lower than RF).

Quote:
Originally Posted by djjebs View Post
8. Mobile phones should not be frequently charged, it may reduce the battery life. Always track the battery charge indicator, and carry mobile charger in purse/bag/car to avoid the contingency of battery discharge.
Battery memory effect was present in the earlier nickel cadmium batteries. The modern Lithium ion batteries do not display this phenomenon. This means that you can charge your phone whenever you feel like, you don't have to wait for it to discharge completely. Draining the battery fully also has negative impact on its long term performance.

Quote:
Originally Posted by djjebs View Post
9. Electronic items have deteriorative effect if contaminated with dust. The use of the pouches or mobile phone covers shall be useful to keep your mobile phone free from dust.
Electronic circuitry is not sensitive to dust, unless the dust is so thick that it leads to heat dissipation problems. The mechanical parts of the mobile (keys and switches) are more dust prone and may stop working properly due to accumulation of dust.

Quote:
Originally Posted by djjebs View Post
17. To enhance the life of your charger, it should be unwound and disentangled.
I didn't get this one, someone please elaborate.

Rohan,
Bangalore
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Old 9th October 2009, 13:48   #8
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*#7370# can be used to completely format the phone (Nokia Symbain Devices only). It gets rid of some virus's as well. Cleans up everything from the phone so the device will operate faster.

Last edited by karthik247 : 9th October 2009 at 13:57.
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Old 9th October 2009, 13:55   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rohan_iitr View Post

I didn't get this one, someone please elaborate.

Rohan,
Bangalore
I think what he means by "unwound and disintangled" is that the charger wire should not be wrapped around the charger as sometimes we do it so that the wire is neatly kept.

Regards
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Old 9th October 2009, 14:13   #10
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With Samsung mobile you can get hold of your lost mobile. Mobile tracker is very good feature. When you activate mobile tracker and somebody replace SIM. You will get SMS in your designated mobile phone about replace SIM's number. Police can catch easily. This is brainchild of Bangalore.

Also you can retrieve all your personal information from your lost mobile (like contacts, SMS etc) with advanced mobile tracker.
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Old 9th October 2009, 14:14   #11
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Did we not have a thread about #7 a few years ago over here?

Can't believe people still think this is true?
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Old 9th October 2009, 14:59   #12
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Point 7 does not work was also shown on Natgeo.
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Old 9th October 2009, 16:58   #13
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My 2 cents,
1) Backup all the data on the mobile regulary since you never know when your mobile konks off or worst..
2) Do not over charge mobiles ( people usually charge the mobiles throughout the night) which might lead to excessive damage to mobile/battery/person, since avg.time taken to charge completely is 4 hrs.
3) Use handsfree sets while using mobiles for long conversations (i.e lovers/newly weds - you thought I would say for office related work naaa) to reduce the effects of radiation/heat.
4) NEVER NEVER attend to calls while driving even if using handsfree since it may lead to concentration laps.
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Old 9th October 2009, 21:06   #14
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7. If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys are at home, call someone on your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot from your car door and have the other person at your home press the unlock button, holding it near the phone on their end. Your car will unlock.
Cannot comment on this. As I have never tried it. Nor do I wish to, something tells me it wouldn’t work

10. Nokia handset comes with a reserve battery. To activate, press the keys *3370#. The cell will restart with this reserve and will show a 50% increase in battery. This reserve will get charged when you charge the cell next time.
This works on all the old model Nokia phones. Have tried it when I used to use Nokia 3310

17. To enhance the life of your charger, it should be unwound and disentangled.
What this means is keep the charger wire in a good condition, do not entangle the wires

To Add:
Do not not over charge your phones, it reduces the battery life.

Do not charge your phone when you are on a call. I’ve done it many times (but read somewhere that it’s not supposed to be done)
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Old 10th October 2009, 00:53   #15
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Not Reachable

21. One can be 'Not Reachable' by removing the battery of the cell phone without switching off!
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