Is the free magnetic Orange case damaging any M3100s?

[Guest stevekdavis]

I only ask as I've always been told that magnets and electronics don't mix. What's in the front of the orange leather case, 2 very strong magnets!

So far I've had 1 new M3100 as the backlight died on my first one and then my SIM card packed up and needed replacing. Just bad luck? I've never had a problem with SIMs or phones before.

I'm going case free for a while as I have my suspicions.

Steve

[Guest Sadlybrokeboy]

I've thought the same to be honest and did ask in a post a while ago - but no-one replied...

So whilst I wait for my proporta case I'll still keep using the O one unless someone can prove to me otherwise. :rolleyes:

Matt

[Guest Cybergeek]

Yeah, the same with my T-Mobile one, when its in the case and i take it out the screen switches from landscape to portrait as if ive slid the screen up to reveal the keyboard.

Just as a test i put the case magnets closer to it and the screen switched, moved them away and it went back!!

Just wondered if it caused long term damage?

[Guest Paulplex]

Yeah, the same with my T-Mobile one, when its in the case and i take it out the screen switches from landscape to portrait as if ive slid the screen up to reveal the keyboard.

Just as a test i put the case magnets closer to it and the screen switched, moved them away and it went back!!

Just wondered if it caused long term damage?

I now have my new M31OO and I love it but I noticed the same glitch -I tested it and I think you're right...

Any good brand alternatives?

Edited September 22, 2006 by Paulplex

[Guest Saracen]

Might be worth mentioning that the main reson behind the magnet-phobia of electronics is usually the magnetic storage (like hard drives in PCs or those microdrives). In the absence of magnetic storage, I would imagine the effects to be negligible. There might be an affect on coils like an aerial maybe, but plain silicon should be cool

[Guest Paulplex]

Hi all,

Rather than guessing if its going to be a problem, I emailed HTC through their website (www.europe.htc.com):

Support: Customer Services

Thanks!

Your message has been successfully sent to HTC Customer Services.

The full details of your message can be seen below. You may wish to check the details you submitted were correct and/or print the details for your records.

Date: Friday, September 22, 2006, 7:37 am

Customer name: Paul Moody

Customer contact number: 07#########

Customer email: paul@###########.co.uk

Customer country: gb

Customer phone model: htctytn

Customer phone IMEI/SN: ############

Problem: Good morning, Not really a problem as much as a question; I have recently purchased an Orange SPV M3100 (which is your 'Hermes' device) and included in the box is a carry case for the phone. In order to seal the carry case, the flap of the case is secured with four inch-wide circular magnets, incorporated into the lid and side of the case. I've always been wary of magnets and electrical devices; these magnets certainly snap the case closed very well but could they do more damage to the handset and am I better off replacing the bundled phone case with one that doesn't have magnets in its lid and body? Probably paranoid, but I like my new phone and want to get the most out of it! Kind Regards, Paul Moody

In all likelihood, Saracen is probably right - and you'd think if magnets were a problem, Orange would not have included such a silly design of case with the phone: however, I'll let you know how they reply :rolleyes: Edited September 22, 2006 by Paulplex

[Guest RufusA]

In all likelihood, Saracen is probably right - and you'd think if magnets were a problem, Orange would not have included such a silly design of case with the phone: however, I'll let you know how they reply :rolleyes:

IMHO the only thing in a HTC that could be affected by magnets is any inductors. For example the backlight for the LCD probably uses one, and with a sufficiently strong magnet in exactly the wrong place it may result in it overloading the circuit and buring out.

Though I suspect the magnets are not nearly powerful enough and are sufficiently far away from the backlight not to have this effect.

p.s. "four inch wide circular magnets" - the ones in my T-Mobile case are probably nearer 1cm diameter!

Rufus.

[Guest narxis]

My mate recently bought a Nokia N80, and while there were known issues with short battery life, he couldn't figure out why despite fllowing all the power saving tips he could (Turn off WiFi, Bluetooth, 3G etc..) his battery wasn't lasting more than a day. Until we figured that the only thing that had changed was the arrival of his leather case with magnetic fastening. After stopping using the case his battery life went from 1day to 3days! Not a word of a lie!

[Guest Paulplex]

IMHO the only thing in a HTC that could be affected by magnets is any inductors. For example the backlight for the LCD probably uses one, and with a sufficiently strong magnet in exactly the wrong place it may result in it overloading the circuit and buring out.

Though I suspect the magnets are not nearly powerful enough and are sufficiently far away from the backlight not to have this effect.

p.s. "four inch wide circular magnets" - the ones in my T-Mobile case are probably nearer 1cm diameter!

Rufus.

What I meant was that there are four magnets, each an inch-wide that connect together within the case for the phone - not massive magnets filling up the lid of the case :rolleyes:

[Guest jayz1220]

I just tried swiping the case over the screen, and it also switched it to landscape from portrait.

[Guest willieturnip]

is it the same with the JAMin?...maybe not switching portait-landscap eetc, but damaging the device?..mine arrives tonight and i dont wanna brake it :rolleyes:

[Guest The Doctor]

is it the same with the JAMin?...maybe not switching portait-landscap eetc, but damaging the device?..mine arrives tonight and i dont wanna brake it :(

Magents and electronics DON'T mix whatever you say. For a start changes in the magentic field when you move the magnets towards and away from your device will induce a current in the mainboard which will alter the flow of current in your device (possibly an explaination to the landscape portrait thing)

secondly, i severely doubt the electronic gubbins inside will like being polarised after lengthy exposure to a magnetic field :rolleyes:

Phil

[Guest tsutton]

Paulplex, did they ever reply to your question?

[Guest moodog]

I was a bit concerned when I found that I could hang my m3100 in its case from the side of my filing cabinet by the strength of the magnets alone. I did a quick search on the net though, and couldn't find anything about it being bad - until yesterday when a mate pointed me to this thread. I had never seen any evidence of the landscape/portrait thing, so thought it might not affect me. I tried swiping the case over the screen, and whaddya know, straight away it switched. I then realised I would not have noticed it as my m3100 screen is normally off when I take it out of the case. I was showing some people how it does it at lunchtime, and the next time I tried to use it the screen was in a very unusual configuration, and the device wouldn't respond until i switched it off and back on again. It doesn't look good

I don't think I'll be putting it back in there, and will begin the search for a new case now...

Edited October 18, 2006 by moodog

[Guest stig12]

I have also noticed this problem with the phone switching to landscape from portrait. At first i thought it was maybe the keyboard sliding out a bit while i was sitting down, but after testing a bit i found it was not that,

then i stopped using the case ,and all is ok now

[Guest Paulplex]

Paulplex, did they ever reply to your question?

You know, it occurs that HTC never did come back to me with my query.

...wasn't somebody recently saying HTC aftersales support is lacking? This one experience for me isn't a good one either...

[Guest Ingvarr]

I just tried swiping the case over the screen, and it also switched it to landscape from portrait.

Its simple - they use magnetically-driven reed switch to detect the keyboard location.

There is a reed switch (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reed_switch) in the electronics half of the TyTN, and tiny magnet on the other half. When keyboard slides out, magnet and switch move near each other - and TyTN knows that you've opened the keyboard.

When you use strong magnet near it, reed switch is activated too, so it thinks the keyboard is out (even when it not) and rotates the screen.

So its nothing common with "magnets screwing electronics" - it was intended to be magnetically activated, only thats why you see any effect.

For starters, for magnetic latches of the case the magnetic field is localised on non-magnetic(metal) half of the latch and most of magnetic energy goes into maintaining the attraction force (of the latch),- so "spare" magnetic field is greatly reduced. That significantly differs from case when you just move a single magnet near the device.

Edited October 22, 2006 by Ingvarr