Photo By Timothy Hale | Cell phone monster cartoon. (U.S. Army illustration by Timothy L. Hale/Released)... read more read more
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FORT BRAGG, N.C. - It appears that warmer temperatures have finally arrived here in the Sand Hills of North Carolina.
Many of us who leave our personal cell phones in cars should know that heat does strange things to them.
I am no expert, but there are some steps you should take so you won’t find a molten blob of plastic and circuits waiting to devour you in your car at the end of the day.
Most cell phone manufacturers post optimum operating temperatures on their product websites.
Based on multiple internet searches – because you can believe everything on the internet – the standard operating temperatures for cell phones seem to be between about -5 degrees to between 110 and 120 degrees.
If that’s the case, anything above 120 degrees must surely turn them into flesh-eating machines.
Keeping Your Cool
But seriously, what is one to do when the heat is on and there sits your cell phone waiting for you to come out to the car and turn on the air conditioner?
Short of cracking your windows – and using the internet as a guide – here are some possible solutions to beat the heat.
- Leave it at home. Now, maybe not the most practicable solution. Heaven forbid you break down on the Manchester autobahn or some other road on the way to or from work.
I suppose one could work out a some sort of signal or code such as, “if you haven’t heard from me at least one hour after I should be at work or home, send out a search party."
- Store it in a cooler. No, seriously! There are TONS of websites purporting to keeping your cell phone in a small cooler or a small cooler bag.
Some of these websites even suggest putting a small bag of the blue ice or a zipper bag of ice cubes in the cooler.
That said, other websites said leave the cold packs alone because you’re only asking for problems with condensation which leads to a completely different set of problems, and we all know how well water and electronics play together.
- Leave it under a seat. According to one website, if your phone is as low as possible to the ground, the heat there will rise to the upper levels of the car and out your cracked windows, thereby saving your phone.
Maybe storing the phone in a cooler under the seat is the best option.
The Choice is Yours
All this being said, the most common consensus among websites, message boards, and bloggers was this – don’t leave it in your car!
But if you do, here are some more nuggets of internet wisdom:
- Tint your windows, if they are not already tinted;
- Invest in one of those windshield sun shades with the silver reflective material and not one with some cutesy-pie image or slogan on it;
- Keep it out of the glove box or center console;
- DO NOT leave it plugged into the car charger while you are inside.
One blogger even suggested keeping your phone in the ventilated seat pocket behind the front seats.
Unless you want your car to serve as an incubator, turning your cell phone into an gooey blob hell-bent on chewing your face off, the choice is ultimately yours.
Don’t say I didn’t warn you!
| Date Taken: | 05.28.2013 |
| Date Posted: | 12.30.2013 09:18 |
| Story ID: | 118680 |
| Location: | FORT BRAGG, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 330 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Beware of cell phone monsters, by Timothy Hale, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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