This Just In

[danaeris]

From Gizmodo:

Kyocera smartphone battery recalled

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall of the battery in Kyocera's Palm-powered 7135 smartphone:

" On four occasions, the batteries in the Kyocera phones have short-circuited and heated up enough to trigger a built-in safety mechanism that vents superheated gases in order to avoid an explosion, according to the safety commission. On Dec. 6, a Philadelphia-area man suffered second-degree burns on his leg when the spare cell phone battery in his pocket vented, it said. In the three other instances, the batteries were connected to the Kyocera 7135, but the phones were not being held or close to a person when they vented, according to Kyocera."

Read more at CNET

The recall is only for phones sold between september and december bought either online or in stores belonging to Verizon Wireless, Alltel, or US Cellular.

Phones with batteries from a different supplier will be available "shortly."

What does this mean? It means that I won't be buying a used 7135, period. Because it isn't worth the risk to get a steam burn for a cheaper used phone.

Comments

[sunspiral.livejournal.com]

Sorry, but all I could think of when reading this was, Wow, steampunk cellphones!

[nathanjw]

All lithium-ion batteries are potential bombs, and require active circuitry to avoid overheating or exploding. That's part of why they took so long to catch on, even though the electrical properties of lithium have been known for a while. Sounds like someone at Kyocera or their supplier cut a few too many corners....

[auros]

I'm still waiting for alcohol fuel cells to catch on as cellphone batteries. I heard that Nokia developed a good prototype, but I haven't seen them available yet...