Scott Yang's Playground

Both Vivian and my Nokia phones were stuffed up, but in two different ways.

Fact 1: They Do Not Swim

Yesterday my Nokia 1100 which I bought 2 and half years ago was discovered inside the side pocket of my cargo pants. Except Vivian found it after the pants visited the washing machine, and was hanging to dry, i.e. my phone went swimming. So I pressed the power button, and guess what — it did not turn on. I would have guessed so, when the water was still coming out from inside of its plastic shell.

So I took it apart, cleaned up the residual water, put it back together — and it still would not want to power on. I then took it apart again, and officially declared it dead. I then told Vivian that I probably will need another mobile phone soon.

After church today I was browsing the web for some cheap mobile phone deals. Hey, it has always been exciting shopping for gadgets online! I then put my dead 1100 back together when I tried to clean up the desk, pressed the power button, and up it came the Nokia hand shaking animation in its monochrome LCD glory!

Wow. My Nokia has just came back to life! On a Sunday as well!

Well, that was one almost stuffed Nokia. Verdict is — mobile phones, they do not swim well. Do not wash them together with your pants and shirts.

Fact 2: They Do Not Overfeed Well

Prior to our trip up to the Gold Coast, Vivian’s Nokia 3310 had a dead battery. Well, not dead as in DEAD, but with a full charge you still cannot make a 2 minute conversation.

So we went to one of our favourite shop, eBay, to hunt down some new battery. According to some limited research, i.e. putting “3310 battery” inside eBay search, you can buy either a BLC-2, which is the one that came with the phone when we bought it more than 3 years ago. You can also buy a BMC-3, which should fit the 3310 according to the sellers. So we ended up buying a BMC-3 because there’s one selling a “genuine Nokia battery” in Brisbane (heard too many dodgy battery killed people in China report), and got the seller to post to my Gold Coast address.

It was a fast delivery. We opened up the package, and tried to fit the BMC-3 into Vivian’s Nokia 3310 — but there was a problem! BMC-3 is actually a few millimetres thicker than the BLC-2. However it is already too think to a point that we cannot close the battery cover when the battery was inserted!

After a few attempts plus some brute force, we have finally managed to close the battery cover. However Vivian’s Nokia 3310 now looks like someone who has just came back from the buffet restaurant, who is overfed with food and really stuffed!

Well. The phone is usable. Its new battery is great. However the whole thing just does not feel right when you hold it on your hand. Verdict? It is possible to put a different battery inside your mobile phone, but it is still best to get what you had before.