Cellular Handset Emits Surprising Noise

Several vendors in Asia and Europe stopped selling the Siemens Series 65 cellular handset this summer after a potentially harmful glitch was discovered in the phones. When the battery charge is low, the cellular handset launches into the battery-shutdown warning tune at high volume. The piercing noise is not only surprising, but also potentially harmful to cellular users.

The risk occurs when users have the handset close to their ear when the warning melody plays. The quick, short-term fix involved asking users to deactivate the warning melody on the cellular handsets. The long-term solution is new software, which Siemens now has in place. The first shipment of Series 65 cell phones to the United States scheduled for this fall will have the new software installed.

The affected handsets include the C65, CX65, M65, S65, SL65 as well as variations such as the CV65, CT65, CXV65 and CXT65. Siemens did not recall the cellular handsets but several vendors chose to discontinue sales. In Holland, vendors stopped sales of the Series 65 cellular handsets and allowed customers to trade in the handsets for a different phone. German vendors pulled the handsets from shelves for a few days to install the software update provided by Siemens. In Ireland, nationwide sales were also halted temporarily.

Siemens, a German cellular company, has reported that the problems with the Series 65 handsets would hurt its fourth quarter revenue. The company now has to battle the perception that the cellular handsets are faulty even though the problem has been corrected. Morgan Stanley estimated the fourth quarter loss to Siemens could be as high as 62 million Euro, or more than 74 million dollars.

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Wendy Whittaker is a successful author and regular contributor to http://www.1st-in-cell-phones.com. A cellular phone industry resource featuring articles, comparisons and reviews of cellular phone and service plans.