Will magnetic damage the Droid?

[nomad]

Hi all.
I have noticed that the magnetic flap of my droid pouch has activated the phone every time I insert or pull the phone in/out of the pouch.
Even though, the screen will shut off as it supposes to be, but I just wonder will the magnetic will affect, or damage the phone, such as the GPS feature.
Thanks in advanced for any advices.

 

[Laurence5905]

Both the car-dock and the desktop-dock (a.k.a Multimedia Dock) have magnets that are designed to activate features on the phone. Hence the reason why the magnet in your pouch activates the phone.

Since it's a design feature that the various Droid docks use a magnet to activate features on the phone, I'd say it's a good bet a different magnet won't cause problems. Unless it's a REALLY strong magnet -- strong enough to erase the memory of the phone itself -- I think you're good.

 

[GreyMouser]

The Droid uses magnets to identify when it's in a dock; both the Car dock and the Media Dock have a magnet. So, when you holster your Droid, it's going into a dock mode (which is keeping the screen on.) You're going to see a dramatic decrease in battery life in that holster. The reason you're seeing the phone "activating" is because it is coming out of dock mode when you pull it from the holster, which returns you to the home screen.

So no, it won't damage your Droid, it WILL decrease your battery life.

-M

 

[JhankG]

If I were you, I would find a case that does not use magnets just in case.

 

[boatman2220]

Just the opposite of a Blackberry which goes to sleep in the magnetic holster. The Droid wakes up around magnets.

 

[nomad]

Thanks guys!
I think I can use the holster then. Except that I have to turn it off after holstering.
BTW. The screen is off while the phone staying inside the holster.
My only concern is if any future damages to the phone itself.

 

[garrett]

if the holster makes it go into a certain mode (media or car) it can and will drain your battery.

 

[coolkidd]

Better use a case with velcro... Cases with magnetic flaps will just drain your battery since it will activate it as if it is attached to a multimedia dock.

 

[radioz]

Magnetism will NOT affect the memory in your Droid.

 

[nomad]

Here is my final decision: not using the magnetic pouch.
Reason: the magnet turns the phone into car dock mode, and I cannot turn it off, except reboot the phone.

 

[base]

I bought the Verizon Pouch for the Droid before I heard of the magnet problem. The Pouch looks nice and has very positive case closure using magnets. Initially, I would insert the Droid with the glass face pointed in and with the back to the magnets. The Droid would sometimes go into the car mode or sometimes media mode. I then started experimenting and found with this case there is one way that you can insert the Droid where the magnets don't seem to affect it. You have to insert the Droid with the glass facing outwards and the gold camera button pointed up. The Droid doesn't turn on in the Pouch with this orientation. Be aware, that puts the power button right where you pull it out so your finger will engage the button when you pull it out of the Pouch. That's really what you want anyway.

 

[Sp3aK]

I have the velcro Verizon pouch, works fine. Although the velcro noise is kind of annoying I'm really just not noticing it much anymore. I also doin't like the idea of the screen having to be facing out (even in a pouch).

 

[Istus]

Verizon sells a new holster with 2 magnets towards the ends rather than one in the middle. I've found no problems with the phone going into a docked mode while it is in the case but occasionally I pass the phone by the magnet when I am pulling it from the holster and it will flash one of the dock screens before going to the home screen.

 

[wil318466]

Both the car-dock and the desktop-dock (a.k.a Multimedia Dock) have magnets that are designed to activate features on the phone. Hence the reason why the magnet in your pouch activates the phone.

Since it's a design feature that the various Droid docks use a magnet to activate features on the phone, I'd say it's a good bet a different magnet won't cause problems. Unless it's a REALLY strong magnet -- strong enough to erase the memory of the phone itself -- I think you're good.

Actually, I bought some REALLY REALLY strong magnets on Ebay. They were 15 bucks. I literally had to pry them apart using leverage, and when I finally got them apart they snapped back together so strongly it left a mark on my fingers. I use that on the back of my Droid, and I have zero problems.

-Wil

 

[Rettocs]

Both the car-dock and the desktop-dock (a.k.a Multimedia Dock) have magnets that are designed to activate features on the phone. Hence the reason why the magnet in your pouch activates the phone.

Since it's a design feature that the various Droid docks use a magnet to activate features on the phone, I'd say it's a good bet a different magnet won't cause problems. Unless it's a REALLY strong magnet -- strong enough to erase the memory of the phone itself -- I think you're good.

Actually, I bought some REALLY REALLY strong magnets on Ebay. They were 15 bucks. I literally had to pry them apart using leverage, and when I finally got them apart they snapped back together so strongly it left a mark on my fingers. I use that on the back of my Droid, and I have zero problems.

-Wil

Magnets of any strength will not erase the memory of the droid. They erase things off harddisks and tapes because those are magnetic storage devices. Flash memory, such as SD cards and thumb drives do not use magnets to hold their information, and because of that are invulnerable to magnetic fields.

The more you know...