That Time I Killed My Phone

I don’t particularly like protective cases for phones because they ruin the industrial design aesthetics of the device.

Here at the ‘Lab, we’ve had spirited debates about cases or not, dating back the original team and continuing to our current team.

I am not careful with phones, and the death of my Nexus 5, which I’ve only had since October 2014, was my fault. It was also very, very bad luck.

I usually run with a Bluetooth headset, the Mpow Swift, which I quite like (hey Ultan, it’s green), specifically because I had a few instances where my hand caught the headset cord and pulled my phone off the treadmill deck and onto the belt, causing the phone to fly off the back like a missile.

Yes, that happened more than once, but in my defense, I’ve seen it happen to other people too.

However, on July 8, I was running on the treadmill talking to Tony on the phone, using a wired headset. I’ve found the Mpow doesn’t have a very strong microphone, or maybe I wasn’t aiming my voice in the right direction. Whatever the reason, the Mpow hasn’t been good for talking on the phone.

While talking to Tony, possibly mid-sentence, I caught the cord and pulled the phone off the deck.

Unlike the other times, this time, the phone slipped under the treadmill belt, trapping it between the belt and housing, sliding it the length of the belt, and dragging it over the back drum.

I stopped the treadmill and looked under, but it was trapped inside the machine. After sheepishly asking for help, we were able to get the machine to spit up my mangled phone.

Interestingly, the screen is completely intact, which gives an idea of how tough it really is. The phone’s body is sadly bent in an aspect that describes its journey over that drum. Luckily, its battery hasn’t leaked.

The device didn’t die right away. While it wouldn’t boot, when I connected it to my Mac via USB, it was recognized, although it wouldn’t mount the storage like it normally would. Something about the device consuming too much power for USB.

I tried with a powered USB hub, but I think the battery gave up the ghost.

Happily for me, I had recently bought a second generation Moto X on sale, and I’d been postponing the switch.

Unhappily, every time I switch phones, I lose something, even though I keep backups. When my Nexus 4 died mysteriously, I lost all my photos. This time, I lost my SMS/MMS history.

Like I said, I’m careless with phones.