Blackberry Pearl Eats Magnetic Cards!

[sweinreb]

I recently went on a trip to Washington and I had a lot of trouble with my hotel room door-unlock card and with Metro cards. The door card would work once and then after putting it in my pocket near the holster with my Pearl it no longer worked. This occured 4 times and I also lost about $20 in Metro cards which gave me a "See Station Manager" message after getting in the same pocket! I think this is due to the magnetically operated off-on switch in the holster.

Anyone had this same experience or have a solution? Perhaps a magnetically shielded holster?

[d_fisher]

The BlackBerry itself should not have done this. More than likely its the holster. Some holster have a tiny magnet in then so the BlackBerry know when its in or out. I found this out the hard way too when my security badge at work stopped working.

[David.Burke]

Or, you could just put cards with magnetic strips in another pocket? :> I've always been a little paranoid about putting cards near the magnet, thanks for the cautionary example! Welcome to the forum!

[seaduck79]

My daughter has a Pink Pearl that is so magnetic (seems to be the battery) that it can pick up paper clips and such.

No cell phone any of my family has ever owned was like this - should we take it back to where we got it and have it looked at?

BTW, there is no external case or attachment on this - just the device.

[cde3879]

My 8800 did this to train tickets which I invariably put in the same pocket for ease of access. Did it - somewhat embarrasingly - to a toll booth ticket on a french autoroute once as well, with a huge queue behind us. "Err, le ticket ne work pas"!

Hopefully the bold I now have won't be so bad but I'm not going to try testing it in a hurry I don't think as it's a pain in the rear when your ticket is rejected by ticket barriers!!

[sharpycl]

I live in washington dc, and before i went to using their smart card i was using the paper cards with the magnetic strip. I ruined a few cards because stupid me would pin my cards to the refrigerator with a magnet. Ever since then I won't let anything (that I suspect has a magnet) touch even my smart card or credit cards.

[takeshi]

The BlackBerry itself should not have done this.
Maybe not on the 8310 but my 8700c apparently has a paper clip holder on the back... ;-)

[jtwisconsin]

My daughter has a Pink Pearl that is so magnetic (seems to be the battery) that it can pick up paper clips and such.

My Pearl is very magnetic, but up near the camera and not near the battery. When I take my cover off the back there appears to be two magnets that I would imagine work with the holsters to put the device to sleep when in the holster.

When we go on a cruise my wife is constantly demagnetizing her room cards by putting them next to her camera. ;-)

[bbf]

On my Pearl it's the speaker, which is just to the left of the camera lens. Makes sense that the speaker would have a magnet in it.

[cde3879]

Bold does the same. Also useful for getting hair clips out of the nooks and crannies in a car!

[Kamau]

I don't know if this is of any use, but I saw a episode of "Mythbusters" that dealt with this subject.
Long story short, it too a magnet of the strength of those that pick up cars in auto salvage lots, to alter or erase a magnetic card. And after a little experimenting of my own using mags from speakers, I could not mess up a card.
I'm not saying that it "didn't" happen, but maybe you should look at other ways that it "could" have happened.

[cde3879]

I don't know if this is of any use, but I saw a episode of "Mythbusters" that dealt with this subject.
Long story short, it too a magnet of the strength of those that pick up cars in auto salvage lots, to alter or erase a magnetic card. And after a little experimenting of my own using mags from speakers, I could not mess up a card.
I'm not saying that it "didn't" happen, but maybe you should look at other ways that it "could" have happened.

Mythbusters or no, I don't think anything but the blackberry has done this to me - it happened at least 15 or 20 times, every single time, until i realised it may have been the BB so moved the BB to a different pocket. Ever since doing that, it hasn't done it - the second I moved the BB back to the same pocket to test the theory, bingo, same problems.

So I don't care what the TV says on this occasion, I think this thread proves it happens! That said I do totally respect your viewpoint, and appreciate the input :)