Despite the fact that I in no way apply for the position of even a laboratory assistant at the Department of Smartphone Science, from time to time I have to dispel certain myths that gather around mobile phones. Calibrating the battery, charging during the night, erasing the oleophobic coating with protective glass – what kind of nonsense I have heard and convince people who are confident in its veracity. But since we have stupidities in store for 100 years ahead, it is obvious that I still have a very, very long time to carry the light of common sense to the masses.
There are many reasons to put your smartphone in the refrigerator, and each one is more interesting than the other.
One of the most interesting questions, which recently appear more and more often in Google, is the question of the compatibility of smartphones and the refrigerator. People are asking, 'why put the phone in the refrigerator?' When I was asked this question for the first time, I, frankly, was a little embarrassed, because I did not know how to answer it correctly. In the end, how do I know how it even occurs to someone to cram such a valuable device as a smartphone into an equally expensive unit for some purpose. But I figured out the question and am ready to give an answer to it.
Why put your phone in the refrigerator
Some reasons to hide your smartphone in the refrigerator might actually make sense
In fact, there are several reasons why people leave their smartphones in the refrigerator:
- Discharge the battery. As you know, in the cold, lithium, which is the basis of batteries, thickens and loses the ability to transfer energy, as a result of which the charge begins to decline sharply. True, for maximum efficiency, it is best to place the smartphone not in the refrigerator itself, but in the freezer – there the temperature is several times lower.
- Cool down an overheated smartphone. Overheating, which can provoke an increased load or a manufacturing defect, often leads to the fact that the smartphone urgently needs to cool it. In this case, the best option would be to place it under the air conditioner or place it in the refrigerator. Moreover, the latter will clearly be more effective. They say that this method really helps some.
- Block wiretapping. Oddly enough, many users are really worried about the fact that they can be tapped by special services, hackers or anyone else. Therefore, they leave the smartphone in the refrigerator, explaining that the battery cannot be pulled out of it anyway, and the switched off device does not guarantee that no one will be able to remotely activate the microphone.
Honestly, I have no complaints about the first two reasons for placing a smartphone in the refrigerator. I do not exclude that this may be dangerous for the operability of the device itself, however, the goals that users pursue, they fulfill 100%. Whether it is the blocking of wiretapping.
Wiretapping a mobile phone
It is unlikely that a modern refrigerator will fit for the role of a Faraday cage
It is generally accepted that the refrigerator, due to its thick-walled construction and a special insulating layer, can act as a 'natural' Faraday cage. The classic cage is a device for shielding electromagnetic rays and radio waves. That is, it is impossible to get through to a phone in a Faraday cage and in general to contact him in any way. But this is if we are talking about a real cell. But modern refrigerators, unfortunately, are unable to fulfill this role. I have verified this personally.
My test was to place two test smartphones – Honor View 20 and Galaxy A51 – in two Samsung refrigerators and LG, and then try to call them. If the call does not go through, it means that the cell is working, and if it goes through, then it does not. Not hoping for anything, I made a test call and realized that refrigerators do not block or screen anything. I admit that some ZIL from the mid-50s can cope with this task, but the solutions of the new generation will not save you from wiretapping. Therefore, do not engage in stupid things and do not put your apparatus at risk.