Pocket-lint broke my iPhone

Written by Clive Webster

October 30, 2010 | 09:37

Tags: #iphone #repair

Companies: #apple

Damn them and their photo-heavy gadget coverage. No, actually I’m talking about the fluff in my pocket. It’s all very well having a single device that does everything from run Windows 3.1 to play tunes to surf the web, but there’s no way to cover the mini-jack hole and the iPod connector, so they gather dust and fluff.
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A while ago the in-line remote of the my headset stopped working – I could press that button as much I liked but it wouldn’t skip the track, and it meant that I had to get the phone out of my pocket to take a call... imagine that! To be honest I’ve never got used to the way that speaking into a small in-line microphone made me look like I had a ‘special’ friend, so that wasn’t too much of a hassle.

Pocket-lint broke my iPhone *Pocket-lint broke my iPhone

I’d just assumed that the wire of the headset had gone – I’ve never had a set of headphones last more than a year as the wire tends to break near the jack, and I’d probably had that headset for about a year.

However, the problem was even more mundane – the fluff of my pockets had got into to the mini-jack port and was preventing the in-line remote connecting properly. After ten minutes with a thin pointy device (a twist-tie) I’d cleared out a few chunks of lint and my in-line remote worked again: happy days!

A week or two later the wire in the headset cable broke, and only the left earpiece would work. Sigh...

If you're in-line remote has stopped working, hopefully my experience will help you avoid a trip to your local Genius bar or a pricey repair job. Then again, maybe your phone is knackered, in which case I can't help.

Next week: Anandtech lost my arm.
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