Listen up Quickfire owners, AT&T just made a pretty major announcement: Your phone is going to self-destruct in exactly five days! Just kidding, sort of — if you don’t follow the proper procedures for charging your device, it just might. On Monday we broke news of the Quickfire being pulled off shelves and being cut from sales indefinitely without any public statement from AT&T. Now Big Blue is saying there have been reports of significant overheating when the charger is forced or incorrectly inserted into the phone. While there is usually only one way to get a charger in, sometimes phone designs allow for some wiggle room and these bad connectors appear to be the culprit of the Quickfire’s dismissal. If you own a Quickfire and haven’t received a notice already, you’ll soon receive an email and SMS that reads:

Please take special care when charging your Quickfire GTX75 mobile phone. There have been a few reports of significant overheating of the phone when the AC Charger adapter is inserted incorrectly and forced into the phone. The clearly marked, embossed arrow on the AC Charger adapter should always be face-up on the same side as the display screen of the Quickfire when it is inserted into the phone. See the diagram below for proper positioning and insertion of the AC Charger adapter into the phone. You should never force the AC Charger adapter into the phone.

This goes without saying but be sure to take note of this to avoid any injuries or serious damage to your phone and property. At least now we know why such a cool little device was suddenly yanked from store shelves and we hope the problem is remedied soon.

Thanks, Craig!

[Via Phonescoop]

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These days, it seems staying green and environmentally friendly is on the top of everyone’s list. People drive hybrids, recycle their gadgets (the non-sentimental ones, anyway) and conserve where they can. To help consumers, and the planet, Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and LG Electronics have teamed up to make a common rating system for energy chargers. Believe it or not, when you unplug your BlackBerry, Touch Diamond, iPhone or any other phone from the charger, it will still draw electricity unless you unplug the charger from the wall unit. We all know just how much energy we can drain being gadget freaks, but by removing your charger from the wall when your gadget is done charging, you can save tons of energy. “If the more than three billion people owning mobile devices today switched to a four- or five-star charger, this could save the same amount of energy each year as produced by two medium sized power plants,” Nokia said in a statement. So, look for energy saving chargers when considering a replacement or a spare. Now all we can hope for is that manufacturers can agree on one universal charger for all gadgets and devices, but it seems hope is all we’re stuck with for the moment.

[Via Phonescoop]

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