Careful -- some mobile phone tunes could be hazardous to your health.
After last year's reports of exploding batteries in Nokia Corp. phones and amid growing concern about electromagnetic radiation from wireless devices in general, Siemens AG warned Thursday of a software defect in a range of mobile phones that could cause hearing damage.
The problem affects mobile phones in Siemens' 65 series, including the C65, CX65, M65, S65 and SL65, as well as the CV65, CT65, CXV65 and CXT65.
In a laboratory test, company researchers discovered that when batteries in this series run down during a call, the disconnection warning tune can possibly play extremely loudly, according to the Munich-based manufacturer.
Siemens said an injury can only happen if users hold the device directly to their ear while the tune is playing.
The company recommends deactivating the disconnection tune. Users can do so by first selecting the "Setup" item in the phone menu, then "Ringtone" and after that "More melodies." Then they should deactivate the "Shutdown melody" by selecting "Switch off."
A patch to fix the problem will be available for download on the company's Web site (www.siemens-mobile.com/mobilescustomercare) in the coming weeks after mobile phone operators have approved it, Siemens said.
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