iPod Video doesn’t like phones
I was just talking to TivoGuy and asking him about his iPod Video since we got both ours yesterday. He told me it was great except the interference from the cell phone messed the ipod up. So I tried it myself, I made a call while holding my phone next to the iPod Video and the thing went crazy, the volume just kept going up and down quickly non-stop. I can’t believe this, now every time someone calls me on my cell phone my ipod is going to go crazy. Sucks.
Update: Here is a crappy video showing what I am talking about. Will shoot a better video in the evening with a better camera.
[Video 3GP 260KB] Right click and save as
Update 2: Just renamed the video file because some sites have been linking to it directly. Sorry for the inconvenience.
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Nov 13, 2005
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43 Comments, add your own...
1. meWho | November 13th, 2005 at 12:43 pm
Yah..I experienced the same thing yesturday!! its frustraiting!! But I still love it :)
2. 3baid | November 13th, 2005 at 12:45 pm
Sony Ericsson phones have high interference, try it next to a Nokia.
3. Edjamacated Guy | November 13th, 2005 at 1:26 pm
that just sucks..how silly of them not to test that
4. Wicked | November 13th, 2005 at 2:21 pm
so does the Nano Ipod next to a nokia phone. i cant believe they didnt test it or do anything about it. we should all email them with complaints!
5. Pearls | November 13th, 2005 at 9:19 pm
Happy First Anniversary!
And if it does work out for you, I’d really love a copy …
6. Nat | November 13th, 2005 at 9:28 pm
Thanks alot pearl, you’re very sweet:)Btw I never got to tell you in person yet but congrats on your first baby:D
9. Abdullah Al Falah | November 14th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
I just wanna say thank you for the great information provided on your site ,, basically im new to Macs ,, im trying to get a new laptop (PowerBook) from a shop in Kuwait but they are all expensive and crazy prices ?? yeah tell me about it ,, at first i thought about getting myself a lap from the online shop but then i thought ,, Hmmm well now there`s Mac City (A RE-SELLER) i thought maybe the customs ppl would give me a headache ,, but now since ur praising this new shop zMacShop .. i`ll consider it ,, Plus i have to thank you for your insight on the downloads and reviews. as i said im new to Macs so every lil info is appreciated
10. Mark | November 14th, 2005 at 12:38 pm
no problem Abdulla. Check with zMacShop, their prices are the cheapest in Kuwait. They are also very friendly, they will help you setup your mac and get started.
11. Kthekuwaiti | November 14th, 2005 at 4:06 pm
Just sent an email to gizmodo ..
12. Burv | November 14th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
It’s probably due to Apple making the click wheel on them this time around, remember, this is click wheel Version 1.0 for them, synaptics have been making the technology for years and solved this problem way back and Apple obviously havent.
People have been saying the new wheel is more sensitive, obviously so sensitive that the wheel thinks that the radio signals are thumbwheel synaptics.
13. Ben H | November 14th, 2005 at 9:43 pm
ooooh.
14. Daveoc64 | November 14th, 2005 at 10:28 pm
Many people on iLounge (including) myself have experienced this. I have tried it with 2 Nokia phones and it happens. Not only was it very loud for my ears, the headphones went wrong (stock iPod earbuds).
It’s this sort of poor quality control that makes me wonder why Apple is so secretive. Can’t they put a few cellphones next to it?
15. icruise | November 14th, 2005 at 10:33 pm
Two points: The cell phones are not interfering with the iPod per se, but rather the scroll wheel. Apparently Apple used a different type of scroll wheel (an in-house design) for this generation of iPods. Secondly, this problem isn’t that huge of a deal since the iPod has to be within a few inches of the cell phone and turning on the “hold” switch will prevent any interference from occurring at all.
17. DoctaBu | November 15th, 2005 at 1:21 am
Hmmm. I have a Nokia 6682, and when I make a call or use WEP/GPRS/EDGE, it doesn’t screw it up even when it’s right next to it, playing or being paused.
Is it my phone or my iPod that’s making this NOT happening, I’m wondering.
18. chee | November 15th, 2005 at 1:41 am
This happened to my 60gb white pod and my Sony Ericsson K750i after receiving a text message. Annoying, to say the least.
19. GobyWan | November 15th, 2005 at 2:34 am
I’ve experienced this with my computer, although not with my iPod - if the phone is under the monitor shelf, the monitor spazzes out when it rings, and when I’m playing GTA: San Andreas, it causes my radio stations to cycle wildly. Not sure how it’s causing mousewheel commands with my wired mouse, honestly.
20. eminem213486 | November 15th, 2005 at 5:51 am
not experiencing this with my nokia 3205 but i am experiencing a weird shut down problem, holding down teh play button to shut it down but if i scroll with the wheel i can hear the clicks… meaning the unit is on. if i turn it on again it will have changed volume or place in scroll etc…. very scary since im trying to shut the unit off but its just wasting power anyway… no sleep state. this has happened about 5 times out of the 10 times ive shut it down.
21. Thomas Chai | November 15th, 2005 at 6:06 am
It’s happens to both iPod (Video) and iPod nano. I was using them with my Er6i headphone and when my mobile rings near them, the Volume jumps up and down and it nearly makes me deaf.
22. DougS | November 15th, 2005 at 12:00 pm
Sure does - big time. I have a vodafone/ericsson PCMCIA GPRS card in my laptop and made the mistake of placing my shiny new vIPOD next to it - the volume went to _max_ suddenly… much to my surprise and the people sitting around me! I think they found the bleeding from my ears a bit disconcerting (just kidding but damn it felt like it!!!)
24. Collapse | November 16th, 2005 at 3:01 am
I am afraid I got bad news for everyone. It’s not your Ipod, its your cellphone. This kind of inteference has been known for quite a while it has to do something with the reciever rather than the transmittter. It is noticable more when you recieve call than when you place you and by noticable I mean the distance from the ipod is greater. It is something like what the first generations of microwaves had, they disrupted tv signals in something of a 20meter radius if i remember correctly. Anyways, try this with your soaraways cellphones. Put it in your car, put you volume up while listening to the radio and make sure someone calls you. you will hear some cracking, and if you think is the radio station do it again. Till you are convience then you go out and buy a new cellphone.
Oh yes, Ipod are tested by a privated entity for things like interference.
25. Jonathan | November 16th, 2005 at 7:40 pm
A great video, I just want to ask few things, does this happen all the time or just when the “keylock” is open? What is the actual range (in feet) for this to happen?
26. AnotherMexican | November 17th, 2005 at 12:32 am
A Treo 650 will also make the Vid iPod have volume level orgasms as well. It’s happened a couple of times with mine.
27. Elias Hedberg | November 17th, 2005 at 3:11 pm
Collapse: well, any cell phone has to emit radio waves to communicate, whether you place a call or receive one. The thing here is that no previous generation of iPod seems to have gone loop the loop for a phone call, while 5th generation iPods do. It is not a cracking noise in the headphones that is the problem, but the sound level changing uncontrolled. The cracking sound can probably be experienced with any iPod if you have a cell phone too close to the headphones wire, but the volume changing only happens to the new iPods (and should really not be happening at all).
28. jimpo | November 18th, 2005 at 1:46 pm
Stop press! - mobile phones cause interference to electronic equipment. ;)
30. iDo | November 30th, 2005 at 7:34 pm
YESssssssssssssss - my iPod did that and I thought I’d discovered something hitherto unknown to man! :-) really weird….
Plus - does it happen to everyone and to older iPods…the earplug wire is so crappy that jostling it changes sound volume in one or both plugs!
32. Sam | December 12th, 2005 at 11:08 pm
Just discovered this yeasterday. I was at work enjoying my music, when the sound totaly went down, when i got a txt on my Nokia. I thoght that was a cool feature of ipods to do that. I was like way to go Apple. But it came to my attention the next day when i had my ipod next to my cell, that my ipod would not start at all. I could hear the click wheel click, but nothing was showing on screen. I panicked and i had to press Menu+Enter buttons to restart the ipod. It was fine after that, but not sure what is the long term effect my phone had done to my ipod? All I can say at this point is my cell phone is comming no where near my ipod…
33. Kevin | December 21st, 2005 at 10:42 pm
Had related experience with both my ipod mini and earlier generation ipod (1 year old) - happened when I received a call on my Sony Ericsson 616 … I paused the podcast I was listening to while I answered call, and then found that the ipod screen had gone blank and would not restart. Happened on two separate occasions with two different ipods. Found also that a hard restart seems to have resuscitated the ipods.
34. zoe | January 7th, 2006 at 8:14 am
iJunk! My pod works maybe 30min on full charge, 2 years after…
Just wait when the ipod nation finds out this ivideo-junk’s real color…watching movies…loosing their eyes and the damn thing runs out of battery in 40min Never buy one again.
Can’t run with it, as it will skip…The commercial is a fraud…if you whip it around like that it will stop and U have to reset it.
35. Dan | January 9th, 2006 at 7:22 pm
The same crazy volume problem happens with my Blackberry 7290 too. Even when they are some distance away from each other.
37. Tricey | January 31st, 2006 at 8:00 pm
Presuming that the interference is related to the click wheel, does this mean I shouldn’t operate my iPod whilst close to my pet dolphin too?
38. Battarro | February 7th, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Motorola’s Black razor makes the voulme go up and down like crazy. Its a shame. Apple is gonna get sued over this.
39. Mowgli | March 15th, 2006 at 3:40 pm
I just had the volume spazz happen to me at work, and got to this thread from google. Glad it isn’t just my ipod! It’s one thing to have the weird pulsing sound, but to have the thing’s functions affected is a different ball game. Especially when your volume can be cranked up to maximum in an instant…not healthy. The ipods should have been tested and cleared for this kind of electromagnetic compatibility before they were ever marketed. Product recall maybe? Could sort out the scratched screens then :-)
40. Paige | March 17th, 2006 at 11:39 pm
I was having this problem with my iPod also! I thought I was going nuts. My iPod has been having a bunch of problems as it is and I’ve only had it over a month, I think it’s time to send it back :\
I get the interference with my Motorola Razr phone. The volume jumps, and I get the ‘pulsing’ noise in the earbuds. Good to know that I’m not the only one with these problems.
41. AS | June 19th, 2006 at 11:59 am
my ipod didn’t react at all when i put it next to my mobile phone… why did most of ur’s freak out?
42. Tristin | June 22nd, 2006 at 8:58 am
WOW! That explains a lot… I’ve been having this happen to me ALOT and it was all unexplainable. Never thought about my phone, my MPx220 actually puts out TONS of interference even when I’m not making a call, speakers go crazy too… that crackling is beginning to sound like hell.
Anyways, if there was only a way to hone this mistake… have a remote control that could control the volume on your iPod… hehehe
43. Glassy | June 22nd, 2006 at 9:07 am
I use the SE K750i for listening to Mp3’s and playing videos too, so there’s no problems like that. If you have k750i, just get a pair of decent earphones and a larger memory stick then the phone will be a music and video player too.
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