A few days ago, we found out that AT&T had decided to pull all of their Sidekicktastic Quickfire units from the shelves, citing a failure to meet “performance expectations” as the sole (and rather ambiguous) reason. While we’d gone ahead and assumed they’d come to the shocking revelation that the Quickfire was painted with pure lead or the radiation levels were causing people to grow extra limbs, the real reason isn’t quite as exciting: people couldn’t figure out how to plug in the charger properly, and jamming it in the wrong way caused the units to overheat.
AT&T customers will soon begin receiving e-mails telling them how to get the electric juices flowing the right way, along with a text sent to their devices to make sure they’re completely aware. Being that they’re already pulling them all off the shelves, we’d guess that AT&T is also planning to modify the hardware to make doing things the wrong way a bit more difficult – or at least throwing a big “Hey! Read this so your device doesn’t melt!” pamphlet into every box.
Full text of both the e-mail and the SMS follow:
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.
If you have any questions, please call 1-800-801-1101.
Sincerely,
AT&T
TEXT MESSAGE
AT&T Free Msg. Click www.att.com/wapmyaccountqf for an important safety message on how to properly charge your Quickfire.
Talk about stupid plug design.
…how about stupid people design. Always look for an arrow or other identifier….always.
If the plug could only fit in one way, it wouldn’t matter how stupid the people are.
i can’t believe ppl are really that stupid….instead of child proof they need to stupid proof
You know what they say about making things idiot proof right? Nature has the most awesome way to surprise you with better idiots, more idiot than the idiots before them…
It’s the circle of life!
Yup. Evolution will always produce a better idiot.
if you can’t plug your phone in you shouldn’t be able to use a phone
That’s hilarious. I could have made the same mistake. Awful picture in the post BTW
So even though I’m not an idiot, I don’t want any defective phone that could potentially set my house on fire. I’m currently on hold with att trying to get a different phone. If they aren’t selling them any more, then something is up and I don’t want it anymore.
how did that work out for you? cause i have a quickfire and i’m not stupid and i know how to match up arrows, but my phone is getting hot when i charge it. It was on low battery today, and i put it on the charger at about 4:30, and at 10:30, it STILL wasn’t done charging. i don’t want it.
Well, it’s not the phone’s fault. It’s the manufacturers, they should have trialed/tested it first or something. Like making sure the charger works! They haven’t had a phone quite like this before. It’s similar to the sidekick, but with a new touch (the touch screen). I’m disappointed that they took the phone away. I hope they come out with a more modified version. One that WILL work properly, and meet “performance expectations”.
i was going to get this phone before i found out bout this now im going to get the pantech matrix pro that phones cool
I was gana get the quickfire too and i love it! i was in the AT&T store for an hour 2 months ago just playing with it! i totaly love it! and im geting a new phone in 8 days, march 24 and now i cnt get it bcuz og stupid ppl that dnt know how to put in chargers! ugh! i rrrrreeeeaaaalllllyyyy hope they fix w/e is rong with it and put it back on the market!!!! i rrrreeeeaaallllyyyy want it it was ssssoooooooooooooooooooooo cool! now i dnt know what phone to get ugh!
you can get the quickfire off ebay. i just got one and the phone works perfectly fine. no problems whatsoever. the design of the charger tip is odd, but obvious how to insert it! this phone anyway doesnt heat up at all.