29

Occasionally, when I put my Samsung Galaxy S3 down relatively firmly, it makes a noise that's sort of half way between 'BONG' and 'CLANK'. When it happens I can immediately pick it up and put it down again to make it happen again. I can repeat this for as long as I like. Pick up, put down, BONG/CLANK, repeat.

There are no on-screen messages, just the noise. Why is it doing this? Can it be stopped?

Thanks

Improve this question
2
  • Sounds similar to how my laptop alerts me when it's been jostled and the head has been retracted from the hard disk ... but the SGS obviously has flash storage so that wouldn't make sense :P
    – Matthew Read
    Jul 10, 2012 at 16:53
  • Similar, but not quite the same. I imagine if you shake your laptop from side to side it would alert you, but my phone only BONK/CLANGs when I place it down flat, so I guess it's not simply telling me to be more gentle.
    – Jez
    Jul 10, 2012 at 17:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
39

Well, I've figured it out. Sort of. I habitually put my phone down on top of my wallet, which contains my NFC-chipped credit card. It turns out the phone actually makes that noise when it finds an NFC chip. If I push my credit card against the back of the phone the same thing happens.

I'm still not sure what it really means, though.

Improve this answer
5
  • 5
    +1 - I totally just did this same thing. Mine was responding to the RFID/NFC chip in one of my credit cards. The noise it makes is saying "I recognize an NFC chip is close but I cannot act on its information," which is appropriate as your phone can't read the encrypted data stored on your card. Pretty cool if you ask me!
    – Mr. Buster
    Jul 10, 2012 at 19:18
  • There are NFC cards and tags that contain data on which your phone can automatically act, such as open a webpage or connect to a Bluetooth carkit, for example. Examples of such tags are Sony's Xperia SmartTags and Samsung's TecTiles.
    – NFC guy
    Jul 17, 2012 at 13:06
  • 4
    Thank you! I was so close to throwing my phone at a wall.
    – Mike
    Mar 26, 2013 at 7:39
  • Thanks! I also have that habit, and that wired sound bugs for quite a while. Finally relieved today.
    – Pengfei
    Oct 5, 2014 at 4:18
  • For me it was the New Delhi Metro Rail smart card
    – Vinay W
    Nov 25, 2014 at 11:15

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .