Look Ma, No Hands! Make Your Phone Magnetic With Rare Earth Magnets

by Eric on July 6, 2009 · 7 comments

in PDA / Smartphones

I got this idea while looking at a Palm Pre sitting on its inductive Touchstone charger. I thought, “If the Pre sticks to the dock using magnetism, wouldn’t it be cool if the Pre itself was magnetic?”

palm pre magnetized sticking to refridgerator

The back to the Pre seemed to have a little extra room under the cover, so I stuck a penny in for a test fit. The cover closed with a little force and there was no awkward bulge sticking out the back, so I went ahead and ordered some extremely strong rare earth magnets.

These were the exact magnets I ordered: Magcraft NSN0640 1/2-Inch by 1/16-Inch Rare Earth Disc Magnets, 24 PACK

Once you receive the magnets, all you need to do is tape them to the back cover.

palm pre rare earth magnets palm pre rare earth magnets in back cover

There’s no bulge in the cover, but I did notice that the slider gap at the top of the phone opens up a little bit more. This could get annoying to some people, but it’s not all that big of an issue for me.

palm pre back cover with magnets

The rare earth magnets I used are very strong. They have no problem holding the phone in place upside down, and they also have no problem attracting a fairly hefty multi-tool.

palm pre upside down stuck to desk palm pre multitool magnetism

Now, what can you do with a magnetic phone? Use your imagination! I stuck some magnets behind my dash and made a magnetic car mount (inspired by the Touchstone car mounts).

palm pre magnetic car mount

I’ve had this mod on my Pre for about three days prior to writing this article and I’m happy to report that my phone has received no ill effects from the magnets. All my data is still intact and the phone is functioning as perfect as ever.

This guide isn’t just limited to the Palm Pre. If you have any extra space in the back cover of your phone, try a test fit with a penny. If the penny fits, then so will these magnets.

{ 2 trackbacks }

Adding magnets to Pre - PreCentral Forums
08.02.09 at 8:34 pm
Using Magnets to Organize Your USB Cables and Stuffs
08.20.09 at 12:04 pm

{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Edward Wedig 07.10.09 at 2:51 pm

Nice idea, but aren’t you worried about the magnetic Pre wiping your credit card magnetic strips when you put the phone near your wallet? I’d also worry about the magnets interfering with the memory card/onboard memory, or any usb/thumb drives that might get near it.

2 Ryan 08.02.09 at 4:52 pm

Sweet idea! That picture with the phone on the fridge is one of the coolest ever! :D Now you just have to put the touchstone charging tech behind it so it will charge in a few of those places. I’m supposed to get my Pre tomorrow. I’ve never been more excited about a “phone”. :D

Love the site.

3 will 08.06.09 at 7:46 pm

@edward wedig
you wouldn’t have to worry about thumb drives or the memory on your phone as long as it is flash memory, not hard drive memory. You’d have to worry about credit cards tho

4 Frank 08.09.09 at 4:52 am

You need an alternating magnet to damage magnetically encoded information – static magnets do diddly squat to your credit cards… Regardless of popular urban legends and anecdotes. You’ve had cards that went bad next to magnets? I’ve had cards that went bad next to my butt. Should I assume my butt caused the problem?

So short story long – no worries. Just don’t rub your card against other stuff, that can cause way more actual damage to the card. Cheap and old cards are also more susceptible to damage, like for instance hotel key cards that get rewritten all the time. If your credit card does lose its information, or get demagnetized, it is the age and condition of the card – not the surroundings – that have caused it.

5 Paul 09.19.09 at 9:51 am

I keep my phone against my wallet – bye bye credit cards!

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