Samsung set to roll out free Galaxy phone sanitising service in Singapore in April

Samsung set to roll out free Galaxy phone sanitising service in Singapore in April
PHOTO: AsiaOne

An old gadget that's gaining renewed attention these days thanks to the spread of Covid-19 is ultraviolet lightboxes for sanitising personal and household items such as mobile phones, earbuds and even toys.

Without going too deep into the science, UV light is known to have an effect on bacteria and viruses.

UV-C in particular, which is ultraviolet light with a wavelength between 100 and 280 nanometers, is germicidal (i.e., it disrupts germ DNA to kill them or make them ineffective) and is usually what these household UV light-blasting phone/toy/underwear disinfection boxes use. Of these boxes (and there are a lot on Taobao), US-based PhoneSoap is arguably the most famous.

Anyway, according to SamMobile, Samsung has started to roll out a free ‘Galaxy Sanitising Service’ in some countries. Apparently Samsung has secured UV-C boxes from a third party and is allowing customers to bring their Galaxy phones, Galaxy Watches and Galaxy Buds in to Samsung Service Centres and Samsung Experience Stores for sanitising.

It’s unclear how long the process takes, though. Based on my understanding of such tools and depending on the design of the box, as well as the number of UV-C LEDs used, it can be anywhere from 1 to 30 minutes.

SamMobile also says that while Samsung is confident that the UV light it's using won’t harm your gadget, it can’t guarantee that it’ll kill all the bacteria and viruses, much less the coronavirus. At this moment, I don’t think anyone can claim that UV-C is effective against COVID–19.

This Galaxy Sanitising Service is currently available in 19 markets worldwide, but Samsung will be expanding the service to Singapore in April. 

This article was first published in Hardware Zone

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