Faulty O2 X1 Phones Recalled

26th March 2006

O2 has announced a recall of all O2 X1 handsets due to safety concerns over the phones overheating while recharging. The O2 X1 was originally launched back in late 2003, so it's regarded as quite an old handset now.

O2 have promised to replace all existing O2 X1 devices with O2 X2i phone or an equivalent handset. The O2 X1 will be barred from O2's network on Monday 27th March 2006.

Full details of the returns procedure are on the O2 web site. It is important to stress that you must ship the O2 X1 back to O2 with the charger and battery and your full contact details (including name, shipping address and telephone number) and not the SIM card which you will need for the new phone.

The O2 X1 was the first of O2's X-series of own brand phones, and although it was a promising and attractive phone it proved highly unpopular with customers due to quality issues with the hardware and software. The X1 was made for O2 by Maxon, and the handset is basically a rebadged Maxon MX-7970. This is the only handset that Maxon made for O2, subsequent X-series phones were made primarily by BenQ or other manufacturers.

So, although this product recall is embarrasing for O2, it must surely mark a humiliating end to Maxon's mobile phone business which doesn't appear to have come up with any new products since 2003. We can only assume that the Maxon MX-7970 has exactly the same fault as the O2 X1 and if you own one of these, you should probably replace it.