This is a new one to me.
While I was on the plane the other day, I picked up my phone and realized that it no longer has a power button. It apparently fell off on the plane, as I always lock my phone before I pocket it so I would have noticed if it had fallen off earlier.
I turned on the phone flashlight, and got on the floor and started searching for the button but couldn’t see it anywhere. I was also making the flight attendants nervous, as apparently the have a “dropped phone” protocol that’s kind of messy and they weren’t sure if a dropped button should trigger it. So I got back in my seat and chilled.
I checked my pockets and my bag. No errant button. I tried poking in the oval-shaped void where the button used to be with some sharp forceps, but that didn’t seem to do anything.
The phone was on, and I realized that it might get dicey if the phone locked and turned off, so I enabled “Always-on display”. I have to be careful that it doesn’t discharge, but I suppose if it does I can always wake it up by plugging it in to the charger. I have only a few days of travel left, and I actually have a new phone waiting at home, so the only need is to keep it working long enough to complete my travel.
Apparently I’m not the only person to whom this has happened. For under $10, Amazon will sell a replacement set of buttons. I’ll probably order them, as the phone is otherwise usable and I’d hate to landfill if for lack of a few hundred milligrams of plastic.
—2p