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Home Button glows in the dark!

gregbenj

gregbenj

macrumors member
Original poster
Jun 28, 2006
47
22
When I put my iphone under UV light at a store's display, I saw that the home button glowed [under the UV light] -- like those little stars I had (okay...still have) in my room to make it easier to fall asleep. Interesting optical property...

EDIT:
It does glow when a light is on it and it happens to be in the dark too :) I understand the criticism for the thread title and am sorry so many people got worked up about it -- missed out somewhere on the lingo. Just reporting an observation. But The interesting thing is that all the other surfaces on the phone are under the same light, yet there is a contrast.

As coldplay would say: Lights will guide you home

G.B.:apple:
 

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I tried it, and I got it to work a little, but it didn't really glow, you just saw the light. I think it's because of the way that the button is curved, that it's refracting the light in a certain way to give the effect that it's glowing.
 
Care to change the thread title? Your phone doesn't glow in the dark, it reacts to UV light. There's a difference....
 
A lot of things will look different in the same situation. Why would apple spend time and money just to do this, what would be the point?
 
inter'stella'... tried to clarify title, but cannot edit it.

But:
you think it 'reacts' to UV light meaning that there is a chemical reaction with the UV frequency?

or did you mean that the surface of the home button has optical properties that allows it to illuminate (glow??)

G.B.:apple:
 
gregbenj said:
you think it 'reacts' to UV light meaning that there is a chemical reaction with the UV frequency?

or did you mean that the surface of the home button has optical properties that allows it to illuminate (glow??)

G.B.:apple:
Click to expand...

He means that it doesn't "glow in the dark," but rather it "glows when you shine a light on it."

Ok, that's cool, but not really the same thing! Love the picture, though!
 
hmm trippy.. what does the display look like when its on under the UV light?

Who still uses blacklights anyways?

Zack
 
Same goes for my black plastic iPod nano and for the back of the 3g iPhone,guess you had a cover,take it off next time
 
Interstella5555 said:
Care to change the thread title? Your phone doesn't glow in the dark, it reacts to UV light. There's a difference....
Click to expand...

gregbenj said:
inter'stella'... tried to clarify title, but cannot edit it.

But:
you think it 'reacts' to UV light meaning that there is a chemical reaction with the UV frequency?

or did you mean that the surface of the home button has optical properties that allows it to illuminate (glow??)

G.B.:apple:
Click to expand...

Don't mean to be pedantic, but what it's really doing is fluorescing: absorbing the UV energy and re-emiting it at another frequency in the visible range. The home button must be made of a material that has this property, where the glass screen that surrounds it doesn't. Just happenstance, rather than design, I'm sure.
 
DId you buy your phone from a legit source? Maybe its stolen and someone has used UV marker to help ID it.

I have UV'd mine incase it gets nicked and recovered (unlikely I know). :rolleyes:
 
sandman42 said:
Don't mean to be pedantic, but what it's really doing is fluorescing: absorbing the UV energy and re-emiting it at another frequency in the visible range. The home button must be made of a material that has this property, where the glass screen that surrounds it doesn't. Just happenstance, rather than design, I'm sure.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I've been wanting to say the same thing, and didn't want to pontificate.

It's the little things that bug me....:confused:
 
I have marked my iPhone with my signature with a UV marker. In normal light you can't see it but under a UV light you can. that way if my phone gets nicked and is recovered by the police but all my data is gone I can still prove its mine as I know where and what is invisibly marked on the phone.
 
MacBoobsPro said:
I have marked my iPhone with my signature with a UV marker. In normal light you can't see it but under a UV light you can. that way if my phone gets nicked and is recovered by the police but all my data is gone I can still prove its mine as I know where and what is invisibly marked on the phone.
Click to expand...

And where would one obtain said UV marker... :cool:
 
I got mine from the UV marker fairy. It came through the post as part of a crime awareness thing launched by the local Police.

Maybe contact your local police station and you might get a few for free or failing that try a hardware or stationery store.
 
Don't know if it's so much glowing but could be that because it's concave it reflects it differently than the rest of the phone.
 
Warbrain said:
Don't know if it's so much glowing but could be that because it's concave it reflects it differently than the rest of the phone.
Click to expand...

no,as I was saying earlier, same thing happens to 1st gen black iPod Nanos, white as well,I guess..and the back of the iPhone 3g too
 
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