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Nam Y. Huh/AP/Press Association Images

How gross is your smartphone?

The smartphone “is always warm, stored in dark places, so bacterias are growing on your phone”, while another study claims mobiles are 18 times dirtier than public bathrooms.

WHEN WAS THE last time you cleaned your phone?

You feel a bit ick now, don’t you.

The idea of germs being spread on one of the devices we touch most throughout the day was brought up at the Consumer Electronics Show today where companies offering better sanitising were also promoting the cause of cleanliness.

The technology show has long had a focus on health, but makers of sanitising devices said people need to look in their pockets and purses to the microbes on their personal gadgets.

The smartphone “is always warm, stored in dark places, so bacterias are growing on your phone,” said Dan Barnes, co-founder of Phonesoap, which was displaying its device which cleans and recharges a phone.

Barnes said he got the idea after reading a study indicating “that mobile phones are 18 times dirtier than public bathrooms”.

Barnes said his $50 device uses ultraviolet radiation which “kills the bacteria’s DNA, so that they can’t live on your phone anymore”.

Similar devices were also seen at the huge electronics fair, including one called CleanBeats, which sanitises, plays music and recharges two phones through a USB connection.

The CleanBeats device is based on NASA technology, and will soon hit the market with a $499 price tag, said spokesman Dennis Rocha for the California-based startup.

The company website says its device produces “hydroperoxide catalytic molecules” to clean the surfaces of touchscreens.

© – AFP 2014 with additional reporting by Sinéad O’Carroll

Read: Will 2014 be the year of wearable tech?

More: The best 3D printers that appeared at CES 2014

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    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute James Keane
    Favourite James Keane
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:09 PM

    People too obsessed with cleanliness these days, get over it. An oul wipe on the jeans and it’s fine

    742
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    Mute Stephen Byrne
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    Jan 11th 2014, 1:14 AM

    Don’t forget to breath on it first, a bit of “haaw” works wonders

    274
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    Mute Mitch Connor
    Favourite Mitch Connor
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:07 PM

    If we skip over my web-browser history, my phone is quite clean.

    717
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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:15 PM

    Lol, Mitch!

    82
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    Mute David unsworth
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:17 PM

    Monty moonshine you are a disgusting troll. Your comments are disturbing

    8
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    Mute Devilsdawn
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:21 PM

    Talking to yourself again scoby

    40
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    Mute Red Thumb Collector
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    Jan 11th 2014, 1:24 AM

    Scoby is a legend

    7
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    Mute Scoby Watson
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    Jan 11th 2014, 4:40 AM

    Did someone say my name?

    21
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    Mute Scoby Watson
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:39 AM

    Were you just describing your penis, Devilsdawn?

    2
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    Mute Billbond4
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:04 PM

    A bit of dirt never hurt anyone

    221
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    Mute Tal Tallon
    Favourite Tal Tallon
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:11 PM

    Since ios7 was released I just shower with mine, or give it a quick rinse under warm water

    164
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    Mute Willie Healy
    Favourite Willie Healy
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:18 PM

    Bacteria is the plural of bacterium. There is no such word as bacterias.

    145
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    Mute Paul Roche
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:32 PM

    What word describes a variety of bacteria?

    15
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    Mute Tracyfacex
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:29 AM

    Broad spectrum bacteria

    38
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    Mute Foxys van
    Favourite Foxys van
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:37 PM

    I wish my partner was as dirty as my phone

    137
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    Mute Katie Does
    Favourite Katie Does
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:32 PM

    Quick go over with a baby wipe and it’s good as new. Cost, about 1c per clean. I’ll stick with that.

    114
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    Mute Jed I. Knight
    Favourite Jed I. Knight
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    Jan 10th 2014, 11:21 PM

    While they will most likely clean the screens etc. of most smart phones these days they won’t sterilise them, to do that just use an alcohol wipe.

    43
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    Mute Kim Guerin
    Favourite Kim Guerin
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:51 AM

    Baby wipes aren’t antibacterial though, are they?
    I use some sanitizing gel and kitchen towel :)

    28
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    Mute Alcho Holic
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    Jan 11th 2014, 7:12 PM

    Whet a waste of solid food.Hic!

    3
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    Mute T
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:23 PM

    Lost my phone today, only had it 3 weeks. So sad. :(

    93
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    Mute Foxys van
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:35 PM

    Found a fone today looks new
    You can have it

    133
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    Mute Alan McLoughlin
    Favourite Alan McLoughlin
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    Jan 11th 2014, 2:03 AM

    I hope it was clean you wouldn’t want anybody finding a dirty phone now would yahh :/

    19
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    Mute Mary Kavanagh
    Favourite Mary Kavanagh
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:20 PM

    I give my phone a spray with lens cleaner now and then, screen and back. I wouldn’t clean the inside except with a Qtip round the very edge. This is just scare tactics to get people to part with their hard-earned cash!

    83
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    Mute steven callaghan
    Favourite steven callaghan
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:59 PM

    mary your stoooopid!!!!!!! hahahahahaha
    hahahahahaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    mega genuis’s dont need smartphones hahahaha!!!!!

    10
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    Mute Julian King
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:35 AM

    And would that be a pool cue or snooker cue Mary?

    11
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    Mute Stephen Barry
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:18 PM

    I just give my doctor,my iPhone when he needs a blood and stool sample.

    65
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    Mute Scoby Watson
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    Jan 11th 2014, 4:41 AM

    I also carry my phone around in my anus

    29
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    Mute Dermot Lane
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    Jan 11th 2014, 8:44 PM

    That’s good scoby, cos you usually talk through your hole

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    Mute Scoby Watson
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:42 AM

    That deserved more thumbs up, Dermot.

    3
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    Mute Micheal
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:10 PM

    Finally an answer to a problem I now know of

    47
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    Mute Qwerty
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:17 PM

    What about washing your hands? With soap!?

    45
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    Mute anonymou5
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:12 PM

    My phone is so dirty the speakers are half as loud as they used to be… I phone 4 anyone else experience this?

    44
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    Mute Paul Huston
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:31 AM

    Just get the clean my phone app

    40
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    Mute Dhakina's Sword
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    Jan 11th 2014, 1:49 AM

    Turn over in bed, and several hundred thousand critters die. Have a shower and several million microscopic animals die also. It seems that we cannot move, sleep, or perhaps even think without some form of animal dying. In a strange way, our existence seems dependent upon somebody’s death.

    33
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    Mute Kevin Thornton
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    Jan 10th 2014, 11:19 PM

    Any body want to go half on a company we,ll make phone wipes sell millons world wide

    31
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    Mute THE VOICE
    Favourite THE VOICE
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    Jan 10th 2014, 10:42 PM

    My mobile is the mobile phone version of Joan Rivers.
    Its that f%&king dirty…

    28
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    Mute W.j.d.
    Favourite W.j.d.
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    Jan 10th 2014, 11:00 PM

    It will only kill the young… Nothing to worry about…

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    Mute frosty
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:03 AM

    would ye ever fluck off,

    18
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    Mute Hugh Chaloner
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    Jan 11th 2014, 2:02 AM

    I talk dirty into mine all the time, no wonder it’s mingin’

    15
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    Mute Kth Fny
    Favourite Kth Fny
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:50 AM

    I use a small amount of mild hand sanitiser in a clean tissue and wipe my phone and tablet clean.

    11
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    Mute JB
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    Jan 11th 2014, 12:17 AM

    I just fire mine into the sink

    10
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    Mute Terry McSweeney
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    Jan 11th 2014, 3:21 AM

    Most people don’t have their smart phone in their pockets for that long anyway. Mine is out most of the time.

    8
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    Mute Tom Fennelly
    Favourite Tom Fennelly
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    Jan 11th 2014, 6:54 AM

    I would be more worried about the bacteria and how they survive amid the blood and snot in Eircom Public Payphones on the streets. My company removed all our payphones from the city centre and around Grafton St because they are no longer needed. Mr Tierney when he was City Manager should have made everyone else do the same for health and safety reasons.

    Remaining payphones are being used solely for advertising and as piss houses and shoot up facilities for junkies and should all be removed. Once again the big boys get away with it.

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    Mute KarlMarcks
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    Jan 11th 2014, 9:05 AM

    What about us poor junkies?
    You discriminate, sir!

    8
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    Mute David Giles
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    Jan 11th 2014, 9:07 AM

    Good point Tom. But some people still don’t have mobile phones and pay phones are handy for tourists who may not have Irish phones or simcards. All public phones should be cleaned and sanitised at least once a week by their owners.

    13
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    Mute Alcho Holic
    Favourite Alcho Holic
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    Jan 11th 2014, 7:31 PM

    I keep my phone,along with my teeth,right eye,and hearing aid in a pint glass of Vodka beside the bed.Have shower in morning,replace all the bits,and drink the residue.Wonderful start to any dreary Day.Hic!

    5
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    Mute Maurice Quille
    Favourite Maurice Quille
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    Jan 12th 2014, 12:13 AM

    Whilst reading this. From the comfort of my comfy bed and home to many microscopic organisms. I can feel one crawling up the crack of my ass, little Do they know their about to be nerve gassed

    3
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    Mute Randy Fisher
    Favourite Randy Fisher
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    Jan 13th 2014, 4:19 AM

    Porn

    1
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