I thought my HTC 10 had gone to the big recycle bin in the sky last night.

I needed another full size SD card for my camera to take to Google I/O. I ordered one from Amazon, but Prime shipping at the last minute and Amazon's fun policy of using the USPS means it gets delivered about 10 hours after I leave for the airport. So I took the wife out for steaks and beer, with a quick stop at Best Buy to grab an SD card. Before I left, I plugged in some phones to get them topped off for the trip.

I have a handful of chargers plugged into a power strip under my desk and have the cords in one of those little cable-tender deals. I plugged the HTC 10 into the one I thought was its charger and headed out.

Best Buy was a quick in and out, and the food and drinks were delicious. SD card in hand, and bellies full, we headed home so I could finish packing and gather up all the things and be ready for my early flight out of DC. I walked into my office and grabbed the phones I had charging, and that's where things got a little ugly. My HTC 10 was so hot I couldn't hold it. Seriously -- like holy crap that burns why didn't all my shit catch fire level of hot. There was no charging indicator lit, and It was also off (I never turn my phones off) and wouldn't start up.

It only took a minute to see what I had done. I forgot I had already tossed the HTC quick charger and cable into my bag, and had plugged the HTC 10 into the Pixel C charger by mistake. Because the HTC 10 uses Quick Charge over USB-C I know you probably should do something like this, but I was in a hurry. I tossed the HTC 10 into the freezer, with little confidence it would help. I sat down and let Phil know the HTC 10 the company just provided me with was probably dead, and what had happened. Funny part is that earlier today Phil had tried to use another charger and USB-C cable with his HTC 10, and got a warning that the charger was incompatible and the charging circuit was shut down so some sort of phonepocalypse wouldn't happen. I never got any similar warning, and have never even seen a screen pop-up like it on any phone. So we had a laugh about Jerry breaking another phone for a few minutes, then I wandered to the kitchen and pulled it out of the freezer. I hit the power button, and it fired up.

It booted normally, and had a full charge. Everything is fine, and I dodged a bullet this time. I'm not sure what happened or why. The phone seems fine and the charger seems fine. My best guess is that it just didn't stop charging once the battery was full, things got too hot, and the phone shut down when a thermal limit was reached. Or gremlins. I don't really know.

One thing I do know is that I'm marking the charger and cable that came in the box with the HTC 10 and not going to use anything else to charge it. And I'm doing the same thing with all the rest of my phones and tablets. It's just not worth the risk to do it any other way, and the old adage once bitten twice shy really can be true.