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Samsung Blames Galaxy SIII Burn On "External Energy Source"

MojoKid writes "Samsung has some great news for Galaxy SIII smartphone owners. As it turns out, your mobile device isn't at risk of overheating to the point where it catches on fire and burns through its casing, as a forum member at Boards.ie claimed was the case with his Galaxy SIII a couple of weeks ago. [Note: And has since retracted.] Fire Investigations UK (FIUK), an independent third-party organization, assisted Samsung with looking into the matter, and here's what they concluded: 'The energy source responsible for generating the heat has been determined as external to the device... the device was not responsible for the cause of the fire,' FIUK said in a statement. 'The only way it was possible to produce damage similar to the damage recorded within the owner's damaged device was to place the devices or component parts within a domestic microwave.'"

40 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. If I remember correctly... by bemymonkey · · Score: 5, Informative

    ... the user who initially complained admitted that a buddy of his had tried to repair the phone after it had come in contact with an unknown amount of water... and of course, he promptly retracted his complaint.

    What a jackass.

    For everyone else: DON'T PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE IN THE MICROWAVE.

    1. Re:If I remember correctly... by src1138 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      And yet this still makes the front page of Slashdot - with a spin-laden misleading title.

      MojoKid - you are an ass, and so is the moderator.

    2. Re:If I remember correctly... by matunos · · Score: 2

      I'm guessing once the device had hit water, he decided to toast it in the microwave with the hopes of still getting a replacement citing a defective device.

    3. Re:If I remember correctly... by jtownatpunk.net · · Score: 4, Funny

      Duh. Microwaves are strictly for drying dogs. Everyone knows not to put metal in the microwave.

    4. Re:If I remember correctly... by jpate · · Score: 2

      I wonder if this story is the cause of this entry to Not Always Right?

    5. Re:If I remember correctly... by ls671 · · Score: 3, Informative

      Samsung sgh-a847 - also called rugby - can be dropped in water and used right away. It happened to me a few times. It is certified to military standard 810G. Buy something military grade like this if you break your phone often.

      --
      Everything I write is lies, read between the lines.
    6. Re:If I remember correctly... by million_monkeys · · Score: 4, Funny

      Duh. Microwaves are strictly for drying dogs. Everyone knows not to put metal in the microwave.

      But make sure you take the collar and tags off before drying the dog!!!!! I forgot to do that before putting Scrapy in the microwave. It did not end well. My poor daughter cried for a week straight after this. I felt horrible. If only I had taken his collar off first, this tragedy could have been averted.

    7. Re:If I remember correctly... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

      MojoKid and million_monkeys sure do look like Apple shareholders.

      An accurate title would be:
      Kid microwaves phone and blames Samsung when phone explodes

    8. Re:If I remember correctly... by asdf7890 · · Score: 5, Insightful

      A fairer title might have been "Idiot puts phone in microwave, phone and phone's manufacturer found unlike to be to blame".

      Depending on how you read the title as it currently stands (Samsung Blames Galaxy SIII Burn On "External Energy Source") it could suggest there is a question of Samsung being to blame and that they are trying to pass the buck.

    9. Re:If I remember correctly... by Nyder · · Score: 4, Funny

      For everyone else: DON'T PUT YOUR FUCKING PHONE IN THE MICROWAVE.

      yes, the microwave is for organic stuff, like drying your pet. Or your baby.

      --
      Be seeing you...
    10. Re:If I remember correctly... by zippthorne · · Score: 3, Informative

      It's in scare quotes, though, which were unnecessary as the title is "Samsung Blames..." rather than "Galaxy Burn Was Caused by..."

      --
      Can you be Even More Awesome?!
    11. Re:If I remember correctly... by oddaddresstrap · · Score: 4, Informative

      For the love of God, NO! Don't believe the post above!
      Please, future information seeker, I'm talking to you...

      The person above was KIDDING! Do not dry your baby, cat, dog, hamster, mouse, whatever, in a microwave! It will kill them!
      Okay, maybe that's slightly too broad a statement. For some odd reason it works fine for drying Pekingese dogs.

    12. Re:If I remember correctly... by mister2au · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or more likely just tried to dry it in the microwave ...

    13. Re:If I remember correctly... by cc1984_ · · Score: 4, Funny

      A fairer title might have been "Idiot puts phone in microwave, phone and phone's manufacturer found unlike to be to blame".

      You even managed to work a typo into the title, more in keeping with proper Slashdot submissions. Nice work :)

    14. Re:If I remember correctly... by damien_kane · · Score: 5, Funny

      The person above was KIDDING! Do not dry your baby, cat, dog, hamster, mouse, whatever, in a microwave! It will kill them!

      +1, this ^^
      Use your old-school tumble-dryer instead.
      It takes a bit longer, but the risk of explosions is much lower.

    15. Re:If I remember correctly... by dave420 · · Score: 2

      Because it was conclusively determined to have been put in a microwave by specialist fire investigators, and not Samsung. Samsung just posted the findings of the independent report.

    16. Re:If I remember correctly... by marcosdumay · · Score: 2

      Any question about this person inteligence was settled down when he put his phone on the microwave. Now we are asking what would make a stupid person do such a thing.

      The best think I could think was also that he was trying to dry it.

  2. I guess the next question is.... by Apothem · · Score: 5, Funny

    Will it blend?

  3. Let me get this straight by LordLucless · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So it's not Samsung doing the blaming, it's an independent, third party investigating party. And the scare quotes around the mysterious "External Energy Source" actually refer to a microwave, which the owner's friend apparently used to dry out his phone.

    So, why wasn't the title "Microwave discovered to be cause of Galaxy SIII Burn"? Why are we trying to spin the headline to make it look like Samsung's making excuses for itself?

    --
    Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face
    1. Re:Let me get this straight by jpate · · Score: 4, Funny

      So, why wasn't the title "Microwave discovered to be cause of Galaxy SIII Burn"? Why are we trying to spin the headline to make it look like Samsung's making excuses for itself?

      mmmm, a conspiracy theory about this community's propensity for conspiracy theories... nice!

    2. Re:Let me get this straight by should_be_linear · · Score: 5, Funny

      In other news, expensive Cuban cigars fall apart, as soon as you try to clean it with kitchen blender.

      --
      839*929
    3. Re:Let me get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      You have to die stupidly in order to become a DA nominee. If just doing something incredibly stupid was enough, the dawn thing would have about 7,2 billion nominees.

    4. Re:Let me get this straight by antifoidulus · · Score: 5, Funny

      What a moron, EVERYONE knows that the only real way to dry cell phones is to put them in the toaster.

    5. Re:Let me get this straight by MickLinux · · Score: 4, Funny

      Could we just get this over with and put it on ASK SLASHDOT? I'm waiting...

      --
      Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
    6. Re:Let me get this straight by geminidomino · · Score: 3, Funny

      Technically, you don't have to die, just remove yourself from the gene pool. If you've got no kids and, through some act of stupidity, manage to reduce your gonads to the texture and consistency of lumpy oatmeal, you're still eligible.

      Of course, at that point, I'd probably rather be dead, myself.

    7. Re:Let me get this straight by L4t3r4lu5 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Put your phone in a zip-lock bag and pour a load of rice in with it. Seal the bag and leave it for a couple of days. Alternatively, if you're a nerd like me, slip in four or five silica gel pouches you've hidden away.

      --
      Finally had enough. Come see us over at https://soylentnews.org/
    8. Re:Let me get this straight by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Should that be boiled rice or fried rice?

    9. Re:Let me get this straight by idontgno · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Put your phone in a zip-lock bag and pour a load of rice in with it.

      And, as always, wise and well-intentioned advice leaves out critical information.

      Uncooked rice. Not steamed rice, not boiled rice, not parboiled rice, not fried rice, not Spanish rice, not risotto ,not Rice-o-Roni (which isn't entirely rice anyway), not Jerry Rice or Donna Rice or Rice, Kansas.

      Seriously. Packing your slightly-moistened phone into a baggie of steaming hot cooked rice WILL NOT HELP.

      --
      Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
    10. Re:Let me get this straight by CityZen · · Score: 2

      > Packing your slightly-moistened phone into a baggie of steaming hot cooked rice WILL NOT HELP.

      It might help it taste better.

  4. License for mobile phones by gnasher719 · · Score: 4, Funny

    I suggest that people should need a license to use advanced technology like mobile phones. And someone sticking their mobile phone into a microwave should lose that license for life.

    1. Re:License for mobile phones by StripedCow · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I suggest that people should need a license to use advanced technology like mobile phones.

      That may cost Apple its market share.

      --
      If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
    2. Re:License for mobile phones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      BURN! StripedCow never saw that coming!

  5. Don't need Sherlock for this one by Teknikal69 · · Score: 5, Informative
    Heat was very obviously external as the outside was melted and the inside was only slightly marked, the story would probably have been called out as dubious right away if the army of Apple fanboys hadn't seized on it started posting it everywhere and ignoring all the evidence.

    Even I'm surprised someone was stupid enough to put their phone in a microwave mind you.

    1. Re:Don't need Sherlock for this one by gabriel · · Score: 2

      Well according to the report "the heat damage to the device appears to have been generated from within the device".

      So no, the heat was internal although in this case possibly induced by the microwave oven.

  6. Slashdot is a tabloid now? by iB1 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Seriously this is disappointing. I'm getting better quality news and stories from "tabloid" websites such as The Register and The Inquirer now. Slashdot is starting to resemble a blog full of random ramblings than a good quality, reliable news source.

  7. ...and by Konster · · Score: 5, Funny

    Some men just like to watch the galaxy burn.

  8. Not on topic but how is this by SmallFurryCreature · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A new MMO has launched, The Secret World. In the game you have an inventory WINDOW. In help one player asked how you could resize it... hint, it is a window. SAME WAY YOU DO IT IN EVERY OS!

    You have to wonder how that person even manages to turn on a computer.

    But people like this are not "stupid" in that they don't know things, they just lack or are to lazy to put two and two together. "If I have seen furthest, it is because I stood on the shoulders of giants".

    These people stand on the ground. They can't link experiences from the past into the present. That user I mentioned might well have resized windows on windows but he couldn't make the connection that the inventory window looks and behaves as a window too. Lazyness comes into it since a non-lazy person would have tried something. For instance, dealing with chat windows. Right-click to change settings. How lazy do you got to be to not be able to even TRY that before asking?

    A quest button is on the right, if clicked you can select a different quest to track. Yet people ask how to do that because it doesn't occur to them to simply try some stuff.

    Manuals, message of the day are useless for these people.

    The person from the article probably did see some video of metal in a microwave. Probably knows it is not an oven. Knows that plastic melts and just didn't put it together. For every person who pulls a radio apart to see how it looks inside, there is another person who never "learns" the power icon because it never occurs to them that there might be a reason for that image on the button.

    When you do design, you sadly got to take these people into account.

    Another example? Well, if one user was on slashdot, they would ask how you can preview a post. Clothes in the cash shop have preview button right there in your face and she couldn't see it and bitched they should have included a preview option. A button labelled preview and you miss it. Those people would microwave a phone to dry it.

    --

    MMO Quests are like orgasms:

    You may solo them, I prefer them in a group.

  9. /. could try harder... by awjr · · Score: 3, Informative

    You really really need to investigate further before posting these stories. Samsung didn't "blame" it on external sources which implies "it wasn't really us, honest, seriously". The guy that posted the initial fire report had a friend 'drop' the phone into water then attempt to dry it out using a microwave.

    "Galaxy SIII burn caused by microwaving wet phone" is what it should be.

  10. Good to Know by Greyfox · · Score: 3, Funny

    1) Will it blend? Yes
    2) Will it Microwave? No
    Got it!

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

  11. Re:Don't microwave ovens cook from the inside out? by Rogue974 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Microwaves create a standing wave from the point of source. The waves are at the right frequency to excite the water molecules.

    They don't really cook from the inside out, they cook from the point where the waves hit the water molecules at the wave high and low points. There is a yummy experiement you can perform to demonstrate the speed of light by looking at the waves created in a microwave and see how microwaves actually work.

    First: Remove the rotating glass dish at the bottom of the microwave. You need what you are putting in the microwave to remain stationary.
    Second: Get twix, kit kat, or some other long thin candy bar, preferably cholcolate as it has water in it and place them on a plate in the microwave going from left to right. The Microwave source is behind the keypad and time and it shoots across the microwave to the other side.
    Third: Turn on the microwave and watch.

    You will see that spots will start to melt on the candy at which point you can turn off the microwave. The spots on the candy are the high and low points of the standing wave and are the points that were heated. It doens't matter inside the food or outside the food, it matters where the wave hits the food. Most people say it cooks from the inside out, but if you think about your food, the outside is a very small layer of the food while the inside is the bulk of the food. The chances of the wave focusing on the outside are insanely small compared to the chances of the heat points being on the inside.

    If you want to verify the speed of light, it has to do with knowing the speed of light and equtions that deal with the frequency and amplitude of waves, you can measure the distance between the melted points on the candy bar, look up the frequency of the wave the microwave generates and verify the equations.

    Oh, and don't forget to eat the candy.

    http://morningcoffeephysics.com/measuring-the-speed-of-light-with-chocolate-and-a-microwave-oven/

    A link to a more detailed explanation of the experiment and equations. So it isn't that a microwave cooks from the inside out, it cooks at the peaks and troughs of the standing wave, which have a much greater chance of cocentrating the heat on the inside.