Samsung Blames Galaxy SIII Burn On "External Energy Source" 169
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.'"
Let me get this straight (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?
Re:If I remember correctly... (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.
Re:License for mobile phones (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.
Not on topic but how is this (Score:4, 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.
Re:If I remember correctly... (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
Re:If I remember correctly... (Score:5, Insightful)
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.
Re:If I remember correctly... (Score:3, Insightful)
Or more likely just tried to dry it in the microwave ...
Re:Let me get this straight (Score:5, 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.