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Why You Shouldn’t Lie About Microwaving Your Cell Phone
Electronic Products ^ | 7/13/12 | JEFFREY BAUSCH

Posted on 07/13/2012 11:22:37 AM PDT by null and void

Student makes mistake, tries to blame company, gets caught red-handed

Last month, a student from Ireland took to the Web forum, Boards.ie, to file a complaint that his Samsung Galaxy S3 had randomly exploded, catching fire while he was driving his car.


Damage caused to Samsung Galaxy S3 by fire.

Writing under the forum username “dilo2k10”, the student said that the incident had caused the plastic body of his phone to melt, and for the device to lose its ability to draw a signal.

“So I [sic] driving along today with my Galaxy S3 in my car mount when suddenly a white flame sparks and a bang came out of the phone,” he wrote. “I pulled in to look at my phone, the phone burned from the inside out. Burned through the plastic and melted my case to my phone. The phone kept working but without any signal.”

Samsung asked for the phone to review the case. The company, working closely with a fire investigation unit, discovered that—surprise-surprise — the student was fibbing, and that the melting was caused by “an external power source” which, they concluded, most likely came from a domestic microwave.

Representatives from the company explained the scenario in full: “The energy source responsible for generating the heat has been determined as external to the device”, and that “the device was not responsible for the cause of the fire”. They added, “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.”

Once the student realized that his lie wasn’t going to end with him getting a free phone, he took to the forums again, this time to admit that he had fabricated the details of the story, and that he was simply trying to repair water damage to his phone by sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds.

“I would like to retract my original statement,” dilo2k10 wrote. “The damage to the phone was caused by another person, although they were attempting to recover the phone from water this later caused the damage shown on the phone.”

“Another person”? So it’s still not his fault, right?

Regardless, the teen did manage to get one thing right, when he concluded his post with the last line here: “It occurred due to a large amount of external energy and there was no fault with the phone. This was not a deliberate act, but a stupid mistake.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS:
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To: verum ago

I’ve had all versions of the iPhone. While spontaneous ignition was never an outright problem, there have been times, especially with the earlier ones, where as an electrical engineer, I felt that something wasn’t right while charging, using it with a very depleted battery (at least by the battery meter). The case just got too damned hot for my taste, and I stopped whatever it was I was doing to it.

I suspect there are ‘some’ legitimate charges, but not all are real.


21 posted on 07/13/2012 12:03:57 PM PDT by Gaffer (NOVEMBER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: Calvin Locke
Take a old CD, place in u-wave, set the timer for say, 2 seconds, push "start"...

That's how I destroy CDs and DVDs I don't want anymore. It won't keep the CIA from reading track by track under a microscope (except for the actual burnt areas), but it will keep your neighbor from taking a DVD out of your trash to see that you've been recording way too much Dancing with the Stars.

22 posted on 07/13/2012 12:05:28 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (You only have three billion heartbeats in a lifetime.How many does the government claim as its own?)
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To: cripplecreek
he was simply trying to repair water damage to his phone by sticking it in the microwave for a few seconds.

And he's student no less.

Hopefully not an EE student. :=)

23 posted on 07/13/2012 12:11:02 PM PDT by Bob
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To: justlurking; Shimmer1
FYI, every cellphone has a water detector in it. There's a little sticker or bit of plastic that turns to a different color if it gets wet.

If you take a phone in for warranty service, the first thing they will do is check to see if that detector has changed color. If it has, the replacement is not covered by any warranty.

I have it on good authority that if you live in a humid environment it will show immersion just from the air.

24 posted on 07/13/2012 12:13:30 PM PDT by null and void (Day 1269 of our ObamaVacation from reality - Heroes aren't made Frank, they're cornered...)
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To: tenger
Cooked or uncooked rice?

Uncooked.

I've seen drying kits which include a bag of loose silica gel (the stuff in desiccant packs shipped with electronics). Open up the bag, toss the moist electronics into the bag and reseal it for a few days.

25 posted on 07/13/2012 12:15:05 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (You only have three billion heartbeats in a lifetime.How many does the government claim as its own?)
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To: Prince of Space

......just put it in a bowl of rice......

addendum.....

Before drying in rice, remove the sim card and pat dry. That will prevent possible contamination between the contact surfaces.


26 posted on 07/13/2012 12:19:57 PM PDT by bert ((K.E. N.P. N.C. +12 ..... Present failure and impending death yield irrational action))
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To: verum ago

Like them new fangled cell phones blowing up cars in gas stations....

Oh yeah, most of the fires were womenfolk, who exit, start the pump, then get back into the car, and never touch metal (grounding themselves). So, when they touch the pump head, there is a spark, the fumes ignite, and her cell phone gets blamed.

Best to “gam-gam”


27 posted on 07/13/2012 12:42:37 PM PDT by petro45acp ("Don't" read 'HOPE' by L Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman...it will bring tears to eyes. BORE!!!!!!!!!!!!)
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To: cripplecreek
And he's student no less.

Our beloved President, once a brilliant student, law professor, constitutional scholar and now the leader of the free world (so he claims, and therefore it must be true) has cooked lots more the cell phones and sought to benefit from doing so. If He can do it and get away with it (most of the time), why shouldn't a struggling student? It's not fair!

28 posted on 07/13/2012 12:47:26 PM PDT by DanMiller (Dan Miller)
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To: null and void

I was in a hurry and threw my jeans in the washer with my iPhone in the pocket. After a couple of days, it “worked” to a certain extent, but the Apple folks weren’t buying my story when I told them I didn’t know how it got wet. They did give me a replacement at a reduced price, though.


29 posted on 07/13/2012 1:34:16 PM PDT by The Sons of Liberty ("Get that bastard out of MY White House!")
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To: null and void

Steven Wright pondered the effect of putting instant coffee in a microwave (you might go back in time). This is a whole other thing.


30 posted on 07/13/2012 1:40:50 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Prince of Space

Does cooked brown rice work better than cooked Uncle Ben’s white rice?? //s


31 posted on 07/13/2012 2:22:37 PM PDT by wetgundog (" Extremism in the Defense of Liberty is no Vice")
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To: null and void

I adore my SG3!!!!


32 posted on 07/13/2012 2:45:22 PM PDT by rintense
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To: null and void
dilo2k10

Hey dude, can't spell?
You left out a 'd'.

33 posted on 07/13/2012 2:54:03 PM PDT by Vinnie (A)
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To: KarlInOhio

Ever try microwaving ants?


34 posted on 07/13/2012 7:31:08 PM PDT by gitmo ( If your theology doesn't become your biography it's useless.)
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To: null and void

To determine if your microwave is leaking dangerously, put your cellphone in it and close it. Dial the number from another phone and if you hear it ring inside the oven, time to get a new microwave or have it resealed.


35 posted on 07/13/2012 7:48:49 PM PDT by Safetgiver ( Islam makes barbarism look genteel.)
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To: null and void

That’s not my humid experience here.


36 posted on 07/13/2012 7:52:40 PM PDT by Shimmer1 (government health officials seem to have the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.)
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