A couple of weeks ago, the owner of a Samsung Galaxy S3 got all hot and bothered after claiming his new Samsung Galaxy S3 had spontaneously combusted.
The user had posted on an Irish web forum claiming that white flames shot out of the device, while he was driving, causing damage to his car and obliterating his phone.
The owner, who posted photos of the fire-damaged device (above), expressed concern that it may have been the side of his face or his leg that fell victim to the explosion rather than his vehicle.
Samsung had vowed to get to the bottom of the mystery and enlisted Fire Investigations UK to take a look at the device.
External energy
It seems somebody was telling a few porkies. The FIUK found that the fire was not caused by the device itself, but by 'external energy.'
"The device was not responsible for the cause of the fire," wrote investigator Peter Mansi. "The energy source responsible for generating the heat has been determined as external to the device."
Additionally, the investigation stated: "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."
Stupid mistake
This revelation has caused the owner of the phone to confess that all was not well with his original story.
In a retraction on the same forum, the Dublin student who posts as dilo2k10 wrote: "I would like to retract my original statement.
"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.
"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."
So it seems that a pal of Mr dilo2k10's may have soaked the device and sought to repair the damage with a quick blast in the microwave. Clever.
