Samsung investigates Galaxy S III explosion

Seoul: Samsung Electronics said it was investigating reports that one of its flagship Galaxy S III smartphones exploded in a user's car in Ireland.

Samsung launched the phone, the strongest rival for Apple's iPhone, in Europe on May 29 and in the United States on Thursday. It plans to roll out the device in Samsung's lucrative home market in South Korea on Monday.

A Dublin-based consumer posted comments and photos on a web site on Wednesday (here), saying his Galaxy phone exploded while mounted on his car dashboard.

• 

  Samsung Electronics has launched the much-awaited Galaxy S III smartphone in India at a price of Rs 43,180. The phone features a 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels.

• 

  Weighing 133g, the phone is only 8.6 mm thick. The Samsung Galaxy S III runs Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, operating system.

• 

  The new Galaxy will be powered by Samsung's quad-core microprocessor. The phone comes engineered with a 2100mAh battery.

• 

  It has a "Direct call" feature, which means if you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and "Direct call" will dial their number.

• 

  It has an 8 megapixel rear camera with flash and zero shutter lag and a 1.9 megapixel front camera, which are believed to offer users a wide variety of camera features and face recognition related options.

• 

  The Exynos 4 Quad, based on British chip designer ARM Holdings Cortex A9 technology, enables more tasks in a shorter period of time.

• 

  The Galaxy S III has 16GB of itnernal storage space. The memory of the Galaxy S III is expandable up to 64GB, using a microSD card. The phone is engineered with a 2100 mAh battery.

• 

  Initially, the Galaxy S III will be available in Pebble Blue and Marble White. Samsung says to introduce a variety of additional color options later.

• 

  The connectivity options icnlude WiFi a/b/g/n, NFC and Bluetooth 4.0(LE).

• 

  The Galaxy S III features 'S Voice,' the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words.

• 

  t has a 'Smart Alert' feature. The phone is claimed to save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; the phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle.

images

Samsung said it was investigating reports that one of Galaxy S III phones exploded in a user\'s car in Ireland.

"There's no confirmation it was a fault with the phone. It may actually have been caused by a combination of my car mount and my car's heating system," the consumer wrote.

There have been other reports of Samsung smartphones overheating or exploding. In March, a Korean schoolboy reported that a spare battery for his Galaxy S II exploded in his back pocket. Samsung said then that massive external pressure or force caused the explosion.

"Samsung is aware of this issue (in Ireland)," the company said on its official blog. "Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously."

A spokeswoman said on Friday the company was still looking into the matter.

Heat issues have been reported with other devices. In March, influential consumer watchdog Consumer Reports said Apple's latest iPad tablet threw off a lot more heat than the previous version, lending weight to complaints on Internet forums that the device could get uncomfortably warm after heavy use.

Also See

• Samsung opens up Galaxy S III source code
• Samsung Galaxy S III comes to India at Rs 43,180
• Tale of the tape: Samsung's Galaxy S III vs S II vs S

(For updates you can share with your friends, follow IBNLive on Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Pinterest)