There was a time when the exploding iPhones got huge media coverage. Today the case is quite similar – the hottest phone on the market – the Galaxy S III – became even hotter to the point of catching fire.
The unpleasant incident occurred in Ireland. A white Galaxy S III bought from Carphone Warehouse was attached to a car mount when suddenly white flames started coming from its bottom. Here are some pictures:
"There have been recent online posts displaying pictures of a Samsung GALAXY SIII that appears to have heat-related damage at the bottom of the device. Samsung is aware of this issue and will begin investigating as soon as we receive the specific product in question.Once the investigation is complete, we will be able to provide further details on the situation. We are committed to providing our customers with the safest products possible and are looking at this seriously."
The dead Galaxy S III is all over the internet already. Luckily the guy is unharmed and he got a new phone directly from Samsung, while the problematic unit has been sent to the company's headquarters for detailed investigation.
If you own a Galaxy S III and it starts to overheat, feel free to share everything with us.
Nokia has released a special app for its Lumia series of smartphones. Currently available on the Windows Phone Marketplace, the Camera Extras app will give users four new shooting modes for their devices.
The new modes are Smart Group Shot, Action Shot, Self-timer and Panorama shot. The first one allows you to capture burst shots of a group of people and then automatically chooses the best one judging by face expressions, while the second allows you to capture fast-moving objects improving shooting speed. The other two are quite self-explanatory. For now only users in China and the United States are bound to get the update. Other countries will follow later in July. Head to the Windows Phone Marketplace to get the juicy app now.
Samsung is holding an Unpacked event in London and we're on site to bring you the latest news as the event unfolds. The event promises to reveal the "dawn of the new GALAXY" and we're thinking what you're thinking - the Galaxy S 3 is minutes away from going official. There's a chance we'll see more than the new flagship too.
And here's the live video stream from the event:
A Q&A posted on Nokia Connects answers a lot of interesting questions about the Nokia Lumia lineup. The Nokia Lumia 900, for example, will launch with improvements to the camera and sound systems, which will trickle down to the Lumia 800. Nokia claim they've optimized focus and color balance on the Nokia Lumia 900 compared to what we saw on the 800, but since the two use the same camera module, the improvements will be made available to the Lumia 800 as well. They will possibly be a part of the major camera update that brings the native panorama app. The Nokia WP7 top dog also features improved audio as a result of hardware and software changes. The software side of things will be made available to the Lumia 800 too. There were plenty of questions about connectivity - tethering, for example, will be available on the Lumia 610 and 900 at launch and come as an update to the 710 and 800. The Lumia phones don't have penta-band 3G (like Nokia's Symbian, uh, "Nokia OS" phones). An AT&T Lumia 900 will work in Europe though. The dual HSPA+ on the Lumia 900 shouldn't affect the battery life as the 900's battery is "optimised for HSPA+ and LTE" whatever that means. One thing the Lumia 900 has that its smaller sibling, the 800, won't get is GLONASS support, which often improves accuracy of the positioning services. Nokia are aware of some of the limited customization options of the Windows Phone platform and are working with Microsoft to fix them. There no plans for supporting Lumia phones in the Nokia Suite software, however, Zune works just fine they say.
If we got a nickel for every time a supposed image of the upcoming Galaxy S III was found, we would have a lot of nickels. Another one of such images for the Galaxy S III has surfaced but we must say, out of all that we have seen so far, this one seems to be the most convincing.
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A few things are in its favor. First of all, the design looks more like something Samsung would actually design and less like the fantasy of a Samsung fan somewhere with Photoshop on his PC. There are some interesting elements here worth noticing, such as the edge to edge display, loudspeaker placed at the bottom edge on the front, dedicated camera shutter and an incredibly thin profile.
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Poring over the screenshot, we see the date May 22 along with the mention of Samsung\\\'s Unpacked event, which could just be when the phone gets launched, assuming this image is real.
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Lastly, on the bottom right it mentions the name of Weber Shandwick, a PR company who has a history of working for Samsung.
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There are a couple of unusual things about the picture, though. First of all, the design is unlike the first two Galaxy S phones. The design of the S II was clearly an evolution of the first phone; it even had that bump on the back at the bottom. In comparison, this image of the Galaxy S III is very different from the first two phones, which strikes us as a bit odd.
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Secondly, the display has five icons on the screen near the bottom. The only Samsung phone that has five icons is the Galaxy Note, but only because it has a ginormous display that can accommodate them. Unless the Galaxy S III has a 5.0+ inch display, it would be unlikely that it would have five icons because then they would be too small. It also seems unlikely that Samsung would have two 5.0+ inch models at the same time. Clearly, that display segment is reserved for the Note.
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The presence of the camera shutter button also raises a few alarms in our head. When was the last time Samsung had a dedicated camera shutter button on an Android device?
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So even though this might seem like the most convincing image of the Galaxy S III so far, we would advise taking it with a pinch of salt. If it really is fake, to whoever that made it, well trolled.
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