smartphone 22 articles

A new lawsuit filed against Samsung Sept. 15 indicates the Korean Tech giant’s lithium-ion battery problems may not be entirely over. The lawsuit, filed by Long Island resident Diane Chung, claims her brand-new Samsung Galaxy Note 9 caught fire inside her purse just days after she bought the smartphone. The complaint alleges that Ms. Chung was in a building elevator when she noticed her phone had become “extremely hot” after using it. After putting the Samsung phone back in her purse, she “heard a whistling and screeching sound” followed by “thick smoke,” according to Newsweek. Ms. Chung burned her fingers ... Read More

A lithium-ion battery inside an air traveler’s e-cigarette caused some alarm at the Savannah-Hilton Head International Airport recently when the carry-on bag containing the device began to smoke at the security checkpoint. Surveillance video at the time of the incident shows passengers and Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers going about business as usual when one of the bags on the x-ray conveyor belt erupts in clouds of smoke. The incident caused one nearby passenger to yell in distress while others looked on nervously, unsure of what was happening. TSA lead security officer Darrell Wade is seen rushing over to the ... Read More

A New Mexico man whose Chinese-made ZTE smartphone caught fire as it was charging overnight has filed a lawsuit against a U.S. subsidiary of the manufacturer, alleging the phone’s defective design burned his home and all his possessions and left him with crippling burn injuries. According to the Albuquerque Journal, plaintiff Jose Perez filed the lawsuit in the Judicial District Court in Santa Fe last week. He seeks compensatory and punitive damages for economic losses, future medical expenses, and future pain and suffering, among damages. Mr. Perez says he was charging his ZTE Zmax Pro Blu phone overnight next to ... Read More

An Alabama woman whose LG smartphone burst into flames is seeking compensation from the manufacturer, claiming the flaming device burned a hole in her living room carpet all the way to the wood floor beneath. Jefferson County resident Sharon Steele told Birmingham’s ABC 33 that she had the phone for about a month before something went horribly wrong with the device. “I heard sizzling, popping. I unplugged it and it got worse so I threw it on the floor. I didn’t want it to blow up in my face,” Steele told ABC 33. The phone burst into flames, so Ms. ... Read More

Samsung phones are once again taking heat for a battery defect that could lead to fire and burn hazards. The United States Consumer Product Safety Commission issued a recall last week on batteries placed in approximately 10,000 refurbished AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note 4 cellphones by FedEX Supply Chain. “FedEx and Samsung have determined that some of the recalled batteries are counterfeit and show anomalies that can lead the batteries to overheat. The batteries are non-OEM, which means they were not supplied as original equipment by the phone’s manufacturer, Samsung,” according to a CPSC release. The refurbished cellphones were distributed by FedEx ... Read More

Distracted driving is now a deadly epidemic in the U.S. Preliminary data from the National Safety Council shows that that 40,200 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2016 –  a 6 percent rise over 2015 totals and a staggering 14 percent increase in traffic deaths since 2014. A two-year jump like this has not been seen in 50 years. Distracted driving is also incredibly expensive. The estimated cost of motor-vehicle deaths, injuries, and property damage last year was $432.5 billion – a 12 percent increase from 2015. Distraction makes every individual an inferior driver. But one technology and analytics ... Read More

A New Jersey police officer enforcing the state’s ban on distracted driving last week was broadsided by a driver who ran a stop sign while he was using a navigation app on his smartphone. According to News 12 New Jersey, Officer Michael Moore of the Howell Police Department was patrolling the streets in a marked police car as part of an effort to enforce the state’s crackdown on distracted driving when a Subaru failed to stop at stop sign and slammed into the side of his vehicle. “It happened that fast. I saw a flash, heard the crash and the ... Read More

A Florida State University student talked to the press recently about his Google smartphone bursting into flames on a desk near his bed. Joseph Zilonka, an FSU freshman, told WCTV Tallahassee that he woke up Jan. 31 to a crackling noise followed by his Google Nexus 6p smartphone bursting into flames. “I didn’t expect this kind of phone to do this,” he told WCTV. Mr. Zilonka said before he went to bed, he connected the Google phone to its charger next to the bed like he does every night. Only that night, instead of being wakened by an alarm, it ... Read More

A California teen and his friend narrowly escaped injury when his Dell Inspiron laptop burst into flames while charging on the living room sofa, then continued to explode over and over again. Footage from the Thousand Oak, California, home’s security cameras captured the explosions, which start as Devon Johnson, 18, is sitting on the living room couch with a friend eating pizza and playing video games. The Dell laptop charging on the sofa next to them starts shooting black smoke then almost immediately becomes engulfed in a giant fireball. The explosion is so bright that it triggers the security camera ... Read More

Samsung Electronics said Monday that flaws in the design and production of the lithium-ion batteries used in its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones made the devices prone to catch fire. The Korean electronics giant’s explanation of the battery problem, which prompted two Note 7 recalls and resulted in the quick demise of the device, steered blame away from the phone’s hardware and software, leaving some industry experts doubtful of the company’s findings. Samsung said in a press conference that it tested more than 200,000 smartphone and 30,000 lithium-ion batteries and found different defects in each of the two kinds of batteries ... Read More