On September 2nd Samsung acknowledged issues with the battery inside the Note 7 handsets. There were several reports of faulty batteries going around where the phone (or the battery) exploded. Samsung said it had found a problem with the battery in some of the phones and was halting sales in 10 countries, including South Korea and the U.S.  Samsung said phones in China don’t appear to be affected because it used another battery supplier but was unclear if models sold in China would be recalled. All sales outlet for the Note 7 have followed suit and halted sales, pulled the device form their sites, and offer exchanges. I hear Sprint is offering up similar devices for customers to use during the recall process. To give you a better picture of the situation here is a video to checkout.

Imagine this happening to you while the phone is in your pocket?

A Galaxy Note 7 owner in South Korea, who asked that he not be identified, told CNN Money he was awoken in the middle of the night when he “smelled something burning.” His phone had melted and he used his older model Samsung, Galaxy Note 2, to take photos that he posted online. (source: CNN)  A south Korean news agency Yonhap had reported five claims around the world of Note 7s catching fire while charging while unverified photos posted on social media showed charred devices.

There have been 35  reported cases of this happening and Samsung has jumped in quickly and announced a full recall of the the Note 7 phablet. Samsung has stated that they will replace all of the phones that were already purchased and they have already setup an exchange program. The exchange program goes as follows.
United States customers have 2 options

• Exchange a Note 7 for a new, fixed Note 7
• Exchange a Note 7 for a Galaxy S7 Edge and replacement of any Note 7 specific accessories with a refund on the price difference between devices.

Samsung mentioned that the Note 7 for Note 7 exchange could start next week but nothing so far as to when the Note 7 for S7 Edge will start. ALSO, Samsung is giving Note 7 buyer a $25 gift card or credit off of their phone bill for  their troubles. Of course this only applies if you are swapping out phones with another Samsung Note or S line of phones.

The program will be implemented in conjunction with your carrier so visit your carrier to get the ball rolling.

The Note 7 Recall is definitely a huge blow to Samsung. All you Apple fans can start talking your junk now to no real avail since Samsung is obviously not going anywhere.  Samsung’s response to the problem is not what Apple has done in the past which chalking issues up to software related problems. If you think that is an error feel free to comment. (Just throwing that out there…lol) Samsung stock as dipped to a 2-week low (reuters) while the Apple iPhone 7 is expected to be announced next week in San Francisco. So Samsung needs to get moving or they stand to lose money by the iPhone 7 eating into the market. The cellphone business being one that still locks people in for a period of time.

So if you waited to buy the Note 7 or were warming up to it… You will have to wait. Although I have been hearing that September 30th may be a day you may be able to buy your new, cool, fixed Note 7. As the issue just seems to be a battery issue. Changing batteries and/or battery carrier would fix things just nicely. I can imagine the process being accepting all the bad phones and just changing the battery. Although I will say people have been finding issues with the phone. Mentioning that the phone lags and very fast battery drainage. This mainly though came from T-mobile customers. I have not seen all of the complaints has of yet but these were the ones that stood out.  Oh carriers are waiving their restocking fee…  ooooh. (sarcasm) I cannot  forget also customers still get to keep their free year of Netlflix.

UPDATE:

I have heard from a source close to Samsung that the phones will be available for exchange starting next week. Samsung will not be doing it directly so this process will happen at the carrier level.

Sept 6, 2016

Note 7 related hotel fire…

Another Note 7 has been reported as exploding. The owner was an Australian man in a hotel no doubt. The explosion caused about $1400 in damages in the hotel room. The man was apparently on a business trip when his room almost went up in flames.

“My brand new Note7 exploded this morning while I was still asleep, it was plugged in and charging,” he said. “Phone completely fried, I can’t eject the SIM tray to retrieved [sic] my SIM or the SD card. I was using original charger and cable if you are wondering. Charred the hotel room bed sheet and the carpet when I whacked it down to the floor, burnt one of my finger [sic] while doing that too. “[Samsung] told me this is the first case in Australia,” he added. “I have gone to Samsung store and they gave me a loan device, and have been promised that they will take care of the hotel damages bill.” (Numerous sources. Just google it.)

Though still insure of this story which originated on Reddit where the man posted the story.

Possible House Fire Caused by Note 7

FAA Plans to Ban the Note 7

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is considering a ban on the Note 7. So passenger will not be able to take their Note 7 device on planes. Now the FAA is still thinking about it. The Transportation Security Administration and US Airlines are talking about it also. If these all decide to label the Note 7 as a hazardous product, passengers will be, I repeat, prohibited from carrying a Note 7 on board of upcoming flights. The actual details are still confusing which means they have no clue yet what they wanna do. Since Samsung has not made an official recall of the phone they feel the need to take some action. If you are yet still confused. Yes Samsung has recalled the Note 7 but they have not taken the official steps which is getting the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission involved. It just sounds like a lot of time wasted going through red tape and paperwork to me. So Samsung has initiated their own recall. But the official way to do it apparently makes sure no one else can still sell the possibly defective Note 7s still out there.

Sept 12, 2016

6 Year Old Boy from Brooklyn Burned by a Note 7

Sept 15, 2016

Signs of ‘Safe’ Note 7s

New Galaxy Note 7 phones will have boxes with a giant S mark on them to show you have the “safe” phone. Which is an indication to help ease the public’s concerns about having to get another phone with a defective battery. We all know how the insurance replacements go. You pay money for your replacement normally to quite often get a refurbish unit. Anyone that is not new to the cellphone game knows this. To add there may be another indication of ‘hitting the safe spot’ is the battery indicator which supposedly will have a green fill instead of the default white. This detail though I would not trust 100% cause this can be easily changed or mimicked so if you buy your Note 7 online be careful. (–source zdnet.com & pocketnow.com)

President of Samsung US Apologizes

Sept 19th is the day to start looking for safe Note 7s while the 21st is the latest.

PhoneArena.com setup a poll…

 

DECEMBER 10, 2016

UPDATE:

The Note 7 had several reoccurring fire incidence so Samsung went through official channels & started the recall. Now Samsung you could tell was trying to avoid this to preserve the Note 7’s ability to sell but they had no choice due to the reoccurring events. Samsung has made several attempts at getting these phones out of people’s hands, the replacement program being its main effort. Note 7s in the US are restricted from charging past 60 percent and receive a pop-up notification about the recall every time the screen is turned on. In Canada, Note 7s are about to have all wireless networking disabled so they won’t even be able to make a phone call.

Months later and a large part of the public still wants a Note 7. There are numerous reviews of the Note 7 that despite the battery fire issues deem the Note 7 the better phone among current options available. This being the case, other phones have been released by other manufacturers while consumers look for some equivalent option. Some make claim the LG V20 being equal without pen features. A true Note user knows better as the S-Pen just adds so much more to the device.

Note 7 owners basically just did not want to give up their phones. Samsung says that 93 percent of US-sold Note 7 units have now been returned, which means there are about 133,000 phones still out there. 

So what now?

Samsung will now render the remaining Galaxy Note 7s in the US useless and inoperable with an update for the recalled smartphone. Anyone getting any Apple thoughts in the brain? (This though is intentional where Apple just messed up.)  On Dec 9th Samsung confirmed that it plans to release an update on December 19th that will be distributed across all major carriers within 30 days. So what’s happening is this update will disable charging of the phones all together which will eventually render all updated phones useless.

Now this sounds good an all but I can literally think of a way around this which I will not mention here in this blog but anyone that is familiar with jailbreaking & rooting will already know what I mean.

If you must break down & give up the ghost. Note 7 owners still rocking the cool phone can still return your phones or exchange them for other Samsung devices.

If there is anymore updates I will keep you posted… Keep checking.