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posted by janrinok on Monday October 10 2016, @09:21PM   Printer-friendly
from the I'd-phone-to-complain-but... dept.

"We are temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters," a company spokesperson said. Production of the phone has been temporarily suspended, a person familiar with the matter told CNN on Monday.

The development is the latest in a string of embarrassing setbacks for Samsung over the Note 7, one of its flagship smartphones. It comes aftercell phone carriers in the United States and Australia said they would stop offering replacement Note 7s following concerns that the new versions are no safer from fire risk than the originals.

Soon after the Galaxy Note 7 hit stores in August, some users reported that their phones were catching fire. Samsung (SSNLF) recalled about 2.5 million of the devices worldwide last month, blaming faulty batteries for overheating the phones and causing them to ignite.

Replacement phones were supposed to solve the issue, and users started trading in their old devices. But some customers have been reporting the same dangerous problems with their new phones.

In the past week, an American user reported his replacement phone caught fire, even though it wasn't plugged in. And on Wednesday, smoke started billowing from a replacement Galaxy Note 7 aboard a Southwest Airline plane before it departed, prompting the flight's cancellation.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has said it is investigating the incident on the plane.

TuanAnh Nguyen, a research analyst at Canalys, said the production halt would cost Samsung billions of dollars in lost sales over the next six to nine months. It should now abandon the product entirely, he said. "Samsung needs to quickly put an end to the Note 7 line so as not to get deeper into trouble with recalls and faulty devices which will tarnish its brand," Nguyen said.

UPDATE:

Official: Samsung Halts All Sales of Galaxy Note 7, Recommends Powering Down and Getting a Refund |

Submitted via IRC for exec

Moments ago, Samsung confirmed that they are halting all sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 across the globe. Not only that, but they are recommending that owners of the phone turn them off and “take advantage of the remedies available.” Those remedies are returning the phone at the place of purchase for a refund …

Source: http://www.droid-life.com/2016/10/10/official-samsung-halts-sales-galaxy-note-7-recommends-powering-getting-refund/

All sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7 have now been halted.


Previously:

Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 due to 'Exploding' Batteries
Florida Man Sues Samsung Over Galaxy Note 7 that Exploded in His Pants
Samsung Faces the Prospect of a Second Galaxy Note 7 Recall


Original Submission

Related Stories

Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 due to ‘Exploding’ Batteries 4 comments

Two Soylentils wanted to fill us in on Samsung's Note 7.

Every shipped Galaxy Note 7 is subject to a battery-related recall:

Looks like Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 can give you some bang for your buck after all—Samsung will be issuing a global recall for all 2.5 million of the phones it has shipped so far, says Reuters. Some of the phones shipped with faulty batteries that could catch on fire. Details of the recall program will be available as soon as Samsung works out the details with different carriers in different countries, and customers will be able to exchange their phones for models with non-faulty batteries or get their money back entirely.

Samsung provided the following statement to Ars and other publications:

"In response to recently reported cases of the new Galaxy Note 7, we conducted a thorough investigation and found a battery cell issue. To date (as of September 1) there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers' safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7. For customers who already have Galaxy Note 7 devices, we will voluntarily replace their current device with a new one over the coming weeks."

As reported by CNN Samsung has decided to pull a Dell and ship batteries in the latest addtion to their flagship lineup - The Note 7. (A shame - I was going to buy two). Samsung has issued this statement, which could have been shortened to "We're sorry we set some shit on fire. Here, have a new one on the house". All prompted by this video.


Original Submission #1
Original Submission #2

Florida Man Sues Samsung Over Galaxy Note 7 that Exploded in His Pants 37 comments

Samsung is facing a lawsuit from a Galaxy Note 7 owner who endured an exploding phone in his pants just hours before Samsung began to cooperate with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on an official recall:

After news emerged that Samsung had received 92 reports in the US about the battery in its Galaxy Note 7 phone overheating -- including 26 cases involving burns -- it seemed only time before someone would contact a lawyer.

Now, Reuters reports, 28-year-old Jonathan Strobel of Boca Raton, Florida, has filed what may be the first lawsuit in the US involving the Note 7's combustible battery. Strobel's suit, filed Friday, says his Note 7 exploded in his front pants pocket on September 9. This allegedly happened in a Costco in Palm Beach Gardens, where Strobel works. "His right thigh has a deep second-degree burn the size of the phone," Keith Pierro, Strobel's lawyer, told me, adding that Strobel's left hand was also burnt. (He apparently reached for his overheating phone with his opposite hand.)

The Palm Beach Post reported that Palm Beach Gardens Fire Rescue described the phone as having melted inside Strobel's pants.

The complaint says that Strobel suffered "sustained serious and permanent bodily injuries resulting in pain and suffering, permanent impairment, disability, mental anguish, inconvenience, loss of the enjoyment of life, expense of medical care and treatment, expense of hospitalization, lost wages, and ability to earn wages in the past and to be experienced in the future."


Original Submission

Samsung Faces the Prospect of a Second Galaxy Note 7 Recall 6 comments

Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 troubles may not be over, following another incendiary incident aboard an aircraft:

Samsung Electronics Co. could face an unusual second recall of its Note 7 smartphones if one that caught fire aboard an airliner this week is a replacement device as its owner says, two former U.S. safety officials said.

The Federal Aviation Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission are investigating Wednesday's incident, when a passenger's phone emitted smoke on a Southwest Airlines Co. plane readying for departure from Louisville, Kentucky. A flight attendant doused it with a fire extinguisher, and the plane was evacuated without injury. "If it's the fixed phone and it started to smoke in his pocket, I'm going to guess there'll be another recall," said Pamela Gilbert, a former executive director of the consumer agency. "That just doesn't sound right."

Samsung has been engulfed in crisis since the Note 7 smartphones began to burst into flames just days after hitting the market in August. The Suwon, South Korea-based company announced last month that it would replace all 2.5 million phones sold globally at that point. Samsung said it had uncovered the cause of the battery fires and that it was certain new phones wouldn't have the same flaws. [...] Samsung and U.S. officials announced the [first] recall after 92 reports of batteries overheating in the U.S., with 26 cases involving burns.

Previously:

Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 due to 'Exploding' Batteries
Florida Man Sues Samsung Over Galaxy Note 7 that Exploded in His Pants


Original Submission

Samsung 'Blocks' Exploding Note 7 Parody Videos 22 comments

Samsung 'Blocks' Exploding Note 7 Parody Videos

Samsung appears to have filed copyright claims against YouTube videos mocking its recalled Galaxy Note 7 handset. Many gamers have showcased a modification to video game Grand Theft Auto V, in which sticky bombs were switched with exploding Samsung phones.

But some have reported that their videos have been blocked on YouTube following a copyright complaint.

Samsung has not yet responded to repeated BBC requests for comment.

Critics have warned that trying to remove gamers' videos will only draw more attention to them.

One US gamer - known as DoctorGTA - said restrictions had been put on his YouTube account as a result of Samsung's complaint. "It's going to take three months to get the strike removed from my channel... I got my live stream taken away," he said in a video.

Game Modification Ridicules Samsung Galaxy Note 7

The gamer HitmanNiko (non-Cloudflare link), and perhaps others, modified the sticky bomb weapon in Grand Theft Auto V , giving it the appearance of the trouble-prone Samsung Galaxy Note 7 mobile phone. Reportedly, Samsung sent a DMCA notice to YouTube, requesting that one of the videos showing the mod in use be taken offline, and YouTube, initially, complied. The video (N.B. shows violence) is currently available; according to the uploader, "YouTube finally put it back up."

coverage:

related:
Samsung Recalls Galaxy Note 7 due to 'Exploding' Batteries

Samsung Faces the Prospect of a Second Galaxy Note 7 Recall

UPDATE: Samsung Halts Galaxy Note 7 Production


Original Submission #1Original Submission #2

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @09:25PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @09:25PM (#412646)

    Humans lives aren't worth shit. Reputation is the only thing that matters. That's why I logged in to post motherfuckees!

    • (Score: 2) by janrinok on Tuesday October 11 2016, @12:54AM

      by janrinok (52) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 11 2016, @12:54AM (#412731) Journal

      Human lives are important, which is why they are recalling and replacing as required, However, they are still a company and they need to carry out damage limitation, hence they want to limit any adverse 'tarnishing' of the brand. The two things can occur at the same time and doing both is a sensible option.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:04PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:04PM (#413089)

      Yeah, i'd rather buy products from a manufacturer who didn't care about their brand and wouldn't recall their defective products.

    • (Score: 2) by davester666 on Wednesday October 12 2016, @05:14AM

      by davester666 (155) on Wednesday October 12 2016, @05:14AM (#413282)

      You have definitely tarnished the brand of "Anonymous Coward"

  • (Score: 4, Funny) by Bot on Monday October 10 2016, @09:26PM

    by Bot (3902) on Monday October 10 2016, @09:26PM (#412647) Journal

    They called it galaxy but it is more like a nova.

    --
    Account abandoned.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @09:29PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @09:29PM (#412649)

      Mi teléfono no va, señor.

    • (Score: 3, Funny) by bob_super on Monday October 10 2016, @09:32PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Monday October 10 2016, @09:32PM (#412650)

      Samsung Pinto !

      • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:13PM

        by inertnet (4071) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @08:13PM (#413095) Journal

        Get it while it's hot!

        • (Score: 2) by danomac on Tuesday October 11 2016, @11:27PM

          by danomac (979) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @11:27PM (#413160)
          Will there be a fire sale?
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Techwolf on Monday October 10 2016, @09:43PM

    by Techwolf (87) on Monday October 10 2016, @09:43PM (#412653)

    On Telegram, i saw the aftermath of a drama fight. One side it was clearly the charging circuit due to some evidence of that. While the other guy said it was defective cheap Chinese batteries Samsung used.

    My take is Samsung is desperate to minimized the cost of replacing all the note 7 due to a design defect in the charging/power chip that may have been subcontracted to the lowest bidder that "cheated" on it. Meaning they copied some design by reversed engineering a chip.

  • (Score: 2) by Techwolf on Monday October 10 2016, @09:46PM

    by Techwolf (87) on Monday October 10 2016, @09:46PM (#412654)

    There is a bad link. "Samsung (SSNLF) recalled about 2.5 million" The SSNLF points to a 404, symbol not found. "http://money.cnn.com/quote/quote.html?symb=SSNLFsource=story_quote_link"

  • (Score: 5, Funny) by VLM on Monday October 10 2016, @10:00PM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday October 10 2016, @10:00PM (#412657)

    Apple takes out the headphone jack

    Samsung installs cigarette lighter

    Balance restored to the force

    • (Score: 3, Interesting) by JNCF on Monday October 10 2016, @11:09PM

      by JNCF (4317) on Monday October 10 2016, @11:09PM (#412694) Journal

      Apple lost jack plug.
      Samsung found DC lighter.
      The Force found balance.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @10:26PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 10 2016, @10:26PM (#412677)

    Hopefully this fiasco will point out to device makers the significant advantages to an easily user replaceable battery.

    Had the battery been replaceable, all that would need replacing was, hmm, just the battery cartridge.

    • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:09AM

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:09AM (#412736)

      false. the charger circuit is never inside the battery and that could easily be at fault, too.

      but I do agree, taking away user-swappable batteries was evil and there was NO other reason but vendor lock-in and profits.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @04:54AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @04:54AM (#412815)

        The other reason is always-on population tracking.

        Especially of white mmaaallleess

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @10:25AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @10:25AM (#412885)

        taking away user-swappable batteries was evil and there was NO other reason but vendor lock-in and profits.

        Where profits means to lock in the one item in the phone guaranteed to wear out over time such that an owner is forced to replace the otherwise good hardware because the battery wore out and no longer holds enough energy to run for more than half a day.

  • (Score: 2) by jasassin on Monday October 10 2016, @11:42PM

    by jasassin (3566) <jasassin@gmail.com> on Monday October 10 2016, @11:42PM (#412707) Homepage Journal

    Is that a Galaxy 7 exploding in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?

    --
    jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday October 10 2016, @11:47PM

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Monday October 10 2016, @11:47PM (#412710) Homepage Journal

    Winter's coming soon.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Tuesday October 11 2016, @12:22AM

    by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @12:22AM (#412718)

    They did not intend for this to happen. Sounds like the problem phones are maybe 0.001% of those shipped, and for the updated units even less. Other than spontaneously catching fire they are good phones from what I hear.

    A few years back I worked on the charging code at Qualcomm. It's pretty simple, you measure the voltage here to see how much current the battery is taking, and you measure the temperature there to see how hot the battery is getting. Battery isn't taking current, it's getting full so back off the current. Battery gets too hot back off the current, gets too cold up the current. I didn't write the code, I was troubleshooting a problem that turned out to be a bad temperature table from a thermistor maker. Thermistors are highly non-linear, you have to use a table to convert resistance to temperature. You can't interpolate, you have to use the table.

    CSB. My last few years at Qualcomm I was kind of a roving troubleshooter. Looking at this charging code it was a state machine. A very sweet, very clean chunk of code. A couple months after finding the above problem I was working on an unrelated problem with a co-worker. I mentioned how sweet I thought the battery charging code was, she offered to introduce me to the author. I was Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, turns out the guy was about 4 doors down from my office. She introduced us, told the guy what I'd told her about his code, and I just kinda didn't know what to say.

    Made the guy's day though :) He was some mid-20s H1-B from India, I was a 40 something native who's job was to randomly fix hotspot bugs across all chip lines.

    --
    Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 2) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:12AM

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:12AM (#412737)

      if you charge a VERY cold battery, that's also very bad.

      I wonder if you checked if the batter was in RANGE before deciding to apply current to it (?)

      btw, all this is done via simple 5cent charger chips, these days. and measuring voltage is usually not a great idea since the voltage changes become nearly zero once you get to the magic 4.20 charge level, give or take.

      you have to watch current. voltage almost does not matter as long as you limit the max voltage into the cell.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Snotnose on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:35AM

        by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:35AM (#412765)

        Yep, you feed the battery a small amount of current for a few minutes and watch the temp. Part of why this guy's state machine was so sweet, he took into account all sorts of edge cases.

        --
        Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:53AM

      by TheGratefulNet (659) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @01:53AM (#412751)

      I don't feel at all bad for samsung. it was a long time coming.

      they are THE cheap-assed company of the decade. find the cheapest parts, many of them fake (fake china caps that last a year or two instead of 5 or more) and build circuits with them.

      don't know how many sammy lcd displays I fished out of the dumpster that were failed only because of using fake capacitors instead of real brand-name ones.

      sammy has been living on the edge like this for decades.

      serves them right that it finally caught up with them. I hope they suffer long and hard as a business. I seriously hope they do. would be some cosmic justice for them to lose a lot of market and re-think their cheap-ass parts supplier shenanigans.

      I would feel sorry for a small startup. I feel no sympathy for a giant like sammy who fucks up and finally gets public anger in return.

      --
      "It is now safe to switch off your computer."
      • (Score: 2, Informative) by Sarasani on Tuesday October 11 2016, @04:27AM

        by Sarasani (3283) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @04:27AM (#412810)

        they are THE cheap-assed company of the decade. find the cheapest parts, many of them fake (fake china caps that last a year or two instead of 5 or more) and build circuits with them.

        In fairness, has this not been a global trend affecting nearly every industry out there? Planned obsolescence has been going on for many decades. It is getting increasingly harder to find quality products that will not break before their time is up.

    • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:37AM

      by Snotnose (1623) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:37AM (#412766)

      I should also say, if the Samsung phone has a Qualcomm chip I'll bet not a single Samsung engineer looked at the charging code. Just like they never looked at any of the low level code, the chip vendor supplies all that and Samsung et all sticks Android on top of it and goes from there.

      --
      Why shouldn't we judge a book by it's cover? It's got the author, title, and a summary of what the book's about.
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:23AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:23AM (#412760)

    Jerks on Craigslist selling Galaxy Note 7 with "safe" battery. We should go on CL now and post a PSA to tell everyone that there is currently no safe Note 7.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:21PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:21PM (#412941)

      But, the modded battery IS safe. Nothing is said about the note itself I guess?
      Anyway IMHO it is stupid to sell it, you may get a new unit or even a better specced model.

  • (Score: 1, Troll) by drussell on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:27AM

    by drussell (2678) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:27AM (#412761) Journal

    I would never buy anything made by Samsung.

    It is all cheap Korean crap.

    • (Score: 2) by jasassin on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:46AM

      by jasassin (3566) <jasassin@gmail.com> on Tuesday October 11 2016, @02:46AM (#412770) Homepage Journal

      I would never buy anything made by Samsung.

      What Android phone would you buy if you had to?

      --
      jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0xE6462C68A9A3DB5A
      • (Score: 2) by drussell on Tuesday October 11 2016, @03:50PM

        by drussell (2678) on Tuesday October 11 2016, @03:50PM (#412971) Journal

        Well, personally, I sill haven't worked my way through my stack of Nokia 5300s yet, I can break a few more before I'll even consider a "smart" phone for myself and then I would probably get a Blackberry... However, to answer your question, since my favorite, Nokia, got "Microsofted", that doesn't work anymore, HTC is utter garbage, Samsung is crap, Sony has gone to shit over the years in multiple ways and I will never live in Apple's walled garden...

        What dos that leave? Maybe Motorola? Or perhaps one of the brands that are trickier to find around here but usually make really good stuff. Panasonic comes to mind. They still make really nice stuff. I'm still lamenting the loss of their plasma TV line (I sold many of those right up until they were discontinued) but I still really like Panasonic. Or, maybe ASUS, if I could find them...

        Years ago when ASUS still sent out those inch-thick monthly paper marketing catalogue things to their registered resellers, I remember seeing their phones in there when they started to make phones and they looked REALLY nice at the time so I would hope that they've kept up and still make good stuff, though I've never actually used one myself or ever even recall seeing one of theirs in person.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @09:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 11 2016, @09:36AM (#412862)
      Yeah do what I do, buy cheap Chinese crap instead (e.g. Huawei, Xiaomi). If you're going to get cheap crap, don't pay high prices for it ;).

      If you're getting an iPhone it might be hard to avoid Korean stuff.