News Samsung investigation blames batteries for Galaxy Note 7 fires

No surprise there. Expect for the interesting spelling of TÜV Rheinland.

 

This is why I hate the industry's move to non-replaceable batteries just to save a millimeter in thickness. If the user could just yank the battery out, no recall would've been necessary. Just send everyone new batteries. Problem solved. But nope, they molded the damn battery into the shell of the phone itself so they made millions of bombs that couldn't be defused.

Not to mention the whole planned obsolescence of the whole thing. I've never had a phone battery that could survive more than a couple years before needing replacement. I've still got my old S4 because it's a fine phone and I could replace the battery for $15, rather than the entire phone for several hundreds. But that's why they do it. Because they need to guarantee themselves another sale in a couple years by building devices that just can't last.

The whole thing is just really, really anti-consumer, I'm sorry.

 

Isn't this just a statement of the bleeding obvious.

 

We wouldn't have had such hilarious mods for some of our games without the note 7 problems though, so some good came of it all. And at least they identified the problem in the end, I think they were talking about magic curses at one point.

One of my favourite note 7 mods: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GhODn4FRoE

 

An Iranian centrifuge type, software attack by (insert your shady, Americanism here) was my personal favorite.

PS: Yes, I think that was joint American/Israeli operation. I wonder if The Donald will tell us officially?

 

Samsung can still use the Note 7 as a military equipment

 

Soldered in batteries have little to do with making thinner phones and everything to do with planned obsolescence. Smart Phones are essential to most people's lives. If it renders itself inoperable every twenty four months due to battery wear that's a more or less guaranteed sale of new hardware. It has the added bonus of crippling the second hand market as well, the number of people willing or able to cut out and solder in a new battery is tiny compared to the ones who will buy a plug in battery off Ebay.

 

So was it the batteries, or was it the batteries because of the phone being too tight?

I like non removable batteries, as I make a little pocket money on the side replacing them for friends and family.

 

It probably was the batteries. I've heard of a popular YouTube guy running his on charge for 3 months straight and running F@H on the Note 7 in his garage. It was so hot that he couldn't pick it up at times, but it didn't explode.

 

Glad I could help.

What would interest me personally is the question how Samsung will come back from this? The next Note will have to be absolutely brilliant to rebuild trust in the brand. And if there is just one report, even if found out later to be fake, of another exploding battery... well, that could mean game over for Samsung's Note series.

 

Don't like being picky, but it really winds me up when people pick up spelling mistakes and include a spelling mistake in their reply.

 

I would argue that it is actually pro-consumer. Consumers like to consume. Also, replaceable batteries may be convenient but what if you end up with a similarly badly made unit? And as demonstrated, even buying from the manufacturer doesn't guarantee safety.

 

Yes, but replacing a battery two or three times is a hell of a lot easier than replacing a phone two or three times.

 

Gosh darn it, and here's me keeping phones for at least 3 years before passing them to family to use for another year or 2.

 

I'm a bit ambivalent about replaceable/non-replaceable batteries...

On the occasions I've thought ahead enough to get spare batteries for a device for 'in the future'... the device has died and been replaced with something else. When I've gone looking for replacement batteries because the provided (removable) battery no longer holds charge acceptably... they always end up being knock-off junk that's no better in terms of capacity than the battery I replaced. Even when supposedly "genuine".

So I've given up.

Plus, I love my Xperia Z2. Took it up Fuji. A non-waterproof phone would not have survived as it rained constantly the whole time.