Search Results for: samsung

Sigh. The Galaxy Note7. What should have been a wildly popular and successful smartphone has become synonymous with failure, and fodder for jokes. As everyone knows, the phone has been exploding and catching fire, creating serious risk for consumers.

The phone was eventually recalled and replaced, although that process was bungled by Samsung -- there was much confusion. Not to mention, there was criticism that the recall was not initially an official one. With the issues seemingly in the rear view mirror, the scandal was over, right? Wrong. Now, the replacement models are reportedly exploding too. Enough is apparently enough. Following rumors that production of the phone was being ceased, today, Samsung orders the global shutdown of both sales and exchanges of Galaxy Note7.

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The Galaxy Note7 has been nothing short of an unmitigated disaster for Samsung. Problems with exploding batteries wiped billions off the value of the company and led to a recall, but it soon transpired that even replacement handsets were problematic, with a number of reports of replacement handsets overheating, catching fire, or exploding.

Now South Korean news agency Yonhap reports that Samsung has temporarily suspended production of the flagship Android smartphone. It's a move that will unnerve investors, but one that is being carried out in conjunction with safety regulators from South Korea, the United States and China.

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The Galaxy Note7 is back on sale in some markets, but that does not mean that the new units Samsung is shipping are perfectly safe. A passenger on a Southwest Airlines flight says that his replacement Galaxy Note7 caught fire, causing minor damage to the plane and the flight to get canceled.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has opened an investigation, basically to find out whether another recall is in order. "If it’s the fixed phone and it started to smoke in his pocket, I’m going to guess there’ll be another recall", says the agency's former executive director, Pamela Gilbert. Does a second recall sound unlikely at this stage? No.

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Things are slowly but surely starting to move in the right direction again for Samsung and its troublesome Galaxy Note7 flagship. Most affected units have been sent back, with the vast majority of customers opting to have their device replaced with a "new" -- or safe -- one. The only main thing left to do for Samsung is make the Galaxy Note7 available again.

During the recall, Samsung paused sales of the Galaxy Note7 to avoid introducing even more potentially dangerous units on the market. But now that there are enough safe Galaxy Note7 devices in stock, potential customers in some markets can get their hands on the flagship again.

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Consumer group Which? has conducted a series of battery life tests on the latest smartphones, and the news is not good for the iPhone 7. Pitted against the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, Apple's latest handset came in last place... and by some distance.

In terms of call time, the Samsung Galaxy S7 lasted for more than twice as long as the iPhone 7, while the HTC 10 had two and a half times the longevity. Things were not quite as bad for the iPhone 7 in internet usage tests... but it was still found bringing up the rear.

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Samsung can't seem to catch a break with the Galaxy Note7 recall. For a while it looked like the replacement devices would put the exploding battery concerns to bed, but now it appears that the saga may be far from over.

The new batteries may no longer be a fire hazard, but follow-up reports from customers who have received replacement Galaxy Note7 units in South Korea reveal that they come with their own set of issues.

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Another day, another development in the Galaxy Note7 recall. This time, Samsung indicates that it is making good progress getting US customers to turn in their affected units, after a report by Apteligent released earlier this month revealed consistent usage rates following the recall program's introduction.

Samsung says that it has exchanged "about half" of the Galaxy Note7 units that it has sold in the US. The company has already shipped 500,000 safe devices in the country, and is believed to have sold around one million units before the recall news broke.

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We have heard lots of stories about exploding Galaxy Note7 devices, but how many of them are actually true? In another episode of the Galaxy Note7 recall saga, Samsung has revealed that it has received multiple false reports from consumers claiming that their new smartphone caught fire, suggesting that, perhaps, there are fewer destroyed units in the wild than we have been lead to believe.

Samsung says that it has dealt with 26 such reports from alleged Galaxy Note7 owners, and that in 12 cases it has been unable to find an issue with those devices. What about the rest of the claims?

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Solid state drives have dramatically changed the PC market. Long gone are the need for slow mechanical hard drives that create irritating noise. SSDs are silent, not to mention both faster and more energy efficient too.

NVMe-based M.2 SSDs are the latest and greatest, as they overcome the SATA speed limitations. Not to mention, since they are smaller than a 2.5 inch drive, computer manufacturers can create even thinner machines. Samsung's 950 line of SSDs were extremely popular, as they offered tremendous speed and reliability. Today, the company launches the next generation -- the 960 EVO and PRO -- which are only available in M.2 NVMe.

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Samsung recalled the Galaxy Note7 earlier this month following reports of exploding batteries, and promised to replace the affected units free of charge. To make it easy for customers to find out whether their device should be exchanged, the company has released an official IMEI lookup tool that informs them if the built-in battery is safe to use or not.

And for those who receive a replacement unit -- and for new users -- Samsung has added some visual identifiers to help folks figure out if they are looking at a revised (safe to use) Galaxy Note7. There are two major changes, over the affected units, that you should look for.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note7 is a new phone that’s on fire. Literally. The phones are catching on fire, forcing Samsung to make the unprecedented move to recall all of the phones from around the world.

Cell phone batteries occasionally explode because they utilize lithium ion battery packs. The liquid lithium is highly flammable. Modern phones are designed incredibly thin, so there’s only a slight barrier between the positive and negative sides of a battery. If that barrier is punctured, electricity flows in and heats up the flammable lithium. That’s when an explosion occurs.

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As you’ll no doubt know by now, Samsung has recalled its Galaxy Note7 smartphone because there is a danger of the battery exploding. An OTA update that limits the charging capacity of the battery has been issued which should reduce the danger, but if you own a Note7, you need to be looking to return it as quickly as possible.

The chances of your phone catching fire are slim, but even so you don’t really want to be carrying what is potentially a small bomb around with you. Here’s how you can check if you’re at risk.

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A civil lawsuit filed in a Northern California federal court has accused Samsung and LG of having a clandestine agreement not to poach each other's employees in the US.

The suit was filed by a former LG sales manager who is accusing Samsung and LG of antitrust violations and believes the two South Korean companies have worked together to drive down employee wages. This case is reminiscent of the one which was filed against Apple, Google and other tech companies last year that resulted in a $415 million settlement.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note7 smartphone has received universally favorable reviews, and looked to be a big hit for the South Korean company… and then came the news that some devices had exploded, leading to a massive recall.

Since then, in addition to the estimated $5 billion the recall is expected to cost, Samsung has seen $14.3 billion wiped of its market capitalization. There have been stories of children being injured by exploding devices, cars being set on fire, airlines warning passengers not to take the device on flights, and so on. It's a major catastrophe for Samsung.

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The Galaxy Note7 recall is a huge mess. Samsung may be giving customers the option to have affected devices replaced, but there is no word as to how long it will take before every faulty Galaxy Note7 is exchanged. But the biggest problem is that users who want to take Samsung up on its exchange offer still have to live with a device that could explode and cause some real damage after that.

The only way to prevent that from happening is to stop using the device, but for customers who have the Galaxy Note7 as their only smartphone that is clearly not an option. The good news is that Samsung will come up with a solution to keep them going until a replacement device arrives.

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