Samsung's Quick Fix for Galaxy Note 7 Is No Full Recharge

CIO Magazin ^ | Posted September 13, 2016 | By Youkyung Lee.

[Swordmaker]

Samsung plans to issue a software update for its recalled Galaxy Note 7 smartphones that will prevent them from overheating by limiting battery recharges to 60 percent.

The front page of the Seoul Shinmun, a South Korean newspaper, carried a Samsung advertisement on Tuesday announcing the software update for any users of the Note 7 who may be disregarding its recall notice and continuing to use the smartphone.

"It is a measure to put consumer safety first but we apologize for causing inconvenience," the advertisement by Samsung Electronics said. The update for South Korean users will start Sept. 20, it said.

South Korean media earlier reported the software update plan, citing Samsung.

It was not clear when the update may be issued overseas. Also unclear was whether it will be forced on existing Note 7 phones regardless of user consent. Yonhap News Agency reported that Samsung is in talks with mobile carriers to deliver the same update to keep battery power at 60 percent or below at all times.

Samsung plans to begin issuing new Note 7s with batteries it says will not be prone to overheating starting Sept. 19 in South Korea. It recalled 2.5 million of the devices just two weeks after their launch after dozens of cases in which batteries exploded or caught fire. Samsung says the problem stems from a manufacturing glitch in the batteries.

Samsung is the world's largest smartphone maker, and analysts said the recall may leave a larger impact on its brand than earlier estimated. Aviation regulators and airlines have deemed the Note 7 a flight hazard and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering an official product recall.

The company has urged consumers to immediately turn off the phones and get them replaced with the new Note 7.

But implementing such a large-scale recall is a challenge. Consumers have to visit Samsung service centers or retailers twice -- once to get a replacement phone -- not a Galaxy Note 7 -- and have a safety check of their existing Note 7, and a second time to get a new Note 7. South Koreans are traveling for one of the two biggest national holidays of the year starting Wednesday, which complicates the recall plan.

Samsung offered free pizza to apologize to workers at mobile carrier shops who have been handling the unprecedented recall. Some will work during the holidays this week as Samsung plans to keep its service centers open.

Lee In-tae, an employee at a SK Telecom shop in central Seoul, said two pizzas were delivered to the shop during lunchtime on Tuesday with a letter from Samsung that included an apology for causing inconvenience with the recall. South Korean media said Samsung gave free pizzas to all employees at local handset shops and mobile carriers.

"We ate the pizza among a few of us," Lee said by phone. He and his co-workers have been handling complaints from Note 7 consumers. "We have to do all the recalls here, do all the work and listen to all the bad things. But it feels like (Samsung) is trying to make up for it with that," he said, referring to the pizza.

Samsung did not answer emails and calls seeking comment on Tuesday.

Analysts said the software update appears to be a last-ditch effort to contain the crisis.

Samsung "has to contain the battery explosions but people are not returning the phones," said Peter Yu, an analyst at BNP Paribas. "It is taking a desperate measure."

Keeping the battery level low could reduce the risk of overheating, but would be equivalent to getting a downgrade of a top-of-the-line phone, said Kim Young Woo, an analyst at SK Securities. The Galaxy Note series are among the most expensive handsets made by Samsung.

"It means that the phone has not been optimized before the release," Kim said.

Canada issued a recall notice on Monday.

The company did not say how many more battery fires in the Note 7 have been reported since Sept. 1, when 35 cases were confirmed. In announcing its recall, the Canadian government said one case was confirmed in Canada while Samsung received more than 70 reported cases in the United States alone.

[edhawk]

This is for South Korea only FYI

[Jonty30]

The LG V.20 seems interesting.

[Swordmaker]

I own the Note 7. Love the device, I plan on swapping it out when the replacements arrive. I will not switch to another phone, IMHO there is no other device out there that has the features i want.

You forgot several benefits:

• Handy fire starter
  
• Failure of Samsung Galaxy S7 Active's vaunted "Water Resistance" in multiple tests by Consumers Reports tests after huge TV advertising campaign highlighting "waterproof" feature.
• Source of multiple law suits for personal injury and property damage
• Discovery of KNOX passwords in unencrypted text file in easily locatable Library.

Remember this very thing happened to Apple two years ago.

Uh, no, it did not. Apple has never had to recall any iPhones.

If you are referring to "bendgate," there were exactly NINE iPhone 6 pluses returned to Apple because they were bent. . . and those were obviously bent deliberately by their owners trying to duplicate the YouTube demonstration. Apple replaced them. Consumers Reports found it took over 140 pounds of force to bend the iPhone 6 plus, but only 120 pounds of force to bend the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and 140 pounds to break it beyond usability, and 95 pounds of force to bend the LG phablet. Oops!

"Bendgate" was a total construct of FUD press hysteria.

The only time Apple ever recalled batteries was for Apple laptops when Sony made batteries started expanding and overheating back in the late 1990s. Apple recalled 32,000 batteries and replaced them when six of those Sony batteries failed. It was the star of the headlines despite over 360,000 Sony made batteries being recalled for the same problems for HP and IBM laptops in the same quarter. Somehow that did NOT make headlines but the 32,000 Apple battery recall did make headlines. How come?

[Swordmaker]

GM just made a recall. I don’t see people running over each other to go to their nearest GM Dealership

Did GM cars catch on fire and burn down houses and garages? Did GM recall the cars and completely have to replace them with new ones? That's different kettle of fish, Shaz.

[Swordmaker]

Hey,Swordmaker...the subject of the day is Hillary's health.Do you even know who Hillary is?

Hey, Gay State Conservative, I know who Hillary is. You'll find multiple comments from me on threads about Hillary's poor health. This is just another one of your poor efforts at an ad hominem attacks on me. Not even a good try.

I am also concerned with my fellow Freeper's health. A guy with one of these Samsung phones in his breast pocket wound up with third degree burns when it burst into flames. . . and it wasn't being charged at the time.

[Swordmaker]

This is for South Korea only FYI

Uh, no, it isn't. The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has been sold in the USA, too. An estimated 800,000 or so in this country. . . Samsung is recalling 2.5 million of these phones world wide because more and more of them are being reported exploding and/or catching fire while being charged.

The announcement was just released first in South Korea because that is where Samsung is headquartered and most likely where they sold the most of this model. Samsung decided against going through the US' Consumer Product Safety Commission for the recall as required by law, instead relying on trying to contact buyers through news and carriers to recall them.

[Pollard]

Guess you sure don’t want to be using the phone when it hits the magic exploding point of charge, eh?

[ThunderSleeps]

A quick, temporary fix for Note 7 - ANDROID PING!
Android Ping! If you want on or off the Android Ping List, Freepmail me.

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My take on it: good news/bad news. The good news is it lets people keep using their Note 7s until they can get them swapped for a fixed version. The bad news is, loss of battery capacity. I guess being able to use it some is better than none at all or risking catastrophic loss.

[aimhigh]

This would have been so much easier on Samsung if they had made the Note 7 batteries replaceable.