That'll derail the fanbois...
Nothing better than having thick dollops of FAIL from *all* ecosystems.
Keep the fanbois off balance.
Samsung is continuing to take a beating in the market as it staggers from the global recall of its Galaxy Note 7 handset. The Korean consumer electronics giant saw its stock price plummet 6.98 per cent on Monday to 1.46m Korean won per share. This resulted in roughly $15.9bn of value trimmed from Samsung's market cap on the …
Nokia is still the company that signs the monthly pay cheques of myself and tens of thousands of other people around the world, so I'm guessing that some of us haven't forgotten they exist.
The former Nokia cellphone division bought by Microsoft several years ago is, of course, a different story.
His mother is quoted as saying it's a Galaxy Core. If that's true, Samsung's bulging batteries have come back to bite them, it might mean they have a problem in the manufacturing process that affects batteries for more than one model.
I could write headlines for El Reg.
"No, it probably was his. There's a lot of parents who think the kids need these things so they can stay in touch with Mom and Dad. <smh>"
Yes a phone, with limitations on usage, but a brand new Note 7? giving that to a six year old is asking for it to be broken....
"I really hope is was mom/dad's and not his. That seems a bit young."
The important question is how a kid ends up playing with a recalled phone. Perhaps his parents were unaware of the recall? Perhaps Samsung didn't communicate it properly?
Would have been best if they just send out a update that shuts down all affected devices.
Something definitely went wrong here.
The huge electronic billboard alongside the M25 near Heathrow T5 was proclaiming earlier today#
Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge - Redefining that a phone can do (or words to that effect)
Why has Samsung not pulled all advertising for their flagship devices until this calms down is a bit beyond me.
Then they can come back and tout the new Note 7 as 'improved'.
Because the S7 is not at all affected by the problem, the company should stop promoting it?
Let's keep our feet on the ground: this is mainly a slow news days story for the media to keep trotting out. Millions of devices sold and still less than 100 incidents reported worldwide, recall in process. But in our modern world it seems that people would rather have an accident and talk about it than take steps to avoid it.
Well Samsung timed the release of the Note 7 hoping to steal Apple's thunder and have the press talking about the Note 7 instead of the iPhone 7. Mission accomplished.
Given that devices with lithium batteries explode/burn once in a while - especially if damaged or using a damaged charger etc. - I'd say the odds are nearly 100% that within the first few weeks of Apple's launch there will be one or two reports of an iPhone 7 catching fire, and El Reg will breathlessly report it with a headline suggesting that Apple has the same problem as Samsung. And won't follow up or correct the original article when that turns out to not be the case.
"El Reg will breathlessly report it with a headline suggesting that Apple has the same problem as Samsung. And won't follow up or correct the original article when that turns out to not be the case."
And in what way would Apple having a tiny percentage of their flagship phones catching fire shortly after release be different from Samsung having a tiny percentage of their flagship phones catching fire shortly after release, Doug?
Aside from the fact that Samsung have reacted to it by issuing a full recall and replacement program, while Apple would presumably follow their usual method of ignoring the problem for as long as possible, then blaming the users for it if it doesn't go away.
Phones and other devices using lithium batteries, including both iPhone and Samsung, have been exploding or catching on fire once in a while since before the first iPhone was sold. But not anything traceable to any manufacturing or parts supplier defect, it was either damage, substandard third party parts/chargers used, or good old "dumb luck".
Samsung's exploding phone problem is NOT dumb luck, some of the batteries that Samsung itself manufactured and installed in the phone are faulty in a very dangerous way. Enough that they already had 35 cases within a week of the launch, and is obviously higher as reports keep coming in.
The Reg has reported cases of iPhones and Galaxies exploding or catching fire before, but no recalls were conducted nor was anyone suggesting there should be, because none have ever happened at even close to the unprecedented rate it has happened with the Note 7.
You did a good job of making my point though - suggesting that if there are any reports of an iPhone 7 blowing up, you will claim it is the same thing. If there is even one report (and if there is I'd say there's a 50/50 chance it is made up) of an iPhone 7 blowing up, people like you will be ready with criticisms asking why Apple is not doing a recall, why the US government isn't forcing them to recall like they did Samsung and so forth, trying to equate the two situations which will not be even remotely the same unless Apple has quite a few blowing up (they would need more for the problem to be on the same scale, since they will have 5-10x as many iPhone 7s in customer hands by this time next week than Note 7s)
Looking at the grip of death fiasco, I think Apple marketing would spin it like hell. Making it appear the owners were making it up and settling out of court, which I think I may have read that it has happened. Was it the iPhone 3gs or 4 that had exploding batteries? Google points to a few articles on both.
Either way it would be made out to be the user and not in anyway the white shiny exploding jesus phone.
Yes, a phone blowing up or catching fire, and possibly injuring or killing people, is the same thing as a phone that suffers slightly reduced reception if you hold it in certain ways. Do please make yourself look the fool by trying to equate the two situations.
Every model of phone that sells enough has a few reports of phones catching fire. Probably every model of iPhone has had a few, the same is true with Samsung. They also had several models that had problems where the battery would swell and crack the case. But none of these iPhones OR Samsungs have ever been recalled before, because those issues weren't a systemic manufacturing problem as is the case with the Note 7, where some are shipped with Samsung manufactured batteries that are flawed and have a risk of exploding any time you charge them.
But it's strange. The three phones that I've taken apart that supposedly have non-removeable batteries (Sony Xperia SP, Nexus 4 and HTC Desire 626) are surprisingly easy to take the batteries out! The only thing that makes it difficult is the double-sided tape holding it in.
All this "it makes the phone slimmer" argument a bit lame.
Shame the media is not so hot on combusting tumble dryers
At least Samsung are dealing with the problem, whereas masses of people with potentially home burning appliances have been waiting many, many months for glacially slow replacement / repair.
Faults happen, kudos to Samsung for dealing with it, albeit taking a finacial hit & a reputation hit.
Though to me their reputation has gone up as they have make a pro purchaser decision.
Disclosure: Not ever owned a Samsung device, but more likely to consider them in future after this fairly exemplary behaviour
"Disclosure: Not ever owned a Samsung device, but more likely to consider them in future after this fairly exemplary behaviour"
Well, their reaction ha definitely been a feather in their cap. On the other hand, shipping a couple of million devices which may explode when people are holding them next to their heads probably has to count against them.