Android: General Chat

[The_Rev]

I think part of the reason for this reaction is there isn't really much else you can do with a flagship phone any more.  The gigantic leaps of, say, 2009-2014 have all been taken and now they are just plateauing.  I'm not sure how much more can be done with a camera beyond natural software efficiencies unless they start dicking around with sensor sizes and lenses, CPUs can handle 1080p streaming video, the web is the web so what they focus on now is a tad unclear. 
Android has shown that you can get awesome phones for £400 and really good ones for half that price. Google know they own the bottom end and mid range markets so maybe this is a shot at the iPhone but will it work? Instead of being able to say 'this is as good as or better than the iPhone but cheaper' now they need to say 'this is miles better than the iPhone, hence the price' and I'm not sure how they can go that given that flagships have plateaued. Phones aren't just that exciting anymore, the most exciting thing about them these days is seeing how much the cheaper handsets can do. 
 
From a personal point of view I'm a bit annoyed that my self imposed two year upgrade cycle seems to see me needing to upgrade in the wrong years.  I got the Nexus 4 two years after my Nexus S and they were both great but the Nexus 5 was great but too soon for me (I still bought the missus one!) then the Nexus 6 was underwhelming so I bought the iPhone 6+, then the next year both Nexus devices were great again.  This year is already looking underwhelming again, but maybe I'm just a fool for only looking at flagship handsets. 

[Davkaus]

So after an incredibly slow recall, and a startlingly quick investigation, Samsung's replacement Note 7s are also setting themselves on fire.

Samsung knew 5 days ago that the replacements were also having this problem, and still have made no meaningful public comment on it.

Unless there's an incredibly good reason for this, I'm not sure why I'd ever buy another Samsung phone, they appear to be putting their bottom line ahead of the safety of their customers, they're continuing the ship devices that they know are dangerous.

Quote

Another replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 has caught fire, bringing the total to three this week alone. This one was owned by Michael Klering of Nicholasville, Kentucky. He told WKYT that he woke up at 4AM to find his bedroom filled with smoke and his phone on fire. Later in the day, he went to the hospital with acute bronchitis caused by smoke inhalation.

"The phone is supposed to be the replacement, so you would have thought it would be safe," Klering told WKYT, saying that he had owned the replacement phone for a little more than a week. "It wasn’t plugged in. It wasn’t anything, it was just sitting there."

The most disturbing part of this is that Klering’s phone caught fire on Tuesday and Samsung knew about it and didn’t say anything. And actually, it gets worse than that.

Samsung asked Klering if they could take possession of the phone and he said no, though the company did pay to have it x-rayed — but the damning evidence comes in the form of a text message that Klering inadvertently received from a Samsung representative:

Just now got this. I can try and slow him down if we think it will matter, or we just let him do what he keeps threatening to do and see if he does it

Samsung was aware that its replacement phones were catching fire five days ago. Anothercaught fire on Thursday (on an airplane), and then another on Friday in the hands of a thirteen-year old girl. That’s three in less than a week, with Samsung giving its customers little more than meaningless platitudes about "[taking] every report seriously" and that "customer safety remains our highest priority as we are investigating the matter."

Except that’s a lie. If customer safety was really the highest priority, we would have seen statements from Samsung telling customers to stop using even their replacement phones after the fire on the Southwest flight on Thursday.

At this point, it’s irresponsible for us to say anything else: If you own a Samsung Galaxy Note 7 you should immediately stop using it and return it for a refund — all the major US carriers will exchange the phone, regardless of purchase date. We don’t know why Samsung hasn’t been more forthcoming about what’s going on with these replacement devices, but it doesn’t really matter. Until we get more information, the simplest explanation is the best one: The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is a fundamentally defective product and it should be pulled from the market without delay.

Edited October 9, 2016 by Davkaus

[Genie]

I expect them (Samsung) to be in majot trouble in the States with their current disregard for consumer safety. If it were a car they'd have to recall all models sold in the past 2-5 years and have a ban on selling anything for the foreseeable future.

[Demitri_C]

Was just going to ask about any info on samsung galaxy 8 but after these reports of phones on fire I think I better stick withe S7 as no reports of them catching fire. 

[limpid]

8 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Was just going to ask about any info on samsung galaxy 8 but after these reports of phones on fire I think I better stick withe S7 as no reports of them catching fire. 

It'll be just the same as the s7 with a slightly better battery, camera and another GB of RAM. It'll probably have a headphone jack.

Buy a cheapo and spend the savings on something else.

[Xela]

So, the Note 7 has been canned. Ouch! That'll cost Samsung

[Genie]

On 11/10/2016 at 20:11, Xela said:

So, the Note 7 has been canned. Ouch! That'll cost Samsung

I'd love to know how much investment they put into it which they obviously won't recover. Then there's the damage to the brand.

[limpid]

14 minutes ago, Genie said:

I'd love to know how much investment they put into it which they obviously won't recover. Then there's the damage to the brand.

They introduce so many phones models a year that the costs to develop just one are probably small. The hit to the brand is more important. It might affect their sales of TVs and washing machines

Their shares are currently viewed as undervalued by most pundits. I doubt this will impact their share price at all.

[Genie]

What surprises and concerns me is that they haven't fixed the problem, just cancelled it. Have they said they know the root cause? It would make me nervous about buying the next product from them the fact they didn't solve the issue, even if it was an expensive repair.

[zak]

My GFs phone (1+1) battery is done, lasts like 3 hours tops. So bought her a Elephone P9000.

It was between that and the redmi note 3 pro but the P9000 won with it running marshmallow and a few other positives.

It does have mixed reviews though, where its a great phone but can come with faults more often then it should. Which is abit of a worry.

However bought on amazon from a supplier but it is also "Fulfilled by Amazon". So Amazon also handles customer service and product returns for Fulfilled by Amazon items so any problems should be easily sorted. Heres hoping everythng is fine

Will let you know how she gets on

Edited October 13, 2016 by zak

[Davkaus]

15 hours ago, Genie said:

What surprises and concerns me is that they haven't fixed the problem, just cancelled it. Have they said they know the root cause? It would make me nervous about buying the next product from them the fact they didn't solve the issue, even if it was an expensive repair.

Nope. Hopefully they'll investigate a bit more thoroughly after the second recall. One thing is for sure, we haven't heard the last of it. The bad press will drag on, and I'd expect more than a few significant fines, from at least the US and EU.

There have been reports today that they're dropping the Note brand entirely. That's not going to help with the casual users who think that "Samsung 7s" set on fire though.

This is HTC and Sony's chance to smash it out of the park with a competitor to the S8.

[Genie]

7 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Nope. Hopefully they'll investigate a bit more thoroughly after the second recall. One thing is for sure, we haven't heard the last of it. The bad press will drag on, and I'd expect more than a few significant fines, from at least the US and EU.

There have been reports today that they're dropping the Note brand entirely. That's not going to help with the casual users who think that "Samsung 7s" set on fire though.

This is HTC and Sony's chance to smash it out of the park with a competitor to the S8.

Don't forget Google who I'm sure are delighted that a competitor has just dropped the ball massively.

On the casual user comment you're right, my Mother-in-law has asked me to help her with a new handset as the contract is up on her Galaxy S4. She said she doesn't want another Samsung after the reports she's seen in the news.

[Demitri_C]

On 10/10/2016 at 18:55, limpid said:

It'll be just the same as the s7 with a slightly better battery, camera and another GB of RAM. It'll probably have a headphone jack.

Buy a cheapo and spend the savings on something else.

any recommendations mate? i remember you purchased a phone  afew months back how did you get on with that? 

[limpid]

2 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

any recommendations mate? i remember you purchased a phone  afew months back how did you get on with that? 

An Oukitel K6000. It's been faultless. I've got my three SIM and work's Voda SIM in it and everything just works*. It's going to be really hard going back to a normal battery one day though.

* Except Vodafone coverage. Being able to do a side by side, I'm amazed they have any customers.

[mykeyb]

So now the option of a cheap nexus has disappeared what alternative is out there that will run pretty much stock android and get the monthly security updates?

[zak]

3 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

any recommendations mate? i remember you purchased a phone  afew months back how did you get on with that? 

Iv been looking into this alot, and if your not going for the mid ranged Oneplus 3 or the ZTE Axon 7 then probably the Xiaomi Redmi note 3 pro is advised. Although Oukitel k6000 looks good if you want a huge battery, or i went for the Elephone K6000 for my gf which on paper looks fantastic but could have problems.... she gets it monday

This page might be a great place to start, especially the comments. Im going to stop looking at them though as i should have deffo gone for the Redmi Note 3 pro for the misses

 

Edit: the 1+3 and Axon 7 are not midrange phones, their price is mid range, they are right up there. Redmi note is mid range but cheap

Edited October 14, 2016 by zak

[Ingram85]

Moto G? Updates were usually quite quick on past ones I've had, not sure how quick since Lenovo took over though?

[mykeyb]

The ZTE Axon 7 looks a really nice bit of kit and ZTE were doing a poll the other day to see what feature users would like most on the next version and stock android was running away with it.

[mykeyb]

Its the monthly updates which Google should be ensuring are done every month that is the biggest issue. If you buy an iphone you will get security patches as soon as they are available.

[limpid]

57 minutes ago, mykeyb said:

Its the monthly updates which Google should be ensuring are done every month that is the biggest issue. If you buy an iphone you will get security patches as soon as they are available.

Well, the things they've decided to fix will be available. A lot of people don't install them. (Although I can only speak from personal experience.)

I agree though. It would be good to get a monthly patch bundle which doesn't require us to wait for the manufacturer. I don't really understand why manufactures do anything other than pre-install a few apps; their other changes rarely make anything better.