14 DAY TRIAL // First of all, the people whose lives were turned upside down by how Samsung is currently treating the Note 7 scandal would probably feel a lot better.
Second of all, I find it almost impossible to understand Samsung's modus operandi ever since this whole shebang started. Curiously, even if not a day has passed without a car or a family home being charred by a Note 7 with a crap battery, Samsung is still keeping a lid on it. At most, the Koreans release a pocket-sized press release or give an unattributable quote to a major media outlet and then they simply shut up about the whole thing.
Why is Samsung so quiet? What is actually going on?
The lack of reaction is utterly inexplicable. We are now witnessing a media circus and Samsung is like a boxer that's pummeled each and every second and doesn't fight back even when given the chance. Sadly, nobody's there to throw in the towel.
I am a Note 7 owner. It's probably the best phone I have ever tested. When I heard about those first fiery battery cases, I simply tried to ignore them, mainly because I liked the phone so much that I couldn't just power it down and put it in a drawer. Then exploding battery cases seemed to multiply, while also becoming more severe. Once the global recall became official, I put my Note 7 through the most torturing tests you can imagine, yet the little smartphone that could literally kept its cool and continued to perform flawlessly.
Slowly but surely, I began to understand that I should probably exchange it, though, so I contacted Samsung. They told me to power it down, put it back in its box and stop using it until they contact me again. I'm pretty sure they don't have a replacement phone yet and that is why I'm still waiting for a reply.
What surprised me is that Samsung didn't ask me to return the phone, nor did they send someone to pick it up. But what if I had decided to keep using it? I still haven't been contacted with more information about this predicament.
The question remains, what on Earth happened?
We are yet to hear an official explanation from Samsung. All we have are “tittle-tattle,“ “hearsay” articles and “anonymous tips” given to a vast majority of the media outlets out there. Why don't Samsung officials get a pair, go under the spotlight and explain to everyone what the problem is, what the exact causes are, how they are going to contain this crisis, why the “new” Note 7 will be safer, etc.
I can't fathom why Samsung didn't simply de-activate all the phones that are suspected of having a battery problem via a global update. I don't understand which phones are affected, because Samsung initially made it sound like only 0.002% of the units may be affected and never came back with an updated figure.
It's also incomprehensible why Samsung cannot identify the exact number of suspected phones and only recall those instead of the entire production. Maybe it's because all phones are affected? Maybe only those 0.002% are? Which phones are those and when were they built? Weeks have passed since the first documented incident, and we're still in the dark about the whole thing.
Meanwhile, a Note 7 seems to be catching on fire somewhere almost every day
In a car, in a home, on a nightstand, still being used by owners who either don't want to give it up or aren't even aware that they should. Samsung doesn't comment and is probably working tirelessly on making new boxes that have an… S on them (does the “S” come from… SAFE?) and a small dot alongside the bar code. In other words, they are under the impression that people will be able to distinguish dud phones from good ones by checking the boxes they came in?
Seriously? Is that it? While you're reading this, people are buying and selling Note 7s on eBay and other similar websites. Some of the phones still “in circulation” explode inside vehicles or houses. Isn't the whole thing ridiculous?
If the Note 7 is part of a global recall, then it should probably be “killed” via a forced firmware update. It's the only solution through which Samsung can stop all these daily incidents from happening. It will also help us wake up from the nightmare of having a phone from a company that is incapable of solving a problem like this.
As an extra, the “new” Note 7 should probably feature an identification element on the actual phone, not just on the box it comes in. They should also make it a Second Edition, S, SE, or whatever nickname Samsung people decide to give it. Maybe “Fire Resistant” could work even better, something that makes it easily distinguishable from the 2.5 million units that were already sold and are suspected to have a fiery battery problem.
“Hey, Samsung, how about doing something for the folks who paid $900-1000 for a smartphone”
Can you help us get through the night without being afraid to use ANY Samsung smartphone? I'm currently using an S7 Edge, although I'm not leaving it to charge during the night, and honestly, I'm feeling a bit tense when I charge it inside the car or in less… spacious areas. And this is all thanks to an almost complete lack of reaction from a company that I've been a loyal customer of for years. It's strange and annoying.
I would have loved for Samsung to react a lot more promptly and offer clear explanations. I would have loved to be assured that everything is OK, or at least read about actual numbers, phones recalled according to their individual codes and not all of them in the same pile. I'm talking about measures that make it clear Samsung is a responsible company, which knows precisely what happened and how to fix the problem.
Unfortunately, I don't feel safe at all; I don't feel that Samsung is taking care of things, and I'm not completely sure that the new Note 7 will be OK or that the S7 Edge is not facing a similar issue. This is simply how it all seems right now. On top of it, I'm continuously bombarded every single day with news about an increasing number of fiery Note 7s, and I also have to accept that “this never happens with iPhones,” which makes me even madder.
Why recall over 2 million smartphones if only about 0,002% units are affected?
In an era of serial numbers and codes engraved on every single piece of an electronic device, are you telling me that Samsung can't simply identify the problematic phones? This makes me fear that all units could be affected, in which case, we are looking at a huge time bomb that will continue to generate daily incidents for a long time. This would demolish even the last ounce of trust I have in this company.
You can't even imagine how much I loved the Note 7, but I need to think straight.
PS: Although I'm hugely disappointed, I'm still waiting on Samsung to contact me to get rid of the recalled Note and maybe, someday, get a 100% safe one. When will that happen? Don't start asking questions again...