Can You Be Too Thin? Samsung Galaxy Probably Was

[Zippyjuan]

http://www.geek.com/tech/galaxy-note-7-battery-explosions-blamed-on-samsung-going-too-thin-1681817/

When it comes to your smartphones, many of you would probably trade a few fractions of a millimeter in overall thickness for a bigger battery. Apparently, that’s something Samsung should’ve strongly considered with the Galaxy Note 7.

According to a report from the engineers at Instrumental Technology (who supplied the image above), Samsung got a little too aggressive with the design of the Note 7. They shaved down the gaps around the Note’s sizable battery to dangerously thin margins. That, Instrumental believes, is ultimately what caused numerous Note 7s to explode.

It’s perfectly normal for “jelly roll” lithium-ion batteries like the ones Samsung used to swell during use. Engineers and designers take that into account when they’re cooking up a new product. Instrumental notes that the Note 7’s battery “sits within a CNC-machined pocket,” which should have afforded it protection from other internal components.

With expansion gaps ranging from .1 to .5mm, though, Instrumental says that Samsung pushed the balance between safety and capacity too far. On the device that they disassembled, Instrumental actually didn’t even see a measurable gap, and they believe the battery may have already been under stress.

They also believe that’s what led Samsung to scrap the Note 7 completely rather than, say, retrofitting a different battery.

Samsung, you may recall, offered a different explanation for why so many Galaxy Note 7s were exploding. President Koh Dong-jin blamed a “tiny manufacturing error” in the batteries that made them more likely to overheat and burst.

Whichever explanation is true, the flawed Note 7 ended up burning a $5 to $8 billion hole in Samsung’s corporate pocket.

 

[TheNewYorker]

Me and my wife are still using our note7s. We have until December 31st to return them in the recall before Verizon will charge us full price for the phones (which are now worthless).

We have had no problems at all. I'm in a note 7 user group with 19,000 people, also no one there have had any problems either.

I think the whole thing was overblown by the media. Yeah, some of them overheated and smoked (there was never any explosions) but only a few out of millions... Shits going to happen. There's just as many iphones out there also overheating and smoking but no one recalled those.

It's just going to happen. Every manufactured product out there has a failure rate. Some bad eggs are going to make it to the hands of customers.

Damn shame. Was literally the best phone I've used. It has everything I've always wanted:

Usb-c
Waterproof
Perfect size
Amazing camera
Fast
Built in stylus
Always on display screen
Removable sd card

Unfortunately there's no other phone out there now that's not missing less than 2 things from that list. The closest thing is the Samsung S7 but it's smaller, has no stylus, and uses the old style USB which i dont think i can go back to after using the new one.

What really sucks is that now when we return our note7s I'll have to get into a device payment agreement on phones we don't want or like, and be stuck with them for 2 years. Won't even be able to get the note8s when they come out next year unless we pay for them in cash.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Me and my wife are still using our note7s. We have until December 31st to return them in the recall before Verizon will charge us full price for the phones (which are now worthless).

We have had no problems at all. I'm in a note 7 user group with 19,000 people, also no one there have had any problems either.

I think the whole thing was overblown by the media. Yeah, some of them overheated and smoked (there was never any explosions) but only a few out of millions... $#@!s going to happen. There's just as many iphones out there also overheating and smoking but no one recalled those.

It's just going to happen. Every manufactured product out there has a failure rate. Some bad eggs are going to make it to the hands of customers.

Damn shame. Was literally the best phone I've used. It has everything I've always wanted:

Usb-c
Waterproof
Perfect size
Amazing camera
Fast
Built in stylus
Always on display screen
Removable sd card

Unfortunately there's no other phone out there now that's not missing less than 2 things from that list. The closest thing is the Samsung S7 but it's smaller, has no stylus, and uses the old style USB which i dont think i can go back to after using the new one.

What really sucks is that now when we return our note7s I'll have to get into a device payment agreement on phones we don't want or like, and be stuck with them for 2 years. Won't even be able to get the note8s when they come out next year unless we pay for them in cash.

Do you have unlimited data?

I'd never consider buying a phone from a carrier. Especially Verizon. I buy the international versions without all of the crap on them and I can put a sim card in them from any carrier I want whenever I want any place on the planet.

And I can take my battery out and put another one in whenever I want.

 

[osan]

Wait a minute... Did Samsung not test these devices operationally prior to marketing?


That makes no sense. None. I wonder what's the real story.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Wait a minute... Did Samsung not test these devices operationally prior to marketing?


That makes no sense. None. I wonder what's the real story.

Trynna look like Apple iphone. Thin is in. I guess.

Off topic, but what do you think of my sig line, osan? Agree or disagree? It's a little much to read for the average drone with the 6 second attention span so I'm gonna change it.

 

[ChristianAnarchist]

Just bought my wife her new phone - Moto Z Play. I'm oldschool and I always like to be able to swap batteries on the go but this is the first phone I've bought that cannot change batteries. We really love the phone though. My wife wants a good camera and I found that this camera performs quite well and also has the option for the hasselblad true zoom back which would put the camera performance even higher. Of course that makes what has to be the thinnest phone I've ever handled into a pretty thick one but it snaps off in a flash (like that pun?). The other thing she HAS to have is an earphone jack and only the play has it now (which is why we chose that one).

As far as the battery it lasts longer than any other phone I've ever had except for my monster-back LG (aftermarket) which uses 3 normal batteries to increase time between charges.

The launcher was terrible in that it did not support unread counts so I put a better launcher on it. The only other gripe I have is that I have not found any rooting tools that will work on this phone (maybe something will come along).

Also, I never buy them from phone providers. I usually get them on eBay (unlocked, of course).

 

[osan]

Trynna look like Apple iphone. Thin is in. I guess.

Off topic, but what do you think of my sig line, osan? Agree or disagree? It's a little much to read for the average drone with the 6 second attention span so I'm gonna change it.

Well step me if it isn't true. It is a bit to take in and the grammar is a little alien to the average contemporary reader. But I cannot disagree with the message. Theye bank on fear, avarice, ignorance, and lassitude. Those who disrupt that status quo are deemed dangerous enough to keep eyes upon at the very least. It seems in recent years the fashion is to arrange for some of those people to have unfortunate accidents. Fatal accidents, that is.

 

[TheNewYorker]

Do you have unlimited data?

I'd never consider buying a phone from a carrier. Especially Verizon. I buy the international versions without all of the crap on them and I can put a sim card in them from any carrier I want whenever I want any place on the planet.

And I can take my battery out and put another one in whenever I want.

6 gb of data.

The reason we use Verizon is that we are rural and it's the only carrier here that really gets a reliable signal. As far as why purchase phone through them, because they have a monthly payment plan at a very low interest rate

 

[MelissaWV]

There were several cases of the phones causing fires, so it did go beyond smoking. Recalls aren't generally due to the majority of something going bad. They are the result of outliers behaving in a dangerous way, but a way that can be duplicated. I always had massive issues with the two American cars I owned, and people loved to tell me I was imagining it. There were massive electrical issues that no one could diagnose/find/fix, yet years later those same models went under recall for those very issues. In this case, since everyone and their mommy seems to need to carry a device on planes, I'm glad to see a ban there (though it's not like anyone even looks at those hundreds of devices whipped out in-flight).

There were lots of Pintos that didn't explode, too, but those deaths and demonstrations were enough to make people get rid of them toute suite.

 

[anaconda]

I'm not pleased with the battery life on my Nexus 4. I'm thinking of getting the small 4" iPhone SE. $399. My GF likes her Nexus 5, however.

 

[ChristianAnarchist]

I'm not pleased with the battery life on my Nexus 4. I'm thinking of getting the small 4" iPhone SE. $399. My GF likes her Nexus 5, however.

My wife is thrilled with her battery life on the Moto Z Play. Her old Samsung would go dead half way through the day and yesterday she didn't even charge her phone at night and the next morning it was still above 50%. My wife is a Chinese woman so excuse me for being both "racist" and "sexist" but she uses the sh|t out of that phone (constantly chatting with friends and family in China as well as here in the USA) so I don't see how the battery can last more than a half day...

 

[anaconda]

My wife is thrilled with her battery life on the Moto Z Play. Her old Samsung would go dead half way through the day and yesterday she didn't even charge her phone at night and the next morning it was still above 50%. My wife is a Chinese woman so excuse me for being both "racist" and "sexist" but she uses the sh|t out of that phone (constantly chatting with friends and family in China as well as here in the USA) so I don't see how the battery can last more than a half day...

Using GPS navigation kills 100% charge in no time.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Using GPS navigation kills 100% charge in no time.

I think there are a few different GPS level settings that you can change to out less work on your battery. In android anyway.

Here's an example I grabbed on the web....

 

[anaconda]

I think there are a few different GPS level settings that you can change to out less work on your battery. In android anyway.

Here's an example I grabbed on the web....

Thanks.

 

[Anti Federalist]

Why?

I think there are a few different GPS level settings that you can change to out less work on your battery. In android anyway.

Here's an example I grabbed on the web....

 

[Natural Citizen]

Why?

I don't know. Heh. I keep mine turned off.