Galaxy Note 7

The ergonomics are amazing too. It feels smaller in the hand than the S7 Edge and nearly as small in the hand as the normal S7, despite having a 5.7" screen.

And while there's some software on the Note I'd characterize as bloat (uninstallable Facebook and Amazon are definitely "bloat" even though I personally use both), Touchwiz itself I wouldn't call "bloat" anymore. It adds genuine utility and customizability to stock Android, from superior quick-toggles to the theme store to the .gif maker to the Edge quick-launcher.

As for lag, the laggiest device I've bought in years is my Nexus 9. Honestly, my old Galaxy S3 is substantially less laggy and it's four years old. People complain about "Touchwiz lag" too much in my opinion.

 

My international version doesn't come with that Amazon app and yes, this is the first time I use a Note 4 and don't feel it's humongous despite me having a Spigen Crystal Hybrid case on it

 

Believe it or not, I still get great battery life on my Note 5. However, I miss the ability to add extended batteries (I hate external extended batteries). I had an extended battery for the Note 2 through the 4. Now I am one of the consumers that doesn't care about the SD card slot since I always went with either a 32 or 64GB Note.

I know people use the SD card slot to store a lot of media but I was streaming everything. For movies, I have Netflix or Comcast apps. For music, I use the Play Music which I can use to stream or download parts of my entire music catalog (currently sitting at about 53GBs). So my issue with Samsung now is the removable battery. It looks like LG with the LG V20 will be the last company to cater to my needs. I will miss the S-Pen but I can live without it.

I will make my final decision when the LG V20 is completely reveal in a couple of weeks. If it is anything like the G5, I'll pick up the Note7.

 

The Note 7's 3100 mAh backpack accessory (official Samsung accessory, no plugs necessary, water resistant, and hot swappable) is pretty darned good as far as external batteries go.

http://www.samsung.com/global/galaxy/galaxy-note7/accessories/ (scroll down to "backpack")

 

Says the Note 7 screen is easy to scratch.

http://www.xda-developers.com/goril...revisiting-old-solutions-to-current-problems/

John.

 

I got the Samsung LED View Cover it's awesome, wireless charging still works even with the cover and it protects the front so that's an added benefit without the hassle of these flimsy screen protectors for the Note 7

 

The easiest to scratch in years no less.

 

I just got my Note 7. Very nice. I'm waiting on the Samsung Clear View cover. Until then I got a free belt clip cover with mine.

And about the hardness: http://www.techtimes.com/articles/1...-gorilla-glass-5-but-corning-explains-why.htm

" The company notes that in the video a pick of hardness 3 was used, which is significantly softer than the glass. Corning adds that it is not uncommon for a softer scratcher to leave material transfer on the test substrate, which can create confusion to amateurs.

This would mean that the video actually shows residue from the pick disintegrating and sticking to the glass surface, instead of the glass getting damaged. Should this explanation hold true, how come the residue sticks to the display and is not removable by using a clean cloth?

Corning can explain this, as well.

"It can be very, very difficult to remove metallic material transfer from glass," the company notes.

Corning goes on to say that the effect is purely visual, as the apparent damage is nothing else but "a material on top of the surface.""

Also Corning state:

" Gorilla Glass 5 is at least as scratch resistant as Gorilla Glass 4"

 

30% off - pre order, use "SUPNOTE7" code.

http://www.supcase.com/moto-z-droid..._medium=Email&utm_campaign=note7launch_30_Off

John.

 

Oh my god, this screen is AMAZING.

And honestly, the quality of Samsung software has gone dramatically up since my S3. I'm actually using Samsung's browser, keyboard, and launcher at the moment and I like them better than the first-party Google options at least from one day's use.

 

I still use my S3 for Mp3 (Wolfson DAC) and reading eBooks, the OS is really slow and virtually stops a lot of the time, but i still love the quality of the S3

John.

 

The S3 was one of my favorite phones of all time, until I decided to root it, then it would force close everytime I opened the music app, even after a factory restore and removing the root, the root screwed something so bad so I gave it to my little sister

 

@HTWingNut @Mitlov

3rd software update in less than 2 weeks of owning this device. Got this today, again, no notes on what it improves....

 

Always On Display updated:

 

Going on day 3 off same charge on this phone. Wow. Down to 16% after about 30 hours with light use: a few videos, texting, music while running, a few phone calls, fussing with icons, installing programs, viewing security cams, etc. Very impressive.

 

this phone although the battery is slightly better than my previous S7, is night and day better. Part of that is, I have a weak 4G/LTE signal where I live. On the S7 I would get 2 bars on 4G, but on this phone, since it doesn't get a good 4G signal, it switched to H+ with 5 bars and this is why the battery life is so good. It has better cell reception management.

 

It's actually more likely that it's switching to HSPA+ because it is hitting the -130dB threshold where the phone will switch to HSPA+ - realistically the phone doesn't have as good reception as the S7 did. The increase in battery life comes from being on 3G instead of 4G LTE. Fringe LTE signal has a marginal impact on battery compared to full LTE signal but 3G uses significantly less battery. Running a phone on 3G can sometimes triple it's standby time compared to LTE. Glad you've found a phone you're happy with though, that's all that matters

 

Hmmm, Just saw this, Crap or WHAT?

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 could have a VERY serious problem

http://www.express.co.uk/life-style...-Note-7-Explode-Battery-UK-Release-Date-Delay

John.

 

They use cheap Chinese cells, there's always an explosion risk especially with rapid charging but I think it's being blown out of proportion.

 

There is not a mass-produced product in existence that has a truly zero-percent-chance risk of manufacturing defects. Toyota Corollas have some statistical risk of manufacturing defects, Glocks have some statistical risk of manufacturing defects, iPhones do, and so do Galaxy Notes. I mean, just this month we see exploding iPhone leaves man with third degree burns.
You could write that story about ANY phone with sufficient sales numbers. I'm not losing sleep.

 

Even iVerge is now admitting that the alleged battery problems appear to be limited to South Korea and may be due to third-party chargers (sketchy cheapo chargers have caused all sorts of problems with all sorts of devices).

 

I turn rapid charging off. I don't have the need, as it needlessly stresses the battery. I usually throw it on the wireless charger at night, and has plenty of time to charge. I'm sure a cheap charger could cause issues though.

 

If the batteries had the proper circuitry to protect them, which doesn't cost crap, exploding batteries simply wouldn't happen. A faulty charger would be rejected, battery cells would be consistently and evenly charged to their optimal voltage, and over current issues would be a thing of the past. Seriously, vaping has taught me a lot about battery technology. My vape has all of those protections built in and trust me, I can fire my vape at 100W which is far more than we will ever see a phone use... Should the protection fail, the atomizer will not fire and the battery will not charge. My mod can be picked up for 35 bucks and there are cheaper ones that don't have built in batteries that use 18650 cells that have the same protection.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap...-phone-shipment-battery-explosion-claims.html

John.

 

Lol they screwed up in their home market that's hilarious!

Still though, I wouldn't buy one... It could just be that the penalties for damages would be astronomical in their home market versus the international market. US companies ship out defective product to other countries for this reason and so does China.

 

Global recall

 

Seems like Dubai purchased Note 7 devices won't be replaced, as usual, they will always find a way here to NOT give you a replacement!

http://gulfnews.com/business/sector...ching-fire-in-the-uae-retailers-say-1.1889616

 

My carrier let me know I should swing by the local store to discuss options (which I'm guessing are "wait a while for a replacement device, or take an S7 Edge instead"). Not sure which I'll do. On one hand, I don't really use the stylus at all, and there's arguably a bit more lag on the Note 7 likely due to the extra software overlay for the stylus. On the other hand, I prefer the ergonomics of the Note 7 and the 64 gb onboard storage instead of 32.

Overall I'm extremely happy with the device--the cameras in particular are breathtaking, and the screen is unbelievable--and it's a bummer this happened. But kudos to Samsung for standing by their product and addressing a faulty component within days of the issue coming to light instead of months.

 

I would be nice if a service centre could replace the battery with an non exploding one as, oled display quality use to be a bit variable and when you find a perfect one it`s nice to be able to keep it.

EDIT: I just read that you should be able to swap for a replacement in a couple of weeks as new stock becomes available.

John

 

I totally called it that they were all defective. Good on Samsung for doing the right thing.

Wow, that's messed up about the UAE. What are you going to do @Phoenix?

 

On the other hand, reports from US carriers are that replacements will be available within a couple weeks. If that's the case, it sounds like there was just a bad initial batch in certain markets. How else could they get so many replacements so quickly?

 

I thought about it and I'm going to hold out for a replacement Note instead of swapping for an S7 Edge. The 64gb onboard storage is way better, the ergonomics are amazingly better than the sharp-edged S7 Edge, and I think USB Type C is the future.

In the interim, I've disabled quick-charge and won't charge while I sleep, but statistically speaking I should be fine. And it sounds like replacements will be here in weeks, not months. Compared to, say, the Remington R51 recall debacle, that's the blink of an eye.

 

I'm not too concerned. But if they offer me a replacement I'll likely take it. I don't use rapid charge, but may in the future if needed. It's probably a limited batch, but Samsung is making good by replacing all of them. Good on them. So far I love this phone.

 

You guys do realize that 35 battery explosion in less than a month on a device that uses less than 2 amps most of the time is nothing to scoff at when you look at the number of incidents involving exploding vaporizers that draw 15, 30, sometimes even 60 amps from a single, double, or triple battery configurations number less than 100 over 5 years right? Especially considering at least half of those explosions were due to fault of the consumer or the brick and mortar that sold incompatible parts? This is pretty serious. Samsung has released a device that costs mad cash that has batteries that explode while devices that cost as little as 30 bucks with a 3300mAh LiPo battery that is built to push 20A on a consistent basis have protections that cut power to the battery or blow an internal fuse to prevent them from blowing up. There is absolutely no excuse for a premium device that has a premium price to not have the protection it should. Hell they could have used LiMn chemistry instead and the explosion thing wouldn't even be an issue at all. They're getting off way too easy.

 

There's been nothing substantiated how these batteries are blowing up. It could simply be a matter of awful third party chargers that simply overheat the battery. Granted there should be a failsafe in the phone itself to prevent this, but I have not seen a single report in the USA yet.

 

Can you talk about vaping some more, Ethrem? We haven't talked about your vaping enough yet

And like Wingnut, I suspect disabling quick charging dramatically reduces risk until replacements arrive.

 

Makes you wonder if the bad batch is actually just in Korea and the US recall is more about alleviating concern in the most nervous and litigious county on the planet.

 

*face palm* the circuitry needed to prevent catastrophic failure of the battery is cheap, that's my point. Not to mention there is safer chemistry for batteries.

 

Samsung always sources components from more than one manufacture (the other supplier most likey is ramping up battery production now), for example the camera`s, one brand might be great in a review, but the other brand not as good.

John.

 

I just called Samsung Dubai on 800-Samsusng and they took my phone number and said they will contact me within a few weeks once they get the new devices to have my phone replaced

 

Even in the UK with out strict consumer laws, if a company says they will call you back the same day, 90% of the time they do not, If would be amazing/unbelievable for them to ring you back after a few weeks.

John.

 

LOL, true that, I have 0 faith that they will call. I will follow up but at least they are willing to swap the device knowing that here in Dubai, swapping /exchanging devices is very uncommon. Like we don't even get a 7 day return window like y'all do. Heck, the moment you step out of the store with a phone, it's yours, you can never return it. People in the USA are super lucky as they get to buy a phone, use it for a few days and if they don't like it, simply exchange it with a restocking fee.

 

Supposedly in the UK, you can claim for up to 6 years on expensive items, the seller has to give you an repair or replacement or refund.

John.

 

What is the phone call recording policy in UAE? In Colorado all calls can be recorded so long as I know I'm recording the call. Might want to check into that and find someone with a recorder and put it on speakerphone and get as much information as possible.

 

it is not allowed to record a phone call without the consent of the other party, sounds like a good idea though

 

Is there implied consent if they say they may record you?

 

I'm afraid I don't understand your post bro

 

If you call some place and they say they may record the call, do you have the right to record the call as well?

 

all calls to call centers are recorded