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Galaxy Note 7

Information technology'south not clear how many Note 7 devices really have a safety problem, simply Samsung'south various partners are treating the situation extremely seriously. Oculus, the manufacturer for the Oculus Rift VR headset and Samsung'south partner on the Gear VR, has pushed a software update out that disables all support for the Note 7 in the Gear VR headset.

It's not hard to see why Oculus would have this footstep. Lithium-ion battery fires tin be extremely energetic, and the take a chance of having a device strapped to your face up explode in flames isn't a take chances whatever sane person would want to take. Reports from users suggest that the GearVR can get pretty toasty as it is, and while college temperatures oasis't been directly linked to the Notation vii fiasco, college operating temperatures tin can still be implicated in cases of thermal runaway. The phrase refers to a positive feedback condition in which a sufficiently high corporeality of heat triggers an exothermic (energy-releasing) reaction. The exothermic reaction releases additional heat, accelerating the reaction rate.

ThermalRunaway

Thermal runaway. Image past Wikipedia

Every bit of now, the devices listed as compatible with the Samsung Gear VR are the Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Edge+, and the Milky way Note five. Oculus' argument reads:

Customer safety is our top priority. Oculus is removing support for all Note7 devices on the Oculus platform. Until farther notice, Note7 devices volition non be compatible with the Gear VR. For more than information regarding the Note7, delight visit Samsung's data page or contact Samsung directly.

Samsung has as well announced that it has asked all retailers and partners to end selling the device or swapping it out for dissimilar hardware.

Nosotros remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power downwards and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available.

This is existence treated across the internet as the effective death of the Note 7. There'southward no real mode Samsung tin recover the product after having to do ii recalls, and the fact that the company had to take this step suggests that some of our earlier praise for the company was somewhat misplaced. I however think Samsung acted properly in trying to become ahead of the news cycle, but that commendation assumed the company also knew exactly what the trouble was and how to fix it.

Note 5

Anyone who wanted a Annotation vii will have to make practice with the Note five, at to the lowest degree for now.

Right now, there are several possibilities to explain the second call back. Samsung may have properly identified the problem (compression of the battery that leads to curt-circuiting) but mistakenly put the blame on a single battery manufacturer when the event was really more widespread. It may accept misidentified the problem and blamed a short-excursion based on battery pinch when the issue is really some other aspect of the battery's design, chemistry, or management software. Either way, the fact that the issue wasn't solved speaks to bug in how Samsung diagnosed information technology.

That'southward problematic for reasons that go beyond the Note 7 itself. The mobile phone market is a cutthroat industry and consumers have come to expect that new devices will arrive on a yearly cadence, even though most people don't upgrade every single year. But think about what that means. We've talked before about the long pb time between when engineers get started working on a product and when that product actually ships. It takes three-iv years to design a new CPU or GPU architecture from scratch and smartphones accept to get through extensive carrier testing before they come to marketplace. The team working on the Galaxy Annotation 8 is well-nigh certainly well underway already, fifty-fifty though the Note 7 just launched.

Introducing devices on a yearly cadence requires a highly streamlined and fast-moving product pace, even though the companies in question are simultaneously fighting to innovate new technologies with each and every production cycle. Information technology's non surprising to come across some issues crop up here, and they aren't unique to Samsung — we've criticized Apple for its refusal to acknowledge the iPhone 6 Plus's touch illness or offer meaningful support to the customers that bought that device.

Betwixt the iPhone 6's problems and Samsung's Note 7 disaster, it's not clear this accelerated product cycle is actually improving anything for anyone. Samsung's problem is more serious. But when the 2 leading manufacturers in the smartphone industry are both fielding defective hardware, information technology'south worth because whether pushing new devices every unmarried year is such a smart idea.