
Samsung, CPSC Say Galaxy Note 7 Owners Should Stop Using Them - petethomas
http://www.wsj.com/articles/samsung-galaxy-note-7-users-should-stop-using-charging-devices-cpsc-says-1473453757
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memracom
In fact, the lack of replaceable batteries is now becoming a consumer safety
issue. Every city has a bomb squad who can isolate and destroy potentially
explosive materials. This type of issue can be sorted out much more quickly,
and much more safely, by having people turn in flawed lithium batteries to the
local bomb squad.

Further, if the batteries were standard sizes then there would likely be
replacement batteries readily available with a lower mAh rating that would
work just fine, although with a lower lifetime.

In addition, if the batteries were standard sizes and replaceable, we could
have a deposit on batteries of a few dollars. If you no longer need it, either
turn it or hand it to the next street beggar that you see. Problem solved
safely and quickly.

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hackuser
I'd appreciate it if someone with expertise can comment on why the market
shifted to non-replaceable batteries. I know the suspicion that it's for
planned obsolescence, but does someone really know?

My impression is that replaceable batteries limit the shapes, materials and
engineering that can be used, reducing capacity while increasing weight and
size. For example a replaceable battery must be safely handled by end users,
shaped and placed so it can be easily removed, and its connection is limited
to something quickly and easily utilized.

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baddox
That's my impression too. I suspect it's mostly a matter of size and weight of
the resulting phone.

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Osiris
A good argument for having replaceable batteries is that this recall could be
done by just sending new batteries to everyone. Now, they have to replace
entire devices.

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mindslight
Or it would encourage people to keep using the defective battery as a spare or
old-age replacement.

For the record, I'm nominally in favor of "replaceable batteries". But I also
don't see how having to open a case makes a battery "non-replaceable", either.
If I had to choose between easily-replaceable batteries or easier to open
cases that didn't use snap-fit, I'd choose the latter.

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Namidairo
I would note that opening the case in this instance requires high temperatures
to soften up the adhesive, and might affect the water resistance of the device
after replacement.

In addition to the back panel being glass, the above means that without the
proper tools, I would not recommend self-service.

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mindslight
Well really I abbreviated my sentence.

... snap-fit, glue, welding, staples, rivets, plastic push-clips, and any
other assembly mechanism which undoing causes the device to be structurally
damaged, cosmetically damaged, or necessitates buying new non-standard
fasteners for each open.

General point is that the battery itself isn't so special compared to opening
the rest of the device. Even on my i9500 with a standard "removable battery",
the plastic clips which hold on the back cover have started to break off
because they must have been designed for 20 insertion cycles. We don't need a
"modular smartphone", we simply need assholes to stop "designing" them as if
they're disposable.

Self-threading plastic screws aren't bad as long as you always back-thread
them when reassembling. Soft thread-lock as used on eg Thinkpads is about the
borderline of acceptability, and that's only because if you open your device
enough you aren't really worried about a screw loosening over time.

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r00fus
Is this the battery or charging interface? Was it just a bad USB-C
implementation?

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rtkwe
> Koh Dong-jin, chief of Samsung Electronics’ handset division, said on Sept.
> 2 that the Galaxy 7 incidents were caused by a flaw in the battery cell and
> had nothing to do with the phone itself.

So, the article answers that.

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khedoros
Don't know about who you responded to, but wsj is paywalled for me. I can read
just a little over 4 lines.

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rtkwe
There's the web link below the link that is usually pretty reliable for
getting through the pay wall. Though I've had it fail a couple times, mostly
at work I think.

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khedoros
Yeah...the "web" link didn't work from work, and I tried Google manually when
I got home. I tend to forget the little tricks, because a paywall article is
usually an insta-close. I've got a few friends with Note 7's though, talking
big about how it's not going to affect them.

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nitrogen
It's not an uncommon problem, apparently. The Shield tablet from Nvidia had a
recall for defective batteries.

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johngalt
Never buy the first batch of anything.

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KhalilK
Same with Software or OSes. always wait for the first revision.

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mindslight
For OSes and other software, it's a much simpler "never buy.".

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xanderstrike
Does anyone have a non-paywall source?

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jdenning
Just click the "web" link at the top of this page, then click the article link
via the resulting google search - this should get you past the paywall.

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shahn95
Why does that work?

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xekul
A lot of sites let in traffic from Google so that their sites will be indexed
and rank when people search for them.

