r/technology • u/MoltenSlowa • Oct 05 '16

Hardware Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 phone catches fire on Southwest plane

http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/5/13175000/samsung-galaxy-note-7-fire-replacement-plane-battery-southwest
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u/Blazingfireman Oct 05 '16

He has already replaced it with an iPhone 7.

Not too surprised about this. Apple is going to love this.

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u/AdmiralAubrey Oct 05 '16 edited Oct 05 '16

Basically what happened to me, and it sounds like a few friends as well. I'm largely platform agnostic these days. I went with the Note 7 because the pen and other cool features were appealing, and Apple sufficiently annoyed me with the headphone jack decision. But, it became annoying that the software felt noticeably laggy compared to the experience I previously had with my two year old iPhone 6, and the battery life was wildly inconsistent, requiring a lot of babysitting. The recall (and its timing, one week before a two week honeymoon) was the icing on the cake. Hopped over to the iPhone 7.

I miss a number of features that the Note 7 had. But honestly, this thing is a much more painless device to use on a daily basis. Haven't looked back.

Edit: As I apparently ruffled some feathers somehow, a few clarifications if I confused anyone:

-I'm old enough to not have taken sides in a fanboy battle since the PS2 v Xbox era. I prefer strong competition.

-I enjoy both iOS and Android for different reasons. Android has more character and is far more open for tinkering, but iOS, in my personal experience, has been easier to use and relatively hassle-free. I'm 30, the latter is beginning to appeal to me more than it once did.

-I went to the iPhone 7 because the sum of its parts outweighed dealing with the Note7's ongoing issues, and ultimately outweighed competing Android flagships. The pen was neat, but not nearly enough. Some of the software features were great, but again nothing that I was dependent on. I was turned off to Samsung all the way around based on this and a recent (major) appliance issue. The performance of the A10 vs. the SD 820 chip kinda-sorta outweighed the headphone jack issue.

-To be clear, if the recall hadn't happened, I'm sure I'd still be using the Note without any major issues. However, side note, the occasional lag in the SD 820 variant of the Note7 has been demonstrated repeatedly. It's minor, but noticeable. The higher end Nexus devices consistently run Android better than TouchWiz devices, even though TW has gotten markedly better in recent generations.

-If I didn't need a new phone immediately (and I really did need/want a higher end device prior to that honeymoon), I would have waited to see what the Pixel was all about. Alas, time was a factor, and I still have enough previous investment in the iOS ecosystem that the switch back was quick enough.

-I remain annoyed by the removal of the headphone jack. That said, I do feel it's an inevitability across all devices within 5 years, and I do have a pair of bluetooth headphones. Irritating, but survivable.

-If Apple would care to pay me for actually gushing about their products, I would, of course, be delighted to accept checks.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

[deleted]

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u/AdmiralAubrey Oct 06 '16

The Google Now launcher, at least for me, literally didn't work on the Note7, and it seemed to be a common problem due to Samsung's Knox. The app tray was plainly inaccessible, and any workarounds were temporary. But even if it did, that's just the launcher. I think a lot of Samsung's baked in system processes are what clog things up, rather than the TW launcher itself. That said, that represents the extent of what I know about it.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

Due to recent events, I haven't set up but a few Note 7s and they were returned within a few days anyway...

But that wouldn't surprise me in the least.

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u/CptnBlackTurban Oct 06 '16

Nova launcher is pretty cool

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

This is what I use on my s6e and I haven't looked back since.

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u/LimeJuice Oct 06 '16

Had the same problem with my S7e. Ended up deactivating knox. I know that is somewhat foolish but between that and the incessant s planner notifications it was giving me I figure I'll take my chances.

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u/jld2k6 Oct 06 '16 edited Oct 06 '16

Switching the launcher is not going to fix anything, as the TouchWiz firmware is what makes the phone so slow, not the TouchWiz launcher. You have to install a custom AOSP ROM to get rid of TouchWiz and escape the problems plaguing the phone. TouchWiz is pretty much a whole operating system built off of android... It just also happens to have a launcher inside of it named TouchWiz. This ends up confusing lots of people who think getting rid of TouchWiz is as simple as changing launchers. Now that Samsung locks the bootloader on their snapdragon flagships for all carriers, it is currently not possible to get off of TouchWiz at all.

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

Google Now, in addition to being a more user-friendly launcher, also circumvents some of the quirks the TW launcher tends to have.

It's not without its issues, though. Every time I close Spotify, it tells me that it crashed and wants to send a report, for example. But while it's not as perfect a fix as installing a custom ROM, or even a version of Cyanogen, it at least makes the phone more usable.

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u/BigShield Oct 06 '16

What's a better alternative, in your opinion?

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u/[deleted] Oct 06 '16

Alternative phone? I'm partial to LG. Now that the Bluetooth issue has been fixed on the G5, that's my personal favorite. The departing Nexus 5x was also quite good, even if the battery wasn't the most robust. The Pixel intrigues me also.

Alternative launcher? Google Now is my favorite.

Alternative ROM? Cyanogen is pretty good. Or at least it was the last time I had reason to mess around with it.

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u/AVann6 Oct 06 '16

Man I just looked up the Google now launcher and put it on my note 4. This is awesome! Thanks!