Samsung to launch 'Fan Edition' of failed Note 7

Samsung recalls Galaxy Note 7 after fires

5 September

In spite of its universally positive reviews, Samsung's latest top end smartphone has been recalled after reports that the handset can ignite or explode while charging.

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The battery issue has prompted a mass recall of all Note 7s – roughly 2.5 million units since the new phablet launched on 19 August – and Samsung has temporarily halted sales.

The BBC reports that the South Korean technology giant will offer all buyers the chance to swap their recent purchases for replacement handsets. In a statement, Samsung said it had heard of 35 cases of the devices exploding worldwide. An investigation to identify the defective batteries has now begun.

"There was a tiny problem in the manufacturing process, so it was very difficult to figure out,'' said the president of Samsung's mobile business, Koh Dong-jin.

The BBC adds that the firm will need a two-week turnaround period to prepare the large number of replacement devices. However, Alphr doesn't expect the recall and replacement operation to run smoothly, adding that there are no details regarding how it will be implemented. Many Note 7 owners are still in the dark.

The Telegraph says the issue is a "massive blow" to Samsung following a successful launch. The recall will halt the momentum and plaudits the company won with reviewers for its new smartphone, and the timing is unfortunate. The mass recall comes just days ahead of the expected reveal of the iPhone 7 – the larger, Plus sized version of which will be a direct competitor for the new Samsung device.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7: How does it stack up?

24 August

Samsung's top-end mobile line-up is now complete with the launch of the new Galaxy Note 7.

The company's latest phablet is a large, performance-driven smartphone aimed at users after the biggest, brightest and fastest mobile money can buy.

The Galaxy S7 range, released earlier this year, won huge plaudits and was named the phone the iPhone 7 needs to beat. Can Samsung follow it up with another brilliant gadget?

Design

Trusted Reviews says the Note 7 is "the pinnacle of Samsung's design", fitting in nicely with the rest of the firm's mobile line-up and doing a great job of disguising just how big the phone is when in hand.

First, some dimensions and weights. The Note 7 is 6.04ins tall, 2.91ins wide, and 0.31ins thick, weighing 5.96lbs. A large 5.7ins screen sits inside these measurements, with short bezels top and bottom. It's formed almost entirely from metal and glass and is "the best looking phone you can buy right now", says the site.

Like the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge, the display is a dual-curve setup – it bends and tapers into the sides of the phone. There's a similar roundedness to the back, too which makes the device surprisingly compact. It boasts a bigger screen than the iPhone 6S Plus, despite being smaller overall, and is a lot easier to hold too.

Lastly, the body is IP68 certified, so it can go underwater to a depth of almost five feet (1.5m) for up to 30 minutes.

Display

At 5.7ins, the display is certainly large enough to be considered a phablet. But while the Note series used to stand out for phones with huge screens, devices sized 5.7ins and up are now two a penny, says Trusted Reviews. The key differentiators in the phablet market are how small a package you can cram a big display into, alongside its quality – two things the Note 7 doesn't skimp on.

Like most of Samsung's phones it's an AMOLED display and the screen is a Quad-HD panel with 518 pixels per inch.

"It's a joy to look at," says Trusted Reviews, adding that colours are rich and vibrant, whites are clean, blacks are deep and overall, it's one of the brightest screens around. While Samsung has opted against upping the resolution to 4K, it has added high dynamic range (HDR) for improved contrast, a new feature that could make watching streaming services such as Netflix even better.

The phone gets a new "Always on" lock screen, which isn't a huge battery drain given how efficient AMOLED is, plus an S Pen Stylus for making notes on the large display.

Cameras

The camera technology on the Note 7 isn't new, but is still impressive.

Samsung has fitted the phablet with the 12-megapixel main camera from its range-topping smartphone, along with the five-megapixel selfie snapper on the front - and Recombu says the experience is just as brilliant. The Galaxy S7 was praised for its low light capabilities as well as its rapid autofocus and it's the same story on the Note 7.

The camera can capture 4K video at 30fps, 1080p footage at up to 60fps and slow-motion 240fps capture at 720p. There's built-in auto HDR formatting, so pictures appear sharp and colourful, and the cameras and their modes are simple to use.

Power and performance

Of course, the Note can't just be a big smartphone with a pretty display, it has to perform well and multitask with ease.

First, the specs. It runs Android 6.0.1 from the box and uses an Exynos 8890 chipset mated to 4GB RAM in the UK. Flash storage is rated at 64GB, with expandable Micro SD card capabilities.

Ports and hardware highlights include USB-Type C compatibility, an NFC chip for Android Pay, fingerprint, iris and heartbeat scanners plus faster wireless charging capabilities for the 3,500mAh capacity battery. The USB-C standard means it can work with Samsung's Gear VR headset for virtual reality applications.

Samsung claims the Note 7 is around 30 per cent faster than its predecessor, the Galaxy Note 5, with 58 per cent better graphical performance – claims Alphr says hold water.

"In short, it’s ultra quick, and will almost certainly remain so for the foreseeable future - at least as long as your two-year contract lasts," says the site.

Battery performance is impressive too. The Note 7 scored a lifespan of 21hs 57mins in Alphr's tests, putting it "way ahead of the competition".

The addition of the iris scanner is a bit of an oddity though. It won't work consistently if you use glasses or contact lenses and it's probably not any more convenient than a fingerprint scanner. "An impressive party trick if nothing else," says Alphr.

However, not everyone is as impressed with the performance, with Pocket-Lint saying that at times, the Note "doesn’t snap open apps as fast as you might want it to", while the Daily Telegraph says the Note can actually be beaten by Apple's current flagship iPhone in speed tests.

The iPhone 6S uses Apple's A9 chip mated to 2GB RAM, adds the paper, and on paper is comprehensively outgunned by the Note 7. However, in real-life testing, it found the older smartphone was quicker when cycling through third-party apps, partly because iOS makes it easier to integrate hardware with software for greater performance.

However, the newspaper adds, the Note 7's bumper specs outstrip its rival – you can't get waterproofing, wireless charging or a super bright and crisp AMOLED display on an iPhone yet.

Price

At £699 SIM free, the Note 7 is £100 more than the Galaxy S7 and some £60 more than the Galaxy S7 Edge.

Is it worth the extra for a bigger screen and a stylus? Alphr isn't sure and says there are many great Android phones out there that can be bought for much less, such as the Nexus 6P and OnePlus 3.

However, it adds, "does that mean you shouldn’t buy the Samsung Galaxy Note 7? Absolutely not." The Note 7 is simply "the best of the best", says Alphr, and if that's what you're after, there really is no other choice, especially if you're already considering spending £639 on the Galaxy S7 Edge.

The Note 7 is set to hit shelves in Europe on 2 September. However, customers who pre-order will get a sweetener thrown in – a free Samsung Gear VR headset to make the very best of that impressive display.