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Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Explodes In New York, Burns Six-Year-Old Boy (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: A six-year-old boy from Brooklyn has reportedly become the latest victim of Samsung's disastrous exploding Galaxy Note 7 batteries. The boy had been using the device at his family home when it "suddenly burst into flames," according to the New York Post. He was rushed to hospital with burns to his body. Samsung issued a recall of 2.5 million of its latest flagship phone on September 2 -- which had only been released the previous month -- after 35 reports that lithium batteries were exploding while they were being charged. The injured boy's grandmother said that the fire caused by the phone was strong enough to "set off alarms in my house." "He is home now," Linda Lewis told press. "He doesn't want to see or go near any phones. He's been crying to his mother." Samsung issued a statement on Saturday, urging owners of the Galaxy Note 7 to "power down your device and return to using your previous phone. We will voluntarily replace your Galaxy Note 7 device with a new one, beginning on September 19th... We acknowledge the inconvenience this may cause in the market but this is to ensure that Samsung continues to deliver the highest quality products to our customers." The recall has caused Samsung's stock to plunge. On Monday, Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. stock suffered from its biggest one-day price decline in its 28-year history as a public company.

22 of 202 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Smartphones by ganjadude · · Score: 5, Informative

    its been 10 days since the very public recalls have been announced, i mean..... the adults really should have not been letting him play with it

    --
    have you seen my sig? there are many others like it but none that are the same
  2. Still way too little schadenfreude on the net... by ffkom · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... where are the photoshop artists when you need them to create suicide-bomber pictures with belts made of Note 7s?

  3. Re:Negligence? by SeaFox · · Score: 2

    My kid loves his lawn darts, you insensitive clod!

  4. Re:Smartphones by sabri · · Score: 4, Insightful

    the adults really should have not been letting him play with it

    Plot twist: perhaps they did it on purpose so they can now sue Samsung and cash in.

    --
    I'm not a complete idiot... Some parts are missing.
  5. Re:Smartphones by geekmux · · Score: 2

    Adult supervision is now required for all smartphones.

    Considering how many smartphones don't even try to block the ability to access hardcore porn, this should be common fucking sense.

  6. Exploding or going up in flames by gnasher719 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    To me, "exploding" and "going up in flames" is not the same thing. If I hold a phone in my hands and it goes up in flames, I drop it and might have some burns if I'm unlucky. If I hold a phone in my hands and it explodes, good bye hands.

    Is there any reliable information what actually happens?

    1. Re:Exploding or going up in flames by hey! · · Score: 5, Informative

      If I recall, technically an "explosion" is supersonic deflagration, which of course is accompanied by a shock wave. It's the shock wave that's the salient feature of an explosion.

      Practically anything flammable can explode if it is finely mixed with oxygen (or an oxidizer) and it is *contained*. If you pour the black powder from a bullet into a line and touch it off it's go up pfft! But it won't explode because it's not contained. On the flip side flour or powdered coffee creamer can be sifted into a tube and ignited and it will explode, but not with much force.

      A lithium ion cell has plenty of flammable bits inside, a source of O2 (the electrode), and of course it is contained, but it's engineered not to explode. It's engineered not to catch fire too, so you can't rule rule out either possibility since something's gone very wrong.

      It's not either/or too: you can get a small explosion that once it escapes its immediate confines dissipates into an expanding cloud of burning gas -- or even a fireball. It can be quite impressive, and while not packing the shattering power it would if all the fuel was consumed at supersonic speed, it can be quite impressive and destructive.

      --
      Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
    2. Re:Exploding or going up in flames by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

      There is a chemists definition of explosion, and there is a less rigorous colloquial definition. A can of your favorite fizzy drink might be said to explode if the conditions are right, but really it's just gas expanding rapid through a failure in the container. It's particularly violent if you were to say, microwave it, then you'd have potentially super-heated sugar water spraying all over your relatively flimsy human skin, and I promise you every newspaper would report that as an "explosion".

      So while there are probably no shockwaves in your burning LiPo, deflagration is significant enough for the case and glass of the phone to fly outward at low-velocity from the release of gas and the thermal shock to the glass. If you put the device in a fireproof bag (as RC guys do) then it probably isn't going to "explode" in any sense of the word, but if it happens while a small child is holding it then we'd say it "exploded".

      --
      “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  7. Re:No Thermal Fuse? by wierd_w · · Score: 5, Informative

    This comes from bad electrolyte or bad quality control in the battery's construction.

    One of the following is happening:

    1) the cathode of the battery is fraying apart too quickly. (LiON batteries have cathodes that shrink and swell under charge and discharge, as they need to have a very high permeability to ionic lithium salts in solution. The actual absorption of the electrolyte during charging splits the cathode apart slowly over time. That's why the batteries wear out. In this case, the cathode is prematurely disintegrating, and the frayed out bits are shorting with the annode.)

    2) the electrolyte inside the pack is of poor quality/improper. Instead of just migrating into the porous cathode during charging, it is breaking down, and depositing metallic lithium dendrites inside the cathode. These can cause short circuits, much like tin whiskers do.

    3) the charge logic is improper, causing either breakdown of the electrolyte, or causing premature cathode disintegration through overcharging.

    in all cases, the fire happens after a dead short with the annode occurs inside the battery.

    Normally, the charge controller uses a thermistor to tell if thr cell is charging properly or not.if it is not charging properly, it disables the cell to prevent electrolyte and cathode breakdown, and the subsequent fire these cause.

    in the endless madness for thinner and thinner batteries, it is possible that thermally assisted detection of bad charging is less effective, because of the high surface area to weight ratio of the thiner battery cells. (they radiate the heat too quickly because they are thin and flat, so the thermistor reading isnt as accurate.)

     

  8. Re:Smartphones by saloomy · · Score: 5, Informative

    Even if they didn't know, they should be responsible. The news has been ADAMANT about reporting on this recall, and making a lot of hoopla about it. Samsung issued a recall. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE let them not win a lawsuit against Samsung.

    If they sue, Samsung is in trouble cause it admitted a fault and issued a recall. Shouldn't we encourage companies to recall products when there are safety hazards and they are willing to take the financial hit and do the responsible thing? They will never admit fault if it exposes them to liability in court.

  9. How your supply chain can build or destroy a brand by seoras · · Score: 2

    The question, that remains unanswered at the moment, is just how damaged is the Samsung Phone brand?
    Is it on life support now after what just happened to a 6 year old NY-er?
    As a parent I'm not keen on allowing any of my gang (7, 5, 3, & 6 mnths) to touch our smart phones, less so now.
    This is where brand value and customer confidence in brand comes to the fore, when it threatens the safety of those who you protect.
    Xmas time is going to be a tough one for Samsung and, for not paying attention to the quality and safety of supplied parts, they deserve it.
    Which android brand will take their place?

  10. Re:Smartphones by viperidaenz · · Score: 3, Informative

    and the OTA updates will be deployed.... soon after the carriers approve them and be active after the users use the phone they've been told not to and download and accept the update.

  11. Re:Smartphones by OrangeTide · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I think Samsung coming forward and doing an across the board recall with a fairly significant level of media coverage is a good thing.

    But in the end, Samsung produced a defective and dangerous device and people were hurt. Samsung is still on the hook in civil courts because some people didn't get the message about the recall, or didn't understand the message.

    If I were a judge (and I obviously am not), I think a class action case against Samsung should be divided along where people were reasonably expected to have heard the recall announcement. Anyone before that time is one group, and anyone after that time has to file individually or form a different class action lawsuit.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  12. Re:Doesn't want to see or go near any phones. by OrangeTide · · Score: 2

    play games. there are lots of mobile games for young children. some of them of actual educational value, most of them of value of keeping a bored child busy while parents get daily chores done.

    --
    “Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
  13. Remotely brick? by by+(1706743) · · Score: 2

    Would it be legal for Samsung to issue an OTA update to essentially brick the device (ideally affecting the charging controller, too)?

    Would this be legal? Not that I'm advocating that sort of behavior, just wondering...as-is, it seems we barely own anything and are just borrowing it from the company...

    1. Re:Remotely brick? by vakuona · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Maybe not brick it (because people might try to fix it).

      Just put a huge warning message that the device is dead and can not be used anymore. Give the people a code that they can use to claim a refund, and tell them they don't even have to bring it to a store. They can just chuck it away and claim a refund.

      That way, no parent gives it to a young kid, and they scare them enough into getting rid of it.

  14. Re:Smartphones by Ol+Olsoc · · Score: 2

    So they are running out to buy the brand new Note 7 but they aren't technology minded? Not defending Samsung as they made a defective product and they should be accountable for that. But it has been all over the front pages of newspapers, web sites and everywhere on the internet. I haven't looked for it as it doesn't affect me but I have seen it on TV more than a dozen times and god knows how many times on various websites.

    Which means what? Here's what actually happens. When I was the president of a youth hockey organization, an adult came to a board meeting, and told us we had a terrible failing in getting the word out about ourselves.

    "You need to have newspaper advertisements, ads in the local magazines, ads in all the rinks and on television. And brochures!"

    So I pulled out the receipts for all of the above, and told him where he could find the brochures. His only reply was that we needed to find better ways and times so he could see them note: this is disregarding how the person knew to come in to see us anyhow, but the point is, saturation doesn't prove that someone saw something.

    Samsung can only cover itself by notifying everyone who has one of their burning phones personally.

    --
    The shepherds did so well protecting the flock that the sheep no longer believed that wolves existed.
  15. Re:Smartphones by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    I'd rather die by Samsung burn than have an iphone without a headphone jack

  16. Re:Smartphones by gfxguy · · Score: 2

    I disagree - the earlier they release the recall announcement, the fewer the number of people would be able to claim damages, so it behooves the company AND the non-greedy, just-want-to-be-safe public that it be publicized earlier. In this particular case, I find it hard that someone who could afford a Galaxy Note 7, and actually lives in the modern world (Brooklyn... so more or less), would be over a week behind the news that the devices should be returned.

    --
    Stupid sexy Flanders.
  17. Re:As an EE and amateur aircraft manufacturer by Woldscum · · Score: 2

    ZERO. It is not a design fault. It is poor workmanship. Samsung themselves make the battery cells. A 3rd party company assembles the cells into battery packs. The battery pack assembly is what is at fault here. From everything I have read.

  18. Re:Smartphones by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 2

    Samsung should sell all the recalled phones to ISIS, I'm sure they'd have a use for them.

  19. Not a Note 7 by crvtec · · Score: 3, Informative

    Not a Note 7. It was a Galaxy Core: http://www.nbcnewyork.com/news... Possibly aftermarket battery?