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Samsung is Setting Up Note 7 Exchange Booths at Airports Around the World (theverge.com)
An anonymous reader writes: Samsung is setting up Galaxy Note 7 exchange booths in airports around the world, hoping to stop customers taking the dangerous device onto flights at the last minute. The first of these new "customer service points" appear to have been introduced in South Korean airports, but Samsung has confirmed the booths are opening in airports across Australia, with reports of the desks appearing in the US as well. The booths are located in "high-traffic terminals" before security screening, says Samsung, and allow Note 7 owners to swap their phone for an unspecified exchange device. According to a report from ABC7News in San Francisco -- where a Samsung exchange desk has appeared at the city's international airport -- employees for the tech company are on hand to help customers transfer their data onto a new phone.
There's nothing about having a user replaceable battery that makes it impossible to have a water tight seal. Every digital watch I've had for the past 30 years has been waterproof and has had a user replaceable battery. My GPS unit takes regular AA batteries and is also very waterproof.
Anthropic principle: We see the universe the way it is because if it were different we would not be here to see it.
Let's see, 1 and 2 are distractions because half the outrage about phones (on Slashdot at least) is that they are too fragile, thicker heavier construction would improve this.
3 is inevitable because even if initial battery life is only 90% that of a fixed battery, replacement batteries result in such a device still having 80-90% of a theoretical fixed battery solution when the actual fixed battery device has been worn to a 40% charge capacity.
4 is a fairly new development in phones, but if you can make a waterproof charging cable port, you can make a waterproof battery slot. The challenges are barely different.
5 has been solved in cameras, laptops, personal portable recreational devices, and even old phones.
6 is not that hard, it just increases bulk slightly, which when we look back at how things are already too thin and frail, that will be a net improvement again.