US Issues Emergency Ban On Flying With Samsung Galaxy Note 7, Offenders May Face Criminal Prosecution (transportation.gov) 103
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphone will be banned from aircraft in the United States starting at noon EDT (1600 GMT) under an emergency order, regulators said on Friday. Among other penalties, those who attempt to circumvent the ban could be subjected to criminal prosecutions, the regulators added. Quartz reports: On Friday (Oct. 14), US Department of Transportation announced that passengers would no longer be able to bring the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 onto any flight in the United States. There have been nearly 100 reported cases of the phones catching on fire and spewing noxious black smoke, an undesired situation in an airplane's enclosed cabin. "Individuals who own or possess a Samsung Galaxy Note7 device may not transport the device on their person, in carry-on baggage, or in checked baggage on flights to, from, or within the United States," the US DOT statement said. Any travelers who violate the ban could be subject to criminal prosecution and fines. Samsung is expected to see a $5.3 billion loss in profits from the entire fiasco, mainly the cost of recalling, stopping production, and destroying phones.Samsung said it will send a text message to all Note 7 users to let them know about this ban.
Re:Now, if only... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Now, if only... (Score:5, Informative)
Don't take his word for it
http://gizmodo.com/an-iphone-i... [gizmodo.com]
http://www.cultofmac.com/29186... [cultofmac.com]
http://www.ubergizmo.com/2016/... [ubergizmo.com]
https://www.cnet.com/news/ipho... [cnet.com]
http://www.pcr-online.biz/news... [pcr-online.biz]
https://9to5mac.com/2014/02/22... [9to5mac.com]
http://www.cnn.com/2015/03/02/... [cnn.com]
http://bgr.com/2016/10/03/ipho... [bgr.com]
http://bgr.com/2016/09/29/ipho... [bgr.com]
http://bgr.com/2016/09/30/ipho... [bgr.com]
http://bgr.com/2016/10/03/ipho... [bgr.com]
And those are just the first two pages of Google links. It's not just Apple - all phones do this. All phones with lithium batteries have a chance of entering thermal runaway. It's inherent in the materials. That said, the Note 7 was close to two orders of magnitude above what a consumer device really should be in terms of spontaneous combustion. Still low probability, but too high for the disruptive nature of and heat generating device on an operating aircraft.
Re:Now, if only... (Score:4, Informative)
So, having gone through your links in more detail than you apparently did, it looks like you posted some dupes (#3 is a dupe report of #1 and #11 is the exact same link as #8), fell victim to a clickbait headline (#10 "blew up" in the sense that the iPhone bulged, not that it caught fire), and failed to account for incidents that were likely caused by trauma done to the device prior to any fireworks (as was the case for #4 and #7-9, all of which mention the user doing something that likely damaged the device).
That leaves us with four distinct incidents that don't have an immediate explanation (#1, 2, 5, and 6).
...since 2011.
...no two of which were for the same iPhone model.
That's about as close to a textbook example for "isolated incident" as you can get, given the tens of millions of iPhones sold during that time and that are currently in use worldwide. We expect to see a handful of isolated fires, given that thermal runaway events are a known issue with LiOn devices, but in a well-designed device, they should occur infrequently enough for them to not be a major concern, and that's exactly what we see from the examples you cited.
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Dat butt hurt so soooo strong son!
You're right. But Samsung is doing their best to make it up to their customers.
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You're partially right - I just cut and pasted. I had no intent on making a dissertation. I intentionally went back 5 years to show that it has *always* been happening. There are far more battery anomalies than just those that hit the headlines, but I 'm sure you knew that. That's why I also pointed out that it happens to all manufacturers. (It's easier to name a brand or device and "explodes" to get results, hence my choice of a single brand name with a lot of handsets)
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Two phones, with Chinese chargers, does not make for a 'history'.
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http://www.nbcnews.com/tech/te... [nbcnews.com]
http://www.nbcphiladelphia.com... [nbcphiladelphia.com]
http://www.nydailynews.com/new... [nydailynews.com]
http://www.phonearena.com/news... [phonearena.com]
http://www.bbc.com/news/techno... [bbc.com]
http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/new... [pcadvisor.co.uk]
And that's just the citations I could find from a 30-second Google search that didn't even glance beyond the second page of search results. Many (perhaps even most) of those phones were not being charged at the time of th
Re:Now, if only... (Score:5, Insightful)
touch disease doesn't end with an explosion and fire.
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That's like complaining that the government is being unfair because it was quick to crack down on the Pinto but has been slow to crack down on the Model S.
Never mind that the situations are totally different. Sure, we can point to cases of both catching fire, but in one case it was due to a major design flaw, while in the other it's been primarily the result of extraordinary circumstances. In no way are the situations similar or deserving of similar treatment. Likewise with these phones. Samsung apologists
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As for touch disease, sure, it needs investigating, but mentioning it in this conversation is like bringing up the zit on your conversation partner's face when they point out that you urgently need to go to the hospital.
So called "Touch Disease" doesn't "need investigating". It is a simple Contract-Manufacturer PRODUCTION issue.
You can Google similar "Touch Disease" (more difficult to do, since it hasn't been given a catchy name) for MANY devices, including phones, tablets, and laptops, for MANY years, It is a SOLDERING problem, caused by large Ball-Grid-Array (BGA) IC packages and either poor IR reflow soldering, contaminated PC boards, or warped PC boards. It is NOT a "Design Defect", as some have opined. It is a PRODU
i wondering (Score:2)
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The ban on carrying phones in checked bags is in TFS. I expected the good ol' Slashdotter to not read TFA but really, not even TFS properly?
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Sure, they've been banned in baggage as well - but will that actually stop people from dropping them in there and hoping to get away with it?
Not all of them, I'd bet.
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Sure, they've been banned in baggage as well - but will that actually stop people from dropping them in there and hoping to get away with it?
Not all of them, I'd bet.
What are suggesting? Guns aren't allowed in carry-on, but people still put guns in carry-on. Things that are illegal are against the law, but some people still break the law.
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If he meant people will do illegal things, well DOH.
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WTF (Score:1)
I'm starting to think this was some kind of industrial espionage/cyberwarfare.
Re: WTF (Score:1)
Yea, that is so much more realistic than just an engineering cock-up.
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At some point this could have been an object lesson in the risks of carelessly handling lithium batteries, a lesson that should have been learned when those Boeing Dreamliners caught on fire. Rapidly charging and overcharging these batteries is a bad idea, all of the engineers know this.
It is a shame that Koreans made themselves vulnerable to this problem. Now everyone is dogpiling on Samsung, and it seems pretty obvious that some parties are only joining in because it is a great opportunity to take down th
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At some point this could have been an object lesson in the risks of carelessly handling lithium batteries, a lesson that should have been learned when those Boeing Dreamliners caught on fire. Rapidly charging and overcharging these batteries is a bad idea, all of the engineers know this.
But apparently, Samsung's engineers are subject to (IMHO) Korea's overly-hierarchical society (remember the Korean Airlines plane that drove into the runway, because the co-Pilot WOULDN'T countermand the Pilot's incorrect flying), and thus were silent when their bosses made them attempt to charge their nearly 4,000 mAh battery in the same time as the iPhone's 2,000 mAh one (seriously overheating and permanently-damaging the battery), rather than admit that their Piece of SHIT, battery-hog design (that, desp
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Samsung took a novel approach to power regulation so the 7 could be charged more quickly than other smartphones.
"Novel" approach? That's choice!
More like, "Dangerously Inadvisable" by all industry standards.
And that's what I have been saying since this story broke almost a month ago.
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is that a euphamism for "colossally fucked up"
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Not much talk on what exactly is causing these fires. My first impression was something was getting hot and compromising the battery. Since battery failures are actually rare. Which meant something was either physically compromising them or it was happening electrically. Because nothing else in a phone can create that much heat than a Lithium battery. With these phones cramming all the technology into a thin and small device. That also is getting faster hardware which typically results in more heat. One has to wonder going forward if other devices could have this problem. It certainly got past quality testing.
Samsung is simply charging their huge battery too quickly, permanently damaging it, and in some cases, causing thermal runaway. But they didn't want to admit that it would take FOUR HOURS to charge their phone, when the iPhone charges in TWO HOURS; so Samsung gambled with an inappropriate "Fast Charge" profile, and lost.
I Wonder.. (Score:1)
Who still has a note 7 still? When they started catching fire and exploding and samsung started to offer a full refund who thinks na I'm good.
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As a Note 7 owner, most of us got the v2 "fixed" version (which wasn't quite fixed it turns out). Pretty much everything on the market is a fairly significant downgrade if you're a power user, so if you got a Note 7, you'd want a Note 7 to replace it. CPSC just flipped the switch on the v2 phones yesterday so there are still a good number of Note 7s in circulation. It takes time to manufacture, prep, ship special boxes for shipping damaged lithium batteries, and then have the users return ship them for dis
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The underlying corrupt reality of course, just because the phones where recalled, does not mean they will be destroyed and plenty of corrupt individuals will be stealing those worthless phones in the return chain to sell second hand. Samsung needs to tighten up security or those phones will continue to burn their reputation for years to come.
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Pretty much everything on the market is a fairly significant downgrade
The iPhone 7 mops the floor with the S7 series, performance-wise, doesn't catch on fire in droves, and gets almost the same battery-life with half the battery capacity.
I don't think that's a downgrade. Quite the opposite in fact.
Maybe that's why a significant percentage of S7 users are switching to the iPhone 7. In fact, some statistics show that the iPhone 7 (rather than another Samsung, or other Android phone) is leading the pack when it comes to what former S7 users are turning-to as an alternative.
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Wait, what? (Score:5, Insightful)
Samsung said it will send a text message to all Note 7 users to let them know about this ban.
Well, that should be effective, seeing as how Samsung has told all Note 7 users to power off their phones.
This is reminiscent of IT departments that send out emails to users to tell them that the mail server is down.
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Makes perfect sense to me.....
Since there are two groups of people out there at this moment.
Group A)
People that have discontinued use of or exchanged their effected phones. For those people the text doesn't mean anything but they also won't be receiving it as noted they are no longer using and or in possession of the effected hardware.
And then you have Group B)
People who are still using the effected phones in spite of the recall. Those people would be effected by the ban and those people will receive the te
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"Well, that should be effective, seeing as how Samsung has told all Note 7 users to power off their phones."
Clearly they would be going without any phone at all, left incommunicado forever.
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"Well, that should be effective, seeing as how Samsung has told all Note 7 users to power off their phones."
Clearly they would be going without any phone at all, left incommunicado forever.
I don't know why this even has to be explained. Samsung advised Note 7 owners to shut off their phones more than a week ago; even the supposedly good replacement ones that turned out to not be good. This was widely reported on TV, in print media, and on countless websites, and has been the subject of countless 'water cooler' discussions. Only cave-dwelling hermits could be unaware, and they probably don't have network coverage, so they can't receive the text. If they have turned off their phones, they won't
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"If they have turned off their phones, they won't receive the text. "
They would get the text on the phone they are using now.
This started TODAY? (Score:2)
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They should restrict all cell phones (Score:3)
And just establish a rule going forward, because SamSung is just the latest $flavor_of_the_year issue with lithium batteries.
Example: To bring any cell phone Or Non-TSA-certified laptop or electronic device aboard any plane, you must remove the battery and place the battery in a
poly container which you will purchase before security, and the gate attendant will seal and lock before you can board
the plane, where the battery will remain for the duration of the flight.
Any cell phone with a Non-removable Lithium-polymer or Lithium-ION battery may not be brought on-board;
for $100 you may purchase a larger sealed fireproof, smokeproof container to put the phone in which may then go into checked luggage, if it's not a Samsung Galaxy 7.
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and apple will be forced to have ones that you can take out.
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and apple will be forced to have ones that you can take out.
You found the hidden reason for my rec' that phones with non-removable batteries not be allowed on planes.
Pit two unreasonable organizations against each other.
It would be glorious to see Apple cause the public to finally have had enough of government overreach OR
for iPhone users to finally get phones with removable batteries; Either way, the public wins (Although travelers
may be considerably inconvenienced for a short period, before the result
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Nah just put it in a clear plastic bag. That renders everything safe.
Ban should go further (Score:2)
Honestly, this ban should be extended to all consumer grade devices that have non-removable batteries. Simply put, if your battery cannot be removed from the device, the safety of your device is strictly based on software. Consumer grade software has been known to fail in horrible ways.
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Mod parent up.
I won't buy phones with nonremovable batteries primarily because I can never be sure that the phone is off when I want it to be. Until this story broke, I'd never considered it a safety issue.
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Simply put, if your battery cannot be removed from the device, the safety of your device is strictly based on software.
To be fair, the safety of your airplane is strictly based on software as well.
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that's true but industrial grade code is actually has standards. with consumer electronics, anything goes.
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For example, parent is consumer grade prose. It comes with an extra "is" and perhaps some other problems I've missed. The procedure manual for operating an airliner is probably up to some sort of editorial standard also. The airlines paid for that. You paid nothing for our prose, and you got what is you paid for.
Literary equivalent of tribal tattoos. (Score:2)
It's all in lowercase, because he thinks that's "edgy" or something.
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***Important Notice***
Pedantic people may wish to avoid reading the following as is contains:
a. Grammatical errors
b. No punctuation
c. Misspellings
We wouldn't wish to be responsible for your next anal panic attack.
***We now return you to your regularly scheduled post***
ALL FUCKING CAPS ALL THE TIME WITH NO PUNCTUATION EXCEPT !!!!!! CAUSE THERE IDEAS IS MORE IMPOTENT THAN YERS!!!!!
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Nah, I use all lowercase most of the time because my left shift used to get stuck all the time. It's just a bad habit now.
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I don't know if this is supposed to be a joke, but such a plan would never, ever happen, for a plethora of reasons - not the least of which is that many major airlines use iPads as Infotainment devices *on the flight itself*, and pilots and attendants also routinely use tablets. Flight manuals nowadays are all on tablets. Passenger lists, all moving to tablets.
I won't even get into the amount of calls to congresscritters that would happen if you tried to tell the global business community they could no long
need a pic (Score:2)
As they once said... (Score:2)
"Samsung is expected to see a $5.3 billion loss in profits from the entire fiasco"
$5 billion here, $5 billion there... pretty soon it adds up to real money.
Banned .... (Score:3)
Oh, the irony!
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But (Score:2)
won't TSA screeners just confiscate Note7 phones (along with nail scissors and family sized toothpaste etc)
You can prise my S7 from my cold dead hands (Score:2)
Phones don't kill people, their stupid lack of impulse control while crossing the road does.
We're all going to die! We're all going to die! (Score:2)
That God the government is protecting us from this threat that almost killed us all.
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Um, no.
if the battery is at fault, you would have to leave it at flight origin and buy a new one at destination. Not the best choice, is it?
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Assuming anyone would want to hold a stock of batteries which could burst in flames any moment...
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People could supply a few on a freelance basis. It's the magic of the gig economy!
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You can pay Apple (not sure about android phones, but I'd assume there's some kind of service) a fairly cheap fee ($79) to open the device and swap the battery. It's a lot cheaper than buying a whole new device.
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You consider $79 cheap?
A replacement battery for a phones usually costs something like $10-$20. Replacing a battery should take maybe 10 minutes on a phone that is not especially designed to make replacing the battery hard. So you're paying more than $60 for 10 minutes of work. That's not cheap.
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You consider $79 cheap? A replacement battery for a phones usually costs something like $10-$20. Replacing a battery should take maybe 10 minutes on a phone that is not especially designed to make replacing the battery hard. So you're paying more than $60 for 10 minutes of work. That's not cheap.
Compared with the price of a new phone, yes, $79 is fucking REALLY cheap.
Oh, and these aren't batteries that you can go buy at Batteries+. So don't try to insult us by comparing the highly-specific, top-of-battery-tech Smartphone's "pancake" battery with a AA-form-factor cordless telephone battery pack you can buy off the rack at Walmart.
And these phones aren't specifically designed to make battery replacement hard. They are specifically designed to make the phones THIN. I don't want to get into a philo