Report: Some Replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Phones Still Too Hot To Handle

The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 was officially recalled about two weeks ago, because it has this way of potentially catching fire or exploding — both pretty horrible traits in a smartphone (or anything else, really). New, non-defective units are in, so owners have been swapping out their old phones and new consumers have been buying up the new ones, too. Except reports say those may not be quite right, either.

The Wall Street Journal reports that owners of new, non-recalled Note 7 phones are saying the device runs so hot it can’t be used as an actual phone… not a good sign at all.

The WSJ says that several cases, reported in both the U.S. and South Korea, consumers with new Note 7 phones have said that the phones are running too hot to hold next to their heads during phone calls. In at least one case, Samsung has already promised a(nother) replacement phone.

“There have been a few reports about the battery charging levels and we would like to reassure everyone that the issue does not pose a safety concern,” Samsung said in a statement. “In normal conditions, all smartphones may experience temperature fluctuations.”

And sure, we’re all used to our phones getting warmer while charging, or while we do something particularly intensive on them. But too hot to hold at all? That’s not right.

In the two weeks since the recall was formally announced, we’ve heard from dozens of readers who report that just getting a replacement phone is practically impossible.

Still, as of the end of last week roughly a half-million replacement, non-recalled units had been shipped to the U.S. — so clearly some customers are getting them. And one of those customers confirmed to the WSJ that his replacement phone is just not working right.

The California man told the WSJ that from the start, he noticed the replacement phone, which he got on Sept. 21, was running very hot — so hot it shut itself down while he was on a Skype call.

The customer contacted Samsung, which told him immediately to power down the device and send it in for inspection, but the device owner chose to hang onto it instead and see if the problems recur.

Samsung Looking Into Complaints About Replacement Galaxy Note 7s [Wall Street Journal]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist