The phone was never sold in the UK, so it should only be a small number of tourists that would have one.
Yes it was, by a few networks, Carphone Warehouse, and SIM-free.
Ironically, given the sales of the Note previously it probably shouldn't have been.
A year ago, Samsung decided to skip releasing the Note 5 and came up with the Galaxy S6 edge+ to satisfy markets where Note sales were poor.
S-Pen usage is minimal even in markets where it does sell well. I think people just preferred the larger display mostly, and on the Note 7 the HDR display was (is) excellent.
Anyway, this year the S7 edge was effectively the same as the S6 edge+ so some bright spark within the company probably thought that it might be worth a punt.
Samsung even said they did it because of a campaign to get the Note released here again. A petition with very few signatures, but it was a PR win.
And so we got the Note 7 here, and I am sure sales were pretty poor. The problem now is that the issue is now a UK/Europe one, whereas had it happened only in selected foreign markets, it may not have damaged the brand as much.
And I think it's a safe bet that the 'Note' name will be retired too. Samsung's next phablet (if they build one) almost certainly won't be called the 'Galaxy Note 8'. Chances are we might not see the word 'Galaxy' again either, beyond current production models.
I'm not sure exactly what happened, but I am sure Samsung can redesign the phone quite quickly to give more space for the battery (solving the pinch point that can cause the fires) and re-release the phone, which in itself was a bloody good - if overpriced - phone.
My concern for Samsung, as Samsung will no doubt be aware, is what happens next year when the S8 family comes out.
The S7 and S7 edge are considered safe. No reported incidents, and most people are happy - the product is half way through its life cycle.
But the S8 will immediately have people wondering if that could have the same problems. Will it catch fire? It may well put people off.
I do hope it might give us a removable battery again though. LG managed a metal case with removable battery on the new V20, so it can be done.
ok hypothetical question here.
With this statement from Cal Sleeper regarding Note 7's, lets say someone did charge/use their Note 7 and start a fire, could the user be held liable for damage to the carriage/injuries etc.?
I know a few people who intend to keep their Note 7s. One or two are doing it because they imported the dual-SIM version from abroad and so can't send it back (most carriers will refuse to ship it, and Samsung are using special surface-only marked boxes with fire retardant materials inside).
Some believe that the problem is still pretty small in the grand scheme of things, or that by holding on to the phone they're somehow sitting on something that will be worth loads of money in the future as a rare item.
I would hope that Samsung will kill the devices through a firmware update over the air, and if people resisted that, Google could stop their services from running and networks would reject them from the network. Thus, hopefully people wouldn't endanger themselves or others because they think they know more than a company that just took a multi-billion dollar hit.