Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 has already established itself as one the smartphones to keep an eye on: it has received plenty of positive reviews, and the general consensus is that it is one of the South Korean company's strongest, if not the strongest, smartphones. Of course, no matter how great a phone might seem, there will still be several issues that plague it, and it has become clear that the Galaxy Note 7 is no different thanks to a recent series of tests.
To be clear, these issues go beyond the test conducted last week that revealed that the brand new Gorilla Glass 5 that's been fitted on every Galaxy Note 7 may be more durable than its predecessors, but it's also more prone to scratching.
Corning has since issued a statement, saying the screens were designed to maximize damage resistance (damage incurred from drop incidents) and that the test was faulty as there's no way a pick with a hardness of 3 would be able to leave a mark on a screen with a hardness of 5 or 6.
However, regardless of whether these statements are true, the Galaxy Note 7 has more issues to worry about than just a display that's easy to scratch.
Amusingly enough, the first of these problems begins where the scratch issue ends. Two videos, one from TechRax and another from Zach Straley, show that the backside of the handset is not as durable as the front and actually gives way far quicker than one would expect, considering that we have been led to assume that the phone uses Gorilla Glass as protection.
The first test, conducted by TechRax, shows that the phone is quite scratch-resistant, which goes against findings from last week and supports Corning's statement. However, it also found that you can easily damage the backside of the display by hacking at it with a knife. On the plus side, though, the front side of the screen does seem rather durable, able to endure quite a bit of punishment from a hammer before it gives way.
The second test, conducted by Zach Straley, shows that the Galaxy Note 7 may not be as damage-resistant as advertised. In a drop test conducted against the iPhone 6s and Note 5, the Note 7's backside and front screen got cracked and damaged before the other two, which is rather odd considering that Gorilla Glass 5 is supposed to be the strongest iteration of Gorilla Glass to date.
There is a silver lining though: despite all the damage incurred in both tests, each Galaxy Note 7 handset was still working.
The problems don't end there, though, as a recent account on Reddit revealed that there is one flaw that the Note 7 may ship with that simply can't be fixed, something to which Samsung has reportedly admitted.
Apparently, some Galaxy Note 7 units let light slip out next to the metal edge because of design flaws. It's not necessarily deal-breaking, but it's noticeable and can be annoying for some people, such as Reddit user TachyonGun, who sent his phone in three times before learning from Samsung that there was no fix for his problem.
"I've finally received my phone from Samsung after sending it in THREE TIMES!!! They finally saw the issue but concluded there is no gap between the screen and the bezel," TachyonGun wrote. "There's actually a painted frame on the screen, and the paint does not cover completely. It's a bad build quality issue, but THE PHONE IS COMPLETELY SEALED!!! Don't bother taking your phone in because there is no fix for this."
For what it's worth, this issue isn't unique to the Galaxy Note 7, as other edge devices have this problem as well, but one would think that, after the same issue repeating itself for so long, Samsung would finally be able to address it with its latest and greatest creation yet.
"Every single time they replace your screen, the new one will be assembled with the exact specifications as your old one. Samsung is STILL sticking to the LIE that due to the curved edge, the light reflects off the bezel. Samsung just doesn't know how to say they f----- up a beautiful phone design by not painting the frame completely to block the light," the redditor added.
To set the record straight, this isn't a knock on Samsung or the Galaxy Note 7. This phone is amazing, and the reviews back it up. However, seeing these issues is quite concerning, so, at the very least, it might be wise to hold off on getting one until Samsung issues a formal statement about them.
