Samsung is not stopping in its quest to recall every defective Galaxy Note 7 units.
The South Korean smartphone maker is keen on recovering the defective handhelds that managed to make their way into consumers' hands. Aside from providing an IMEI checker for Note 7 device owners to determine whether their units should be turned in or not, Samsung also rolled out an OTA firmware update that will display a pop-up safety recall notice on affected handhelds.
"Your safety is our highest priority. Power down and stop using this phone. The battery may overheat posing a fire or burn risk," states the recall notice.
The notice will appear every time the phablet gets rebooted or when plugging it into the charger. The link to Samsung's exchange program is also specified in the notice.
The update is specifically for those who are still adamant with exchanging their units for newer and safer ones.
Note that usage rates for the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 remained stable despite news of the device catching fire covering every publication's front page since the first reports came in.
Verizon has already rolled out the said update for its customers. It is packaged along with the green (safe) battery icon update. After updating, the green battery icon should appear and will be visible on the Status Bar, the Power Off prompt screen and the Always On Display screen.
Galaxy Note 7 handhelds that still sport the old white battery icon even after updating indicates that they are fire-prone and thereby, must be exchanged for a newer one. The pop-up safety recall notice will be displayed on these devices. Their charging capacity will also be limited to 60 percent to lessen their chances of exploding due to the faulty battery packs that came with them.
A fire-prone Note 7 can be exchanged at the point of purchase. Owners get to choose whether they want a newer unit or a full refund. Samsung also opens the option of exchanging the phablet with its other mobile devices such as the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge. The manufacturer will refund the difference in price as dictated by the Note 7 exchange program, which the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission approved.
Samsung Galaxy Note 7 units that were sold from Aug. 2016 until Sept. 15, 2016 are eligible for the exchange program. Some retailers will waive the restocking fee until Sept. 30, 2016.
Approximately, 2.5 million units were sold prior to the Sept. 2 global recall that Samsung issued. 500,000 of them were shipped to the United States. The replacement units should have arrived in most retailers a couple of days ago.
