[Note 7 Questions & Answers] br0adband:
I'm not sure what you're expecting as comments on your points actually, and I don't require anyone to believe me or agree with me - I fully expect all people to be able to think for themselves logically and rationally because when they don't then it becomes nearly impossible to have an actual coherent discussion without someone going into some meandering soup of babbling, much like this sentence I'm just about done with. :)

I think the wasting and stupid destruction of countless devices just to make a video on YouTube or some other video streaming website is just that: stupid. I get what they're trying to do but in the long run it's just nothing but wasteful in the long run. Yes they're making money on the videos, that's an absolute fact, and some of them are getting so many views they can readily afford to purchase more and more devices to just up and destroy. Felt the same way a few years ago with the "Can it blend?" crap and nothing has really changed for me: I think it's stupid, that's my opinion but I can guarantee that I'm not the only person that feels or thinks the same way.

Not sure what you're referring to with the "dozens' comment, if you mean I was saying there's dozens of such video makers then that's probably true but there far more than a few dozen.

As for whether or not people would willfully destroy a Note 7 for some insurance purpose seems kinda pointless considering Samsung would (and is) offering full refunds on the hardware. It might not be really really easy for some users worldwide to get the refund but as time passes and the details of the recall and refund programs work (both from Samsung and from carriers worldwide) I'm sure people will realize - hopefully - that keeping the Note 7 is just not a great idea. Will that matter overall? Nope, because some people just don't like being told or even asked politely what to do.

It is absolutely possible that some people did maliciously damage their Note 7 devices to gain notoriety, that much I totally agree with. Why would I agree with it? Because TADA! people are stupid for the most part and have done much worse to gain some money or notoriety and popularity so that would not really be a surprise to me at all if it turns out to be what's happened in some instances of the Note 7 failures but not all of them.

I never said the Samsung engineers can't be or shouldn't be trusted - all I've stated is that nobody from Samsung has made an official statement. Reports that are published from any other source should not be trusted implicitly just because someone claims it came from "an inside source at Samsung" or anything even remotely similar. If it's not a press release or public statement by Samsung then it's really nothing but conjecture, hearsay, and speculation - that's the simple fact of the matter whether people accept it or not.

We don't know any actual facts because Samsung hasn't told anyone yet in a press or public statement and until they do it should always be tempered knowing this. All we do know is that yes, some Note 7 devices around the world have suffered catastrophic failures and that's about it.

The consumer protection agencies are not doing their own investigations into these matters, they don't have the necessary funding or manpower or infrastructure to do such quality testing, they rely entirely on the manufacturers of the potentially defective devices to initiate a voluntary recall first which is their official indication that something is wrong and it's being investigated. If the incidents pose a risk to public safety then it gets more serious but it's still not the purview of the consumer protection agencies to do anything until the manufacturer of the devices in question step up and say "Ok, we think we've got a problem with our <whatever device> and we're initiating a recall..." - the job of the consumer protection agencies more than anything else is to make the public aware by a variety of means that the recall is in effect - they become the point-men for the relevant information and will provide links back to the manufacturer's website and relevant information as well.

That's their job: make the recalls public knowledge so people can then do what's necessary to protect themselves and others by providing them with information on how to handle the recall of the product(s) in question just in case something does go wrong.

The F.A.A. is a governmental agency in the U.S. that is responsible for the airline and air traffic in our air space. The fact that a Note 7 "exploded" on a U.S. airline flight as well as multiple other cases of the Note 7 exploding/burning up is what prompted the ban. Public safety overrules people wanting to have a cool new smartphone, especially when the device is showing a pattern of failing as the Note 7 has done over the past 45 days or so and it could continue since some people won't honor the requested recall and are adamant about keeping and continuing to use their Note 7 devices.

Hope this covers some of your "questions" there, if not I'll try to do better next time.

---------- Post added at 12:40 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:39 AM ----------

Not yet, no. ;)