Yes, That is a Meatloaf Pan: Samsung Note7 Review

​(Review includes experiences with the original and battery replacement Note7 devices over the last 6 weeks)

Overall Pros

• Good actual device size and hand comfort despite my prior experience with earlier generations
• 64 GB of internal memory + up to an additional 256 GB (SD card)
• S Pen stylus is cool, works well, but need to punt on paper notebook to actually use
• Iris and fingerprint unlock
• Decent Samsung & Verizon communications regarding the battery issues / recall
• Wireless charging (if you purchase the assessory)

Overall Cons

• UPDATE (October 10, 2016): Samsung battery saga continues with reports of new device explosions/fires. All 4 US carriers suspend sales and in damage control.
• Inconvenience as an early adopter and confidence in Samsung surrounding the battery issue
• Perceived shorter battery life (with replacement Note7 battery)
• Despite the Iris / fingerprint controls, something is not quite right with the lockscreen and notifications UX
• Some Edge screen functions are over engineered
• Average consumer will not use a large amount of Note7 capabilities (likely too complex to setup and questionable value-add for most)
• Cell network performance
• Price relative to iPhone and peer Android device benchmarks

Samsung Recall

• October 10, 2016 Update: Bad went to worse with the 2nd recall after failing to remedy the battery issues. This is a $Billion dollar direct blunder for Samsung and huge harm longer term to their brand in the smartphone wars. It would have been better to hold off for 1-2 months before re-issuing the replacement Note7 devices until they were certain the exploding and catching fire issue were resolved.  We need more internal Samsung insight to see where the organizational breakdown was.
  
• Do you have enough confidence in the new Note7 green battery icon to take your phone out of the meatloaf pan when charging? Yes, I did not stop using my Note7 immediately and took some precautions during charging my original device. Not that I will carefully charge my future devices in such fire-proof containers or environments like my garage floor, but it makes me think a bit of where I should charge all my devices among my busy work space.
• Overall, I thought Samsung (and Verizon) did a decent job keeping me informed of the battery issue with numerous emails amid this PR nightmare. One caveat may be that I am part of an Early Adopters Program to evaluate devices at Verizon. This may have given me heightened information flow on the issues. However, acting on a replacement device was not so responsive, but I understand the scale involved and I could not just walk into a Verizon retail store.
• Sadly, the out of the box experience for my replacement Note7 did not have the latest s/w that illustrates the new green battery icon (had to download/install the update). Before activating my replacement Note7, I attempted to setup and use Wi-Fi to install this s/w update, but was unable to connect to the Samsung server (must only be accessible via a Verizon APN). Ultimately, I needed to activate the device with Verizon to gain access to the software update server.
• New green battery icon - This mad scramble for a solution to identify good vs. bad Note7 devices (e.g. airlines) unfortunately yields some usability issues. It is real hard to discern the battery remaining with a green on green background battery icon, thus the need to become reliant on the % numeric display.
• As someone from the product innovation space, I am less forgiving of Samsung for either not having ample development test vectors, insufficient alpha / beta pilots (sample size and duration) or weak supplier quality controls.

Battery Life

• Perceptually, my replacement Note7 seemed to have shorter battery life. During my first day with this device I was at 55% after 4 hours of medium usage. Lithium ion technology may not be following pace with Moore's Law. I suspect device OEMs are trying to squeeze more and faster charge out of every bit of battery cell, but now we know there may be a consequence. 
• Personally, I would have chosen to increase the device thickness with a bigger battery or tone down display/processor performance (no real noticeable enhancement over my slower Quad vs. Octa-Core processor here).  They could also have put controls in place to throttle background thread/app activity to get more battery life, which is a key differentiator today as technology features reach a ceiling.
• For curiosity sake, I ran an apples-apples comparison for the original vs. updated Note7. I streamed a movie for ~90 minutes to both and was surprised to see the front end of the battery drain curve was the same. Since this is likely non-linear, I suspect there is a difference on the bottom end of the curve (per my overall end of day experience).
• In the replacement Note7, I noticed they eliminated their branded “Fast Charge” terminology, rightfully so with the bad PR of what fast may mean.

Packaging

• Impressive out of the box Samsung experience with some hints from Apple. Added USB-USB-C and adapters for direct USB transfer from your old device was nice.
• Actual device had a small white sticker on back that was a pain to remove and need the help of Goo Off to get the remnant glue off.
• When receiving a replacement device, I had 2 different SKUs and prefer the blue vs. black Note7 (see pictures below).  The IMEI is completely impossible to read from the back of the black Note7 (needed a different color for the silkscreen there)

Device Setup

• Using Smart Transfer app on both devices, did not work automatically (had to select USB file transfer mode on both).  This is not totally “Smart” since it did not pluck my full large set of music files embedded within my Amazon Music app.
• This transfer tool was poorly designed without ample feedback on the status of the transfer from my old Note7
• It was pretty easy to move and group icons across screens with the new Android controls

Activation

• Both times (original and replacement Note7) required me to call Verizon (maybe since I was in a special Early Adopter Evaluation Program). 
• Second time, I needed to be called back from a landline and could not do this task on my existing Note7. The Verizon rep did not call me right back on my landline despite confirming my landline number. I would have been happy to do this via the Verizon activation webpage, but that failed the first time and I not interested in giving that another whirl.

Network Performance

• I was coming from a Moto device and sadly noticed poorer cell network network performance with the Note7. I now do not occasionally get calls from the exact same physical location within my office. I have also had a couple call drops in the car on the same route that had no issues previously
• Wi-Fi and Bluetooth seemed to be fine (again 'good enough' factor in play here on those LAN / PAN technologies vs. the more critical WAN cell side of things)

Storage

• I currently have heartburn coming from a device with a sad 16 GB of storage and no expansion option. For many folks, things are often OK at this amount to meet a full complement of business and personal applications. However, this get's maxed out quickly, especially when I took advantage of Amazon Prime Music downloads or any form long-form video storage (forget trying to load up for a long flight).
• The base 64 GB of internal storage should be the base for higher end devices and SD Card expansion (up to 256 GB) is a beautiful thing in the non Apple world.

Key Features:

• S Pen Stylus – While this is a nice device differentiator and it has some cool drawing, note taking and OCR functions that perform well, I do not find myself real interested in the S Pen as long as I continue to use a paper notebook (though my use is dwindling there). Maybe I would be forced into adoption if I was thrust into a busy work day without my traditional notebook or laptop. The S Pen tip used was inconsistent; first device (blue) had softer tip and second (black) had harder fine tip. Think this is changeable.
• Edge screen – Yes, this highly marketed feature is nice with a wider display without increasing the form factor (side note, that this device is pretty light, think and pocketable). I will say I hated the older Samsung Note devices which were ridiculously large, awkward to hold and put in your pocket. The Note7 is physically smaller than the previous Note5 and is actually pretty comfortable to hold (as long as you only put a small case on it). Clearly Samsung is trying to differentiation on this unique screen feature, but there is only so much you can do with this and may take a step back in UX. I would also argue that many folks do not have the skill set to customize the range of Edge screen capabilities engineering by Samsung or the dexterity to use if effectively. Sometimes I do mistakenly touch the Edge portion of the screen that pauses watching a video.
• Edge Panels – This is an interesting concept (if you are right handed) that allows you to use one hand (thumb) for some quick browsing tasks. It is increasingly more difficult to do many tasks with one hand on larger devices (though we all try to do so). Samsung has a fairly limited set of Edge Panels preloaded and ones you can download. Without some more meaningful core functions represented as panels (eg. scan my Facebook / Twitter / LinkedIn feeds, news aggregation beyond CNN and Yahoo), I am not sure it adds enough value for mainstream consumer adoption. This could work for a larger group of prosumers if more UX work was invested in the panels
• Edge Feeds – This is pretty useless with a ticker-tape style of textual scrolling info on the edge of the screen.
• Edge Notifications – I really miss seeing notifications on my Moto lock screen that I could tap to quickly access. The concept of swiping the Edge screen to display notifications and feeds is a bad UX. I felt like Larry Hagman trying to rub the side of my phone to make I Dream of Jeannie appear. From a UX perspective, something is not totally quite right in the operation of the lockscreen and notifications.
• Edge Lighting – Pretty useless
• Health Data Capture – Tracking steps and activity is becoming table stakes. Nice to have a formal pulse and SpO2 meter, not sure I personally will use it much though.
• Iris (Retina Eye Scan) & Fingerprint Lock Screen Control – Both work pretty well. I am a one handed guy as much as possible, so fingerprint control is out of the picture for me. Wish the Iris unlock did not require thumb swipe to invoke eye scanning. The good old PIN seems to be fine for most folks.
• Camera – Yes, the Note7 is claimed to be the best camera on the market and looks to take great pictures, but I personally do not appreciate the incremental capabilities / quality over my last device. I had already reached a ‘good enough’ factor, until such time I had a high power optical zoom lens :)
• Waterproof – I took the Note7 to the beach, but was wary of submersion testing (even before the battery issue was announced). I did have a bit more confidence around water, including when it was raining one day and it got wet.
• Software / Marshmallow - This version of the Android OS is OK and seems pretty stable, although I specifically like what Apple has done with touch and hold icons for added functionality. Did not like how the Gmail Calendar app does not remember my default calendar view every time I click on the Android widget. I was annoyed by the recurring loud volume popup warning when turning music up. The ability to run 2 apps on the screen is cute, but have not found a meaningful use for it yet.
• Pricing - At a $864 full retail price (Verizon), this is the Cadillac in the industry. The Samsung S7 Edge is very similar (size and features excluding primarily the S Pen) for $792. There is a big jump down to the S7 at $672. Even though I am an Android guy, I am not sure Samsung rightfully warrants this price premium over the class of iPhone devices (better range of overall price points) and even Android peers like Motorola.

Final Word:

Check out this hazmat setup below that Samsung sent me to send my original Note7 back. I know most consumers have returned devices to their local wireless retailer. But for folks like me or online purchases through Samsung, I wonder how many consumers will follow these instructions. It also makes me wonder why more products with Lithium Ion batteries do not come with such special handling.  It was not like the Note7 is going to be powered on and charging while in the box back to Samsung. I suspect this return packaging (including special outer fire-retardant box, within a box, within a box, rubber gloves, etc.) cost them some serious coinage and took as long to design / procure as the fix to the Note7 battery.