Why Are You Still Using That Samsung Note?

They’ve begged, they’ve pleaded, they’ve threatened, they’ve offered you a new phone… but you still haven’t turned in your ticking time bomb of a Samsung Galaxy Note 7. Why, exactly? Is it because you like being told you can’t fly on a commercial airline with it? Because you’re hoping it will blow up inside your parked car and your insurance company will foot the bill for a new vehicle? (Spoiler alert: they won’t, the phone is under recall and you knew it was potentially volatile.)

Image courtesy of AndroidAuthority

A few efforts have been made to force your hand. Samsung issued a software update in several international markets that would cause the battery to no longer fully charge, thereby lessening the chances that it would overheat and hurt you. When Samsung announced it would launch the same update stateside, cellular service provider Verizon was the only carrier to initially resist. If their customers wanted to keep using their faulty Notes, that was their business.

Now, Verizon is reversing that decision. Starting December 19th, Verizon will begin rolling out its update, one that will stop the battery from charging at all. It’s a drastic move, but something both the carrier and the manufacturer sees as necessary to reach the few remaining holdouts who have yet to swap their phones; to date, an estimated 93% of Note 7 users have come in to their carriers or Samsung dealers and made the switch to the new non-exploding model.

The decision to brick its customers phones must not have been an easy one, and was certainly weighed against the potential damage to the company’s brand. Customers who have not swapped out their old Galaxy Note 7s for new models still have until the 19th to do so if they hope to keep any of their stored content. Of course, if you’re determined to resist the company’s insistence upon public safety, you don’t have to install the update; you’re free to take your chances with your phone’s current level of functionality – and the battery.

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