How to tell an explosive Galaxy Note 7 from a non-explosive one

If you're buying a new Galaxy Note 7, look for the small black square and the big blue S. Samsung reader comments 79 Share this story

Samsung's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Note 7, is prone to exploding. Once the flaw was discovered, Note 7 sales were halted, but that move only came after millions of devices were shipped to consumers and retail outlets. Samsung is now faced with recalling millions of potentially dangerous devices, and it's up to consumers to identify the potentially explosive devices from the non-explosive ones. Communicating this to every Note 7 customer is turning into a challenge, as a few days after the recall a Note 7 apparently burned down a customer's Jeep.

Further Reading Galaxy Note 7 review: What's the opposite of "bang for your buck?" If you're shopping for a Galaxy Note 7, Samsung has announced a new bar code label for the box that will let you know your new device is not explosive. The new packaging is shown above, which Samsung says has "clear identifiers on the box; a small black square on the white bar code label along with a white sticker with a blue letter 'S'."

That new packaging requires you to have the box handy, though. If you want to know if an unboxed Galaxy Note 7 has been repaired, things are a little more complicated. Samsung says that next Tuesday, September 13, the company will launch an online IMEI database that will let customers type in their device's unique ID and lookup if it has been fixed. On the Galaxy Note 7, the IMEI number is located on the bottom of the device next to the USB port. Customers can also call Samsung customer service to have their device identified.

Further Reading Samsung will recall Galaxy Note 7 because of exploding batteries [Updated] Samsung has also issued an official statement on why Note 7s are exploding. Earlier charging-based speculation seems to be wrong—the issue is with the battery shorting out. The company says, "Based on our investigation, we have learned that there was an issue within the battery cell. An overheating of the battery cell occurred when the anode-to-cathode came into contact which is a very rare manufacturing process error."

If you have a pre-recall Note 7, Samsung recommends powering it down immediately and seeking a replacement.

Source: How to tell an explosive Galaxy Note 7 from a non-explosive one