Note 7 discontinued | How to exchange Note 7 or get a refund on Note 7: Samsung stands to lose a further £2.5bn following Note 7 debacle

What to do with Note 7: Refund or exchange

If you have a Galaxy Note 7 in your possession, switch it off and do not charge it. Ideally, take your SIM card out and use another phone in the meantime if you have a spare. If you have photos or other documents on the device which you'd like to retrieve, you'll have to do this at your own risk.

If you've not been contacted by Samsung or the retailer you bought it from then don't wait around, contact them about a refund – which you are entitled to since the Note 7 is a faulty product. Some networks may offer you an alternative smartphone instead of a refund so ask if that's what you prefer.

Please follow these links for information from Samsung, EE, Three and Carphone Warehouse. If you're looking for Note 7 alternatives, check out our best phone 2016 chart.

Update 11 October (part 2): Just hours after the below news, Samsung has decided to kill the Galaxy Note 7 for good. "We can confirm the report that Samsung has permanently discontinued the production of Galaxy Note7," the firm said in a statement.

Update 11 October: Following the continued issues with Note 7 batteries, Samsung has finally decided to stop sales completely, and the exchange programme, while it investigates further. This could well be the end of the Note 7 for good but we'll be keeping an eye on the situation going forward. For now, power down and do not use the Note 7 if you have one. Take it back to the retailer for a refund or to exchange it for a different model.

Samsung said: "We are working with relevant regulatory bodies to investigate the recently reported cases involving the Galaxy Note7. Because consumers’ safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note7 while the investigation is taking place."

"We remain committed to working diligently with appropriate regulatory authorities to take all necessary steps to resolve the situation. Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note7 or replacement Galaxy Note7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available."

Update 10 October: After seemingly replacing phones and batteries successfully, Samsung has halted production of the Note 7 due to more problems. Via The Verge, a total of three replacement device have caught fire. Two US mobile networks have stopped selling the phone. Until Samsung sorts out this major issue we don't advice purchasing a Note 7. Samsung said: "We are temporarily adjusting the Galaxy Note7 production schedule in order to take further steps to ensure quality and safety matters."

Head to this Samsung page if you have a Note 7 which needs replacing or contact the retailer you purchased it from for a full refund.

Samsung Galaxy Note 7 recall: What you need to do now

The Note 7 should have gone on sale on 2 September, but Samsung instead took the decision to halt sales when faced with a battery cell issue, and began offering to replace handsets that had already shipped to customers.

According to an official statement from Samsung, "there have been 35 cases that have been reported globally and we are currently conducting a thorough inspection with our suppliers to identify possible affected batteries in the market. However, because our customers’ safety is an absolute priority at Samsung, we have stopped sales of the Galaxy Note 7."

A company statement on the Samsung Korea site appears to suggest this delay will push back the on sale date by a couple of weeks, and the latest reports suggest the Note 7 will be shipping once again in October (Samsung will be replacing Note 7 handsets in the UK from 19 September).

The Note 7 will begin shipping on 1 October in Korea, by which time the company expects the recall to be 80 percent complete, and in the US on 21 October and the UK and Europe on 28 October.

However, we're hearing reports that where the phone has gone back on sale customers have been finding issues with it overheating and quickly losing battery power, even while charging.

We've seen reports of faulty Note 7s setting fire and causing serious damage to their owner's belongings - for example, one faulty model destroyed its owner's Jeep when it set alight inside it:

Here's another Galaxy Note 7 that appears to have got a little warm:

We're now seeing reports that handsets bought in China (originally left out of the recall since their batteries were sourced elsewhere) are catching fire. According to CNN Money, a new Galaxy Note 7 bought in late September in China burst into flames while charging, and Samsung is said to be investigating the incident. Four incidents have now been reported in China, though two have been rebutted by Samsung.

Samsung Electronics USA's president has offered an apology, and urges customers to have their Note 7 handsets replaced no later than Wednesday 21 September.

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Google Pixel, Pixel XL: Five Features Only Pixel Phone Users Will Get

At its event in San Francisco, Google announced the launch of two new phones,the Google Pixel and the Google Pixel XL, as well as the starting price in India and other markets. The Pixel starts at Rs. 57,000 for the 32GB variant, and the Pixel XL will set you back by Rs. 67,000 for the 32GB variant. 

              The two phones are identical except or the screen size and resolution, apart from the battery capacity, and both are powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 processor with 4GB of RAM. They come with the same 8-megapixel front camera, and 12.3-megapixel rear camera, and in many ways live up to the premium pricing. You can see the full specifications of the Google Pixel andGoogle Pixel XL.

1) Unlimited photo and video storage for life

As a regular user of Google Photos, you can back up your images without having to pay a paisa. It's great, but Google compresses the images to a "high-quality" size. That's not really an issue if you're only going to be viewing the images on your phone's screen, but if you're taking printouts, or perhaps viewing them on a 4K monitor, then the compression starts to look bad. Google's Pixel phones will offer unlimited backups of photos and videos at full resolution - even videos recorded at 4K will be backed up for free on the cloud, with no limit.

2) Smart storage

You know what's better than having unlimited backups? Not having to worry about managing unlimited backups. Google calls this feature Smart Storage, and it automatically removes images and videos from your phone to the cloud when it decides that you're running short on space. It picks the files automatically so you're not wasting time managing your storage, and thanks to the unlimited backups Google is offering, you don't lose out on the quality of your videos at all.

This means that your 32GB storage will still be adequate for use, even if you decide to film 4K videos - the files will just live on the cloud instead of filling up your phone needlessly.

3) Google Assistant

The Google Pixel and Pixel XL are the first smartphones with Google Assistant built-in. Google Assistant is the new smart assistant that some of the people reading would already have experienced thanks toAllo. The Assistant gets promoted to the home screen, and you can call it up with a long-press on the home button.

The Assistant is more than just a voice search interface - it's backed up by AI smarts, and it contextualises the information it digs up through your earlier interactions. In our usage of Allo, the Assistant came across as a work in progress, but Google says that the more you use it, the more useful it will become. As of now, you can already use it to add events to your calendar, make a grocery list, and navigate home.

Google has told Gadgets 360 that the feature will be coming to other phones, but didn't announce a timeline for this.

4) Pixel Launcher

Google's Pixel Launcher is exclusive to the Pixel phones, and is the evolution of the Google Now Launcher. This includes replacing Google Now with the Google Assistant, a dynamic calendar icon that shows you the date in a glance, a revamped app drawer, new, round app icons, and more.

Google might bring it to more devices down the line, though given the name, don't get your hopes up for this happening in the near future. Sideloading could be an option, as was demonstrated when the unofficial version leaked last month.

5) 24/7 customer support

One of the biggest problems with buying a phone is getting customer support. Google is aware of this, and is offering 24/7 customer support via both voice and text and it also has a screen sharing solution so that the tech-support can directly see what's on your screen to diagnose problems. It's an optional setting, in case you were worrying about security issues.

Putting this in place requires a lot of manpower, which is why Google can't roll this particular feature out to all phones, though of course, other manufacturers could add a similar feature themselves if they wanted to.

Bonus

One of the coolest offerings of the event was also one of the smallest - Google's Quick Switch feature and dongle. The adapter will enable you to quickly switch to a Pixel phone, copying all your data from an iPhone or another Android handset with on-screen instructions to transfer your data.

Other brands including Samsung and Motorola have their own solutions to migrating from other hardware so this isn't completely unique, though the implementation is slick and appealing.

What do non-Pixel users get?

The Pixel phones also launch with Android 7.1 Nougat before anyone else gets to use the operating system. However, this at least isn't exclusive to them, and the rest of us will get the new OS at some point in the line. Android 7.1 also brings some cool features that people will benefit from though this will take some time to happen.

1) Daydream VR The biggest of these is clearly Daydream VR - support for the Daydream View headset and Google's new VR ecosystem. As of now, the headset will be certified for use only with the Google Pixel phones but Daydream is supposed to be a platform and phones with Android 7.1 Nougat will also support the use of Daydream View headsets and have access to the Daydream VR platform.

2) Fingerprint gestures Android 7.1 Nougat also gets fingerprint gestures – Among other manufacturers, Coolpad has done something similar with the Coolpad Note 5 but with Android 7.1, you will be able to have features like swiping on the sensor to open notifications as a standard.

3) Night Mode Some Android manufacturers already ship phones with night mode which filters out blue light, and the same is true for iOS. Now Google has made the feature standard and phones from Android 7.1 onwards will also be able to switch to night mode to reduce eyestrain.

It's a small feature that nonetheless has a huge impact, and it's surprising that it wasn't the norm across devices much sooner.

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