I was talking in my previous blog about whether or not I would keep my S9 Plus as my main device.
I also touched on the significant battery issues that my Galaxy S7 experienced at this time of year in 2018. What I didn’t tell you, was the fate of my Galaxy S7.
The Fate of The Flagship
Earlier this year in the UK, we experienced a heatwave. A hot one. It was very humid, and I was barely able to do anything without being exhausted and dehydrated every 30 minutes. We’re not used to that kind of heat in Britain, so the heat was unexpected.
As it was also around the time of the start of the UK COVID-19 Lockdown, it meant we couldn’t go out of the house and take advantage of that hot weather, so we were stuck indoors for most of the time.
I hadn’t used my Galaxy S7 since at least August 2019. I’d used it for the GearVR headset, but I’d stopped using both the phone and headset due to its declining battery life. Using the headset was causing the phone to overheat, and the battery life – from a full, 100% charge – to plummet to 5% within 20 minutes.
At around that time, I’d also discovered that my Galaxy S9 Plus was compatible with Google’s Daydream VR headset. Google had recently announced it was ending support for Daydream on all devices, so naturally headsets were cheap – as low as £30.
I bought a Daydream VR headset, and stopped using my Galaxy S7 almost immediately. It’s battery life by that point had dropped off significantly – even more so than its significant drop-off in August 2018 – so it wasn’t worth the hassle anymore of charging it up for 1.5 hours, only to get about 40 minutes of use out of it.
Also, after a factory reset, I’d discovered that it was actually okay on its own, and the battery life was almost perfect. But as soon as I installed the GearVR apps, the battery once again plummeted. Even before using the VR headset, the apps alone were consuming so much power that it was draining all the way down to 0% within half an hour.
Weirdly, I also discovered another fault around this time. Naturally, when your battery is low, you plug it in to charge it, and slowly but gradually the battery percentage rises back up. Fairly standard stuff, right?
Not quite. I noticed that if my Galaxy S7’s battery got down to around 8%, as soon as I plugged in its charging cable into the Micro USB port, the battery would immediately deplete to 5%. Then, it would rapidly go to 4, 3, 2, 1%… and then turn off.
Whilst plugged in and charging.
Major WTF moment.
Clearly something was wrong, but I didn’t know how bad it was. Yet.
Best Laid Plans…
I’d planned to sell it to a store like CeX, or give it to my mum as a hand-me-down – it was still functional, and still worked.
Apart from the front fingerprint reader [on the bottom bezel] being a little scuffed – it’s surface paint chipped – it still read my fingerprints without fault.
My Galaxy S7 as a whole was in an almost-new, almost-perfect condition. At most, it probably only needed a replacement battery; but, as it wasn’t my main device anymore – a title now bestowed to my Galaxy S9 Plus – I wasn’t willing to invest in it, only to then sell it on.
I’d stopped using its leather book-style flip case earlier in the year, opting for the Spigen Rugged Armor slip-on case I’d bought for it in 2018. The flip case was tattered, and although I’d repaired it, I feared the case may not fully protect the phone anymore; whereas, my barely-used Spigen Armor case was in a still almost new condition.
In about October or November 2019, I made a boo-boo: I was sitting on the couch, using my Galaxy S9 Plus. My Galaxy S7 was sitting on the cushion next to me, wearing its Spigen Rugged Armor case. It’s screen was facing upwards, and fully exposed – as the Rugged Armor case, unlike an Otterbox Defender, only has a raised lip around the edge of the display and so, therefore, doesn’t fully protect the middle of the screen.
I can’t recall the specifics, but I somehow damaged the screen of my Galaxy S7. As in, completely broke it.
I think I was playing a game on my S9 Plus, and put my phone down to go to the toilet. But, the thing is, it too was in a case. An espresso/dark brown book flip-case from Mulbess, to be exact.
The glass on the outside of the Galaxy S7 screen was fine – there were no visible cracks. It was spotless. But when I went to switch it on, it was clear the screen was somehow broken.
Maybe it was the thin layer of AMOLED screen underneath the glass that had broken, but in any case, it was unusable, and showed a cracked-mirror like effect on its AMOLED panel.
Thankfully, I didn’t have anything important stored on the phone, but there were a few old photos on the inserted Micro SD card – which I recovered before putting the phone to one side.
I later installed this Micro SD Card into my new Tab S5e, which I had got for Christmas 2019, to replace my old Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4″. Coincidentally, that Tab Pro had died its own death earlier in 2019 when I dropped it (in it’s case, on a soft carpet) and its screen had completely and unexpectedly shattered.
That was the last time I switched on my Galaxy S7. I placed it in a big, see-through box in my bedroom – full of all my cables, phone chargers and tech accessories – and didn’t touch it again. The box wasn’t in direct sunlight, so as far as I was aware, it was a safe and secure place to store my Galaxy S7.
I hoped that one day, in the near future, I would be able to send it to a store for repair, or even repair it myself using an iFixit guide & toolkit.
June 2020: Another Discovery
Fast forward a few months to June 2020, and I was sorting out those cables & accessories.
It was the middle of the UK COVID-19 Lockdown, so I had nothing better to do. I opened the lid of the box, and had every intention of using my old Galaxy S7 – I’d planned to buy a cable that would allow me to connect it to my TV, if one existed (as it would have to be Micro USB to HDMI), so I could once again use my phone.
I got it out of the big box of cables to check the phone’s condition.
Except, it wasn’t in good condition.
Not at all.
In fact, the condition I found it in was both puzzling and worrying. The photo’s you’re about to see, I captured on my iPhone 6S – as my S9 Plus was currently charging.
My Galaxy S7. Dead.
The glass backplate had bent outwards, with only its top and bottom edges still attached to the metal frame of the phone. It almost looked as if something internally had exploded, and with force.
When I removed the back plate, in our back garden, using a flat-head screwdriver, it was clear that it was the battery. It had swollen, presumably under the intense heat earlier in the year, or maybe because of some other fault.
The insides of my Galaxy S7, with the glass backplate removed.
I guessed that my plastic box of cables must’ve acted like a mini greenhouse, even though (as I’ve already said) the box had never been in direct sunlight.
It was a lesson learnt, and I immediately removed all other devices (including my old Nokia Lumia 820 Windows Phone, amongst others) in case they also decided to suffer the same fate.
It was dead. My Galaxy S7 had officially died a death.
Why bring this up?
The reason for me talking about my Galaxy S7’s fate, is that this was a Samsung phone which was still in a mostly great working condition (save for the chipped paint on the fingerprint sensor, and the screen needing a repair), with nothing else wrong.
While it’s not important, it’s worth noting that it was produced in the same year as the infamous Galaxy Note 7.
But my S7 had survived for 2 years with no problems whatsoever. I never dropped it, it was never outside of its leather flip case – except for when it was in the Spigen slip-on, to use with my camera tripod, or when it was inside my GearVR headset – and, neither did I treat it poorly.
It was always in a case, and it was always protected. The scuff on the fingerprint reader was purely wear & tear from using it so much – most likely, up to 50 times per day, for 2 years.
I was puzzled – and still am, to be honest – as to why the battery decided to swell so much. I was worried, also, as the box was currently sitting at the foot of my bed.
During the 3 months of me not using my Galaxy S7… for how long had it been like this, in this state, at the foot of my bed?!
Being stored in my bedroom, the result could’ve been much worse. I was concerned that the swelling, or mini-explosion (whichever is more plausible), had happened whilst I was asleep, and could’ve resulted in a fire.
Also, what if it had been much worse – on the same scale as those infamous Galaxy Note 7 fires that were plastered over every single TV News Channel, soon after that device’s release?
My Galaxy S7 was out of warranty, so I no longer had any device support for it. But, it was only 2 and a half years old. It should not have succumbed to a fate like that, in the way it did, so suddenly and so soon.
Why it’s infuriating…
My Galaxy S7 was the first flagship phone I’ve ever had the privilege to own. But, for the battery to swell the way it has, after only 2 and half years, is puzzling.
Why did it swell? I guess without a proper investigation or post-mortem, I’ll never know, but I hadn’t owned the phone for very long.
For some context as to why I’m both puzzled & infuriated, last year – in April 2019 – I bought an iPhone 6S. That phone was released back in September 2015, and despite having a “significantly deteriorated” battery with 79% of its original capacity (Apple’s words, not mine), it’s still working today in August 2020. It even recently got the update for iOS 14.0.1!
I don’t know the previous owner, as I bought it pre-owned from CeX, but it’s my first ever iPhone – and, it’s a 5 year old device, still doing its duty.
The phone I had before my Galaxy S7, was my HTC Desire Eye. It, too, is still working. I got that in January 2015. For a decidedly mid-range smartphone, that’s a solid 5 years of service.
It’s not perfect – the Micro SD card slot isn’t operational (but only because the plastic pull-tab has separated from the tray – if I was willing to buy a new tray from eBay, I’d be able to re-use the Micro SD slot again without fear of losing a Micro SD card in the phone), the camera app is very laggy, and fast-charging (which it used to be capable of) seems to have been permanently turned-off, presumably via an HTC system update.
But, my Desire Eye still does the basics – the occasional checking of emails and scrolling the ‘net, and a couple of games – and I only really use it nowadays while my Galaxy S9 Plus is plugged-in and charging.
The phone I had before that, my Nokia Lumia 820 (running Windows Phone 8.1), is also still working. Granted, the Windows Phone OS is dead, and I can no longer connect to my emails using the default Mail & Calendar apps, but it still goes on the Internet, and I can still listen to music on it. What’s more, it can also charge wirelessly on my Spigen Qi charger.
These days, I use my Lumia 820 mainly as an alarm clock, following the unfortunate demise of my Sony alarm clock radio & iPod Dock (it had an old-style 30 pin Dock, with a lightning to 30 pin adapter on top so I could charge my new, pre-owned iPhone 6S).
I got my Nokia Lumia 820 back in January 2013, and (drum roll) it’s still working. Despite Microsoft killing the app store & services for Windows Phone 8.1, that’s 8 solid years of service.
The HTC Wildfire I bought back in 2011 is also still working – that was the first smartphone I ever owned. I was a student at the time, and although I already had a great mobile phone in the Nokia X2-00, I bought the Wildfire on impulse for around £150. A friend had one, and I loved its appearance. It was my first Android device, but ultimately it was surplus to requirements, and it never fully replaced my Nokia as my primary device.
Granted, the Wildfire today is very slow on the Internet, as it’s on Android 2.3 and only has about 500mb of RAM – baring in mind, this isn’t the Wildfire S – and the Play Store is barely functional, with no available app updates. It’s also sporting CyanogenMod 10, which I flashed myself back in the day.
Also, I only use the Wildfire purely as an alarm clock, and occasionally as an MP3 player. But, again… that’s 9 years of service. From a smartphone.
My HTC Wildfire is on the verge of celebrating it’s 10th Birthday.
Let that sink in for a moment.
How many devices (phones, laptops, MP3 players, etc.) have you got from 2011 that you can say are still working?
That’s what makes my Galaxy S7’s death so utterly infuriating. It was the first flagship phone I’ve ever owned. All the other phones I’ve ever had were, by contrast, budget or mid-range devices. On its release in 2016, the Galaxy S7 was 1 of only 2 flagship S series devices from Samsung – the other being the Galaxy S7 Edge.
I saved up for ages to get my Galaxy S7… and yet, it only lasted a measly 2 and a half years.
What does this mean for the future?
It’s not looking bright, that’s for sure. I was looking forward to retiring my Galaxy S9 Plus from daily service in the Winter of 2020 and replacing it with another Samsung.
To be fair, as I’ve already stated, my Galaxy S9 Plus has not experienced anywhere near the same level of battery problems as my Galaxy S7. Running Android 10 with One UI 2.1, it’s still working like a charm, still performing the way it did from new, and its battery life between charges is still fairly okay.
Over the last two years, and especially on my city break to Prague in April 2019, I have had to occasionally drop the screen resolution from WQHD+ (2960 x 1440p) to HD+ (1480 x 720p) to maximise battery life when out and about.
During 2020, however, I’ve kept the screen set to its fullest WQHD+ resolution. The main reason has been that, because I’ve been at home all year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, I’m never far from a wall socket if it needs to recharge – so I might as well use the phone to its fullest extent between charges.
But, having briefly looked around at Samsung’s offerings this year, I have to say I’m not impressed, and a little disappointed. There’s a clear divide between the budget/mid-range Galaxy A Series, and the flagship Galaxy S Series – and not just on specs, but in price. And it’s not a divide that I’m particularly comfortable with…
– Chris JK
KPH tech blog 
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