We really liked Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 in our initial review this summer. Unfortunately (or fortunately), we didn't have any first-hand experience with the device's hottest feature. You know, where its battery bursts into flames at a moment's notice.
Even the replacement handsets Samsung shipped to carriers are explodingâon planes, in pockets, on nightstands. Nobody knows why; it's nuts! As a result, Samsung has now (wisely) ceased production of the Note 7, and is working with carriers to collect all the devices from the wild. It's a bit of a catastrophe.
But while Samsung the corporation will almost certainly survive this bungle (if at a huge operating loss for the year), it remains unclear if the Galaxy Note brand will live on. The Note has a true cult following, but will devotees risk life and limb for a snazzy phablet?
Still, the suits at Samsung mobile HQ can find comfort in one thing: While the Note 7 is one of the first big phones to literally go up in flames, it's not the first to do so figuratively. Check out the slideshow for other recent mobile device disasters.
(If you need a new phone stat, check out our list of Note 7 alternatives.)
BlackBerry Storm (2008)
Nokia N9 (2011)
Microsoft Kin One (2010)
Oddly enough, this weird, round phone was somewhat prescient in that it offered automatically backed-up photos (a la Google Photos or iCloud) and had built-in Zune HD, meaning it was a phone designed for music/video consumption when most people still used a separate iPod (though with only 4GB of build-in storage and no memory card slot, its functionality was limited). Anyways, most people didn't like this thing and Microsoft killed it later that year.
Motorola Backflip (2010)
"The Motorola Backflip, AT&T's first Android phone, is weird for the sake of being weird. It is a transporter accident. It is an abomination of design, encrusted with bloatware and built on top of a platform that should have been retired six months ago. Motorola, AT&T, and Google can all do much, much better than this, and I hope they will soon."
HP Veer (2011)
HTC First 'Facebook Phone' (2013)
But even more worthless than this hostile mobile takeover was the phone built specifically for this purpose. While a user could easily download Home at any time should they choose to, the short-lived HTC First's whole raison d'être was that it came pre-loaded with Facebook Home. Predictably, the First never caught on. HTC and exclusive partner AT&T eventually dropped the price from $99 to 99 cents before the First melted away into the mobile ether.
Amazon Fire Phone (2014)
Honorable Mention: HTC One (M8) (2014)
Honorable Mention: Blackberry Playbook (2012)
