The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is turning into a full-blown crisis for the Korean electronics giant.  Samsung is halting all global sales of the Note 7, and echoing the advice of US consumer regulators in urging customers to power down their units and stop using them.

"Because consumers' safety remains our top priority, Samsung will ask all carrier and retail partners globally to stop sales and exchanges of the Galaxy Note 7 while the investigation is taking place," the company said.  "Consumers with either an original Galaxy Note 7 or replacement Galaxy Note 7 device should power down and stop using the device and take advantage of the remedies available," it added.

The US Consumer Product Safety Commission charted at least five instances of Note 7 units overheating or even bursting into flames since a formal recall of 2.5 million handsets was announced on 15 September.  This included a Kentucky man who was awakened by his flaming Note 7 filling his residence with acrid smoke, and the evacuation of a US commuter flight when a passenger's Samsung phone burst into flames in his pocket.  The big problem for Samsung is that these particular Note 7s were part of the initial recall and were deemed 'safe' by the company.

Owners of the Samsung Note 7 are urged to urged to turn them off and seek an exchange for another Samsung phone or one by another manufactuer.  Maybe you'll want to back up your data and perform a hard reset before shutting it down and taking it back to the vendor, but that's up to you (me, I communicate with Ravens provided by the Citadel).  Telstra is offering loan phones to customers to get them through this debacle.  Contact your carrier if you have any questions.