Update: There are no "safe" Galaxy Note 7s. Samsung originally had a replacement plan, but it was later discovered that replacement units were also defective and dangerous. The entire Note 7 line has been canceled and all Note 7 units have been deemed unsafe. If you are in possession of any version of the Galaxy Note 7, turn it off and return it immediately.

When we review phones, we do our best to tell you everything you need to make a smart purchase. We talk about the underlying tech, too, but in the end, people usually read a review because they either want to know which thing to buy or they want to know more about the thing they already intend to buy.

Usually, we give you all of that information and make a general recommendation but leave the ultimate purchasing decision up to you. But for Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, we need to go a step further: don’t buy this phone. And if you have bought it, you should return the Galaxy Note 7 immediately and purchase something else.

Our recommendation is made purely for safety reasons. All of the original devices shipped with defective batteries that can (and have) spontaneously burst into flames, burning users, damaging property, and putting anyone nearby at risk of smoke inhalation. Despite a highly publicized multi-billion dollar recall, early indications suggest that replacement phones have the same problem. As of this writing, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have stopped selling the phone, and Samsung has temporarily halted production. That's unprecedented in the modern smartphone era, and it should give you an idea of how real and serious the problem is.

We may revisit our recommendation in the future if Samsung can demonstrate that the problem is under control, but at this point, it’s clear that Samsung doesn’t know exactly what the problem is. Even if you’re a die-hard Samsung or Galaxy Note fan, you should hold off on buying or keeping this phone.

The Note 7 offers a few perks—a built-in iris scanner, the S Pen, IP68 water resistance—that aren’t commonly available in other high-end Android phones. But if you’re just looking for a solid phone that can get the job done, here are our recommendations for replacement devices in the meantime.

Google

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Ron Amadeo

Andrew Cunningham

Google’s Pixel XL: This one comes with an asterisk since it’s not quite out yet and we haven’t fully reviewed it. But HTC’s phones have always been safe, and Google’s Android phones are basically the only ones you can count on if you want prompt version and security updates. Google also promises a solid camera and unlimited cloud storage for photos and videos. Be sure to buy the phone directly from Google and not from Verizon, even if you ultimately plan to use it on Verizon—as usual, Big Red is going to keep you from getting timely updates, and it will also pre-install Verizon apps that you may or may not be able to remove. Our full review of both Pixel phones will hit later this month.

The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge: Smartphone chips aren’t getting faster at the same rate that they used to, but that works to your advantage here. Samsung’s spring flagships use the same Snapdragon 820 chip and 4GB of RAM you’d get in the Note 7, and the larger S7 Edge is actually pretty close to the Note 7 in size. You lose the S Pen, the iris scanner, and USB Type-C, but in most of the important ways, this is still an impressive phone.

Samsung isn’t the best at software updates, but it’s fairly good at keeping up with security patches, and you should at least get a Nougat update at some point in the next few months.

The Galaxy Note 5: Don’t let that number fool you—this is last year’s Galaxy Note. There was no Galaxy Note 6.

This is a step down from the Note 7 and the S7 in a few important ways. It’s not water-resistant, it doesn’t have an SD card slot, and since it’s last year’s phone, it’s going to stop getting updates sooner. But its specs are still solid, you can get it for slightly cheaper than a Note 7, and it has the same 5.7-inch 1440p screen and S-Pen support if the integrated stylus is a big selling point for you.

The OnePlus 3: OnePlus’ third crack at a flagship phone definitely isn’t as high-end as the Note series, but a $400 starting price makes it worth a look. It still has a Snapdragon 820 SoC and a 5.5-inch screen at a respectable 1080p resolution. The camera isn’t quite up to Samsung’s standards, but it’s respectable. The “Oxygen OS” flavor of Android doesn’t get updates at Pixel-speed, but it also doesn’t come with a lot of extraneous bloat. For half the price of a Note 7, it’s at least worth a look.

The iPhone 6S Plus or 7 Plus: If you’ve already been thinking about jumping the fence, both of Apple’s big phones are solid handsets. You won’t be able to take your Google Play apps with you, but Apple’s app ecosystem is excellent and its phones are fast. You won’t have to worry about updates, either—all iPhones get them at the same time regardless of who you buy from, and phones are typically fully supported for four or five years (as opposed to two or three for Nexuses and Pixel phones). Get the 7 Plus if you want the absolute latest and greatest and care about water resistance, but the 6S Plus is still solid if you want to save a little money and/or keep a standard headphone jack.