I feel a sense of schadenfreude over this after Samsung decided to disregard their loyal Note series customers and put a non-removable battery in the Note 7. Terrible decision.
I'll never buy Samsung again after owning Note 2. Memory failed after 2 and a bit years. I found out it was a known issue. I had bought it with the intention of using it 4-5 years. When spending that kind of money I'd expect only the best components. The fact that they used poor ones in their flagship product doesn't speak well for them.
Outdated phone? The Galaxy S4 i9500 is the newest model with a discrete modem that is supported by Cyanogenmod. The Note 2 is only one generation behind.