Flash always on?

[yaddam205]

I've had the phone for two days now and saw something odd with the flash. In a dark area you can see it's on. The light is very faint, but it's continuously running, wether it's charging or not. Are there some glow in the dark properties to the flash I'm unaware of?

 

[itguyjax8430]

I've had the phone for two days now and saw something odd with the flash. In a dark area you can see it's on. The light is very faint, but it's continuously running, wether it's charging or not. Are there some glow in the dark properties to the flash I'm unaware of?

Could be a defective phone maybe? Mine does not do that and I just checked. Weird, have you tried rebooting?

 

[Gothamoddisee]

Whoa, that's strange! My flash appears to be completely off. There is a slight afterglow effect once you turn the flashlight off, but it only lasts about two seconds for me.

 

[erasat]

I've had the phone for two days now and saw something odd with the flash. In a dark area you can see it's on. The light is very faint, but it's continuously running, wether it's charging or not. Are there some glow in the dark properties to the flash I'm unaware of?

You should have Google Fit installed, Am I right? If I do, there is a known bug with latest S Health and Lollipop that if you have Google fit it activates the fingerprint scanner all the time, it will drain your battery at an incredible pace.

I don't remember exactly where I read it, or the exact steps to fix it, but I think that it was to go to the Google Fit app and look in the settings for the Activity detection ( I think that's what is called) and turn it off. Obviously that will mean that you will lose that part of the Google fit/Wear features, so it may be time to begin looking at S Health instead.

If you would prefer to have Google fit working as of now, maybe and I mean just maybe, you can leave Google fit as it is and try disabling S health and see if it fixes, it make sense to me that it should, only down side of this is that you will lose S health features, but if you are like me that my past 3 phones in the last 5 months haven't been Samsung ones, then you won't miss S health, but you will miss Google Fit and all it's features.

 

[yaddam205]

You should have Google Fit installed, Am I right? If I do, there is a known bug with latest S Health and Lollipop that if you have Google fit it activates the fingerprint scanner all the time, it will drain your battery at an incredible pace.

I don't remember exactly where I read it, or the exact steps to fix it, but I think that it was to go to the Google Fit app and look in the settings for the Activity detection ( I think that's what is called) and turn it off. Obviously that will mean that you will lose that part of the Google fit/Wear features, so it may be time to begin looking at S Health instead.

If you would prefer to have Google fit working as of now, maybe and I mean just maybe, you can leave Google fit as it is and try disabling S health and see if it fixes, it make sense to me that it should, only down side of this is that you will lose S health features, but if you are like me that my past 3 phones in the last 5 months haven't been Samsung ones, then you won't miss S health, but you will miss Google Fit and all it's features.

Good call on Google Fit. Unfortunately, it's not installed and I can't download it. Gives me the generic "this app is not compatible with your device" error. I've disabled S Health and will see how that does. My battery has been pretty poor since I got it.

 

[erasat]

Good call on Google Fit. Unfortunately, it's not installed and I can't download it. Gives me the generic "this app is not compatible with your device" error. I've disabled S Health and will see how that does. My battery has been pretty poor since I got it.

I think that it should get better for you with the S health turned off, but then you should consider if it worth having a crippled device or simply return it for a new one. Maybe you won't need S health now but nevertheless you may need it in the future.

 

[yaddam205]

I think that it should get better for you with the S health turned off, but then you should consider if it worth having a crippled device or simply return it for a new one. Maybe you won't need S health now but nevertheless you may need it in the future.

Agreed, I don't want to cripple my device due to a hardware flaw. I'll do a hard reset and see if that fixes the problem.

 

[Almeuit]

That does sound strange. I posted some samples in the picture thread and mine don't have this issue. I even turned the flash off for a dark picture to see how it'd look.

 

[esmail]

Yes, mine does the same. I just upgraded from the S3 to the S6 and got it just yesterday. I noticed this faint yellow glow/light on the back in the middle of last night.

I've had the phone only about 24 hours and battery life (admittedly early judgment here) has not been impressive. if this is responsible for it, then perhaps the battery will also last longer.

 

[erasat]

Yes, mine does the same. I just upgraded from the S3 to the S6 and got it just yesterday. I noticed this faint yellow glow/light on the back in the middle of last night.

I've had the phone only about 24 hours and battery life (admittedly early judgment here) has not been impressive. if this is responsible for it, then perhaps the battery will also last longer.

Definitely will last longer, it's draining your battery having the flash on all the time. If you have Google Fit, then like I said before it's a known bug with lollipop and S Health, if not, then disable S health just like yaddam205 to see if it helps, if it does then I'd consider a Full reset (the one using the recovery mode not the menu) and if it does the same after that, return it and get a new one.

 

[esmail]

Ok, this is strange.

So I turned off S Health (I wasn't able to find another place other than via the Application Manager) and the faint flash light stayed on. I restarted, it still stayed on. I even powered it off and it's staying on.

I don't have Google Fit installed, as someone else posted, I too get the 'this device isn't compatible with this version" message too.

If the unit wasn't sealed, I'd take out the battery just to see the light go off once .. :-/

Defective S6?

---

also just found this similar report on XDA:

http://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s6/help/flash-lit-t3069039/post59828188#post59828188

though again, google fit isn't (and can't be) installed on my S6 (fwiw, non-edge, 32 GB)

----

finally, another observation, not sure if related, but I noticed that when I used the flashlight feature (which turns on this led permanently as I understand it) it isn't nearly as bright as the light on the S3.

 

[erasat]

Ok, this is strange.

So I turned off S Health (I wasn't able to find another place other than via the Application Manager) and the faint flash light stayed on. I restarted, it still stayed on. I even powered it off and it's staying on.

I don't have Google Fit installed, as someone else posted, I too get the 'this device isn't compatible with this version" message too.

If the unit wasn't sealed, I'd take out the battery just to see the light go off once .. :-/

Defective S6?

---

also just found this similar report on XDA:

Flash always lit? | Samsung Galaxy S6 | XDA Forums

though again, google fit isn't (and can't be) installed on my S6 (fwiw, non-edge, 32 GB)

----

finally, another observation, not sure if related, but I noticed that when I used the flashlight feature (which turns on this led permanently as I understand it) it isn't nearly as bright as the light on the S3.

Definitely doesn't look good or normal, I'd try a hard reset if it still does the same return it and get a new one, just try the new one on the store to see if it does the same there.

 

[yaddam205]

Ok, this is strange.

So I turned off S Health (I wasn't able to find another place other than via the Application Manager) and the faint flash light stayed on. I restarted, it still stayed on. I even powered it off and it's staying on.

I don't have Google Fit installed, as someone else posted, I too get the 'this device isn't compatible with this version" message too.

If the unit wasn't sealed, I'd take out the battery just to see the light go off once .. :-/

Defective S6?

---

also just found this similar report on XDA:

Flash always lit? | Samsung Galaxy S6 | XDA Forums

though again, google fit isn't (and can't be) installed on my S6 (fwiw, non-edge, 32 GB)

----

finally, another observation, not sure if related, but I noticed that when I used the flashlight feature (which turns on this led permanently as I understand it) it isn't nearly as bright as the light on the S3.

Good to see there's more people with the issue. I'm going to call T-Mobile and get a replacement like the guy in that xda thread.

FYI: I did a full reset, and disabled S-Health. Flash was still on.

 

[erasat]

Good to see there's more people with the issue. I'm going to call T-Mobile and get a replacement like the guy in that xda thread.

FYI: I did a full reset, and disabled S-Health. Flash was still on.

Yep, that's the only thing left for you then, good luck with your next one.

 

[esmail]

FWIW, I called for a replacement too .. but they charged me a downpayment of $220 + tax since I already had gotten the first one w/o down payment. That was sort of annoying, so just a heads-up to everyone calling, don't be surprised if that should come up. Just means I pay a bit up front, it doesn't change my total cost, and lowers my monthly charges down the line.

 

[yaddam205]

Just got off the phone with T-Mo and Samsung. They do know about the issue, and apparently they have a fix already. I have to go to a bestbuy with a Samsung SWAS, and they can update it. I asked about doing it myself, but he said it's not available on Samsung's website yet. I'll head to a BB tomorrow and hopefully walk away with a fix.

 

[esmail]

Good to know, I'm curious, did they say anything else - like if this is affecting all S6 models etc? Did TMO or Samsung confirm this?

Would you please post an update here after the BB fix? My replacement is on the way already (plus I had a tiny cosmetic issue) so I'll be going that route. Your information may help others though who haven't arranged for a replacement yet.

Thanks (and thanks for starting this thread).

 

[yaddam205]

Good to know, I'm curious, did they say anything else - like if this is affecting all S6 models etc? Did TMO or Samsung confirm this?

Would you please post an update here after the BB fix? My replacement is on the way already (plus I had a tiny cosmetic issue) so I'll be going that route. Your information may help others though who haven't arranged for a replacement yet.

Thanks (and thanks for starting this thread).

They didn't mention if it was just T-Mo, or others. However, I think this is because no other carrier is shipping phones early. I'll be curious to see what happens after the 10th, and wether or not the issue spreads.

I will be sure to post more information after my best buy visit.

 

[yaddam205]

*Update*

Went to BB to get the update. The samsung bloke did know of the issue, however the software update was not pushed to him yet. He also alerted me to another issue affecting only T-Mobile phones. Apparently 20% of the S6 devices have scratches from the manufacturing plant UNDER the screen. He showed me, and I have two long scratches about 1inch or so underneath the glass. Called T-Mo and they are sending me a replacement.

Oh the joys of being an early adopter!

 

[esmail]

:-/

how can you tell if you have the scratches? Must have not been obvious since he had to point them out .. do you have to hold the phone in a certain way under light? Or ...?

Also curious, did TMO ask for extra payment for the replacement like they did for me (see upstream post)?