Note 3 4.4.2 Compass Losing Calibration

[Grif]

Short Intro:
I'm a Samsung guy. TV's, Blu-Ray, previous phones (Galaxy S Mesmerize). Love all of them. Was a Palm Pilot person for years, so I picked up the Note 3 for two reasons. Screen size and stylus.
The Note 3 is not what I expected.

Galaxy Note 3 Android Ver 4.4.2 from the factory.
Several apps. All the apps (except the ones needing different versions for the hardware) ran find on the Galaxy S.

First problem out of the box was the camera. Not sure which of the settings I touched, but it quit focusing accurately. Factory Rep reset the camera and all is well,,, but still don't know which of the settings screwed it up. OhWell,,, it works good enough for everything I do at this point... I'm ok with it.

Second and Big issue: The Compass. It will not stay calibrated. Do a recalibration and it's fine for some period of many hours, very small number of days. Some times it will stay in calibration over night on the charger. Usually stays in calibration during a reboot. Screen saver does not seem to affect it.

Current efforts. Downloaded several of the recommended apps to calibrate. They all calibrate the compass just fine... no change in the amount of time to lose calibration.

Currently have about 5 of the various compass apps loaded, all suffer the issues, none seem unique to causing the loss.

Turned off almost all of the "features" ,(face recognition and so on), so eloquently described in the sales literature. Waiting on this effort.

Any other recommendations?

Almost every carrier has a thread like this. GPS/Compass problems of any number of types. After reading a lot of them,,, seems to me they all boil down to the Compass sensor. I'm tempted to help Samsung fix the issue by having them replace it every two weeks until the problem goes away.

 

[UJ95x]

Welcome to Android Central
I take it that you mean the GPS? If you're having issues with it being accurate, I'd ask Samsung for a replacement. Or if you have insurance, your carrier as well. Don't think this issue is too common.

 

[Grif]

Nope,,, not GPS. Seems to work fine if the Compass is in calibration. Seems to me the fundamental issue is the compass.

Our local Best Buy actually has a Samsung rep onsite. I'll post results after I get the chance to see him.

 

[UJ95x]

Nope,,, not GPS. Seems to work fine if the Compass is in calibration. Seems to me the fundamental issue is the compass.

Our local Best Buy actually has a Samsung rep onsite. I'll post results after I get the chance to see him.

Weird, I don't think I've ever used a compass on a phone.
The Samsung rep sounds like a good idea. Let me know how it goes.

Sent from my Galaxy S4 running SOKP 4.4.2

 

[Smooth357]

Having the same issue, let's hope the rep has some suggestions that work.

 

[TilakConrad]

I'm having the exact same issue as Grif. Felt it may have occurred due to the magnetic clip on my phone case (removed now)

3 axis Compass Calibration with "GPS Status & Toolbox" always gets it working - but lasts a very short while.
Did anyone get this solved? I have a quadcopter and accurate compass is critical for me to establish the orientation of the quad.
Any advice appreciated

Tilak

 

[Magnus Wallon]

Also had this problem with mine since day one, and after a lot of digging it just seems that Samsung messed this up. I work with location based application development so this was crucial for me therefore I tried every possible suggestion in forums all over but non seems to fix this for more then a short while. I also discovered that there is a lot of users that has this problem and the ones not complaining are probably not using the compass. I had to give up, so for work when showing new Apps I have to put the Note in my pocket and pick up some old nexus or something for the show. Good marketing for Samsung

/magnus

 

[marcelledugras73]

Yup, actually I did update my note3 and the OSI became same with Samsung note 4 or s5, but now I don't like that and need to downgrade how to process for the old OSI?

Envoyé de mon SM-N9005 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[theGuruWithin]

here is the answer i found that works for my note 3

If you want to use the compass function of your Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and that this indicates the correct direction, then you should check whether the calibration is correct. Calibration is necessary when the compass of the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 indicates a demonstrably wrong direction. In this guide, we would like to show you clearly how to calibrate the compass sensor on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.

For this open the phone app on your smartphone and switch within this to "Keypad". Now type the following code to open the secret service menu on your Samsung Galaxy Note 4, which provides tests for hardware components:

The code is: *#0*#

When you entered the code on the keypad, you can now see different tiles in front of a white background. One of these tiles is called "sensor". Tap on this tile to enter the sub-menu of the service menu. Scroll down a bit until you can see "Magnetic Sensor". The circle with the slash represents the compass. The bar should always points north. The following numbers can be seen in the black circle:

0 - Compass needs to be calibrated
3 - Compass is calibrated

If you can see a zero, you have to recalibrate the compass on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4. For Calibration, rotate the smartphone once to all of its axes. Subsequently, the compass should jump to "3" and is now calibrated. If not, repeat the process. Alternatively, you can also swing the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 in the form of an 8.

You know now how to calibrate the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 compass function, so that this again indicates the correct direction.

Here is original posting link
wouldnt let me post cause i am newbee

 

[oscarkramer]

The OP's problem (as well as many others including me) is that the compass is losing calibration. We know how to calibrate it (I do it via the "GPS Status" app). But it is a pain to have to calibrate it every time you need it. People will think you're crazy turning around in circles in the middle of a busy sidewalk while holding the phone horizontally. What is causing the phone to lose cal? Is it only this phone? (Note 3 running Android 5.0)

 

[fletchy88]

The OP's problem (as well as many others including me) is that the compass is losing calibration. We know how to calibrate it (I do it via the "GPS Status" app). But it is a pain to have to calibrate it every time you need it. People will think you're crazy turning around in circles in the middle of a busy sidewalk while holding the phone horizontally. What is causing the phone to lose cal? Is it only this phone? (Note 3 running Android 5.0)

I know about this problem.... its ANNOYING.. you know why.... its the exact same.with EVERY SINGLE Samsung phone... ive had a few.... including the late Note 7... currently running an S7 edge..... which of course has the issue too... actually my s7 edge seems to be the worse of the lot.... constantly losing calibration without reboots... :-(