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[Q] Disastrous experience with Gear 2 paired to a non-Samsung phone?

Hi all!
When I bought my Gear 2 Neo to use with my HTC One M8, I knew it was not officially supported, but I read some encouraging posts here on XDA, so I decided to give it a go. So far, my overall experience has been completely dreadful:
Battery Life! When I saw 30% per hour drain on my Gear 2 (with not too much of "display on" time), I thought I've got a defective device. However, things came immediately back to normal when I disconnected the Gear from the phone. Did anyone else have such experience? Solved, issue with the specific custom ROM.
Using in conjunction with Bluetooth earpiece is a complete nonsense. I don't want to receive calls on the Gear when I have the earpiece connected to the phone. But guess what, you can't have them connected at the same time! WTF?
Where are the apps? All pre- and post-release materials suggested Gear 2 comes with plenty of useful apps, but where are they? I'm particularly interested in Runtastic, but, according to their Facebook page, their Gear 2-compatible app hasn't been released yet, and no ETA so far. Runtastic claims Samsung didn't ask if their app was available before putting its name on the press release. WTF?
No alarm functionality on the watch itself without a need in the phone, and non-Samsung phone alarm doesn't get propagated to the Gear.
I'd really appreciate if other Samsung and non-Samsung phone users could share their experiences with regards to the areas above.
Thanks!

mpogr said:
Hi all!
When I bought my Gear 2 Neo to use with my HTC One M8, I knew it was not officially supported, but I read some encouraging posts here on XDA, so I decided to give it a go. So far, my overall experience has been completely dreadful:
Battery Life! When I saw 30% per hour drain on my Gear 2 (with not too much of "display on" time), I thought I've got a defective device. However, things came immediately back to normal when I disconnected the Gear from the phone. Did anyone else have such experience?
Using in conjunction with Bluetooth earpiece is a complete nonsense. I don't want to receive calls on the Gear when I have the earpiece connected to the phone. But guess what, you can't have them connected at the same time! WTF?
Where are the apps? All pre- and post-release materials suggested Gear 2 comes with plenty of useful apps, but where are they? I'm particularly interested in Runtastic, but, according to their Facebook page, their Gear 2-compatible app hasn't been released yet, and no ETA so far. Runtastic claims Samsung didn't ask if their app was available before putting its name on the press release. WTF?
No alarm functionality on the watch itself without a need in the phone, and non-Samsung phone alarm doesn't get propagated to the Gear.
I'd really appreciate if other Samsung and non-Samsung phone users could share their experiences with regards to the areas above.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow that's a lot. Let's see if I can come up with some answers..
1. I hear that battery drain is a known bug when connected to the HTC one. Not sure why it happens but it's been reported for mostly that device.
2. I'm pretty sure in order to use the Bluetooth earpiece with the Gear you need to connect the gear to your phone, go into Settings on your Gear 2, Go into Bluetooth, and connect it there so instead of having both attached to the phone, you have it Phone>Gear>Bluetooth (IE NOT Bluetooth>Phone<Gear|)
3. Samsung Apps store is not available on NON Samsung devices.
4. This is true and many people are looking for a fix. Nothing can be changed right now.

CarbonWyre said:
Wow that's a lot. Let's see if I can come up with some answers..
1. I hear that battery drain is a known bug when connected to the HTC one. Not sure why it happens but it's been reported for mostly that device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange indeed. Could be related to the Sense flavour of BT stack. I have a spare Google device (Galaxy Nexus), will try the Gear with it to see if the battery drain issue is cured.
CarbonWyre said:
2. I'm pretty sure in order to use the Bluetooth earpiece with the Gear you need to connect the gear to your phone, go into Settings on your Gear 2, Go into Bluetooth, and connect it there so instead of having both attached to the phone, you have it Phone>Gear>Bluetooth (IE NOT Bluetooth>Phone<Gear|)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
According to the process described here, the audio device needs to be paired with the phone and not the Gear, while the Gear is somehow able to make the phone switch between the phone audio coming through it to the earpiece. There is also this video describing how it works from the user perspective.
Unfortunately, it doesn't work this way with my HTC One M8. It looks like it uses ONLY the "Phone Audio" profile while connected to the Gear, which effectively disables any other device relying on the same profile (e.g. the earpiece) to connect to the phone. If, nevertheless, you force the phone to connect to the earpiece, the Gear gets disconnected. I suspect, on Samsung devices, a different BT protocol (probably BLE) is used for communicating to the Gear, so it can stay connected to the phone while the "Phone Audio" is taken by another device. This could also explain the power drain above, as BLE is supposed to be much more energy efficient. The question is, of course, how to make HTC One to use it (BLE is obviously supported by the device).
It is possible to connect my earpiece to the Gear, but only as media device (my earpiece supports this profile as well). In that case it can be used for listening to music played on the Gear. But it doesn't help in the phone call scenario. In any case, the "transfer to earpiece" operation described in both tutorials (you can see the corresponding icon on the right side of the Gear screen in the video above) is not available, no matter if the earpiece is paired to the phone or paired/connected to the Gear directly (the icon is greyed out).
Again, I'll try to put a custom BLE-enabled ROM on my Galaxy Nexus (standard ROMs don't enable BLE on that device, despite the fact the hardware is present) to see if it behaves any differently.
CarbonWyre said:
3. Samsung Apps store is not available on NON Samsung devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is true, but there are good people around who can make them available for outsiders like us... The problem is Runtastic app for Gear 2 or Fit (not to be confused with Gear 1) is not available yet, according to Runtastic themselves, and no ETA so far. This is despite Samsung press releases. Had I known this before buying my Gear, I would have given it second thought...
CarbonWyre said:
4. This is true and many people are looking for a fix. Nothing can be changed right now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is particularly annoying. What I really don't understand is why any other app notifications do get to the Gear, but alarms (even from 3rd party apps) don't. I'm completely baffled by that!

I have my gear connected to my HTC m7 and I got three days of battery out of a single charge
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk

thesparky007 said:
I have my gear connected to my HTC m7 and I got three days of battery out of a single charge
Sent from my HTC One using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that w/the GEAR2/NEO or,w/the original GALAXY GEAR?

KOLIOXDA said:
Is that w/the GEAR2/NEO or,w/the original GALAXY GEAR?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
gear 2 neo

thesparky007 said:
gear 2 neo
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
THX,that's encouraging to hear. :good:
One thing I've noticed w/my M8 & GEAR FIT:
If I'm not using the FIT (leave @ home etc...., out of range), the battery life takes a little bit of a hit. Otherwise, yesterday for example, battery life was stellar, still @ 50% after 18 hrs of total phone on-time.
Apparently, the FIT MANAGER app cannot be force closed, only disabled, so, I'll just do that when not using the FIT.
As for the GEAR MANAGER (for GEAR/GEAR2/NEO) it can be force closed.
So,I'm remaining optimistic regarding battery life once my GEAR2 arrives, especially since such is a YMMV, not only w/this discussion, but battery life in general.

KOLIOXDA said:
THX,that's encouraging to hear. :good:
One thing I've noticed w/my M8 & GEAR FIT:
If I'm not using the FIT (leave @ home etc...., out of range), the battery life takes a little bit of a hit. Otherwise, yesterday for example, battery life was stellar, still @ 50% after 18 hrs of total phone on-time.
Apparently, the FIT MANAGER app cannot be force closed, only disabled, so, I'll just do that when not using the FIT.
As for the GEAR MANAGER (for GEAR/GEAR2/NEO) it can be force closed.
So,I'm remaining optimistic regarding battery life once my GEAR2 arrives, especially since such is a YMMV, not only w/this discussion, but battery life in general.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was quite surprised and satisfied with it as well!
I downloaded the sdk and was able to view the log of the gear and I can see there are a lot of errors for s health and other samsung services so if official support comes through from samsung, id imagine battery life will get better.

OK, reading all the replies, it is apparent nobody else has the same kind of dreadful battery life. So it must be the custom M8 ROM I'm using (Insert Coin). I'm going to reflash a different one (will try Android Revolution HD, as this one is supposed to be as close as possible to stock) and see how it behaves.
I did try flashing a BLE-supporting ROM to my old Galaxy Nexus, but it couldn't connect to the Gear. The Gear Manager was stuck forever while attempting to connect.

OK, with Android Revolution HD 5.0 for HTC One M8 the battery life is MUCH better, I think it'll stretch to 2-3 days the way it's going now. So one annoyance is solved.
However, the others are still pending resolution. The one I'm particularly annoyed by is the issue with Bluetooth earpiece. I just can't use the Gear if I have to answer the phone on it or on the phone, as I've been using Bluetooth earpieces for the last 12 years (since they appeared on the market more or less) and don't see myself changing it just because of this Gear stupidity. I'm investigating possible solutions (e.g. using Tasker or similar apps). Will post results here.

Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...

have anyone try the gear 2 with xpeira z1 or z2
iread in some website that the z ultra is work
but ineed the z1 or z2
can someone try it

bluetooth switching
mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
hi may i know which tasker application did u use to resolve this?
thanks
---------- Post added at 03:46 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:37 AM ----------
dericion said:
hi may i know which tasker application did u use to resolve this?
thanks
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
btw i m using xperia z ultra

mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you please do a step-by-step guide on this mate? Just like me, there are many of us non Sammy users who are facing the same dilemma. Cheers.
HTC M8 & Gear2

HTC ONE M8 and Gear2 neo
flyguye said:
Could you please do a step-by-step guide on this mate? Just like me, there are many of us non Sammy users who are facing the same dilemma. Cheers.
HTC M8 & Gear2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So does anyone have a doc'd process and prerequisites on how to make these two devices even work. I have seen countless youtube videos with people walking through what the thing does and even paired to a htc one m8. I have done all the side loading of the APK's etc. Staging stuff where they suggested and so on. Still coming up with it not working. There is some magic that I am missing some where.
so far I have done:
Installed the Stubpak.apk one by one. Then installed Gear Manager, The phone see's that gear2 then pops up a Parsing Error and goes into the gear manager app pairing screen for ever. Nothing happens after that.
If anyone can shed some light that would be great.
Thanks in Advance.

how do you do it?
mpogr said:
Another update, just found what seems to be a perfect way around the Bluetooth earpiece problem. A combination of Tasker and Secure Settings allows me to switch from Gear to my earpiece on incoming or outgoing call and then back to Gear when the call is finished. Seems to be working very smoothly! At least now I can wear the Gear throughout my workday and handle phone calls normally.
Looking for resolving other outstanding issues, the next most pressing one is alarm notifications.
Hoping to get working Runtastic when the company releases the app.
Last, having all these health functions (sleep tracker/pedometer/HR) and not being able to use them on the phone is pretty annoying. Hoping to get S Health eventually working on non-Samsung phones...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi I'm new to tasker just wondered what the steps were to make it do this phase thanks so much

I tested on HTC One X running CM 11. Battery drain is like 40-50% in 6 hours.

fibs said:
I tested on HTC One X running CM 11. Battery drain is like 40-50% in 6 hours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at this thread.

matthot69 said:
Hi I'm new to tasker just wondered what the steps were to make it do this phase thanks so much
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have a look at this thread.

mpogr said:
Have a look at this thread.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmm I thought your "solution" was a different custom ROM? Even if I sync an account with few (10) contacts it's the same issue for me...
dlog_system only shows Power Manager messages all day e.g.
06-04 13:05:36.359 303 303 I POWER_MANAGER: core.c: default_trans(1381) > S_LCDOFF -> S_SLEEP : check fail

[Q] Will the Note Edge work with the Gear S?

Just got my Note Edge yesterday and I love it. But I can't get it to work with my Gear S watch? Very frustrating and I can't figure it out unless they just aren't compatible. Can anyone help?

I have a Note Edge paired with the Gear S that works great. I can use the Gear S via Bluetooth or cell. When you said that you just got the Edge, it makes me think that this Gear was set up with another phone prior to the Edge. If so, you'd have to factory reset the Gear.

My Gear Neo 2 is really finicky with the Edge. I think it is the flakey bluetooth on the entire Note 4 line. Every once in a while (maybe twice a week or more), I have to restart the watch to get it to talk to the phone again. I am totally awaiting the official Lollipop update for my Verizon variant as there are a large number of bluetooth changes in it. I am getting a bit concerned that Lollipop doesn't appear to be on the immediate radar for Verizon now that the S6 is out there
Anyway, I would try and factory reset the watch and start the connection process over. A bit inconvenient but I bet it will work.

i've got both and they're work very well. the bluetooth connection is stable and the reconnection after a disconnect is very fast. i see no trouble

Gregdec said:
Just got my Note Edge yesterday and I love it. But I can't get it to work with my Gear S watch? Very frustrating and I can't figure it out unless they just aren't compatible. Can anyone help?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
download Samsung Gear Manager from galaxy apps..

Weak Bluetooth?

Anybody else experiencing a weak bluetooth connection with the S6? I'm losing the connection with my Garmin Vivosmart in places I've had no problem connecting with other devices. I'm curious about other's experiences on this as a search hasn't turned up much yet.

I have noticed this as well. I could walk pretty far away from my S4 before it would drop. With this S6, I only get a few feet away before audio gives out. Doesn't disconnect, just loses audio.
Also, random loss of audio from time to time, even when the phone is right next to my head.

Yeah I've noticed the same thing with my S6. At work I don't always keep my phone on me and with my M8 I could walk around the whole building without my G Watch disconnecting and with my S6 I can only get a few feet away before the connection drops.

Yes happening with my moto 360 it is annoying and hopefully will be fixed soon

Haven't had any disconnect issues, but for some reason connecting to my car stereo has been a nightmare. It takes like 5 tries before it actually connects.
Galaxy S6 (Verizon)

sd0070 said:
Haven't had any disconnect issues, but for some reason connecting to my car stereo has been a nightmare. It takes like 5 tries before it actually connects.
Galaxy S6 (Verizon)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having issues with my car bluetooth too. It works fine initially, but every couple of days I have to delete my phone and re-pair it for it to connect again.

grim281 said:
I'm having issues with my car bluetooth too. It works fine initially, but every couple of days I have to delete my phone and re-pair it for it to connect again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, takes me 3 or 4 times to try to bluetooth sync with ford sync system. Yesterday it would sync then play for 30 seconds and pause play back. I don't know if its the phone or lollipop as alot of the problems I see are also happening on my nexus 9.

I'm getting sent a new one since I've been having these problems
Sent from my SM-G920V using XDA Free mobile app

sleightofhandus said:
Same here, takes me 3 or 4 times to try to bluetooth sync with ford sync system. Yesterday it would sync then play for 30 seconds and pause play back. I don't know if its the phone or lollipop as alot of the problems I see are also happening on my nexus 9.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had Bluetooth issues on an old phone, and when I flashed different roms the issues were fixed. This leads me to believe that it's software related
Galaxy S6 (Verizon)

iowabowtech said:
Anybody else experiencing a weak bluetooth connection with the S6? I'm losing the connection with my Garmin Vivosmart in places I've had no problem connecting with other devices. I'm curious about other's experiences on this as a search hasn't turned up much yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Identical experience. With my S4 and my Nexus 9 I was able to literally get to the edge of my large yard before losing connection with my Vivosmart. Now I can't leave the room since getting my S6. I hope it's software and we can somehow change it, because it's ridiculously bad. I also have had to turn my BT off and back on three times this week because it would crash and refuse to talk to either my Vivosmart or my car. As soon as I toggle the BT on the phone it reconnects to everything. Seems to be triggered by starting my car (i.e. the BT car interface becomes available.) Never had either problem with the S4.

lilshooter said:
I'm getting sent a new one since I've been having these problems
Sent from my SM-G920V using XDA Free mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Since so many people are having this problem, it's probably phone related and not just an isolated incident.

cybermage1 said:
Identical experience. With my S4 and my Nexus 9 I was able to literally get to the edge of my large yard before losing connection with my Vivosmart. Now I can't leave the room since getting my S6.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah this is one of my only remaining complaints about the device. I can't use my Vivosmart for sleep tracking anymore...it disconnects/reconnects way too many times and the persistent vibes wake me up.
So honest question...let's assume it is fixable by software tweaks. What's the fix in that scenario? Reroute more power to bluetooth radio? Other?

iowabowtech said:
So honest question...let's assume it is fixable by software tweaks. What's the fix in that scenario? Reroute more power to bluetooth radio? Other?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I've seen a lot of threads online for other devices where an Android update affected bluetooth range. Obviously there's some sort of software control for this. I'm rooted, and I'm willing to try some things but I don't know where to begin. I'm not an OS / Kernel guy.

i wonder if its what it is connecting to as well as a problem with S6? i have the Motorola Buds headset and it has worked as expected giving me about 100 foot range when talking on it. i also have a 2013 Ram truck with Uconnect and have not had any issues and it connects right away and reads my text etc.. as it was doing with my Note 3 and ATIV.
i havent tried other devices but have a few like a speaker and will see as i use them if i have issues.

Haven't messed with Bluetooth that much on this phone, but I think wifi is a bit weak
Sent from my Verizon Galaxy S6 using XDA Free mobile app

I've had Bluetooth issues. Seems really short range.

Wifi is about the same as my LG G2, but BT is about half as far. I used to be able to get around 15m at work (lots of shelving) but now I'm lucky to get 5m before hearing static and starting to cut out. Sucks because BT is my main source of music at work.

Anybody had better luck after applying the new ota?

Bluetooth issues

I pretty much love this phone. It would be my ideal device if it had double-tap-to-wake. As it is, I could almost learn to live with using the fingerprint scanner (which I avoid using on all of my other phones) to unlock, but I finally encountered a deal breaker.
I have had all kinds of bluetooth issues. I have a lot of connected devices and I've been encountering the following:
Gear S3 constantly disconnects (even when it's really close to the phone)
Fitbit will not sync
Car Stereo Bluetooth profile deleted itself
AirPods break up, have static, or completely cut out
Here's the thing. I went back to my V20 and I don't have any of these issues. The Fitbit always syncs, the AirPods work flawlessly, the Gear S3 NEVER disconnects, and my car stereo has never disconnected. I have to believe it's a bluetooth stack issue. Perhaps the proprietary processor is to blame. But with all of the bluetooth devices I use on a daily basis, I can't live with this.
I really want to keep the phone, but I think I'm going to have to return it. That sucks because there's nothing else really like it on the market for me. But after all of the testing I've done, I can't draw any other conclusion. Maybe a software update might fix it in the future, but I can't take that chance.
I'm sure some of you will chime in and say "I'm not having any of these issues". That's great. I'm fairly certain you don't have the exact same devices/combination I've listed here. The fact is, my currently daily setup does not mesh with this phone. I still have my Mate 8, but I haven't tested this combination of devices with it yet.

I also have a big issue with this phone's Bluetooth. I can't pair it with a 2014 Pajero. Any other phone works perfect when paired with the car but this one cannot even pair. I always get "pairing failed".
I tried every oprtion and pairing application and still no success.
I know mate 9 has bluetooth 4.2 but it should be backward compatible.
Anyone has a solution or similar issue?

I wonder what firmware version your mate is on.
I'm running MHA-L29C432B138 and I have no problems with my Gear S3, nor with my Mazda bluetooth hookup.

Yeap, latest B138 version.
Gear S3 is fine. Only issue is the car connection

B138 here.
Won't connect to my 451 Bosch Highline car radio (they can't even see each other).
Connects fine to my laptops (Win & MacOS), BT speakers and Xiaomi Roidmi.
Sent from my MHA-L29 using XDA Labs

duraaraa said:
I wonder what firmware version your mate is on.
I'm running MHA-L29C432B138 and I have no problems with my Gear S3, nor with my Mazda bluetooth hookup.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am on MHA-L29C567B138
I have the U.S. unlocked model. So, unless there's something specific about the firmware on that model, I don't know what to tell you. I have tested this repeatedly with all of my Bluetooth devices. Nothing works as it should, especially compared to my other phones. It would be interesting to see if I have the same issues on the Europe firmware, but I'm not flashing it to find out.

This bluetooth seems to be issue with this phone, does anyone know if this is something huewei is working on to fix or its an android issue ?

I hate to be the guy that says "mine works blah blah blah" but I've got multiple devices connected through Bluetooth and have yet to have an issue on any of them. 2 Ford vehicles running Android auto, 3 Bluetooth speakers and a set of Bluetooth headphones.
With that said, I wonder if your actual device is faulty. Has anyone with the issues done a factory reset? If so I'd be contacting Huawei support.
Sent from my MHA-L29 using Tapatalk

I have same issue as describe. My tought is mate 9 do not accept Bluetooth multipoint connection... 2 devices with same profil cannot be connected in same time
Envoyé de mon MHA-L29 en utilisant Tapatalk

I am wondering if the manufacturer is aware of the issue or not but to me it seems more of a Android nogut issue than anything else

I have the same issue. The Mate 9 takes about 3 minutes to pair with my car where my LGV10 automatically did it within seconds. It also does not seem capable of handling being paired with multiple Bluetooth devices at the same time. It has to be disconnected from one and wait to pair with the next one. For cars, I have tried it with both a Tesla and a Jeep GC and the I have the same problem.

greyhulk said:
I pretty much love this phone. It would be my ideal device if it had double-tap-to-wake. As it is, I could almost learn to live with using the fingerprint scanner (which I avoid using on all of my other phones) to unlock, but I finally encountered a deal breaker.
I have had all kinds of bluetooth issues. I have a lot of connected devices and I've been encountering the following:
Gear S3 constantly disconnects (even when it's really close to the phone)
Fitbit will not sync
Car Stereo Bluetooth profile deleted itself
AirPods break up, have static, or completely cut out
Here's the thing. I went back to my V20 and I don't have any of these issues. The Fitbit always syncs, the AirPods work flawlessly, the Gear S3 NEVER disconnects, and my car stereo has never disconnected. I have to believe it's a bluetooth stack issue. Perhaps the proprietary processor is to blame. But with all of the bluetooth devices I use on a daily basis, I can't live with this.
I really want to keep the phone, but I think I'm going to have to return it. That sucks because there's nothing else really like it on the market for me. But after all of the testing I've done, I can't draw any other conclusion. Maybe a software update might fix it in the future, but I can't take that chance.
I'm sure some of you will chime in and say "I'm not having any of these issues". That's great. I'm fairly certain you don't have the exact same devices/combination I've listed here. The fact is, my currently daily setup does not mesh with this phone. I still have my Mate 8, but I haven't tested this combination of devices with it yet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's interesting and frustrating how different people have different experiences.
As you'll see from my sig area, I am on US version, with 183 firmware. Interesting too, I had first tried a V20, and left it because of BT issues. As you are probably expecting to hear given my intro statement, I am not having BT issues. But, I am on different phone and firmware from most posts here.
I've only had my phone a couple weeks. When I received it it was on 138, and the GPS didn't work at all. Was about to box it back up and send back, but then checked, and had the update. After update, it's been great for me so far.
I'm not sure how different the 138 is from my US phone and yours...but a common thread for problems seems to be (based on this thread) is 138.

OTG and Gear VR stopped working!

Suddenly OTG and Gear VR are not working on my S8 plus. no water, drop or anything. I have the device for only 2 weeks. No OTG device works (tried with genuine type c to usb adapter). It used to work like two days ago. I did factory reset and reinstalled firmware using smart switch. In addition, Gear VR is not being recognised anymore. PC connection and data transfer using the cable work ok. I believe OTG uses different pins. May it be a hardware issue? I remember getting some high-powered device connected before it stops working at all (using just a simple mouse). I tried everything.
I saw that a number of people have the issue on samsung support website. I hope it is not a known issue and samsung just does not state it officially (like the S7 edge pink line).
Please help or let me know if you have the issue too.

Arismfg said:
Please help or let me know if you have the issue too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lengthy discussion here > https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/help/usb-otg-longer-galaxy-s8-t3640216

cam30era said:
Lengthy discussion here > https://forum.xda-developers.com/galaxy-s8/help/usb-otg-longer-galaxy-s8-t3640216
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for your reply. I have already checked the thread above. However, no working solution. Is there anyone who managed to figure out if it is a software or hardware issue? I wonder why it is stated as solved. I dont think the guy with the issue fixed it

I contacted oculus support about this issue. Seems to be a widespread software issue that happens with certain models+updates but they aren't doing anything to fix it for unlocked phones as only phones locked to a carrier are supported by gear vr.

povotron said:
I contacted oculus support about this issue. Seems to be a widespread software issue that happens with certain models+updates but they aren't doing anything to fix it for unlocked phones as only phones locked to a carrier are supported by gear vr.
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Thanks for the reply. Does this also have to do with OTG devices not recognised? Do you have this issue too? What is strange is that Gear VR used to work. At least for a while on my unlocked S8 plus. I cannot understand how this may block the OTG devices. Is there something left in the settings that may block OTG?
By the way, I hope you are not referring to the network issue. My Gear VR is not recognised at all.

I'm having the same problem as you. I hadn't tried otg before the VR wasn't recognised but I can't use it now. Could be my adaptor though. People seem to have the issue appear following phone updates

povotron said:
I'm having the same problem as you. I hadn't tried otg before the VR wasn't recognised but I can't use it now. Could be my adaptor though. People seem to have the issue appear following phone updates
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Well I gave my phone to the official samsung service and waiting for their reply. I don't think I installed any updates before and after the issue appeared (at least not firmware updates but not sure about oculus or other apps) . By the way it is not the adaptor that has the issue. I tried many others on my phone. And the adaptor works with a friend's S8 (not plus). Only one works (well not really). It iss an OTG type-c to micro usb (bought from ebay) which comes up with a notification that high powered device was connected but then nothing happens whatever option I choose. And it is not a high powered device because it used to work. I tried even a mouse with its own battery. But if it was a phone update, I think a factory reset should fix it? It did not for me.
Do you think of taking your phone to the official service too?

A full factory reset also didn't work for me. From other forums it seems that other people who have taken them in for service receive a replacement phone. Some people however then mentioned that they encountered the same issue a few months later with the replacement. I would take mine to Samsung but it's a grey import and Samsung refuse to touch them even though it's the same model sold locally. If it's definitely a hardware fault I'll consider sending it away but it would be an international service which would leave me without a phone for quite some time.

Yes, you are right. Some people saw the issue after a few months of getting the replacement phone or even after restoring their google account and settings (without being able to get it fixed by factory reset). This is what actually scares me the most because it looks like hardware issue of the phone in general. It looks like a well known issue which samsung does not officially accept. SiImilar to the pink line on S7 edge I had before. Anyway, as charging and connection to pc still work, I can give my phone and get a new model later cheaper. The last two samsung flagships came with issues that (the most important) samsung does not accept officially. Maybe it is time to change brand (always android though).

I got my phone back from samsung service. They did not replace my phone but they replaced both the logic board and the type-c board. As expected, it works again with OTG devices and Gear VR as it is like a new phone after replacing all that. Installed all apps again one by one (not restored from backup) and everything still works. Hope it stays like that. So hardware issue? Looks like it.

I know this is an old thread, but I replaced just the USB board and it didn't fix anything. So maybe it's a motherboard issue?