Handsets

#Rotategate: Many Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge users are having auto-rotate issues

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Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge DSC09206

Is your Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge suddenly stuck in one screen orientation? You’re not alone — Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge accelerometers everywhere seem to be getting their gears jammed and it has nothing to do with forgetting to select auto-rotate in your settings.

A fairly sizable collective of individuals have reported that their Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge units periodically refuse to respond when trying to switch from portrait to landscape and vice versa. The only solution that has worked thus far? Walking into the store and requesting a new device, and reports from Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T customers confirm that they are granting these replacements without hesitation.

It seems that the Galaxy S6 Edge fast charger is heating the battery more than normal, causing the nearby accelerometer chip to burn out.

How to check if your S6 Edge accelerometer is busted:

… you can see that the accelerometer is stuck. To verify, enter “*#0*#” in your phone app to enter hardware test mode. Touch “Sensor”. The X, Y and Z for the accelerometer must all change in rapid succession as you rotate your phone. If any are stuck on 32767 or -32768, you have a HARDWARE problem which cannot be fixed by updates of software/firmware of ANY kind.

It’s still possible that a simpler solution exists, for example a firmware patch or maybe there was a bad batch of fast chargers but unfortunately that’s not the currently prevailing school of thought. We’ve put in a word to Samsung and are awaiting an official response, but in the meantime, join the more complete discussion on the topic on Android Forums.

It’s also worth noting that there have been no such reports for the regular version of the Samsung Galaxy S6, just the S6 Edge.

[via AndroidForums.com]

Quentyn Kennemer
The "Google Phone" sounded too awesome to pass up, so I bought a G1. The rest is history. And yes, I know my name isn't Wilson.

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24 Comments

  1. Well, this goes to show that buying a phone at launch means the worst of the bugs. Do I regret buying a S6 Edge? Nope, not at all. T-Mobile has a huge battery drain bug with VOLTE/Wifi Calling being enabled without wifi being on leading the radio to overwork itself, but once it’s turned off, people have better life apparently.

  2. I had this happen to my 32GB Black Verizon Edge as well. I called and they were more than willing to let me go into a store and do a straight exchange for a new device. I swapped and haven’t had any trouble since. It could just be software, but I paid a lot for a working device and wasn’t willing to wait to find out. (Especially if that “wait and see” approach puts me outside the 14 day no-hassle exchange window.)

  3. For the love of god, can everyone stop putting ‘gate’ on the end of everything? At this point the term has been beaten, shot, dragged out to the street and tar and feathered. It just shows a lack of creativity and effort.

    1. Dave I agree with you on the “gate” thing. It was ok the first time but now…

    2. Amen. If there really is a hardware issue I could almost be okay with it, but there is barely anything to support that according to this post.

    3. How ’bout we have a tailgate party & discuss it at length……………

    4. man….bitchgate much?? haha jk jk!!! Totally agree. people are acting like bugs are NEVER on phones when they are first released. such crap!

      1. But this is different. It’s a hardware issue.

        1. oh I assumed it was software related. I misunderstood! well then I will edit it to say, hey my Nexus 6 works just fine haha

    5. Selfiegate

    6. #hatingtheterm”gate”gate

  4. I have 2 S6 Edge. No issues here

    1. I have both the Edge and regular 6 here, no issues. A buddy of mine has the Edge on Sprint and auto-rotate is broken.

      1. Have you tried a fast charge (with a heavily depleted battery)? Some people seem to think that may be a cause or contributing factor.

  5. What I find interesting is that so far is that I haven’t read a single post about this issue in a big german Android Forum yet. So I would highly doubt that it has something to do with the charging and guess that it’s a software issue that just exists in the US or it’s a batch of faulty devices that got delivered to the US.

    1. I’m betting that a faulty batch was sent to the US. Do we have exactly the same hardware as international units? I know many phone types have exactly the same appearance as the international models, but a different model number for US Carriers.

      1. I think they’re the same this year, although I’m not 100% sure because of the radio. There have been rumors that all use a Samsung radio this year but there have also been photos of devices with a qualcomm sticker on the sim tray. So maybe there is a little difference.
        I’m curious to see which radio my european model has when it arrives today.

  6. Im still quite hesitant regarding the idea of the fast charger. Sure, its cool for a boost but when its your regular charger it seems like something that would put more stress on the battery and components.

    I know that aggressively charging and heating the battery can shorten its lifespan alone, I wouldnt be shocked if it turns out that doing the same shortens the life of other components.

    1. http://www.anandtech.com/show/9146/the-samsung-galaxy-s6-and-s6-edge-review/3

      Read anandtech’s full comprehensive review. Fast charge does not have any affect on battery life span for 2-3yrs which is the norm for normal charging as well.

  7. Didn’t y’all know the S6 doubles as a shake weight? Ya gotta get a workout in to unstick the sensor.

  8. I had to get mine replaced. I am waiting for the new phone to show up. They told me on Wednesday I would get one Thursday with free overnight . However, I have still not even received confirmation of shipment that it is on its way. I called in and they told me that I have to wait in line to get one. they are short on stock at the moment. So it looks like i will be stuck with a lemon for a bit longer.

  9. I have the same problem with my Galaxy S6 Edge, from sprint, they told me to wait for the vad return kit or something that they are going to order and then they are also going to order a new Galaxy s6 edge because they don’t have the 64 GB model and that it would take 4 to 5 days for everything to get shiooed, however today is the sixth day and I called them yesterday to find out what’s going on and they told me that the return kit is still not here yet and I would have to wait like 2 or 3 more days. To my surprise when I hung up the phone a few minutes later I got an email with the return kit order date and ship date listed as of yesterday so the people at the sprint store only ordered the return kit yesterday and not a week earlier as they promised when I went to the store and showed them the rotation issue and after testing the phone for 2 hours and having no luck they said that they were going to order the replacement but they actually infect didn’t and only ordered the return kit yesterday. Such a bad service experience at sprint, on top of Samsung’s rotation issues!!!!

  10. I just got my S6 edge yesterday. Everything was working perfect until this morning when i unplugged it from its charger. Are all Verizon models like this? Is it worth it to get a replacement if I am not 100% sure it will fix the problem? I dont want to be stuck with a defective phone.

    1. Try a factory reset. It fixes mine but only only for a brief time. I’d recommend a replacement if possible. I will be replacing mine for another reason, but I hope it fixes this also.

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