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Does any company actually support the Samsung S6 on the Gear VR?!!

scottoculus
Protege
After almost a year my S6 on the Gear VR started having problems connecting to the Gear VR. The screen would go black most of the time. Hard reset would restore it for a few days. I filled a bug report with Oculus that a number of the apps I had to re-download and re-load videos for were not working. (Felix and Paul among others) This week the Oculus Store stopped working when in VR.
Evidently at least a few others have had similar problems with the store, apps and with black screens. They have been doing hard resets as well.  I received an initial response for more info from Oculus and have heard nothing since.  

After needing to do a hard restart 3 or 4 times I figured I'd check for software updates.  The Android is 5.0.2   The device update says there is no update and I'm not to check for 24 hours. It's an Official ATT phone activated by ATT but I have no phone service for this device. ATT online says 5.1.1 is the latest and it happened last November. (I bought the phone last May) 

I take it into an ATT store and see about getting an OS update as the start of fixing the problem. Tech support claims OS 6 is latest for this phone. But they can not provide any updates. That has to come from Samsung.

After 30 minutes of waiting on hold for Samsung Support I'm told that I will have to go to Best Buy to update the OS on my device. That there is a Samsung group there and they will have the latest version. Drive to Best Buy.  The latest they have is 5.0.2, at least 2 versions old from the latest.

Another long call to Samsung. Tech support claimed Samsung Smart Switch would do update. Google Play store on the device claims it's not compatible with my device. Samsung tech is amazed it's not downloadable. I go to Google Play on my desktop browser. It claims it is compatible and will be installed soon. Nothing happens. The Mac version shows the device (disabled Android File Transfer) but doesn't show any way to update the device.

So now I'm switched to Samsung Smart Switch  dept.  They don't' know why it claims to be non-compatible either. They said despite what the Samsung Tech people said, Smart Switch will not do updating. So...

now I'm back with Samsung Tech support. She wants to know the name of the OS version. (lollipop, candy wrapper, sprinkles, Marshmallow, flavor of the week, etc) Evidently the version # means nothing to those who work on Android. Yet the device info only shows the version number. Now she tells me I have to get it from ATT. The supervisor now claims I simply have to wait for the software update to come over the air from ATT (which supposedly they did 6 months ago) He can't explain why his tech support people pointed me to at least 2 other options that don't work either.

These people make Time Warner look good. It's clear to me no company seems to support these devices - ATT, Samsung, Best Buy, Google, Oculus, etc. in any way.  Is this a conflict between Oculus software and my version of Android OS? Is this simply a bug in the Oculus software? Some strange hardware issue? Who knows.

I suppose now I'll have to call ATT back and tell them that Samsung says they have to do it and the ATT tech telling me they can't, it's up to Samsung. And no one seems to be able to clarify which version actually runs on the S6. And Samsung can do no diagnostics on the hardware and Oculus doesn't seem to be interested in conflicts or bugs.

So...
What is the latest OS for those who have an S6 on ATT?   If it's above 5.0.2 how did you get it?
Are others having problems with:
 Random black screen when inserting into Gear VR?
 Having to do a hard reset? 
 Non-functioning apps or non-playing video apps?
 No connectivity to the Oculus Store?
 



3 REPLIES 3

asdjonasd
Honored Guest
T-mobile - SM-N920T - Note 5 - After upgrade to 6.0.1 - major problems. 

  1. Phone goes from 100% to 50% in about 4 hours, with NO use. 
  2. Gear VR does not work
  3. Constant pop-up of black screen with small X in bottom right.  Accompanied with the sound Gear VR makes when user connects to head set. 
  4. Oh yea, constant pop-up of black screen with small X in bottom right whenever using phone
In summary - Upgrading the Note 5 made battery life nonexistent, renders my GearVR headset useless, and get constant black screen pop ups that last about 3 seconds. 

Did cache wipe and factory reset.  Twice.  Same problems.  DO NOT UPDATE TO MARSHMALLOW 6.0.1!!!  If you were able to update with no problems, good for you.  Not worth the risk of having a useless phone for those who have not. 

scottoculus
Protege
I called ATT again and it turns out their Digital Service Center just to in 5.1.1 just 2 weeks ago (7 months after att claimed it was released by them).  There's only 2 service centers in LA but they claim they can actually update my phone now that they have received the update themselves. OS 6 is just a rumor to att at this point despite what the magazines say. Just as well given the number of problems people with 6 have had.

Certainly wish companies better trained and informed the people who work for them.
Also wish all of these companies had better QA depts.

tim-vr
Honored Guest

asdjonasd said:

T-mobile - SM-N920T - Note 5 - After upgrade to 6.0.1 - major problems. 

  1. Phone goes from 100% to 50% in about 4 hours, with NO use. 
  2. Gear VR does not work
  3. Constant pop-up of black screen with small X in bottom right.  Accompanied with the sound Gear VR makes when user connects to head set. 
  4. Oh yea, constant pop-up of black screen with small X in bottom right whenever using phone
In summary - Upgrading the Note 5 made battery life nonexistent, renders my GearVR headset useless, and get constant black screen pop ups that last about 3 seconds. 

Did cache wipe and factory reset.  Twice.  Same problems.  DO NOT UPDATE TO MARSHMALLOW 6.0.1!!!  If you were able to update with no problems, good for you.  Not worth the risk of having a useless phone for those who have not. 


I test on s6 g920p android6, it worked.