Compass / magnetic sensor defects

[RKKK]

Hi all, wondering if you've checked compass on your S21 Ultra, mine doesn't point the right direction and calibration doesn't help. See pictures attached:

 

[RKKK]

You mean the firmware? I've done factory reset but it doesn't help. I've owned it since the end of Jan and kept updated, don't really see any improvements... Why would you think it's not hardware related?

[WelshPaul]

Why do you think it is hardware related?

[RKKK]

What Ive used is called method of exclusion

[Luval]

I think it's hardware related because if I shake a little bit my phone something inside bounces, or I can hear something moving inside. I have it less than a month and haven't fallen down any time because I take care a lot of this smartphones. They are quite expensive to be playing with them around. So, when I open the compass panel or a third party app, it turns crazy, and never faces the magnetic north, in my case causing GMaps to not face the real direction, redirecting me every corner I turn, making travelling or finding a place in a big city so, so frustrating.

[WelshPaul]

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@Luval wrote:

I think it's hardware related because if I shake a little bit my phone something inside bounces, or I can hear something moving inside.

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Thats the Camera lol, it's normal

[Luval]

The sound comes from the middle part of the phone, not the camera. And seems that the magnetic sensor is out of place. 

I'm not mad with Samsung. This kind of problems should not appear, but can happen of course. I just want an unit that works the way it should work, that's all. 

Here are some pics to demonstrate that we are not lying: 

  

[WelshPaul]

I'm not saying the compass issue doesn't exist but the noise you hear is the camera lens moving around. It has been talked about in great detail on these very forums. Do a search on it!

https://us.community.samsung.com/t5/Galaxy-S20/Shaking/td-p/1138655

https://www.reddit.com/r/samsung/comments/ir5365/note_20_ultra_is_there_a_rattling_sound_coming/

https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/noise-from-shaking-the-phone.4061737/

[Luval]

Okay! Yes the sound comes from the camera. I went to Samsung's CS here in Valencia. They did a diferent calibration of the magnetic sensor, or that is what they told me. Now the compass seems more accurate, but every time I open GMaps, the app always says that the compass calibration is Low. Even when it says is high, I close the app and open it again, and it says low again. I don`t know what happens...

Maybe I should RMA? The guy told me to come back in a week or so, if the calibration is not persistent. But I'll wait and see how it goings. 

Regards.

[Pov9]

@RKKK
For me removing the phone case helped me maybe. Because before when I calibrated the phone correctly, it used to bounce left and right and occasionally jump to a different direction. After removing the case its better, not sure if it actually helps or just a placebo effect.

What I found out, not sure if it's true.

But my second phone is galaxy a90 5g and when I use a sensor test app, it shows that the sensor for the phone uses 1.1ma. For the s21 ultra it shows it only uses 0.6.

I'm not sure if these values are correct. But from my understanding, the magnetic sensor is weaker on the s21 ultra.

To the op, could you install a "Sensors Multitool"? To check what sensors each phone has. Interested to know what sensor each phone is using, as you have like five phones 😅.

On the app it says a90 5g uses "ak09918"

- Resolution = 0.15ut
- Max range = 4911
- Version = 20037


S21 ultra "ak09918c"

- Resolution = 0.05ut
- Max range = 2000
- Version = 1

I would like to say these values aren't true, but not too sure.

[pierotot]

hello everyone, I wanted to highlight my experience: I bought a galaxy s21 from amazon in april and I confirm that I also have serious problems with the compass that crashes continuously during navigation, tried to do the calibration from google maps and improves, but after a while it comes back and be unwatchable. I think it's a hardware problem, I'm very tempted to return.