Develop Bugs

Google Wallet success rates?

Hi All,
I've set up Google Wallet (Flash: 1.1-R41v8, APK: 1.1-R48v4) using the APK here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1365360
So far, the Google Prepaid MasterCard has only worked at one location, CVS (after the cashier pushed credit). The phone has failed to react at all to tap-to-pay readers at McDonald's, Tim Horton’s and Coke machines. I've even ensured that both the phone and Wallet app were unlocked prior to tapping the reader, which should not be necessary. You get really wired looks when trying to pay with your phone does not work.
My only theory at this point is that my OtterBox Defender case is preventing the necessary proximity the NFC chip needs to detect the reader, or it is blocking the RF somehow. I do know that CVS had a different reader than everyone else. Perhaps it has a stronger signal?
Has anyone else had issues with NFC and an OtterBox case? What have your success rates been with Google Wallet transactions?
I'm planning on testing Google Wallet without my case soon; I'll post the results here.

I've seen other reports about an Otterbox case and NFC, pretty much any thick case will cause issues and if there's any sort of metal in it you're pretty much completely out of luck. I've never had any issue with my naked Nexus at McDonalds or 7-11, at least not until people whined that they couldn't figure out a lockscreen and they broke my prepaid card access...

Duplicate nfc tag and use phone instead?

My college campus gives us bulky "sticker" things (about the width of a refrigerator magnet, with a sticky side so we can put it on something) that we can use to open the dorm doors and I think store cash for the cafeteria. Sounds like an NFC tag to me.
Would it be possible to copy the data onto my Nexus S and use the phone as my nfc card? (rather than keeping the sticker on my phone like I see most people doing)
I'm new to this phone and I'm not sure about the limitations with it's NFC capabilities.
EDIT: It's definitely an NFC tag (Phone makes a notification noise when I touch it to the back of the device.

You might be interested in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1706057

What was and was NOT needed?

Feel free to add your suggestions/preferences, I am certainly no Engineer, but from what we gather there was a problem with too much crammed into such a tiny package. As an Electronic Cigarette Vaper this much I do comprehend, that is Battery Cells NEED absolutely space for what is known as 'Venting' (Vape Cigarette Mods generally use 18650 Batteries, even the larger 26650's). Also there is a technicality such is Heat Sink. Please allow the Experts among you to add input here…
…My main focus is what was and was NOT necessary in the original Galaxy Note 7. What was there in way of Feature that was not at all necessary in such away to take away the fact the Note 7 "had it all".
1) Headphone Jack
I have never owned an iPhone by the way, only ever Samsung Galaxy S2, Note 2 and Note 4, but the Headphone Jack is Ancient Tech. For the past 3 years I have only ever used Bluetooth Headphones (Bluedio brand) with Power Amp and Neutron for 64Bit 'Audiophile' quality sound. These headphones are a fraction of the price of Dr. Dre Beats and yet don't entail a spaghetti junction type deal with long dangling cable wire.
Lose the Headphone Jack. Not necessary. Free up space.
2) IRIS Scanner.
No one asked for it to be implemented. Was it a gimmick/novelty or something more sinister. Regardless, it certainly was NOT needed on such a device, the Note 7 without blows away all competition bar none on it's own. Without IRIS Scanner.
3) Removable Battery - 'Water Resistant'
Again, something sinister, or genuinely a practical convenience?
I am OK either way, I dig water resistance, yet just feel less "Big Brother'ed" with the ability to remove, and if necessary, replace Battery.
Yet I DO love the all-glass design, and would be OK if Battery remained locked in (not sure how many glass panels would have broken if it was a removable plate?)
On a technical side, would Removable Battery actually be "safer"? Again, experts, please chime in.
Well that's it for now. A serious topic, yet fun, what do we "NEED", what do we want and what is not necessary yet still allowing the reputation of the Note 7 (in hindsight) being still "the best Phone available by far"
Thank you.

the Iris scanner was great, I picked up my phone looked at it and it was ready to use, so much faster and more reliable than the fingerprint scanner, in truth that is the feature I will miss most leaving the Note.
as for waterproofing, again it is a nice useful feature for the type of work I do (mostly outside) where the device is likely to get wet quite often.
as for the headphone jack they don't take up a lot of space in truth, Apple offing it is more of a gimmick than anything you listed here, as all it was designed to do was to get people to rebuy headsets, the same as every time they change the port on the phone making every docking/charging product obsolete, this is just a way to force people to go out and buy new accessories as if you let people use the same dock for loads of devices they will never pay again into the accessory market. so while they could have went to a USB-C headset in truth it would have made little difference as the Note was already smaller than the Iphone 7+ with the stylus taking up internal space.

OP, you are clueless. You honestly think you have any CLUE of what happened with these phones when Samsung themselves can't even figure it out? Get your head checked.
1. The headphone jack may be old, but it is not outdated nor ancient. Bluetooth audio quality pales in comparison to a true wired connection. There is also no "64 bit" audiophile quality bull**** you speak of.
2. The iris scanner is not a gimmick and a great feature.
3. Removable batteries are not necessary nor useful for the vast majority of users.

I don't care for the iris scanner, I didn't use it nor think I will. As for waterproofing, I'll take a replaceable battery over it anytime. As for the headphone jack, if they remove it, I'm removing myself from their brand as well, I use it far too often and pick wire over wireless (I'm surprised the OP doesn't do this, considering the conspiracy theories posted elsewhere). I didn't upgrade from the Note 4 to Note 5 for the very reason that they removed the ability to change a battery and removal of the SD card. I went with the Note 7, but did so hesitating, and only because they added the SD card back and because they offered a free 256 GB SD card along with it. If they remove the headphone jack, sorry, but it'll be the last straw.
Let's get real here. The glass design is nice, but how many of us are going completely naked? There's some, but surely the majority of people have a case of some sort and often also a screen protector. What's the point? If they need to remove anything, let it be the glass design in favor of a removable battery. Go back to what it used to be in terms of design, like the Note 4 or 5. I want functionality first, design second. Glass was nice, but a tad bit unnecessary.
Or, do both... like how there's two versions of the Edge. Get a glass, water proofed Note, and a more basic one with removable battery. For sure they will make a lot more people happy.

svache said:
I don't care for the iris scanner, I didn't use it nor think I will. As for waterproofing, I'll take a replaceable battery over it anytime. As for the headphone jack, if they remove it, I'm removing myself from their brand as well, I use it far too often and pick wire over wireless (I'm surprised the OP doesn't do this, considering the conspiracy theories posted elsewhere). I didn't upgrade from the Note 4 to Note 5 for the very reason that they removed the ability to change a battery and removal of the SD card. I went with the Note 7, but did so hesitating, and only because they added the SD card back and because they offered a free 256 GB SD card along with it. If they remove the headphone jack, sorry, but it'll be the last straw.
Let's get real here. The glass design is nice, but how many of us are going completely naked? There's some, but surely the majority of people have a case of some sort and often also a screen protector. What's the point? If they need to remove anything, let it be the glass design in favor of a removable battery. Go back to what it used to be in terms of design, like the Note 4 or 5. I want functionality first, design second. Glass was nice, but a tad bit unnecessary.
Or, do both... like how there's two versions of the Edge. Get a glass, water proofed Note, and a more basic one with removable battery. For sure they will make a lot more people happy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've went naked since the Z1, the curved screen was the thing they could lose for me as it stopped me getting a good quality glass screen protector letting me protect the screen while keeping the form of the phone intact but still protecting the screen without the peeling corners all note 7 protectors got, if I could have a note 7 with any one feature removed it would be the curved screen, even if it meant the phone would be slightly larger.

Nitemare3219 said:
OP, you are clueless. You honestly think you have any CLUE of what happened with these phones when Samsung themselves can't even figure it out? Get your head checked.
1. The headphone jack may be old, but it is not outdated nor ancient. Bluetooth audio quality pales in comparison to a true wired connection. There is also no "64 bit" audiophile quality bull**** you speak of.
2. The iris scanner is not a gimmick and a great feature.
3. Removable batteries are not necessary nor useful for the vast majority of users.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed 100 percent! OP should go will Apple products if he really believes this. I stopped reading after OP stated headphone jack is not necessary, I for one and many others still use the headphone jack intensely as Bluetooth quality is piss poor compared to my Shure SE846, Westone 4, AKG 550, AudioTechnica ATH-M70X...etc

Hmmm. Interesting.

I think the note 7 is a formidable device, all its features made it stand out

What I don't need: headphone jack, curve screen, iris scanner
What I need: Stylus! Screen size and water resistance
What I want: Hologram projection (3D)from phone... lol
What is not neccesary:non removable battery (will only increase my cost if I need to change the battery. If I want more juice, I'll get another battery.

If the Note 7 successor won't be waterproof, I won't buy it. It is a must for me.

I don't need the Edge screen. If there actually was a Note 7 without the Edge screen, I'd have definitely gone for that.
Iris scanner was not necessary. But it's a great benchmark to know that it can be done.
Headphone jack is still a must. We still need time to adjust to a fully digital, or wireless audio entertainment. And this will take quite a long time.
Water resistance is fine, I don't need waterproof. Just enough to resist a quick splash or a dunk. Not for a swim or underwater photography.
When I had my original unit, the phone started bootlooping. I didn't mind too much because I was about to have it replaced by the exchange programme. But I had a seriously hard time shutting it off. Couple that with reports of batteries blowing up, I was very worried the phone would blow up with the infinite bootlooping. I had to wait for the damn thing to drain out its battery. So yes, having removable battery in case something like this happens will be a relief at times.
That's all the top off my head for now.

Is there a single NFC tag which changes the content by physical key press?

Hi,
I am not sure whether to post this here, but I take a leap and try it as you might have seen more tags than I did. Please bear with me....
A year ago I came by a local store and I saw NFC tags (mostly the sticker type) on display. I knew my next phone would have NFC so I tried to remember. But one NFC gadget - I got only a glimpse - impressed me:
An NFC pen! Wow, I said to myself, that I want to have. In my mind I saw huge possibilities that the pen would offer: every press on the pen, that inside tube, usually with advertisments, would turn one step. Not to reveal the next ad but to activate the next NFC tag, from my experience (with pens!) I guessed it must be at least 4, maybe 6 tags to cycle through.
Imagine... sitting in a lesson or lecture or meeting or whatever, holding your pen, pressing it a few times, holding it ontop of your Phone - especially while face-down - and silently and unnoticable trigger up to 6 different events... all in one pen, all in one hand.
Guess what, I came by today, very eager to buy and saw that NFC pen. It was a pen. WITH an NFC tag. A single one. What's that good for? If my tooth brush had an nfc tag, it would be of more use (keeping track) - at least to me.
So why the heck bother you with my unmature tech ideas? Did anyone stumble upon any device with a tag/gadget that would support switching tags by keypress? i couldn't find any hint.
Would it be possible with a designated hardware button? My guess is yes, but maybe not in a pen but in those "dogtags"/keyring ones.
If I look at those transparent sticker tags, solve it by using the same antenna and dis/connect the actual logic part. Maybe a little more resistence and noise on the wire switching part would be tolerable.
Or the chip itself could be given a multi personality either the NFC way (speak: is there any technique defined in the nfc specs) or by a contact which is measuring increasing electrical resistance.
Those all are WILD GUESSES. (i got shaky hands, soldering so small structures is not so... pleasant to me, so I won't give it a try)
My idea cannot be so unique, so it must be either technological impossible or economically improbable (say: to expensive to build and sell, not enough sales expected.)
Again, why bothering you? Because here might be so much Expertisé and experience that might yield a hint or two. And, maybe my expectation of a NFC toothbrush... Ahm pen might have amused you.
Nice to hear from you!
(PS: expensive Oral-B electrical tooth brushes do come with .... what? BLUETOOTH!)

Have a look at 'Air Button' and 'Dimple'.
Sorry, I can't post external links as a new user.

leroy30 said:
Have a look at 'Air Button' and 'Dimple'.
Sorry, I can't post external links as a new user.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you very much! I couldn't imagine so i didn't research properly enough. Dimple is my choice!

keyboard cover - can it be flipped over?

The new S4 is marketed as to use with a keyboard, preferably the original samsung keyboard cover. In multiple reviews I've read you can use this cover in only one position. What I would like to know is if you can flip the keyboard completely over (360 degrees) as I would do intuitively when using it as a drawing block using the S Pen.

Wondering that too, I've pre-ordered so will get the keyboard cover free a few weeks after I get the device, so potentially it'll be unprotected during that time. I'll probably buy a case from Amazon (seen one for around £6) to see me through.

From what I saw in store, yes the keyboard can flip over behind the device.
Though I did find this interesting on the Tab S3 the little 1/3 flap behind the tablet secured to the back side of the device automatically, pretty well to hold it in place if you flipped the keyboard over behind the screen. The S4 did not, and there was a little extra slop in the case because of this. Course it might be the security device holding it down but its just something I noticed.

Well, yes and no. It can but backwards. It would have been nice if it was able to fold back with the tablet's back against the keyboard but it actually flips over so that the keys are at the bottom and the tablet is at the top. I'm unsure if this does damage to the keys but its not optimal.

Silly question but...
why not just use the otg cable, plug in your logitech module, and use your logitech keyboard and mouse? For the rare times I need a keyboard, that's what I do. Then the tablet is still easily used as you always would, flip, landscape, etc.
just a thought.

AsItLies said:
Silly question but...
why not just use the otg cable, plug in your logitech module, and use your logitech keyboard and mouse? For the rare times I need a keyboard, that's what I do. Then the tablet is still easily used as you always would, flip, landscape, etc.
just a thought.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is a silly question because many folks will use this as a traditional portable tablet as well as an occassional desktop machine. When you are out and about with your expensive tablet, you need a case to protect it from accidents, but this case also needs to be convenient. Leather wallet / folio cases are ideal for this, but (most) obviously don't feature a keyboard. Given how slippery this tablet is, with its all glass rear, I'm guessing that accidents may be relatively frequent!
So the OPs original question is pefectly valid. What is the likely durability of the keyboard when folded right over and sat on the users lap, for example, playing Pokemon on a bus? Perhaps, maybe, the keyboard case is an expensive gimmick and a standard leather wallet case would be a much better option (if such a thing actually exists yet)? The real leather case on my Galaxy NotePro 12.2 has served me extremely well over the years.

Yemble said:
That is a silly question because many folks will use this as a traditional portable tablet as well as an occassional desktop machine. When you are out and about with your expensive tablet, you need a case to protect it from accidents, but this case also needs to be convenient. Leather wallet / folio cases are ideal for this, but obviously don't feature a keyboard. Given how slippery this tablet is, with its all glass rear, I'm guessing that accidents may be relatively frequent!
So the OPs original question is pefectly valid. What is the likely durability of the keyboard when folded right over and sat on the users lap, for example, playing Pokemon on a bus? Perhaps, maybe, the keyboard case is an expensive gimmick and a standard leather wallet case would be a much better option (if such a thing actually exists yet)? The leather case on my Galaxy NotePro 12.2 has served me extremely well over the years.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Who said the OP question wasn't valid? Who said not to use a case?
I'm merely suggesting an alternative for those of us who don't play "Pokemon on a bus", for example.

AsItLies said:
Who said the OP question wasn't valid? Who said not to use a case?
I'm merely suggesting an alternative for those of us who don't play "Pokemon on a bus", for example.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Personally, I never play Pokemon, however, my daughter does on her commute to work... and the Tab S4 is her tablet Cables and peripherals are totally impractical in this particular usage case. Everyone has different requirements. Anyway, her "free" keyboard case has just been delivered today, so I'll check it out tonight.

Yemble said:
Everyone has different requirements. .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thank you for making my point.

AsItLies said:
thank you for making my point.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are welcome.
However, this is an interesting point for discussion, as to how folk plan to make use of their new investment. From what I can work out from my daughter, at home it will be docked into a Cable Matters USB-C hub and used to stream movies over an Ethernet LAN connection, to her HDMI TV, amongst numerous other things. At work, she will use it as a desktop with the keyboard case and a bluetooth mouse. I've already described her commute.
If it were mine, I'd be using it as a passenger navigation device, along with AlpineQuest and a full set of OSGB maps, which is what I currently do with my aging NotePro.

Now that I've received the keyboard case I can confirm that the case can be flipped in such a way that the keyboard faces up, into the rear of the case when using as a traditional tablet. In this mode, the footprint of the tablet extends along a long edge by 38mm, which is due to the way the "fold" works.
Alternatively, it can be flipped with the keyboard facing down, which only extends the footprint by 10mm along the same edge.
First impressions are that it adds a fair bit of weight to the tablet, mainly due to good build quality. The case is pretty solid, but not padded, so it may not be great at absorbing shocks, say from a drop! The keyboard is compact, but has a reasonable feel. Note, that the pen is essential for using the keyboard with DeX as there is no trackpad.
Is it worth the RRP? Err, no, however, as a pre-order "freebe", I've got no grounds to complain.