Note 3 - not reading?
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Curvature of the inset inlay will probably affect readability but the thing most people are forgetting is that once the inlay is inset into the ring it's surrounded by metal.
This does have a pronounced effect on how the inlay works - if John and his team had not done the research and used an appropriately tuned absorber material beneath the inlay then performance would be like that of the GalaRing, next to unusable.
With the absorber material, the metal below the inlay 'appears' to the inlay to be further away than it actually is and thus interferes less with the function of the NTAG203.So really, the three major differences between the rings and other devices are;
- Flatness
- Presence of metal
- Size of antenna
These all combine to make the NFC Ring difficult to distance read, this is known and understood and is a feature of the design itself, making the storage more secure.
With an NFC capable phone which is in perfect working order this is not an issue at all for readability, it merely means that you have to find the sweet spot and have it in perfect position for reading.Unfortunately some phones have cheaply designed and implemented contact springs which can be damaged or make poor contact after even the slightest of knocks, or they have antennas which are far larger than necessary and are thus a poor match to the NFC Ring antenna.
This shows up more distinctly with the Classic ring than with the Alpha ring because the antenna in the Alpha is larger and thus more closely matched than the smaller Classic antenna.In testing (under relatively controlled conditions, with a known good GS4) John and the team have confirmed that the Classic ring works even with a GS4, unfortunately mileage varies with your run of the mill phone out in the world because they are used differently, or possibly dropped/kept in a pants pocket on a hot day/any number of other situations that can aggravate the issues with matching by weakening the NFC field generated by the person's phone, and all without showing signs of damage on the outside.
So, generally if the ring works at all then it is fine and the issue lies either in the phone or in the expectations of how to use it. There can be some confusion due to the ease with which a 'standard' tag is used, you just swipe past the phone and boom done. With the ring there is a little more finesse involved.
*Sorry if any of this seems preachy or condescending, I'm just trying to get it out there and have it understood that a lot of the time it is the phone or the usage of the ring, not the ring itself. There is a lot of misunderstanding out in the world.
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OT: Lokki can you do a summarized "usual error"/FAQ/"general issues that are no issue" post and post it as announcement? I've been a bit more active then me lately and probably have a better overview. I think the post above is a good start but as this thread is on page 5 it won't be found that easy.
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lol, good idea that. I'll do one up and sticky/announce it.
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announce will be better as it's shown in every section.
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Mine wont work with the note 3 either, tried emailing the support addy, but no response. The spare tags work great, but the ring wont read on either the public or private side. Tried it on my daughter's note 2 and it reads sporadically. I told her to keep it since hers has not arrived yet. Bummer!
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@Guest said:
Mine wont work with the note 3 either, tried emailing the support addy, but no response. The spare tags work great, but the ring wont read on either the public or private side. Tried it on my daughter's note 2 and it reads sporadically. I told her to keep it since hers has not arrived yet. Bummer!
Whoops, I wasn't logged in - this was my post.
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@rosspc, that's a pain. Hang tight and support will get back to you. You might want to discuss the possibility of an Alpha with them!
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I have a Samsung note 3 also. It can read the 2 tags I was sent (very well), but not my ring. :(
I believe I have the standard ring.
What should I do? Will there be other rings coming?Scott Emick
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Hi Scott, if you want to try a change to Alpha then you'll need to email support@nfcring.com first to get the ball rolling.
Send the email from the same address you used for kickstarter if you could, and make the subject 'Read issues, request change to Alpha from Classic' or something similar, be clear about what is needed.
In the body of the email explain name, address, phone type, ring type, ring behaviour and request a switch to Alpha. Support will get back to you when they can. -
Thanks, I'll try that.
Scott -
Guess no improvements here, just got one of those replacement rings and its pretty bad on my note 3....and completely useless with a case on it and my case is less than a 1/4" any thinner of a case, would just make it dumb to have a case. Hopefully you guys have something lined up, if the product cant perform flawless everytime which IMO is under a second, its never going to take off.
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Hi @JayKav99, most of the time it's a procedural issue, you might not realise it but you're learning something new and it can take a little practice before you get consistent results. Stick with it and try all the hints and tips that are on the various forum posts. Also, is your ring a Classic or an Alpha?
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I wanna say classic but not 100% sure, silver ring black on 1 side transparent on the other.
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Ah ok, the Alpha is a bit over a centimeter wide, the Classic is narrower than a centimeter.
If your device wont work properly with the normal Classic ring then it is possible to request a change to Alpha. Alpha brings with it a bigger antenna due to more available space, so it reads a little easier. Give it a week before you do that though, because the guys are swamped with support requests at the moment. -
Just to add to this thread, I use the Note 3 for Verizon (US), and use a normal size ring. A few important things to mention about my particular setup.
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Sweet spots
For me, I looked at the battery of my phone and and referenced the outline of the NFC coil to the back cover, and placed sweet spot stickers on the corners of where the corners of the coils would be. I was able to confirm that the outline of the square is basically the sweet spots for the Note 3. Obviously, I just picked the most comfortably accessible side to use. -
Adding a wireless charging module (from Amazon.com)
THIS WILL INTERFERE WITH DETECTING A NORMAL SIZE RING SIGNIFICANTLY. The module covers the NFC coil on the battery almost completely and the wireless charging coils will interfere with NFC tag detection making the sweet spots very limited in area.
Even if you buy a module with NFC built in, those coils don't match well with the normal NFC ring and you will get no results from that NFC coil. -
With a case
I use a low profile case, but it is expectedly more difficult to hit the sweet spots. I can make due without a case for now. -
Alpha ring (sort of)
I received a bonus Alpha ring inlay and normal ring inlay with my order and decided to test its ranges. The normal ring tag's range was expectedly similar to that of the actual ring. The alpha ring tag is significantly better. You can be maybe 1/3cm away of the phone and have the tag detected. Even with a case, it wasn't too much of the hassle, and can also be read by the wireless charging module's NFC (I think anyways). So I'd imagine inside a ring, performance would be better than that of the normal size sibling.
All in all, I'm very satisfied. I decided to use the voucher when available for an alpha ring, and cross my fingers that using my wireless charging module and case is possible again with the alpha.
Cheers.
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Thanks for that @MikeInSeattle, you're right - the Alpha ring will 'enlarge' your usable sweet spots and make things easier to read.
Did you use a standalone nfc charge antenna that goes inside the phone, or is it in an alternative back for the phone? -
@Lokki It was a standalone wireless charging module. The back cover made by Samsung tends to cost an arm and a leg because of the branding. This option was much more cost effective at the time. I do not know if the back cover would interfere with NFC as much as the module.
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Ah, no worries @MikeInSeattle thanks for that. It may make a considerable difference, using the 'original' one, but I don't think I'd be willing to take the risk with the money involved. Anyone on here got one and able to comment?
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Alas, I have been able to get my ring to read exactly twice (after trying hundreds of times) on my Note3. Had to remove the case, hold the ring horizontally, and it worked once for each inlay. Haven't gotten it to work since. I use NFC often (have tags in my home, car, and office), so I know that my Note3 works well with NFC, even in its case. I couldn't get it to work at all on my Nexus 7, and it worked once every twenty or so tries on a caseless Galaxy S3. An alpha ring isn't an option for me (my ring is a size 7 and is too big already -- I'm wearing it on my index finger). The extra inlays worked perfectly on all devices (although not as well when bent). Any advice?
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Hi @Kerri, with the issues that we're seeing fairly consistently with these android models you may wish to contact support and request a change to Alpha ring, they'll present you with the options available to you and hopefully that should sort you out. My advice would be to hold onto the classic ring for the next phone, or pass it on to someone perhaps.
The Alpha, while bigger, doesn't look that out of place even on small hands (I'm a wiry little guy and it works for my stumpy fingers). It just takes a little more getting used to when it covers most of a knuckle.
