Note 3 - not reading?
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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. -
Hello, I've also received my Alpha ring and I can't get it read the ring, I did get it to read the space tag once but not the ring its self.
I've tried removing the back but I assume the hardware is wired in to the case with the two little connectors on the case
Any other advice i could try?D
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Hi @Dick-Thomas, glad to hear you got your ring, a little vexed that it's not working!
So I'm assuming you're using a Note 3, have you tried it with any other tags to make sure NFC is switched on?
In typical Samsung fashion the NFC antenna is in the back of the battery, so make sure that you're running the correct Samsung battery which is labelled as NFC enabled.
Once you've verified that you can get a read from a standard tag, try doing a slow sweep of the back of the phone with the sound turned up, orient the ring horizontal to the phone and sweep slowly across the back while listening for either the read sound or the read error sound. See if you can narrow it down that way, then change orientation of the ring to vertical and go again over the entire area you've covered.
Let us know how you go with that -
I can get my note 3 to read an alpha and normal ring if I remove the back cover, but thats it. Im going to keep trying but looks like the note 3 just isnt very good with the nfc ring =(
Got it to sort of read the alpha ring once through the back cover, but got an error, still trying =)
Stuck the nfc sticker onto the ring to see if it being flat or curved made a difference...it does and it wont read the nfc sticker whilst on the alpha ring =(
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hi @lonewolf121, sometimes it helps to 'roll' the inlay from one end to the other through the sweet spot, that can help turn a difficult read into an easy one.
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After some googling it seems that the wireless charging case might have and nfc extension in it (a few places stated that the top 2 of the 5 pins in the back of the phone are for nfc and not charging) so ive been trying it with the wireless charging case on and have had slightly better results, it isnt quite working but I get a reading then error sound...getting there!
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Ah. Yes, that's one thing I keep forgetting - I haven't got anything that charges wirelessly so that one slips by me.
Wireless Qi type charger coils that aren't factory standard will decimate your NFC.Keep practicing, and see if there's anything else we missed!
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Its an official samsung one so im going back and forth between the normal cover and the charging case.
Some googling seems to show that the wireless S View case definitely has its own nfc receiver built into it so im going to keep trying with that for now as I am having better luck with it =)
Edit: Trying it with the nfc sticker I get hits pretty much over the entire back of the phone whereas without it I only get near the known sweetspot =)
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Sounds like a good plan there mate! Best of luck. ;-)
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By the way, a couple more things to add:
I mentioned somewhere in this thread that I found sweet spots in a shape of a square that corresponds to the location the coil's location on the battery. Below is a pic on the corners of that square using the sweet spot stickers. I've been using a transparent case and just removed the back cover. With a normal ring, you just align the ring parallel to one side of the square. The performance of your ring may vary as I found one side on my ring performs noticeably better than the other. This may give you a better idea on where you can find your sweet spots if you have a little trouble. Also note that angle of ring may also vary slightly based on distance from the coil.
This is the Note 3 on Verizon Wireless
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it shouldnt b this difficult to work with a note 3 mine doesnt work 9 times out of 10. i have a hardshell case on my phone and it will not register but i tried my nfc band and it works no problem
