Less than a week after the device first went on sale, dozens of customers -- and perhaps more -- have complained that an image presented on the display from an app or the phone's camera remains stuck in portrait (vertical) mode and won't rotate when needed to landscape (horizontal) mode.
Customers on an AndroidCentral forum said they had taken phones back to both Verizon Wireless and Sprint stores to get replacements. The problem may be affecting Edge devices from other carriers as well.
One customer on the forum named Pro3D replaced an Edge device that had the problem at a Vallejo, Calif. Verizon store only to find that the issue cropped up again in the replacement Edge device. "No....SCREEN ROTATE AGAIN. SECOND PHONE!" Pro3D wrote.
Verizon, Sprint and Samsung did not immediately respond to questions about the problem or possible causes.
It isn't clear if the issue is caused by a faulty accelerometer in the device or by software. One forum contributor said the problem seemed to be related to a recent Android 5.0.2 update. Another theorized the accelerometer gets stuck because of overheating from fast charging.
Another forum contributor, Sarv79, said he also had two Edge phones with the auto-rotate problem and had finally gotten both Verizon and Samsung to admit there is an "ongoing issue."
"So that's 11 days...I'll be without a phone I paid full price for," Sarv79 said in a post Thursday. "I guess this is what I get for jumping on the new phone craze."
Various forum contributors have noted that Edge users can do a quick diagnostic test to see whether the problem exists. To do the test, a user should open the phone's dialer, then type *#0# * to open a new screen, then tap "sensor," which will have a real-time read-out of the accelerometer coordinates. If the display won't auto rotate, the X coordinate will be stuck at -32768.
Android Authority has posted a photo of an Edge display that won't properly rotate.
A review unit from Sprint being tested by a Computerworld reporter has not shown the auto-rotate problem, either before or after a recent over-the-air software update. Two screen shots on that Edge device show the accelerometer sensor test in either portrait or landscape mode. Computerworld blogger JR Raphael also did an involved evaluation of the Edge, using a T-Mobile review unit, prior to its public release and reported no auto-rotate problems.