Database Users

Final word on GPS LAG

First good news:
Today, i have been "trial testing" the touch HD with Tomtom 7.415 in parallel with a tomtom ONE box in a car around Paris.
The voices have been in perfect sync (slight echo but NEVER above 0.2 s!) for 20 minutes!
Now, we could speculate and follow rumours, but this is a hard fact - relieving our beloved blackstone and TOMTOM by the GPS LAG accusation...unless anybody would claim that the tomtom ONE box also has the GPS LAG virus...
Second good news:
apparently, TOMTOM has just released new maps and tomtom7 explicitely for the touch pro and diamond, there is a large probability it will also work on the touch HD (see some "opinions" in this forum).
Notice that tomtom7 appears on the tomtom website if you identify yourself from Switzerland, Germany, Nederlands but is apparently not available for France and Italy. Maybe this is just a temporary situation due to translations and/or distribution terms.
So it's time for decisions, and i decided to buy tomtom7 - stopping "opinion forming" and "trial testing" evaluations. For once, my friends, there is a good company that listens to us and provide us with a great product....i have to admit that i feel embarassed!
.....Anybody could confirm that the official tomtom7 commercial release does work on the touch HD?

I nearly chocked on my grilled dumpling there....took tomtom 7 out for a spin and is fine on the HD

pzucchel said:
First good news:
...
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I completely agree, before your post I also posted the same stuff; there is no GPS-lag, strange rumour...
Great to hear that new TomTom maps are on the way
Guus said:
I tested the GPS with TomTom 7.450, 4 times now, 4 different routes, all perfect, no lag at all, and a very fast fix. Even when I was looking for lag (because of this thread I was watching the screen/road carefully), I didn't see lag at all. The video performance, that's the real problem of this device.
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Click to collapse

Guus_ said:
I completely agree, before your post I also posted the same stuff; there is no GPS-lag, strange rumour...
Great to hear that new TomTom maps are on the way
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Click to collapse
The rumor started because people believed that because the HD uses the same chipset as the diamond and pro it would lag too...This is not the case. I used Live search gps maps all day today at work with no lag.

utvol06 said:
The rumor started because people believed that because the HD uses the same chipset as the diamond and pro it would lag too...This is not the case. I used Live search gps maps all day today at work with no lag.
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But it is the same chipset...
I really don't get it, why the TP isn´t like the HD regarding the GPS.

speed200 said:
But it is the same chipset...
I really don't get it, why the TP isn´t like the HD regarding the GPS.
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I have no clue...the GPS reception strength is leaps and bounds above the Diamond and Touch Pros. Fix time is dramatically quicker. I can get a fix in buildings with my HD without being close to the window! I could never get a fix indoors with my Touch Pro..even flat up next to my window.

GPS signal strength is affected by the radio used by the device. Perhaps they use a different radio version? Same thing can be said about 3G signal. It is also affected by the radio. We know because we have tried many different ROM on other device and know for a fact that different radio gives slightly different results.

speed200 said:
But it is the same chipset...
I really don't get it, why the TP isn´t like the HD regarding the GPS.
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the fact we don't get it - doesn't mean it is not true! If you disagree with the result because you have a gps lag IN YOUR TOUCH HD - please report it in details with some experimental evidence.
...maybe the diamond gps antenna has a low S/N, and it has to be filtered by averaging multiple fixes?

Since GPS lag seems not to exist on our touch HD, can somewone then please tell me if the following behaviour is normal (for google maps)
When I drive at a speed of 50 km/h (approx 30mph), google maps shows the dot consistently 10 to 15 meters behind my current position. As soon as I stop (for a trafficlight), the dot catches up and displays my location rather precisely (there is always some error ofcourse).
So during driving, it is quite precise, except for the fact that it is allways 10-15 meters behind me...
Is that normal or is that the fabled lag?
(haven't tested tomtom yet, will use that for navigation anyway, so I am not to bothered by the behaviour of google maps)

The_Stranger said:
Since GPS lag seems not to exist on our touch HD, can somewone then please tell me if the following behaviour is normal (for google maps)
When I drive at a speed of 50 km/h (approx 30mph), google maps shows the dot consistently 10 to 15 meters behind my current position. As soon as I stop (for a trafficlight), the dot catches up and displays my location rather precisely (there is always some error ofcourse).
So during driving, it is quite precise, except for the fact that it is allways 10-15 meters behind me...
Is that normal or is that the fabled lag?
(haven't tested tomtom yet, will use that for navigation anyway, so I am not to bothered by the behaviour of google maps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the software itself is the problem, not the device. I have used Google Map for driving only three times. The second time I used it, the dot did not move at all! It stays at the point of departure throughout the trip! This was on my Athena. When I used a proper GPS software including iGO and TomTom, I had no problem at all. Even when I'm travelling inside a undersea tunnel, the current position moves alone. Obviously this is done by the software extrapolating the most likely position based on the last known speed.

And we cannot forget that the windshield of the car maybe can be a factor for the lag

pzucchel said:
Second good news:
apparently, TOMTOM has just released new maps and tomtom7 explicitely for the touch pro and diamond, there is a large probability it will also work on the touch HD (see some "opinions" in this forum).
Notice that tomtom7 appears on the tomtom website if you identify yourself from Switzerland, Germany, Nederlands but is apparently not available for France and Italy. Maybe this is just a temporary situation due to translations and/or distribution terms.
So it's time for decisions, and i decided to buy tomtom7 - stopping "opinion forming" and "trial testing" evaluations. For once, my friends, there is a good company that listens to us and provide us with a great product....i have to admit that i feel embarassed!
.....Anybody could confirm that the official tomtom7 commercial release does work on the touch HD?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, my English is not so good as yours. But does it mean now you can by the Software TTN7 and the maps too on the website from TomTom?

You can not purchase the tomtom application, but you can purchase the maps if you have the program installed and working correctly with tomtom home. Currently only tomtom home version 1.5 allows you to sync your device as the TTN7 application has NOT been officially released by tomtom for the HD to my knowledge.

utvol06 said:
I have no clue...the GPS reception strength is leaps and bounds above the Diamond and Touch Pros. Fix time is dramatically quicker. I can get a fix in buildings with my HD without being close to the window! I could never get a fix indoors with my Touch Pro..even flat up next to my window.
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I am seeing the same thing on my HD, I could not get a fix in my house on my TYTNII or on my Omnia, but I can with my HD, and as I posted before I have yet to see the "lag" that has been talked about

My device works fine with Copilot 7, with no lag.
Lag however IS evident on Google Maps. I think is is simply Google Maps that causes the lap by slower page updating. Considering that this is an "online" programme, I think that it is reasonable to assume that such a programme will not be as instantaneous as a dedicated programme.
That's why you pay good money for a faster programme!

First of all...
I completely agree with the ZERO LAG thing and also while the parts of the HD are almost identical HTC has done a lot of optimization, mostly the way the software communicates with the hardware, which is where the GPS lag was resulting from in the first place.
Good to see how fast HTC picks up some things (while other things take years but that is beside the point) as the Diamond is only a couple of months old and they already fixed so many issues and improved so much..
Second thing though, I have not been able to get a lock indoors, but at home and at work I got a couple of stories above me so that probably causes too much signal interference.
3G reception is always perfect though no matter where I am...

nikki-m said:
My device works fine with Copilot 7, with no lag.
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Click to collapse
Same here with CoPilot Live 6 (with TTS!).
No lag, and good reception, even indoors away from a window!!!

Quick question:
For Tom Tom to work on the Touch HD you have to buy separate software? Or does buying a physical Tom Tom device mean you have the privilege of having it on an alternative device (the Touch HD)?

The HD is my first HTC phone so can't comment on previous lag issues, however side by side to my PDA running TomTom 7.4, my HD running 7.9 is about 100 to 150 meters behind. I know they are different versions, will go back to 7.4 to test further, but that is quite a lag.
On a seperate note, how do you get an external bluetooth GPS to work with the HD? The HD seems to have less bluetooth settings than my WM5 PDA.

The_Stranger said:
Since GPS lag seems not to exist on our touch HD, can somewone then please tell me if the following behaviour is normal (for google maps)
When I drive at a speed of 50 km/h (approx 30mph), google maps shows the dot consistently 10 to 15 meters behind my current position. As soon as I stop (for a trafficlight), the dot catches up and displays my location rather precisely (there is always some error ofcourse).
So during driving, it is quite precise, except for the fact that it is allways 10-15 meters behind me...
Is that normal or is that the fabled lag?
(haven't tested tomtom yet, will use that for navigation anyway, so I am not to bothered by the behaviour of google maps)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Stranger, at 50 km/hour you do about 15 m/s. every GPS of the class we use, e.g. not for professional use, has one position fix every second - which corresponds to about 15 meters. All navigation softwares do quite a lot of interpolation and data filtering, as we all know when we enter into a gallery and the position keeps moving or when we are slightly sideways on the road but the actual position is nicely on the road! So, it is not a surprise that your software could be within a second from the last measurement, since it has a full second before having the next one anyway and a full bunch of operations to make (screen redraw, route calculations, etc.etc.)
BTW, Igo does exactly the same.

Weird GPS problem. Moving even while my car is motionless.

Hi i have weird problem with my GPS.
While I driving (car is moving) everything is beauty and sweet but once I stop my car my GPS is still moving for about 10 sometimes 20 sec showing 2km/h then 0km/h then 2km/h again. Sometimes when I stop car on junction my Gps will jump on the perpendicular road and from time to time my arrow on the map just turn around to opposite direction and the maps sets a new route! Once i move my car everything going back to normal.
I was using first my TomTom and i just thought it`s a map problem although i haven`t problem with that on my Rhodium either X1. So I decided to try Igo8 and it`s exactly this same. Even on the roundabout my gps can jump somewhere else on different road.
I tried all Radios available for HD2, many Roms and just have no idea what more I can do. Many people on HD2 forum in Poland have this same problem.
I also tried GPS fix cab downloaded here from xda but no luck its ever worst.
I can add that i'm getting GPS fix in few second so its good the problem is just my gps is moving around.
PS. Very, very rarely have no problem with this jumpin gps around. But is like 1/30.

Do you have access to an external Bluetooth GPS receiver you can test out? That could eliminate or isolate some possibilities.

balane said:
Do you have access to an external Bluetooth GPS receiver you can test out? That could eliminate or isolate some possibilities.
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unfortunately i don`t. but on my Touch Pro 2 and Xperia never had this problem.

hi,
are you using the 'gpsmoddriver' software, that is floating around here in the forum?. its made for using the compass data when no gps fix is available. it causes such failures in igo and copilot on my hd2. after uninstalling it gps works much more percise to me, when im not moving.
regards mad

Happens with mine as well. I have replaced my HD2 and it seems that the 2nd unit acts the same. tried various ROMs/RADIOs (official/cooked) - nothing seemed to fix this.
It's quite funny though... most of the people rather paying attention to the fix time instead of the accuracy (which is quite bad imo) in addition to this weird phenomenon. I doubt that the AGPS is somehow related, but it will be nice to know how to disable this feature, and try to acquire the signal without it. maybe this is the cause.
Btw, check this out - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=600232

Fatherboard said:
Happens with mine as well. I have replaced my HD2 and it seems that the 2nd unit acts the same. tried various ROMs/RADIOs (official/cooked) - nothing seemed to fix this.
It's quite funny though... most of the people rather paying attention to the fix time instead of the accuracy (which is quite bad imo) in addition to this weird phenomenon. I doubt that the AGPS is somehow related, but it will be nice to know how to disable this feature, and try to acquire the signal without it. maybe this is the cause.
Btw, check this out - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=600232
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Click to collapse
Agps - this feature is available in NRGZ roms. I tried to turn on and off and it was no different.
PS. thanks for answering.
madbird said:
hi,
are you using the 'gpsmoddriver' software, that is floating around here in the forum?. its made for using the compass data when no gps fix is available. it causes such failures in igo and copilot on my hd2. after uninstalling it gps works much more percise to me, when im not moving.
regards mad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As i said before : i was using it. I had feelings its jumping around the places more than without it so I uninstalled it.

Tried to email HTC regarding this. they claim that their HD2's don't exhibit this behavior, even though I've tried two different units, from different batches.
I don't know what to do... this drives IGO nuts - it causes igo to switch lanes, directions and having the route recalculated without any good reason.

Fatherboard said:
Tried to email HTC regarding this. they claim that their HD2's don't exhibit this behavior, even though I've tried two different units, from different batches.
I don't know what to do... this drives IGO nuts - it causes igo to switch lanes, directions and having the route recalculated without any good reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes its just pointless to talk with those dickheads.
They ll never say true.
With pink camera was this same. They were saying at the beginning that they have no problem with pink spot at all. And what was next? We need just more people to email or ring them.
Most of them even not using HD2. They've seen for few minutes and think they'll know everything about it.
It was so many bugs with this device they just dont want to hear about another one!

In addition to that, both of my units tended to show different position and altitude readings each time i powered up igo or google maps. while exhibiting the differences I obviously didn't from my current position, not even an inch.
to try to make things clearer. that's what I did :
loading igo -> acquiring signal within seconds -> getting a certain position reading with altitude of 11 meters (for example) -> quit -> reloading igo -> acquiring signal within seconds -> slightly different position, altitude of 75 meters or a negative value (for example).
even the small blinking dot in igo (which determines the actual gps mark) doesn't fit to my physical location on the road which I'm currently driving on. it sometimes blinks few meters to the right/left, and sometimes it tracks behind the guidance arrow (as it should be).

Could be
Simply a limitation of GPS. I have seen it on other GPS's. Garmin etrex. Try walking with one and even thou you are walking in a straight line it plots a zigzag path. More satelites (10+) should reduce this issue.
Basically the GPS is only accurate to a certain range from +-50m to +- 2 meters depending on the no of sats. The location is detemined by timing from when the signal was sent to when it was received. Calcs how far away the sat is (Speed of light??). It is possible you care getting a fluctuation in your current location. Eg
Sample 1 says you are point a.
Sample 2 says you are 2 meters to the right.
Sample 3 says you are 2 meters to the left.
Still in the +- 5 meters but the gps is plotting you moving backwards and forwards.

Guys, it is a problem everyone has, gps position is not as accurate or stable on the hd2 as on most other htc devices. And with an erratic gps position automatically comes an erratic speed. Don't know yet if it is because of a different gps module that's inside the hd2 or because of the inclusion of crappy gps drivers. Will try to find out soon....
Anyway, gpsmoddriver is not the cause of this problem since the problem is also on an hd2 without having gpsmoddriver installed. Because of the functionality of gpsmoddriver to improve the gps readings, in some cases it can amplify your erratic gps position, and that is also what some of you have been experiencing. Remember you can always use gpsmoddriver to add the hardware compass functionality to your navigation software, while additionally configuring gpsmoddriver to leave gps data untouched so it won't make the erratic position and speed worse. For more info or help, please visit the gpsmoddriver thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=571266
EDIT: Of course the HD2 has a new snapdragon chip which has built-in GPS just like many previous generations of phones. Most likely qualcomm changed the way gps works in their new line of Snapdragon processors...

The movement of vehicles around you or even the movement of the sun's rays on buildings nearby can distort GPS signals. The GPS navigator software tries to rationalize this distortion and that usually appears as a movement when you are still. On the other hand, if you drive into a tunnel using TomTom and some other software, you will often see yourself driving straight on in the tunnel well after the GPS is receiving no more satellite signals.
In top-of-the-line built-in navigation systems, the GPS data is supplemented by inertial guidance. (Someone could create a similar supplement for the HD2 The supplementary information allows the system to reconcile the GPS information with information on your car's actual movement.
But for us mere mortals, we just have to live with it.

Well... this particular gps chip is quite useless, then. if my navigation program has to recalculate the route each time I stop at traffic light, then it seems that I either have to purchase a usb-based gps to pair with the HD2, or replace this device. I counted on it to perform well.

Fatherboard said:
Well... this particular gps chip is quite useless, then. if my navigation program has to recalculate the route each time I stop at traffic light, then it seems that I either have to purchase a usb-based gps to pair with the HD2, or replace this device. I counted on it to perform well.
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Complain to HTC, perhaps if they get enough complains they will come out with a hotfix or a rom upgrade that fixes it. Nobody said that the hardware is not that good (though it's possible), but it could also very well be a bad implementation by HTC!!

Already did.
They have obviously denied my complaints.
thanks again, anyway.

I noticed this behaviour yesterday night, at about 10pm. I was playing with NoniGPSplot, and while I was completely still (and freezing me arse outside believe me), it was tracking a movement back and fro and all around in small step, keeping track of me traveling some meters still while I was standing in the same point.
It was night and I was in my big yard, so no sunrays nor moving vehicles around nor buildings over my head.
I think this behaviour is very well hidden in tomtom since it automatically puts you on a road, and "smoothens" the gps data by making you follow that road no matter what, but a "realtime" software like nonigps tracks that all so well. Gonna notify htc about it now.

Guys, let's not go overboard on this. Non-military GPS is only claimed accurate to around 20 metres, regardless of the quality of the receiver. It's the US Defense Department messing with your HD2, not HTC.

Stephen Selby said:
Guys, let's not go overboard on this. Non-military GPS is only claimed accurate to around 20 metres, regardless of the quality of the receiver. It's the US Defense Department messing with your HD2, not HTC.
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Click to collapse
Yes, absolutely, I've noticed the same behaviour with all three of the BlueTooth GPS I used in the past. So, I would not be too quick to blame HTC for this.

my touch cruise's gps receiver worked with static navigation enabled to avoid this false movement. maybe this is just a usual behaviour?

Agree to that.
But regardless of the fact that the thing is not a military GPS system, It should do it's work correctly as for me the GPS is almost useless when driving slow or within a city. My 2nd phone (HTC DIAMOND) and 3 personal navigation devices are mounted in my car to compare and all work fine when the HD2 isn’t .
The GPS looses all the time the fix to the satellites and then quickly gets the fix back. when using a GPS monitor you can see that the satellites constantly moving really rapidly. (moving --> getting fix and loosing it again)
This is for 4 other reference devices which are running simultaneously not the case so it seems really an issue with the GPS device.
I tested this with different ROMs (1.44 Vodafone, 0.6 dutty WM 6.5.5, 1.66 stock and another one I cannot recall the producer anymore.)

Has anyone ever stopped to think that maybe the third party GPS apps are wrong?

Okay so now that I have my vibrant I tested it out (only a few times) but I did test it in different applications, websites, and maps and navigation. Yes in the gps and compass apps it doesn't pick up at all compared to my slide BUT in every other application, on google where it finds your location, on yelp, movie phone, maps, and navigation it finds my location each and every time. It doesn't get me lost, it doesn't show me going in a different direction, and it doesn't show me somewhere else.
What if the configurations or settings are different with samsung, what if the third party app is not completely accurate? Why else would every other program find my location if the app says I am not found by even 1 satellite? I think the"fix" is just a change of setting that helps the app not the gps or the phone.
Time will tell but for me it us working fine for now.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Well you can do gps tests within the os that say basically the same thing...

Ive used my gps with google navigate nermous times with no problem. in fact, it guided me on a 160mile trip just fine... What problems are people having with their gps?

Well, I've only had the phone for a day, so I'm still getting used to the quirks coming from a G1. GPS so far is the biggest disappointment. Android has been pushing location based stuff since the beginning, so the lack of a solid GPS is really screwing up some of my favorite apps. Locale for instance, it's worthless. It can't ever find me. The G1 always worked fine with it on Donut, Eclair, and Froyo.
Google Maps is the ONLY app I have that seems to even be able to get a rough idea where I am, and even then its circle is pretty big, about 4 city blocks. That's not GPS, that's network location, and it's fine for what it is, but not good enough when there aren't a lot of cell towers around. At home, it puts me out in the middle of a corn field. All the time I'm in maps, the GPS icon is up there blinking at me, telling me it can't lock. I've seen it work a couple times, for a short while. In GMaps and in GPS Test. But it takes a LONG time. The G1 could get a lock indoors in about 10 seconds. The Vibrant takes minutes, even with the A-GPS turned on in the test menus. That's insane. And it's not any better outside with a clear sky view. That might be acceptable, if it could hold the lock, but it doesn't.
Even stranger, in GPS Test, I get a single colored bar saying it's using that signal. There are 6 more with the same or higher signal strength being ignored. Very odd. Something is wrong with this GPS. It could very well be software, but Samsung needs to get on this and fast. If I can't find a way to get acceptable GPS performance within my 14 day period, I will likely return it. That will really suck, as otherwise I really like the device, but I need a decent GPS.

ttabbal said:
Even stranger, in GPS Test, I get a single colored bar saying it's using that signal. There are 6 more with the same or higher signal strength being ignored. Very odd. Something is wrong with this GPS.
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Click to collapse
This has been my experience as well, and I found the same thing when trying a friend's phone. If only T-Mobile/Samsung would acknowledge that there is a problem and say they are working on it...

No problem here
But as I came from the G1 I use Google Maps exclusively. I haven't had a single problem with it. Inside my house I can get a fix on my location on the map, exactly where it should be. Are you guys using the TeleNav?

ttabbal said:
Even stranger, in GPS Test, I get a single colored bar saying it's using that signal. There are 6 more with the same or higher signal strength being ignored. Very odd. Something is wrong with this GPS. It could very well be software, but Samsung needs to get on this and fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the same issue... I can only ever lock on to 1 sat. This is not right. My G1 would lock on to many birds.

zoid_99 said:
I have the same issue... I can only ever lock on to 1 sat. This is not right. My G1 would lock on to many birds.
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Click to collapse
I wonder if GPS Test is either wrong about that, or more likely, getting bad data from the OS or GPS driver. IIRC they are just parsing the NMEA data from the GPS driver, so "garbage in, garbage out". You don't get 20ft accuracy with 1 satellite being used.
I fooled with the settings in the "GPS fix 101" thread and got the thing working decently. Took a number of tries, and we'll see if it keeps working over time.
This really is something that TMO and Samsung should acknowledge and at least promise a fix for. Preferably with a close release date. And we shouldn't have to wait for Froyo either, get us a fix for JUST the GPS and a lot of people would be VERY happy. Well, that and the compass, that thing is even more worthless than the GPS before the fixes.
For the poster with Google Maps working, did you try with network locations disabled? Is the GPS icon in the status bar flashing or solid? If it's flashing, you DON'T have a GPS lock. Maps seems to be really good at using the network location stuff. I also enabled Skyhook in the GPS settings screen and Maps really seems to like that. Doesn't help with GPS performance though.

This thread is idiotic.

cashless said:
This thread is idiotic.
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Wow.. that statement was idiotic. Maybe you aren't having the GPS issues that others are having but this thread is helping me debug and decide weather or not I'm keeping the Vibrant or returning it.

You guys are not alone. There is obviously something wrong with either the hardware, or the software. Either way, the buyer's remorse period is halfway through, and neither company has said so much as a peep.
I will definitely be returning my device by the time the remorse period expires. What a shame that would be, because I really love this screen. All it would take is for T-Mobile and Samsung to acknowledge the problem, and state that a fix is on the way.
Here's my post, detailing my contact and findings with the two companies.
It's been a few days now, and I've heard nothing back. Never a good sign.

EDIT. Got it working

Care to share?

i know were sick of the gps threads but i must ask

Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?
Edit: this is no gps fixes. Pure stock.

Mine isn't as terrible as some people say on here, but there are definitely problems. Latitude, for instance, often falls back to network location even with a clear view of the sky. Driving, it will randomly drift far enough that the GPS goes to rerouting mode, trying to bring me back on course. And there are times that it just refuses to get a lock for 10-15 minutes, though luckily that doesn't happen too often. Definitely worst GPS performance than my G1.
But, all that being said.. Not so bad that I'm really stressing about it. I'll give Samsung/TMO a few more weeks for an update and hopefully they patch up the issues with Froyo. If not, or if the update gets delayed, I'll start tinkering with the fixes from the forums.

mine works fine too. quick to lock, navigation works perfectly. i was locking on 3-4 satellites last time i tried.
it's not very good indoors, and often has trouble determining location, but outdoors it has been completely satisfactory.
this is all with gps on, and use wireless networks off, btw. completely stock, and the compass works fine too.

Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?

I'm the same, I don't use GPS that much, but when I do it works fairly well. Its not the best I've used but it gets the job done. Only once when I was driving on the freeway could it not lock on.
I remember reading that a GPS fix leaked for the Captivate and it seemed to fix the issue. And the new SGS phones coming out for Verizon and Sprint seem to have better luck with GPS.

For me too GPS locks 95% times. However Navigation is the only application that crashes my phone once in a while....and I dont like that

Mine seems OK, with the light use I've given it. Haven't tested it out with route-tracing software like some have -- but for just getting an accurate lock, it seems on par with other phones I've used. (Maybe a little slower to lock.)

I had tested my GF's Samsung Moment alongside my Vibrant many times and the Moment hooks to GPS quickly and consistently. I cannot think how Samsung could implement an inferior GPS in their flagship phone!

My gps works flawlessly, when I read all these threads its hard to remaster because everyone I use gps it takes a matter of seconds to lock in and route me to my destination. Even in my area of living which is outside of the city it is very vet close to where I actually am and even right on. I would be frustrated if it didn't work as I do use my gps every so often but it is precise in my experience and I'm very happy with the final product.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I now have two GPS's in two of our cars. The primary reason for buying a GPS a while back was so I could meet up with guys that I often 4wheel with in various locations. I would get lost when somebody told me to meet them in a city that I didn't know very well. My wife saw how handy my GPS was and took it. I finally got a G1 and it was used as a backup in case the wife wouldn't let me use "My GPS".
Anyways fast forward a year or so. We bought a second GPS for her car. Why because she got the new one of course.
Now that I have 2 GPS's in my cars my phone has been well a secondary or I should say hardly ever used. However when I'm on foot and I get backwards its always been nice to know I could fire up my GPS and find my way somewhere. Lord knows I've been lost a few times in down town Seattle. Wandering around and firing up maps and then using the by foot option has saved me many times. Sure it didn't have to be accurate since all I needed to know was do I walk 3 blocks north then 1 to the west or is it 3 blocks to the west then 1 block to the north?
The Vibrant GPS works when I need it, but honestly I really wish it was a bit more like the G1. Its nearly useless when I use CardioTrainer and a few more apps.

I have had my Vibrant for about 45 days and the GPS has been awful since day one. I have tried some of the fixes which did help a little bit but I still have problems. The GPS cuts on and off so much that Cardio Trainer is pretty much useless most of the time. It has started to freeze on me while attempting to use Cardio Trainer today, which necessitated pulling the battery. The GPS normally shows me about 2 of 3 miles from where I actually am. The compass is just about totally useless. This is a wonderful phone and would be a fantastic phone if the compass and GPS just worked normally. I am starting to be concerned with the phone starting to freeze up as it has not done that in the past.

Mine worked great for a few weeks. Even though it wouldn't lock more than 3 or 4 satellites the performance was completely satisfactory. Then it got a little quirky with accuracy and my position started jumping around a lot. Then it started positioning me miles from where I actually was sometimes, causing Maps to lock up, causing the entire phone to lock up, and generally being unreliable.
Over the past week or so I've had to reboot the phone half the time I try to use the GPS in order to get it to work. I can usually get it to work at a satisfactory level eventually, but it's far from painless. I haven't tried any of the "fixes"...my GPS settings are stock.

On my first phone the GPS and phone in general was a disaster.
Once returned, my second phone is "ok" for driving assistance use, it takes awhile for a lock but it works. But I otherwise leave GPS turned off or else my phone will randomly shut down/reboot.
With trepidation I applied a no lag fix and it has turned my opinion of the phone from "meh" to wow (even though I was not even sure I had a lag problem, but little did I know).
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP

mjpacheco said:
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP
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Add a compass fix to that list and I'm there with ya.

After applying the gps fix I haven't had a problem since. I use the gps daily and have only had 1 restart. Had my vibrant since day 1. Maybe I just got lucky.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant

Stresa said:
I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
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In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. Yelp taunts me with directional functionality that doesn't work, and I could go on. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
Now I have a Swiss Army knife with a broken saw blade. Yeah, it's just the saw blade, but I paid for one with a working saw blade, dammit, and it wasn't cheap.

dex1701 said:
In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
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that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not

lolcopter said:
that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not
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If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?

dex1701 said:
If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
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true
hopefully samsung releases a fix baked into some froyo here soon. they had better do SOMETHING this month anyway

Should I give up on i9000? GPS will NEVER work! Can't we sue them or get a recall?

I actually need gps quite a bit in my line of work. I bought this phone because of it. But, it just does not work. Some claim it works fine, but at the same time they are saying they get 5-10m lock! (thats off by 30ft!) With a borrowed motorola atrix i was getting 4.9 feet accuracy (thats like accurate by 2 steps!). I think I have come to the conslusion that it will never work, and samsuck doesn't even care! Why else would they keep releasing newer phones with the exact same problems? I'm gonna jump ship...everything else about this phone is awesome. Any ideas if HTC has good gps/reception? I am thinking about the incredible S. (and i'm not a troll, I have lived with this phone's gps issues for almost 1 year now).

Get a real GPS receiver, and don't expect it will be cheap if you want a real 4.9ft accuracy.
and for i9000 is about 15ft~30ft accuracy, quite good when compare to my garmin unit.

Samsung should get sued for that piece of hardware ****... but the i9000 is still the best phone
You should try Darkys 10.1 with Darky Core and JVO Modem. GPS works okay but no perfectly !

i do like this:
android market : gps toolbox , in settings has 2 options - download agps satelites and reset gps
1st i download the satelites data
2nd i reset gps
and after closing this app , i open my gps soft and it works , i use iGO

Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.

And if your unit performs worse than everyone else's SGS, then you might consider bending the contacts that connect the GPS antenna inside. Seems they don't make good contact on many units.
There is a thread about it somewhere.
Mike
Garbled meaning induced by swype when posting from XDA app on SGS I9000.

at the beginning gps was not very good but after android 2.2 and newer fw gps is totally fine for me. outside and in car it works very good. btw data network is activated for me and it helps for faster fix...

I gave up on the Internal GPS after a few Months.
Purchased an External Bluetooth GPS Receiver and now have accuracy to around 5 meters at times.
Also easier as the GPS Receiver can be turned on the get Satellite lock then connected to the Phone.

GPS on JVO ROM is all you can get. It's not enough to lead you driving on a city. GPS antenna is too small, does not update position often enough, keeps using guessing instead of real GPS position (your previous speed is used to calculate the supposed position, something very bad when you're turning around many times).
It's good enough to use it walking outside the city (main reason for me), or in highways (smooth curves and slow change of direction), but the GPS on the Galaxy S is real ****. Worst than the one in my previous two phones, and worst than the one in many current phones.
I really don't understand why having a phone that big we keep having to deal with so much unuseful plastic. 1.5 cm above an below the screen. Just make the phone the same size as the screen. The speaker can go in the top, like in many Motorola models. The battery could be bigger. If they have to make an GPS antenna that's 5 cm long, make it, running along one side.
It's like the phone hanging after a call. I would not advise this device for anyone depending of his phone to receive critical calls at any time. This **** just hangs radomly and you have to force a reboot.

Just to let people know that I've spent all afternoon trying 3 different ROMS, 2 times each, and the GPS sensivity is better on XXJVO.
I flashed the deodexed versions from Ramad, and used GPS status app to test. Just flash the ROM, install GPS status, see how many satellites it detects.
JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 1 or less while on my desk
XXJVO detects 4 and gets a fix, and sometimes it mantains the fix
Next to a window, JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 5 or 6 satellites, get a fix but lose it, most of the time 0 satellites in green.
XXJVO detects 8 satellites, 7 in green all the time
Accounting for the fact that satellite positions change between one test and another, I repeated tests twice.
I tried XXJVP on the field last weekend and was unable to get a fix while on the car.
Phone is sitting now on my desk, and has 4 satellites in green and intermitent fix. Much better than the other ROMs that see 0 or 1 satellites sitting on the same spot.

SKeijmel said:
Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gmaps 5.x and above has cache option...I'm finding very useful. Plus offline navigation should be coming this summer

Personally, I've given up on the GPS.. Samsung should honestly be sued, but it is too expensive to do so.
It has gotten better with newer ROM's, but, the sensitivity still appears to be a joke compared to my years old garmin forerunner. It may be good enough for some people who use it for navigation (because, I'd imagine there are plenty of algorithms which can probably be employed). However, the track quality produced seems semi-laughable, and the GPS appears to be nowhere near the quality of a dedicated unit.
People also need to stop checking programs like "gps status". They don't tell you if the location is correct (because it wont show you on the maps). So the accuracy value means nothing (the accuracy value means nothing without RAIM/FDE anyway regardless of unit).

GPS doesn't work at all on my SGS.
I tried that 'push the upper part of the rubberplastic thingy' trick, no result.
Whenever I try to find my location in Google maps, it can only find the WIFI center about 1km away from here. I think that's thanks to the Use Wireless Networks setting. but the GPS in my own SGS has never ever succeeded in locking any satelites.
Must be a hardware fauly I guess?
I bought it in October IIRC.
I don't mind though, never had the need to use GPS.
But it just bothers me that I got a somewhat malfunctioning device.
No big deal though!

Its been working fine on mine.. The only time i had issues was with 2.2/2.2.1
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

Some data points:
The signal to noise levels reported by the test tools seem reasonable.
All GPS systems use averaging to get a lock.
All GPS systems use Kalman filtering, which filters and connects location and speed, to make the system work at all. The stronger the filter, the more stable the position. But this gives bigger problems in turns.
Dedicated receivers have a much bigger antenna and thus need less averaging to get a stable position.
Receiver software has 'modes' - for example walking and driving mode. In driving mode, movements at low speeds are suppressed.
GPS is still a work in progress; there must be a reason Samsung renamed LBStestMode into AngryGPS!