Database Users

Epic GPS FTW!

Originally posted by: kngyn19
Looks like the Epic's GPS is indeed working correctly! Confirmed by Samsung and Engadget!
Linky:
http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/18/samsung-says-gps-is-tested-and-validated-on-epic-4g-our-testi/

I wonder if they use the same gps hardware as the GSM counterparts ?

I would guess their firmware is different enough that they fixed it before releasing the Epic. Someone mentioned that may be the reason for the supposed delay.

The EPIC and Fascinate are CDMA devices. It might take a littler longer to reconfigure stuff versus GSM.

My own reaction to this news, posted in a sister forum, is more cautious optimism.
And if Sprint management did delay the release of the Epic to incorporate a fix to the GPS, good for them. If that is true, it would seem advantageous for them to make some statement to that effect. If they keep quiet on the matter, I have to wonder why.

boomerbubba said:
My own reaction to this news, posted in a sister forum, is more cautious optimism.
And if Sprint management did delay the release of the Epic to incorporate a fix to the GPS, good for them. If that is true, it would seem advantageous for them to make some statement to that effect. If they keep quiet on the matter, I have to wonder why.
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Click to collapse
Maybe they want those worried about the GPS issue to rest assured but don't want to start a discussion about it where average consumers won't buy the Vibrant and Captivate variants after hearing there is a GPS issue..

gTen said:
Maybe they want those worried about the GPS issue to rest assured but don't want to start a discussion about it where average consumers won't buy the Vibrant and Captivate variants after hearing there is a GPS issue..
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Click to collapse
The average consumers that have the vibrant or captivate don't even know it had issues.. and some don't. We here on xda are the exception..
Most sprint customers don't even know its the same phone.. let alone know about a gps issue...
Sprint really don't need to say anything to anyone.. us here at xda are a small margin of their sales..

I honestly don't care as long as the GPS is working. For the $400 bucks i'm going to be paying for this phone (Sprint wants a $150 deposit before I can get the phone), I expect the GPS TO BE WORKING.
Im happy they are saying the GPS works but i wont believe it until I see it. I am out and about on a daily basis and use GPS just as much.

boomerbubba said:
My own reaction to this news, posted in a sister forum, is more cautious optimism.
And if Sprint management did delay the release of the Epic to incorporate a fix to the GPS, good for them. If that is true, it would seem advantageous for them to make some statement to that effect. If they keep quiet on the matter, I have to wonder why.
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Click to collapse
Yes.. imagine how that would go "Buy the best phone Sprint has to offer... GPS doesn't work but we'll work on it AFTER you buy the phone!" or maybe "This phone is great, GPS doesn't work but we'll fix it before you buy it!!!" ... either way it doesn't look good for the company, so keep it hush, delay it and people will get it when it comes out. The only ones *****ing about the delay are the ones on these forums which is 0.000003 of their sales.

DirtyShroomz said:
Yes.. imagine how that would go "Buy the best phone Sprint has to offer... GPS doesn't work but we'll work on it AFTER you buy the phone!" or maybe "This phone is great, GPS doesn't work but we'll fix it before you buy it!!!" ... either way it doesn't look good for the company, so keep it hush, delay it and people will get it when it comes out. The only ones *****ing about the delay are the ones on these forums which is 0.000003 of their sales.
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That's the kind of spin Sprint would have to make if it released the phone with the GPS defect, and without fixing it first.
I was talking about a more positive statement in light of this news from Samsung. Sprint could affirm that there are no GPS issues on the Epic. And if there were issues in prerelease, but they held off to fix them first, that is a very positive thing to brag about. (And, by implication, a swipe at the two U.S. competitors who released defective products and are still awaiting new firmware in September.)

I hope this is true. I dont understand it though. I have read in many deferent places that they are working on a new driver to fix gps issues in all the other galaxy s phones. How did the fix the issue with out the new driver? If this is true then this makes me worried they will never really fix the captivates gps since the epic is fixed with the same gps driver.

I have asked multiple people who have the Epic for review purposes, and all of them state that there is no GPS problems. Things are looking good!

shep211 said:
I hope this is true. I dont understand it though. I have read in many deferent places that they are working on a new driver to fix gps issues in all the other galaxy s phones. How did the fix the issue with out the new driver? If this is true then this makes me worried they will never really fix the captivates gps since the epic is fixed with the same gps driver.
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My guess is they did fix it..but probably want to fix all the other issues at the same time before mass pushing the update..like say the lag fix and etc..or maybe they will just include the gps fix and froyo together....either way if they release it we may be able to extract the driver and use it on the others..

gTen said:
My guess is they did fix it..but probably want to fix all the other issues at the same time before mass pushing the update..like say the lag fix and etc..or maybe they will just include the gps fix and froyo together...
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Huh? In the wake of Samsung's public announcement that the GPS works on the Epic while the other brands are still awaiting new firmware, you think Sprint would secretly be planning to omit that fix and launch with the same defect they have? That is just crazy.
The implication of Samsung's statement is that the Epic firmware is already tested and installed on the units about to be sold and shipped. There would not need to be any pushing of a GPS update for Sprint phones.
If that is ambiguous to people, that is all the more reason for Sprint to make a statement about this.

gTen said:
My guess is they did fix it..but probably want to fix all the other issues at the same time before mass pushing the update..like say the lag fix and etc..or maybe they will just include the gps fix and froyo together....either way if they release it we may be able to extract the driver and use it on the others..
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Yes you are right. If they do have the gps fix we should be able to port it over to the captivate. I wil have to return my captivate before the 30 days then get the epic and see what happens. If they fix the captivate I may go back to it since I love the slim look and design.

boomerbubba said:
That's the kind of spin Sprint would have to make if it released the phone with the GPS defect, and without fixing it first.
I was talking about a more positive statement in light of this news from Samsung. Sprint could affirm that there are no GPS issues on the Epic. And if there were issues in prerelease, but they held off to fix them first, that is a very positive thing to brag about. (And, by implication, a swipe at the two U.S. competitors who released defective products and are still awaiting new firmware in September.)
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Now that would be great. Sprint launching a commercial attack on AT&T and Tmo... Go with them, you'll have phones that can't make calls and can't guide you to your destination! Not so smart for a smart phone huh?

I would lol so hard if they did a commercial like that. It is nice to see a company think of the end user and not about the $. I am testing the gps fix from the epic dump. So far it looks good. It locks the sats fast and shows me with 5m of my location(Use to never go below 30). I will test the gps when I go to lunch and see if it tracks me correctly.
Edit: I used my gps at lunch and it worked a lot better. It didnt jump from street to street and change route over and over. Its usable now but its still not as good as n1\evo. It will lag pretty bad then jump to your location. If the epic radio does not have updated code for gps that fixs lag issue then I would say gps is not really fixed just improved. I think we will have to wait till September to see if it gets fully fixed.

shep211 said:
... I am testing the gps fix from the epic dump. So far it looks good. It locks the sats fast and shows me with 5m of my location(Use to never go below 30). I will test the gps when I go to lunch and see if it tracks me correctly.
Edit: I used my gps at lunch and it worked a lot better. It didnt jump from street to street and change route over and over. Its usable now but its still not as good as n1\evo. It will lag pretty bad then jump to your location. If the epic radio does not have updated code for gps that fixs lag issue then I would say gps is not really fixed just improved. I think we will have to wait till September to see if it gets fully fixed.
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Exactly what are you "testing" here? I gather you don't have an Epic. So you are you somehow running some hacked form of what you believe the "GPS fix" is -- drawn from the Epic dump -- on the hardware of some other Samsung S variant such as a Captivate. Right? Can you please describe the steps you used to set up this test environment. What is it about the Epic dump that you are calling "the GPS fix," and how did you apply it on the other hardware? Did you flash a ROM, change config files, or what?

boomerbubba said:
Exactly what are you "testing" here? I gather you don't have an Epic. So you are you somehow running some hacked form of what you believe the "GPS fix" is -- drawn from the Epic dump -- on the hardware of some other Samsung S variant such as a Captivate. Right? Can you please describe the steps you used to set up this test environment. What is it about the Epic dump that you are calling "the GPS fix," and how did you apply it on the other hardware? Did you flash a ROM, change config files, or what?
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He is talking about this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=759976

gTen said:
He is talking about this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=759976
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Thanks. What I see there are three hacked "experimental" versions of a "fix," none of which even purport to replicate the Epic environment completely. [Edit: I gather it was the "fix" supposed to be drawn from the Epic that was tested.] (For example, shep211 himself questioned how this can be a fix without new drivers. I agree with that criticism. But how do we even know what drivers this environment has?)
So it is not valid to run this test, which showed a less-than-successful GPS performance, and declare on the basis of that test that the Epic fix is incomplete as shipped.
The Epic fix may or may not be complete. We don't know that. We can't know it until a real Epic is tested rigorously.

Stay FAR away from Vibrant/Captivate or any other Galaxy S variant

For those thinking about getting the Vibrant/Captivate or pretty much any variant of the Galaxy S DO NOT.
I contacted them via FB and this is the only answer they sent me
"We are working on it. We're sorry about this issue. Please be patient as we know how important this is. Thanks for reaching out!"
I have just received and activated my phone with dum, dum, dum... AT&T and this phone has nothing but GPS issues while I have to admit everything else works fine and is definitely fast.
There is absolutely no way of it accurately doing a turn by turn Navigation with Google Maps.
Ive even resorted to doing a supposed fix and nothing if anything it made the major problem worse.
Same has been reported with the T-Mobile version of the phone.
I highly regret leaving T-Mobile now because the reception was a lot better with them as well.
No wonder tons of people bad mouth AT&T, LOL.
Proof below, stick to the other manufacturers guys... Samsung is testing the waters and these phones should have NEVER been released prior to having it 100% functional.
---->> http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/17/samsung-galaxy-s-gps-gate-two-problems-not-one-and-what-to-do/5#comments

legend221 said:
For those thinking about getting the Vibrant/Captivate or pretty much any variant of the Galaxy S DO NOT.
I contacted them via FB and this is the only answer they sent me
"We are working on it. We're sorry about this issue. Please be patient as we know how important this is. Thanks for reaching out!"
I have just received and activated my phone with dum, dum, dum... AT&T and this phone has nothing but GPS issues while I have to admit everything else works fine and is definitely fast.
There is absolutely no way of it accurately doing a turn by turn Navigation with Google Maps.
Ive even resorted to doing a supposed fix and nothing if anything it made the major problem worse.
Same has been reported with the T-Mobile version of the phone.
I highly regret leaving T-Mobile now because the reception was a lot better with them as well.
No wonder tons of people bad mouth AT&T, LOL.
Proof below, stick to the other manufacturers guys... Samsung is testing the waters and these phones should have NEVER been released prior to having it 100% functional.
---->> http://www.engadget.com/2010/08/17/samsung-galaxy-s-gps-gate-two-problems-not-one-and-what-to-do/5#comments
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why didnt you wait for g2?

Hey OP!
Have you EVER tried the Vibrant or Captivate? I have the Vibrant and I have had no problems with the GPS. I use the turn by turn directions daily!
You need to know what you are talking about! Yes, there is a documented problem, but that doesn't mean that the GPS is unusable, and NO I haven't applied the GPS fix.

Ace42 said:
Why didnt you wait for g2?
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Click to collapse
Ive bought Samsung phone before and I haven't ran into any major issues like this.
The G2 would definitely be a better option.
Thinking Im going to jump to the Sony X10, I hear that they are going to have the CyanogenMod on it pretty soon.

rwbarnes67 said:
Hey OP!
Have you EVER tried the Vibrant or Captivate? I have the Vibrant and I have had no problems with the GPS. I use the turn by turn directions daily!
You need to know what you are talking about! Yes, there is a documented problem, but that doesn't mean that the GPS is unusable, and NO I haven't applied the GPS fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're trying to come at me like everyone is going to have a working unit Barnes.
Just because YOU got lucky doesn't mean anyone else that buys it will.
There is already a "fix" in the works for units that have faulty GPS but whether it works or if its actually able to fix the issue is another story.
Read this and please don't post again if YOU don't know what you are talking about.

rwbarnes67 said:
Hey OP!
Have you EVER tried the Vibrant or Captivate? I have the Vibrant and I have had no problems with the GPS. I use the turn by turn directions daily!
You need to know what you are talking about! Yes, there is a documented problem, but that doesn't mean that the GPS is unusable, and NO I haven't applied the GPS fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you are also confused, bring up an address and press the option that says navigation.
See that big blue area around your position THAT is not true GPS and it is only guessing where you are from cell towers.
Like others have said it will not accurately tell you where you are, you can not trust the voice directions at all.
That is faulty and yes Samsung, AT&T, T-Mobile and any other service provider should not be selling these units until it is fixed.

legend221 said:
Maybe you are also confused, bring up an address and press the option that says navigation.
See that big blue area around your position THAT is not true GPS and it is only guessing where you are from cell towers.
Like others have said it will not accurately tell you where you are, you can not trust the voice directions at all.
That is faulty and yes Samsung, AT&T, T-Mobile and any other service provider should not be selling these units until it is fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That Little blue arrow that tells me EXACTLY where I am on the map as I'm zooming down the freeway and accurately tells me every exit as I'm passing them? I know what I am talking about! And the turn by turn instructions work for me and it re-routes when I miss a street.
OK!!!! You all! You know EVERYTHING and I know NOTHING!
That is all! Sorry for putting in my 2 cents!
By the way, I've been on Android since the G1 in November of 2008. Rooted with the first Jesus Freke roms thru Haykuru and Dudes roms to Cyan and have been doing the same with my Vibrant.
But OK. You guys are THE EXPERTS.
And by the way, you guys never stated whether or not you own a Vibrant.

Deleted!
I have nothing to say!

rwbarnes67 said:
By the way, I've been on Android since the G1 in November of 2008. Rooted with the first Jesus Freke roms thru Haykuru and Dudes roms to Cyan and have been doing the same with my Vibrant.
But OK. You guys are THE EXPERTS.
And by the way, you guys never stated whether or not you own a Vibrant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I only own G1 & Mytouch Slide, not interested in the Vibrant like my KB's.

buy whatever you want
ive gone thru so many phones since 09, from the g1(when it first came out), hd2, n900, x10 and finally the vibrant. the hd2, n900 and x10 in a matter of 4 months. didnt like windows mobile from being used to android. n900 wasnt what i expected it to be. loved the x10 but only running 1.6. i didnt root it because I eventually bought the vibrant.
only issues i had were facebook syncing and contacts being tripled and gps in searching for a location while in house, but GPS worked FINE when I was on the road. wish i had a car dock for it at the time but will eventually get one.
OP, if you knew of these reasons, such as lag or because of the gps not working properly, then why did you buy it in the first place? i dont think barnes was getting at you, but damn dude, someone's sensitive. no one told you to buy it despite some of the imperfections the phone has. its like people saying sony shouldnt have released the x10 with 1.6 but rather have froyo but they still buy it. and if your response is to root it to get 2.1 or 2.2, i dont think the avg. customer for phones would have any idea of what you are talking about.
you cant please everyone on here. alot of people on xda either want to be a mod or just bump stupid posts because they didnt get an answer within 3 hours.

Returned my Samsung Captivate and is officially back to the HTC Dream/G1 until further notice.
Feeling better already, I can always get that phone when and if the GPS issue is worked out.
That was pretty much the only flaw it has at least on the phone I returned.

steveruv said:
ive gone thru so many phones since 09, from the g1(when it first came out), hd2, n900, x10 and finally the vibrant. the hd2, n900 and x10 in a matter of 4 months. didnt like windows mobile from being used to android. n900 wasnt what i expected it to be. loved the x10 but only running 1.6. i didnt root it because I eventually bought the vibrant.
only issues i had were facebook syncing and contacts being tripled and gps in searching for a location while in house, but GPS worked FINE when I was on the road. wish i had a car dock for it at the time but will eventually get one.
OP, if you knew of these reasons, such as lag or because of the gps not working properly, then why did you buy it in the first place? i dont think barnes was getting at you, but damn dude, someone's sensitive. no one told you to buy it despite some of the imperfections the phone has. its like people saying sony shouldnt have released the x10 with 1.6 but rather have froyo but they still buy it. and if your response is to root it to get 2.1 or 2.2, i dont think the avg. customer for phones would have any idea of what you are talking about.
you cant please everyone on here. alot of people on xda either want to be a mod or just bump stupid posts because they didnt get an answer within 3 hours.
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Click to collapse
In that respect I did mess up.
Was expecting the Captivate to rock my socks off but all it did was make me mad due to the GPS issue.
I didn't know of these problems until after my phone arrived.
Its stupid for Samsung to not get those fixes out asap as that is their flagship phone.
I heard the X10 is very close to getting Cyanogen on there.. definitely a major advantage there vs. the Samsung development that's going on

if cyanogen is working on the x10, then the x10 will have alot of potential.
did you switch back to tmobile since you're back to using the g1?
btw, how often were you using the gps on the road? give the vibrant a chance, im sure the kinks will be worked out.

steveruv said:
if cyanogen is working on the x10, then the x10 will have alot of potential.
did you switch back to tmobile since you're back to using the g1?
btw, how often were you using the gps on the road? give the vibrant a chance, im sure the kinks will be worked out.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The X10 does seem like a better choice for now mainly in part to the CyanogenMod potential.
Im still on AT&T, Ive closed my account with T-Mobile.
I was using the gps on a regular basis thats why it had to be refunded as a replacement was more than likely to have the same issue.
Samsung has always had a bad track record with updating thier phones and I didnt want to be stuck waiting for an update that may take too long to be relevant.

I've just gotta jump in with my $.02 right quick here...
Not trying to piss anyone off, but damn you all cry too much! IT's A PHONE!
And on top of all that, it has an Operating System on it! So essentially, it's a COMPUTER! And what do computers have????? ISSUES!
So, quit *****ing. Flagship phone or not...It's going to have issues. It's a new device. Duh. haha
Basically, when it comes down to it, if a device were PERFECT in every standard, then EVERYONE would have one. And sense there is no such thing as PERFECT, good luck.

tribalartgod said:
I've just gotta jump in with my $.02 right quick here...
Not trying to piss anyone off, but damn you all cry too much! IT's A PHONE!
And on top of all that, it has an Operating System on it! So essentially, it's a COMPUTER! And what do computers have????? ISSUES!
So, quit *****ing. Flagship phone or not...It's going to have issues. It's a new device. Duh. haha
Basically, when it comes down to it, if a device were PERFECT in every standard, then EVERYONE would have one. And sense there is no such thing as PERFECT, good luck.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah its a phone that should work my G1, HTC Shadow all work with gps and they are old phones compared to the Samsung Galaxy S.
If you prefer not to hear my advisement to everyone about this phone, DONT CLICK ON THE THREAD!

legend, so you're using the g1 on at&t's network?
the captivate is using bing, correct? there's no google maps on there? maybe that was the problem.
i guess im fortunate to have my gps on point when i'm driving, but once i eventually root, etc, then maybe the gps will lock in almost my exact point, and not off 1 or 2 blocks.

steveruv said:
legend, so you're using the g1 on at&t's network?
the captivate is using bing, correct? there's no google maps on there? maybe that was the problem.
i guess im fortunate to have my gps on point when i'm driving, but once i eventually root, etc, then maybe the gps will lock in almost my exact point, and not off 1 or 2 blocks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AT&T network, Yes I am.
The captivate is using Google Maps but has the option in using AT&T's version of it and they both were not working.
I tested how many GPS satellites it picked up through the LBSTestMode menu and it got me no where even if there were 1 or 7 available.
Once rooted it was the same story unfortunately even with all these workarounds on xda and other sites.

Further proof that the Samsung GPS issues continue....
See Samsung Facinate review released for Verizon on SEP 9, 2010 here ------->> http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Samsung-Fascinate-Review-review-r_2529-p_4.html

Swapping my SGS with a new one.

So I've got one of the many Vibrants with the flaky GPS, and none of the fixes out there seem to improve the problem. My local T-Mo store is understanding and quite willing to swap it with a new one since I'm still within the 14 day policy. The only catch is I want to put the phone as close to stock as possible before I do the trade so they can't say it was something I did to it. Right now I've rooted deodexed, and I've got clockwork ROM manager going. I've also deleted almost all the stock cruft and swapped the calendar / camera apps. Because I was so eager to make it "mine", I also failed to make any backups BUT my wife happens to have a totally stock SGS from which I can scavange from but I'd like to do it without having to root it or anything. Is this possible? If not would thread 739091 ("True Stock 2.1 firmware for vibrant"; sorry I can't post links since my account here is still new) get me there?

http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=734475&highlight=stock is what you're looking for. Just flash this with Odin and you'll be fully unrooted.

Awesome, I really appreciate that. I'm not timid when it comes to making the phone my own (I was an early adopter of CyanogenMod for my old G1) but I just returned from a deployment and the whole 'scene' has changed a lot more than I expected lol.

Hehe. you might want to give the new T-Mobile Vibrant firmware that was leaked, it fixes the GPS problem (result may vary). Returning your SGS for a new one isn't going to fix your problem. It's not hardware related, its firmware.

An exchange won't fix your GPS issues anyway so you mine as well keep the one you have. Trust me, we try to swap them out customers all the time at my store.... It's a known issue and Samsung is SUPPOSED to be sending us an OTA soon
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

ShanDestromp said:
Awesome, I really appreciate that. I'm not timid when it comes to making the phone my own (I was an early adopter of CyanogenMod for my old G1) but I just returned from a deployment and the whole 'scene' has changed a lot more than I expected lol.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just want to say thank you for serving.

zephiK said:
Returning your SGS for a new one isn't going to fix your problem. It's not hardware related, its firmware.
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Click to collapse
briguydj32 said:
An exchange won't fix your GPS issues anyway so you mine as well keep the one you have.
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Click to collapse
Hmmm, quite a few people I'd talked with locally that have the vibrant said swapping worked for them. Is it possible that newer firmware has been released for phones with a newer "birth" date than mine? Then again who should I trust more, people who hardly utilize their phones, or the people who drool over the prospect of new mods and hacks? hehe. I guess I'll just call T-Mo back and let them know I wont be bothering with a swap after all.
Droidicus said:
Just want to say thank you for serving.
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Click to collapse
Hey, my pleasure. If nothing else, I have the Army to thank for bringing me out to Hawai'i and giving me the chance to meet my now wife hehe.

ALL out of the box Vibrant's have the same firmware. You need to update to the newest firmware version, it works really well. GPS is better than it is on my CLIQ.

I dunno, i've heard reports of GPS working perfect out of the box for some, and the new firmware doesn't seem to do much for my GPS,
10m accuracy at most unless I leave gps on for about an hour and maybe i'll get 6-7m accuracy, but driving, it SKIPS, (still at 10m) instead of gliding along like my G1 did.
So i'm considering perhaps swapping mine.

QwertyAccess said:
I dunno, i've heard reports of GPS working perfect out of the box for some, and the new firmware doesn't seem to do much for my GPS,
10m accuracy at most unless I leave gps on for about an hour and maybe i'll get 6-7m accuracy, but driving, it SKIPS, (still at 10m) instead of gliding along like my G1 did.
So i'm considering perhaps swapping mine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
10M of accuracy is not bad and if you want to get technical, GMaps interprets the data differently. What shows in GMaps as 10 meters will show up as 7 under GPS test. I've got my Vibrant here at 6 Meters under GPSTest and 10 under GMaps. Get a grip people.

heygrl said:
Get a grip people.
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I wont speak for Qwerty, but in my case I was LUCKY to get 10m accuracy; usually the best I could get was 40m; usually after 5-10 minutes of 'searching' and when you're driving an unfamiliar city such as Washington DC Like I was this past week, 40m is far too inaccurate for navigation. Your 'get a grip' is completely tasteless and uncalled for in this thread.
That said, I took zephiK's advice and just flashed the new 2.1 (thread 780935), and I must say its a lot better. I can get a 10m fix indoors in less than 5 seconds from a cold start (EG without GMaps knowing where I am at all); before being indoors I would never get less than a 1000m 'fix'. As soon as I get mine fully tweaked, I'll be sure to flash my wifes phone as well since she's got the same issue.

ShanDestromp said:
I wont speak for Qwerty, but in my case I was LUCKY to get 10m accuracy; usually the best I could get was 40m; usually after 5-10 minutes of 'searching' and when you're driving an unfamiliar city such as Washington DC Like I was this past week, 40m is far too inaccurate for navigation. Your 'get a grip' is completely tasteless and uncalled for in this thread.
That said, I took zephiK's advice and just flashed the new 2.1 (thread 780935), and I must say its a lot better. I can get a 10m fix indoors in less than 5 seconds from a cold start (EG without GMaps knowing where I am at all); before being indoors I would never get less than a 1000m 'fix'. As soon as I get mine fully tweaked, I'll be sure to flash my wifes phone as well since she's got the same issue.
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No thats what im saying about.. He does have the update on his Vibrant
Sent from my SGH-T959

Anyways, Qwerty I just hope you get lucky with your swap and get a working gps and hardware recovery.I've been poking around and quite a few people are saying some of thenew vibrants have issues getting into recovery and down load mode
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Yeah, i'm still considering doing the swap, sometime this week, perhaps even today, got up this morning, and phone was off, (Charging Battery Symbol on the screen),
I'm not running any of the custom roms nor am i OCing. Just worried if I do the swap I may end up with even more problems. I don't know what it is with the Samsung phones, if perhaps a lot of the phones have hardware problems or what. I have only used the original stock rom, and the leaked samsung rom.
I don't mean to be picky with my phone, but I remember my 2 year old G1 getting easily 3m lock as soon as i open up the maps inside my room, and navigating with it, was extremely accurate as well. I also never had restart issues with the phone, till after dropping the thing really hard, and then even the restart thing went away.
Today, I'm lucky to get even 40m lock again, on that same leaked updated firmware. My gripe with the samsung vibrant is that there seems to be some sort of hardware problem with the phone and samsung is not saying a thing about it.

I'm telling you guys... don't bother with a swap... I work in a very high volume store and have seen almost every customer come back with GPS issues. We won't even swap them anymore for customers because TMO has listed it as a known issue, and Samsung has announced the firmware update soon... A swap WILL NOT fix the issue, but if you decide to swap it, don't go whining to us our TMO about how you "keep exchanging it and none of them work..." They know this, and YOU know it.

GPS problem cannot be solved via firmware update!

Since I reported the GPS issue to Orange, I have received 2 replacements. This afternoon I updated my SGS to latest JPA firmware and went out to test the GPS. Now I can confirm that the GPS issue cannot be fixed by any kind of software firmware update. I've tested JF1,JF3,JF7,JH3,JPM,JM1,JP3,JPA. I have used GOOGLE MAPS, NDRIVE,IGO MY WAY, COPILOT on all these firmwares. On the 3 SGS I have (an original one from contract upgrade and 2 replacements since I reported the GPS issue to Orange), with all types of firmwares, navigation softwares, none gives stable GPS navigation. There are always 2 issues:
1. accuracy. never stop showing me on a different street.
2. GPS LAG. showed me stay still while I was moving. When turning in a cross, always lag till I passed the cross.
I have contacted Samsung mobile UK to report the GPS performance on latest firmware. This time they have no excuse at all to avoid admitting the GPS problem.
I will also contact Orange for a solution. I will ask for a different phone. Hopefully they have Desire HD. Or I may consider cancelling the contract and leave Orange...
Anyone claims a great GPS improvement after JPA update, if you had poor performance before, please go test it fully, see if you have the same issue I had. If you do, you can join me ask a refund from your retailer.
UPDATE: Just now went out for a little walk, use my tracks to track my movement. Was very surprised! the JPO firmware gives a great improvement. check it here:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...53.466879,-2.220461&spn=0.00213,0.006539&z=18
remember this is by walk and i can confirm this is pretty much the way I passed by. During the walk I stayed on the pavement. On Cavanagh Close I went from left side pavement to right side pavement, made a U turn and walked back to Lauderdale Crescent. Note that my end point was on Lauderdale Crescent,not Wilson St. This isn't perfect, but it's a great improvement! The accuracy is the only issue I'm concerned now. Also some reported after 10ish minutes navigation it would lose signal all the sudden. I can't confirm this coz my track only took around 5 mins. Need further test!

Has there been any revision when it comes to the gps hardware or do (should) all, even those straight out the factory now, i9000 have problems?
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Schmich said:
Has there been any revision when it comes to the gps hardware or do (should) all, even those straight out the factory now, i9000 have problems?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I cannot confirm this yet. All the 3 phones I have are made roughly Q1 2010, base on IMEI information check.

ehe12 said:
I cannot confirm this yet. All the 3 phones I have are made roughly Q1 2010, base on IMEI information check.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a serious question here about the GPS issue. I am really starting to think that this GPS issue is somthing that is being manipulated by specific "carriers" so that if you are a big GPS user you will us the "carrier specific" GPS app like TeleNav.
The reason I wonder this is because as I read the threads I see tht people with "unbranded" phones do not seem to have as much GPS issues as those with branded ones.
As I read the new froyo posts I see that those who have upgraded through Kies "officially" (and there by are unbranded) are reporting that GPS is locking onto 7 - 8 satelites in under 30 seconds and get a PERFECT positioning while those who have used the reg. hack method (and there by are branded) still report that the GPS is horrible.
I may be way off here and dont mean to sound all "conspiracy theory" or anything but this is just my 2 cents. What do you think?

yiannisthegreek said:
I have a serious question here about the GPS issue. I am really starting to think that this GPS issue is somthing that is being manipulated by specific "carriers" so that if you are a big GPS user you will us the "carrier specific" GPS app like TeleNav.
The reason I wonder this is because as I read the threads I see tht people with "unbranded" phones do not seem to have as much GPS issues as those with branded ones.
As I read the new froyo posts I see that those who have upgraded through Kies "officially" (and there by are unbranded) are reporting that GPS is locking onto 7 - 8 satelites in under 30 seconds and get a PERFECT positioning while those who have used the reg. hack method (and there by are branded) still report that the GPS is horrible.
I may be way off here and dont mean to sound all "conspiracy theory" or anything but this is just my 2 cents. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a complete guess on my part, but I would think the unbranded phones come off a different line then then branded phones.
Also, the folks reporting their GPS fixed might need to wait a few days to see if it still works. It's happened before where someone reports their GPS working after a flash, to later say it was broken again.

yiannisthegreek said:
I have a serious question here about the GPS issue. I am really starting to think that this GPS issue is somthing that is being manipulated by specific "carriers" so that if you are a big GPS user you will us the "carrier specific" GPS app like TeleNav.
The reason I wonder this is because as I read the threads I see tht people with "unbranded" phones do not seem to have as much GPS issues as those with branded ones.
As I read the new froyo posts I see that those who have upgraded through Kies "officially" (and there by are unbranded) are reporting that GPS is locking onto 7 - 8 satelites in under 30 seconds and get a PERFECT positioning while those who have used the reg. hack method (and there by are branded) still report that the GPS is horrible.
I may be way off here and dont mean to sound all "conspiracy theory" or anything but this is just my 2 cents. What do you think?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
all my 3 phones have no problem in finding satellites,they can find 7-8 satellites within 30 secs outdoor, only the accuracy is a big issue. also during navigation it seemed keep the lock very well, yet the navigation software actually lost signal and started repositioning, then reroute and ask me to turn around again and again.
branded and unbranded? My first 2 phones came without any network brand, no simlock, non branded firmware. I suppose they are unbranded? the final one came with simlock and orange official firmware. they all have the same issue. this means you theory is very doubtable.

crabjoe said:
Also, the folks reporting their GPS fixed might need to wait a few days to see if it still works. It's happened before where someone reports their GPS working after a flash, to later say it was broken again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly.
Branded or unbranded, luckily I have had both. all the 3 phones have crappy GPS. I doubt that at early producing stage they didn't realise the GPS problem and kept producing for a coupla months, then they found out and made some changes durling later producing. this can explain my case because all the 3 phones are produced on first quarter 2010 (JAN-MAR), the latest ones would have no problem at all.

Its definatly not a crap gps broadcom supplied the chip but its up to the manufacturer to write the drivers. unfortunatly samsung has failed miserably.
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emms said:
Its definatly not a crap gps broadcom supplied the chip but its up to the manufacturer to write the drivers. unfortunatly samsung has failed miserably.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't mean crap gps chip, I mean maybe the gps signal is poor due to some crappy design. or maybe you are right, samsung didn't write a proper driver. but i doubt this coz even a crappy little company could have worked out some solution after 6 months. still no luck means it's more than just driver issue.

This GPS thing is simply ridiculous. I can't believe Samsung could launch his top of the line phone with such a bug, and worse of all, I can't believe they haven't been able to solve it several months later.
People reporting the problem fixed with every firmware update, and people reporting the GPS working well when they haven't even tested it properly are also of no help whatsoever for the Galaxy S users and for themselves.
I think we should start complaining massively to Samsung since the phone is definately faulty. I think that'd be the only way we, Galaxy S users would get a properly working GPS.

You drive to slow!!
But you've experienced navigating with your cellphone on other phones before?
Cos i hear nothiong but bad from my nokia costumers about their gps reception and accuracy, ..

compuse said:
You drive to slow!!
But you've experienced navigating with your cellphone on other phones before?
Cos i hear nothiong but bad from my nokia costumers about their gps reception and accuracy, ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My old Samsung Omnia GPS works perfectly. Actually I keep that phone on my car since my Galaxy S GPS is completely worthless and able to guide nothing.

Ah good then you must atleast admit that the sgs is way faster on the fix, and the accuracy, .. well, .. it wasn't that noticable on the tomtom, igo8, sygic and stuff available for the windows mobile 6.5.3 or less, right?
The omnia had hickups, for instance; tomtom placed you back about a 50 meter and jumped back again, that's not how navigational software should work.
Even after the omnia you knew that there was something wrong with samsung's idea how a gps should function, you needing to mod or translate the gps with gps-mod, gpsgate or gpsproxy.
So this is really a step forward!

Yeah, the Galaxy is faster at fixing but, accuracy?? As soon as I start moving the damn thing keeps pointing me all over the place. Teletransporting me from one street to the other. The Galaxy GPS is simply a useless joke.
The Omnia's GPS was far from perfect but at least it gets the job done. Maybe Tomtom didn't work properly, but all other navigation softwares I've teste do work properly. Now I use iGo and it guides me flawlessly, even into the city driving thru narrow streets. I WISH THE GALAXY S HAD A GPS AS UNPERFECT AS THE OMNIA!!!
I think it's just pathetic the way the SGS GPS performs, even compared with other presumably flawed GPS like the Omnia one. Wich makes the Galaxy even more pathetic since its GPS can't even compare to other below average old hardware.
Honestly, I don't get it. I don't understand peoplo who defend Samsung on this matter, unless either, they were lucky and got a better phone than those who complain, or unless the work for Samsung and don't dare telling things the way they are.

using google maps on x10 my gps was perfect, quick lock, great accuracy and would hold connection with satellites. x10 wouldn't hold 3g connection for me.which is more important than gps.
sgs doesn't seem to be able to hold its connection with satellites, that's my problem anyway. oh, and when it does hold it seems to "drift" slowly away from my location to other streets. as in car nav its pretty useless!
I'm on jm1 fw from o2, waiting for an update, either 2.2 or a later 2.1.
compuse said:
You drive to slow!!
But you've experienced navigating with your cellphone on other phones before?
Cos i hear nothiong but bad from my nokia costumers about their gps reception and accuracy, ..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

ehe12 said:
all my 3 phones have no problem in finding satellites,they can find 7-8 satellites within 30 secs outdoor,.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Big deal, that's not the issue, the phone still fails to find enough sats in-car or inside buildings and still keeps losing the lock and I've tried four of them now.
And please don't tell me thats normal, because it's not, my HTC Legend gets 10 locks in less then 30s, inside or outside and I don't lose them.

Shocky2 said:
Big deal, that's not the issue, the phone still fails to find enough sats in-car or inside buildings and still keeps losing the lock and I've tried four of them now.
And please don't tell me thats normal, because it's not, my HTC Legend gets 10 locks in less then 30s, inside or outside and I don't lose them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mmmm, do you have read all the post or do you have stopped right here?

I've had my generic handset since march and can honestly say I have never had any issues whatsoever with gps, I use navigon software and it never skips a beat I've done tons of journeys near and far and I think its absolutely fine.
Over the past weeks I've also changed firmware a few times and currently iam using jpo froyo, the only issue I have had has been with the accuracy of the compass apps but since downloading"travel compass " its been ok.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have now installed the free maps from orange on my phone which is part of my plan (generic handset) and did around 60 miles on call out this morning and my gps was pefect as with the navigon software , i wonder if this problem is related to provider handsets and google software or there are lots of faulty handsets out there .
I ran mine side by side with my tom tom 530 this morning and while it wasnt as smooth it was just as accurate .

Im using jpo/jpp on orange uk. Flashed it last week. My gps is excellent locks on very quick and works well with google maps. Its the only software i have flashed that works well gps wise. Locks on quicker than my tom tom. Its a great improvement over the other 2.2 and 2.1 releases official and unofficial.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

maesebit said:
This GPS thing is simply ridiculous. I can't believe Samsung could launch his top of the line phone with such a bug, and worse of all, I can't believe they haven't been able to solve it several months later.
People reporting the problem fixed with every firmware update, and people reporting the GPS working well when they haven't even tested it properly are also of no help whatsoever for the Galaxy S users and for themselves.
I think we should start complaining massively to Samsung since the phone is definately faulty. I think that'd be the only way we, Galaxy S users would get a properly working GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
A GPS is supposed to give position and speed when moving, so to test it you'd need to log those two eh?
Some of us here (maybe more elsewhere) have reported their GPS as "Working Well" with track recorded to coroborate the statements. How the hell do you wan to argue with someone that puts the proof in front of your eyes? Are you so blinded by your "hatred" that you can't accept that some SGS might work perfectly well?
Come on now, if you'd realy want some "improvement" with your issue, you'd get some facts and compare them, surely there's a reason why some works and some don't. We need to find THIS reason instead of argueing pointlessly...

My questions to "communicate-with-samsung"

Thought i'd post these here. Others can post theres as well. If I get any answers I'll post those here also.
1. Are there plans to fix the gps issues on the epic? Or is it simply hardware related?
2. Why did samsung choose the rfs file system?
3. What is Samsung's corporate position on open-source software development?
Sent from my last samsung phone using tapatalk.

I have a question for you and other members. What exactly is the gps issue? Mine works perfectly on my epic on 2.1 and 2.2.1
Sent from my SPH-M900 using XDA App

rgregg504 said:
I have a question for you and other members. What exactly is the gps issue? Mine works perfectly on my epic on 2.1 and 2.2.1
Sent from my SPH-M900 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Some people have gps issues such as accuracy i believe. some don't

Oh ok thanx just curious because me and my wife both have the epic and both are fine.
Sent from my SPH-M900 using XDA App

I have a problem where the gps doesn't lock at random. Usually a battery pull clears the problem. Accuracy is usually within 30 feet or so.
Rfs? It was the thing they had at the time. On new phones they are using ext4.

Supposedly 2.2.1 official on Monday will address GPS.... we will see... not sure the point of that Q&A at this time (the next few days) as we have yet to see what they listened to for the build they are dropping in a few days. I honestly think he wants our input on matters other than software/hardware complaints that are well known. I think that will be useful if everyone is contented with the 2.2.1 release, Its not a bad thing to have a suggestion box, IF the issues are addressed somewhat promptly...

I asked:
Does Samsung intend to address the hardware keyboard issue that causes the phone to miss keystrokes?
and
one other question that I completely forgot.
Edit: strike that, just remembered.
Is Samsung going to offer firmware updates for the Camera which is available in the settings menu of the leaked 2.2 rom??

rgregg504 said:
I have a question for you and other members. What exactly is the gps issue? Mine works perfectly on my epic on 2.1 and 2.2.1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gps locks fine and quickly, but then loses lock after 5-15 minutes. You have to manually turn the gps on and off again to get it to re lock.
And I asked because it was supposed to be addressed in an update that came our months ago but still happens for a lot of us.

aleph23 said:
Gps locks fine and quickly, but then loses lock after 5-15 minutes. You have to manually turn the gps on and off again to get it to re lock.
And I asked because it was supposed to be addressed in an update that came our months ago but still happens for a lot of us.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dont forget you cant lock GPS with wifi or 4g on.

Well there must be enough wrong with GPS for them to mention it as one of the main features of the udpate to happen monday... hopefully they will fix your issues, I have got my GPS to 2 meters on DK28, but actually have yet to leave it on for an extended period of time, dont really use Nav, I know my city from jobs... and dont really like leaving that on, Ive disabled it since they first came in phones... tinfoil hat and all...
HW Keyboard!!! If it does not improve, I will take it in for service. I got a replacement like Jan 3, for my OG that I had since launch week, and aside from the screen fail, my original never dropped keys... not that I can remember... it also seems to be getting worse, and since January I have not gotten that much faster at typing on it to make a difference that way... but I HOPE its software... else I may end up with another TEP claim.

muyoso said:
Dont forget you cant lock GPS with wifi or 4g on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I lock with wifi on.

My question is what is samsung's plans for future os updates for the epic?
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App

From the sound of it, Svetius at captivate says that xda will be filtering the questions before they go to Sammy.
Sent from my last samsung phone using tapatalk.

I can probably easily tell you how they will answer it or at least summarize it..
aleph23 said:
1. Are there plans to fix the gps issues on the epic? Or is it simply hardware related?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We are working hard to isolate and fix this issue..
2. Why did samsung choose the rfs file system?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
We chose RFS for its reliability (they made RFS themselves they are not going to say any bad about it)
3. What is Samsung's corporate position on open-source software development?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Samsung is committed to open source
---
Those will be your answers..in a fancier manner..
As for GPS locking , I lock just fine..I noticed Google Maps gets stuck here and there but if I use any other software there is no issue...

aleph23 said:
I lock with wifi on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally not for long. Leave WiFi on for 2 days, without ever shutting it off. Then try getting a lock. Promise you won't be able to.

I've never had problems locking on to GPS
The problem that I share with many others is that the GPS will randomly stop connecting with satellites after 10-20 minutes of use. Sometimes a lot sooner than that. It'll reconnect after about 2 minutes, but its really annoying when you're using google nav.
I've tried using GPS status and I can see that it has a great signal, but it won't connect to a couple of sats at random times. Very buggy.

AFTER the update, if it happens, those with GPS issues should get an ALL GPS thread like the 2.2 one... it seems like a real clusterfuk as it stands, and theres no clear proof that its software, or a crappy GPS radio, and thats the end of the story. After the update, which claims to address GPS, those with GPS issues need to compare notes, and figure out as best as possible what is hardware limitation, what is software, what is user error. As stated above, other software besides google maps should be tried as well, in case there is something weird happening with that... I dont use GPS much, so I wonder why this issue keeps popping up so much, and people dont collaborate enough on solving the issue. After that best GPS fix ever thread popped up, I Odin'ed to DI18, and did all the steps, even considered going to DG27 or whatever to be extra retentive, but once I got all the way up to my rooted, rom'd setup, got 2 meters, or maybe 1... thats all I bothered with. I understand those that use their epics as a tom-tom need much higher standards of connectivity.... hopefully you wont be disappointed.

I hope so too. I work at several different locations and user the phone as nav. Gps locks fine, just loses lock soon enough, often at critical times...
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