No more GPS problems - Galaxy S I9000 General

I bought my Galaxy S few weeks ago and I could barely use the GPS. It took way too long to get it working and still it was inaccurate.
Few days ago I flashed JM2 firmware and installed app called TrackerBooster (can be found in the Android Market). Now the GPS works perfectly, takes only few seconds to get it connected (outdoors). I have used it now like 15 times and max. time I had to wait was 20 seconds.
I'm not sure does TrackerBooster app need to be installed, might work well without it, haven't tested.
I hope this helps those who have problems with GPS but this is just my experience, I would wait for other comments before flashing new a firmware.

It's called new firmware flashing syndrom for GPS. Basically, if you flash to any new firmware, your GPS will work for a few days.

As Foxbat said, a full flash/reset cycle improves results on the pathetic, schizophrenic and overall random SGS GPS implementation. But I am not going to be a smart ass and insinuate you don't know what you're talking about.
Instead I'll just ignore all the previous "the GPS issue is fixed" claims by many users who prematurely yelled "fixed" and just cowardly quote one of my favourite authors..."Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
Plus we shall also ignore the previous 308 users who have "cried Wolf"^-1. Please refer to your favorite fable author for proper reference.

Its occurred so many times, it actually has it's own syndrome!! FFS

Beowulf_pt said:
As Foxbat said, a full flash/reset cycle improves results on the pathetic, schizophrenic and overall random SGS GPS implementation. But I am not going to be a smart ass and insinuate you don't know what you're talking about.
Instead I'll just ignore all the previous "the GPS issue is fixed" claims by many users who prematurely yelled "fixed" and just cowardly quote one of my favourite authors..."Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
Plus we shall also ignore the previous 308 users who have "cried Wolf"^-1. Please refer to your favorite fable author for proper reference.
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So you still trolling the forums about your GPS problem even after you sold your Samsung if you ever had one from the beginning. I have never had serious problem as many others and if only 308 of millions have had a problem it must certainly be a really good GPS. Stop trolling you only because look like an ignorant user who really do not want to make the phone better but want to promote NOKIA.

For sure, milsjg. You can add me too as ignorant, 309th user who's GPS sucks d*ck hard.

I wish my GPS sucked d**k... that would at least make it useful! ) 310th user here noticing GPS issues... that said while I was on JM7, I managed to record a very very close to perfect track using mytracks... for the walking section of my test it went perfectly even showing where I retraced my steps to go to poo bins! But when I got on to driving it went a bit mental and I apparently drove through the fire station, the wrong way round roundabouts and demolished a few streets worth of houses, but occationally it did show me going down the right side of the road!

You forget that before he even got it, he was complaining that he was reluctant to buy the phone because of reports about lag and GPS (and then, proceeded to buy it anyway).
The main problem is that people have different quality of acceptance for GPS. Some people expect a signal which compares with a fitness GPS (accurate within 2 or 3 meters generally), and some of us don't care if it drifts off by 20m.
Any technology which doesn't have a definitive state will get various opinions...

andrewluecke said:
You forget that before he even got it, he was complaining that he was reluctant to buy the phone because of reports about lag and GPS (and then, proceeded to buy it anyway).
The main problem is that people have different quality of acceptance for GPS. Some people expect a signal which compares with a fitness GPS (accurate within 2 or 3 meters generally), and some of us don't care if it drifts off by 20m.
Any technology which doesn't have a definitive state will get various opinions...
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But then when it comes to navigation (arguably the principal purpose of having GPS in these devices) things go totally haywire! ) Personally I wonder whether GPS was installed purely for marketing purposes, to allow app developers (and of course google!) to snoop as to where their users are and how they are using their devices. For that there's no need for close tracking! )

not sure why you would fault beowulf for buying, if as you indicate he had some concerns - the damn phone is drop dead gorgous. If any product could stimulate optimism or optimistic hope, even in a skeptic, this phone would. And that's what makes it so frustrating.
I'm going to hate sending it back (i negotiated an extended buyer remorse return period) but if GPS isn't corrected by mid sept, this phone is history
samsung having released it w/o working gps is maybe forgiveable, but then even assuming they didn't know about the issue before release, it's been over 90 days since the asian release, and it's still not working.
Lay on top of that that samsung announced the GPS had been "validated" in the EPIC 4G, and it turns out it isn't. That did nothing but strengthen my doubts on samsung delivering a solution.

Tried this tracker booster app, makes no difference, gps still horrendous. If some people think that a 20m accuracy variation is acceptable for a gps lock they are a bloody fool.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

Bynar010 said:
Tried this tracker booster app, makes no difference, gps still horrendous. If some people think that a 20m accuracy variation is acceptable for a gps lock they are a bloody fool.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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Then it must be the firmware I flashed. There's a big difference with JM2 and the previous FW I had, if I remember right it was JF3.
The accuracy is good, for example Endomondo regonizes few meter changes. (like changing side of the road).

Sorry to offend you but Beowulf_pt has no SGS and still he is lurking around complaining. If you think about it ,there must be some reasons that I and several others have a perfectly normal (no correction) GPS on our SGS. Why is it working so different for different persons? Some logical alternatives would be error in a batch of phones (switch it), or operator programming has messed it up (get new operator), or just overload caused by program running in background, memory and task mangers etc ( educate yourself or wait for a proper kernel - see below) or in some cases just plain trolling of some non SGS owners (see my last reply).
The GPS chip is new and according to the web only recently the code for efficient low level drivers, for the linux kernel, has started to appear on internet (23 august). It will take some weeks before they are implemented so I would bet that they have fixed it by the end of September. You know, bad driver = slow, no calender etc. You will notice it specially when you use program that uses lots of resources (Maps and My tracker). It is much more efficient with Cardiotrainer for example or GPS test. (see my third conclusion above). I have noticed that (at least for me) it takes 5 - 10 sec to get a first lock in GPS test but half a minute at least in Maps or My Tracks.
Another tip is to run for example GPS test for one minute or so before My Track so the GPS gets some satellite data downloaded (calenders). The time also helps the GPS to calculate the exact position to use as a start point. You normally need a minute or so if the calenders are to old or you moved to get the right positions.
Iphone 4 has a good GPS (3 is crap according to some owners and it is not fixed. Do you hear any complaints?). The chip is one generation older than SGS and Apple do not need to wait for the kernel to be changed in there Iphone. They do it them self and by the way Iphone 4 is not really multitasking which means that GPS programs can easily be prioritized.
Well this is a short version. The net is filled with facts and if you start read a little you can start puzzle together what the cause is for your faulty GPS (nearly nobody believes its hardware any more).
By the way, I am not ignorant and I know rather much about GPS and how to evaluate tracking (I have written several scientific papers on tracking of wildlife where at least one was on the subject - evaluation of ARGOS tracking devices using GPS as reference). I have owned several mobiles and GPSes, programmed and built fish tracking devices, and did my thesis on wildlife tracking. I stating this not to try to end the GPS discussion but to make it a little bit more "scientific" and not so emotional like the comments on my last reply. There still nobody that knows how many that has a problem with the GPS. We only know that a few of millions have complained and a few of millions have said there satisfied with it.

Bynar010 said:
Tried this tracker booster app, makes no difference, gps still horrendous. If some people think that a 20m accuracy variation is acceptable for a gps lock they are a bloody fool.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
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On the contrar my friend, 5 - 15 meters is what you can expect and that means that the fix has 95 % certainty to be in that interval. 20 is a little bit above what you can expect but not much. In good dedicated trackers or a good phones you can get 5 meters (which I often get after 30 sec outside) and 2,5 for some fixes but not constant. A mobile is not a dedicated GPS and with the suspected driver problem 20 would not be bad. Try with GPS test, under open sky, and holding it at the bottom of the phone. Before you start you should turn off and on the GPS and close all task managers and started programs. You know that home means often that you leave the program running in the background but using back shuts it down. And wait for 30 - 60 seconds. If you get 10 be satisfied it,s a phone and not a dedicated GPS.

My touch hd would actually follow the f$$king road. Not too much to ask that a brand new smart phone would do the same is it? Its nothing short of pathetic. Even my old tytn2 was superb as a gps device for navigation, this thing cannot be trusted.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

I for one am getting SICK of installing fw's hoping for a fix for GPS.
They put a good hardware-wise device out.. But its kinda shoddy the fw development isn't equally as good. I have flashed nearly ALL the fw's to no real avail..
I am started to get frustrated after all this patience..

FWIW
Running 2.2 with no lag, fix no root, no apps to help. Google Nav and Co-Pilot work flawlessly. Mytracks follows me walking down the pavement at the correct position and on the correct side of the road with very few deviations.
I really cannot see what all the fuss is ablout here.

Tehpriest said:
FWIW
Running 2.2 with no lag, fix no root, no apps to help. Google Nav and Co-Pilot work flawlessly. Mytracks follows me walking down the pavement at the correct position and on the correct side of the road with very few deviations.
I really cannot see what all the fuss is ablout here.
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well try it in a car and get supprised...

praun said:
well try it in a car and get supprised...
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That is where I use both Co-Pilot and Google Nav.....

Beowulf_pt said:
..y quote one of my favourite authors..."Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence." - Carl Sagan
.
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Well I rather stick with Popper. Extraordinary evidence or support isn't that hard to get (look at the paranormal claims etc). What is more difficult and more fruitful to come by is some clever tests that eventually will or can refute a claim. If a theory will pass those tests it is actually more trustworthy then when it gets "extraordinary" evidence.
Again, no theory will stand till the end of time, how extra-ordinary our evidences may be.
Lol, back to the gps.

Related

So, you bought a Vibrant... (my $.02, no refunds))

So I ditched WinCE for iOS... and now I have ditched iOS for Android. The Vibrant is my first Android device (and my first foray into a Samsung Mobile device... I am an unabashed HTC Fanboi). What has struck me, after sifting through numerous forums and entertaining a myriad of debates... is the wide of array of problems users have encountered... and their utter surprise (and sometimes outrage). Now, far be it for me to judge any other persons experiences... but I feel that I should remind everyone that most if not all Hi-tech product launches are plagued with some issues (some major, some minor) and that the burden (and duty) of early adopters is to wade through these issues and help mature the community and product. Now if these issues prove to be a hardware failing or unacceptable QC...then carries and manufactures should be held responsible to make things right. However, software issues (which is what I would attribute to most if not all the Vibrants problems to)... are ALWAYS going to be fleshed out with greater acuity and action by a large, well-informed and ambitious user base. We are just better suited and more motivated to do so than Corporate programmers... who are usually on deadlines and have more than one project cooking.
With that said, if you are unhappy with the device... by all means, return it. That is your right as a consumer (and is protected by the 14 day remorse period).
Anyway here are some facts about my user experience... since they seem to have been more favorable than a lot of other peoples:
1. I purchased my Vibrant on launch day, with a ship date of 7/8/2010
2. I did in fact have flaky GPS out of the box (1-3 min initial locks, not always... but enough to be considered an "issue")
3. The compass is for all intents and purposes unusable (however, the fact that it has been identified as an issue between raw and polled/avg data can be overcome with software coding).
4. I did not experience what I consider to be lag (coming from iOS or WinCE... I know lag)... however my App base is still rather small (20 non-stock)
5. I have yet to root my device... but did not have market issues on either 3g or wifi (yet)
6. I did apply GPS fix ( with multiple configs... eg: standalone plus new supl data, hot v cold start, ms based...etc) and did find that it did provide faster locks... but still, would not consider it a true "fix")
With all of that said and all that I read (righteous indignation and all) I almost succumbed to popular sentiment and swapped my device for a new one.
Instead, I went with a factory reset and had the following observations:
1. The device did seem snappier... but this may just be perceived rather than actual.
2. Stock settings on GPS have all of a sudden performed much better. I did not perform fix and I am getting consistent lock under 25 sec, navigation works exceptionally well, and both GPS status and test apps confirm 2-4 sats in use. Now again, this is still sub-par performance and a fix needs to be pushed OTA ASAP.
3. 3G and wifi perform the same (which is flawless... so no complaints)
Ultimately, I think TW 3.0 was not fully baked... and given the hardware on this device, it begs for Froyo (or GB beta ). Given time, some serious empirical testing and enough research... I truly believe all issues are faulty firmware and not a Hardware or QC problem. Now I could be wrong... only time will tell.
But when it is all said and done, I love my vibrant... and Android is the shizzzz.
When I root, I will post any issues that result.
This has been my exact experience with the phone, although I rooted my phone and have not performed a factory reset:
-Still using the GPS 'fix' and get 5-10 sec locks with good accuracy.
-After rooting, every once in a while (one of four times) I have to log into Google Talk before accessing the market.
I did a reset as well and it eliminated a lag I had. This thing flies now. The compass however is not as accurate or as fast as my Nexus one compass. I tried the navigation and it works fine.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Coming from a n1 I make sweet love to my vibrant everynight.. me and my girl have a 3some with it...
I've factory reset and done the GPS "fix" a couple times now, and none of it helps. My GPS locks fairly quick, but it never picks up more that 2 satellites and (in GPS Test) it only connects to the two satellites with the highest SNR. It's also very inaccurate in Google Maps, the indicator jumps around a lot.
I actually have no other problems than GPS issues, so I'm going to exchange it a little later today.
temperbad said:
Coming from a n1
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If I ever borrow your phone you'll understand why I wipe it down real good before I put it to my ear.
Bravo OP! This is just the nature of things. When android dropped on the G1 the community had a bloody out cry... Low and behold, two years later the phone is still being modded/upgraded. Where the only thing lacking now is the hardware. With time and patience im sure the vibrant will soon be seeing some light in the modding world.
For the ppl who complain, go buy an iphone
;o)
Catchin' the VIBE on the XDApp
All~G1 said:
For the ppl who complain, go buy an iphone
;o)
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Yeah right, can't fking JB my iPhone 3GS with new bootrom. Without JBking, it's useless for me.

Thread for the "HAPPY" GT-i9000 owners...

I have been reading threads dedicated for Galaxy S for the past 2 weeks seeing only disappointed people complaining for various things/bugs/problems, that almost none applied for my personal case.
Thinking that this is very unfair for the specific phone (my opinion after using it 2 weeks now), I would like to just check how many users are happy with the device...
Personally, I have NO problem with GPS fix (navigated a lot through cities and national roads in Greece, Athens and Piraeus), and my phone is not laggy at all. I currently use the phone a lot for various reasons (gaming, e-mails, browsing, navigating, etc), and I really can't find any bug that would make me think of changing the device.
Is it just me? I am using the stock rom version XXJF3...
I've not experienced any lag or GPS issues. That could just be me and you though!
I upgraded to FroYo a day after I got it and I couldn't be happier. Im glad I didn't get a Desire now. This screen is just so... amazing!
I'm also still on the official firmware and I also consider myself a satisfied customer.( At least for now - you only know how good a product really was until after you're done using it in 2 years or so, right?)
Anyway, I DO have the lag issue. It's just that I have it under control by (sadly) using a task killer , and compared to other mobiles on the market, the galaxy s still does the best job for me.
written on a mobile device
i came from the nightmare that is the Desire and its atrocious battery life and the stupid htc bug of "no trickle-charge".
The SGS has been one of the best phones i've had. The lag issue is there for me and i dont have an external sd to try out the mimocan fix... but even then the superb reception, awesome screen and great battery life make it a deadly combo.
GPS also works fine for me on JM2 rooted.
I must say that I'm very happy with my SGS, and I'm sure that some posters just post negative comments to wind people up.
I was amazed to read today that one poster was claiming that Samsung would never release 2.2, while in the dev forum for the SGS people are posting their impressiopns of the pre-release 2.2 from Samsung.
There is one poster who can be found on any thread relating to GPS, complaining about his experiences, but I have found that once I worked out how to use it, my map positioning works well without any modifications from how it came out of the box.
I can only say that anything that I have tried on my SGS has worked once I have sorted the right way to do it, and while I can accept that there are problems, I have faith that Samsung and the experts on this forum will soilve them.
Im also very happy with my SGS! Best phone I have ever used. I do have the same bugs as others i.e "lags" (although I have never experienced 10 second long stalls more like 2-3 second hickups) and since using luncher pro the stalls are much better.
I think the SGS is a coupple of firmware updates from beeing perfect.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have had my phone for 2 weeks, went from JF3 to JG5 & now JM2 rooted with SD fix, as it is at the moment it is extremely fast for a Smartphone & I am very happy with what it is capable of, I may even hold off on froyo if the speeds arnt as good as what I get now.
Also I like playing, and having a phone that is very hackable and pretty much unbrickable is a godsend when trying stuff out. Had a couple of scarey moments but its all fun
I am using the phone for the past 10 days and didn't much to complain about it.
Intially there was a problem installing the kies and detecting the phone but it was resolved in a matter for 10mins by googling. After 10days of experience I have no complains and very happy with this piece from Samsung. Although havn't worked much with the GPS (Bandwith issues - India) but no lags (>2sec - if any). Works really well with games and sound quality is awesome.
True Fan for SGS...
Cheers Samsun!!
Gotta admit, I wasn't thrilled with it to say the least when I first got it, but I'm now happy with it as it is (JM2, rooted, EXT4 hack, autokiller). Runs fast and is nice to use, and I think definitely as good as an iphone 4 which was the other phone I was considering at the time. Shame, the apps aren't better but thats not the phones fault.
Remember everyone, there's a HUGE amount of happy campers with any device. iPhone 4, Samsung Galaxy S, etc. It's usually the minority comprised of nitpickers, enthusiasts, and people with genuine problems that fill up forums like this.
Oh, I'm part of the enthusiast group I think.
gabbybob said:
There are always idiots moaning - especially on Xda - it's like a magnet for the morose maudling naysayer - poor boys - cry into your pints. I think it's an excellent device - that screen and it's sheer grunt have it stand well apart from the competition - let's see some developers get behind this and make the games, media and applications (for that is their true label, not that propogated by the narcissistic fool known as Jobs)
It's the potential for excellent gaming which I think we'll see in the future on Android that I think will propel this - it already has excellent Sound, Video playback, GPS (I've never had any problems - the fix is quick and accurate), camera is great - get a grip - it's the convergance device I wanted.
Pop a 32GB MicroSD in and on top of the 8GB / 16GB already on the device you have 40 - 48 GB storage - in other words, loads of Multimedia be it Books, Albums, Films, Magazines, Applications - whatever
So, well done to Samsung - let's see Froyo in a timely manner as promised (not another **** up like those idiots at HTC; yes I had a Hero)
Enjoy my son - Ignore the idiots - I do and usually go much further by having many laughs at their expense - schadenfreude ? Definately !!!
S xx
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I think it is going a bit far to call people trying to work through some issues with the phone "idiots". When I go to a forum I want to see both the good points and the bad points and I like the fact that xda does have people that find the bad things in phones and try and work on solutions for them. I would hardly call those people idiots as you are.
I think a bit of balance is a good thing and we don't really need the name calling do we? If you are old enough to make it to the forums then surely you are old enough not to have to resort to insults on other members especially in a thread about happy people, you dont sound too happy
As for the phone, I came from the nexus and I do like it a lot, I do have some issues but the positives definitely outweigh the negatives so I am holding on to it for now because its the best android device so far in my opinion.
Screen is definitely awesome, loving the accuracy compared to the nexus and the ability to see it easier in sunny conditions and of course the size of the screen, 4 inches i think is about as big as I would want it, just the right size.
Loving the dlna abilities to stream movies off a media player in the house etc and have the horsepower to actually watch them .
Likewise I think the comments are a little unfair. You invaraibly find more people with issues on forums than those without, it is after all the sensible place to look for support.
I do have issues with mine, but at the same time I'm pretty happy it. I suspect I'll be one of the first in line for the Galaxy Tab too when it comes out as I like the idea of the same device with a larger screen for home browsing.
My GPS is working fine. Had lag with stock FW (JG3), but with JM2 and now JP3 it has been working great.
Only issue I have using JP3 is that I drop 3G connection sometimes when setting it to WCDMA mode only, so I had to go back to using auto mode instead which is no biggie.
I live in area with very bad reception, and I'm lucky to get one bar showing on all phones I tried and many times get dropped calls, but so far with the SGS that happened only once. My USB 3G modem almost never found a proper 3G connection even if I tried placing it optimally, but the SGS often gives me 3G and 3G+ without looking for a good spot.
My battery life is about double compared to what I would have expected.
Reading this forum I get the impression I'm somewhat lucky, but IMO it's a very awesome phone!
gabbybob said:
There are always idiots moaning - especially on Xda - it's like a magnet for the morose maudling naysayer - poor boys - cry into your pints. I think it's an excellent device - that screen and it's sheer grunt have it stand well apart from the competition - let's see some developers get behind this and make the games, media and applications (for that is their true label, not that propogated by the narcissistic fool known as Jobs)
It's the potential for excellent gaming which I think we'll see in the future on Android that I think will propel this - it already has excellent Sound, Video playback, GPS (I've never had any problems - the fix is quick and accurate), camera is great - get a grip - it's the convergance device I wanted.
Pop a 32GB MicroSD in and on top of the 8GB / 16GB already on the device you have 40 - 48 GB storage - in other words, loads of Multimedia be it Books, Albums, Films, Magazines, Applications - whatever
So, well done to Samsung - let's see Froyo in a timely manner as promised (not another **** up like those idiots at HTC; yes I had a Hero)
Enjoy my son - Ignore the idiots - I do and usually go much further by having many laughs at their expense - schadenfreude ? Definately !!!
S xx
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Wait a second, you criticise HTC, but wasn't it Samsung who eventually had to backtrack when they couldn't go beyond Android 1.6 for the Behold?
You fail to miss as well, the 8 Gig or 16 Gig phone you buy has two gig less for multimedia and storage because it is partitioned to install Applications, so you're really buying 6 Gig or 14 Gig. That wasn't in the fine print.
Although the phone has 512 Meg RAM, you cannot use it, and even the leaked Froyo builds you cannot access the full 512 Meg RAM (ie it doesn't show as a total anywhere).
The lags are very real, but some people live with them. The suggestion is that the phone has two different types of memory, one sequential and one random access, and the lag is caused by some random data being on the sequential area. Other fixes involve not used vfat but partitioning an area of your sdcard to ext3.
Doubt the GPS issues all you like, call me an idiot, whatever, just take a look at this and tell me my GPS is working without a problem:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...2.494749,-1.744981&spn=0.007447,0.022724&z=16
I don't use GPS, so that's had no impact on me whatsoever.
I was surprised to see the number of people complaining about lag and 10 second stalls, as I never experienced anything that severe on the stock Optus firmware. At most, it was 2-3 seconds when opening or closing an app, pretty much exactly what happens normally on my previous phone (HTC Hero).
Basically, I believe for anyone not into the rooting / rom scene who's unaware of XDA they probably have no clue that there's even a problem with the firmware on their phones. I sure didn't until I was informed I should be unhappy.
After mimocan's fix my phone flies, and I really couldn't be happier. I'm loving playing NOVA far faster than on my iPod Touch 2nd gen and the screen is drop-dead gorgeous for videos. The contrast and black levels are so good I'm actually only using black as my wallpaper which makes my minimalist widgets appear to be floating on black glass, causing my friends to do a double-take (hiding the top bar in Launcher Pro or ADW makes this effect even more pronounced). It really makes it look like the entire front surface on the phone is the screen since the edges aren't visible.
The only thing I would have liked is some nicer case material(s), as it doesn't 'feel' anywhere near as much of the premium device it is compared to the Desire's soft-touch plastics and aluminium.
For the record, I thought I'd hate Touchwiz but I don't mind it at all since the changes are minimal from stock Android. I do use Launcher Pro and ADW thought simply to enable 5 rows on the homescreens however.
I have a great phone now but only after flash+root+lagfix+launcher pro+autokiller. That's a bit much to ask an average customer. Samsung did a horrible job releasing this phone the way they did, the hardware is really nice but the software is ****e.
Most people who are healthy don't go to the hospital.
This forum is where the sick come to play.
I think the poster is an idiot, myself.The premise for the thread is sound, but the attitude and opinion is laughable.
I am very happy with the phone - I do not have problems with lag though it has gotten a bit slower now I have added more apps, I dont find myself bothered by it, but like the other person who posted the GPS track, my GPS is not usable for the purpose of recording tracks at all.
Initially I called Samsung and was told "there is no problem, its normal behaviour" - at this point, I had very little choice but to publicise the issue to add my voice to the MANY that have GPS problems.
This thread seeks to marginalise people with genuine problems, and is selfish and unnecessary with respect to being part of the solution.
What do you (people with phones that are fine) lose by the threads complaining of problems?
What is to be gained by NOT publicising the problems? (Hint: Nothing, for those affected...)
I am of the opinion those that have no problems DO NOT use the devices to record tracks. Many seem to be able to navigate with the GPS as it doesnt get too whacked out for long, but for recording a track its useless (see previous link). Having said that, I have struggled to get a sat fix when driving too, so been unable to navigate (and got lost as a result).
If the thread stuck to positives, instead of itself being negative, you would have me here singing praises for the good things too. But instead, I am just annoyed at your insensitivity for those that paid good money for a product that doesn't meet expectations.
Love the phone, and I had both the HD2 and Desire, as I am an HTC fan, and I chose the SGS over the two. No problems with the GPS, but there is one thing that bugs me and I tried to find a solution for it, videos with AAC audio get out of sync, only with JG5 the problem seems to be minimal.
x50v! said:
I think the poster is an idiot, myself.The premise for the thread is sound, but the attitude and opinion is laughable.
I am very happy with the phone - I do not have problems with lag though it has gotten a bit slower now I have added more apps, I dont find myself bothered by it, but like the other person who posted the GPS track, my GPS is not usable for the purpose of recording tracks at all.
Initially I called Samsung and was told "there is no problem, its normal behaviour" - at this point, I had very little choice but to publicise the issue to add my voice to the MANY that have GPS problems.
This thread seeks to marginalise people with genuine problems, and is selfish and unnecessary with respect to being part of the solution.
What do you (people with phones that are fine) lose by the threads complaining of problems?
What is to be gained by NOT publicising the problems? (Hint: Nothing, for those affected...)
I am of the opinion those that have no problems DO NOT use the devices to record tracks. Many seem to be able to navigate with the GPS as it doesnt get too whacked out for long, but for recording a track its useless (see previous link). Having said that, I have struggled to get a sat fix when driving too, so been unable to navigate (and got lost as a result).
If the thread stuck to positives, instead of itself being negative, you would have me here singing praises for the good things too. But instead, I am just annoyed at your insensitivity for those that paid good money for a product that doesn't meet expectations.
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I don't think it's anything wrong with threads that complain about the problems. It's obvious that there are a lot of users experiencing issues, and if I was one of them I would be angry and discuss the issues as well.
What really bothers me is that when I respond with comments about not having an issue, there are some users that will assume that it's because I'm clueless or dumb. You do it as well when you say "those that have no problems DO NOT use the devices to record tracks". And in the same post you talk about OP marginalizing users with problems?
I have been navigating in the terrain using GPSCompassMap and MyTracks. I haven't had a need to save tracks, but the other day I made a recording with GPSCompassMap when I was driving just because I got fed up with that kind of accusations.
When posting that I'm told that it must been a lucky day or that I happened to have ideal conditions...basically being accused of being a liar since I clearly stated that it's normal performance for me.
I don't get locks on satellites with SNR <20 or more than 8 sats, but it still works.
I really don't get what causes some users to lash out at anyone that does not have problems and call them idiots or liars.
I know it's hard to make any sense of things, since there doesn't seem to be any common denominator explaining why some users have a completely useless GPS and some have one that is working fine.
But it's the same with the lag and battery life as well...some people experience issues and some not, and while it's a bit more common the issue is nailed down to a particular FW or software with those, it's still not 100% clear why there are such differences how users experience the device.

GPS Testing Results

I've written up a full review of the GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7PBst2OBCw&feature=player_embedded
I tested the GPS with Google Navigation, Maps, and My Tracks applications.
Observations overall:
- Accuracy was slightly off (as shown by My Tracks... worked perfectly in Google Navigation)
- Worked reliably over hours of navigating to and from destinations --- NEVER lost my car
- Compass seems off in My Tracks, shows correctly in Google Navigation
Check out my article for more details. Overall... thumbs up. GPS works well. Always worked with navigation perfectly.
Glad to see it works but still concerned about the lack of accuracy. The Evo my wife has seems to have a much more accurate lock than what was shown in the video.
kennethpenn said:
I've written up a full review of the GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
YouTube Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U7PBst2OBCw&feature=player_embedded
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Thanks for this test. So far I see no results that would appear to be a hard stop. But in the other thread, you mentioned that your Epic GPS accuracy was not as good as your G1. So I am still concerned. I think performance on this new, expensive, high-end Android should be at least as good as the performance of the oldest Android model.
Also, driving is the least demanding test of the low-level GPS, and there are many applications for it besides vehicular navigation. On other Galaxy S platforms, the GPS tracks seem to get smoothed or interpolated, which in driving tests seems okay most of the time because the motion of the vehicle ovewhelms the underlying errrors in the smoothing algorithm. The result is that the GPS seems great while moving pretty straight, but can veer off-course on turns, corners and stops. You did mention similar symptoms. (And then navigation programs mask errors further by snap-to behavior layered onto the smoothed GPS output.)
I know it must seem that I am never satisfied, but I am always interested in more rigorous testing. Often a better My Tracks test is over a walking course, preferably along with a benchmark device such as the G1. And the whole track -- not just isolated snapshots -- then can be shared with us via upload to Google.
For example, look at my own tests of the Vibrant vs G1 here.
(If you are worried about your own privacy, just test in some location other than your home. I went to an apartment complex in my neighborhood.)
2) Another set of GPS-bug symptoms reported on other Galaxy S platforms is the failure to use and lock on to enough satellites. That is best seen not through tracking or navigation apps, but by utilities that read and report the detailed performance of the GPS from the Android system. The two most popular utilities for this testing are GPS Test and GPS Status. Among other things, they will tell you how many satellites the GPS thinks it sees, their signal strength as SNR, and how many are actually being used for a fix. Could you try those utilites and report the results?
3) You haven't told us exactly how your test unit came into your hands. But we do know from other intelligence that at least some pre-sales demo units were selectively shipped before the latest Samsung software was installed. So it is useful to know the build date of your unit, as shown by internal file date stamps. (Perhaps this can clear up some confusion about other reported tests.)
4) From the latest build dumps we have seen, it appears that the Epic -- uniquely among Samsung S variants -- has a system utility called GpsSetup. Can you see any evidence that this utility is installed on your unit? If so, what does it do? Are there configurable settings? If so, what are the default settings, and what settings are you using?
Thanks again for your work.
Regarding the compass ...
From the review:
My Tracks Observations:
... Compass pointer totally off. ...
Google Navigation Observations:
... Compass points the right way.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think this simply means that the compass sensor -- and/or the low-level software that drives it -- remain bad on the tested Epic unit. In My Tracks, the compass is driven by the on-board magnetometer of the phone and is supposed to move when the phone's physical orientation changes. In Google Navigation, the compass is fixed relative to the maps streamed from the app's servers.
The FUBAR compass on Samsung S phones is sort of related to the GPS bugs, because some apps read both sensors. So users often perceive them as the same problem. But they are two separate issues.
Looks like it's the defective compass spoils the accuracy.
I know it's not going to prove much, but here is a video with another user saying the GPS is fine on the Epic:
http://androidandme.com/2010/08/news/sprint-epic-4g-qa-part-1/
6 minutes in.
It's also a good video worth watching if you'd just like to see the phone in action some more. I'll post this in the reviews thread as well I suppose.
hydralisk said:
I know it's not going to prove much, but here is a video with another user saying the GPS is fine on the Epic:
http://androidandme.com/2010/08/news/sprint-epic-4g-qa-part-1/
6 minutes in.
It's also a good video worth watching if you'd just like to see the phone in action some more. I'll post this in the reviews thread as well I suppose.
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Click to collapse
With the correct gps settings no sgs phone has issues standing still. You wont see anything wrong with the gps until you use it while driving. Everyone with a sgs phone should know this. If I had a sgs phone & a epic the first thing I would do would test the gps while driving and post a video. I think its weird how no one will do this. I am getting a epic first thing tues am and will post video of speed of the epic vs sgs phone with lag fix, gps test while driving & video\pic quality. Since these are the main things in question.
shep211 said:
With the correct gps settings no sgs phone has issues standing still. You wont see anything wrong with the gps until you use it while driving. Everyone with a sgs phone should know this. If I had a sgs phone & a epic the first thing I would do would test the gps while driving and post a video..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, in my experience the opposite tends to be true about SGS phones. Driving tests tend to obscure the accuracy problems. Standing still and walking tracks are tougher tests of accuracy. And videos are not as detailed as actual My Tracks output uploaded to Google, where we can all zoom in an explore ther results in detail on a map or satellite background. Some problems that can show up driving are the cases where the GPS track veers off-road on turns and stops.
I have seen plenty of driving "reviews" and "tests" of the GPS in other variants of the phone that erroneously report everything is fine (which is why I still take the OP's results with a grain of salt, no offense). My own testing with Vibrants showed relatively decent tracking while driving, but very poor accuracy when stopped or moving as a pedestrian.
EDIT: I finally found and watched the newly linked Youtube video here, and was totally unimpressed by this reviewer. He was cluelessly misinformed about the status of the GPS problems on other platforms, and his andecdotal report of using the GPS on the Epic through Google Navigate app proved nothing at all.
BTW, for a good summary of the GPS problems on Samsung Galaxy S phones generally, see this post at the international I9000 forum. These issues are much more complex than superficial reviews engage.
boomerbubba said:
Actually, in my experience the opposite tends to be true about SGS phones. Driving tests tend to obscure the accuracy problems. Standing still and walking tracks are tougher tests of accuracy. And videos are not as detailed as actual My Tracks output uploaded to Google, where we can all zoom in an explore ther results in detail on a map or satellite background. Some problems that can show up driving are the cases where the GPS track veers off-road on turns and stops.
I have seen plenty of driving "reviews" and "tests" of the GPS in other variants of the phone that erroneously report everything is fine (which is why I still take the OP's results with a grain of salt, no offense). My own testing with Vibrants showed relatively decent tracking while driving, but very poor accuracy when stopped or moving as a pedestrian.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I understand what you are saying. Going over 60 mph the gps performs better then when going slow and making turns or tracking a run. But standing still I have never had it not lock and work. The only videos of the epic are of standing still lock times.
shep211 said:
I understand what you are saying. Going over 60 mph the gps performs better then when going slow and making turns or tracking a run. But standing still I have never had it not lock and work. The only videos of the epic are of standing still lock times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not talking about an apparent locking problem. I'm talking about the other symptom of the GPS bug: lack of accuracy.
There are many reports -- and I have experienced this myself on Vibrants -- where the satellite signal appears to lock. But the accuracy of the lat/lon coordinates being reported is all over the place. And they can be outside the theoretical range of accuracy being reported. For example, GPS Test or GPS Status --reading the ouptut of the Android listeners, which in turn are reading the onboard GPS chip -- may say the fix is supposed to bee accurate within 20 feet. But the coordinates are a couple hundred feet away from the actual location, and meandering over time.
boomerbubba said:
Actually, in my experience the opposite tends to be true about SGS phones. Driving tests tend to obscure the accuracy problems.
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Click to collapse
I agree with this. Driving programs "snap" to streets obscuring lateral positioning inaccuracy.
boomerbubba said:
EDIT: I finally found and watched the newly linked Youtube video here, and was totally unimpressed by this reviewer. He was cluelessly misinformed about the status of the GPS problems on other platforms, and his andecdotal report of using the GPS on the Epic through Google Navigate app proved nothing at all.
BTW, for a good summary of the GPS problems on Samsung Galaxy S phones generally, see this post at the international I9000 forum. These issues are much more complex than superficial reviews engage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I absolutely agree. Where are the important tests????:
TTFF (time to first fix) from RTN (factory start) with several different devices, eg touch Pro 2, Evo, etc in same location.
TTFF from cold, warm and hot starts with competing models in same place. IE how well is assistance and cache working
Number of birds and SNR, ie how good is actual autonomous gps hardware "
HDOP, VDOP PDOP ""
I am seeing multiple poorly done youtubes that could easily be tower triangulation which under good conditions will get you >30' standing still but blow once you start moving. These guys are not just not reporting SNR, they are not even reporting number of sats and HDOP!
The ops tests (and thank you) are not too bad, but there is no data. For example he says: "Also, the GPS occasionally took more than 10 seconds to “lock on” with a cold start." That is the average for top smartphones for an actual cold start. a cold start is no current Ephemeris or almanac stored. starting up a data connection and pulling assistance data (almanac and ephemeris) of visible birds is a agps "cold start" and typically takes at least ten seconds (a few minutes in standalone gps)./
New '98 feet' bug on Epic GPS
Now that the Epic is out, we are starting to see the usual confusing mix of anecdotal impressions of GPS performance.
Over on another forum, one interesting fact is emerging: There seems to be a new bug, unique to the Epic's implementation of GPS: The imputed accuracy is being reported by several different testers in different scenarios, always at 98 feet! It is as if this number is hard-coded into the GPS firmware.
See Testing the GPS Satellite usage on your new Epic, the right way. Have "use wireless networks" off and Epic GPS - does yours work or not?
boomerbubba said:
Now that the Epic is out, we are starting to see the usual confusing mix of anecdotal impressions of GPS performance.
Over on another forum, one interesting fact is emerging: There seems to be a new bug, unique to the Epic's implementation of GPS: The imputed accuracy is being reported by several different testers in different scenarious, always at 98 feet! It is as if this number is hard-coded into the GPS firmware.
See Testing the GPS Satellite usage on your new Epic, the right way. Have "use wireless networks" off and Epic GPS - does yours work or not?
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Click to collapse
The gps has most of the same issues the others have but the epic doesn't lag when it does work.
Some gps videos I made while working Tuesday. Epic gps worked 1\3.
epic gps fail 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7HUQAKg6Lc
epic gps fail 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UV1Na51Dy5A
A 'known issue' with Epic GPS?
FYI, a user on another forum is reporting that Sprint tech support acknowledged a "known issue" with the GPS.
boomerbubba said:
FYI, a user on another forum is reporting that Sprint tech support acknowledged a "known issue" with the GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thank you for the link. I have had the same issue where it wont lock and takes over 5 mins then when it does lock it takes 3-5 mins for it to get your correct location. It looks like the only thing they improved was agps but gps still needs the new driver coming out in September. I really hope Samsung fixes the gps issues.
boomerbubba said:
Now that the Epic is out, we are starting to see the usual confusing mix of anecdotal impressions of GPS performance.
Over on another forum, one interesting fact is emerging: There seems to be a new bug, unique to the Epic's implementation of GPS: The imputed accuracy is being reported by several different testers in different scenarios, always at 98 feet! It is as if this number is hard-coded into the GPS firmware.
See Testing the GPS Satellite usage on your new Epic, the right way. Have "use wireless networks" off and Epic GPS - does yours work or not?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I went into my local sprint store that had 2 epics on display with my wife. We were there to decide if they're worth almost $800(waiting for price drop). So I loaded gps status on both demo epics, accuracy 98ft, they also displayed 1-2 less sats than my g1 which had @20-60ft accuracy sitting on the counter 10" lower and directly between the epics. I know this is a static test and doesn't mean much, when I asked the sales people if I could drive around....just kidding.
I talked to a sprint district manager at work today and he confirmed the epics have a gps issue and button issue.. He said a fix is coming out for the gps issue, but the buttton issue is only on some first batch of epics and to take mine back..
kgold708 said:
I went into my local sprint store that had 2 epics on display with my wife. We were there to decide if they're worth almost $800(waiting for price drop). So I loaded gps status on both demo epics, accuracy 98ft, they also displayed 1-2 less sats than my g1 which had @20-60ft accuracy sitting on the counter 10" lower and directly between the epics. I know this is a static test and doesn't mean much, when I asked the sales people if I could drive around....just kidding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yet another confrirmation of the new '98 feet' bug!
kgold708 said:
I went into my local sprint store that had 2 epics on display with my wife. We were there to decide if they're worth almost $800(waiting for price drop). So I loaded gps status on both demo epics, accuracy 98ft, they also displayed 1-2 less sats than my g1 which had @20-60ft accuracy sitting on the counter 10" lower and directly between the epics. I know this is a static test and doesn't mean much, when I asked the sales people if I could drive around....just kidding.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I got my captivate for $50 from amazon. Im sure the epic will drop to $50-100 with in 1 month on amazon. Its at $200 now with free activation.
http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Epic-..._1_4?ie=UTF8&s=wireless&qid=1283358779&sr=8-4
What I am finding is poor Signal to Noise, on average about 10db lower on average for the same birds than Touch Pro2 and Treo Pro are showing while keeping them all in the same spot. For example one satellite is showing me as very healthy 41 on Treo Pro (HTC made Palm), 39 on Touch Pro 2, and same bird is 27 on Epic. It also seems to jump to usage of some of the really bad snr birds.
I am also wondering about what is going on with trigger of almanac and ephemeris population over 3g. I am getting inconsistent results on that.
There is a third problem which is that with 4 >17 SNR birds in view, which should be adequate and give hdop of <2, position still seems to jump and be incorrect by an average of 30' to 60'
Can anyone tell me what your SNR values are? best would be compared to other known good gps smartphones in same location.

very short gps test with My Tracks

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...372,0.018947&z=16&iwloc=00048f225d8da9a32da25
on a very very clear day with the Vibrant in my cycling jersey pocket on my back.
supl.google.com
sky hook on
MS Based
a few blips but its fairly close. but should be better. It's not unusable like some say.
It is unusable for some people, you happened to be able to use skyhook. If you were in the middle of nowhere that wouldnt help you.
Yea I used it also and it seems to be a bit off on the track
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Never been unusable for me either. Actually fairly accurate ill have to do a my tracks later....
Lol you guys sound like some of the customers I deal with everyday. These are consumer grade devices. If you want something accurate go buy a Trimble GPS device and spend the thousands of dollars it takes to acquire one. I think even with the hiccups, your tracks are pretty decent. This is a cellphone, not a true GPS device.
BTW I work for Garmin so with my background of GPS and how it works this is probably why the inaccuracies in your track do not bother me. One thing you have to understand there are so many factors that can play into why you might of had these spikes....Heavy tree coverage, cloud over cast, power lines, tall buildings etc...Signal multi-path can also play into these types of spikes. Not bashing, but I think it does a pretty good job for what it is.
Steeltippin said:
Lol you guys sound like some of the customers I deal with everyday. These are consumer grade devices. If you want something accurate go buy a Trimble GPS device and spend the thousands of dollars it takes to acquire one. I think even with the hiccups, your tracks are pretty decent. This is a cellphone, not a true GPS device.
BTW I work for Garmin so with my background of GPS and how it works this is probably why the inaccuracies in your track do not bother me. One thing you have to understand there are so many factors that can play into why you might of had these spikes....Heavy tree coverage, cloud over cast, power lines, tall buildings etc...Signal multi-path can also play into these types of spikes. Not bashing, but I think it does a pretty good job for what it is.
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Click to collapse
Um I am sorry I disagree with you, with my first smart phone, the G1 took seconds to lock on to 4+ birds ... and my vibrant .. see's 10 and locks on to 1 .. and its not even the one with the strongest signal ... then there is an issue. I think that is what people are complaining about.
I agree .. if the true purpose of getting something is for GPS alone, then a Garmin etc .. is great.
aohmer said:
Um I am sorry I disagree with you, with my first smart phone, the G1 took seconds to lock on to 4+ birds ... and my vibrant .. see's 10 and locks on to 1 .. and its not even the one with the strongest signal ... then there is an issue. I think that is what people are complaining about.
I agree .. if the true purpose of getting something is for GPS alone, then a Garmin etc .. is great.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The G1 had almost the same exact problem with the GPS when it was first released in October of 08. In the beginning of December, it was updated OTA and it was fixed completely. The update for the Vibrant is coming this month, have faith.
scooterman said:
supl.google.com
sky hook on
MS Based
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Skyhook is not GPS. Period.
scooterman said:
a few blips but its fairly close. ...ore it a 7/10, usable, but far from the best.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The release notes for the new Obsidian 2.2 ROM from TW says the GPS is "very accurate". I'm assuming it's got the real 2.2 drivers and SW.
It would be interesting to see a comparison of the JI6 and 2.2 GPS accuracy.
I've definitely had issues with significant inaccuracy using the Vibrant GPS for driving. It's usually fine, but sometimes it goes into rapid recalculations due to miscalculating my location on nearby streets. It's can be quite annoying if you're depending on it. I've used several standalone GPS units over the years and haven't seen this behavior before. In some ways the Vibrant GPS is better than my current standalone unit, but this inconsistent accuracy is a significant flaw.
I'm hoping 2.2 will include some improvements.
samnada said:
The release notes for the new Obsidian 2.2 ROM from TW says the GPS is "very accurate". I'm assuming it's got the real 2.2 drivers and SW.
It would be interesting to see a comparison of the JI6 and 2.2 GPS accuracy.
I've definitely had issues with significant inaccuracy using the Vibrant GPS for driving. It's usually fine, but sometimes it goes into rapid recalculations due to miscalculating my location on nearby streets. It's can be quite annoying if you're depending on it. I've used several standalone GPS units over the years and haven't seen this behavior before. In some ways the Vibrant GPS is better than my current standalone unit, but this inconsistent accuracy is a significant flaw.
I'm hoping 2.2 will include some improvements.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Although GPS test reports an accuracy of 6-10 yards roughly, once I start Maps, the accuracy varies on a much wider range. Driving in big city is not much fun when you could be anywhere within a 200 yard range.

Main Epic GPS bug likely not addressed in Upcoming Foryo release

Just flashed one of my Epics. I am under the distinct impression that the main bug is not fixed. I am getting less locks on froyo epic than on two other epics held in same place with cold start workaround. The fact that it took four minutes to get first fix means that even on the first attempt it did not properly fill the almanac/ephemeris cache! That first fix should have taken about 5 to 10 seconds!
Will report some additional testing over the next few days.
aero1 said:
Just flashed one of my Epics. I am under the distinct impression that the main bug is not fixed. Will report some additional testing over the next few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Keep in mind that this is a leak, a beta at best - it's still using the DI18 modem.bin.
aero1 said:
Just flashed one of my Epics. I am under the distinct impression that the main bug is not fixed. Will report some additional testing over the next few days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
we don't know yet...cause most likely the fix will be in modem not the rom and the devs don't have the modem yet....The rom just helped out the accuracy...
Why dont we wait for Froyo to actually be released before we say things dont work.
I agree, that people should not post thread titles that suggest they are part of the official source or internal testing unless they actually are.
My gps locks within 10 seconds on froyo and eclair. No mod needed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
joefx13 said:
My gps locks within 10 seconds on froyo and eclair. No mod needed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you had any idea as to how the bug presents you would know why it will sicne you just flashed your phone.
Jedi2155 said:
I agree, that people should not post thread titles that suggest they are part of the official source or internal testing unless they actually are.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Welcome to XDA. I have spoken to ADS doing the testing.
aero1 said:
Just flashed one of my Epics. I am under the distinct impression that the main bug is not fixed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's a given! The official Froyo on the International SGS's GPS didn't get fixed, so why would they fix it on the Epic?
Personally, I say the problem is hardware and Samsung will brush this under the run. Really, it's not like the phone isn't selling and they're getting ready to put out a new Flagship phone. Why would they invest time and money into fixing something that going to be replaced soon and is still selling well?
I think the only way they will fix it is if there is a lawsuit and they are forced into it. Outside of that, all Galaxy S variant owners, that don't have a working GPS, is SOL.
If it's not fixed I'll have to let go of samsung. There's no reason something like this should be ignored. It was annoying on the moment, and now it's annoying on the epic. My evo and hero never had a problem.
How is it that I have never had an issue with the GPS? It works flawlessly for me. It isn't very accurate, but it locks on near instantly every time as long as I am outside. Doesn't seem like there is a bug at all to me, other than the accuracy of the lock.
Might just be something you guys are doing or some setting you changed.
muyoso said:
How is it that I have never had an issue with the GPS? It works flawlessly for me. It isn't very accurate, but it locks on near instantly every time as long as I am outside. Doesn't seem like there is a bug at all to me, other than the accuracy of the lock.
Might just be something you guys are doing or some setting you changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If it was something people were doing, you'd see GPS issues on all phones that have GPS. Currently, no phones seem to have an issue with GPS except for Samsung Galaxy S phones.
What might cause different issues (some have decent GPS, others can't even get a lock, some in the middle) is the antenna may be marginal. A marginal antenna might work or have issues based on just how well it's soldered in. Too much solder, not enough, or it got soldered in at just a slight angle... Who knows other then Samsung, and their not saying or fixing it. If it was just a software problem, I'll bet they would have had it fixed by now and you wouldn't see such a wide variety of problems.
muyoso said:
How is it that I have never had an issue with the GPS? It works flawlessly for me. It isn't very accurate, but it locks on near instantly every time as long as I am outside. Doesn't seem like there is a bug at all to me, other than the accuracy of the lock.
Might just be something you guys are doing or some setting you changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you running the leaked Froyo release? (That is what this thread is about.)
The general property of the GPS locking bug is that it does not occur under all conditions. It's root cause is buggy handling of the GPS cache after it becomes stale. There are many things that can cause the time-dependent cache to be cleared or refreshed, including frequent use of the GPS or rebooting.
How do you even know that you have a good GPS lock if the fix is inaccurate? Do you use a utility such as GPS Test to show how many satellites are being used? Since the actual accuracy of the GPS, when it does get a multi-bird lock, is pretty good, my bet is that you don't have a good satellite lock at all. In any case, if the bottom-line accuracy is poor, it cannot be said that your GPS "works flawlessly."
muyoso said:
How is it that I have never had an issue with the GPS? It works flawlessly for me. It isn't very accurate, but it locks on near instantly every time as long as I am outside. Doesn't seem like there is a bug at all to me, other than the accuracy of the lock.
Might just be something you guys are doing or some setting you changed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are threads everywhere on how to replicate this problem. Enable WiFi or 4G, wait 4 hours, then try to get a lock. Your phone won't. It is unable to get assistance data over anything other than Ev-DO/1x-RTT.
I have seen anecdotal reports on the main DJ29 thread in which users first experienced good GPS performance, but later the GPS locking failures started. This is completely consistent with the buggy behavior of the stock Epic. (There also is a lot of noise from naive cowboy "testers" proclaiming that their GPS works fine with the new ROM. Their GPS units would work just as fine -- temporarily -- if they only did a factory reset of a stock Epic. They have no clue how to test for this GPS bug.)
Meanwhile, there are skimpy reports that there is a later Froyo version, DK05, which also includes an updated modem.bin module. Unfortunately, that version is not generally available for testing.
I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED at people saying they have no gps problem AND THEN they follow it up with "I mean it's off by 100 to 300 feet, but I have no gps problem"
If the gps doesn't show EXACTLY what room you are sitting in - in your house, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
I for one use the phone exactly like a normal person does - I walk in and out of wifi zones all day, I use it to talk, I hardly turn it off and power cycle it
AND in that situation, even with cold start enabled THE EPIC GPS IS USELESS!!!
If it's not fixed in the next release, I'm selling it, even though I love it and I will NEVER buy another Samsung product again.
There have been MULTIPLE times the GPS lets me down, across ALL different APPS. It's purely PATHETIC on Sprint and Samsungs part.
J3ff said:
I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED at people saying they have no gps problem AND THEN they follow it up with "I mean it's off by 100 to 300 feet, but I have no gps problem"
If the gps doesn't show EXACTLY what room you are sitting in - in your house, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
I for one use the phone exactly like a normal person does - I walk in and out of wifi zones all day, I use it to talk, I hardly turn it off and power cycle it
AND in that situation, even with cold start enabled THE EPIC GPS IS USELESS!!!
If it's not fixed in the next release, I'm selling it, even though I love it and I will NEVER buy another Samsung product again.
There have been MULTIPLE times the GPS lets me down, across ALL different APPS. It's purely PATHETIC on Sprint and Samsungs part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked perfectly for me with cold start on DI18. Room to room and driving. Locked on within 1 minute. I updated to Froyo. Now I have never gotten a lock.
J3ff said:
I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED at people saying they have no gps problem AND THEN they follow it up with "I mean it's off by 100 to 300 feet, but I have no gps problem"
If the gps doesn't show EXACTLY what room you are sitting in - in your house, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
I for one use the phone exactly like a normal person does - I walk in and out of wifi zones all day, I use it to talk, I hardly turn it off and power cycle it
AND in that situation, even with cold start enabled THE EPIC GPS IS USELESS!!!
If it's not fixed in the next release, I'm selling it, even though I love it and I will NEVER buy another Samsung product again.
There have been MULTIPLE times the GPS lets me down, across ALL different APPS. It's purely PATHETIC on Sprint and Samsungs part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont know how you can call something useless that works well for driving navigation. Sure, it is not accurate. It can only pinpoint your location to a circle with a diameter of 98ft. Obviously we would all love to see this fixed. But to say that it is useless is just dumb. It might be useless for certain applications, but for the most used application it is usable. Not great, but useable.
Also, the main complaint I have heard from people is that the GPS simply wouldn't lock, not that it wasn't accurate. As a response to that, I am perfectly comfortable saying that mine is working perfectly, because my GPS locks within 5 seconds consistantly. Sure, it doesn't lock onto 9 satellites and the location data it is providing isnt super accurate, but it can reliably pinpoint my location on this massive planet to within 100ft within 5 seconds of me asking it to.
Don't mistake this response for me defending any of its shortcomings. It is not as accurate as any of my previous phones, which is ridiculous. My only defense of it is that it locks near instantly.
you are not set to have it only work on GPS.
98 feet is not accurate. Sorry but where I live there are LOTS of roads within 98 feet of me.
Actually, i was at a bar about an hour ago and a girl asked me to find directions from where we were, to her car........ it was aabout 600 feet inaccurate. We were sitting in a bar, and it was showing us sitting on I95.
yea that as impressive for a top of the line phone.
NOT
J3ff said:
I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED at people saying they have no gps problem AND THEN they follow it up with "I mean it's off by 100 to 300 feet, but I have no gps problem"
If the gps doesn't show EXACTLY what room you are sitting in - in your house, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
I for one use the phone exactly like a normal person does - I walk in and out of wifi zones all day, I use it to talk, I hardly turn it off and power cycle it
AND in that situation, even with cold start enabled THE EPIC GPS IS USELESS!!!
If it's not fixed in the next release, I'm selling it, even though I love it and I will NEVER buy another Samsung product again.
There have been MULTIPLE times the GPS lets me down, across ALL different APPS. It's purely PATHETIC on Sprint and Samsungs part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
so sell it? whats stopping you.. you are going to get another phone with better GPS but its going to suck at everything else the Epic does very well. I for one am willing to take ****ty gps vs a ****ty phone
J3ff said:
I am CONSTANTLY AMAZED at people saying they have no gps problem AND THEN they follow it up with "I mean it's off by 100 to 300 feet, but I have no gps problem"
If the gps doesn't show EXACTLY what room you are sitting in - in your house, YOU HAVE A PROBLEM.
I for one use the phone exactly like a normal person does - I walk in and out of wifi zones all day, I use it to talk, I hardly turn it off and power cycle it
AND in that situation, even with cold start enabled THE EPIC GPS IS USELESS!!!
If it's not fixed in the next release, I'm selling it, even though I love it and I will NEVER buy another Samsung product again.
There have been MULTIPLE times the GPS lets me down, across ALL different APPS. It's purely PATHETIC on Sprint and Samsungs part.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1) Phone works for driving nav, the only reason I need a GPS chip in the phone. I don't care if Twitter knows I'm at a mistress' house while I tweet, in fact, I would hope that it wouldn't know.
2) Unlike my former Hero, I have never been portrayed on the map on a biway. The Hero did it all the time and it used to piss me off to no end. Who cares if the phone can tell you what address you're at, but can't tell if you're in the bathroom or in bed? You do realize that building materials can affect this issue (and since I live in Florida where houses are mandated to not fall down during a hurricane, pretty thick material).

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