Database Users

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This thread is idiotic.

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

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

EDIT. Got it working

Care to share?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Q] GPS trouble on Acer Iconia 500

Hey,
I got an Iconia A500 about a week ago and have been moderately happy with it, except for one thing. The GPS. I've been all over the internet, through a variety of searches and found this to be a common problem. Acer's build quality is a little crappy in the case of this tablet (you get what you pay for), but the GPS is an exceptional case, it seems.
What I am trying to determine is if it is a hardware issue, or software. If it's hardware (which I suspect), I need to know before the return period runs out. If it's software, I can wait for a fix. That is my dilemma.
The first tablet I had didn't work at all. Inside, outside, sunny, cloudy, I never got ANY results on GPS Test. I have rooted the tablet and used the Fasterfix mod with no effect. So I returned it.
The second device works, but only intermittently and in ideal conditions. If there is any kind of cover (including a car roof, sun umbrella or cloud cover), the satellites disappear. What is interesting is that once a connection is established, it seems to hold onto it for a brief period after I bring it under cover. I have to leave it on my dashboard for about 2-5 minutes to get a connection, which will sustain itself for about 30 seconds after I bring it further into the vehicle. After that, the satellites disappear from the screen.
This is frustrating. It would be one thing if it was completely broken or completely working, but this intermittent stuff is driving me nuts.
So should I take it back for round 3, should I return it outright, or should I wait and hope for a software fix?
I'm otherwise happy with the tablet, despite it being a little slow to render PDF files, which I use it for regularly. I understand this is supposed to speed up with 3.1 though.
Cheers,
-PW

Make sure you upgrade to 3.1 Lots of GPS Fixes it in..
Download an App called GPS Status. its Free.. And see what and how many satellites its even getting if any. Also I do know Acer has said repeatedly for the GPS to work on 3.0 for the first time you have to be connected to a wifi access point, because the GPS is a A-GPS (Assisted GPS) However If you have Android 3.1 installed you should be good to go and no require a Access Point. I proved that one myself yesterday.
A Co-Worker of Mine had to return his Acer Tablet for the same reasons you are describing. So I wouldn't put it past a bad allotment of Tablets. But his second one ended up working. You May need to try a 3rd I wouldnt put it past it.

I have been using GPS Test, which I understand provides the same functionality as GPS Status.
I manually flash updated to 3.1 and noticed now that I've been picking up exactly 1 satellite indoors now, which is odd since I got nothing before. Now I'm even more confused.

I thought that the GPS was buggered in mine too because I opened mapdroyd and it wouldn't find my location. I decided to let it sit for a while with the app open and after about 5 minutes it locked on and stayed locked for a 40 minute drive.

I think the agps information that GPS Status was downloading was making my GPS fix times considerably worse. I removed that application and all other GPS third party applications. My fix times in google maps is much better now (about 30 seconds indoors right now tonight).
Rob

Update:
I let it sit overnight, with the screen forced on and GPS Test running. In the 40 minutes before I went to bed it didn't find anything, but in the morning (roughly 8 hours later), it had found 9 and was locked onto 3. This makes me think that the hardware is capable of seeing these things, but the software is too dumb to lock onto them or look in the right direction to find them.
Strangely enough, the 3 it locked onto had the lowest SNR. The other 6 with 25+, some over 40. What are the parameters that cause it to "lock" rather than simply be detected?
Of course, I've since relocated to work and its now not picking up anything at all. Obviously, if I have to wait 8+ hours before each use, it's not going to be a very useful function.
Maybe my almanac data is not updating. Does anyone know what the best server to use for western canada is?
Cheers,
-Chris

Another Update:
As it turns out, most of my GPS problems look to be caused by a faulty compass. That makes sense, if you think about it. A broken compass makes the almanac data useless, since the tablet has no point of reference in which to follow the directions given by the almanac data.
I tried calibrating the compass to no effect. It just kept spinning around like it was drunk. So I returned the tablet and got a new one. I'm getting better results.
An interesting note is that the sales guy at the store (Future Shop) said that GPS not working was the number one reason this tablet got returned, and he got back a lot of them. Seems there is a hardware issue after all.
Cheers,
-PW

Want to know why the SGS GPS is crap? Read here

We all know that the GPS unit on our beloved SGS sucks badly. Firstly it takes ages and ages to find a good signal, and secondly it chews up bucketloads of battery to get there.
The other day I was talking to someone about GPS units within some handheld devices at work, and he told me something that completely blew me away - how GPS units ACTUALLY work as opposed to how most people think they work.
Firstly let me preface this by saying that he used (and I will use) the "Lies to Children" method of technical communication. If you are not a Terry Pratchett fan, it basically means that instead of explaining a subject to the Nth degree and getting the full detail across, you sum it up with what is essentially and technically a lie - but one that's a half-truth that will pave the way for future understanding.
Example? "The sun rises in the east and sets in the west". Comparatively speaking against the Earth, the Sun does NOT move. The actual truth is the sun moves within the galaxy and within the galaxy cluster and within the universe. The earth also moves in a similar manner and also rotates on its axis with a slight wobble that technically provide seasons. How does that relate to a 5 year old? "Yeah, uh, kid. The sun, you see, it rises in the east". A "lie" but one that works for everyone, and when their brain absorbs enough other information you can explain it properly (with another "lie", but one that's more truthful than the previous one)
Back to the topic:
I thought, like most of you probably think, that a phone's GPS works by having some kind of 2-way method of communication. When you enable the GPS unit and go into maps, the device starts broadcasting to the satellites to say "I'm here, now where is 'here'?" That's not the case.
It works a bit like this (and pardon the analogies)
Let's say there are 3 satellites are in geosynchronous orbit at fixed locations. For the sake of the description we'll call them FRED, GEORGE, and BILL. A lot of time and money was spent to make sure that they don't vary that location by a factor of a few cm before they re-correct their location. A bunch more time and money went into their internal time-keeping mechanisms so that they are also VERY accurate.
From their location they broadcast a signal outward. Fred says "HI I'M FRED LOCATED AT POSITION X AND THE TIME IS SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2012 7:15PM AND 38.123456789 SECONDS"..."HI I'M FRED LOCATED AT POSITION X AND THE TIME IS SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2012 7:15PM AND 38.123456790 SECONDS" and so on.
George says "HI I'M GEORGE LOCATED AT POSITION Y AND THE TIME IS SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2012 7:15PM AND 38.123456789 SECONDS"..."HI I'M GEORGE LOCATED AT POSITION Y AND THE TIME IS SUNDAY 18TH MARCH 2012 7:15PM AND 38.123456790 SECONDS" and so on.
And Bill...I can't be stuffed writing it, let's just say Bill screams out his location and the current time, multiple times a second.
Now, while some satellites broadcast in higher or lower timings, the basics are the same: Current position, plus the current (accurate) time. (Some also send information regarding the other satellites it "knows" around it. Eg, "HI I'M BILL AT POSITION Z AND THE TIME IS BLAH AND I CAN SEE GEORGE AND FRED. THEY DON'T SAY MUCH, SO IT SURE IS LONELY UP HERE").
My point here is that the satellite neither knows nor cares who you are or where you are, it just pumps out that racket like a noisy teenager with a new stereo and what they THINK is the coolest music ever.
When the 3 signals are received on the ground by the GPS unit, it works out: "Bill thinks it's THIS TIME....George thinks it's THAT TIME...and Fred thinks it's this OTHER TIME....that means my distance from each one is actually THIS FAR and the real time is NOW". From that you can bang your location in LATITUDE and LONGITUDE on a map.
Sure, there are complications due to altitude and speed and direction, and you really need more than 3 satellites to work out where you are. But the reality is that, based on the lag in the signal from transmission to receiving (able to be calculated due to the speed of light), we can work out how long each signal took to get to the unit and therefore how far from the satellites we are. If you know where the satellite is supposed to be, you can work out where you are on the globe.
It really is that simple.
So when I found all of that out, I asked the question: If the satellite is really all that counts in this case, why does our GPS blow? In fact, why does any GPS work better than others?
Well, there are multiple factors:
Firstly, just like a good barman or psychologist, some "listen" better than others. The PASSIVE radio signal needs to be received by a unit that has a decent antenna and doesn't have other electrical crap affecting it. Anyone look inside their phone and see the antenna (and it's location)? Yup, it's in a pretty bad position and it's a pretty bad antenna.
Even if we were somehow to isolate the GPS unit and bring it out away from the interference, it's a pretty bad receiver. If you've ever listened to a transistor radio and compared it to a $4000 stereo unit, you know what I mean. Noise = bad data = bad location finding.
Secondly, the signal needs to be interpreted. When each broadcast hits the phone, the receiver accepts it and shunts it to the processor to work out. Slower phones can process less signals, especially when the OS may put a limit on how much processor time should be dedicated into working out the signals (there's no point using 100% of your processor when that means you can't display it properly on the map or let the user actually interact with the maps app)
Thirdly, we don't know all the positions of the satellites. When the signals first start getting processed, your phone communicates with the NTP servers it has located in your GPS.CONF. It asks which satellites are where and where that actually may be on the globe. Remember how I said each satellite tells you it's position? That was a "lie to children" moment. The damned thing is in the SKY after all. So, while we technically know where it is, the information means jack and sh*t to the GPS unit unless it has more information available.
What I mean here is: What part of the world can that satellite see/broadcast to? The satellite doesn't know or care, and it's not broadcasting that information at any case. There's more than a couple of satellites up there, so the phone needs to check back the NTP.ORG to work out some basics. As your phone uses the GPS function more and more, it stores up the addresses of the satellites that you know and love in your neck of the woods (including ones that are not geostationary) and will need to rely less on a data connection.
That's why when you use GPS the first time after a fresh flash it is just plain crap, but after a few more tries it works better. And that's why it's important to use FasterFix or a like app to nominate the closest/best NTP server for you - the closer servers respond quicker over the 'net and also have the list of "closest" stationary satellites stored at the front of the file. If you're in Australia you don't care about the 'merican or European sats, but they come afterward "in case you're overseas"
Lastly, when you take it all into account, if you have bad weather or tall buildings around you, then the signals blasted down from on high either get muted, muddled, or bounced around. The error correction in our phones is non-existent - it doesn't actually need to be due to the fact it's a PHONE and not a GPS unit, but some devices can and do filter out the known "dodgy" signals before processing. I'm pretty sure that when the techies run out of toys to add to or fix in our phones, they'll add altimeters and thermometers and they'll fix the GPS post-processing to get the signal down pat.
In case you're wondering, the whiz-bang GPS units that can get extra awesome resolution (down to beyond cm) have the list of every single satellite location up there stored internally, the on-board processor is dedicated to working out what the signals mean, and the GPS chip itself normally has a great big honking antenna on it and is extra receptive. Ours is a 2 dollar job from some bulk offload sale.
There you have it. Thanks for letting me brain dump. Hope this helps some people's understanding!

Interesting. I had always thought it was a simple two-way communication between the phone and a geostationary satellite. But in retrospect, that would be extremely inaccurate seeing as how the attenuation over such a long distance, as well as the interference with other phones (which might be using the same frequency because GPS is not network controlled, unlike calls) would make it difficult for the satellite to tell where the signal came from. This explanation makes much more sense. Thanks!

So, its still better to use an app like GPS Aids so the GPS would be "up" faster... Thanks for explanation, you sir, get a thanks.

Wow! Nice post, well written and very informative!
But I don't understand, how the help is GPS free when all this technology is so expensive!?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA

Yes. Good post. Except the GPS satellites aren't geostationary. They orbit the earth twice a day at an altitude of approximately 20.000km. There are 6 different orbit planes and 4 satellites per orbit.
A geostationary satellite sits directly above the equator at an altitude of about 36.000km. One orbit lasts excactly one day and thus the satellite appears as if it's standing still in the sky.
You can google all that if you like.
GPS would be simple if all the satellites were geostationary, but that would make triangulation very difficult. Especially around the polar areas. Therefore they must be orbiting crisscross all over the globe. But that also makes geostationary orbits impossible (it is only possible directly above the equator).

Thanks given simply for the Terry Pratchett reference (I'm addicted to Discworld novels)

Here are my 2 cents about this whole "closer NTP server = better results"
1) NTP server is just a time server. It doesn't store any info regarding any satellite in your neighborhood. That's the role of A-GPS server - in our case it's supl.google.com that you see in every gps.conf.
2) We all get our current time from our mobile provider or manually setting it in settings. So we don't sync our clock to NTP server time. Our phone will just use NTP to figure out the offset - i.e. how accurate our clock really is. It can also take into account the delay factor caused by network latency since it's something relatively easy to measure. So in the end of the day it won't really matter what NTP server you use as long as it works and you don't have any network issues with it.
From my experience all these NTP games are one big placebo effect.
The only tips I got for better GPS are:
A) Clear GPS cache after not using it for a long period of time (or let android do that for you eventually).
B) Use mobile network data for faster fix (A-GPS).
C) Keep the antena free from any obstacles - In car place the phone directly under the front glass, don't expect it to work under the roof.
While running if you use armband, place the phone with its screen toward your arm since if placed otherwise your arm will blocks the gps signal completely.

Any one know why mine is fine and grabs lock within 10 seconds indoor with iGO and GPS test?
I didn't f*)Kin camp outside a electronic store JUST to get one on release date I got one from later batch which fixes hardware GPS reception issue

All GPS use one-way communication.. it would become too expensive n complicated to have two-way communication
1) The GPS receivers here on earth would require complicated and high power circuitry to send signals to satellites miles above the earth. It would suck a battery dry in minutes
2) The GPS satellites would require to handle communication with an exponentially increasing number of GPS units on the ground. That would require huge processing power, multiple channel support and communication management to avoid clashes between communicating units. Satellites are situated so high up that signals to and from satellites accrue a lot of noise n distortion.. For proper signals, satellites can only transmit data at very low data rates and have low bandwidth..
GPS requires exact timing, and I mean atomic clock exact. Its impossible to have atomic clocks in today's small devices. So satellites have a very accurate atomic clock on board.. Heck, some satellites have 3 on board to correct clock drift and error!! Even then, GPS devices were very expensive.
Then, some scientist found a way to find the exact location and time by using the really small timing variations in satellite signals. Coz of that, we can now afford GPS chips at $50..
Our phones don't have space for large ceramic antennas (one GPS unit I have has a 25x25x4 mm antenna on top!!) And the timing variation trick helps even low power units pick up satellite signals, but they are slightly less sensitive.. They won't be able to pick up weak signals, which your car nav unit will..
Also, processing GPS data doesn't take that much processing.. Almost all GPS units output their data in a standard format called NMEA format and the location data looks something like:
$GPGGA,<time>,<latitude>,<longitude>,<fix quality>,<no. of satellites>,<altitude>......
All the processor has to do is use this data.. A processor doesn't have to calculate anything at all with regards to actually locating the device. The GPS chip does it all..
Sorry for the really long post.. I hope it makes sense.. I'm doing a project which uses a GPS unit, so I've been studying on it..

First let me start by saying that I have a habit of drunk posting. So I logged into XDA today at work and went "huh? An extra bunch of 'Thanks'? What the hell have I done now?"
Which means that while the information in the OP does a decent job of summing up what I was told, some was a little off. Cheers for pointing out where I got things wrong.
Remember, last week "my mind = blown" by the fact that GPS isn't 2-way...which makes sense but is one of those things that I never considered...
Don MC said:
Yes. Good post. Except the GPS satellites aren't geostationary. They orbit the earth twice a day at an altitude of approximately 20.000km. There are 6 different orbit planes and 4 satellites per orbit.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are quite right, there are a whole bunch of sats whizzing around up there in set orbits. Some of them "talk" to ground stations to get updates about the world in general, but a bunch just go screaming past blaring out their message.
I asked my mate at work who told me about how GPS works....his response? "Yeah, Lies to Children works like that." Apparently a combination of his half-explanation and my beer meant I got something wrong there. Sorry.
To give the full information about the different sats flying about, and how they get send the information....well, apparently it was easier to say "geostationary" !!
mike.sw said:
Here are my 2 cents about this whole "closer NTP server = better results"
1) NTP server is just a time server. It doesn't store any info regarding any satellite in your neighborhood. That's the role of A-GPS server - in our case it's supl.google.com that you see in every gps.conf.
2) We all get our current time from our mobile provider or manually setting it in settings. So we don't sync our clock to NTP server time. Our phone will just use NTP to figure out the offset - i.e. how accurate our clock really is. It can also take into account the delay factor caused by network latency since it's something relatively easy to measure. So in the end of the day it won't really matter what NTP server you use as long as it works and you don't have any network issues with it.
From my experience all these NTP games are one big placebo effect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again, you're right. But in the GPS.conf file there are both NTP and A-GPS servers. I was of the understanding the NTP address information also gave ...wait, disregard - just Googled that.
NTP only gives you time. And it won't matter which NTP server you get unless you have networking issues. I suppose the answer there lies in the fact that a "closer" NTP server will get you a quicker response to begin with, so your phone can start the process of working out the offset quicker....
Good tips, though I'm too much of a beer drinker to go running. Screen in or out.
ilabs said:
All GPS use one-way communication.. it would become too expensive n complicated to have two-way communication
1) The GPS receivers here on earth would require complicated and high power circuitry to send signals to satellites miles above the earth. It would suck a battery dry in minutes
2) The GPS satellites would require to handle communication with an exponentially increasing number of GPS units on the ground. That would require huge processing power, multiple channel support and communication management to avoid clashes between communicating units. Satellites are situated so high up that signals to and from satellites accrue a lot of noise n distortion.. For proper signals, satellites can only transmit data at very low data rates and have low bandwidth..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct...but kids these days also assume that steak literally grows on trees. Assumptions are the mother of all....
ilabs said:
Our phones don't have space for large ceramic antennas (one GPS unit I have has a 25x25x4 mm antenna on top!!) And the timing variation trick helps even low power units pick up satellite signals, but they are slightly less sensitive.. They won't be able to pick up weak signals, which your car nav unit will..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Correct, that was my point about the crappy GPS chip being like a crappy transistor radio. The combination of the quality of the chip plus the really really bad antenna (and it's position) means that people will not get car-gps like quality from their phone....and they shouldn't !!!
ilabs said:
Also, processing GPS data doesn't take that much processing.. Almost all GPS units output their data in a standard format called NMEA format and the location data looks something like:
$GPGGA,<time>,<latitude>,<longitude>,<fix quality>,<no. of satellites>,<altitude>......
All the processor has to do is use this data.. A processor doesn't have to calculate anything at all with regards to actually locating the device. The GPS chip does it all..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're talking about the "final" output, but when I mentioned processing I meant the processing of the signal received.
I asked again about this. It was explained thusly: If you have interference in the form of tall buildings (for example) then the signal will actually bounce around a bit before being picked up. That "echo" can sometimes give a false reading if you took that one bit of information as a whole, as it's not a true representation of the time it took for the signal to get down from the sat.
So the device collects constantly and shunts that information to the processor to determine the length of time between when the sat spat it out and when the unit received it.
Now say every 10th "message" is a bounced/echo one. If the device is only able to process every 5th message, then it's potentially going to have up to half the messages be a dodgy echo job = bad location. It will catch up, eventually, but will take longer to know something weird is going on.
If, on the other hand, the more powerful processor was able to work out every 3rd message or more, then a more accurate fix comes quicker.
ilabs said:
Sorry for the really long post.. I hope it makes sense.. I'm doing a project which uses a GPS unit, so I've been studying on it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, the more people who post (sober) the better the information we have!!! Post away and make it long! Mine was!!

MrAndroid12 said:
Any one know why mine is fine and grabs lock within 10 seconds indoor with iGO and GPS test?
I didn't f*)Kin camp outside a electronic store JUST to get one on release date I got one from later batch which fixes hardware GPS reception issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Luck....pure kiwi luck? lol.
I know my hardware blows. Takes anything from 30 seconds to 1 minute to get a dodgy half-lock.
I was thinking about packing it in for a new phone but a) still got a plan to pay off and b) ICS made the device more than useable in every other aspect.

wogfella said:
You're talking about the "final" output, but when I mentioned processing I meant the processing of the signal received.
I asked again about this. It was explained thusly: If you have interference in the form of tall buildings (for example) then the signal will actually bounce around a bit before being picked up. That "echo" can sometimes give a false reading if you took that one bit of information as a whole, as it's not a true representation of the time it took for the signal to get down from the sat.
So the device collects constantly and shunts that information to the processor to determine the length of time between when the sat spat it out and when the unit received it.
Now say every 10th "message" is a bounced/echo one. If the device is only able to process every 5th message, then it's potentially going to have up to half the messages be a dodgy echo job = bad location. It will catch up, eventually, but will take longer to know something weird is going on.
If, on the other hand, the more powerful processor was able to work out every 3rd message or more, then a more accurate fix comes quicker.
Dude, the more people who post (sober) the better the information we have!!! Post away and make it long! Mine was!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haha.. Yeah, the assumptions that you hear from time to time!! Makes even standard fiction seem possible!!
When I was talking about the processing, yeah, it was the final processing. But the processing of the GPS signal is only done by the GPS chip, not the processor to which the data is output. Generally GPS satellite signal frequencies are such that they die out very quickly when reflected off or passing through objects and buildings. That's why you get the best signal out under the open sky. The processing of the final received signals is done completely by the GPS chip. A standard GPS chip has only TX/RX serial pins apart from power pins. As soon as you power it up, it starts spitting out GPS data. Externally interfaced processors don't have to calculate anything at all.
Apart from this, everything is spot on!!
---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 PM ----------
MrAndroid12 said:
Any one know why mine is fine and grabs lock within 10 seconds indoor with iGO and GPS test?
I didn't f*)Kin camp outside a electronic store JUST to get one on release date I got one from later batch which fixes hardware GPS reception issue
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Generally, when you first start up a GPS unit, its called a cold start coz it takes time. It will take time to scan for satellites and make a database of satellites around. Once it has at least 3 satellites in view, it has enough data to perform a proper triangulation to give your location. As the antennas on a phone are weaker, there's a certain error in a signal, which is why Google maps first shows your estimated location in a blue circle. As you begin to move, more data like heading and stuff is known and your position becomes accurate.
Sometimes even I get a lock in 10 seconds, sometimes not even in half an hour. That happens when there are no strong satellites above. If you always get a lock, I guess you're lucky to have a good number of satellites hovering over your phone like guiding angels..

wogfella said:
NTP only gives you time. And it won't matter which NTP server you get unless you have networking issues. I suppose the answer there lies in the fact that a "closer" NTP server will get you a quicker response to begin with, so your phone can start the process of working out the offset quicker....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "quicker" result may be important if you query ntp servers every second (the default rate for GPS sample I think), however ntp is being queried once in a while - not sure the exact interval maybe one of the developers here can help with that.
If everyone of us would query the ntp servers every second they would be hammered to horrible death.

In "normal" NTP setups, client systems, like your desktop, query a small number (perhaps between 1--10) NTP servers every so often, e.g. once per minute (or 64 seconds in a common UNIX implementation). This can vary depending on response.
NTP is designed to get microsecond wall-clock time accuracy despite round-trips to NTP servers often taking tens, or even hundreds of milliseconds.
I believe most Android phone GPS chips update position once per second. There are apps that will confirm this.
I don't believe there's any need to repeatedly query NTP servers every second.
However, the hardware clocks in phones are terrible. Mine drifts up to one second per day, until the clocksync app uses an NTP query to drag it back to reality. Note this is different to how it's normally done on a PC: there, the OS clock is sped up or slowed, so that the time can gradually skew towards reality. For a large difference, the time has to be stepped, all in one go, which isn't ideal from an OS perspective (e.g. timed callbacks, etc).
So I can see that more frequent NTP checks might help a little, for GPS, but not a lot.
Note that consumer GPS units (e.g. automotive, handheld) do not use NTP at all, nor do they have expensive hardware clocks. So I'm not at all convinced why NTP is "required" on Android GPS, unless it's because most phones default to getting the time from the mobile network, which can be *minutes* off.
Finally, sadly, none of the above even remotely explains why our SGS phones have a reputation for (or in fact "are") worse at GPS than other similar phones...
Edit: meant to add: the latter is perhaps mostly likely explained by a combination of poor antenna design, and sub-optimal GPS implementation in the Broadcom chip (which I believe is the one involved).

I wanna kno why the x10 has such a bad camera
OMG. Counter Strike On Android! http://cs-portable.net/

I wanna kno why the sgs has such a bad camera

Very interesting

ilabs said:
Haha.. Yeah, the assumptions that you hear from time to time!! Makes even standard fiction seem possible!!
When I was talking about the processing, yeah, it was the final processing. But the processing of the GPS signal is only done by the GPS chip, not the processor to which the data is output. Generally GPS satellite signal frequencies are such that they die out very quickly when reflected off or passing through objects and buildings. That's why you get the best signal out under the open sky. The processing of the final received signals is done completely by the GPS chip. A standard GPS chip has only TX/RX serial pins apart from power pins. As soon as you power it up, it starts spitting out GPS data. Externally interfaced processors don't have to calculate anything at all.
Apart from this, everything is spot on!!
---------- Post added at 04:34 PM ---------- Previous post was at 04:27 PM ----------
Generally, when you first start up a GPS unit, its called a cold start coz it takes time. It will take time to scan for satellites and make a database of satellites around. Once it has at least 3 satellites in view, it has enough data to perform a proper triangulation to give your location. As the antennas on a phone are weaker, there's a certain error in a signal, which is why Google maps first shows your estimated location in a blue circle. As you begin to move, more data like heading and stuff is known and your position becomes accurate.
Sometimes even I get a lock in 10 seconds, sometimes not even in half an hour. That happens when there are no strong satellites above. If you always get a lock, I guess you're lucky to have a good number of satellites hovering over your phone like guiding angels..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My cold starts take no longer than 10 seconds for a 50-30 meter lock. After it is warmed up, GPS takes a matter of 2 seconds to grab lock @ 10 meters and 5 shortly after.
---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 PM ----------
MattyOnXperiaX10 said:
I wanna kno why the sgs has such a bad camera
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not that bad, is it?

I wanted to shoot a video for my YouTube channel using my mums phone. Galaxy s and it wasn't focusing on the camera, video quality was bad (sorry for of topic)
Ask us any Android Related Question @FeraLabsDevs on Twitter or @HowToMen

MrAndroid12 said:
My cold starts take no longer than 10 seconds for a 50-30 meter lock. After it is warmed up, GPS takes a matter of 2 seconds to grab lock @ 10 meters and 5 shortly after.
---------- Post added at 07:41 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:40 PM ----------
It's not that bad, is it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get the same start timings, provided there are satellites to lock onto.. Sometimes my cold start time is a little over a minute!! But with no satellite cover, I could be better guided by a rock than my phone..
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA

4.4.2 GPS bug

Hi All,
I've got ongoing GPS problems with my Note 3 on 4.4.2 (various stock versions and CM11):
The GPS works fine for most of the day but EVERY day between (roughly) 15:00 and 19:00 Sydney time (worst between 16:00 and 18:00) it constantly loses the GPS signal......again and again and again with two three minutes in between. Then, in the evening, it works just fine again.
Initially I thought this was a hardware fault but I have since seen two other Note 3 on 4.4.2 doing exactly the same thing. It's only at those times, surely this is some sort of software bug.
I have attached some screenshots that show this in the 'GPS Test' app.
Basically I have a full signal, then all the satellites below 60 or so disappear then they're all gone and GPS starts from scratch. After 19:00 everything is back to normal.
Anyone else in Sydney on 4.4.2 who could give this a try at those times. You'll need an app like GPS test to see this.
Obviously I can't take this to Samsung Australia as they'll just pin it on the non-Australian ROM. Hopefully they'll have 4.4.2 by the time the Note 4 is released
I've bought Ultra GPS logging to run a continuous log over the next few days which I'll attach once it's done.
TIA

If it's consistent every day at the same time, it's more likely to be an external issue. Looks to me like they're all out of range at that time.
GPS satelites have their own orbit, they are not in a fixed position overhead. There are quite a significant few areas on the planet where at fixed times there is no signal whatsoever.

ShadowLea said:
If it's consistent every day at the same time, it's more likely to be an external issue. Looks to me like they're all out of range at that time.
GPS satelites have their own orbit, they are not in a fixed position overhead. There are quite a significant few areas on the planet where at fixed times there is no signal whatsoever.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but they are definitely not out of range.These screenshots were taken while the phone was pretty much stationary, with clear view of the sky. The signal isn't going to get much better on a Note 3. When I first noticed I was in the car and supected something related but this has been going on for a few weeks now and the only thing consistent is the time of day. This happens everywhere: In the car, at home, in the park...wherever.
I'll try to disable the mobile network time sync. Who knows, maybe that makes a difference. Of course I'll only know after 17:00 tomorrow

ewok666 said:
Thanks but they are definitely not out of range.These screenshots were taken while the phone was pretty much stationary, with clear view of the sky. The signal isn't going to get much better on a Note 3. When I first noticed I was in the car and supected something related but this has been going on for a few weeks now and the only thing consistent is the time of day. This happens everywhere: In the car, at home, in the park...wherever.
I'll try to disable the mobile network time sync. Who knows, maybe that makes a difference. Of course I'll only know after 17:00 tomorrow
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mate, there is a possibility the satellites are out of range, has no relation to how clear the sky is. If the satellite is over another part of Oz, or the world, you aren't going to get a signal from it.... No GPS satellite signal = No GPS...
The pictures you display show this - in top left corner, how many satellites in view (you need a minimum of 3 with decent signal to triangulate your position)... And remember, around high rise buildings the signal isn't so accurate due to reflection off buildings...
Disabling network time sync will make it harder to find the satellites as the Note 3 downloads the satellite position for a faster lock...

Same problem here.
Hi.
I have almost the same problem, so I installed "GPS Status" from the Play Store.

ultramag69 said:
Mate, there is a possibility the satellites are out of range, has no relation to how clear the sky is. If the satellite is over another part of Oz, or the world, you aren't going to get a signal from it.... No GPS satellite signal = No GPS...
The pictures you display show this - in top left corner, how many satellites in view (you need a minimum of 3 with decent signal to triangulate your position)... And remember, around high rise buildings the signal isn't so accurate due to reflection off buildings...
Disabling network time sync will make it harder to find the satellites as the Note 3 downloads the satellite position for a faster lock...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The satellites were not out of sight. A Note 10.1 2014 next to the two Note 3 had no such problem when stationary on a table outside.
Besides, how would ALL satellites disappear from view at the same time without going inside or driving into a tunnel?

oabareload said:
Hi.
I have almost the same problem, so I installed "GPS Status" from the Play Store.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I looked at that too. How does that fix the problem?

ewok666 said:
Thanks, I looked at that too. How does that fix the problem?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Reset the connection to the Satellite

oabareload said:
Reset the connection to the Satellite
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems that is what's already happening. It's just hard to navigate when the connection is constantly being reset.

ewok666 said:
The satellites were not out of sight. A Note 10.1 2014 next to the two Note 3 had no such problem when stationary on a table outside.
Besides, how would ALL satellites disappear from view at the same time without going inside or driving into a tunnel?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ALIENS.....
Really odd....

ultramag69 said:
Disabling network time sync will make it harder to find the satellites as the Note 3 downloads the satellite position for a faster lock...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've only disabled the time sync, not the data connection. That said, made no real difference, could have been a bit better but most likely I'm just imagining that I still had some dropouts this afternoon where I should have had none. This morning everything was perfect as usual.

I've gone through two new Note 3 with GPS issues now. It just turn itself on/off whenever. Not all day is the same and some days you cannot get a constant GPS signal at all. The only solution I've found is to reset the GPS but on really bad days the GPS doesn't even last 1min. It's really bad. I've taken it to the ATT store and spoken with techs online and no one has an answer for this. I'm thinking of switching back to my Note 2 or trying for a 4rd Note 3 replacement if they allow it.
I have minimal apps on my phone so there's nothing else running in the background except for the normal services. Many believe it may be other apps but this isn't the case with me. It's very annoying and more so because I am new to this area and gotten lost several times because the GPS misreports on Google Maps.
If anyone has a good solution besides resetting please let me know. Thanks.
---------- Post added at 11:58 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------
Alright, on the phone with ATT and it appears Samsung has now acknowledged that some phones do have a faulty GPS. The note did not state whether it was a hardware or software issue but it does state they they have no fix for it. The rep was even surprise to see the note from Samsung. ATT will refuse to replace the phone because it is Samsungs fault. I feel like I've been scammed. This is my 3rd Note3 with the same GPS issue. Actually, now that the phone just updated (this morning) the GPS can't even connect. Utter ridiculous. So pissed.

I've been keeping and eye on mine after updating to ND5. Yesterday was fine even after 16:00 HOWEVER, I found that it's now playing up earlier in the day. Today I lost signal at least ten times in 30 minutes while driving between 14:00 and 14:30......It would be nice if Samsung did something about this but when did they every :-|

You know about GPS jammers ?
Some commercial drivers make use of a GPS Jammer to prevent all the stuff in the cab from correctly recording how many miles they travel. The law states that they have to take a break every so many miles. If the equipment cannot record the GPS mileage, then the law cannot be enforced. So they jam the signal.
Just a possibility to consider. Maybe you can go somewhere isolated and test it at the usual times and see if it works when you can be pretty certain that no jammers are near.

Bulbous said:
You know about GPS jammers ?
Some commercial drivers make use of a GPS Jammer to prevent all the stuff in the cab from correctly recording how many miles they travel. The law states that they have to take a break every so many miles. If the equipment cannot record the GPS mileage, then the law cannot be enforced. So they jam the signal.
Just a possibility to consider. Maybe you can go somewhere isolated and test it at the usual times and see if it works when you can be pretty certain that no jammers are near.
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Thanks, but this happens regardless of location, including a soccer field, our street, out home, my car an ALL sorts of roads. I'm sure there is some bug in either the software or the chip itself. Needless to say Samsung would not recognize either even if that was the case.

Hey mate, sorry for reviving an older thread, but I can pretty much confirm the issue is not just you, because I'm having the exact same problem.
I got impatient waiting for Samsung to push 4.4 to Australia, so I forced a 4.4 stock firmware using Odin. Ever since I've had problems with GPS dropping out. Lions like it's an issue with the Note 3 and 4.4, because my Galaxy S4 on 4.4 is perfect.
I thought I could roll back to 4.3, but turns out that's not paddle. Looks like we might be stuck with this issue until Samsung push the update here legit. I'm a field service technician, and it kinds sucks when you have to rely on GPS to get around and it doesn't work properly.

But is not australia upside down?