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Hi All,
At the moment i own a TP (a.k.a HTC Raphael), but i'm thinking about buying a new phone and the HD2 is one of the candidates. Before buying i would like to know if the GPS performance of the HD2 is up to scratch?
For some unknown reason reviews never (...hardly) include GPS tests.....WHY!!!??
The GPS performance of the TP even with the official HTC patches is still worthless. Waiting for a fix could take an hour (i'm NOT exaggerating).
pi_mento said:
Hi All,
At the moment i own a TP (a.k.a HTC Raphael), but i'm thinking about buying a new phone and the HD2 is one of the candidates. Before buying i would like to know if the GPS performance of the HD2 is up to scratch?
For some unknown reason reviews never (...hardly) include GPS tests.....WHY!!!??
The GPS performance of the TP even with the official HTC patches is still worthless. Waiting for a fix could take an hour (i'm NOT exaggerating).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i know what you are talking about, i had an TP before my HD2 too, and i have to say there is world of difference between them. with my tp i had to wait about 15 mins. with hd2 about 10 seconds.. even inside buildings i get a fix! with my tp i wouldnt even hoped for that.
so yeah its a LOT better
The HD2 is in a different GPS league from the TP, Diamond, etc. They were a disaster.
IOW it's much better IMO.
Works pretty good. I just enable QuickGPS when I flash a ROM and I never have any issues (never tried using GPS without that!)
I've an everage GPS fix in ~15sec.... It's brilliant! even from cold start!
Sometimes you get GPS even in very light buildings
GPS is awesome, simply awesome... outside get a fix in a few seconds with full sat coverage (all the columns show a satellite) inside it takes a few seconds longer and again full columns... there is barely any lag on the journy (icon vs real travel)...
GPS fix in 30 secs in Street Navi, 15 secs in Aviation software ...... great!
Also, 10-15 seconds, outside even less...
What I find amazing: Even in my living room, sitting about 1,5m away from the window, I get fix to 7-10 satellites within 20 seconds...
(Always with fresh QuickGPS data)
when i had a diamond i had no issues at all, the hd2 is a lot faster
I have never used GPS on a PDA before but have a dedicated (new) TomTom GPS unit and when I decided to try my HD2 I mounted them both in the car and ran tests.
Within 5 minutes my mind was made up. The TomTom was outperformed in all areas. The route recalculation is much much MUCH faster than the TomTom and the same applies for the aquisition of the GPS signal. Combine this with an awesome screen and it is perfect. I play music throught the headphone socket to my car stereo and run GPS at the same time. When a call comes in the music mutes and resumes when I hang up. The GPS unit runs in the background without any issue. The TomTom GPS unit is now in the cupboard collecting dust.
I have never used quick GPS as I have never had a need.
I agree, HD2 GPS works like a charm.
QuickGPS - what for!?
After reading the feedback in this thread, I suddenly remembered the QuickGPS. Last time I used it was two months ago, because... it was there to be used! Without QuickGPS I get a fix in my HD2 in around 5 seconds! I am not joking! Never felt the need to go for QuickGPS. BTW, went just now to Options and ticked "Download QuickGPS automatically". Why not!? I have Copilot 8 and love it. Just missing the QWERTY keyboard. Otherwise, there's no better combination in the world when it comes to portable phone-music-GPS-video-Internet-camera-etc, etc.
Wow! Thnx u guys for the feedback!
I can live with getting a fix within 30 sec's on a cold start (coming from an avrg. 15 mins for a fix). The HD2 seems to be the PDA/Phone that i have been waiting for since the dawn of Pocket PC 2002 .
HD2 here i come!
I've found the HD2 to actually get a GPS signal even inside my dad's car. no other gps device can get a signal through the windscreen. It's weak on the HD2, but there!!!
A bluetooth GPS stick cannot even penetrate it.
HD2 GPS is a joke!
I do not mind much if the GPS locks indoor, though HD2 does it very easily indeed (and fast). I find really bad is the very poor precision of HD2 GPS - it constantly gives a 20-40 meters error in all directions (no matter in the city or in open field, no matter how many sats are found, even 10). My old Samsung i780 has an error within 2 meters. Just record your path (on feet) with e.g. RunGPS or NaviComputer and you will see the the ugly zigzag line instead of a smooth one which I used to have with i780. Of course if you are not lucky to have HD2 with much better GPS than my..
(It is almost OK with TomTom car navigation, though, with occasional map rotating and recalculating the route).
GPS is very fast and precise here, definitely the best GPS signal out of all the WM phones I've owned
My GPS with iGO conects in about 10sec and its very precision. Corect in area of 3-4 meters
DMAND said:
GPS is very fast and precise here, definitely the best GPS signal out of all the WM phones I've owned
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is interesting, maybe your old Tmous radio (..50..) is doing a miracle. i have 2.09.51.03 radio, the previos 2.07.51 had the same bad GPS precision.
However, how do you know that it is precise? If I simply looking at a Google map standing still, I see pretty precise spot which my GPS gives, but once I begin to move, the position begis to jump 20-40 meters to all directions..
HD2's GPS really rocks! My old N95 took about 15 mins to fix.
yep fast here as well about 10 sec for a fix cold.
I actually need gps quite a bit in my line of work. I bought this phone because of it. But, it just does not work. Some claim it works fine, but at the same time they are saying they get 5-10m lock! (thats off by 30ft!) With a borrowed motorola atrix i was getting 4.9 feet accuracy (thats like accurate by 2 steps!). I think I have come to the conslusion that it will never work, and samsuck doesn't even care! Why else would they keep releasing newer phones with the exact same problems? I'm gonna jump ship...everything else about this phone is awesome. Any ideas if HTC has good gps/reception? I am thinking about the incredible S. (and i'm not a troll, I have lived with this phone's gps issues for almost 1 year now).
Get a real GPS receiver, and don't expect it will be cheap if you want a real 4.9ft accuracy.
and for i9000 is about 15ft~30ft accuracy, quite good when compare to my garmin unit.
Samsung should get sued for that piece of hardware ****... but the i9000 is still the best phone
You should try Darkys 10.1 with Darky Core and JVO Modem. GPS works okay but no perfectly !
i do like this:
android market : gps toolbox , in settings has 2 options - download agps satelites and reset gps
1st i download the satelites data
2nd i reset gps
and after closing this app , i open my gps soft and it works , i use iGO
Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.
And if your unit performs worse than everyone else's SGS, then you might consider bending the contacts that connect the GPS antenna inside. Seems they don't make good contact on many units.
There is a thread about it somewhere.
Mike
Garbled meaning induced by swype when posting from XDA app on SGS I9000.
at the beginning gps was not very good but after android 2.2 and newer fw gps is totally fine for me. outside and in car it works very good. btw data network is activated for me and it helps for faster fix...
I gave up on the Internal GPS after a few Months.
Purchased an External Bluetooth GPS Receiver and now have accuracy to around 5 meters at times.
Also easier as the GPS Receiver can be turned on the get Satellite lock then connected to the Phone.
GPS on JVO ROM is all you can get. It's not enough to lead you driving on a city. GPS antenna is too small, does not update position often enough, keeps using guessing instead of real GPS position (your previous speed is used to calculate the supposed position, something very bad when you're turning around many times).
It's good enough to use it walking outside the city (main reason for me), or in highways (smooth curves and slow change of direction), but the GPS on the Galaxy S is real ****. Worst than the one in my previous two phones, and worst than the one in many current phones.
I really don't understand why having a phone that big we keep having to deal with so much unuseful plastic. 1.5 cm above an below the screen. Just make the phone the same size as the screen. The speaker can go in the top, like in many Motorola models. The battery could be bigger. If they have to make an GPS antenna that's 5 cm long, make it, running along one side.
It's like the phone hanging after a call. I would not advise this device for anyone depending of his phone to receive critical calls at any time. This **** just hangs radomly and you have to force a reboot.
Just to let people know that I've spent all afternoon trying 3 different ROMS, 2 times each, and the GPS sensivity is better on XXJVO.
I flashed the deodexed versions from Ramad, and used GPS status app to test. Just flash the ROM, install GPS status, see how many satellites it detects.
JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 1 or less while on my desk
XXJVO detects 4 and gets a fix, and sometimes it mantains the fix
Next to a window, JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 5 or 6 satellites, get a fix but lose it, most of the time 0 satellites in green.
XXJVO detects 8 satellites, 7 in green all the time
Accounting for the fact that satellite positions change between one test and another, I repeated tests twice.
I tried XXJVP on the field last weekend and was unable to get a fix while on the car.
Phone is sitting now on my desk, and has 4 satellites in green and intermitent fix. Much better than the other ROMs that see 0 or 1 satellites sitting on the same spot.
SKeijmel said:
Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gmaps 5.x and above has cache option...I'm finding very useful. Plus offline navigation should be coming this summer
Personally, I've given up on the GPS.. Samsung should honestly be sued, but it is too expensive to do so.
It has gotten better with newer ROM's, but, the sensitivity still appears to be a joke compared to my years old garmin forerunner. It may be good enough for some people who use it for navigation (because, I'd imagine there are plenty of algorithms which can probably be employed). However, the track quality produced seems semi-laughable, and the GPS appears to be nowhere near the quality of a dedicated unit.
People also need to stop checking programs like "gps status". They don't tell you if the location is correct (because it wont show you on the maps). So the accuracy value means nothing (the accuracy value means nothing without RAIM/FDE anyway regardless of unit).
GPS doesn't work at all on my SGS.
I tried that 'push the upper part of the rubberplastic thingy' trick, no result.
Whenever I try to find my location in Google maps, it can only find the WIFI center about 1km away from here. I think that's thanks to the Use Wireless Networks setting. but the GPS in my own SGS has never ever succeeded in locking any satelites.
Must be a hardware fauly I guess?
I bought it in October IIRC.
I don't mind though, never had the need to use GPS.
But it just bothers me that I got a somewhat malfunctioning device.
No big deal though!
Its been working fine on mine.. The only time i had issues was with 2.2/2.2.1
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
Some data points:
The signal to noise levels reported by the test tools seem reasonable.
All GPS systems use averaging to get a lock.
All GPS systems use Kalman filtering, which filters and connects location and speed, to make the system work at all. The stronger the filter, the more stable the position. But this gives bigger problems in turns.
Dedicated receivers have a much bigger antenna and thus need less averaging to get a stable position.
Receiver software has 'modes' - for example walking and driving mode. In driving mode, movements at low speeds are suppressed.
GPS is still a work in progress; there must be a reason Samsung renamed LBStestMode into AngryGPS!
There seems to be MANY factors that affect the GPS on these tablets and exchanging one for another *may seem* to get you a better unit. I bought a second a500 unit today and when I first brought up google maps, it had my fix as soon as the screen opened. Cool, this must be a better unit than my other right? Not necessarily because I believe the new unit used my wifi for the quick fix. As soon as I turned off the wifi assistance, the unit no longer gave me immediate fixes. I loaded gps status and the new unit struggled to find just 1 satellite. My other unit which I've had 2 weeks, is now suddenly a gps 'mofo' as it finds and locks position really quick, sometimes in 5 or 10 seconds (wifi assist turned off). The only thing I installed recently is gps monitor, but that's just gives you a monitoring status in the taskbar. It does state that it's turning off gps when you exit maps, which if it does may help conserve battery.
So I'm not sure why my A500 decided to suddenly work really well with GPS. When I first bought it, it was actually kind of terrible. Of course I have the 3.1 update on my unit, but the new one is still 3.01. I don't know how much of a difference that makes either. I had planned on buying an Asus unit today, but could not find the 32gb unit locally (not settling for 16gb).
My unit is stock and not rooted. I don't see a need to root it because so far it's working quite well. If only the microphone pickup was better, but I can live with talking louder at it or into the top of the unit. I have to do that with my samsung galaxy phone also.
Rob
It's funny, the very first time I used the GPS It took forever to find & lock on to sats. Now it's really fast. I'm thinking it has a " learning curve" ?
Update : Tried in the same place tonight , it only picked up 1 sat & didn't lock.
It is aGPS which means Assisted. It uses WIFI to set your location and search for satellites based on that location.
There are a number of factors which affect the GPS on this unit, as the original poster stated. I've been researching this for sometime, and found a number of things that could lead to a replacement unit working better than a current unit.
I've another thread on this subject, but I'll post the cliff notes here.
The following can affect GPS on your unit:
Obstruction (Roof, Cover)
Weather (Clouds vs Sun)
Internet Access
Nearby magnets
Compass Calibration
Your almanac server (gps.conf)
For starters, download a program called "GPS Test", not to be confused with "GPS Status and Toolbox", which you should also have for different reasons.
Plug your unit in and set it up in a spot where you know you can get a signal on other devices (phone, etc). This does not include your basement, but it also doesn't have to be outside. A woodframe house will not usually obstruct the signal enough to interfere. Use your best judgement.
Start up GPS Test and go into the settings menu. Select the option where the screen stays on all of the time. Check to see if your unit will ever pick up any satellites. If it takes more than 30 minutes and you are sure you should be picking up satellites, this indicates a problem. The first step should be diagnostic.
Leave it run overnight. If you look at it in the morning and find a multitude of satellites then your GPS receiver is working fine. This means your GPS can see the satellites, but the only way it can find them is through sheer dumb luck. It needs to be told where to look, and its having problems getting that information. The problem is likely with your compass or almanac.
If you arrive in the morning to find no satellites at all, then your GPS is likely broken (not unheard of) or you need to try again in a better location.
If you know your GPS transmitter is working, the next step is the check your compass. This is where GPS Status and Tools comes into play. The first screen you see when you open the program will be the compass. Make sure north == north. If it does not, almanac data is useless because the tablet won't know which way to look. GPS Status and Toolbox comes with a compass calibration tool. Use it. If your compass will not stay pointed north, then your compass is broken. If it works, then its time to look at your almanac.
Unless your system is rooted, there is no point in reading further. All the following steps require root access.
There are two files that you need to be concerned with. They are /etc/gps.conf and /etc/gps/gpsconfig.xml
You either need to edit them manually, replace them with pre-configured optimized versions for your region (link below), or use a program (fasterfix) to edit them for you. Results with each approach may vary.
I won't go into this step into detail since its been covered a million times on the forums already. I will provide a link:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1068416
This is the one that helped me the most, but there are others.
Best of luck. And remember: Hardware failure is a real possibility, but so is a crappy environment. Make sure there is no outside interference and you're not trying to get your location from an underground bunker and wondering why it doesn't work. A little common sense goes a long way.
Cheers,
-PW
long time lurker on this site.
I just bought an A500 and have been trying to get this GPS to work.
The first one I got had 3.01. I first tested GPS and it worked fine. Was able to get connected to the satelites no problem. Downloaded and installed 3.1 on it and now GPS doesn't work at all. Tested it with the two programs: GPS test and GPS utilities.
Stood outside on a clear day and nothing happened. Tested all the settings and still not one satellite.
After reading a lot of the threads and doing a lot of searching I exchanged it for another one.
Did the same thing. Tested it on 3.01 and it worked then installed 3.1 and it didn't work again on this second one. Went throug all the troubleshooting steps: deleted the cache, reset the gps, etc. Even left it on over night sitting at GPS Test and Google Places.
Doesn't make sense that it works on 3.01 and not on 3.1. Sounds more of a software issue than a hardware issue. But for it to work with some others with 3.1 then I may exchange it for another one again.
Wondering if it was during a certain build that other are having the same issue. Both of the ones i got were manufacturered in April. Could April just be a bad month or several months before that?
3.1 does not have any problem with GPS
Wifi assist turned off, get lock with sygic and can use the navigator.
(but)
- if you go under an express way (like I got in my country they are highway), you lost the signal very quick
HOW TO FIX ?
- buy a GPS enhancer and put in your car, that will increase the signal received and give the tablet a very big help
the poor part of the GPS tablet is the antena... the receiver is not that happy behind a metal case, and oftenly... GPS antena should be on the roof of the car, or external for better signal.
I got locked in 15s
sanaell said:
3.1 does not have any problem with GPS
Wifi assist turned off, get lock with sygic and can use the navigator.
(but)
- if you go under an express way (like I got in my country they are highway), you lost the signal very quick
HOW TO FIX ?
- buy a GPS enhancer and put in your car, that will increase the signal received and give the tablet a very big help
the poor part of the GPS tablet is the antena... the receiver is not that happy behind a metal case, and oftenly... GPS antena should be on the roof of the car, or external for better signal.
I got locked in 15s
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My guess is that Acer subcontracts out parts production for items like the GPS antenna used in the A500 and the quality of those antenna has been very inconsistent (same with the microphone). I have an A500 with a June build date and it has very good GPS pickup. It doesn't lock instantly like the Xoom does, but usually within 10-20 seconds (sometimes sooner) which is still acceptable. Surprisingly, this unit also has a fairly good microphone that picks up my voice well while holding it at any angle. It's still running 3.01 unmodified since it hasn't got the OTA yet. I previously had an A500 with an April build date (it's on the back of the box) and both the GPS and microphone performed rather poorly even with 3.1.
Rob
going to exchange this one at a different bestbuy store and see if they have a different manufacturer date. I did the exchange on Monday and hope they have a different lot.
tekageek said:
long time lurker on this site.
I just bought an A500 and have been trying to get this GPS to work.
The first one I got had 3.01. I first tested GPS and it worked fine. Was able to get connected to the satelites no problem. Downloaded and installed 3.1 on it and now GPS doesn't work at all. Tested it with the two programs: GPS test and GPS utilities.
Stood outside on a clear day and nothing happened. Tested all the settings and still not one satellite.
After reading a lot of the threads and doing a lot of searching I exchanged it for another one.
Did the same thing. Tested it on 3.01 and it worked then installed 3.1 and it didn't work again on this second one. Went throug all the troubleshooting steps: deleted the cache, reset the gps, etc. Even left it on over night sitting at GPS Test and Google Places.
Doesn't make sense that it works on 3.01 and not on 3.1. Sounds more of a software issue than a hardware issue. But for it to work with some others with 3.1 then I may exchange it for another one again.
Wondering if it was during a certain build that other are having the same issue. Both of the ones i got were manufacturered in April. Could April just be a bad month or several months before that?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The 3.1 you're installing is OTA or you are downloading it from somewhere ? My first unit failed with 3.1 with a downloaded 3.1 (it seemed to be the correct for Spain) ... I exchanged the unit, and this new one offered me OTA. It's working perfect with OTA 3.1
I did a test one day with GPS and found it to be marvelous if used properly.
Here is what I did.
1. I cleared my agps data with program GPS Status
2. Redownloaded the data and waited until I had like 6 up 11 fixes
Then I went out and waited at bus station and got a lock with Google maps and I travelled about 75 kilometers and had a perfect fix the entire time, I had about 5 satellites fixed constantly on average. And this was using stock everythings I love the GPS it works fine now.
In the 3.01 version I did the exact same test and it didn't work, everytime the train or bus started moving the signal was gone and stayed gone.
Now its fine! You just have to remember. That this is Agps not GPS A is for assisted, so you use the internet abit and download the data and you're fine! Just learn to use A-GPS!
I have tried everything, and nothing works. What a ****ty thing to screw up on a tablet. I'm trading mine in tomorrow, and if I have the same issue, I'm rooting and switching roms. This is ridiculous ..........
Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk
well well well, this one worked. I exchanged for another one.
3.01
turned it on and opened Navigator. in 10 seconds it locked into the gps. Installed gps test and saw 6 to 7 satellites, in use= 6 looked at the map and it found my location. Opened both Navigator and Places
3.1
Installed 3.1 OTA, once rebooted i opened gps test and now i see 7 satellites! Opened Navigator and worked fine. Opened Places and also worked fine. Both found my location and saw 6 to 7 satellites.
4.010.13.comgen2
wish there was a list of what this update does. installed this update and gps still works. Seeing 6 to 7 satellites. navigator and places still work.
Before i even took this tab i asked the sales guy the manufactured date. This one is from: May
GPS fix
Initially, my gps did not work that well. When I compared my gps.conf with the 2 A500's whose GPS worked very well I found that their GPS.conf contained only this
"NTP_SERVER=north-America.pool.ntp.org". I'm in US, by the way. After I rooted my A500, my GPS worked alot better. After I edited my GPS.conf the fix time was improved.
Before: outdoor : cold start and there.after
Time to fix= 5 min to infinity and 3 mins to infinity
Indoor = no GPS.
After: outdoor= 30 sec to 211 sec. and 10 sec to 90 sec
Indoor= 110 sec to 5 mins. and 29 sec to 90 sec
Hope that helps.
I'm on rooted stock 3.1.
I guess I got lucky then.
When I start mine up, it locates for the weatherbug app update feature and I've never seen it fail.
I haven't done any GPS-specific stuff with it yet, but much of the time I'm using an ad hoc connection from my phone, so it's not a wif AGPS fix.
Interesting read. Makes me want to explore the GPS feature more.
One other thing that is universal across any device using GPS, both commercial and military---your device needs to know where in the sky the satellites are. The initial gps fix will always take more time because the device doesn't have a reference fit the sats. This will also be the case the longer you go between fixes as the device will lose track of the sats over time. Aside from physical obstructions this is often the biggest contributing factor to the length of time required to get a fix.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Noob question here. So this is assisted GPS. I assume it needs the WiFI to access the aGPS servers, but they aren't necessary if a) you have a confirmed working device and b) everything is calibrated properly. Is this correct.
I just don't understand the inconsistency in the GPS fix. I have a rooted A500, with 4.010.13_COM_GEN2, manufactured in April. For some reason, I cannot get a consistent, day-to-day lock on position. I have installed and used successfully in the past:
Fasterfix
GPSFix
GPS Test
GPS Status
I have edited the gps.conf file manually to use, separately, both north-america.pool.ntp.org as well as us.pool.ntp.org;
I have used the "manage A-GPS status" to reset the status as well as downloading the assist data in GPS Status;
After several unsuccessful attempts last night, I was able to gain a GPS lock from my living room in about 20-30 seconds. Today, in the clear open air I could not obtain more than a partial lock on more than 3-4 satellites at a time, and only once obtained a fix, and then for only 20 minutes while stationary. I am now in the exact same position as I was last night, and cannot find a single *blinking* satellite.
While traveling home on the Interstate, I could see more than two satellites at a time and never got a lock on position. In contrast, my Droid (2.3.3) obtained a lock in about 5 seconds with GPS Status. Using a Bluetooth GPS unit and a Bluetooth Mouse GPS, I obtained a position lock in 2 seconds on the A500.
So what gives here? Is it a hardware problem? Why does it work so well one day and then not at all the next, with all other things being equal? It does not seem to be a software issue or sky visibility issue.
UPDATE, 8/9/11: I noticed that in the current configuration as described above, the only satellites that could be seen were those on a bearing of 000, and largely on the horizon. When a different satellite was seen, it would only appear in the northern two quadrants. I restored a back-up from two days ago, and uninstalled FasterFix but manually edited the gps.conf file to us.pool.ntp.org. The GPS fix was improved - not lightning fast, but at least 4 satellites were seen relatively quickly, without particular preference for hemisphere. Position fix still takes a few minutes - two to five minutes or so. Still working on consistency, but may switch to a custom ROM.
UPDATE, 8/11/11: This thing is driving me nuts - no clear consistency on when the GPS works or not. Tried two custom ROMs, same lack of consistent lock. Back to square 1. Droid-1 picks up 10 sats (w/o network checked), A500 only 4. Got a lock away from home this morning, cannot get one at home tonight. Taking it in for exchange tomorrow. Since the first sat it does see is always at 000 and at the horizon, I am wondering if the internal referencing for the GPS unit within the A500 is somehow not set up to handle the assist data format properly. Sort of like it is reading the data, but things are off a space or two. Thus, the GPS unit seems to look, but is looking in the wrong direction. Comments?
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?
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Click to collapse
Reset the connection to the Satellite
oabareload said:
Reset the connection to the Satellite
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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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Click to collapse
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?
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
bump! Any help, methods to trouble-shoot between hardware/software. I tried to erase modemst1/2 see if that would jog anything, no effect.
thanks
water- said:
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's freaking Christmas, just buy yourself a new phone
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
tempting..and I will in a few months when my contract is up. But this was a spectacular GPS for navigating in the backcountry with downloaded maps. Would love to be able to retain that use after it is no longer a primary phone.
please, any troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated!
I've had very few problems since switching to Waze and SlimKat. It was horrid under CyanogenMod no matter what I used.
I had been having similar problems under stock KitKat. Here's what I noticed, maybe something will help you:
Resetting aGPS data and re-downloading wouldn't help.
Sometimes GPS would never give a location with plenty of satellites locked to. I modified some build.prop stuff to give me a horribly inaccurate lock in these cases. It was also usually fixed with a reboot.
GPS status would show TONS of satellites overhead, but never be able to lock on to more than one of them. Making sure I had wifi turned on (even if I was in the middle of nowhere with no wifi signals) eliminated this problem.
Something would randomly disable the GPS while I was using it, when it turned it back on a short time later it wouldn't lock (usually due to one of the above issues). I eventually concluded it was how Google Maps and some of the new location stuff works these days. I assume it's trying to save GPS power, other programs were much better. Solution: F Google maps; I only use it as a fancy yellow pages these days. I had stuck with the old, old, version (that still supported Latitude), but had to update when I went to KK and that's when my problems started. This is just another thing that pisses me off about it. I use Waze for navigation now (though I miss lane guidance and using my own text to voice software).
Some GPS bugs can be resolved by flashing to stock firmware, getting a GPS lock and while locked on GPS, reboot straight to recovery and flash your new ROM. After doing that once I have flashed (too) many ROMs with no GPS locking or accuracy issues.
Also make sure your GPS is set to high accuracy and not battery saver.
Sent from my RAZR M on BlissPop Lollipop 5.0.2 from Tapatalk
ezdi and kronik.. thank you for suggestion. unfortunately to no avail even with full reset.
sometimes really seems like my general phone reception, wifi, gps, and data (1x/3G, 4G) are all haywire. Certainly they all work. But the data is never as strong as it should be. Often seems like it needs to be jogged (airplane mode on, then off)/dead areas--while my wife's phone is solid (same razr m but rooted with unlocked BL and stock rom). Likewise on the GPS. it can certainly find and lock satellites but in GPS Status only ever reach 'half bar' strength green.. they use to be able to lock multiple sats at max level.
It's odd...we are talking about the 'radios' of my phone, no? or mostly? I generally consider digital electronics to either function, or not. That they function at all--can receive pings from a satellite, can transmit data to and from towers... tells me the electronics are functional and this is software side. UNLESS there is some radio hardware component that is an amplifier of sorts. If that electronic was broken it would make sense why things function but appear weak/spotty.
thoughts?
aside from my contract being up in a month and what the hell next phone I should get from verizon... haha. But no I'd love to get my phone back to where it was and have a dedicated backcountry/hiking/skiing GPS... which it wouldn't be capable of now (it was..when it worked).
Cheers
bump bump