Review of GPS - Galaxy S II General

Any users who already have the phone can do an indepth review of the GPS?
I really don't believe samsung anymore after my Galaxy S1

Gooofy said:
Any users who already have the phone can do an indepth review of the GPS?
I really don't believe samsung anymore after my Galaxy S1
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can do one thats just as indepth as my review on the screen later today if you want? I can spot even tiny issues very easily.

http://blog.clove.co.uk/2011/05/18/samsung-galaxy-s-ii-real-user-reviewpart-twogps/#more-6176
From XDA member NZtechfreak
Much the same as my personal tests of SGS2 but then again i had little problem with SGS1 this GPS is better .
jje

I know that this is in Italian, but you can just see the road test done with mytracks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_84H2gqWyfA
Let me know if you find this useful

GPS is similar to my GPS on my captivate BEFORE I flashed a modded ROM. Side by side with my Atrix it continually underperforns. It is slower to see satellites, sees fewer and has this awful power issue in that if I switch apps it switches off the GPS so has to reaquire and has a delay. I'm dissappointrd about it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App

ekerbuddyeker said:
GPS is similar to my GPS on my captivate BEFORE I flashed a modded ROM. Side by side with my Atrix it continually underperforns. It is slower to see satellites, sees fewer and has this awful power issue in that if I switch apps it switches off the GPS so has to reaquire and has a delay. I'm dissappointrd about it.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good to know! The gsmarena guys reported that the Atrix catches the sats quicker(<1min) - however it's not clear it A-gps was active or not. In case of SGS2 they tested AGPS OFF, and still got reasonable fix time and accuracy.

Related

GPS STILL wonky?

I am running an unrooted stock vibrant. I got the Ji6 update a few weeks back, and I was told that it would improve my GPS. But apparently my GPS still doesn't work. I know there are alot of tweaks and hacks here on xda that supposedly fix the gps, but id rather wait and get the official fix from samsung. But if the ji6 was it, then im quite dissapointed. Does your stock vibrant still have a wonky GPS? Or did the update fix it for you?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
GPS works great!
I am running Bionix 1.9. Last night on my way home, I was in an unfamiliar area on a small side street and got a little lost. I turned on my GPS and opened up Google Maps. Within two seconds it locked me in and gave me directions home. I noticed the address at the top of the screen where it said I was. I looked over at the house number and street I was on and it was exactly right.
JJG2 said:
I am running an unrooted stock vibrant. I got the Ji6 update a few weeks back, and I was told that it would improve my GPS. But apparently my GPS still doesn't work. I know there are alot of tweaks and hacks here on xda that supposedly fix the gps, but id rather wait and get the official fix from samsung. But if the ji6 was it, then im quite dissapointed. Does your stock vibrant still have a wonky GPS? Or did the update fix it for you?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've never rooted either, and for me it's still not perfect. Sometimes it works well, but other times the location jumps around, or the phone hangs and has to be rebooted.
I've seen an improvement since the JI6 update, but my experience is if you use it enough you will encounter flakiness still.
Would be nice if subsequent updates improve things, but right now that's just a hope.
Yes I had a similar experience, with my stock vibrant which has the j16 update. Took over 5 mins to lock on to the gps signal.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
What kind of GPS fixes did you do? Or did you just flash the bionix rom? Sorry im new to the whole hacking scene. If the GPS really works as well as you said, I might just consider rooting then..
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
JJG2 said:
I am running an unrooted stock vibrant. I got the Ji6 update a few weeks back, and I was told that it would improve my GPS. But apparently my GPS still doesn't work. I know there are alot of tweaks and hacks here on xda that supposedly fix the gps, but id rather wait and get the official fix from samsung. But if the ji6 was it, then im quite dissapointed. Does your stock vibrant still have a wonky GPS? Or did the update fix it for you?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it's just plain bad hardware, and it's not competitive with most other current smartphones.
I've tried a bunch of ROMs, with similar results. The update gives you a faster lock and an accurate report on the number of satellites, which is nice, but it doesn't do anything for the core accuracy problems which plague the device and cause tracks/navigation issues. It doesn't help that the compass is also still very wonky, which causes Google Navigation to flake out when I'm stopped at a light.
All in all, it's very disappointing. I'm thinking of switching to the Nexus One due to this issue.
I've got an unrooted Vibrant bought in July 2010 whose GPS rarely worked and almost never locked on any satellites. After J16 I get a quick lock on 6-9 out of 11-12 satellites. I am satisfied with it now 99% of time for navigation purposes. I do sometimes get wandering of the target from Google Earth even when standing still.
JeremyNT said:
I believe it's just plain bad hardware, and it's not competitive with most other current smartphones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not so sure about that. I hooked it up to my bluetooth GPS and it looked good for a little while, maybe a few minutes, when sitting at my desk. Then it started going wacky, progressively bouncing the pointer farther and farther from the real position. It might be the software that's bad. I'm going to experiment with it tomorrow on a long trip and try various settings.
Its a hardware problem..
JeremyNT said:
I believe it's just plain bad hardware, and it's not competitive with most other current smartphones.
I've tried a bunch of ROMs, with similar results. The update gives you a faster lock and an accurate report on the number of satellites, which is nice, but it doesn't do anything for the core accuracy problems which plague the device and cause tracks/navigation issues. It doesn't help that the compass is also still very wonky, which causes Google Navigation to flake out when I'm stopped at a light.
All in all, it's very disappointing. I'm thinking of switching to the Nexus One due to this issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree. I had the built in car navigation and the vibrant side by side. The vibrant is 200 yards behind while moving. Even when pointing on the current location, it is wondering around the neighborhood on a 200 yard range.
So what's your explanation for what I see with an external GPS which works fine with a laptop? That a phone hardware problem too?
As far as using the internal I've seen it work for an hour fine and then start flippin out. Then again I've seen it flip out in 5-10 minutes.
Gps is one of those things I rarely think about until I have to actually use it. I just came from a week trip to Atlanta and it connected once during my week stay. The GPS on this phone is crap, I feel bad for anyone that has to use it daily. Luckily I got 3g there and was using google maps to help me find locations. My recent devices Milestone and HD2 connected within seconds. This thing is always searching for a signal with a clear view to the sky.
Im in North Florida if that means anything.
i ran bionix final which i think is the ota ji6, not the kies leak ji6 and the gps didn't work well. but the ji2 gps flash worked great, and the ji6 gps in bionix fusion works great.
you are posting on xda, if you just want to complain go to tmonews or something, otherwise there are a lot of easy fixes that are like 5 clicks away...
GPS works fine for me on JI6, however there seems to be a communications error between certain Google apps and the GPS. I use CoPilot. On Bionix Final my GPS went from good, to ok, to bad, to horrific in a matter of days.
heygrl said:
GPS works fine for me on JI6, however there seems to be a communications error between certain Google apps and the GPS. I use CoPilot. On Bionix Final my GPS went from good, to ok, to bad, to horrific in a matter of days.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've seen some issues with Google Nav as well. Did some Googling and it's not just the Galaxy S or Samsnug phones. Many users with different brands and models have reported recent problems with the Nav and Map apps.
Very wonky
Here's a may I did yesterday. All was good fo awhile until I stopped for a turn and it went ape [email protected]*#.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=201142930973527917117.0004944eca8f57406c83e
I can assure you that at no time did I ever go 118 mph. This is just one sample. It does it all the time. I've tried every different firmware I can load including stock and I get the same results. I've tried all of the GPS fixes and nothing. Some days it never even locks. I'm convinced that it is a hardware issue.
GPS works for me most of the time. Sometimes it will show I'm in my house. Sometimes my neighbors. Sometimes down the street. A few times across the city.
I wish it was half as good as the wifi. This thing can pull in an access point like it had a high gain directional antenna built in.
I'm even more convinced it's the software. Now my external GPS won't lock either. Sees 12 sats, I can see the data coming in, but it never locks any sat.

Give give up on the GPS working right!

I mean WTF is it going to take for my GPS to work right? Tried every freaking tip, trick and app avail. Still takes forever to find my location. I dont live in a freaking cave or a valcano! Trying to get this to work is like trying to find the cure for cancer. I give up >:-(
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
darkside79 said:
I mean WTF is it going to take for my GPS to work right? Tried every freaking tip, trick and app avail. Still takes forever to find my location. I dont live in a freaking cave or a valcano! Trying to get this to work is like trying to find the cure for cancer. I give up >:-(
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Company has even supplied a fix. What does it do? Reset everything back to default. From Samsung itself:
"During online surveillance, there is an abundance of GPS tweaks that impair GPS performance. Often times, no backup is performed to restore values prior to modifications. Samsung has released an application that restores GPS settings to recommended factory defaults for optimum performance."
http://ow.ly/3hEM1
You are not alone op. The GPS on this phone is broken and after taking it apart numerous times and applying every fix known the GPS barely works with a horrible accuracy and then stops working completely after a day or so. Sure, if I do a cold reset I can get it working again for a bit but again the accuracy is so bad it can't be used for navigation in any area with more than one road. You will get some confusing reviews on here from some people in the midwest using there navigation 20 miles from the nearest road or building taller than 2 stories but for those of us that don't have a 360 degree line of sight to the sky are pretty much screwed.
I used GPS on my 4 year old blackberry daily and I can't believe I am debating going back to it.
The GPS on this phone is broken! It is a hardware issue and is not going to be fixed on this forum. Samsung is unable to fix this issue without a recall and don't kid yourself...they are not going to do that.
Recall is such a cute word, consumers like to throw it around when they have a problem... if you think the phone is going to be recalled you've got another thing coming. "recalled" LOL
It sure is a hardware issue. My G1 if left on the flooboard of my car behaves exactly like my S with a clear satellite view. This GPS radio has a poor signal/noise ratio that no software can fix. QA missed this one.
I picked up a HTC G2 yesterday. I ran gps status on it. The gps had never been used before and it locked 9 sat's in less than 5 sec's for 9ft of accuracy. I knew my vibrant wasn't the greatest gps device, but I didnt know it was that bad. on the bright side, I never had any real navigation issues with the vibrant, so it still served a purpose. I understand some people have real lemon gps units, so I guess im lucky.
Mine gets a gps lock as soon as maps gets open and gps was turned off so that was just with cell networks finding me, turn on the gps and boom 9m accuracy, and samsung will not recall these for it.
^ mine too... I really do not understand all of these GPS threads....
well, actually I do.. darkside makes most of them.
s15274n said:
^ mine too... I really do not understand all of these GPS threads....
well, actually I do.. darkside makes most of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe if you had one like I do you would understand.. Makes you want to rip your hair out when some ppl have great gps and you look at yours and say pos
GPS works perfect for me right out of the box, since I bought it, only takes about 5-10 seconds to get a lock, even in bad weather. I also live in the south though which makes me closer to the satelites, so I take it the people with issues live up north?
proresearch said:
GPS works perfect for me right out of the box, since I bought it, only takes about 5-10 seconds to get a lock, even in bad weather. I also live in the south though which makes me closer to the satelites, so I take it the people with issues live up north?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Locks are one thing, Accuracy is another. Look at this map. Zoom in on it. It rarely has me driving on the road. I even took a train track for a little distance.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=201142930973527917117.0004965a1c506459779a6
When I first got the phone the GPS sorta worked, after JI6 it worked better but not the greatest. Now I've reverted back to Stock JFD and have used GPS in many situations, even used it to drive 1.5hrs to the Cities with Navigation, never lost signal, was dead on (except starting out because I didn't follow it until I got onto the highway) and on my way home I used it too, no loss of signal or anything.
I've used it to check in on FS and have no problems finding my location.
I got my phone maybe a after it was released? Just saying..
My Fascinate takes anywhere from 10-20 minutes to get going. If I don't gave a general sense of direction when starting my trip, I must wait.
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Thanks Lodingi...now I can add the fascinate to the list of phones I won't be buying when I dump this one.
To those of you who can't seem to find anything wrong with the GPS try using it in any densly populated area. Even the mightiest of the GPS fanboys on here aren't getting any better than about 100 feet of accuracy. 100 feet of accuracy is crap and makes the GPS totally unreliable for the majority of the US population that live in dense areas.
Minneapolis/St. Paul is "Heavily Dense" population. I picked up a signal that was dead on in a few seconds.
Lol sure you did. What software were you using and how many feet accuracy? chirp...chirp...
snowdogging said:
Lol sure you did. What software were you using and how many feet accuracy? chirp...chirp...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, you're a little prick aren't you?
I'm using Stock JFD, with GPS/Use Wireless networks checked. Navigation/Maps locks on with in a few seconds.
does it piss you off that it works on my phone and not yours or what?
Just tested accuracy INSIDE my office, connected to 6-10 sats and within 150FT This is inside.
Do you know what use wireless networks checked even means? You also failed to answer the how many feet question. You can keep calling me names but it doesn't mean your gps is working.
I am not the emotional one here.
snowdogging said:
Do you know what use wireless networks checked even means? .
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes I do , It uses the Wireless Networks/Towers to Triangulate your location.
@samsungservice told me to do a factory format reset which actually wipes the phone clean...
After the factory format, my phone lag is gone.
GPS is once again locking within 10 seconds, however now when I come to a stop in the car, GPS wonders 100's of yards off causing the MAPS to recalculate the route which totally screws you when you lost.
I also ran run GPSrestrore app which didn't fix the wondering issue.
This GPS issue really bites. STILL

GPS Fix - Where is it up to???

Hi all,
I have almost decided that the Galaxy S is going to be my next phone but just wanted to check what the current state of the GPS problem is (yes I have googled but can't find any definitive answer).
Have samsung fixed this and if so what is GPS reception like, how long does it take to pick up a signal etc. How does the GPS chipset compare to the HTC Hero?
Cheers,
Michael
Its not flawless....but works decent enough. The update frequency is slow and has minor accuracy issues, but something you can live with.
Why not wait for a couple months and get a dual core based phone? or even the nexus s instead
i was leaning towards the Galaxy S due to its relatively low second hand price (I have seen some go for just over £200). Moving from a HTC Hero as I am getting more and more frustrated by how much the keyboard and software in general lags and could do with a bigger screen.
Quite like the look of the HTC Desire HD but battery life concerns me.
Nexus S seems over priced for an average handset to me.
iPhone 4 very nice but too expensive and lack of Googlemaps nav is a big downer.
Everything about the Galaxy S seems nice except for this GPS issue...
It is clearly not fixed.
I tested 3 different Galaxy S with 2.1 and one that I upgraded to 2.2 (JL2) and all of them had a broken GPS. It gets a lock, but it is imprecise. Sometimes it think that you are on the next street.<
Never had this problem with: hero, milestone and optimus one.
what about the 2.2.1 roms? have heard some people have had more success with these... anyone tried these?
mine was useless but is much better with 2.2.1
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
It has gone from busted to plausible, but still has a bit to go before actually being confirmed.
Sent from my personal Dis-organizer GT-I9000.
You guys should upgrade to JPY, 2.2.1
I get a lock everytime within 10 seconds
2.2.1 working great 4 me also.. no jumping around or loosing lock while navigating.. have tested 4 over 2 hours now..
BlackDino said:
You guys should upgrade to JPY, 2.2.1
I get a lock everytime within 10 seconds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lock time has never been an issue for me. The problem is that the GPS is wrong/not precise.
BlackDino said:
You guys should upgrade to JPY, 2.2.1
I get a lock everytime within 10 seconds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same with JPU 2.2.1 roms are just perfect
If locking is not your problem, Da_G has made some awesome progress in tracking over in the Captivate forum. Try out his updates. Really interesting thread.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881941
What we really need is tracks to show how good the latest firmware is...
exadeci said:
Same with JPU 2.2.1 roms are just perfect
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not an option for all of us. If I flash a ROM not made for Bell Canada, I loose support for my locale.
Auzy said:
What we really need is tracks to show how good the latest firmware is...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tell me how to do the tracks and I will do them. I am also experiencing very (dramatically?) improved GPS after the official update to 2.2. Previously GPS Status was showing a lot of satellites, but only a few (3-5) locked. Now it's 10/10 or 9/9 ... Haven't tested it too much around big buildings though (just briefly and was similar to results from my G1).
Auzy said:
What we really need is tracks to show how good the latest firmware is...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try to record some track with 2.2.1, but the improvement is noticeable.
Maybe it won't be accurate enough for fitness use, but at least it doesn't jump around in a 100 meter range randomly.
Now, for the first time ever my GPS is useable. Not perfect, but reaches the minimum necessary to be useable.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=200899946886418974283.000498631226c188839f0
Google maps may not be 100% accurate here. Track was recorded from a car. Galaxy S with JPY seems to overshoot on corners, but certainly it is good enough for car navigation.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
GPS works much much better since firmware based en 2.2.1. My lock time switch from 1 or 2 minutes for 5/6 satts to 10/15 seconds with 8/11 satts. Accurancy was a bit better with JPU (nearly always 5 meters) but with JPY it's now between 5 and 10 meters.
TLDR: GPS is quite usable now with 2.2.1 ROM.
Read...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=881941
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878970
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=853698

Upgrade from SGS, need some infos

Hi, i am a SGS owner and i'm wondering about upgrading to the SGSII mainly for gps and flash.
Could you please share some gps test screens and some photos? If there is an old sgs owner i do like to know its thought too
I am really interested about battery life too, but as far as i read it is the same as SGS
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Razer(x) said:
Hi, i am a SGS owner and i'm wondering about upgrading to the SGSII mainly for gps and flash.
Could you please share some gps test screens and some photos? If there is an old sgs owner i do like to know its thought too
I am really interested about battery life too, but as far as i read it is the same as SGS
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS and battery life are both better than my captivate
Both a lot better...battery life is better in my case too. Also, no lag....
After using the SGSII for a week or two you forget why you loved the SGS so much
Razer(x) said:
Hi, i am a SGS owner and i'm wondering about upgrading to the SGSII mainly for gps and flash.
Could you please share some gps test screens and some photos? If there is an old sgs owner i do like to know its thought too
I am really interested about battery life too, but as far as i read it is the same as SGS
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
GPS seem to lock on speedily in open spaces. The chip is CSR SiRFstarIV, according to PDAdb.NET
I tested the gps for the first time today while driving.
No track to show for it at this moment, but it kept a steady lock the whole way, 30km,
no weird jumping around, showed me in the right lane of the highway,
kept close, about 5/6m distance.
I've tried this same stretch of road a dozen times with my sgs, but it never
even came close to showing me where I actually was, couldn't keep a lock, always jumping around,
sometimes showing me as far as 2 km away, so I'm very happy with the improved gps in the sgs2.
Battery with intensive use will last about 6 hours for me, moderate use 12 to 14h and light use 30 to 36h. But battery life seems different for everyone.
From what I've encountered with flash, it plays smoothly, only had some slight hiccups with 1080p youtube files on heavy sites.
The only minor regret I could think of right now after moving from the sgs1 is that my favorite custom roms and themes aren't available yet.

Nexus 4 inaccuracy GPS location connecting with 3G network

It seems my Nexus 4 doesn't have a good GPS.
Everytime when I connect network through 3G, I can't get the correct current location (Google map). Sometimes if I wait for a while, it may get the correct location but not everytime.
If I connect network using wifi, the location is correct.
I can't complain my carrier, because when I use my HTC One X and the same carrier, it worked well.
Are there anybody also have the same problem? Or do you have any solution?
Besides the GPS problem I also suffered the screeching sound problem. Nexus 4 disappointed me a lot even it is Nexus.
I won't buy LG phone again.
Solution: Stop trying to use the GPS indoors.
KiNG OMaR said:
Solution: Stop trying to use the GPS indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. You are right all the incorrect location happened indoors.
Just don't know why it worked well on my One X?
KiNG OMaR said:
Solution: Stop trying to use the GPS indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lmfao
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989 using xda app-developers app
KiNG OMaR said:
Solution: Stop trying to use the GPS indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is a pretty poor answer.....the GPS on my old Vibrant works great indoors, and as some of you may know the Vibrant was notorious for spotty GPS across the board, although I did do a hardware fix on mine.
GPS should work fine indoors unless you are in some solid concrete underground facility. Saying that it only should work reliably outdoors is basically saying that the GPS implementation on the nexus 4 is horse crap.
I'm sick of phones with poor GPS - I have my order in for the Nexus 4 (3 weeks apparently) but if the GPS is indeed crap unless you are in an open field on a sunny day, then perhaps I may cancel my order.

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