Database Users

I might be on to something for the GPS issue.

Well like everyone I had the GPS issue and it was frustrating. I do run an app killer and I always notice many apps (especially the preloaded ones) Keep launching themselves. It got rather irritating. Specifically Telenav.
I noticed with Telenav my GPS would be very flaky. Once I got "killed" it the gps seemed to improve. I thought to myself maybe I'm just being paranoid.
Did a bit of research and found an app called "Start UP Auditor" which completely kills an app and restricts it from every starting up again. My gps seems to be working much better now.
I drove a few miles and on the Verrazano Bridge here in NY and the GPS was super percise. When I was at the end of the block it was at the end of the block as well at the same time. Not like it was before.
Now I can launch google maps and it will find me exactly in front of my house and not 200 feet away.
Takes a solid minute to lock on. Not more but not less unfortunately. So there still is a bit of a problem but for me at least it has exponentially gotten better. Versus it not even locking on previously.
I think I might be on to something. I cannot give all credit to me because I saw on a Tmobile forum someone say that they think the problem might be with the self launching apps so that's where I started to draw conclusions.
EDIT: Scratch that one min thing. It seriously just now took me 10 seconds to lock on and the GPS to start talking to tell me where to turn inside my house. Issue fixed?

I completly removed TeleNav and I still have GPS issues... It is not any software causing this problem. It is a Hardware / Firmware / Driver issue.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

gravis86 said:
I completly removed TeleNav and I still have GPS issues... It is not any software causing this problem. It is a Hardware / Firmware / Driver issue.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, one of the first things I did after rooting was remove all the bloatware, and Telenav was one of them.

gravis86 said:
I completly removed TeleNav and I still have GPS issues... It is not any software causing this problem. It is a Hardware / Firmware / Driver issue.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hmmm... Interesting.
My GPS issues seem to have disappeared after killing Telenav.
This just takes me back to the drawing board once more. I just do not understand...
I would like to see others responses. Does there happen to be vibrants with different firmwares?

So what happened to me?
Was it some magical stroke of luck?

Wow.
Initially, disabling TeleNav gave me a significant improvement in GPS performance. Indoors, I went from having 50-60ft. of accuracy (with multiple locks), to 12-15ft. of accuracy with a single lock. Initial accuracy was in the upper 40s, but quickly dropped to the highest accuracy I've seen with the device (the 12-15ft. figure) - indoor or outdoor - within a minute. Crazy.
Outdoor, on a perfectly clear sky, the best I've achieved was previously 25ft. of accuracy.
I rebooted (the phone froze, wheee!), with TeleNav still selected as disabled, and now, I'm only getting 30-52ft. of accuracy with a single lock. This took about two minutes to come down from 170ft. or so.
GPS settings have been switched to 'Automatic', from the stock supl server, for all of these tests.
Maps still shows me in Issaquah, initially (incorrect data), but quickly updates my position my exact location (within a few seconds). Previously, Maps would take at least a half hour to place me in even the correct city! Margin of Error: ~50ft. or so (shows me on the street, rather than on my property), within seconds.
Compass, as expected: still totally ****ing broken and ****ty.
I can confirm that - besides not being able to lock onto more than a single sat - I'm seeing drastic improvements. Thanks for pointing this out.
Still, I'm not sure the improvement will be enough to convince me to hang onto the device while we wait to hear from Samsung. :/

Jon C said:
Wow.
Initially, disabling TeleNav gave me a significant improvement in GPS performance. Indoors, I went from having 50-60ft. of accuracy (with multiple locks), to 12-15ft. of accuracy with a single lock. Initial accuracy was in the upper 40s, but quickly dropped to the highest accuracy I've seen with the device (the 12-15ft. figure) - indoor or outdoor - within a minute. Crazy.
Outdoor, on a perfectly clear sky, the best I've achieved was previously 25ft. of accuracy.
I rebooted (the phone froze, wheee!), with TeleNav still selected as disabled, and now, I'm only getting 30-52ft. of accuracy with a single lock. This took about two minutes to come down from 170ft. or so.
GPS settings have been switched to 'Automatic', from the stock supl server, for all of these tests.
Maps still shows me in Issaquah, initially (incorrect data), but quickly updates my position my exact location (within a few seconds). Previously, Maps would take at least a half hour to place me in even the correct city! Margin of Error: ~50ft. or so (shows me on the street, rather than on my property), within seconds.
Compass, as expected: still totally ****ing broken and ****ty.
I can confirm that - besides not being able to lock onto more than a single sat - I'm seeing drastic improvements. Thanks for pointing this out.
Still, I'm not sure the improvement will be enough to convince me to hang onto the device while we wait to hear from Samsung. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea like I said in the OP the fix is better but there definitely is a problem that needs to be addressed. That might be either hardware or firmware, All thats left is to wait for sammy to fix it up. However my GPS performance for my needs is more than exceptional.

I have noticed that while running GPStest, Google Maps starts to work. Something is wrong with the API.

If anyone is getting black screen freeze ups, disabling GPS will clear that right up.

And, we're back to square one. So much for that.
Location services can no longer locate me, and show that I'm in a neighboring city. Nothing I adjust fixes this for more than a short period of time.
Oh, Samsung...

dattaway said:
I have noticed that while running GPStest, Google Maps starts to work. Something is wrong with the API.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It seems to me that it is definitely a software problem. I don't think the hardware is bad. (The gps chip?)
heygrl said:
If anyone is getting black screen freeze ups, disabling GPS will clear that right up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I drove for miles and had nothing. Though if I am not using GPS I always turn it off to conserve battery.
Jon C said:
And, we're back to square one. So much for that.
Location services can no longer locate me, and show that I'm in a neighboring city. Nothing I adjust fixes this for more than a short period of time.
Oh, Samsung...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wonder if they can't even find the issue yet. It will probably be fix in the 2.2 update.

I removed TelNav within 4days of owning my phone and it really for me hasn't changed a thing.
What helped me was turning off the wireless location feature. From what I noticed it looks for your location based off the cell towers first then it looks for your location via GPS. If its slow to find you via wireless then well its slow to find you via GPS too.

I didn't really tried the GPS when I saw the threads saying there was a problem with it and I read somewhere about "how to fix it" so I applied the fix before even using the GPS before, so I have no clue if I had problems or not, but after the fix, the GPS locks in about 10 to 15 seconds and gest my location on the spot, even indoors.
just change the GPS settings to google servers

Directly after rebooting my gps/navigation seems to work much better.
To make it more clear... I'll be using my phone throughout the day and then i'll try to use navigation. Usually it will just keep trying to find the route but it never actually finds it. I'll reboot the phone and it'll find my location and the route in <10 seconds.

kizer said:
I removed TelNav within 4days of owning my phone and it really for me hasn't changed a thing.
What helped me was turning off the wireless location feature. From what I noticed it looks for your location based off the cell towers first then it looks for your location via GPS. If its slow to find you via wireless then well its slow to find you via GPS too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe the wifi and GPS share the same antenna. Anyone know which antennas do what for sure?

Our cellular antenna is at the bottom under the bump. The one at the top next to the antenna port does the rest.

heygrl said:
If anyone is getting black screen freeze ups, disabling GPS will clear that right up.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for this tip, I hadn't caught this in the other GPS threads.

I ran and used My Tracks but forgot to turn on GPS. When I tried nav it could not get a fix until I restarted. Next time I'll try killing conflicting apps.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

I just deleted the Tel-Nav app and now my GPS locks on in about 10 seconds and is dead on accurate. I even drove 165 miles today and never dropped a GPS signal. I could never do that before.

Does anyone know why the times are off one the gps sensors? My local time is 10:51, but gps test has it as 18:51 that is about 8 hours off.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Fascinate GPS is officially useful

Not trying to start a fight, but I do want to prove that the GPS on the Fascinate is working, at least on some units.
I started out on my rooftop deck, and got a lock on the GPS. You can see I turned off wi-fi. I got 10 sats locked, ~4ft resolution. I then walked out of the building, and went around my block, purposely crossing the street at time, and even walking 3 sides of a 4 way intersection to see if the GPS would track it. Consider this is Chicago as well, with plenty of buildings around, I think it's doing darn well.
I've got a bunch of screenshots from the GPSTest utility I took during the walk, which I tracked with MyTracks from Google. I'll upload a few images here, as well as the .kml and .gpx file for those who want to break down the trip into detail. I'll post a link to the full gallery. I kept the 0 signal strengths in there, since they showed up every now and then. I assume this is normal, I don't know, I'm not a GPS expert.
The file names are by date/time so you should be able to cross reference signal strength / sat lock at a given time with the track data from the gpx/kml file.
Hope that helps encourage a few people, perhaps you just need to exchange your unit for a new one, instead of return it for a different phone?
Happy to answer questions.
Brandon
Edit - Gallery Link - http://picasaweb.google.com/111158456836091222310/GPSWalk#

Been using it since yesterday and I havent had a GPS problem at all. Google Maps is amazing on this thing, as it always is

namebrandon said:
I started out on my rooftop deck, and got a lock on the GPS. You can see I turned off wi-fi. I got 10 sats locked, ~4ft resolution. I then walked out of the building, and went around my block, purposely crossing the street at time, and even walking 3 sides of a 4 way intersection to see if the GPS would track it. Consider this is Chicago as well, with plenty of buildings around, I think it's doing darn well.
I've got a bunch of screenshots from the GPSTest utility I took during the walk, which I tracked with MyTracks from Google. I'll upload a few images here, as well as the .kml and .gpx file for those who want to break down the trip into detail. I'll post a link to the full gallery. I kept the 0 signal strengths in there, since they showed up every now and then. I assume this is normal, I don't know, I'm not a GPS expert.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the detailed test data. The GPS Test screens do look pretty good to me except for that bizarre example that is all zeroed-out. Recurring cases of that do not seem at all normal to me. But at least the unit recovered.
As for accuracy of the track -- and walking tracks are among the more demanding tests you can do -- I would say it is mixed but at least understandable given the conditions. Seems okay on the north-south streets. But it goes a little wonky on the east-west legs, especially near the end along the north side, when I guess you were in the shadow of those high-rise buildings, and the track wandered maybe as much as 15 meters into the block interior.
The pragmatic question about such tracks, which are never perfect, is: How accurate is acceptable? Sometimes it is useful to carry another known, good device recording a simultaneous benchmark so the two tracks can be compared. Also, when walking, it is good to set My Tracks to its maximum granularity of only 1 meter between data points instead of the default of 5 meters. I think the reasonable issue is how this performance compares to competitive smartphone devices.
Do the aberrant part of the track coincide with the places where GPS Test showed the satellites zeroed out? I am guessing that is true for the portion near the end of the circumnavigation.
In any case, this is the sort of test that users here can sink their teeth into, far better than andecdotal impressions.

Hey man! Thanks for the tips on how to correctly (or I guess, usefully) test the GPS. Thanks for taking the time to check the data too.
You can see if you look at google maps the buildings are a bit tall in some areas, so it certainly killed some signal. The zeros seemed to happen when I shook the device, which I had to do to take a screenshot (shaking is the trigger for the program). I think that is when the device lost signal every once and a while.
You'll notice I was on the sidewalk, which I think is portrayed pretty accurately. I was originally confused why I wasn't dead on center to the street.
It also caught when I purposely cut across the street at one point in time to see if it would track to the other sidewalk, and it did.
Regardless, it's accurate enough for me, and hopefully, accurate enough to give confidence to others out there that at least some Fascinate units have a good, working GPS.

Great news! Thanks for sharing. Can't wait to pick up my Fascinate tomorrow and try this out myself where I live.

I've had nothing but good performance from my GPS so far. On the way home from work 2nite I copied a myTrack of it and did a little meandering through a parking lot to see how accurate it was. GPS Test could saw up to 12 satellites at one time, but mostly 10 and locked onto 10 of them for most of the drive home. Accuracy was down to 3.3ft as well, but fluctuated up to 9ft from time to time. highest SNR I saw was 37, while most hung around 27-34. No screen shots of the GPS Test unfortunately, but I do have my tracks. I did stay in the right lane on the free way most of the way home, but had to go around traffic once I hit Modesto. I did go into the fast/left lane just before Jack Tone Rd and again after Briggsmore Ave and it captured that pretty good. I got off the freeway at one point just to mess with Google Nav and it handled it great. Once I got off on my exit I did some driving around the parking spots in a large parking lot. Pretty close to what I did. I'd say with in the 4-10ft estimated accuracy the GPS Test was showing.
Its been about a day since i rebooted the phone, so we'll keep it going to see if has the problem where it will work after rebooting or changing settings and then stop after a few days.
since I cant post links yet, here the map of myTrack
maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=113114085618005181110.00048ff7980f2df305ac9&t=h&z=12

I haven't had much chance to use it on mine, but I will say that the first time I enabled it, it took about 10-15 seconds to get a lock. After that, it appears to lock virtually instantly every time an app activates it. Also, it seems to be very accurate within Google Maps and Navigation. I guess I'm one of the lucky ones.

I've also had generally good results from the GPS. The only problem I've seen is that it is sometimes slow to lock on, especially indoors or inside a car. Once locked on, accuracy has been perfect. I tried out Google's new "walking directions" feature, and it announced "You have arrived" right as I stepped up to my mailbox.
Even the slow lock-on hasn't always been an issue. I was rather amused on Saturday night when I stepped outside with a friend who has a Droid X so I could show him how to use the walking-directions feature. My Fascinate locked on as soon as we got outside, and the X was still searching several minutes later.
I'm sure the GPS issues are real, since lots of people are seeing problems (and Samsung has acknowledged the issue). But for me, it has worked well enough; after Samsung ships the fix, I can only assume it will be even better.

My phone arrived today and the first thing I tested was the GPS. Seemed to lock on much quicker than my previous Android devices.
After leaving the phone's GPS alone for a while, I went back into GMaps and it would not lock on...which is not to say its a phone problem. It would lock onto the wifi signals, so it was locking in my general area. However, I also experienced this on my other phones (it actually locked to the exact spot my other phones would). A simple exit of Maps and reopen and it locked to my location in 2 seconds.
For now it seems to behave as it should. I do have all three settings checked, btw.

[Q] GPS problems

My GPS drives me nuts ... the signal is weak even outdoors on a sunny day. GPS Test shows maximum levels of around 25 on the street and even less on the balcony.
From the reports and Youtube videos I saw, the TF should do better than this, instead of constantly loosing GPS signal, shouldn't it?
Btw, I tried all available settings.
Might my TF be faulty?
PS: Is it normal, that the TF has less GPS problems in the late evening?

I haven't been all that happy with the GPS performance either. I haven't managed to get a lock when starting from a cold start at all, it sits there finding no more than 3 or 4 satellites at low levels, even after 20 minutes. By cold start I mean the satellite data wasn't updated in a long time, and therefore the TF is searching on his own for satellites.
When I was connected with Wifi and launched different GPS apps, I was able to get a lock in about a minute or so, which is more normal.
Unless you have the ability to tether to your phone, or or are connected to a wireless router, I think it's absolutely necessary to keep your TF's satellite list up to date manually, or before you leave and know you will be using your TF as GPS device.
I don't think late evening has to do with anything, but the weather can definately interfere (think fog, rain, lot's of clouds).

michelhuy said:
When I was connected with Wifi and launched different GPS apps, I was able to get a lock in about a minute or so, which is more normal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Currently in the late evening that's what happens with my TF ... I even get a low level around 20 sitting on the sofa 2 meters away from the window.
This afternoon I even had problems in front of the house with a clear sky, where I also had WiFi connection. Yesterday the same experience.
Why is it better in the evening in my case? Strange.
But maybe I have an explanation: On the roof of the house on the opposite side of the street is a large cell phone antenna. Might this cause my problems? Maybe because there's less traffic in the evening?

Problem solved !
I downloaded MapDroid and tested the GPS in the car ... voila ... worked like a charm.
I drove 20km with the TF switched off, stopped, loaded MapDroid, waited until my position appeared on the map, which only took 1-2 minutes and drove back, checking the map at every traffic light.
So it seems, this cell phone antenna on the neighbour house caused my GPS problems at home.

Nice one. I don't think I've actually noticed one of those towers or know what they look like.
ehow.com 's suggestion on how to acquire a GPS signal:
http://www.ehow.com/how_7315691_acquire-gps-signal.html
"2. Get away from anything emitting electronic signals. Radio towers, cell phone towers, and other electronic signals can cause interference with GPS signals, leaving your receiver with little to no reception."

michelhuy said:
I don't think I've actually noticed one of those towers or know what they look like.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just google images for "cell phone towers" and you'll find tons of examples. The one on the house is one (!) of this flat long things. The huge masts with lots of antennas you see in most pics are usually not found in residential areas ... at least here in Germany.

well..a trade-off for getting a strong cell phone signal!

GPS Fix worked for me.

jadesse said:
GPS Fix worked for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not in my case, but who knows, maybe it helps someday on the road.

jadesse said:
GPS Fix worked for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Aymara said:
Not in my case, but who knows, maybe it helps someday on the road.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Worked for me!

r_nt said:
Worked for me!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I uninstalled GPS Fix, because GPS Status & Toolbox gives me the fastest fix and has more features ... highly recommended

GPS signal lost

Hi all,
I'm on 4.4.2 (Singapore NC2) and I keep losing my GPS signal. No different from any of the other 4.4.2 ROMs I tried (all stock Samsung, initially not rooted but now I am)
I've tried:
- Turn off data (as someone suggested the Note 3 loses GPS when data changes from HSPA to 4G and back)
- rebooted
- Shut down the phone, take battery out and wait a few minutes before rebooting
- cleared the cache
- all sorts of location modes
, turned off wireless and bluetooth
- installed gps status and toolbox (another suggestion)
- full wipe and reinstall all apps
Things I have not tried
- wipe again (but I don't want to keep wiping to get GPS working)
- break the piece of sh1t in half
Is there any way to make this pile of [email protected] work. This is seriously THE worst GPS I had since the original Galaxy S (the S1).
I could not honestly say whether it was any better or worse before the upgrade as I got it two weeks ago and immediately upgraded to 4.4.2
Somehow, after I upgraded to NC2 it was fine but this afternoon it was absolute hell and took all the self control I had NOT to open the window and throw the POS out.
Any suggestions would be greatly(!) appreciated.
TIA

ewok666 said:
Hi all,
I'm on 4.4.2 (Singapore NC2) and I keep losing my GPS signal. No different from any of the other 4.4.2 ROMs I tried (all stock Samsung, initially not rooted but now I am)
I've tried:
- Turn off data (as someone suggested the Note 3 loses GPS when data changes from HSPA to 4G and back)
- rebooted
- Shut down the phone, take battery out and wait a few minutes before rebooting
- cleared the cache
- all sorts of location modes
, turned off wireless and bluetooth
- installed gps status and toolbox (another suggestion)
- full wipe and reinstall all apps
Things I have not tried
- wipe again (but I don't want to keep wiping to get GPS working)
- break the piece of sh1t in half
Is there any way to make this pile of [email protected] work. This is seriously THE worst GPS I had since the original Galaxy S (the S1).
I could not honestly say whether it was any better or worse before the upgrade as I got it two weeks ago and immediately upgraded to 4.4.2
Somehow, after I upgraded to NC2 it was fine but this afternoon it was absolute hell and took all the self control I had NOT to open the window and throw the POS out.
Any suggestions would be greatly(!) appreciated.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be frank, wifi/data/blututh has nothing to do with the GPS. Mine is working well, has never disconnected when I needed (especially when I m driving)
have u tried to test ur gps ? u can use gps test to see how fast it is to lock a satelite, how many satelite detected, how strong is ur gps signal.
then you will know whether your gps got problem or not.

By any chance ur using aluminum casing? With it NFC won't work and very weak GPS signals.

antique_sonic said:
to be frank, wifi/data/blututh has nothing to do with the GPS. Mine is working well, has never disconnected when I needed (especially when I m driving)
have u tried to test ur gps ? u can use gps test to see how fast it is to lock a satelite, how many satelite detected, how strong is ur gps signal.
then you will know whether your gps got problem or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I know none of these should matter when it comes GPS except data and obviously the phone can scan for Wi-Fi networks to get an initial position.
When the phone gets a lock it usually does so within seconds and I've compared signal strength with an S4 and it's give or take the same.
Still, the Note lost the signal without moving, got it back only to lose it again and so on......absolute nightmare trying to navigate with it. I'll check it again today.
I have no case on it, it just sits in a Brodit holder.
It seems ok this morning.....I'll just keep an eye on it.
EDIT: Was OK for most of the morning while driving. However, this afternoon, after some playing some games, I took it for a drive again and GPS went all ballistic. I wonder whether it's a heat problem. I have another Note 3, also KitKat but different version, not rooted and when I put them both next to each other on a table they both intermittently lost GPS without being moved around....very strange.

Never had this issue... Mine only looses signal when i'm in a parking garage, on the tube or in between several high concrete buildings. But that's elementary physics, not a hardware defect.
Have you tried another GPS app?

ShadowLea said:
Never had this issue... Mine only looses signal when i'm in a parking garage, on the tube or in between several high concrete buildings. But that's elementary physics, not a hardware defect.
Have you tried another GPS app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I've tried a few including GPS testing apps. Are you on 4.3 or 4.4.2?
I've also had the two Note 3, a SGS3 and Note 10.1 (2014 LTE so also Snapdragon 800) next to each other on a table outside. The SGS showed a rather consistent view of 6 to 7 satellites while the Notes (all three) had their satellite readings go up and down. However, ONLY the Note 3s lost the signal. It looks something like this: Has 8 to 10 sats in view, suddenly drops four, then another 3, then it's dead and then it seems to restart......and it's good again. This is all without the phones/tablet being moved or touched.

Mine does it as well rooted and before unrooted! Could be hardware although it's not as bad on Google maps more on waze!
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

ewok666 said:
Thanks, I've tried a few including GPS testing apps. Are you on 4.3 or 4.4.2?
I've also had the two Note 3, a SGS3 and Note 10.1 (2014 LTE so also Snapdragon 800) next to each other on a table outside. The SGS showed a rather consistent view of 6 to 7 satellites while the Notes (all three) had their satellite readings go up and down. However, ONLY the Note 3s lost the signal. It looks something like this: Has 8 to 10 sats in view, suddenly drops four, then another 3, then it's dead and then it seems to restart......and it's good again. This is all without the phones/tablet being moved or touched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4.4.2, NB7.
I'll test. Note that I'm inside a newly build concrete building between several servers and computers, and below 7 floors filled with people. (It's a hotel.)
Start: 22 in view.
10 sec: In use: 6. Accuracy: 60 meters
25 sec: In use: 9, Accuracy: 10 meters.
MapsWithMe and Google maps drop me in the wrong part of the building, but the readings remain consistent after it has sucessfully located me. Even when I'm walking down the hall it accuratelly follows me without skipping.
(It still thinks I'm doing it in the wrong part of the complex, but no connection is lost. Could be worse, most apps' locationservices still think I'm somewhere in the arse-end of nowhere in Eastern Europe. Dear Phone, I've seen enough of Serbia to say I wasn't impressed. I have no intention to stay. )
Mobile data on/off makes no difference, WiFi is off.
Is it relevant to mention that I'm in western Europe? Might be, for the number of sats.

ShadowLea said:
4.4.2, NB7.
I'll test. Note that I'm inside a newly build concrete building between several servers and computers, and below 7 floors filled with people. (It's a hotel.)
Start: 22 in view.
10 sec: In use: 6. Accuracy: 60 meters
25 sec: In use: 9, Accuracy: 10 meters.
MapsWithMe and Google maps drop me in the wrong part of the building, but the readings remain consistent after it has sucessfully located me. Even when I'm walking down the hall it accuratelly follows me without skipping.
(It still thinks I'm doing it in the wrong part of the complex, but no connection is lost. Could be worse, most apps' locationservices still think I'm somewhere in the arse-end of nowhere in Eastern Europe. Dear Phone, I've seen enough of Serbia to say I wasn't impressed. I have no intention to stay. )
Mobile data on/off makes no difference, WiFi is off.
Is it relevant to mention that I'm in western Europe? Might be, for the number of sats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the test. I've been on NB7 (BTU). THis is when I first noticed the problem, the day after I got the Note 3.
All I can say is that it's fine again now. Something triggers the problem and once it's messed up it stays that way until I shut the phone down AND take the battery out for half a minute or so. A simple shut down and restart after a few seconds does not seem to help.
No clue whether this is related to there not being an Australian 4.4.2 ROM although I would have though Singapore would be close enough.....geographically.
I'm indoors at the moment and it has 13 satellites in use with 36ft (about 10m) accuracy and has been stable for the last 15 minutes. When it's screwed then I don't get a lock for longer than a minute or two. I'll just keep playing with it and if I can't fix it at all it's going to a better place
Thanks

I have the same problem. I'm on 3uk network and have to have a booster box for my phone at home as there is no network coverage on any network where I live but sometimes lose signal even with this. With friends, on same network, they have a perfect signal on their phones, none have the Galaxy Note 3 except me and I have have zilch. I didn't have any problems when I first got my phone but approx 9-10 mths later Gps signal totally unreliable. 3 told me the handset would have to be sent back to Samsung but this means I have to be without for, well who knows how long...
I have tried all the same remedies as you, none work. If you come up with any solution PLEASE post it here. thanks.

GPS fix

My phone takes a lot of time getting a GPS fix, sometimes it doesn't succeed after minutes of waiting. I compared it to some Samsung phones, those connect within seconds...
The connection seems stable after getting a fix, but getting a fix is very hard for this phone...
Is anyone else experiencing this?

You're not the only one, mine's also broken. Looking around at the official Moto forums, it seems like this is a fairly common issue with the G4 Play.
So far stock was broken, CM 14.1 has been no better. If I use GPS Status & Toolbox it will eventually get a lock and maybe the accuracy will get down to +/-30m, but if any other app that calls for location (Google Maps, Pokemon Go, etc), if the GPS is turned on at all, it will almost never lock unless switch to GPS Status, but once it gets a lock, the accuracy will keep dropping till its greater than +/-300-400m before losing the lock and eventually the phone just shuts down GPS and stops trying. Literally not location or app settings make any difference, neither does factory reset.
I've had 2 G4 Plays so far. The first was the Amazon Prime version, it had no location issues at all and was totally rock solid, but boot loader could not be unlocked, so I sold it to a friend for his kids to use for Pokemon Go since it was a great device for that. This second one may as well not have came with GPS.
Edit: I've returned to stock and zero difference. I'm not messing with this anymore, 2.5 weeks was long enough trying to fix it, I'm replacing it through Amazon.

I was heaving issues too, changed my SIM to the second slot and it's quite better now. I even play PoGo.
Sent from my Moto G Play using XDA-Developers Legacy app

The problem is actually quite simple: The G4 Play cannot connect to Russian satellites (GLONASS). Under GPS Status and a few other apps, they are perma-greyed out. All of my LG phones connect to them just fine. What kills me is that the feature is listed under Motorola's website, and the phone knows they are there (even on CM14.1), but it simply refuses to use them.

I'm not sure of this. I used MapFactor and GPS Status & Toolbox, and the IDs of the satellites are also in the GLONASS range (https://github.com/mvglasow/satstat/wiki/NMEA-IDs). Do you have a US only version of G4 Play? I have the international version.

nick_white said:
I'm not sure of this. I used MapFactor and GPS Status & Toolbox, and the IDs of the satellites are also in the GLONASS range. Do you have a US only version of G4 Play? I have the international version.
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I can confirm my 1607 is US Retail. I tested multiple GPS apps (including GPS-S&T) and while I got signal from GLONASS satellites, it straight up refused to connect to a single one, even if the satellite had better signal than a comparable US satellite. I don't know if it's possible to flash a new modem for this model yet.

Try this app: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.gpstest
It gave me the best fix than all the others. I don't know what this guy do but it connects to more satellites and gets a fix faster.

I also have a Moto G4 Play mobile with the same problem.
You won't believe that touching to the gps device on the back side of the phone solved the problem to some extent. I go for running every morning and I use Runkeeper to track my moves. So how much distance I cover in a day is much important for me and thus gps accuracy also. But my location is tracked like a heart rate monitor of a hospital. But one day I was experimenting with my phone and found that if I remove the back cover of the phone and touch to the part where it was written Harpia GPS S01, the signal of the gps boosted and the radius of the blue circle became shorter to about 4-8 metres that means I was getting more accuracy than before. So from that day whenever I go to run, I remove the back cover and put a finger on the gps set and the problem somewhat solved. But this was only a part of the story. My father owns a Micromax Unite 3 mobile and he also used to run daily. What to say about the latter, it gives an accuracy of unbelievable 1 metre. On the latter, the runkeeper even tracks the change of lane or the side of the road. I am just jealous of the phone even though it costs 4000 rs less than mine.

ashishwebmail said:
You won't believe that touching to the gps device on the back side of the phone solved the problem to some extent. I go for running every morning and I use Runkeeper to track my moves. So how much distance I cover in a day is much important for me and thus gps accuracy also. But my location is tracked like a heart rate monitor of a hospital. But one day I was experimenting with my phone and found that if I remove the back cover of the phone and touch to the part where it was written Harpia GPS S01, the signal of the gps boosted and the radius of the blue circle became shorter to about 4-8 metres that means I was getting more accuracy than before. So from that day whenever I go to run, I remove the back cover and put a finger on the gps set and the problem somewhat solved. But this was only a part of the story. My father owns a Micromax Unite 3 mobile and he also used to run daily. What to say about the latter, it gives an accuracy of unbelievable 1 metre. On the latter, the runkeeper even tracks the change of lane or the side of the road. I am just jealous of the phone even though it costs 4000 rs less than mine.
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Sounds like connector failed. Someone on the Lenovo forum had theirs repaired by moto and the antenna connector was what they fixed. Betting mine (and yours) are that. I replaced mine through Amazon, so far the replacement device has been working.
I'm wondering if it's a bad design on the antenna or just manufacturing defect and bad QA on some units.

Kadah said:
Sounds like connector failed. Someone on the Lenovo forum had theirs repaired by moto and the antenna connector was what they fixed. Betting mine (and yours) are that. I replaced mine through Amazon, so far the replacement device has been working.
I'm wondering if it's a bad design on the antenna or just manufacturing defect and bad QA on some units.
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Dumb question, but if the connection is exposed upon removal of the cover, isn't it possible to tear into and reconnect/solder without taking it to a manufacturer? I mean, what I see are two screws to the right of the headphone jack, a plastic cover that says "Harpia GPS S01," and what looks like some kind of antenna watermark.

mkollersms said:
The problem is actually quite simple: The G4 Play cannot connect to Russian satellites (GLONASS). Under GPS Status and a few other apps, they are perma-greyed out. All of my LG phones connect to them just fine. What kills me is that the feature is listed under Motorola's website, and the phone knows they are there (even on CM14.1), but it simply refuses to use them.
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Interesting. I've just checked mine (European XT1602) and it does that, too - the GLONASS satellites are showing up, but are not being used.

When I was in stock rom after some time the gps stopped working well, don't know why. Now with Aox 14.1 is working fine, I don't understand the satellites but the accuracy is pretty good

ronaldotalison said:
When I was in stock rom after some time the gps stopped working well, don't know why. Now with Aox 14.1 is working fine, I don't understand the satellites but the accuracy is pretty good
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Not seeing any active Russians on that image. Your phone might still be having the same problem as everyone else.

I've bought a xt1602 yesterday. The GPS is excellent. I get a fix in few seconds with solid signals, but without glonass.

Update on the current replacement G4 Play: GPS is starting to fail on it as well. I've hardly even used it, maybe only a dozen times in the last several weeks. So far that's 3 of 3 that are defective. I think I'm going to return this one to Amazon too, not sure I want to try a 4th.

mkollersms said:
Not seeing any active Russians on that image. Your phone might still be having the same problem as everyone else.
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I see russian satellites on his picture. How do you know that they were not active?

sevenRA1 said:
I see russian satellites on his picture. How do you know that they were not active?
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Because the three that I see are missing values under the "Flags" column. That hints at the aGPS data being there but that the phone might not have interfaced with them. The UI says 12 of 22 sats are connected. Of the 13 US shown, 12 have all fields with information and the thirteenth is missing info in one column. Granted, all of this is conjecture.

I think u are right. Ive tested it today by myself. But ive to say that this mobile phone has got a VERY fast GPS fix, atleast where i live. (Germany)

I also have bad GPS, thing I've tried:
Reset to factory settings
Safe boot
GPS Toolbox
I will now try putting the sim card in the second slot, like suggested here on the forum. Keep you posted!

Unfortunately putting the SIM card in the second slot did not better the situation. Back to the shop...