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I have two Vibrants dated 07/01/2010 on the boxes. Both of them have been pretty iffy, if not outright unusable, when it comes to GPS. All the fixes were tried. This morning I decided to try the Samsung app to fix it on one of the phones (it is rooted and has one click lag fix, no other mods), and it made a HUGE difference. I can lock 8 out of 10 satellites outside my building, whereas before I would be lucky to lock 3 after waiting 10 minutes. However, in Google Maps accuracy is only 50 feet and it wobbles around a lot, while remaining in a stationary position. This was done with tower assistance disabled and wifi turned off (but not airplane mode).
Now I also have a third Vibrant, dated 10/21/2010 on the box. It is stock and I did not change any GPS settings or download the Samsung app. It gets the same 8 out of 10 locked at the same speed, if not a little faster (in both cases it is acceptable). However in Google Maps it has 20 feet accuracy and does not wobble around at all.
Both phones, at this time, show between 14.5 and 19.0 feet accuracy in GPS Test app.
I happened to be on the phone with t-mobile for a separate reason, but I asked them about the GPS and they basically told me that updates are on the way and changed the subject.
I'll be testing the other July Vibrant later today probably. BTW the Nexus S (which I got to play with fresh out of the box last night) gets instant lock with room-of-the-house accuracy in Google Maps. I'm jealous to say the least!
Now the question is, do I see if GPS on the older Vibrants improves with updates, or try to get T-Mo to replace them with new phones? BTW the new phone seems to have a different build quality. The backplate feels loose, though it's certainly not coming off on its own. I tried the extra backplate as well as the backplates from the older vibrants, and it is the same with all of the backplates. The power/lock button also is very soft and does not give a click like the older phones do, which makes it difficult to tell if you pressed it hard enough or not.
Thoughts? Questions, flames, etc?
A pic for your amusement. The MT4G on its own had 10/10 locked. The left Vibrant had 7/12 on its own. The right vibrant had 0/12 in all tests. The Nexus S had 8/10 I believe when tested individually, and it had the best accuracy of all the phones in the pic. The MT4G was 2nd best. I guess the phones were interfering with eachother when set up like this.
Haven't seen this yet... Hows the gps vs the epic 4G touch?
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA
First use outside, took about 20 seconds to lock in.
Second time, about 2 seconds. Inside, it locks in in about 30 seconds. Locks on about 18 satellites, which is about twice the number epic touch would lock in inside.
Haven't actually tried navigation yet.
averaging about 3 seconds inside and outside, here in nyc
Locks on much better then my old Epic 4g(non-touch)
much better than epic touch 4g
Almost instant with mine
Sent from my SPH-L710 using xda premium
Closest I could get to is 4m accuracy, almost instant lock. SoCal
9 foot accuracy out and 24 inside with nearly instantaneous lock inside and out, average 22 sats in view in or out...more in us when outside of course.
Blows my $260 Garmin signal lock away as that takes at least a minute.
I was told the SGS III also locks onto Russian GLONASS satellites making gps much much better
eyecon82 said:
I was told the SGS III also locks onto Russian GLONASS satellites making gps much much better
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, it does have GLONASS which helps a lot. I'm ready for mine to come in, the last two devices I purchased pretty much bombed in the GPS area.
Indoors - 1 second/20 meters.
Can you guys please post some GPS TEST screenshots that show the SNR bars and values?
example from the SGSII E4GT is attached. This was the best I've ever had. I thank you guys for your accounts, I'd appreciate seeing some screenies of the quality.
GPS TEST APP https://play.google.com/store/apps/...GwsMSwxLDMsImNvbS5jaGFydGNyb3NzLmdwc3Rlc3QiXQ..
Heh, I should go run some tests on my OG Epic.
I've had accuracy to 3 or 4 feet before...
Though that's not what this thread is about
Bluerai said:
Heh, I should go run some tests on my OG Epic.
I've had accuracy to 3 or 4 feet before...
Though that's not what this thread is about
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, it makes very good sense to do some baseline GPS testing with another device so you will have some benchmark. Most people here are just reporting lock times, which is just a threshhold metric that shows if the GPS works at all.
Another thing that is useful is to do some comparable tests of actual accuracy (not just the imputed accuracy reported in GPS Test) by running real-world tracking tests on identical courses. It is even more useful to include both driving-course tests and walking-course tests. Use the My Tracks app to capture these tracks and upload them to your Google My Places, which overlays the captured tracks on maps. Then you can view the before-and-after tracks, and even post links here.
Then you have an intelligent answer to the question of how well the GPS works.
I was INSIDE of a restaurant last night and did side by side GPS lock test on a GS3 and epic touch 4g.
GS3: almost instant lock and about 15~20ft accuracy
ET4G: never got a lock until we were done eating and left the restaurant.
halmo20 said:
I was INSIDE of a restaurant last night and did side by side GPS lock test on a GS3 and epic touch 4g.
GS3: almost instant lock and about 15~20ft accuracy
ET4G: never got a lock until we were done eating and left the restaurant.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ouuuch
Sent from my EPIC TOUCH!
I get locks pretty quick on the S3
What about Navigation? It's beyond horrendous on the Epic Touch!
Sent from my EPIC TOUCH!
I'm curious how this compares to the EVO LTE.
The GS3 teardown reveals it uses a Broadcom GPS chip.
The EVO uses the integrated GPS supplied by Qualcomm.
ubigred said:
What about Navigation? It's beyond horrendous on the Epic Touch!
Sent from my EPIC TOUCH!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used navigation about 4 times since I had it and it works and locks in seconds pretty well. Just as good as the EvoLte. I had the EvoLte for about 3 weeks before I switched to the S3.
Nowhere is the specs is any mention of GLONASS support, even though the snapdragon chip inside has hardware support for it.
(qualcomm added support last year for all snapdragon chips: http://www.qualcomm.com/media/blog/2011/12/15/gps-and-glonass-dual-core-location-your-phone )
Why did they skip on that do you think? Is there a special license fee to use it or something?
Thankful for clarification if you happen to know.
EDIT : GLONASS support is confirmed!
Its strange as the LG equivalent has glonass. We'll have to wait.
If it's a recent Qualcomm baseband then GLONASS should be supported. I can't find any info on what baseband the Nexus 4 uses atm,
Besides, GLONASS is currently only used as a backup if GPS doesn't work rather than in tandem as you'd expect.
The 1.5Ghz S4 Pro has built in GLONASS support: https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=...n/products-services/snapdragon_specs_9-12.pdf
Keep in mind that the specs listed on the Play store has a tendency to be inaccurate. They mention HSPA+ 21 when it actually supports HSPA+ 42 as per their own press release.
r3loaded2010 said:
If it's a recent Qualcomm baseband then GLONASS should be supported. I can't find any info on what baseband the Nexus 4 uses atm,
Besides, GLONASS is currently only used as a backup if GPS doesn't work rather than in tandem as you'd expect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not sure about how it works in LG phones, but with the Moto XT910 I've had before, the GPS test app was able to see both GPS and GLONASS satellites at the same time. The GPS fix on cold start was sped up tremendously in the GLONASS-supported areas.
Excuse my ignorance, could someone explain GLONASS to me? Is it just a GPS backup? So if GPS fails this'll kick in?
CJHolderUK said:
Excuse my ignorance, could someone explain GLONASS to me? Is it just a GPS backup? So if GPS fails this'll kick in?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is the Russian implementation of GPS.
r3loaded2010 said:
If it's a recent Qualcomm baseband then GLONASS should be supported. I can't find any info on what baseband the Nexus 4 uses atm,
Besides, GLONASS is currently only used as a backup if GPS doesn't work rather than in tandem as you'd expect.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, it uses both unless the GPS signal is very strong. I can see at least 3 connected GLONASS satellites on my Galaxy Note during regular usage. Download "GPS toolbox" and look for numbers 64 and higher, which are GLONASS.
Also, the Nexus 4 would face extra import duties in Russia for not having GLONASS as do other GPS only phones.
According to this comparison, the LG supports GLONASS.
vinay427 said:
According to this comparison, the LG supports GLONASS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, but that has been listed there since long before they were released. They sometimes put rumored specs there and then forget to change it, so I don't trust them.
And furthermore, LG themselves does not list GLONASS support in their official optimus g spec sheet
http://minus.com/lcUd26ueodJc3
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
The GPS module that is a part of the S4 Pro APQ8064 chipset is gpsOneGen 8A, which supports GLONASS, so the hardware is there
I would assume that Google would have to pay licensing fees in order to activate GLONASS. Satellites cost money, even if they are russian satellites
I have an exapmle from the the Anandtch podcast: I believe that the iphone 5 has a noise reduction function built into their A6 SOC, but since they didn't need it or didn't have time to make it work properly they chose not to activate it. The stock of the company that designed that part of the SOC and was expecting liscensing fees fell big time on the iphone 5 launch once it was known that the function wasn't activated
Someone said that the license fee is already paid by Qualcomm, so that might not be an issue....
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
That was me, and it was an estimated guess, I could be wrong
It does appear to have GLONASS according to Phil Nickinson over on Android Central. See Posts 410-413 in this thread:
http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...ave-nexus-4-you-have-questions-fire-away.html
Yes! I was the one asking him to test for GLONASS!
GLONASS : CONFIRMED!
http://forums.androidcentral.com/go...-have-questions-fire-away-17.html#post2281856
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
I am not so sure that GLONASS / GPS hardware or the driver is working properly on the N4.
I can see the GLONASS sats in the GPS Test app but they are sometimes grey and my N4 can only get accuracy of 10 meters outside on a clear day.
In the house 12 inches from the window, the N4 cannot get a lock whereas my wife's S3 consistently gets a 4-5 meter lock side by side. Outside the house, the S3 is really accurate at 1-2 meters.
cenonmin said:
I am not so sure that GLONASS / GPS hardware or the driver is working properly on the N4.
I can see the GLONASS sats in the GPS Test app but they are sometimes grey and my N4 can only get accuracy of 10 meters outside on a clear day.
In the house 12 inches from the window, the N4 cannot get a lock whereas my wife's S3 consistently gets a 4-5 meter lock side by side. Outside the house, the S3 is really accurate at 1-2 meters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds spot on, when compared with my brothers S3. The S2 had good indoor performance also.
Mine locks to several GPS satellites and shows few GLONASS satellites, but never gets lock to them.
Does GLONASS REALLY work with Nexus 4 or not?
Hi everyone,
Potential N10 buyer here. I'm considering it for a bicycle trip in April, currently waiting to see if some of the SW bugs get worked out, and if there will be a price drop by March when the next iPad is rumored to be announced.
One thing I haven't been able to find in my research thus far is an assessment of the N10's GPS sensitivity. The Nexus 7 was praised for its excellent GPS, and ability to get a lock even indoors. I believe the 10 uses the same GPS chipset, but the antenna and RF design can have just as much influence on actual performance. Is there someone with both the N7 and N10, who could place them side by side running GPS Test (showing the satellite signal-strength bars), to see which one is "hotter"?
Thanks!
Mark
mark04 said:
Hi everyone,
Potential N10 buyer here. I'm considering it for a bicycle trip in April, currently waiting to see if some of the SW bugs get worked out, and if there will be a price drop by March when the next iPad is rumored to be announced.
One thing I haven't been able to find in my research thus far is an assessment of the N10's GPS sensitivity. The Nexus 7 was praised for its excellent GPS, and ability to get a lock even indoors. I believe the 10 uses the same GPS chipset, but the antenna and RF design can have just as much influence on actual performance. Is there someone with both the N7 and N10, who could place them side by side running GPS Test (showing the satellite signal-strength bars), to see which one is "hotter"?
Thanks!
Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Excelent gps in nexus 10.
It locks with a lot of satellites fixed in indoor.
And it lock glonas satellites.
Enviado desde mi Nexus 10 usando Tapatalk 2
I have both a Nexus 10 & 7. They both will lockup indoors reading the same number of satellites. Their gps seems pretty equal to me sitting & testing in the same spot indoors. In comparison my GNex can't begin to lock & sees nothing, while my sgs3 locks but seems a little weaker than the 2 tablets. Don't see any difference in any of them outdoors with a clear view of the sky. I run the same scripts & locking aids on all to help with lock speed.
My work is in my places with no service & gps is used constantly. I recommend Backcountry Navigator for those places.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
djd338 said:
I have both a Nexus 10 & 7. They both will lockup indoors reading the same number of satellites. Their gps seems pretty equal to me sitting & testing in the same spot indoors. In comparison my GNex can't begin to lock & sees nothing, while my sgs3 locks but seems a little weaker than the 2 tablets. Don't see any difference in any of them outdoors with a clear view of the sky. I run the same scripts & locking aids on all to help with lock speed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks! This was the sort of comparison I was looking for.
Can you tell me more about the "scripts and locking aids" you're using? I haven't heard of that before.
The app Faster Fix seems to help. Maybe plecebo, but it allows North American servers to be selected if that's where you are. The main script I always run tho is "Mitch0115 optimal gpsconf" zip. There's a thread on Rootz about it. It has worked great for me & I've used it since the OG Droid. It used to be a script you'd paste in /etc, but about a year ago he made a flashable zip. It must be reflashed with each rom, so I keep it on the SD card. It aids in lockup speed. Check all that using GPS Test. It's a neat app which shows all satellites & their strength the device sees at that moment.
Sent from my Nexus 10 using Tapatalk 2
Hey all. I was wondering if anyone heard anything about the accuracy (or simply how well it works) of the Note 4's GPS. I remember my Note 3 would drop location repeatedly and it would annoy the crap out of me while I was on my motorcycle. It was really the only reason I got rid of the N3 for my One M8 in the first place. I needed that reliability for my "adventures" . If the GPS is rock solid on this new Note, I will be making the change back. Any info uncovered or indication that it is improved would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA mobile app
i never had gps issues on my note 3 i just had signal issues. radio sucked
I'm sure it should be fine. I have had a Galaxy S2, S3, Note 2, S4 all AT&T models except the first s3 I owned it was international, then AT&T once my area got LTE.
Anyway never had an issue with GPS.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
The GPS on my T-Mobile Note 3 isn't very good in comparison to all my previous Galaxy phones.
I can't even get it to be accurate and it does drop out from time to time.
alpinesun said:
Hey all. I was wondering if anyone heard anything about the accuracy (or simply how well it works) of the Note 4's GPS. I remember my Note 3 would drop location repeatedly and it would annoy the crap out of me while I was on my motorcycle. It was really the only reason I got rid of the N3 for my One M8 in the first place. I needed that reliability for my "adventures" . If the GPS is rock solid on this new Note, I will be making the change back. Any info uncovered or indication that it is improved would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was frustrated with the GPS on the Note 3 as well. Couldn't get a decent lock while I was using it in a sports armband while running though it was much better if I held the phone in my hand during the runs. (not the most comfortable thing given the size) Finally took a look at a schematic to find out where the GPS chip was located. Turns out it is on the back side of the phone near the camera. So, it is blocked very well if being used in a sports armband as the back is generally pressed against your body that way.
Not sure where it was on previous devices, but either it was closer to the edge or the chip was better..
hope they realized this and did a better job this time
All antennas sacked on my Note 3. GPS wifi and network signal. Really hoping new antenna breaks in the casing of note 4 helps.
alpinesun said:
Hey all. I was wondering if anyone heard anything about the accuracy (or simply how well it works) of the Note 4's GPS. I remember my Note 3 would drop location repeatedly and it would annoy the crap out of me while I was on my motorcycle. It was really the only reason I got rid of the N3 for my One M8 in the first place. I needed that reliability for my "adventures" . If the GPS is rock solid on this new Note, I will be making the change back. Any info uncovered or indication that it is improved would be much appreciated. Thanks!
Sent from my HTC One_M8 using XDA mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here, my Note 3 gps is very bad every 10 min losing location
Now I wanna try to get European version of Note 4 no more American
Bump... Just in case any new information on this topic has risen
alpinesun said:
Bump... Just in case any new information on this topic has risen
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same here [emoji4]
Nothing new yet... not many in the wild as of yet.
But my Note 2 refused to point the right direction in Google Maps. The little blue arrow was always randomly wrong, really annoying. I'm told it was a compass problem and not the GPS. (Thats why navigation worked so well, it uses GPS rather than the compass). It is, soon to be was, really annoying.
It depends... and Sammy has a spotty record when it comes to GPS
alpinesun said:
Hey all. I was wondering if anyone heard anything about the accuracy (or simply how well it works) of the Note 4's GPS. I remember my Note 3 would drop location repeatedly
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TL;DR?
Googled myself silly trying to find this out and failed. I don’t think there’s an easy answer to this until someone buys both variants of the Note 4 and tests them out. Samsung is famous for having a whole bunch of variants per product model, as will be the case for the Note 4, so it depends:
Which SoC you get (Exynos or Snapdragon, as was the case with the Note 3 too). They come with different GPS solutions deep down.
What was done with the GPS antenna, and how well various tweaks were done to phone and radio firmware, which can also be carrier dependent and make your ‘mileage vary’ for things like A-GPS – pun intended :silly:
From what I've read, the Exynos version of the Note 4 might have the most room for improvement (or regression) because it’s incorporating a newer generation GPS hardware chip, but the Snapdragon version already incorporates a tried and well tested GPS hardware module. (Maybe look for a review trying to comparing GPS accuacy on the S5 Snapdragon vs. S5 Exynos to suport or debunk this point)
General notes about smartphone GPS on Android
Before getting into what I deem a plausible explanation of why Samsung GPS solutions are hit and miss, a brief general note about my understanding of GPS smart phone operation. From what I've read, getting a GPS fix and keeping it, with reasonably accuracy has a whole host of complicating factors. Some of them are:
GPS hardware and software in phones is probably optimised for 1) low power consumption, 2) time-to-fix and 3) accuracy, where accuracy is the lowest priority. So it’s likely to disappoint, but a less accurate GPS is better than no GPS (device with no power left)…
Sounds like A-GPS can matter a whole lot. Is A-GPS actually working? This depends on 1) signal coverage, 2) reasonable data connection, and 3) phone’s firmware properly configured to use A-GPS. Some people claim flashing different radios (often related to different carries or regions) improved or degraded how reliable GPS was. So it’s possible the GPS hardware is okay, but the radio/mobile operators setup has borked A-GPS implementation. And maybe A-GPS would help not only getting that first fix fast, but also helps to quickly recovering from a lost satellite lock when in a jungle (concrete ones and natural ones, given tall buildings and trees mess with GPS signal).
Determining a location can also rely on complex algorithms with even more inputs. Speeding up finding a location uses A-GPS, mobile network signal and wifi-signal (with triangulation). But keeping a lock and 'smoothing' out your location can use extra inputs from accelerometers, etc to compensate for and compliment the inaccuracy GPS signal readings.
Substantiating the above claims
GPS could work well for some Note 4 variants and not as well for others? What GPS solution comes with which SoC? In summary:
For the Snapdragon SoC variants of late, Galaxy S5, Note 3 and Note 4 share the same GPS hardware chip component design within the Qualcomm 800 series SoCs, so there probably won’t be any GPS improvements coming from this SoC… If we’re lucky, maybe antenna placement or firmware improvements were done, but otherwise, we could be in for more of the same (as I detail later, Snapdragon SoC’s GPS should be decent).
For the Note 4 Exynos 5433 version, a discrete GPS module is provided by Broadcom. This was the case also for a Galaxy S5 Exynos variant? Could this one bring some improvements?
I believe the Qualcomm GPS hardware component in the SoC is unlikely to be a major cause for concern, and the differences will come from the phone vendor (Samsung) specific build and/or the carrier/network operator specific radio firmware tinkering and support of location services.
Based on my own interests and experience
I’m also super keen to see an answer to this, as I'd be interested in getting a Note 4, but not if it has the same woes with GPS as my Galaxy S2 has. The S2 has multiple posts complaining or offering various hacks to try improve the GPS. And before that, I read the S1 had a particularly poor GPS hardware. After the S2, I think the Note and S3 started officially supporting GLONASS, which in theory gives the newer models a larger set of satellites to grab a fix from. But hearing the Galaxy Note 3 also has some GPS problems makes me worry that GPS is a neglected topic for Samsung (assuming the Note 3 you complained about was a Snapdragon version)… Assuming it’s not Qualcomm, it’s either Samsung or the carrier/mobile operator’s radio firmware at fault.
If Samsung messes up the antenna placement (as I saw alluded to in a previous post), it may not matter that much which SoC/GPS solution is beneath it (Qualcomm gpsOne Gen 8B vs Broadcom BCM47531). Antenna location and interference can be a serious issue. For example, my old disastrous Nokia N97 had a defect where the GPS antenna wasn’t properly shielded from signal interference of nearby components on the PCB and I was tempted to throw the device out of my car most of the time I tried to use GPS!.
If your carrier writes dodge firmware or has crappy network support for A-GPS, it’s going to take long to get an initial lock. Here in South Africa, I’m pretty convinced my carrier/mobile network operator MTN, or ‘<empty>N’ as I like to re-brand them, could care less about how well my GPS works. Sometimes with MTN I’ve got a full 3G signal with ping latencies of more than 30 seconds and no hope A-GPS can even talk with the servers it needs to reach
…
More details about which Variant has What GPS pieces, etc?
For those who like the tech details and background, I did a fair bit of Google digging about the S4:
GPS is integrated into the Snapdragon 805 SoC, but it not integrated into Exynos 5433 chip.
Snapdragon 805 has iZat/gpsOne Gen 8B with GLONASS support (www<dot>wpcentra<dot>com/snapdragon-805-processor-at-CES).
For all previous Snapdragon 80x’s, the GPS chip hardware component design is the same Gen 8B. Snapdragon 800 and 801 were used Note 3 and S5 variants respectively.
Qualcomm are tried and tested? Given Qualcomm are 1) the market leaders for providing low cost integrated GPS chipset solutions, 2) probably have the same lineage of GPS components delivered in iPhones (via the LTE modem chipset apple gets from them) as well other Android vendors who used the Snapdragon SoCs with GPS solutions integrated. If there are any issues on the Qualcomm GPS module design, it’d be a very wide-spread problem… (www<dot>qualcomm<dot>com/products/izat claims 3 billion devices use iZat tech and www<dot>anandtech<dot>com/show/8004/htc-one-mini-2-review/10 shows this GPS played well in an HTC. QUALCOMM claims it gets as good as 2m accuracy)
Dedicated GPS for Exynos 5433? Broadcom BCM47531 (www<dot>techinsights<dot>com/teardown.com/samsung-note-4-galaxy-alpha).
Broadcom BCM47531 is the new kid on the block that claims to support more Satellite constellations, but millage will vary again, as I’m not sure those extra constellations are going to help yet given some of them are being developed or are region specific (www<dot>zdnet<dot>com/broadcom-announces-new-five-satellite-constellation-location-chip-7000024098). American GPS and Russian GLONASS are the only fully fledged online GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) solutions to date and the Qualcomm chipset already supports them as well.
Recall reading Broadcom have 2nd place in market share behind Qualcomm.
My suspicions of why Samsung GPS is hit and miss (Samsung’s history is quite spotted)
With Samsung pushing so many other sensors and features, several of which seem gimmicky, I worry that core use cases like navigation with GPS accuracy isn't the best implemented and tested feature… Kudo’s to Samsung for innovating, but I wish they’d also push more for refinement of important features/sensors that need to work well.
Another important consideration is that fairly testing and comparing GPS accuracy is difficult and time consuming. Benchmarks for CPU and GPU are easy to perform and repeat and other comparisons, while a bit more effort, such as screen quality, photo/video quality, or audio, which can be done in a lab with measuring equipment, etc. But testing a GPS usually requires going outdoors and driving or running / cycling around in various scenarios and places, and comparing the GPS track/results to a very well-known path or the track of professional grade highly accurate GPS device.
Maybe Sammy is smart and knows GPS is not easy to test and compare like other smartphone features, so they don’t focus on it that much? Hence it’s hit and miss between models and variants?
Some sites have aimed to try measure and compare phone GPS accuracy, but nothing I’ve found has a big/accurate enough sample. E.g. gpserror.azurewebsites.net only has a handful and test methodology is questionable? Please share if you happen to find a better example for this, as I didn’t look all that hard to be honest.
Interesting post. Question: did you research satellite coverage for S Africa vs US or Europe (in contributing to speed of lock, strength of signal)? I've always had great gps on my Note 2 but I'm in California. (I use it for golf all over and it's fast and accurate to a yard. Travelling in a vehicle only issue is when on a highway travelling fast, google nav sometimes gets confused and thinks I'm on a side street bit then correects itself a couple seconds later). I'm getting the Note 4 next Mon and I had hoped it would be at least as good.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I317
I am very curious to know this issue as well.
My phone history has been an unlocked Telus note 2 (same as at&t model) for the last 2 years and have never ever had any problems with GPS losses. About 3 weeks ago I bought an unlocked used bell version (same as at&t) 4 month old Note 3 for $400 and instantly noticed the loss of GPS coverage on a regular basis. I'm ready to throw this thing out the window and pay to go up to a note 4 but NOT if it has the same GPS issues. I'll pull out my note 2 again from my desk and just keep using that.
Dumbo53 said:
Interesting post. Question: did you research satellite coverage for S Africa vs US or Europe (in contributing to speed of lock, strength of signal)? I've always had great gps on my Note 2 but I'm in California. (I use it for golf all over and it's fast and accurate to a yard. Travelling in a vehicle only issue is when on a highway travelling fast, google nav sometimes gets confused and thinks I'm on a side street bit then correects itself a couple seconds later).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I didn't research the geographic difference between South Africa and other regions, but noticed that my iPad 2 is much better with Navigation (using Waze) compared to my Galaxy S2. And on my S2, I also noticed Waze gets confused and jumps around to onto different streets, annoyingly often in fact. It also struggles more the faster I'm going.
But my S2 setup is miles away from what one can expect on the Note 4. The point was that in my esteem, the S2 GPS was improved compared to the S1, but still quite inaccurate and unreliable (depending on other factors like the ROM/A-GPS, etc). So I was sad to hear people had issues with the Note 3. It was part of a weak inference that perhaps Samsung doesn't prioritize testing and refining the GPS accuracy as much as we'd hope for... It's much harder to do than ace CPU/GPU benchmarks.
Seeing the various other folk post about how the GPS worked well for one variant and carrier combination versus another affirms my estimation that it may be hit and miss for the Note 4 too - and many of the variables like the carrier specific ROM and plus a the reliability of the network supporting A-GPS will be a significant factor over and above the base GPS hardware stack.
Bottom line question: Can we reasonably expect consistency in the Note 4 line up (independent of carrier and variant)? I'm betting not.
Yup, my Sprint Note 4 (910P) can't lock my location inside my house, whereas my S4 had no problem.
I also noticed that it dropped mobile data in spots on my drive home yesterday that my S4 was able to hold.
No case yet on my Note 4 either...
Note 4 on Tmobile gps not good
So i recently gave up an iphone 6 plus for this note 4. Before that i had an htc m8 and lg g3 and one plus one. I did not have gps issues at all with any of these. I had a gs5 which the gps sucked. The note 3 was horrible too. This noye 4 gps is terrible. It will not pick up the direction im going. Often times thinks im going backwards. When it does work its brief. I am very worried and uncomfortable using the gps in this phone. I cant afford these kinds of glitches while doing 65 - 70 on the highway. I travel a lot for work and this isnt reliable. Im going to be returning this phone and switching to the Nexus 6.
Nexus 6 better alternative? Lets hope we get a review of the GPS
jettienne12 said:
So i recently gave up an iphone 6 plus for this note 4. Before that i had an htc m8 and lg g3 and one plus one. I did not have gps issues at all with any of these. I had a gs5 which the gps sucked. The note 3 was horrible too. This noye 4 gps is terrible. It will not pick up the direction im going. Often times thinks im going backwards. When it does work its brief. I am very worried and uncomfortable using the gps in this phone. I cant afford these kinds of glitches while doing 65 - 70 on the highway. I travel a lot for work and this isnt reliable. Im going to be returning this phone and switching to the Nexus 6.
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Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like other vendors did a better job of their GPS integration (might be easier when not trying to tack on so many different features and sensors, etc). Also waiting to see Note 4 vs Nexus 6 GPS.
thank you butternutty for digging all these gps related details. i'm also waiting for some more in-depth reviews on that matter. just to confirm your thoughts on past devices, my experience with the predecessors weren't pleasing.
during 6months i checked the accuracy of a note 1 & a note3 next to each other w/o a-gps (as you would use when travelling abroad and avoiding roaming charges) with the following apps: gps test+ & gps status. roughly 3 times a week while travelling by car between 1 to 3hrs. the note 3 (qualcomm) was far worse than the note1. loosing fixes and badly inaccurate (12-17m in average) within cities, out on the open and anything inbetween, as well as in different weather scenarios i.e cloud coverage. i used 5 different note 3 devices during that time period and 2 note1. btw, i also checked it on a bike, walking, as well as on different continents and have used "professional" gps devices before. these results plus the annoying compass calibration issue (after each start, so basically every morning) resulted in me selling the note3.
it's a pitty, because i like & use the stylus on the note line. thus i thought the note4 would cure some of these problems. reading in the forums the experience of early adopters, it seems, that we're facing again compass calibration issues after each start (not an issue on the note1) and the gps w/o a-gps doesn't seem to be very strong or is on par with the note3. so basically no changes as you stated.
depending on which region you live, you get the qualcomm chip and have to pay overprice to get the arguably better spec'd n910c with exynos because it seems it uses hopefully a better broadcom gps, cat6 bands, (if i read correctly) a wolfson chip a/d sound converter, uses probably (i'm not sure-just stating the experience of others in this forum) an isocell cam with pdaf and therefore faster autofocus like the s5 and not what's found on the qualcomm which uses sony's imx240 chip and it's contrast detection. moving along comes the issue with lollipop & 64bit, which should be "available" on the exymos version in 64bit if sammy releases it or "opens" it from 32 to 64bit. even though the discussion on 3gb vs 4gb ram using lollipop in 64bit will follow. all this puts the buyer in a situation in which he's uncertain if he got the "right" note4 version.
sammy, quo vadis on the note line? imho they should start concentrating on quality sensors instead of adding new ones. is qualcomm's 810 the answer? will it be rootable? wait another year? every year and before the launch i fall for all the hype of what we should expect specwise/ supposed leaks. once the device is officially introduced, we supposedly didn't get this or that specific because time or manufacturing process or whatever were an issue. but by the end of the day - as in this case with the note4- i'm a little disappointed that such and such item didn't make it in the final draft (e.g. ip 68).
hope to read more gps real life experiences of either qualcomm or exynos note4 users here.
p.s.: reading thru the posts here, i hope it's clear, that i'm not talking/writing about car navigation software (e.g. tomtom/sygic) which corrects via likelihood calculation your position and puts you on the next available street and therefore doesn't indicate your real position but your "expected" position in accordance to the navigational map/grid and where you "should" be.
I've got the 910F and gps test shows the accuracy at 3m and I'm indoors. Google maps places me inside my house. No complaints when navigating.
Sent from my SM-N910F using Tapatalk
I usually get a "3d" lock and 10 feet accuracty within about 10 seconds on mine. Im using GPS Test for this.
Here's a Video, I Just made.
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