Database Users

Vibrant GPS Test: Motorola CLIQ vs TWO Vibrants initial lock

Here's the Video, for those who want to see first hand the Vibrant initial GPS locking issue:
I decided to compare my two new Samsung Vibrant's to my Motorola Cliq...
I tried with and without the fix, and tried with and without wireless, and with and without use wireless networks... all resulted in the same results... The Vibrant GPS has a problem.
Test Case
1. Power off
2. Power on
3. Start GPS Test
Results:
Motorola Cliq: ~ 1 second
Vibrant 1: ~ 70 seconds
Vibrant 2: ~120 seconds
I repeated the the test several times, and the vibrants had random results from 1 to 10 minutes to find the initial lock.
After the initial lock, subquentiant locks took less than a second, however anytime the vibrant is shutdown, or hours pass, the vibrant goes back to taking minutes to lock.

awesome video.. i noticed a couple of things that were very interesting in this video:
one, i noticed after owning *cough*several*cough* cliqs that the cliq keeps the GPS polling in the background periodically. the cliq also runs in MS Based mode. i found this out after being on the road with my band with this phone. when my network signal is lost so is my GPS lock. that probably contributes to the faster lock displayed in GPS test. the software seems to keep the GPS locked in the background all the time.
two, i also noticed that the vibrant in the middle that showed a single sat lock in GPS test also displayed the same time discrepancy that i discovered and posted about in my reply in the "GPS fix" thread. the vibrant also seems to keep the GPS "off" when not in use by any programs.. and it seems to have a relatively cold startup. this probably contributes to the phone sipping battery as compared to the cliq. the vibrant also comes stock with the GPS in "stand alone" mode. this makes the GPS separate from the mobile network. in theory you should still be able to achieve GPS data and lock independent of your network connection status. this is helpful when navigating in an out of network area.
i do agree that the GPS on the vibrant needs to be fixed.. but i am very convinced that the problem is in the way that the software reads the raw data from the GPS and Compass and also how the hardware is utilized.. and not related to any hardware failure. i also agree that one thing i liked about the cliq was that the compass and gps were always bang-on accurate. even if the rest of the phone was a total fail.

This depresses me to no end. I love my Vibrant, and these issues are what's keeping me at bay with a return. So long as they just came out and admitted there was a problem, that they intended to fix, I would be happy.
What do you guys think? Is it worth it to keep the phone and hope that the OTA / 2.2 update fixes the issues? Or are we about to be left in the dust by lack of support?

im of the firm belief that the issues are software based and therefore very fixable.. i also was shown the email that mentioned the 2.2 update for the Vibrant that will be released in the "next couple of weeks." so.. im keeping mine. my GPS works well enough for now that its usable until an update is issued.

captain_awesome said:
awesome video.. i noticed a couple of things that were very interesting in this video:
one, i noticed after owning *cough*several*cough* cliqs that the cliq keeps the GPS polling in the background periodically. the cliq also runs in MS Based mode. i found this out after being on the road with my band with this phone. when my network signal is lost so is my GPS lock. that probably contributes to the faster lock displayed in GPS test. the software seems to keep the GPS locked in the background all the time.
.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure why they would change the code that already worked very well with the cliq... Turn the cliq on and BANG it locks with and without use wireless network setting
I hear that the galaxy s used newer gps hardware, so while I'm hopeful it's a software issue, I'm not so sure. Every app now days is using location services, so this is a MAJOR issue if they can't get GPS to lock on in seconds

dalepa said:
I'm not sure why they would change the code that already worked very well with the cliq... Turn the cliq on and BANG it locks with and without use wireless network setting
I hear that the galaxy s used newer gps hardware, so while I'm hopeful it's a software issue, I'm not so sure. Every app now days is using location services, so this is a MAJOR issue if they can't get GPS to lock on in seconds
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what code are you referring to?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

Is this news? I had a CLIQ and there have been several updates to it's GPS capabilities. Even the latest update (6 months after it's release) is supposed to improve lock time. I was happy with the CLIQ's GPS performance but it wasn't always good. The Vibrant has no problem getting a quick lock or seeing a bunch of sats with acceptable SNR levels. It just doesn't connect to nearly as many as it should and eventually it will take longer to get a lock (I'm back to a few seconds but who knows how long that will last) which seems completely like a firmware issue.
With some new tweaks I did to the GPS, I get a quicccccccccck lock from a FRESH reboot and this is only after 10 seconds or so. This is subject to get worse or stay the same but obviously, the GPS isn't flawed but the firmware is. It also seems like if it was to lock onto more sats, that it would be really good.
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What tweaks did you do to get 10 seconds after reboot?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App

dalepa said:
What tweaks did you do to get 10 seconds after reboot?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's all temporary stuff so I wouldn't bother.

heygrl said:
With some new tweaks I did to the GPS, I get a quicccccccccck lock from a FRESH reboot and this is only after 10 seconds or so. This is subject to get worse or stay the same but obviously, the GPS isn't flawed but the firmware is. It also seems like if it was to lock onto more sats, that it would be really good.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ooh, that's interesting. You seem to have six locks, and two of those are reported "00" and are red? How are you getting locks there?
What tweaks did you make to keep zero's on your phone?

Try this. mines locks very fast using these settings
these are my application settings in LbsTestMode (use SGS tools to get into it)
session type >tracking
test mode >s/w test
operation mode >standalone
start mode >hot start
gps plus >on
dynamic acuracy >on
acuracy >1
gps logging >on <----this is very important

why did you dig up an 8 month old thread??

darksandz93 said:
why did you dig up an 8 month old thread??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because he thought he could help someone.
Why did you post in an 8 month old thread if him resurrecting it offended you so much? Just let it die again.

and who said i was offended? its simple question out of curiosity. how bout you get off your high horse buddy.

Maybe our GPS isn't so bad after all..

DROID with network based location off, GPS based location on
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Vibrant with network based location off, GPS based location on
Same story for one DROID X at this store even with it's AGPS on (there is an option within the location menu for enabling or disabling aGPS on the X), but another DROID X got a quicker fix than both of those DROID's however I suspect it was polling GPS before I opened up maps. The Vibrant pulled that location in about 10 seconds, no "Location Unavail." Msg at all and it was all indoors.

ha thats the same store i bought my vibrant from i can tell your by rainbow and 215 but yeah i havent really had issues with my gps at least that i know of it seems accurate to me

Side by side comparison with my G1 shows me (at least) that the 2 Vibrants I've tested take about 10x as long to get a fix and use about 1/10th the number of satellites.

I haven't had a single gps error since before the vibrant was even released but judging by how many people are I suspect certain batches were defected

Maxy6 said:
Side by side comparison with my G1 shows me (at least) that the 2 Vibrants I've tested take about 10x as long to get a fix and use about 1/10th the number of satellites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same story for me, except my Vibrant side-by-side with my Blackberry 8900 (can't confirm # of satellites but I can confirm time to get a lock).
Anecdotal evidence isn't convincing me that Samsung is dragging their feet here.

Maxy6 said:
Side by side comparison with my G1 shows me (at least) that the 2 Vibrants I've tested take about 10x as long to get a fix and use about 1/10th the number of satellites.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds bad but can we get some guesstimates in time? 1secondx10=10 seconds. 10secondsx10=100seconds..
In MS-Based mode under LBSTestMode (whether or not this actually makes any changes to GPS behavior, that's what I have it in) It takes no time to get a lock.

gps works great for me. I get a lock in doors instantly..... Its a little off though in doors but out doors its spot on. I dont need to find a pot of gold so within 20 feet is good for me.

Locational services work, maybe, one out of five times for me. When they try to locate me, it shows me in a neighboring city for at least five minutes. If I wait forever, it will sometimes finally update with the correct location.

So im at work in a huge brick building. With just my location on it puts me about 10 blocks away. I went outside on the deck at work in a open view, opened google maps again and saw I was still 10 blocks away, I pulled down my notification bar and turned gps on, within 4 seconds it found me right dead smack center of my work building.
I dont know, I dont have any issues though. Thing works great for me...

The thing is, it sometimes works quite well. I haven't been able to nail now a pattern with it. Turning on AGPS helps a lot, sometimes. Other times it fails to download the data for AGPS and drops to standalone mode, which is what it should do, but why would the download seem to fail when the G1 sitting next to it works fine? I've tried various settings for the server and such, all of them work sometimes.
The other irritating thing is when it seems to download the almanac, then proceeds to sit there "seeing" only one satellite (SNR bars in GPS Test). It knows which ones are in the sky, it should use that to get the GPS chip tracking all of them at once, as it has the channels. It's acting like a single channel receiver sometimes. That's a big reason why AGPS is so fast, it knows which channels to listen on, no need to search for signals.
I didn't have the G1 before the GPS was fixed, but it sounds a lot like our issue. The way the SGS acts leads me to think it's software related, likely the GPS driver or firmware. The actual RF performance seems pretty good, sometimes better than the G1 going by the SNR reported. It's just acting like it's often getting poor instruction from the driver/OS level.
My biggest complaint is that Samsung and TMobile are trying to act like it's not a problem. If Samsung can't reproduce it, they aren't trying or they have programmed the GPS chip in such a way that it works in their location. Samsung is a global company, there's no excuse for not testing a flagship device in multiple countries. And in todays market, there's no excuse for not being upfront and honest with your customers. Nor is there one for not beta testing with real customers in every major market you want to enter.
If I were running things over at Verizon, I'd be laughing my way to the bank and telling Samsung to keep their busted SGS. They were smart enough to get more than one manufacturer with a "superphone" and don't need Samsung. Between the Droid X and the Incredible, they have got TMO and AT&T spanked hard.

Yea, how long until their competitors start running ads poking fun at it, like the no jacket required ads last week making light of the iPhone antenna problems? HTC and moto should be all over this.

I am unable to get a lock indoors and outside it takes 20sec to a minute or more to lock on and then it turns on and off sporadically. It will seem to be fine and then it just does not function and then in awhile it seems to be better. I have the MS etc. fix enabled and before that it was not functioning with any kind of regularity or accuracy. I get 1 of 12 in use at the most and most of the time I get zero in use.The accuracy after it finally gets a lock is adequate but not great.I use Cardio trainer on a daily basis several times per day and it is just awful as it locks on and off and leaves me with terrible accuracy. Indoors it shows me about 2 to 3 miles away and most of the time it picks up no location at all. An email I received back from Samsung after complaining stated that they have not found the cause of any problem and they are continuing to try and find the cause and resolve the issue. I called tech supp and they at least mentioned that there might be an issue and could give me no other information. That is not very reassuring to me as the device has been out internationally for some months now and out of the box has had GPS issues. Really makes me question my decision to purchase this device. I do love it but the GPS is a integral part of my usage and it does not look like there is any help anytime soon. I am just past the 14 day period so a refund is not possible. I was holding on to the hope that Samsung would act quickly or even just act on this issue and I guess I was betting on a tired horse.I guess Samsungs track record speaks for itself and it is not too pretty. I really do prefer using it to my N1 it has tremendous potential to be as good or better than any phone on the market.

[Q] CM7 RC4 + Which radio = Working GPS?

So which radio version do I flash with RC4 to get the GPS to work? It seems like I flashed all the radios but my gps doesn't work.

I'm using CyanogenMod 7 RC4 as well and I've found that GPS has been fine with the stock radio (see my sig -- that's the stock radio from Bell).
Have you tried using the GPS Status app to reset and redownload the A-GPS data?

I have a tmobile phone, so I don't know what my stock radio is. And no I haven't. Is that a free Market app?
EDIT: How do I even know if my GPS works or not? The way I am testing is by using IGo My way GPS application, which doesn't detect where I am, so I assume that my GPS doesn't work.

convolution said:
I have a tmobile phone, so I don't know what my stock radio is. And no I haven't. Is that a free Market app?
EDIT: How do I even know if my GPS works or not? The way I am testing is by using IGo My way GPS application, which doesn't detect where I am, so I assume that my GPS doesn't work.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, you can find GPS Status on the Market.

It seems that GPS status works, Google Maps work, but IGoMyWay doesn't detect my position. Why is that?

theSpam said:
Yes, you can find GPS Status on the Market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's right, the app GPS Status & Toolbox will tell you whether the GPS is working or not. Just install for Market and open the app. If you are in clear view of the sky and a working GPS, you should see the app starting to pick up the satellites within a couple minutes or less. You will see points starting to pop up on the circular compass display, indicating the positions of the satellites. Below that, green bars will start to pop up, indicating signal strength with each satellite (maybe not the exactly correct terminology here, but you'll see what I mean). Once the GPS has locked onto enough satellites, you will see the lat/long coordinates pop up. This also means that other apps, like Google Maps, or any other map/nav programs you prefer, can start using your GPS position.
If the GPS is "broken" you will so absolutely no activity on either the circular display, or the bar graph.
GPS Status & Toolbox will also download A-GPS data, which can help get faster locks onto the satellites. The A-GPS data is regularly updated information on the positions of the different satellites, making it a bit faster for the GPS to find them.

Help me redpoint! I downloaded CoPilot and it also could not detect any GPS signals, even though I turned on GPS! Only the GPS status detected satellites.
WHHYYYY??!?! I AM SO FRUSTRATED!!
RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE RABBLE!
lulz but yeah, I don't want to spend unnecessary money on an actual GPS device if I don't have to.
EDIT: GPS status does not work anymore. It worked before. I had RC4 for both when it worked and when it stopped working. What the hell?

Have you tried this:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=12635790&postcount=20
I had the GPS issue on RC1, and this fixed it. RC2 for me worked fine as-is. I haven't tried RC3 or 4 yet. I've pretty much decided CM7 is cool if you want the latest and greatest bells and whistles, but its got more than its fair share of bugs. Right now, its Virtuous for me.

It doesn't work.
I also tried flashing the radios. They don't work either...
This is strange. I guess the last resort is to ditch CM7 and go back to CM 6.1.1? Or Virtuous?

Sounds like you got the GPS running for a bit, but now its not? What worked?

Try the OTA stock .26 TMobile radio and format the sytem, data, and cache partitions before flashing new ROMs. I haven't had GPS problems since I started doing that.

@ ra990: Do you mind directing me to the download source?
@ redpoint: The first time I turn on the GPS it would work, but after that any subsequent time I use it, it doesn't work.
EDIT: Google Maps works when I am connected to wifi at home and GPS is on. I then close Google Maps and start up GPS status and it won't detect satellites. I then proceed to open up CoPilot and the program won't detect any GPS signals. I then open google maps again and it still works. I then turn my wireless off and watched my position on Google Maps suddenly change and becomes inaccurate (IE, moves my location to a place that I was not physically at from a place where I was physically at, but was not that far off.)
EDIT EDIT: I tried 3 different roms, 1 stock gingerbread, 1 gingerbread sense, 1 virtuous. All failed on me.
EDIT EDIT EDIT: I tried ra990's version. In fact, I tried all the versions and I followed this as well:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1021463
Nothing works.

GPS status is not accurate in measuring if it works for me. Becuase back when i did not have a lock the gps status was working but my navigation was not picking up anything nor the gps symbol showing. After reflashing the .26 radio my gps works.

Just to check, how long should I wait for it to pick up a signal before I say it "doesn't" work? Cause I've been waiting for like 5-10 minutes for it to pick up a signal each time I test.

convolution said:
Just to check, how long should I wait for it to pick up a signal before I say it "doesn't" work? Cause I've been waiting for like 5-10 minutes for it to pick up a signal each time I test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If the GPS is "not working" due to the CM7 bug, you will not get a lock, or even any activity on GPS Status, no matter how long you wait. If you are getting a lock at all, or any communication with the satellites, this seems like a different issue than the CM7 bug I've seen.
If you haven't used the GPS in a while (couple days) or your location has changed significantly (like getting off a plane) its not unusual in my experience to take a few minutes, maybe 5, to get a lock. That is because the locations of the satellites in the sky would have changed enough, that it takes some time for the GPS to find and lock onto them. But if you have used the GPS recently (maybe within a couple hours, but certainly if you turn it off and go back in a few minutes) it should lock pretty quickly, within a couple minutes, maybe faster.

And does collecting them signals get that much affected by being indoors as opposed to outdoors? Will the time vary significantly?

convolution said:
And does collecting them signals get that much affected by being indoors as opposed to outdoors? Will the time vary significantly?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Absolutely!!!! Have you been trying to do this indoors? Go outside and try it. And with as much a clear view of the sky as possible, so an area with a minimum of trees, buildings, etc.
Although the Vision is better at getting a GPS lock in my house compared to my past 2 phones (Touch Pro 2, Kaiser), it usually only works by a window for me. And in some buildings, I never get a lock. Results will vary depending on the type of building, being by a window, etc. In the car tends to work pretty well too, but I will usually put the phone on the dashboard to get a lock, where it has a better view of the sky thru the windshield.
Although it might work indoors, its much better to exclude the building interference from the equation while you are troubleshooting.

Oooooh. That might be the problem. I will try and go outdoors and report my findings.
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Good news, everyone! It worked!
What I did was flash a radio (to be honest I forgot which one, it's either the .26 or .28b one) and I also matched it with that automatic radio matcher zip you flash. And it can pick up signals now if I am outdoors or sticking my phone out of the window in my house!
Thx everyone for all ur help!

Taking Samsung to consumer court

Hi,
As we all know the Galaxy SL GPS is piece of crap, I have contacted Samsung support many times but their technical team does not know the difference between GPS and GPRS. They have no answer to how to fix the problem (at least Indian support team) or there is no fix. Anyways I am now highly frustrated with the GPS on the phone and with their customer support.
I have not rooted my phone, the firmware on the phone is DDKB2 (not updating it yet or rooting the phone because it will affect the warranty) latest available from Kies.
My question is to all Galaxy SL users what is the max number of satellites has your phone ever locked. (irrespective of the firmware version) For me the max was 4. It took 5 mins to reach this figure under open sky on this phone while Xperia arc and HTC wildfire were able to lock 20 satellites from the same location in seconds.
Is the GPS on phone really a piece of sh1t ? Just confirm this and I am prepared to sue Samsung in consumer court over this.
Adding to this, while traveling in a vehicle the other two phones (mentioned above) were showing realtime progress of the vehicle on the road, whereas Galaxy SL was highly inaccurate and even the wrong position shown was not updated constantly.
Edit : Please use 'Gps Test' or similar apps to check.
This is my best result so far.
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Dude go through the forum.ddkb sucks in respect to gps.all europran firmwares hav super fast gps.bt yes all indian firmware sucks when it comes to gps.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App

rdr_m said:
Dude go through the forum.ddkb sucks in respect to gps.all europran firmwares hav super fast gps.bt yes all indian firmware sucks when it comes to gps.
Sent from my GT-I9003 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I am curious to know that after all the proposed fixes how much improvement is there, if I install 2.3.4 the unofficial way how much will be the improvement. i have read in some threads that there is no software fix and users are hardware modding.

XXKB3 solved the problem for me. My GPS locked in seconds now.

dude take them to court ,gps on this phone really suks ,atleat after this they will send quality products to indian market

The problem is only in the software. Hardware is very good. I have XXKB3:
1. With the cold start on open air (no clouds, but under the tries and near buildings) I take signals of 3 satellites after 2-3 seconds
2. after 5 seconds It locks
3. After ~10 seconds I see about 8 satellites. (6 with good signal)
Before I had Nokia 5800. It takes several minutes to lock. And if I was driving car it takes more and more time (it would be better to stop, wait for a lock and drive then).

x86phre3x said:
XXKB3 solved the problem for me. My GPS locked in seconds now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How many satellites?
For a moving source you need more satellites as the connection with every satellite is not constant, how does the device behave when in a moving vehicle?

tarey_g said:
How many satellites?
For a moving source you need more satellites as the connection with every satellite is not constant, how does the device behave when in a moving vehicle?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was driving in the storm (very big storm, in my city it took out tries with its roots from the ground and it was very cloudy) for more then 300km. Sometimes I was driving with 140km/h. No lost locking at all. But before I used GPS Aids to take latest LTO data, and I had internet connection for all my way (to take map and so on).
It's really good device for me and it suits me well. With my native XEKB1 I was not tested GPS because I reflash my phone after 2 days of playing with it.

XXKB3 solves the GPS problems many ppl have mentioned.
I do not know how many satellites it uses/doesn't, I just know it works (and thats all that matters).

Bro, taking them to court will be a waste of your time as you know the indian courts and justice system.
My advise is, try rooting it and flash different rom which meets your gps needs.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Filing a case in consumer court is very easy, I will go to samsung service centre this weekend for last time, if they still cant help then I will go ahead with original plan.

Try this: use FasterFix (requires root) to set the ntp server nearest to you, then use GPS Aids (requires root aswell) to download and inject the XTRA data. Once you 've done that your GPS "should" be able to see enough satellites to get a good lock.

To those who are getting v.quick fixes with the newer European firmwares and other miscellaneous fix. How does it fare when doing voice navigation?
For me , I get v.quick locks (after some hacks..6-10 satellites in view and all), but still not reliable during voice navigation, loses signal in the car. So, I believe that is a h/w issue, but then, I guess many phones will be having this issue to a certain extent.. (not able to follow you properly when travelling in a car with windows closed? .. iPhone 4 which I have played around with ,definitely does the tracking v.well)..

dude.. just check out dis thread b4 u go 2 court...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1069416

10 fix within 10 seconds. Stock and custom roms. Maybe hardware issue?
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA Premium App

Correction
I'll just make a correction to my prev post... Instead of following that link in the post try these things and ya i have personally tried this settings & it worked
i havn't done any rooting or upgrading or anythin, its just the basic DDKB2. I had to reset my phone to factory settings due to a different problem. SO when i tried using the gps after reset there comes the same prob again
First thing i tried was that link, but it doesnt seem to work very well then i followed these steps...
1. Download the app "GPS AIDS V2" from android market (free version is more than enough)
2. Turn off your internet & gps & go to codes/tools in GPS AIDS
3. Select GPS Test >Application settings & make the following changes
Change Operation mode to "MS Assisted"
Change Accuracy to 100
4. Now turn on gps & internet, Go back to GPS AIDS Select GPS Status
Now it will start locking satellites
Using this method i was able to get a lock with 10 satellites in about 15-20 seconds & was getting an accuracy of 5-10 meters
And one more thing.. i am not a big fan of samsung.. Right now i am facing some other issues with this stupid device... Anyways just trying to help..

I was having the same problem as you guys, but all I did was change the ntp server to india (using gps aids) and setting mode under GPS settings to "ms-based" instead of 'standalone'...
Actually the GPS on this phone is really quite weak, I get good quick locks and signal strength but indoors it struggles under a tiled roof whereas my xperia x10 used to do it great indoors too! Oh and the applying pressure to a certain point trick actually does work! Try it out...

Gps BUG: ask for a fix + demo video ! ! !

As suggested by a guy I add here an important request.
I hope the moderators don't delete this post, it is very important.
I don't joke, i will make a DONATION to a developer that will find a solution for a gps bug that affects most of the stock Xperia 2011 phones, but not all.
The bug is simple, i explain it better then possible:
i turn on the Gps, wait for a fix, and start to navigate, after 5 minutes the signal drops for about 30 seconds, then works for other 5 minutes and again drops, other 5 minutes and drops, and again again again
every 5 minutes the gps drops without exceptions
now the datas collected in months of this problem:
1) this happens with traffic data OFF, background data OFF, absolutely no contact to the network at all, and offline app like Sygic, Navigon, Copilot etc
2) this not happen with Maps, also in offline mode, with a little portion of map downloaded before, and no data traffic
3) this not happen with Data enabled or Wifi enabled
4) this also not happen in Flight mode, and perhaps it is the most important information, so is not an hardware problem.
5) with the build 3.0.1.A.145 this didn't happen with data disabled but i don't want to downgrade
Here a log of the bug by a user with the same problem.
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"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
I have ready also a video, but wait an official reply from Sony, until to start to share it.
What do we think about? :
for an unknown reason Sony firmware attempts to collect data every 5 minutes, also if the phone have data disabled. If don't find data, there is a drop out !!
Basically A-gps work always, even if data are disabled (i have no data traffic, my sim is disabled for internet connection), and this must not happen, because it causes a drop, its attempt is not silent for who have data OFF.
So, please, say me you can do something, you are best developers then Sony ones.
And please, i don't want see post like: "I don't have this issue", this bug can be releted to country, or particular situations that are present in a phone and not in an other, but most of the 2011 range have it.
This discussion is only for tecnichal informations.
If you need something else, let me know, i will add all the infos.
A donate wait to who will fix the bug definitively !!!
First P.S. for who is interesting to help me, but I see perhaps this bug is too difficult for you and noone can help me,
I tried different gps.conf file, trying to delete all the command lines releted to internet, like Xtra or NTP server
now my gps.conf file is so:
# DEBUG LEVELS: 0 - none, 1 - Error, 2 - Warning, 3 -Info
# 4 - Debug, 5 - Verbose
DEBUG_LEVEL = 3
# Intermediate position report, 1=enable, 0=disable
INTERMEDIATE_POS=0
# Accuracy threshold for intermediate positions
# less accurate positions are ignored, 0 for passing all positions
# ACCURACY_THRES=5000
also this setting doesn't work.
But now i know something more: the gps try to collect xtra data from internet until it receives all effemeridi informations.
It continues to drop every 5 minutes because it searches first these infos from internet, but if doesn't find a connection drops and then collect the infos again from the sky, until next 5 minutes. If in this time receive the xtra data from sky, it doesn't drop more, but if not a new attempt connection with data disabled of course, results in a new drop out.
This repeat every 5 minutes until the gps receive the effemeridi informations, this can happen for 20-30 minutes or more.
So it meas 5-6 disconnections every 5 minutes.
The absurd thig is that if I start in flight mode i get a fix in 10 second and can use gps for one hour without issue.
So this means gps really doesn't need these xtra files from internet !!!!! But Sony continue to believe so.

Demo video added.
Very Very frustrating bug, and terrible Sony assistance.
6 months and actually no fix included in a firmware

As it's regular and seems to be linked to the fact that data is enabled, I'll say that a service is working with GPS only when data is activated.
I didn't use GPS long enough with my arc S, i'll try.
What rom are you using ? I'll say that this problem may be cause by a software interfering with GPS every 5 minutes (and surely sending data as it seems to be data dependant).
It could be interesting to watch logs with logcat and look what is runing on the phone when the problem occurs.

Have you even searched the forums for a solution?
Check this thread, there is a Sony Ericsson specific patch. Get it here.
Make a nandroid backup before flashing the zip and good luck!

Boudin said:
As it's regular and seems to be linked to the fact that data is enabled, I'll say that a service is working with GPS only when data is activated.
I didn't use GPS long enough with my arc S, i'll try.
What rom are you using ? I'll say that this problem may be cause by a software interfering with GPS every 5 minutes (and surely sending data as it seems to be data dependant).
It could be interesting to watch logs with logcat and look what is runing on the phone when the problem occurs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is surelely data dependant, but is not a software to interfer with Gps
is a bug feature of the stock xperia firmware to ask data every 5 minutes even if data is disabled from the android menu.
It should ask data to assist Gps, only if data is enabled, and not if is disabled !!!!
That's point.
If is disabled, the bug ask for data and this result i a drop.

That is no Bug, that is just a feature to save your device , when GPS allway on, device will be to hot

hackdima said:
That is no Bug, that is just a feature to save your device , when GPS allway on, device will be to hot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh my god, please read carefully
wich feature?
Can't use gps for an amount of time without a drop out every 5 minutes is a feature??
In your opinion a disconnection of 30 seconds save the phone to be too hot
you are a little confused, or you don't read well

maRRRco89 said:
Oh my god, please read carefully
wich feature?
Can't use gps for an amount of time without a drop out every 5 minutes is a feature??
In your opinion a disconnection of 30 seconds save the phone to be too hot
you are a little confused, or you don't read well
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you are a little hysterical, to be honest.
Just because people don't share your empathy, it doesn't mean you should bash them.
We are trying to help you and your attitude is discouraging.
You disregarded my above post, there is a mod to improve stability and connection.
You should try it, it might help you.

iridaki said:
And you are a little hysterical, to be honest.
Just because people don't share your empathy, it doesn't mean you should bash them.
We are trying to help you and your attitude is discouraging.
You disregarded my above post, there is a mod to improve stability and connection.
You should try it, it might help you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Totally agree!
Sent from my ST18i using XDA App

Sorry, I'm not hysterical, but i can't hear this is a feature.
It's a reply without sense at all, placed there for unknown reason.
To say that the phone becomes too hot is absurd, because a Gps can run for hours and hours, is its specific way to work and the reason for which it was invented.
I feel teased from this reply.
My attitude isn't discouraging.
i just searched the thread you are linked, but the problem is different
that method increases the performance and is based on agps
in my case i have to disable Agps, and not overperforms it to get faster the fix or to find more satelites.
And like i said before, is not only one case, but probably most of 2011 xperia have this issue, officially recognized by Sony.
Now is better to reply here only if someone has got interesting informations about the bug.
Other post will be reported to moderators and deleted.

Now is better to reply here only if someone has got interesting informations about the bug.
Other post will be reported to moderators and deleted.[/QUOTE]
Interesting informations #1 - You are asking questions in the General forum instead of Q&A, This means you have a bug or a feature??