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I bought the HTC Touch HD a few weeks ago and noticed that the accuracy is not just bad, but atrocious. It can't even locate me within a 300 meter radius. Is that normal? Does anyone else have this problem? I am using the latest Google Maps.
Thanks in advanced.
I would try a proper GPS program and see if it is the same, if so your HD is faulty.
No problem here. .Maybe silly question, but did you click on "Use GPS"?
--cheerios
skotler said:
I bought the HTC Touch HD a few weeks ago and noticed that the accuracy is not just bad, but atrocious. It can't even locate me within a 300 meter radius. Is that normal? Does anyone else have this problem? I am using the latest Google Maps.
Thanks in advanced.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure you have a satalite lock? Google maps also determines position from cell towers and gives an estimate to your location within approx 500M. Once gps is activated and satlites have been aquired, a more accurate position is displayed (and i get a blue triange above the location - i guess to indicate actual position).
The little blue trianlge shows the direction you're moving - so the GPS is pretty accurate! Sometimes it doesn't get a lock for a while (it'll say at the top-right when it has active satellites) - if not, then it just uses that cell tower triangulation thing which gets it within about 500m as mentioned above.
aabye said:
No problem here. .Maybe silly question, but did you click on "Use GPS"?
--cheerios
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ya, it is on.
It can get working when I'm on the move, but as soon as I am still, it screws up. For instance, I can be driving to work and it works fine as far as telling me where I am at the moment. As soon as I close it and reopen it at work, it tells me I am somewhere 300-500 meters from work.
I guess I don't understand how it can work so well on the move, but as soon as I need an accurate reading, it is way off. Does this happen to anyone else?
skotler said:
Ya, it is on.
It can get working when I'm on the move, but as soon as I am still, it screws up. For instance, I can be driving to work and it works fine as far as telling me where I am at the moment. As soon as I close it and reopen it at work, it tells me I am somewhere 300-500 meters from work.
I guess I don't understand how it can work so well on the move, but as soon as I need an accurate reading, it is way off. Does this happen to anyone else?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Once it's closed it loses the "Use GPS" setting and you have to turn that back on and wait for the Satellites to be located all over again.
Well i think there is a gps delay issue with the latest HTC phones as blackstone, Raphael and diamond and i believe there is a little on the x1. Well there will is always ways to tweak settings in the registry i guess. well you'll probably find something here at xda...
Ok, I see what you are saying...sa we speak, I am trying to get the location of where I am at on my phone. The status has been on "Seeking GPS satellites (0)" for about 3 minutes now. It just relocated my location nowhere near me.
Ok, I just got a message telling me that my "GPS receiver is having trouble tracking GPS satellites." It's a very clear night in southern California, no clouds, no trees, etc...If it is because I can't get a satellite, is there a way to configure it?
Can it be because I am inside my house? If so, that is absurd!
skotler said:
Ok, I see what you are saying...sa we speak, I am trying to get the location of where I am at on my phone. The status has been on "Seeking GPS satellites (0)" for about 3 minutes now. It just relocated my location nowhere near me.
Ok, I just got a message telling me that my "GPS receiver is having trouble tracking GPS satellites." It's a very clear night in southern California, no clouds, no trees, etc...If it is because I can't get a satellite, is there a way to configure it?
Can it be because I am inside my house? If so, that is absurd!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well i suggest you to go out and test it.. well also i suggest you to always keep your quick gps application updated so you'll get a quick fix locked to sattelites.. my Raphael locks on around 20-30 seconds and sometimes even less....
no problem here!
i've tested head to head with my old Asus P535 SirfIII (wich is pretty good as gps) on a 300km trip and they react in the same way.
no lag, no errors.
i use iGO8!
Well i found this on youtube: omnia vs HD in gps...
i am aware of that greek clip
what can i say? they have their experience, i have mine.
from my experience i say the gps of hd is good enough, as long as i don't make maps and i don't need precision on cm level
GPS works great on HD. Tested with IGO8 and latest TomTom, as well as Google Maps - all have accuracy within 5m range, wich is more then enough for normal navigation use.
I also tested my HD along side with Garmin car navigation unit - they were literary synchronized to the very second, even the voice instructions came at the same time, it was actually very funny
If you're having problems, I suggest you look up here on the forum for HTC GPS tool.
Well just to say, I agree with you guys eventhough i have a Raphael.. well i guess the gps chipset are the same.. (correct me if im wrong though) .. well many people in the Raphael community is talking about 50 - 100 yards lag but i only experience 5m, the most ive experienced was 10m but that was just once..
GPS doesn't work inside. Not just on the Touch HD but on any GPS device.
At the most, my lag is a car's length. I think my Trinity was slightly more accurated but not by much.
As far as getting a lock from inside, I can occaisionally get a lock if I am sat by my West facing window, but otherwise not a chance!
Ok, I got it working! I guess it just takes a couple minutes without touching any keys to acquire the satellites.
So in conclusion, to impatient people like me, don't touch any keys for a good minute or two. Thanks, guys!
HandGrip said:
GPS doesn't work inside. Not just on the Touch HD but on any GPS device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine does. Can take about a minute/minute and a half to lock to the satalites, usually finds about 9 of them, and from google maps when zoomed in to max you can see roughly where abouts in the house the handset is.
The cell tower lock is useless. I'm in the north west of england. The cell lock feature keeps telling me I'm in Russia!!
like all gps i have used, sometimes getting a fix is hard work, regardless of apparent sky conditions.... i guess thats what happens when technology (the gps sats) are made by the lowest bidder
if you have a "your postion within 300-500m" message displayed, then that is using the cell mast to get your position, you never see this message when using GPS
some progs and some roms prefer to have the gps ports mapped, i do it manually for all my gps progs using com4 and bit rate of 9600k... seems to offer best situation
afaik, no civilian GPS can assure an accuracy of greater then 15m, although some units some of the time seem to be more precise
i dont see lag, i see the limitations of GPS (outside of military application... but then again, we've seen how accurate smart bombs are not!!)
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
Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?
Edit: this is no gps fixes. Pure stock.
Mine isn't as terrible as some people say on here, but there are definitely problems. Latitude, for instance, often falls back to network location even with a clear view of the sky. Driving, it will randomly drift far enough that the GPS goes to rerouting mode, trying to bring me back on course. And there are times that it just refuses to get a lock for 10-15 minutes, though luckily that doesn't happen too often. Definitely worst GPS performance than my G1.
But, all that being said.. Not so bad that I'm really stressing about it. I'll give Samsung/TMO a few more weeks for an update and hopefully they patch up the issues with Froyo. If not, or if the update gets delayed, I'll start tinkering with the fixes from the forums.
mine works fine too. quick to lock, navigation works perfectly. i was locking on 3-4 satellites last time i tried.
it's not very good indoors, and often has trouble determining location, but outdoors it has been completely satisfactory.
this is all with gps on, and use wireless networks off, btw. completely stock, and the compass works fine too.
Is anybody's working to satisfactory? Or am I the only one?
I never really used GPS till I got this device and only from the complaining here had it really got me interested . Although I use GPS maybe 3 times a year, I've made it a point to use it every drive I take to see if its still working.
I always get a lock within 5 seconds to at most a min. Stationary or moving don't matter. I've never had my phone say location not available.
My phone always sees 11 or more and only locks on to 3 or 4 once it locked 7...
When I hit navigate to then a destination it instantly finds me and routes me. While driving it every now and again has a blue circle but that's usually during lots of overpasses turns on freeways and etc. For the most part it has no circle ...
I will admit every now and again it'll lose route and not reroute so I back out and hit navigate again and back to navigating.
Its even found me in portland Oregon in the city.
So my question is, although GPS could be better I.e. faster lock, more birds to lock on and tracking while moving, it still has served its purpose and found me my way a few times when I'm lost.
On the way home I will use it again and it will find me almost instantly and navigate me all the way home...
Am I lucky? Or do others work good enough to get around, yes could be better, but is yours good enough like mine to where even if they don't fix it, its not that big of a deal cause for the most part for me it works?
Another thing is I'm beggining to think its hardware and software. Reason is messing with the settings does improve or have different results, but on the other hand the gps fixes seem to give everyone different results and why would Samsung release them all with poor GPS just to supposedly fix it in a few weeks/ wouldn't it have been easier to fix then ship em out?
Who knows, no one is for sure, but I just want to know who's is atleast satisfactory like mine? Maybe I just don't have high GPS standards cause I don't use it to get 1 meter off. If I'm atleast 50 meters away I think my eyes and brain can help me find the other 50 meters.
So are you satisfied even though it needs improvements? I am. I don't think it needs fixed, but as Samsung says "optimized".
Please no there are many GPS threads comments this is a little different ...
Is your GPS useless, or does it get the job done, not how you wish, but gets it done?
I'm the same, I don't use GPS that much, but when I do it works fairly well. Its not the best I've used but it gets the job done. Only once when I was driving on the freeway could it not lock on.
I remember reading that a GPS fix leaked for the Captivate and it seemed to fix the issue. And the new SGS phones coming out for Verizon and Sprint seem to have better luck with GPS.
For me too GPS locks 95% times. However Navigation is the only application that crashes my phone once in a while....and I dont like that
Mine seems OK, with the light use I've given it. Haven't tested it out with route-tracing software like some have -- but for just getting an accurate lock, it seems on par with other phones I've used. (Maybe a little slower to lock.)
I had tested my GF's Samsung Moment alongside my Vibrant many times and the Moment hooks to GPS quickly and consistently. I cannot think how Samsung could implement an inferior GPS in their flagship phone!
My gps works flawlessly, when I read all these threads its hard to remaster because everyone I use gps it takes a matter of seconds to lock in and route me to my destination. Even in my area of living which is outside of the city it is very vet close to where I actually am and even right on. I would be frustrated if it didn't work as I do use my gps every so often but it is precise in my experience and I'm very happy with the final product.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I now have two GPS's in two of our cars. The primary reason for buying a GPS a while back was so I could meet up with guys that I often 4wheel with in various locations. I would get lost when somebody told me to meet them in a city that I didn't know very well. My wife saw how handy my GPS was and took it. I finally got a G1 and it was used as a backup in case the wife wouldn't let me use "My GPS".
Anyways fast forward a year or so. We bought a second GPS for her car. Why because she got the new one of course.
Now that I have 2 GPS's in my cars my phone has been well a secondary or I should say hardly ever used. However when I'm on foot and I get backwards its always been nice to know I could fire up my GPS and find my way somewhere. Lord knows I've been lost a few times in down town Seattle. Wandering around and firing up maps and then using the by foot option has saved me many times. Sure it didn't have to be accurate since all I needed to know was do I walk 3 blocks north then 1 to the west or is it 3 blocks to the west then 1 block to the north?
The Vibrant GPS works when I need it, but honestly I really wish it was a bit more like the G1. Its nearly useless when I use CardioTrainer and a few more apps.
I have had my Vibrant for about 45 days and the GPS has been awful since day one. I have tried some of the fixes which did help a little bit but I still have problems. The GPS cuts on and off so much that Cardio Trainer is pretty much useless most of the time. It has started to freeze on me while attempting to use Cardio Trainer today, which necessitated pulling the battery. The GPS normally shows me about 2 of 3 miles from where I actually am. The compass is just about totally useless. This is a wonderful phone and would be a fantastic phone if the compass and GPS just worked normally. I am starting to be concerned with the phone starting to freeze up as it has not done that in the past.
Mine worked great for a few weeks. Even though it wouldn't lock more than 3 or 4 satellites the performance was completely satisfactory. Then it got a little quirky with accuracy and my position started jumping around a lot. Then it started positioning me miles from where I actually was sometimes, causing Maps to lock up, causing the entire phone to lock up, and generally being unreliable.
Over the past week or so I've had to reboot the phone half the time I try to use the GPS in order to get it to work. I can usually get it to work at a satisfactory level eventually, but it's far from painless. I haven't tried any of the "fixes"...my GPS settings are stock.
On my first phone the GPS and phone in general was a disaster.
Once returned, my second phone is "ok" for driving assistance use, it takes awhile for a lock but it works. But I otherwise leave GPS turned off or else my phone will randomly shut down/reboot.
With trepidation I applied a no lag fix and it has turned my opinion of the phone from "meh" to wow (even though I was not even sure I had a lag problem, but little did I know).
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP
mjpacheco said:
So if GPS gets fixed and 2.2 deployed, and assuming 2.2 solves lag or a no-lag fix is implemented for 2.2, then I will be very happy. But it sure seems like a bit of grief to get to that point. Anything goes wrong down that path, and I'll focus on HTC or other devices... cause for similar past issues with hardware I never buy HP
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Add a compass fix to that list and I'm there with ya.
After applying the gps fix I haven't had a problem since. I use the gps daily and have only had 1 restart. Had my vibrant since day 1. Maybe I just got lucky.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
Stresa said:
I completely understand the need to get the GPS fixed, but I have to honestly ask...why do so many people seem so worried about the compass?
Are there that many of you out there that wander around using the compass all the time ? Is it because of apps like Layar ?
Using a smartphone as a compass/gps on a hike is useless if you plan to be out more than a few hours so that can't be it.
Is it just the principle of the thing ... that they provide the feature so it should work properly out of the box?
I'm not trying to be a wise ass here...I'm honestly curious.
Sent from Samsung Vibrant
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. Yelp taunts me with directional functionality that doesn't work, and I could go on. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
Now I have a Swiss Army knife with a broken saw blade. Yeah, it's just the saw blade, but I paid for one with a working saw blade, dammit, and it wasn't cheap.
dex1701 said:
In a word: yes.
While I don't use Layar much, it would be great if it worked. I've tried to use Google Skymaps several times and gave up due to the compass completely freaking out when I hold the phone up to, you know, look at the sky. It's nice the have a working compass for Google Maps...even if it's just for street view. In general I'd like to know that apps that use the magnetometer to detect orientation (and who knows what will come along that will use that functionality) will work. I don't think that's too much to ask.
Now, I also do a lot of city navigation on foot, and having a compass to figure out which way to walk when I come up from a subway on my way to a meeting is a huge help. Seriously. At that point I don't have a GPS because I've been underground.
I've used Android devices (like the G1) that are old-ish, and I've used Android devices that are not considered high-end devices with working compasses, so yeah, on principle I expect my high-end $500 device to work at least as well as they do. Had I known about the worthless compass before I purchased the phone it would have given me pause...I probably would have at least considered another device. It bugs me that such a simple piece of functionality being broken will prevent me from using apps and features that I'd otherwise find useful on my expensive device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not
lolcopter said:
that sucks dude. i just noticed what you were saying about google sky map, mine was tripping out for a little while but then it finally settled down. can't really tell if it's pointing in the accurate direction because it's daylight
my compass has worked just fine on maps though. it always points me in the right direction, and even the compass on the "gps status" app is correct, birds locked on or not
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If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
dex1701 said:
If I hold the phone "just right" I can usually get the compass to work ok in things like Maps where accuracy isn't terribly important. It's still painfully slow compared to other Android devices I've used, though. Most I've seen have nearly instantaneous compass updates when you turn...on my Vibrant (both of them) I have to wait a while for it to settle down before I can tell how it's reading. When I hold it in an odd position...like you do for Skymaps...it's all over the place. Sometimes it works, but it's hard to tell unless you're manually keeping track of which way is North, which kinda defeats the purpose, eh?
Click to expand...
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true
hopefully samsung releases a fix baked into some froyo here soon. they had better do SOMETHING this month anyway
Just pointing out, running a totally stock epic.
I can sit in FRIDAY TRAFFIC, like I did today.........and click on google maps... and even WITH WIRELESS NETWORKS ON.......my phone has NO FREAKIN CLUE where I am on the highway!!
After this fiasco with the gps, I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a samsung phone again.
Cold boot, warm boot, hot boot. Makes no FARKING DIFFERENCE when I'm sitting in traffic wanting another route at 5pm on a Friday after a week of work!
What a failure!
Ever think it was your phone? Mine locks within 5 seconds everytime even when I am indoors.
Wifi networks on
GPS on
Cold Start
Mine has a horrible time locating when I have 4G enabled. Here's my solution:
-Turn off 4G
-Turn on GPS
-Reboot
-Open Google Maps, boom sync right away.
-Turn on 4G after acquiring a lock if you need it
tonyp23 said:
Mine has a horrible time locating when I have 4G enabled. Here's my solution:
-Turn off 4G
-Turn on GPS
-Reboot
-Open Google Maps, boom sync right away.
-Turn on 4G after acquiring a lock if you need it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is ridiculous for a flagship #1 rated phone.
Yes, there are bugs remaining with the Epic GPS -- some of which manifest themselves, or not, depending on usage patterns. The underlying problem is bad handling of the time-sensitive GPS cache.
As for your opening question: Did Samsung and Sprint forget about the GPS? That is a very good question. So far the manufacturer and carrier officially refuse to acknowledge the bugs. We know that Sprint investigated, and off-the-record third-tier support told a serious tester that the bugs were replicable and they forwarded the case to Samsung. Sprint front-line support, on its own forum, went through the motions of soliciting user' reports. But we never heard anything back.
There are workarounds for the worst of the GPS problems: Keep the Cold Start setting and turn off WiFi and 4G when initializing a GPS session with GPS Test. Then you can reenable 4g and use your mapping or nav apps normally.
But the GPS will not always work reliably out of the box unless Samsung fixes it.
I understand there are workarounds but the big problem I have is that Sprint completely ignores the problem. I've had an ongoing conversation with @sprintcare via twitter and every response is ignorant to the fact that there is a gps problem. They actually act like they've never heard of it and it's new to them when I bring it up. I pointed out that the Vibrant actually had an update specifically to fix the same problem. Generally, contacting @sprintcare actually works with most questions and problems, but anytime I ask about a gps fix their reply is "what gps problem?" then they continue to ask me questions about what gps app I'm using etc etc. I doubt we'll even be getting a gps fix for this phone.
jirafabo said:
I understand there are workarounds but the big problem I have is that Sprint completely ignores the problem. I've had an ongoing conversation with @sprintcare via twitter and every response is ignorant to the fact that there is a gps problem. They actually act like they've never heard of it and it's new to them when I bring it up. I pointed out that the Vibrant actually had an update specifically to fix the same problem. Generally, contacting @sprintcare actually works with most questions and problems, but anytime I ask about a gps fix their reply is "what gps problem?" then they continue to ask me questions about what gps app I'm using etc etc. I doubt we'll even be getting a gps fix for this phone.
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All that is unhappily consistent with what I observe, with one factual distinction: The GPS bugs on the Epic are not the same as the GPS bugs on the Vibrant (or its GSM-based siblings, the Captivate and I9000). The Epic has different GPS hardware, different firmware and different GPS bugs. They are discrete problems that seem to be unique to the Sprint platform.
boomerbubba said:
All that is unhappily consistent with what I observe, with one factual distinction: The GPS bugs on the Epic are not the same as the GPS bugs on the Vibrant (or its GSM-based siblings, the Captivate and I9000). The Epic has different GPS hardware, different firmware and different GPS bugs. They are discrete problems that seem to be unique to the Sprint platform.
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The Samsung Moment had well documented gps issues. My Evo never had a problem with gps and I had androids version and Sprint Navigation. Now the Epic has gps problems. Don't think it's sprint. It's the lovely Samsung.
imwillzillla said:
The Samsung Moment had well documented gps issues. My Evo never had a problem with gps and I had androids version and Sprint Navigation. Now the Epic has gps problems. Don't think it's sprint. It's the lovely Samsung.
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Yes, it undoubtedly is Samsung's engineering problem to solve. But Sprint put its brand on the phone and sold it to us. Samsung built the phone to Sprint's specs, and presumably there was a QA acceptance step where Sprint signed off on the product before release. Part of the complaint in this thread is that the carrier is stonewalling in public about recognizing the GPS bug officially as a known issue.
Some kind of GPS update in Froyo beta
In the Froyo beta thread, it is reported that one of the GPS bugs -- the bogus estimate of 30-meter accuracy -- seems to be gone. So some kind of GPS update seems to be bundled with the Froyo release in the pipeline. No word yet on whether the more serious locking problem is fixed. It would take some controlled testing to determine that.
J3ff said:
Just pointing out, running a totally stock epic.
I can sit in FRIDAY TRAFFIC, like I did today.........and click on google maps... and even WITH WIRELESS NETWORKS ON.......my phone has NO FREAKIN CLUE where I am on the highway!!
After this fiasco with the gps, I don't think I'll ever be able to buy a samsung phone again.
Cold boot, warm boot, hot boot. Makes no FARKING DIFFERENCE when I'm sitting in traffic wanting another route at 5pm on a Friday after a week of work!
What a failure!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Might just be your phone.
Was playing with the updated Facebook app the other day and decided to try out the Places feature. I tried to check into a food spot I was having lunch in and the locations weren't loading. I realized that I turned off all location features, so went into settings and check on the locate with wireless networks setting and boom the location based services in FB started working.
Navigator and CoPilot Live all work for me and pinpoint in secs.
Having my droid next to the epic, my droid had 6 feet accuracy, locked on 9/9 satellites vs epic with incorrect 98 feet and 7/9
I'm sick of this crap. I love the phone so much, but this issue is getting to me. Idon't really mind as all phones have their problems, but it should have been fixed by now
Sent from Epic 4G
LordLugard said:
Might just be your phone.
Was playing with the updated Facebook app the other day and decided to try out the Places feature. I tried to check into a food spot I was having lunch in and the locations weren't loading. I realized that I turned off all location features, so went into settings and check on the locate with wireless networks setting and boom the location based services in FB started working.
Navigator and CoPilot Live all work for me and pinpoint in secs.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Want to join our club of non-working GPS? Here's how: #1, tonight, before you goto bed, restart your phone. Give it a nice, full reboot. Then, turn on WiFi, and make sure WiFi is set to Never Sleep under advanced wifi properties. (When you go into WiFi settings, tap Menu, Advanced. Change Sleep Policy to "Never."). Now, have a nice night, dream in anticipation of your never-locking GPS when you awake.
When you awake (hopefully more than 4 hours after you went to bed), with WiFi still on, start Google Maps. What? The little GPS blinky icon won't stop blinking? And your location is a WiFi-inspired circle that won't quite lock down to your actual position? Welcome to the club, my friend.
How to fix? You can try what you like, but you'll have to shut off WiFi and reboot. Your ephemeris cache won't reset properly until you do. Sucks, doesn't it. This test is extensively-repeatable, and has been reported here, on BAW, and elsewhere.
What was the code to change gps settings?
Sent from Epic 4G
boomerbubba said:
Part of the complaint in this thread is that the carrier is stonewalling in public about recognizing the GPS bug officially as a known issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is my ONLY problem with the issue. I'm ok with there being an existing problem, and the cold start workaround works fine for me because I have great cell coverage in Orlando. Just show me you are working on a fix. Don't act like it doesn't exist, and as far as I can tell, that's exactly what Sprint is doing.
I think that's most people's grief. It's that there isa problem, and nothign has been done. it's a pretty big problem as these phones use GPS for alot of reasons
Not saying that the phone may not have a problem, but you are having a extra problem I think. Got to be the phone.
I use the piss out of my GPS, I'm new to DFW. I have to GPS everything here. Never have had a problem like that. I can't get enough of how smooth the google nav is.
Sent from my SPH-D700
Hmm Im going to a party tonight to see a girl who I really like. Wonder if my Epic (after a reboot and turning off wifi) will be nice enough to guide me there........
Sure didn't do ANYTHING last night.
J3ff said:
Hmm Im going to a party tonight to see a girl who I really like. Wonder if my Epic (after a reboot and turning off wifi) will be nice enough to guide me there........
Sure didn't do ANYTHING last night.
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Probably should bring an old iPhone... most girls will like that more.
jirafabo said:
Probably should bring an old iPhone... most girls will like that more.
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Click to collapse
haha, I have a friend who is still waiting for the white iPhone to come out because she thinks it's pretty. I have a hard time convincing her to get the iPhone and put on a white case since she's going to put on a case anyways.
I keep reading the problems with the GPS. Not doubting it, but I use the piss out of mine and never have a problem. I just put CM6 on my brothers EVO and we played with his GPS, comparing them. Mine is way faster and smother.
I want to know what to look for to see what the problem is?
Please help me, understand, your pain... ; )
My GPS Just Works™ too. I haven't had a problem with it yet and I hope it stays that way!
Literally sitting here holding mine in the windowsill. Approx 2 minutes and absolutely nothing in Maps. This was without the wireless networks option, which I'm turning on now. With it on I get a quick fix but it is inaccurate to the point of being unusable. My location which it claims is accurate to 70 meters is a solid 5 blocks to the southeast.
All this done with the brand new froyo leak. Doesn't bode well.
EDIT: I kinda wonder if my GPS settings are messed up from all the screwing around. Could one of you punch *#1472365# into your dialer and tell me what your settings are?
Set wi-fi to never turn off and use it frequently for a couple days, then try your GPS.......Samsung has totally messed up the GPS on this phone.
viperacr99 said:
Set wi-fi to never turn off and use it frequently for a couple days, then try your GPS.......Samsung has totally messed up the GPS on this phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If I had a nickel for every "fix" people have posted on these boards... Frankly I am just giving up on anything non-official until someone can put up some hard evidence of what they did and why it worked.
Can't say that I ever did anything to fix it. I just wanted to know if there was a test. No fix. I wish I could share what it is.
I sit here right now in my living room. I found an app that tells me the number I see and use. Right now. 9 to 10. 6 used. I'm in a one story house. I start Nav and click Map and within 5 to 10 sec... the arrow is on the street in front of my house. I never turn off the GPS icon. Why turn it off at all?
I feel like I need to share something to help, I just don't know what.
Sent using the Epic 4G
a454nova said:
Can't say that I ever did anything to fix it. I just wanted to know if there was a test. No fix. I wish I could share what it is.
I sit here right now in my living room. I found an app that tells me the number I see and use. Right now. 9 to 10. 6 used. I'm in a one story house. I start Nav and click Map and within 5 to 10 sec... the arrow is on the street in front of my house. I never turn off the GPS icon. Why turn it off at all?
I feel like I need to share something to help, I just don't know what.
Sent using the Epic 4G
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's not your responsibility, it's Samsung's. You don't need to do anything.
Poryhack said:
If I had a nickel for every "fix" people have posted on these boards... Frankly I am just giving up on anything non-official until someone can put up some hard evidence of what they did and why it worked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use nothing but wifi when at my house, and wifi has not been disabled by me since I bought the phone, and I get locks near instantly. They are ridiculously inaccurate, but I get locks fast. I get probably 70ft accuracy, which is a pain when driving as the GPS has to figure out what the wildly crazy inaccurate data means, but it works for the most part. Gotta make it more accurate samsung.
muyoso said:
I use nothing but wifi when at my house, and wifi has not been disabled by me since I bought the phone, and I get locks near instantly. They are ridiculously inaccurate, but I get locks fast. I get probably 70ft accuracy, which is a pain when driving as the GPS has to figure out what the wildly crazy inaccurate data means, but it works for the most part. Gotta make it more accurate samsung.
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Click to collapse
What do you mean you get "locks" fast? Do you mean you have some indication that it is receiving a signal from satellites? Is the GPS icon still flashing?
No, it locks in on GPS within a few seconds. It is still only accurate to 98ft, which is the best I can ever achieve, but it is definitely a GPS lock.
muyoso said:
No, it locks in on GPS within a few seconds. It is still only accurate to 98ft, which is the best I can ever achieve, but it is definitely a GPS lock.
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It's not locked on a gps satellite..... you're having a false positive.
J3ff said:
It's not locked on a gps satellite..... you're having a false positive.
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Click to collapse
A false positive that follows my exact location within 98 ft across 4 states? Im gonna go out on a limb and say that its not a false positive.
muyoso said:
A false positive that follows my exact location within 98 ft across 4 states? Im gonna go out on a limb and say that its not a false positive.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even though it is following you, I think you are basically having the same problem as a lot of other people. It shouldn't have that much error, especially all the way across 4 states.
+ or - 98 feet across 4 states = NO GPS LOCK.
98 FEET IS A HELL OF A LOT!
lol.
A real gps lock has the arrow + or - ONE or so feet for me on ALL my other phones. Hell My touch Diamond knew which room of the house I was in!
A real gps lock also is not bouncing all around. It smoothly follows every road you're on.
It's ok that you just don't realize it, but don't sit there and say that your GPS WORKS PERFECTLY when it can't even get a real lock on where you are.
Again, 98 feet + or - is not a real lock.
If the user is showing the estimated accuracy of 98 ft, there is a satellite lock. One of the GPS bugs on the Epic is that all units always report an estimated accuracy of 30.0 meters (98.4 feet) when a lock is achieved, instead of dynamically calculating the estimate as a variable. This is not the same as the actual accuracy, which is typically pretty good.
The bogus estimate shows up in GPS Test, for example. But without a lock, the estimated accuracy is reported as 0 meters (or 0 feet).
This is not the most serious GPS bug. That bug has different symptoms -- no lock on multiple satellites because the phone fails to refresh the time-sensitive GPS cache data over time. A variety of user behavior, including very frequent use of the GPS, or frequent reboots, will prevent the onset of this bug by causing the cache to be refreshed or cleared.
The Cold Start workaround works by forcing the cache to be refreshed each time when the GPS starts. A complication is that the workaround seems not to work when WiFi or 4G is enabled.