I got the phone at 8 am today, it's a great phone ( till now) . I tried to use the GPS many times ( I turned off assisted location and just kept the GPS). At my window where I used to get around 6-7 satellite with MT4G , I am getting 0 , nothing in the view. When I got out and tried in the street, while standing I got 2 sat only. So I think there is a problem with the antenna. Any tips to verify if it's really defected or something else, I read about some folks getting locking in few seconds and with 7-11 Sats.
Update: After few hours, GPS started to work just fine. I don't know why but now it's very fast and pretty accurate.
I opened Google Maps 5 and it instantly was locked on me. No complaints there!
Oh ****. I realized I voted "no" because I thought the poll question was the topic title. D'oh.
Ok... My GPS wasn't working for like. Since I got it. But now suddenly, 5 hours later, after I pulled the battery multiple times, and then ran the GPS Test app for 5 minutes, I'm getting locks.
-_-
Works like a champ for me. In fact back to back my Evo and NS seem to be getting a lock at about the same speed, fast.
Anderdroid said:
Ok... My GPS wasn't working for like. Since I got it. But now suddenly, 5 hours later, after I pulled the battery multiple times, and then ran the GPS Test app for 5 minutes, I'm getting locks.
-_-
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will try any crazy steps :d But I don't want to return it, so I hope it works. I like the phone but I love GPS
Now this is weird. It started working now I will test it more and see what happens.
raeef said:
Now this is weird. It started working now I will test it more and see what happens.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly. I thought mine was borked for good for sure. But no. After quite a few reboots and battery pulls it's working epicly... As is Acquiring Location (wireless location).
Sigh!
Anderdroid said:
Exactly. I thought mine was borked for good for sure. But no. After quite a few reboots and battery pulls it's working epicly... As is Acquiring Location (wireless location).
Sigh!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tried now , it locks very very fast and accuracy reached 5 m while walking. This strange, maybe it had to do with the antennas and the back cover? I don't know but now I am happy
It looks like the small handful of people who reported issues with the GPS are no longer having anymore issues. Very good news. If the GPS really is fixed, then I'll definitely be buying a Nexus S when the 2nd shipment comes in.
I'll basically be trading my AT&T 3G for a working GPS. Hopefully I won't regret that decision.
Yea I used my GPS too get home and it locked in with in about 5 to 7 seconds.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
I could have sworn there was another thread for this that disappeared. Oh well..
Mine locked to 5m on first try.
Did some heavy testing on the GPS today, and I've gotta say not once was it not able to find me. Only tooks seconds too. I came from the MyTouch 4G, which has a great GPS, but for some reason the one on the NS out performs it.
Very happy with it.
Whats up Will, I was the guy at BestBuy who bought the Nexus S at the same time as you. I agree, the GPS was dead on all the time i fired it up. Found me in seconds. did not have a single problem with the GPS.
I had problems with gps at first try but then after getting the satellites I've managed to get the satellites almost instantly.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App
The GPS on my Nexus was able to find me just fine a few seconds ago. It took about a minute for it to lock on.
However, this isn't due to any issue with the phone as much as the construction of the building I'm in. Whatever this building is made of seems to make cell phone signals it's *****. I imagine my phone's signal being something like the Gimp from Pulp Fiction every time I walk in here.
That being said, I'm not sure what issue other folks are having, but my GPS was able to find me just fine in a building notorious for dropped calls(to the point where I actually have to go outside if it's a really important phone call), drops everyone to EDGE regardless of carrier, and even butchers WiFi signals 30ft away so I am very satisfied with it.
Mine is working perfect so far. Used it after class to locate a Panda Express. Enabled GPS, opened maps and it locked on to me in a few seconds.
I shall watch this thread closely... I am ready to blow nearly $600 on a Nexus S, but if the GPS works as well as on the Vibrant flavor of Galaxy S phones, I will pass. Because it sucks. Really.
G1: reasonable GPS performance, great wireless signal capture, big bulky and slow.
N1: fantastic GPS performance, horrible wireless signal capture. One day it began dropping calls at home and at my GF's I'd be lucky to get ANY signal at all. Not good for a job hunter like me.
Vibrant: wonderful wireless signal capture, the worst GPS performance I've ever seen.
Nexus S: gonna have to verify, really verify, that people don't have the same Galaxy S GPS problem before I blow a ton of cash since I re-upped my T-Mo contract with the Vibrant and am not eligible for discount.
As for the camera LED flash: I have found it to be most useful when I need a flashlight.
numindast said:
I shall watch this thread closely... I am ready to blow nearly $600 on a Nexus S, but if the GPS works as well as on the Vibrant flavor of Galaxy S phones, I will pass. Because it sucks. Really.
G1: reasonable GPS performance, great wireless signal capture, big bulky and slow.
N1: fantastic GPS performance, horrible wireless signal capture. One day it began dropping calls at home and at my GF's I'd be lucky to get ANY signal at all. Not good for a job hunter like me.
Vibrant: wonderful wireless signal capture, the worst GPS performance I've ever seen.
Nexus S: gonna have to verify, really verify, that people don't have the same Galaxy S GPS problem before I blow a ton of cash since I re-upped my T-Mo contract with the Vibrant and am not eligible for discount.
As for the camera LED flash: I have found it to be most useful when I need a flashlight.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would assume that the GPS performance is much better than on the vibrant, since they changed the location of the GPS antenna at the very least. It also does sound like most people are not having any issues whatsoever. I was holding off buying one for this reason as well, but I think samsung may have fixed it.
Just so you all know, the first time you use the GPS on an Android phone tends to take longer than it usually would. After that, it should perform properly.
It usually takes the GPS about 15 seconds for it to lock on to me
Related
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.
One is the Vibrant closest to the building literally a few feet from where i was standing by the entrance to the breeze way, im running the latest Malice no mods other than i run the Bullit Kernel.
The other is the G2 Running the latest CM7 release on the newest Radio with correct libs, you can see how much farther away..
Even walking around the Vibrants GPS stayed a closer lock. Now i will say it did take the Vibrant did take a few more seconds to lock.. but only seconds...
EDIT: i will say that it wasn't untill we started into 2.2 that this got better.. but this is the first time i made a side by side comparison with the G2..
I've had good luck with my gps, I've gotten down to 14.4 feet accuracy with GPS Test in my front yard, and Tracking on Google maps is almost dead nuts. But if its a cloudy day, which its more often then not these last few months in Washington, my gps doesn't work for crap, Locks take like 30 seconds, tracking is Horrible, accuracy of 200 feet.
Say what you want, but the fact is that the GPS on the G1 (a phone that is two years older) completely destroys any GPS+fix on the Vibrant.
Its a well known, and rarely disputed weakness for the Vibrant. Shame on Samsung for not doing more rigorous testing of the chipset or not taking the chipset manufacturer to task.
Just because another phone's GPS sucks more than the Vibrant doesn't mean the Vibrant has good GPS.
Tarzanman said:
Say what you want, but the fact is that the GPS on the G1 (a phone that is two years older) completely destroys any GPS+fix on the Vibrant.
Its a well known, and rarely disputed weakness for the Vibrant. Shame on Samsung for not doing more rigorous testing of the chipset or not taking the chipset manufacturer to task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
speak for yourself. when i compared them my vibrant was better than my g1. the vibrant was also better than my wife's cliq and mt slide (granted, these two aren't amazing phones, i've never heard of gps complaints with them).
my only complaint about gps is mine doesn't currently work on my vibrant (cm7).
funeralthirst said:
speak for yourself. when i compared them my vibrant was better than my g1. the vibrant was also better than my wife's cliq and mt slide (granted, these two aren't amazing phones, i've never heard of gps complaints with them).
my only complaint about gps is mine doesn't currently work on my vibrant (cm7).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange. I have a MT3G Slide as well, and its GPS destroys my Vibrant's.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
inconceeeivable said:
Strange. I have a MT3G Slide as well, and its GPS destroys my Vibrant's.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
well, based on xda posts, i'm a minority to begin with cause i've never really had problems with my gps on my vibrant.
and how exactly does it 'destroy' the vibrant's gps?
funeralthirst said:
well, based on xda posts, i'm a minority to begin with cause i've never really had problems with my gps on my vibrant.
and how exactly does it 'destroy' the vibrant's gps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is significantly faster and more accurate than my particular Vibrant. I have a July 2010 model though...that may be why.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
My GPS is good too. Granted it does take a up to a few minutes to lock, when it does, its dead accurate and consistent.
Tarzanman said:
Say what you want, but the fact is that the GPS on the G1 (a phone that is two years older) completely destroys any GPS+fix on the Vibrant.
Its a well known, and rarely disputed weakness for the Vibrant. Shame on Samsung for not doing more rigorous testing of the chipset or not taking the chipset manufacturer to task.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've proven otherwise. I don't feel like sifting through my posts, but I have pictures of the two side-by-side with wifi off running GPSTest and in Google Maps. The Vibrant was closer.
}{Alienz}{ said:
My GPS is good too. Granted it does take a up to a few minutes to lock, when it does, its dead accurate and consistent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish. I'm on my third and they have all suffered from long lock, inability to maintain lock (losing signal all together) lastly, while locked and navigating it will jump locations.
I don't think any GPS has zero issues but the amount of issues I have had with all three Vibrants leads me to think it's hardware and broken.
I do find it amazing that there are such varying views on the Vibrants GPS, but after three units I gave up trying to get a good one.
SykesAT said:
I wish. I'm on my third and they have all suffered from long lock, inability to maintain lock (losing signal all together) lastly, while locked and navigating it will jump locations.
I don't think any GPS has zero issues but the amount of issues I have had with all three Vibrants leads me to think it's hardware and broken.
I do find it amazing that there are such varying views on the Vibrants GPS, but after three units I gave up trying to get a good one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
i find the varying experience strange as well. but i've had mine since release and the gps has always worked (though, it improved after flashing from stock 2.1).
inconceeeivable said:
It is significantly faster and more accurate than my particular Vibrant. I have a July 2010 model though...that may be why.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Samsung Jack, HTC Aria, HTC HD2, and HTC HD7 destroy both of our Vibrants here when it comes to the GPS. The HTC HD# phones especially... They embarass it in Accuracy and Lock Speeds. It isn't even comparable.
I've been through 3 Vibrants and there is another in use here, so I'm pretty sure it's not a lemon device issue. The GPS is just very bad on these phones.
But who cares... The phone is almost old now and many people with it are already eying an upgrade. I think most of us have learned to accept it and moved on from complaining about it - months ago...
}{Alienz}{ said:
My GPS is good too. Granted it does take a up to a few minutes to lock, when it does, its dead accurate and consistent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That means your GPS is terrible.
When you turn it on and want to use a Location App that relies on GPS data, you have to wait a few minutes for it to lock and get an accurate location? 3 minutes to do a Foursquare/Facebook checkin? Lol...
That is "good" to you?
reuthermonkey said:
I've proven otherwise. I don't feel like sifting through my posts, but I have pictures of the two side-by-side with wifi off running GPSTest and in Google Maps. The Vibrant was closer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Accuracy has never been that big of an issue for me, it's the lock speeds. But the Vibrant has never been as accurate as my other phones.
At stop lights the GPS goes crazy more than occasionally, and it loses its lock.
When it loses it's lock, that means you have to wait forever for it to lock again.
The slow lock speeds also means every task that depends on GPS data is ridiculously slow to accomplish compared to phones with a good GPS in them.
Most people who need a good GPS in their phone don't necessarily need the phone to just sit there giving them directions. They need it for apps like Foursquare, Loopt, Layer, Facebook Checkin, Localized Tweets, sharing location data in messaging applications, and embedding location data in photos.
With the Vibrant's lock speeds, it's almost useless for much of that.
I've also owned Blackberries (9300, 9780 Curve/Bold) and the GPS outperformed the Vibrant.
Another thing I noticed is that the Vibrant battery life with GPS on is significantly worse than other phones. I've never thought to turn my phone's GPS off, ever, until I got this phone...
My GPS has worked fine since, since, well I can't remember when. I just know it's been working great since I stopped obsessing over it's 3 meter accuracy. The compass could be better but whatever. Who gives a flying flip if it takes 5 seconds longer to lock than my Droid X? I'd still choose this over any current motorola, and HTC phone currently on the market. It's not a GPS device; It's a smartphone.
Unfortunately a lot of smartphone apps rely on GPS and an extra 5 seconds to lock everytime you check in, take a picture, want to get accurate location-guided results, etc. is a pain in the ass.
It may not seem like a lot at first (it's more than 5 seconds, factorably more, but I don't wanna deal with that right now), but at the end of a day it has done nothing more than degrade the user experience and waste a factorable amount of cumulative time.
You have to alter all of your usage patterns to account for the faulty GPS.
It's an issue, but I can care less. That's why I got another phone: so I didn't have to sweat it
WOW, it is crazy how much variety there is in not only accuracy but lock times as well.. I just pulled out my G1 and my MT3G and neither of them locked faster than the vibrant, but those showed me standing in the same spot as the vibrant.. LOL the G2 is still way off...
As for jumping at red lights.. i just figured that was normal since even my G1 and MT3G where the same (i mean by a few feet when stopped)... lol guess i was wrong ha..
So what do you guys think? Do you think the SGS II will have GPS issues? or has Sammy learned?
I am fyi a Samsung supporter, i honestly watched and laughed so hard about people crying over updates when other phones from more popular companies did it as-well.. Every one should know it is totally up to your provider.. ok enough on a tangent..
Just for comparisions sake, I have both a Vibrant and a MT4G. The vibrant running Trigger 3.2 gets an average 15 foot lock which is the best of any rom. The MT4G gets a 3 foot lock. Yes 3 foot. Simply amazing.
BTW dont ever rely on any phones gps when traveling. When you are out of cell reception you also lose your gps. You could end up hopelessly lost or worse. If you need gps that bad, I recommend a real gps device. While gps is good for around town don't risk yours and your families lives. Most of the horror stories you read about in the news with people getting lost using gps are usually phone gps.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
billwinkle said:
Just for comparisions sake, I have both a Vibrant and a MT4G. The vibrant running Trigger 3.2 gets an average 15 foot lock which is the best of any rom. The MT4G gets a 3 foot lock. Yes 3 foot. Simply amazing.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thats good stuff.. Question, arnt the MT4G and the G2 almost the same phone? If so whys it so much better than my G2.. LoL
I've been rocking my Atrix for a few weeks. I was using an Inspire previously and I just wanted better battery life, a smaller form factor (and lighter), and a front-facing camera.
Long story short, I've been testing the piss out of this thing to make sure it's the device for me. I really have no complaints about hardware and I have even learned to live with Motoblur (with the right launcher covering it up).
The GPS on this thing is simply amazing. It locks onto Satellites indoors within seconds, outside instantly. I even got a lock today in my work, which is in a sky scraper. Even my iPhone never got a lock there. This is with Wifi off, by the way.
I remembered from my Droid X that Moto knows how to make a GPS, but it still surprises me how good it is. I compared it side-by-side with my Inspire and my Focus and neither one could get a solid lock in my house and both were off by quite a bit.
Atrix FTW. As cool as the Galaxy S II looks, I have a feeling that the GPS won't be anywhere near as good and then I'd be back to that "too big for one hand" form factor.
yeah i pretty much abandoned my Garmin Nuvi 220W..
in other news ---- anyone want to buy a Garmin Nuvi 220W?
Yes, GPS is super solid and very accurate.
Look at Garmin's stock chart.
i have used mine several times and it is bulletproof!
Moto definitely is the best when it comes to GPS on Android, and Samsung is the worst. Only a Nokia e-series device beats it down (instant lock indoors anywhere).
Oh Nokia, why did you go all "Elopcalypse" and pass on Android...
ccrows said:
Moto definitely is the best when it comes to GPS on Android, and Samsung is the worst. Only a Nokia e-series device beats it down (instant lock indoors anywhere).
Oh Nokia, why did you go all "Elopcalypse" and pass on Android...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had an E71, but I don't remember how good the GPS was. I do, however, remember how horrible it was on my Captivate. Everyone is saying that Samsung fixed it with the Infuse and Galaxy S II, but I'm wary. Even if it's not as worthless as the Captivate, I doubt it would be anywhere near as good as a Moto GPS.
Incidentally, Moto makes a standalone gps. I wonder if it's anywhere near as good at tracking as their phones.
I agree. Just got my atrix last week and was very impressed with how quickly and accurately the GPS locks on. Much better than my previous Nexus One or Dell Streak.
The Atrix GPS is definitely outstanding, but the Xperia X10 GPS is still the best I have seen in any mobile device (standalone GPS included). Samsung is definitely the worst.
I went to the US which for me is a pretty huge deal (the roads in Canada are dead simple and the speed limit is very low). I felt so at home using Google Maps with the Navigation beta. **** was DEAD on everywhere we went.
Aside from when my phone died, it was awesome. Couldn't use GPS for about an hour on the way home because it was so low and needed to charge hahaha... was pretty scary. Was blitzed on pot brownies too LOL
I've got the car dock and I'm amazed by this gps. Sitting at a stop light I can let my car creep forward slowly. The gps is sensitive enough to register this and shows my speed as 1 mph. Just amazing. I took it on a 1200 mile trip, and it performed flawlessly! I love this phone! Definitely a huge improvement over my iPhone 3G. This phone routinely makes my wife and daughter jealous with their iPhone 4s.
I am curious, what GPS software seems to be best for android? I've only ever played with Google Navigation, and it works great.
I also have a Garmin Nuvi 220W that I can't even look at anymore. The Atrix GPS is flippin's sweet! No exaggeration that it's dead accurate. Traffic updates are scary good, even on sideroads in my area. I use it in the car dock for my daily commute, to get me ahead of the traffic curve. I thought it was off yesterday because there was no way it would take me 30 minutes to drive the last 5 miles home. Alas, the streets were flooded along a creek, and it told me precisely when the speeds would pick up again, so I stuck it out. +1000 internetz to Motorola for the GPS.
naplesbill said:
The Atrix GPS is definitely outstanding, but the Xperia X10 GPS is still the best I have seen in any mobile device (standalone GPS included). Samsung is definitely the worst.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. X10 has the best instant lock without using agps or any network assisst. But that phone is now forgotten lol. Atrix comes second to it with regards to gps
Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk
It gets to 20 meters when I'm at school! On my n1 it would fluctuate around 100!
Sent from my Googletron
Great locks even among skyscrapers.
Sent from my MB860 using XDA App
too bad moto is going skyhook ^.^
http://tinyurl.com/446en9a
Coming from a Nokia N810 (it had a GPS), I like the Atrix GPS. It's very accurate and locks super fast.
Though I wish Google would have a vector based map, as I don't want to consume a ton of data as I drive to Colorado next week...
yeah its amazing, perhaps something weird happen to me Stock take more a really more like indoor 2-5 minutes, ouside like 1 minute but i flashed telstra radio from MOD to enable hspa+ and WOW amazing instant almost i didint believe this but its really amazing
now i need a car LOL
So how, if at all, will the move to Skyhook affect the Atrix? Think that will just affect future Motorola devices?
Mgamerz said:
Coming from a Nokia N810 (it had a GPS), I like the Atrix GPS. It's very accurate and locks super fast.
Though I wish Google would have a vector based map, as I don't want to consume a ton of data as I drive to Colorado next week...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty sure the latest versions of google maps are vector based. That's how they get away with the spinny stuff and angle changes.
the issues out? is it working as well as could be expected?
i had a vibrant, the gps was worthless, i waited for about 6 months but they never got it right - so i dumped it. curious if sammy did manage to fix it with software updates
tks in advance
It is fixed yes, I get locks very quickly now, 15-30 seconds from dead to lock.... never fails me anymore. The GPS fixes that have been developed work well.
try this
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878970&highlight=gps+fix
if step number one didnt work, number two WILL do it.
The Original Ralph said:
the issues out? is it working as well as could be expected?
i had a vibrant, the gps was worthless, i waited for about 6 months but they never got it right - so i dumped it. curious if sammy did manage to fix it with software updates
tks in advance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No. I've done all the supposed fixes. Do not believe the reports that the Vibrant GPS is "fine". I've had a Vibrant for a year, and just got a Sensation. I now get typical lock times under 10sec with 3m accuracy. Using Google Nav or My Tracks there's no comparison. Try another phone with a properly working GPS and you'll know why the Vibrant is a disgrace to the term GPS.
samnada said:
No. I've done all the supposed fixes. Do not believe the reports that the Vibrant GPS is "fine". I've had a Vibrant for a year, and just got a Sensation. I now get typical lock times under 10sec with 3m accuracy. Using Google Nav or My Tracks there's no comparison. Try another phone with a properly working GPS and you'll know why the Vibrant is a disgrace to the term GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Then go troll the Sensation forum - no need for the nastiness here.
JWhipple said:
Then go troll the Sensation forum - no need for the nastiness here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What "nastiness"? Accurately pointing out an actual flaw isn't nasty, unless you're hyper-defensive. Not a troll. I own the Vibrant. He asked, I answered.
JWhipple said:
Then go troll the Sensation forum - no need for the nastiness here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Get over yourself. The Galaxy S has a well known GPS flaw. If your butt is too hurt to be reminded of it then stay off the forums.
wow - like Yogi Berra used to say
"this is like deja vu, all over again"
tks for the responses -
i missed the display on the vibrant and was looking at one of the newer sammy models, but figured i'd check to see if they corrected the issues on the model they pumped 10 million units out onto the market, before pulling the trigger.
Yawn, I can safely say on all 11 vibrant i've done the GPS locks in under 30 seconds everytime, all the time...
So you enjoy your sensation, i'll enjoy my galaxy that now locks like yours but has a sexy ass screen that even your sister creams over.
jwleonhart said:
Yawn, I can safely say on all 11 vibrant i've done the GPS locks in under 30 seconds everytime, all the time...
So you enjoy your sensation, i'll enjoy my galaxy that now locks like yours but has a sexy ass screen that even your sister creams over.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lock time is useless if the accuracy is bad. My Vibrant locks in 30 sec or so consistently as well. But it also randomly jumps to some other block when using Google Nav and starts blurting out bogus recalculating instructions. Sometimes it's fine, then the next day it will just blow up for no apparent reason.
I was in NYC for a week a month ago trying to use it for walking navigation. It was virtually useless. Consistently had me at least a block from my actual location, and the compass would either continuously spin or flip 180 degrees every 10 seconds.
I walk daily and often use My Tracks. I've seen many samples to compare the Vibrant to the Sensation and the difference is a revelation. The Vibrant often just drops the track part way through, and even when it holds it wanders around the actual path like a drunk. The Sensation tracks me nearly perfectly.
This has nothing to do with signal strength or the number of sats seen. After doing the HW fix my Vibrant SNR is at least as good if not slightly better than the Sensation. But the basic location accuracy is just flaky as h#ll. The Sensation locks and just sticks to my location.
If reports like mine were rare, I'd consider it's my phone, or some small percentage. But I've seen reports like this 100 times. Once you see what phone GPS is capable of you'll know how bad the Vibrant really is.
Regarding the screen, unless you own both you have no idea what you're talking about. Higher resolution, qHD, and more accurate, natural colors. I'd never go back. But love the one you're with, even if she is your sister...
samnada said:
Lock time is useless if the accuracy is bad. My Vibrant locks in 30 sec or so consistently as well. But it also randomly jumps to some other block when using Google Nav and starts blurting out bogus recalculating instructions. Sometimes it's fine, then the next day it will just blow up for no apparent reason.
I was in NYC for a week a month ago trying to use it for walking navigation. It was virtually useless. Consistently had me at least a block from my actual location, and the compass would either continuously spin or flip 180 degrees every 10 seconds.
I walk daily and often use My Tracks. I've seen many samples to compare the Vibrant to the Sensation and the difference is a revelation. The Vibrant often just drops the track part way through, and even when it holds it wanders around the actual path like a drunk. The Sensation tracks me nearly perfectly.
This has nothing to do with signal strength or the number of sats seen. After doing the HW fix my Vibrant SNR is at least as good if not slightly better than the Sensation. But the basic location accuracy is just flaky as h#ll. The Sensation locks and just sticks to my location.
If reports like mine were rare, I'd consider it's my phone, or some small percentage. But I've seen reports like this 100 times. Once you see what phone GPS is capable of you'll know how bad the Vibrant really is.
Regarding the screen, unless you own both you have no idea what you're talking about. Higher resolution, qHD, and more accurate, natural colors. I'd never go back. But love the one you're with, even if she is your sister...
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My accuracy is within 25ft indoors. I'll tell you what it's damn close enough. My navigation once in a blue moon will stray, but will pop right back on course in a few seconds.
Im not saying the vibrants GPS is perfect, but it's been fixed. I don't think it'll get much better than it is now either. I have one of the first vibrants, which supposedly they had fixed the hardware GPS or something later on (after november builds I believe???) but it still has problems.
Once I applied the GPS fix on CM7 man it's sexy as hell.
I'm sorry for the people that have issues. Is it perfect? No, it isn't. As someone that has owned a Vibrant from release date and that had ZERO GPS performance, I consider the attached to be a huge improvement. I usually have accuracy between 4.7M-6M. That's not fantastic, but it's better than nothing.
A lot of Dev work has been done. A lot of effort has gone into the Hardware Fix by many different people (I know I've been inside my Vibrant 7-8 different times). If you've done the hardware fix and you've flashed one of the two gps.fix zip's out there and it still doesn't work for you, then all I can say is flash your kernel again and flash the gps.zip. In addition to that, WE ALL KNEW ABOUT THE ISSUE when we either bought our phones or shortly after we started using them. We ALL decided to keep the device because the other features outweighed the GPS issues. Does it suck? Yeah, it does. It's a ridiculous feature to not have right. It's worse than when an iPhone didn't have copy/paste and MMS. I feel the pain, trust me. I travel constantly for work, I use GPS a LOT. I get it. But at this point, it's gone from beating a dead horse to beating a dead horse skeleton.
Another thing, Samsung will never be able to "fix" current Vibrants. I fully believe that stepped into a deal with a supplier that supplied a faulty, subpar GPS Receiver. If the hardware is flaky then it's flaky. No amount of contact bending/replacing or firmware tweaking will fully compensate for that fact. When you accept it for what it is, you decide to just deal with it until the next device you want comes out (in my case, it's the fabled Nexus Prime). There are WAY to many people that need to just let go of crap they can't control and move on. Being mad at Samsung on a message board doesn't fix it.
One final tip before you ditch your Vibrant, try a different Kernel. For example, the firmware GPS fixes don't really agree with Bali Kernels and Bionix 1.3.1 on my handset. But it does work great when I flash Overstock 2.4.1 instead.
There's a relationship between your ROM and Kernel selection. Experiment and find what works, or ditch the phone.
Look for anyone who the GPS is not working and is running CM7, do me a favor and go here:
At the bottom I have a direct download to CM7 with the GPS fix built in.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1182735
I have replaced the gps file and put my own config file in. It's running Nightly #56, and i'm getting locks fast...
I put it up earlier, but so far nobody has posted back. I tried it and am using it myself, GPS works great.
Someone please try and let me know! No need to modify anything.
I'm curious, did they fix the GPS for the Samsung Galaxy S 4G since its the newer galaxy model? If so, I'll purchase that one right away instead of the Vibrant.
The Original Ralph said:
"this is like deja vu, all over again"
tks for the responses -
i missed the display on the vibrant and was looking at one of the newer sammy models, but figured i'd check to see if they corrected the issues on the model they pumped 10 million units out onto the market, before pulling the trigger.
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if you miss the display, grab the SGS 4g, SGS 2 or the Nexus S.
Battery on both of those is fixed.
No, Samsung did not fix the GPS....it's a fundamental flaw with their GPS supplier that will never go away. Refurbished units get better GPS but nothing near as fast and accurate as other phones.
Blown 89 said:
No, Samsung did not fix the GPS....it's a fundamental flaw with their GPS supplier that will never go away. Refurbished units get better GPS but nothing near as fast and accurate as other phones.
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GPS is good enough never had problem
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA Premium App
Yeah, it got fixed in later production
I lost my phone in June, got a replacement via insurance. The new one locks GPS in under 10 seconds, decent accuracy. It's considerably better than my first Vibrant, which could take over a minute to lock.
I currently have the Nexus 5 and am pretty fed up with trying to use it for navigation. I believe the last time it worked decent was with Kit Kat. After loading LP that all changed. Thankfully Google finally acknowledged the issue in their bug tracker which has been open for quite a long time. If I do intend on using the GPS on the 5, I have to leave it on my dashboard. If I pick up the phone to do anything with it, it immediately loses GPS reception. Also while running GPS simultaneously while listening to Google Music (music stored locally, not streaming), the phone gets extremely hot and sluggish and also even while on a charger (2A output) seems to lose battery percentage.
I have since loaded Marshmallow on my 5 and it definitely more responsive but obviously Google hasn't resolved the GPS issue and it still seems to drain the battery while on charger and using GPS and music.
I have tried doing factory resets, etc but it hasn't resolved the draining issue or of course the GPS issue.
I've decided to hold off on buying either the 5X or 6P simply because I've been burned just about every time I've bought a Nexus phone on launch day. My first nexus was the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon and we all know how much of a POS that was. Mainly a quiet speaker, horrible screen, horrible battery life mainly due to how badly tuned it was on LTE, sluggish. The Nexus 5 was plagued with a crappy speaker (AGAIN), and after time wireless charging wouldn't work properly due to the contacts within the phone become oxidized or corroded from arcing.
I've heard the 5X has a pretty lousy speaker as well so mainly because of that alone I was already leaning toward the 6P.
I'm hoping to hear from early adopters if there's any unforeseen issues with displays, GPS, signal/antenna, speaker, etc.
I'd also love to know this, my g2 has pretty bad GPS, and all reviews are stuck on camera, no one talks about GPS or call quality, mkbhd said the speakers are really good, so I think call quality should be great, please guys some comments on GPS, how fast does it lock?
How much does it drain the battery?
I've had it for about a day now, GPS lock has been great for me. i also had no issue on the Nexus 6 too, so idk, i am in England with lots of open spaces, so that probably helps
Yeah, my nexus 5 is really bad. Gps losses lock like every 15-20 seconds and has to regain. Causes the screen to be all jerky. I doubt google ever fixes it.
I hope my 6p is as good as my n5!
Never had any issues with gps - usually locks within 20 seconds, and holds it.
Following the offical Google Bug Issue Tracker for MM may be useful. Relate to GPS MM fixes the Mobile Radio Active bug.
the guy that posted the "i have the 64gb 6p" did some tests and the sat lock was impressive. one of the best in smartphones.
Evo_Shift said:
Yeah, my nexus 5 is really bad. Gps losses lock like every 15-20 seconds and has to regain. Causes the screen to be all jerky. I doubt google ever fixes it.
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I'm having exactly the same problem with my Nexus 5 too! And it's very slow to locking, showing a giant blue circle covering almost the whole city on Google Maps.
No issues with locking so far on day 2. I used Waze, Google Maps, indoors, outdoors, etc.
I couldn't stand my LG G2 because of the horrific GPS, I am a firm believer its an LG issue since it also seems to have effected the N5.
GPS tech is much better now. I've never had an issue on my Nexus or MotoX 2013. My Nexus 5 was spotty but I think that's more an LG hardware thing than an Android issue
Sent from my Nexus 6 using XDA Free mobile app
where is the gps antenna on nexus 6p? like exactly where. i opened mine ip and now it wont work. afraid i might have broke it.