Any problems with the GPS on the captivate?

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MFister

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2010
52
2
Hi Guys,

I've been hearing about lots of problems with the GPS not picking up low SNR satellites and the GPS being wildly inaccurate on the samsung vibrant and also the euro variants of the galaxy s.

Does the captivate have the same issue?
 

tdusen

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
625
54
Compare to my G1, the Captivate take about the same time to lock and GPStest says the SNR is better. I'm happy with it.
 

Citznfish

Senior Member
Jul 18, 2010
118
5
Hi Guys,

I've been hearing about lots of problems with the GPS not picking up low SNR satellites and the GPS being wildly inaccurate on the samsung vibrant and also the euro variants of the galaxy s.

Does the captivate have the same issue?

Define Wildly inaccurate. On my Captivate it is dead on (within 9 feet)
 

Jreitnauer7

Member
Jul 8, 2010
36
0
I am having major problems with GPS. I am getting a lock but only within 50-75 feet. It isn't good at all. The GPS is slow to update and throws me everywhere.

I amthinking of returning the phone if Samsung doesn't make an announcement about s fix for this.
 
Jul 6, 2010
11
0
Ok, I tried it again... In the house I'm about 500 ft off from where I really am and placed in a golf fairway. Outside I am FURTHER off: I'd estimate at least 5 blocks and placed in the middle of a different golf fairway. For comparision sake, my wife's iPhone 3Gs has her within 10-20' while inside the house. To me, this is unacceptable and a great cause for concern. What can I do???
 

rajsharma714

Member
Jul 20, 2010
17
0
dial this from your phone:

*#*#1472365#*#*

Change startup from hot to cold.....worked for me. GPS locks much much faster

I'm having the same problem here. My iPhone 3GS GPS responded way quicker then this phone does. I have a Weather Channel widget up, and it doesn't find the location to display the weather for a good minute and a half after. Same goes for using Google Maps to find my location. Lot of times it says, "Your location is unavailable." I even tried switching the startup from hot to cold, and that didn't have much effect either.

When I was driving today, the GPS locator had a bad lag in it, I would be down two blocks before it would catch up, and I live in a 3G area, and not a giant city like NY or something.

I wonder if it's because it's so bloated with Samsung UI on it, or if it's just the a bug. Either way, if I'm still having issues with it, I'll see if AT&T will exchange it out for a different one. Otherwise back to the 3GS, which I really don't want to do since I'm loving Android right now.
 

rajsharma714

Member
Jul 20, 2010
17
0
What does hot start and cold start do?

Hot Start - The GPS receiver remembers its last calculated position and which satellites were in view, the almanac used, and the UTC Time. It then performs a reset and attempts to acquire satellites and calculate a new position based upon the previous information.

Cold Start - The GPS receiver dumps all information and resets. It then attempts to locate satellites and then calculate a GPS lock. This takes the longest because there is no known information. The GPS receiver has to attempt to lock a satellite signal from all of the satellites, basically like polling, which takes a lot longer than knowing which satellites to look for.
 

rohizzle121

Member
Dec 30, 2009
29
0
Houston
Danm a cold start sounds like it would be slower. I tried it and I still can't get a lock within a reasonable range.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Appb
 

tbae2

Senior Member
Jan 17, 2008
284
18
Atlanta, GA
I've been reading online that the Galaxy S got a firmware update that greatly improved/fixed the GPS problems we are experiencing. I can only assume that we will have to wait as well for this firmware to completely fix the gps issue.
 

Jreitnauer7

Member
Jul 8, 2010
36
0
I've been reading online that the Galaxy S got a firmware update that greatly improved/fixed the GPS problems we are experiencing. I can only assume that we will have to wait as well for this firmware to completely fix the gps issue.

Where did you read this? I've been looking for something like this, preferably from Samsung.
 

matthewpapa

Senior Member
Oct 17, 2007
216
5
Houston/Austin
i havent had too many problems with GPS here

Google maps usually locks me in a few seconds

Third party applications can take much longer, however
The problem might be the way the third party apps utilize the GPS
 

staticfish

New member
Jul 20, 2010
4
0
Try the fix/workaround in the Vibrant forum.

I went from seeing 1 satellite and none locked to 7-10 seen and 5-7 locked.

Actually that isn't a fix at all. It makes locking onto satellites much faster, but nothing to address the sensitivity issues, and there is definitely an issue. I 'found' 9 satellites, but could only lock onto two of them, for a few seconds at a time, then back to zero, out in the open.

Hopefully a software fix is on the way.

Source: /showthread.php?t=728611&page=5
 

cropythy

Senior Member
Dec 11, 2009
271
7
This fix did help me so now i get a quick lock...as ling as i dint start moving around. It stays close enough to exact to use for driving around but not more accurate than that. The problem isn't really getting a lock so much as keeping it.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
 

tdusen

Senior Member
Sep 14, 2006
625
54
Compare to my G1, the Captivate take about the same time to lock and GPStest says the SNR is better. I'm happy with it.


Well, I change my mind. While what I said still stands, I've since found that the GPS and the Compass don't track very well. I tried find a geocache using the same GeOrg software I use on my G1. The location seemed to be stuck as I was walking. From my experience with the Tilt, I'd say the GPS is running in "Static Navigation"

The clock is ticking, GPS has to be fixed in 28 days, or the phone gets returned.
 

jbradt

Senior Member
Mar 16, 2008
120
14
Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra
Try the fix/workaround in the Vibrant forum.

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=728611

I went from seeing 1 satellite and none locked to 7-10 seen and 5-7 locked.

I was having problems w/ GPS on my phone as well. Would be way off in Google Maps, Navigator took forever to lock, and geo-tagging photos was also way off. I did something similar - dialed the code to get to the GPS settings. However, all I did was turn Skyhook to ON and switched configuration from manual to auto. I don't seem to have any problems between yesterday and today. It locks incredibly quick and is very very accurate.

Some of you should try this method and see if it helps with anything. Good luck.