My new Vibrant's GPS works better than my old one

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heygrl

heygrl

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2009
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It's no joke. Ignore the accuracy rating because it's just an estimate. Look at the SNR's between the two. It works much better in buildings, with Google Navigation, has no problem getting a lock, reported accuracy when driving is often 5-7 meters vs 10 then 40 then searching for GPS with the old phone. Never loses it's GPS lock, EVER and I've been testing it for a few days now. No big circles (stable lock)..

64jd48.jpg

33kvwgp.jpg

just fyi, when someone says their GPS works fine - they might be telling the truth
 
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S

samnada

Senior Member
Aug 17, 2010
1,064
108
heygrl said:
It's no joke. Ignore the accuracy rating because it's just an estimate. Look at the SNR's between the two. It works much better in buildings, with Google Navigation, has no problem getting a lock, reported accuracy when driving is often 5-7 meters vs 10 then 40 then searching for GPS with the old phone. Never loses it's GPS lock, EVER and I've been testing it for a few days now. No big circles (stable lock)..
just fyi, when someone says their GPS works fine - they might be telling the truth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

I see you're using 3G on the new one, and wifi on the old one. I get faster locks with wifi off. Can you try them both setup exactly the same? Not saying this accounts for the difference, but I like to see exact comparisons on things like this.

Thanks.
 
heygrl

heygrl

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2009
1,970
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Las Vegassss
It's the same with or without WiFi on. It was tethered to the other phone. aGPS data was already downloaded. I've tested it both ways and there is no difference, the new phone reports higher SNR's
 
heygrl

heygrl

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2009
1,970
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Las Vegassss
lqaddict said:
The replacement you got is JI6, correct?
Also if you leave it stationary, does the SNR jumps up and down or stays relatively stable?
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It's much more stable (obviously because of the increased SNR) but I don't know what the reasonable range is. Like I said below, it's cloudy so they should be unstable

Furthermore: off of WiFi for both like requested
2w6xvu0.jpg

rw8nwg.jpg

It's cloudy today. The new Vibrant's GPS performed admirably when going under clouds while driving but accuracy did decrease. The old Vibrant is probably so bipolar because they are passing clouds. Maybe 2 minutes before I took that pic it had a better lock and as you can see, 4 minutes inbetween shots and the SNR has lowered and shifted on the new Vibrant but the older one completely lost it's (inaccurate) GPS lock.
 
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lqaddict

lqaddict

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2010
1,347
71
NYC
heygrl said:
It's much more stable (obviously because of the increased SNR) but I don't know what the reasonable range is. Like I said below, it's cloudy so they should be unstable

Furthermore: off of WiFi for both like requested
2w6xvu0.jpg

rw8nwg.jpg

It's cloudy today. The new Vibrant's GPS performed admirably when going under clouds while driving but accuracy did decrease. The old Vibrant is probably so bipolar because they are passing clouds. Maybe 2 minutes before I took that pic it had a better lock and as you can see, 4 minutes inbetween shots and the SNR has lowered and shifted on the new Vibrant but the older one completely lost it's (inaccurate) GPS lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should be pretty much on the dot if your SNR is between 30 and 45, the higher the better obviously.
 
Z

ZX3ZX4

Senior Member
Aug 13, 2010
106
2
heygrl-
Just so I'm clear...are both of those phones set up identically, i.e., stock 2.1 JI6, etc.? No other differences in settings?
 
R

rbcamping

Senior Member
Aug 18, 2010
61
1
This is true, I traded my phone in because of gps, lag, freezing and crashing, etc...... Got a new phone and transferred all of my stuff to the new phone and the gps was dead on, no more lag and no more freezing, When I tried to use the bluetooth, no worky. tried everything, and so did tmobile, called in and ordered another one, it showed up and everything was great including the bluetooth, loaded in my apps and files and bluetooth quit working,:eek: went to tmobile store and they messed with it including a reset to stock and still no worky, pulled battery and it started working, reloaded my apps and files, no bluetooth again, pulled battery and it now works:confused:

I pulled the battery on the 1st phone twice and it made no difference????????

What can I say, I think the refurbished phones have been changed some how.....
The gps finds my location on a cold start in about 10 to 15 seconds and if I try it in navigator on a cold start it may take several minutes. on a hot start it takes about 5 seconds:)

The compass seems to work and when the car is stopped the arrow stays in one place on the map, but it may point in different directions.


If anyone has a phone that has lag issues and or the gps sucks, I would recomend that you do a warrenty trade in immediately, this sticks it to tmobile and samsung and should give you a phone that works:D
 
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SamsungVibrant

Senior Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,389
106
heygrl said:
It's no joke. Ignore the accuracy rating because it's just an estimate. Look at the SNR's between the two. It works much better in buildings, with Google Navigation, has no problem getting a lock, reported accuracy when driving is often 5-7 meters vs 10 then 40 then searching for GPS with the old phone. Never loses it's GPS lock, EVER and I've been testing it for a few days now. No big circles (stable lock)..

just fyi, when someone says their GPS works fine - they might be telling the truth
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Maybe the reason your new one works better is because you haven't messed it up by tinkering with the GPS settings.

I've followed the GPS drama since the Vibrant came out, and remember reading your posts, you've messed around with the GPS settings a lot on your old phone.

Personally, I don't know who came up with all those fake GPS "fixes" for the Vibrant on this forum, they never worked, and just made GPS performance for me worse. I've had better luck on all stock settings. Seriously, why did the mods allow that thread to continue titled "GPS FIX" bogus, no fix at all.

Maybe going into your GPS settings and deleting data and tinkering with **** is not a good idea.

Enjoy your new phone.
 
heygrl

heygrl

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2009
1,970
43
Las Vegassss
I didn't touch the LBSTestMode settings on either phone. It's pointless stuff, it doesn't last/can make stuff worse for how ever long it lasts. Either way it doesn't really make a difference here. I recently lost everything on my old phone thanks to Eugene's FroYo and had to start fresh again. Even beforehand I haven't done anything in LBSTestMode. Changes in GPS software have to come from Samsung.
 
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S

SamsungVibrant

Senior Member
Jul 23, 2010
1,389
106
heygrl said:
I didn't touch the LBSTestMode settings on either phone. It's pointless stuff, it doesn't last/can make stuff worse for how ever long it lasts. Either way it doesn't really make a difference here. I recently lost everything on my old phone thanks to Eugene's FroYo and had to start fresh again.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

how many exchanges have you done?
 
I

i900

Member
Oct 6, 2008
43
0
The JI6 update OBVIOUSLY fixed the GPS lock and stable accuracy because it was listed on the bug fix list from Samsung and mine sure showed a very fast GPS lock via 3G even on a rainy cloudy day in California INSIDE the room upstairs a few feet away from the window ;) and it worked at work place and a couple other spots even the phone was turned on after a full charge. And I love the Vibrant even more and I love GPS with the free nice looking voice guidance nav app from Google. And EVERYTHING that takes max cpu power and ram run smooth unlike other Android phones.
 
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