GPS?

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bellrb19

Senior Member
Aug 21, 2009
127
21
Driving on I-5 on a clear night it took about two minutes to get a gps lock. I have noticed sporadic results with gps, sometimes I get a lock inside while other times it takes minutes in a clear area.

The compass in sky map is terrible, it's like a parkinsons patient is holding my phone. My g1 was smooth and accurate, this does not match up when pointing at the moon. I heard this phone had six accelerometers, but something seems broken, hardware or software.

Sent from my samsung vibrant using XDA App
 

nricci

Senior Member
Aug 1, 2009
74
0
nricci - curious what makes you suspect it's hardware issue, and not firmware/driver issue

iirc, there was an earlier thread on this subject, ie the GPS problem, and one of the posters was going to check who the GPS chipset mfgr was, then popped back in saying it was his company's, and cause of that he had to bail off these boards

i can understand his position, neither samsung nor his employer would want him voicing any opinions on the issue, but he could have been a helluva source of info on this subject

I believe this is hardware related because this phone has been on the market for some time already, in Europe and Asia, as the Galaxy S. The GPS problem was detected in these regions and Samsung didn't do anything about it. (I wish I knew that before buying my 2 Vibrants).

Considering that GPS is a big deal on modern smart phones, to stay quiet and still about such an important matter can only indicate that this is a problem beyond their capacity to resolve.

Believe me, it's very easy for a software development group to quickly release a fix for a driver. Or, AT LEAST, to come forward saying "there is a problem, it's software related and a solution will be provided in 4 weeks".
 

nricci

Senior Member
Aug 1, 2009
74
0
Man, this is really bugging me (along with the completely useless compass).

Does anyone here have a Nexus One? Are the results any better? I'm so close to just clicking "Order Your Phone" and returning the Vibrant to T-Mo.

I love this phone (a lot), but I don't want to be stuck with something that Samsung may not fix. Especially not for $500+ tax.

I don't have a N1.

I have a G1 that works perfectly and locks to 8 satellites indoors using the GPS Test application. I also use My Tracks a lot and it's perfect.

I also tested the new My Touch Slide at the Tmobile store. It locked immediately.

This afternoon, I went to Verizon to check the new Droid-X. I installed and used the GPS Test app and even indoors, the phone locked to 6 satellites in one minute.
 

Jon C

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2010
322
6
Seattle
Thanks for the replies, guys.

This does not bode well for my lovely little Vibrant.

I think a Nexus One may be my destiny, unless Samsung announces something soon. :/
 

larryccf

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2009
517
1
I don't have a N1.

I have a G1 that works perfectly and locks to 8 satellites indoors using the GPS Test application. I also use My Tracks a lot and it's perfect.

I also tested the new My Touch Slide at the Tmobile store. It locked immediately.

This afternoon, I went to Verizon to check the new Droid-X. I installed and used the GPS Test app and even indoors, the phone locked to 6 satellites in one minute.

tks for the response - so basically an intuition call on your part? Don't get me wrong, that fine, i justed wanted to make sure you weren't an electrical engineer and had tested them with some formal protocol in a lab and found them defective

with all the folks reporting theirs correcting with e-wreck's suggestion settings adjustment, i have to lean toward software / firmware related

on the samsung repairing/issuing update thing, i agree it is kind of slow, but considering the number they're reported already sold in asian markets (300,000) with other reports that they're at the 1,000,000 mark (don't know the accuracy of that number) but point is, suspect they were already in the pipeline to the the US

there have already been AT&T units released, and haven't seen any of those reporting the issue, but a couple of them have reported their box appeared it had been opened with a 2nd seal in place, and their software was the Jf6 version, so possibly correction/update is already quietly in effect

jon c: check this latest thread on this issue - it's looking more and more like it's software / firmware issue, with the fix having been found http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=728611

before going to the N1, consider the 77 page thread on google's support forum over the 3G/edge signal issue, with google after attempting to deflect the problem first as a Tmobile coverage issue, then when the at&t versions demo'd the same issue, they started distancing themselves from the issue altogether - then at one point in the thread, with the issue still unresolved, a google tech pops into the forum thread to indicate google "had decided to NOT devote any more engineering resources to the issue" -
couple that with google announcing it's soon going to be stopping retail sales directly (they will be looking for a retail partner), i suspect they're not going to find one - but with retail sales stopping, i'd really not be looking at an N1

here's the link to the google forums - btw, some users in that thread actually returned their phones for exchange FIVE times at pretty serious shipping expense - go to about pg 72 and read forward, that will give you a pretty decent sense of folks' loss of patience w/google http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/android/thread?tid=0c0fb2a46ad64955&hl=en&start=2920
 
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Qwijib0

Member
Jul 16, 2010
37
1
Tucson, AZ
jon c: check this latest thread on this issue - it's looking more and more like it's software / firmware issue, with the fix having been found

Yeah, I think it's software too. The above fix just seems masks the problem though. Don't get me wrong-- That trick took me from nothing to ~50ft accuracy which is "good enough" for now-- but in both GPS test apps I'm seeing SNRs well into the 30s on 9+ satellites and I never get a lock. It's odd, but given how good the reception seems to be, I'm hoping for an actual fix that lets me use all those satellites.
 

Qwijib0

Member
Jul 16, 2010
37
1
Tucson, AZ
So, I installed the GPS test app on my wife's cliq, and when the two are next to eachother, the SNR levels are better on the vibrant and I can actually see more satellites-- the difference being that every sat on her phone is "in use" and none of mine are. I don't know enough about GPS to know the difference between in use and not in use, when the vibrant is clearly still using them for position, albeit in a non-precise way.
 

Jon C

Senior Member
Jul 17, 2010
322
6
Seattle
Thanks for the links, but I'm pretty intense with my research. I've been hovering around the Google support forums on a daily basis for half a year. :p

I've just heard that recent batches of the Nexus One are slightly improved. Also, a support forum is kind of the minority group (typically with the most problems). Some pretty high-profile users have reported that the Nexus One is their favorite phone, claiming that the touchscreen issues seem to have been resolved, or are not noticeable. That's not enough for me to decide, but at least it's something to balance out all of the negativity regarding it.

Either way, I appreciate it. But back to the Galaxy S...


As I mentioned in the other thread: Since applying the GPS 'fix', my phone now chugs when rebooted. Out of the box (stock settings), it would be ready to go within seconds. Now, with this tweaking, my phone chugs along at about 1FPS for a solid minute. Once it stops constantly scanning the memory, it is back to business as usual (though, it feels a slight bit sluggish).

Also, I'm not able to lock onto more than 1 GPS satellite. It's a bit cloudy today, so I'll test in better conditions. Previous (default) settings allowed me to lock onto 3 satellites, but with a higher margin of error. So it seems as if the tweak provides some improvement, for sure.

Anybody else experiencing anything similar?


Now, if only we could figure out this obnoxious Compass issue... :(
 

gordon.mott

Member
Apr 25, 2009
49
0
For the record, guys... I used my vibrant for navigation again today... used Google Nav: the blue arrow never pointed the wrong way, and I got lock on two satellites out of 11 visible... so it CAN lock multiple satellites. The entire time I ran 20-25 feet of accuracy.
 

dcam1075

Senior Member
Jun 27, 2009
195
8
Same here, using GPS Test I can usually see 11 satelittes or more but I have never been able to lock on to more than 3 at anyone time. With my MT3G Slide sitting right next to the Vibrant it locks on to 9 or more instantly. Definitely something wonky with either the GPS hardware or software. It works for navigation because you dont need that precise level of accurancy, but if you try to use it in a high rise area or an area with dense tree cover or mountains it fails all over the place. I really hope this is a software issue and Samsung addresses it quickly!
 

larryccf

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2009
517
1
I hope you are right and this can be fixed by software. I really need to upgrade our aging G1s.


hopefully i am

gave this some thought - i first started out researching this phone and got sucked into this info addiction and finding myself spending way too much time on what is basically a tool, and that i expect to work, nearly flawlessly out of the box

mine is due in tomorrow - if it demos this issue, and the software fix doesn't correct it or an update before the 14 day return period is up, it's going back and i'll get a garminfone - there's none of these issues being reported on that model, and while it's only a "600mHz" chipset, it will still be faster than the MyTouch 3G i had until recent (already missing it, it was basically a 1967 chevy 6 cyl, that just ran everytime you put the key in the ignition) -

the vibrant has a ton of "gee whiz" features, but nav, especially in rural areas is far more important to me, and to be honest, those gee whiz features are, well, gee whiz neat but not really that important to me, i won't use most of them like the younger generation will -

my target goal had been to incorporate a cellphone, internet 3G tethered access, and nav in one device, saving me from carrying a portable GPS unit for rental car use. I figured someone would come out with a decent android gps mapping program for android (hell i'm surprised garmin hasn't already released theirs alongside the garminfone), and with android 2.2 run it off the sd card

but the headaches i'm seeing, give me a little hesitation
 
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jblade1000

Senior Member
Jul 19, 2009
294
14
just wanted to provide another update. I got to drive a lot on sunday, from where i live (10 miles from downtown chicago), out to my parents, (25 miles away), then back into the city to the hyde park neighborhood to my cousins house (you go through downtown and take the famous lake shore drive).

To the parents house:
So, im not sure what the routing logic is defaulted to or if it can be changed in Google Maps with Navigation, but it wanted me to take a local road south for 6 miles and then get on a highway when I live a quarter of a mile from another highway. Maybe is shorter distance vs shorter time? Anyways, i got on there and it rerouted but kept trying to get me to get off at each exit for about 2 miles. It also lagged behind with its exit announcements (like i was moving too fast for it lol). It eventually caught up fine and had no issues once it realized what route i had chosen to take over the one it recommended.

From Parents to cousins:

This was interesting. So first off I want to preface this by saying i was following my parents and therefore was already moving when i decided to use the navigation. I went into my contacts, clicked my cousins address which opened up maps, and i hit the blue arrow to launch Navigation. But GPS wasnt on, and it asked me if i wanted to go to settings and enable it. I did, and it couldnt find me. It stated i was in a town about 18 miles away. Couldnt lock. i closed down maps and navigation, turned off gps and then turned it back on. Then i went back to my contacts, to the address which opened maps and this time i hit my location first. instant lock and accurate. then i hit the blue arrow, navigation came up with my route and all was good. I dont have a cradle or dock for my phone yet so i decided to test it out. at no point did it have a direct line of sight outside the car, I purposely kept it in the cubby hole in my dash. It worked flawlessly from then on.

Cousins to home:

I again chose to leave the phone in the cubby hole with no line of sight outside the car. I also detoured through downtown up and down Michigan Ave, Madison, Canal, Jackson, Adams (all of the major, touristy, skyskraper area, "The Loop"). I lost a signal once in my 20 minute downtown excursion and i believe it was the 3g that was lost, not the satellite. I then proceed home with no issues and a battery at 24% lol.

gotta get that dock and car charger....

P.S. My recommendation would be to always make sure gps is on before launching maps or navigation, and if your in maps, hit the mylocation button first before doing anything (searching, navigating, etc) it seems to like that order best.
 

heygrl

Senior Member
Nov 20, 2009
1,970
43
Las Vegassss
I put it back on the stock settings. Works the same, Samsung will need to step in on this matter. I tried to turn MS-Based back on and it locked my phone up comPLETELY.. the fact that the phone sees strong sat signals means that there is nothing too serious going on here.
 

larryccf

Senior Member
Nov 23, 2009
517
1
Yesterday I posted this elsewhere but figured it might serve this thread:



to give folks that are waiting for their phone to arrive and are worried this is a problem across all the vibrants shipping, i received my phone today, and first thing after getting the basics set up, went outside walking around the neighborhood - within 40 seconds of turning the GPS on, it had 11 satellites in view, and six locked

i wasn't using any of the downloaded GPS test apps, just found some gps performance pages in the native OS

when i opened google nav maps, it took slightly longer, first locating me about 100 feet from where i actually was, but in maybe 1.5 minutes it had me perfectly, to the point that i was standing dead center of the street at a "T" intersection right in front of my house, and it had me in that exact placement on the map

in case it helps some that e-wreck's fix didn't, i checked my settings, and under "SUPL/CP Settings" ,the SERVER & PORT are www.spirent-lcs.com. (and yes the "www" is there) and the port is 7275



I'm not smart enough to tell whether e-wreck's fix is a work around for a weak/defective gps chipset or corrupted software, i just know mine worked as well (actually better) than my MT3G and my garmin nuvi 680, neither of which could pull a gps signal inside my house. While obviously the vibrant is running A-GPS chips, so is the MT3G

have no idea what firmware this phone is running, tried the secret code listed elsewhere on this forum, but think it must be for the samsung i9000, but on my vibrant i kept getting an error msg that "could not process the request"

tomorrow i'm going to take it on a short 25 mile trip using "My Tracks" -
anyway, in case that helps anyone

under operation mode, it's set for "standalone"



and contrary to a lot of reports, my compass is on the money as well



also fwiw, my phone was ordered online 11:00PM on the 14th, so it isn't like it's one of the last ones shipped