The compass on my S4 is wildly inaccurate.
First of all, if the phone isn't absolutely level, the compass reading is almost random and I can make the needle rotate through 360 degrees just by tilting the phone.
If the phone is level, the needle might eventually settle in approximately the right direction but if I then slowly rotate the phone 360 degrees, it can easily end up with the needle pointing more than 100 degrees out. I just tried it now and quickly rotating the phone 90 degrees resulted in the needle pointing due E rather than N.
I'm a keen walker and I sometimes use my phone for navigation. The GPS works really well but the compass is so inaccurate as to be completely worthless.
Is this just my phone?
In the very near future, I will be introducing the world’s only
correctable (compensated for residual [after calibration] azimuth deviation errors) smartphone compass app. With the introduction of my new smartphone (iPhone & Android) app, users will be able to evaluate the accuracy (or lack thereof) of any electronic compass, rangefinder compass, and/or smartphone compass app - with the results being made available to immediately correct residual azimuth deviation errors of the evaluated compass app or electronic compass.
I am offering you (vendors) the opportunity to correct residual azimuth deviation errors generated by your own smartphone compass app. The azimuth error correction process is quite simple; and you will not need to significantly modify your app. If you may be interested in taking me up on this offer, please contact me.
Also, please take a look at
tru-path.org (and its various blog posts) to see actual test results of several iPhone compass apps (and rangefinders) demonstrating the magnitude and direction of real, significant residual azimuth deviation errors - along with the error correction results. Correcting smartphone residual azimuth deviation errors is fast, easy, and entirely practical using today’s smartphone technology. My next set of tests will be performed on Android compass apps; and, based on existing published user questions and comments, I expect to find results similar to those already posted.
Thanks for your time and consideration.