Samsung contacted Engadget to update the review. GPS issue fixed. Explained inside.

[tx_brandon]

from the updated Engadget review

"[Update: We just spoke with Samsung, who told us that Google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in Android devices -- in other words, no AGPS unless you manually enable it. Sure enough, we went into Settings, found that it was disabled on the Epic, turned it on, and we were good to go. No GPS bug!]"

that paragraph is now right before the wrap-up

Epic 4G review -- Engadget

 

[Pitbull329]

good news!

 

[belushi]

Google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in Android devices

Does anybody know why this is (e.g if it is in fact true)? Does it eat battery life, maybe? Or, is it some type of privacy issue?

 

[SamsungVibrant]

I can not believe that engadget thinks turning on wireless networks is the answer to the GPS bug.

This is completely embarassing for them.

All they have to do is grab 5 other Android phones, turn off wireless network locations on all, and only turn on GPS. They will all work flawlessly, except for the Samsung Galaxy S phones.

How can engadget make such a mistake in thinking this was the solution to the GPS bug. It is nothing more than a cover up, using wireles network locations, to mask the true GPS bug.

I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I READ!

 

[JTAndroid]

I can not believe that engadget thinks turning on wireless networks is the answer to the GPS bug.

This is completely embarassing for them.

All they have to do is grab 5 other Android phones, turn off wireless network locations on all, and only turn on GPS. They will all work flawlessly, except for the Samsung Galaxy S phones.

How can engadget make such a mistake in thinking this was the solution to the GPS bug. It is nothing more a cover up, using wireles network locations, to mask the true GPS bug.

I CAN'T BELIEVE WHAT I READ!

Ok, so you're reading this the same way I am. WTF is going on there?

 

[dietcoke]

Some people are so easily satisfied.

If you believe turning on assisted GPS works then why don't you make threads in the ATT Captivate and TMobile Vibrant forums and tell them how to magically fix their GPS issues.
It's a simple matter isn't it!

Put two and two together. If the Epic has such an easy fix....then why not this second tell Captivate and Vibrant owners to do the same thing and fix it. No more worries!

1. You don't think those users have tried?
2. You think those owners problems were solved or that they're satisfied?
3. Very simple, tell the tech reviewers to take an Epic, use GPS Test, and report their findings.
We all know at this point the Epic will have GPS problems. Stop living in denial.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

Ok, so you're reading this the same way I am. WTF is going on there?

If you are as outraged as I am, you should email engadget directly. I did today. THEY CLEARLY should not be in the business of writing tech reviews and giving wrong information to people. This is an outradge for a respected tech site to make a comment like that.

Please, email engadget via their website, let them know the error in the article.

 

[Eazail70x7]

ok, the above posts are confusing the heck out of me??

Does the Epic 4g have the gps bug or not?

 

[SamsungVibrant]

ok, the above posts are confusing the heck out of me??

Does the Epic 4g have the gps bug or not?

Chances are it does, I think Chris Ziegler who wrote that review should find a new profession, because clearly he has a few screws loose.
I can't imagine the EPIC having a different GPS chip/hardware.

I think Chris Ziegler and Engadget just royaly f*cked up.

 

[SebastianX]

Possibly does, will it be fixed in the future? More than likely with all the heat it's received. Is it a deal breaker? No not even close for me at least. You can turn on aGPS for integrated apps if you really like to play with geolocation apps. I'm 90% sure Samsung will take care of it in an update if they don't by the time their Sept fix gets released you're still within your 30 days so what's stopping you from returning it if it doesn't? I usually have my GPS off but some people use it more than others.

 

[SamsungVibrant]

Samsung Galaxy S GPS-gate: two problems, not one (and what to do about it) -- Engadget

 

[Eazail70x7]

Ok, I am pretty much newbie at all this GPS talk. I read the article above, so are they saying that they don't know for sure yet if the Epic is effected by the 2nd problem they listed?

P.S. - How do we know the Epic 4g doesn't have the gps fix already?? Even though its the same hardware, it can be fixed just like the Vibrant and Captivate. How do we know they didnt just go ahead and fix it before releasing it? The date did seem to get pushed back about a week and a half from the original date that was rumored...

 

[ben7337]

Ok, I am pretty much newbie at all this GPS talk. I read the article above, so are they saying that they don't know for sure yet if the Epic is effected by the 2nd problem they listed?

P.S. - How do we know the Epic 4g doesn't have the gps fix already?? Even though its the same hardware, it can be fixed just like the Vibrant and Captivate. How do we know they didnt just go ahead and fix it before releasing it? The date did seem to get pushed back about a week and a half from the original date that was rumored...

Simple, very simple. IF the fix was made and ready, and I mean really ready and they could put it in the EPIC 4G, then it would have also been released and put on the Captivate and Vibrant. Samsung/AT&T/T-mobile would have to be seriously messed up to give an unreleased phone and unreleased fix, but not give the released phones the same fix. It is pretty much guaranteed that the USA Galaxy S phones will all have the same broadcom gps chip, I don't know if the international ones do, but given the problems even in the international gps, it is likely they all have the same chip hence the same problem.

 

[The Tick077]

Simple, very simple. IF the fix was made and ready, and I mean really ready and they could put it in the EPIC 4G, then it would have also been released and put on the Captivate and Vibrant. Samsung/AT&T/T-mobile would have to be seriously messed up to give an unreleased phone and unreleased fix, but not give the released phones the same fix. It is pretty much guaranteed that the USA Galaxy S phones will all have the same broadcom gps chip, I don't know if the international ones do, but given the problems even in the international gps, it is likely they all have the same chip hence the same problem.

Interesting. I didn't know that each carrier didn't go through thier own testing and approval process.... It would seem to me that the fix is out there (leaked firmware for Captivate). Maybe just maybe, sprint demanded this fix be put on thier phones before releasing them. You know that sprint can and does customize thier phones for thier network (heck they even had samsung take off a few features that are included in other SGS models - see thread about lockscreen and daily briefing). So such simple reasoning doesn't make what you say true. I have no idea if they did include the fix, but to assume that since AT&T and T-Mo haven't released it there isn't one is a jump that I can't make. It is like saying that there is no web os update to 1.4.5 since AT&T and Verizon don't have it yet (well last I checked at least), but sprint does.

 

[dietcoke]

Ok, I am pretty much newbie at all this GPS talk. I read the article above, so are they saying that they don't know for sure yet if the Epic is effected by the 2nd problem they listed?

P.S. - How do we know the Epic 4g doesn't have the gps fix already?? Even though its the same hardware, it can be fixed just like the Vibrant and Captivate. How do we know they didnt just go ahead and fix it before releasing it? The date did seem to get pushed back about a week and a half from the original date that was rumored...

There isn't a fix for Captivate and Vibrant. There are bandaids by XDA and turning on wireless networks, but it doesn't get you spot on GPS like you would get out of the box with ANY other phone.

Samsung Moment users always had a problem with GPS, they were given a quick promise by Samsung, Samsung NEVER fixed it and still hasn't. So buyer beware.

 

[The Tick077]

There isn't a fix for Captivate and Vibrant. There are bandaids by XDA and turning on wireless networks, but it doesn't get you spot on GPS like you would get out of the box with ANY other phone.

Samsung Moment users always had a problem with GPS, they were given a quick promise by Samsung, Samsung NEVER fixed it and still hasn't. So buyer beware.

I know you hate samsung and all, and love to copy/paste your responses in multiple threads, but what about the firmware update? I know alot of people were reporting that this greatly improved performance of the GPS to be in line with what other smart phones were able to do.

 

[Othan1]

I know you hate samsung and all, and love to copy/paste your responses in multiple threads, but what about the firmware update? I know alot of people were reporting that this greatly improved performance of the GPS to be in line with what other smart phones were able to do.

Yeah. My coworker has the T-Mobile version. His GPS sucked before they released the OTA update for the phone. Now it's spot on.

So...I think people have old information regarding the fix. T-mobile at least has updated their Galaxy S officially.

I'm not worried about the Epic.

 

[dietcoke]

http://androidforums.com/1391357-post343.html

Samsung owners exist on "maybe they will fix it on the next update???"!!!! The Moment has been out 10 months???...and the phone is near worthless. They also pulled the same CRAP with launching the phone with "yesterday's version" of Android.....again.....oment owners begged for 1.6(current version at the time and available at launch) and never got it...they finally got a bone and got 2.1...after waiting 6 months with 1.5. Anyway, the Epic 4G is already walking like a duck and talking like a duck. Not passing the sniff test with me because that smell is quite familiar.

T-mobile at least has updated their Galaxy S officially.

Oh really....I call BS on your statement. Y'know since I'm in the TMobile Vibrant forums and have a Vibrant.

What OFFICIAL update to the phone are you talking about?
Again, are you just full of BS? Pretty much.

from the updated Engadget review

"[Update: We just spoke with Samsung, who told us that Google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in Android devices -- in other words, no AGPS unless you manually enable it. Sure enough, we went into Settings, found that it was disabled on the Epic, turned it on, and we were good to go. No GPS bug!]"

that paragraph is now right before the wrap-up

Epic 4G review -- Engadget

SAMSUNG CONTACTED ENGADGET TO UPDATE, THIS GPS ISSUE IS FIXED
Lol, this is Samsung's answer to the problem, glad we found it out aren't we?
There's no need for an update, there is no "bug".

You people who have been saying Samsung is working on this....you have your answer! Yay!!!

Samsung can fool most of the people some of the time, but not all of the people all of the time.

 

[Adrift]

Where did Samsung say that this applies to all Galaxy S phones? Or that there will not be a fix released in September?

What was discussed in the review is about the Epic 4G and only the Epic 4G. Engadget went a step ahead and made the article about "GPSgate". In which they applied the turning on "Use Cellular Networks" to all 3 phone. They did so without direction from Samsung.

Samsung has announced that there will be a fix in September for "Released Galaxy S devices". Those would be the Vibrant and Captivate. They have not reneged on that statement.

 

[dietcoke]

where did samsung say that this applies to all galaxy s phones? Or that there will not be a fix released in september?

What was discussed in the review is about the epic 4g and only the epic 4g. Engadget went a step ahead and made the article about "gpsgate". In which they applied the turning on "use cellular networks" to all 3 phone. They did so without direction from samsung.

Samsung has announced that there will be a fix in september for "released galaxy s devices". Those would be the vibrant and captivate. They have not reneged on that statement.

r e a d s l o w l y :

we just spoke with samsung, who told us that google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in android devices -- in other words, no agps unless you manually enable it. sure enough, we went into settings, found that it was disabled on the epic, turned it on, and we were good to go. No gps bug!

 

[fiyah]

Where did Samsung say that this applies to all Galaxy S phones? Or that there will not be a fix released in September?

What was discussed in the review is about the Epic 4G and only the Epic 4G. Engadget went a step ahead and made the article about "GPSgate". In which they applied the turning on "Use Cellular Networks" to all 3 phone. They did so without direction from Samsung.

Samsung has announced that there will be a fix in September for "Released Galaxy S devices". Those would be the Vibrant and Captivate. They have not reneged on that statement.

While I think this issue is being made to be far too big a deal there is some validity to the complaint. Essentially, Engadget pointed out that GPS (not to be confused with Assisted GPS/AGPS) is not working great on the device and that it appears the Epic suffers from the same GPS bug as the other phones. Samsung then immediately sought to rectify the "mistake" made by Engadget insisting that there was no GPS bug and that the phone could get a GPS location once AGPS is enabled. While true... this is not a fix for unassisted GPS.

 

[Regalicious]

r e a d s l o w l y :

Dude you pretty much bolded the parts opposite of those that are relevant... Everything you bolded consists of Engadget's words, not Samsung's words, and most of what you didn't bold is what Samsung actually said.

we just spoke with samsung, who told us that google is now requiring that the "use wireless networks" setting for location-based services be turned off by default in android devices -- in other words, no agps unless you manually enable it. sure enough, we went into settings, found that it was disabled on the epic, turned it on, and we were good to go. No gps bug!

That's all Samsung said. The "No GPS bug!" is entirely Engadget's own conclusion, not Samsung's assertion.

 

[Eazail70x7]

Where did Samsung say that this applies to all Galaxy S phones? Or that there will not be a fix released in September?

What was discussed in the review is about the Epic 4G and only the Epic 4G. Engadget went a step ahead and made the article about "GPSgate". In which they applied the turning on "Use Cellular Networks" to all 3 phone. They did so without direction from Samsung.

Samsung has announced that there will be a fix in September for "Released Galaxy S devices". Those would be the Vibrant and Captivate. They have not reneged on that statement.

Exactly! They never said anything about the Captivate or Vibrant being fixed, but rather they said that both of those still need to be fixed. In their test, the Vibrant was the only one that didn't pass while the Epic 4G and Captivate did.

@ Dietcoke:

Hypothetically, if Samsung came out with the GPS fix tomorrow lets say, would that be enough to satisfy you? Or is it already too little too late for your?? I'm just curious about where you currently stand...

 

[Adrift]

While I think this issue is being made to be far too big a deal there is some validity to the complaint. Essentially, Engadget pointed out that GPS (not to be confused with Assisted GPS/AGPS) is not working great on the device and that it appears the Epic suffers from the same GPS bug as the other phones. Samsung then immediately sought to rectify the "mistake" made by Engadget insisting that there was no GPS bug and that the phone could get a GPS location once AGPS is enabled. While true... this is not a fix for unassisted GPS.

I totally understand that, I am simply saying to wait for confirmation from engadget that their Epic 4G is still affected. As for now they simply state they are "trying to nail it down".

I am definitely not denying that they had issues initially. We do not know that Samsung "insisted there was no bug". We do not have a transcript of that call. We simply know that Samsung suggested they turn on aGPS, after doing so Engadget, not Samsung, claimed "No GPS bug!"

 

[Eazail70x7]

Oops Double post sorry