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All Things GPS

Did JI5 fix your GPS?

  • Yes, totally fixed my GPS!

    Votes: 15 35.7%

  • No, still having problems with GPS!

    Votes: 21 50.0%

  • Worked at first, then performance declined once again!

    Votes: 6 14.3%
  • Total voters
    42
SamsungVibrant said:
Did JI5 fix your GPS?

sorry I forgot to include the Poll the first time.


btw...make sure to have "use wireless networks" off when testing GPS.
Click to expand...

Maybe define "fixed"... Getting a fast lock indoors is nice, but "fixed" for me would be if it really stays accurate while driving.

With Captivate, the recent upgrade we got quickened the initial lock for me, but actual performance during navigation still sucked.
 
mui said:
Maybe define "fixed"... Getting a fast lock indoors is nice, but "fixed" for me would be if it really stays accurate while driving.

With Captivate, the recent upgrade we got quickened the initial lock for me, but actual performance during navigation still sucked.
Click to expand...

Well I'm hoping people have the intelligence to go for a nice long drive and really test their GPS to figure out of it's fixed or not. Right?
 
Isn't it way too soon to take a poll? GPS failure symptoms on other firmwares, and on different Galaxy S platforms, often entail early successes followed after some period of time by failure.

To test this, I would suggest initializing the GPS, then leaving it unused for a day. Make sure not to reboot or do anything else that might clear the GPS cache. Use GPS Test to confirm satellite locking.

Also, remember that just getting satellite locks is only half the problem. Users also should test the actual accuracy of lat/lon tracking with My Tracks, and publish links to those tracks so peers can review their opinions about how accurate the tracks are. Test both driving and walking tracks, the latter being more demanding, and zoom in to examine them.

Anecdotal reports of "It's fixed!" or "It sucks" are of little value. Polls of non-rigorous, naive end-user testers are not much better, and can actually be misleading. The sad history of testing complex GPS problems on various Samsung Galaxy S devices is littered with false positives followed by disappointment.

Even though I no longer own a Vibrant, I sincerely hope this fix works for everyone else. I just advise being sure before deciding.
 
w_bovine said:
Are you familiar with ODIN? Some people have been able to use that to upgrade. You can download the .zip file and extract the .tar file inside and use that in ODIN. I've not done it, but I've read posts from people that have.

tmpAFCF.tmp.zip - 4shared.com - online file sharing and storage - download
Click to expand...


This is what i used and it worked perfectly. as far as GPS, Its perfectly FIXED. I had used the J12 leaked rom and GPS was dead on, drove from PA to NYC and it out performed my high end garmin, The navigation feature on this phone is like none I have ever seen. I drive for a living and If this is the same as the leaked rom, and all indications are that it is, Then your GPS Issues are a thing of the past.
 
These polls are pointless and inaccurate. Do you really think that you will get honest results on an on line forum. A lot of people will come here and vote who don
 
I did the update via Kies yesterday, so far the only problem I had was with the integrated Facebook sync. Other than that all the new features are there and my GPS has a fast lock, even indoors. If there are known issues then they should let the rest of us know. Without telling us what these "known issues" are they might as well just say they don't want us getting the update before they OTA it. Can't be known issues if you don't make them known to the rest of the world...
 
I'm guessing the known issues were problems with Kies. The updated version does not work and the program in general seems very buggy. T-mobile probably wants to release the OTA update first as well.

It would look better for them to release it OTA rather than have it released over the computer. I guess OTA makes Tmobile look good whereas Kies would make Samsung look good.
 
Well, I'm not really sure this update helped my GPS. It takes 45 seconds to lock onto 5 out of 9 satellites in view while I'm indoors, and 25 seconds to lock onto 8 out of 13 while outdoors. And the accuracy is 90 feet indoors, and 41 feet outdoors.

However, I did do the "GPS fix" by dialing *#*#1472365#*#* and changing the SUP/LCP settings when I first got the phone, but I forgot to revert back to normal settings before I did the update. Now apparently that code doesn't work so I'm not even sure what settings it's using. =[
 
sano614 said:
Well, I'm not really sure this update helped my GPS. It takes 45 seconds to lock onto 5 out of 9 satellites in view while I'm indoors, and 25 seconds to lock onto 8 out of 13 while outdoors. And the accuracy is 90 feet indoors, and 41 feet outdoors.

However, I did do the "GPS fix" by dialing *#*#1472365#*#* and changing the SUP/LCP settings when I first got the phone, but I forgot to revert back to normal settings before I did the update. Now apparently that code doesn't work so I'm not even sure what settings it's using. =[
Click to expand...

This will be of use:

LbsTestModeLaunch - Android app on AppBrain
 
It was indeed using the GPS Fix settings still. I reverted back to the normal settings, and after about 20 seconds while indoors, it found 7 of 11 and the accuracy was 200 feet (lol) and after a few more seconds it has me 50 feet indoors. I will try it outdoors later as we're having a storm here on the east coast and it's pouring and really windy.

So I guess if you used the GPS Fix settings, and changed everything, use the program w_bovine posted (thanks!) and change everything back to normal.

I wonder if I'll get the T-Mobile OTA update as well whenever they get to doing it, and if anything will actually be different with it.
 
Here are some of the things Capitvate owners have come across and are still seeing today:

1. Doing a reset seems to improve GPS only for a few days, users are reporting the same poor performance within days to a week.
2. If you enable "Use Wireless Networks" on top of GPS, also known as assisted GPS, you can't claim that you have a lock or position within seconds. Reason being, this option uses the cell towers to calculate your location and is not as precise (blue circle in google maps is larger).
3. The GPS issue impacts the entire Galaxy S family and not just a specific carrier. AT&T has also stated that they won't replace phones if customers come in with GPS issues. This statement comes from Samsung and the carriers are told to enforce it from what I've heard.
4. The Captivate update notes never stated a GPS fix but now Samsung claims it was part of it and so does AT&T. So someone is not being honest when it comes to a true fix.
5. To check how good the fix is, don't just do a stationary lock. Drive around with the phone and you'll notice that it will lose lock here and there or show you on side streets, etc. In your car, if the phone does not have clear sight of the sky, say in the passenger's seat, the lock is lost more frequently. The same is true when driving under an overpass, something other manfucaturers don't suffer from including a true GPS device such as a Garmin.
6. A lock means the satellite icon is not flashing, if the icon is flashing at the top (in the case of the Captivate), the phone has not locked onto satellites. Seeing satellites and locking are two different things. You can use an app called GPS Test to see how many sats your phone sees and locks, then drive around and watch this vary significantly. Also, for the record, running this app ahead of Google Maps has shown to improve initial locks with Google Maps and Google Nav.

I highly recommend you visit the other Galaxy S forums to find out how others are being impacted by this issue. Also visit the AT&T forums, several posts there about how the fix did not resolve the GPS issue. Samsung's Facebook and Twitter pages also have a ton of complaints, from all carriers, about the GPS issues. The latest thing now is that Samsung has stop replying to these postings. I own a Captivate and I'm in the process of working with AT&T to return the phone. Went past my 30 days hoping that the update would address the GPS issue only to find out it didn't and now I'm seeing Samsung wash their hands saying we delivered a fix as promised.
 
Just spoke with Samsung, and they confirm that the update did not successfully address the GPS issue., and that "at a future date they are not yet aware of" there will be another update to fix GPS. Riiiight...

The only way to get Samsung to follow through is to contact them and complain enough that they feel the heat.
1-888-987-4357
Press 1
Then 6
Then 2
Then 4 to speak with a customer service representative. Go as high up as you can.

The more complaint tickets they have on record, the hotter the fire under their asses to get this fixed.
 
5. To check how good the fix is, don't just do a stationary lock. Drive around with the phone and you'll notice that it will lose lock here and there or show you on side streets, etc. In your car, if the phone does not have clear sight of the sky, say in the passenger's seat, the lock is lost more frequently. The same is true when driving under an overpass, something other manfucaturers don't suffer from including a true GPS device such as a Garmin.
Click to expand...


Not entirely true... I've had everything from phones to BMW in-car GPS, to Garmin stand-alones, to TomToms to tug navigator hardware put me one street off and on/off overpasses a LOT over the years, including current models.

I can also say that Houston has always been much more problematic than, say, New Orleans or Phoenix.


That being said, I haven't tried any of the GPS fixes yet, nor have I tried the update yet. Once I do, I can compare it (properly) to other devices, including my Behold II, which was actually fairly accurate, considering it was just a phone GPS.
 
sano614 said:
Well, I'm not really sure this update helped my GPS. It takes 45 seconds to lock onto 5 out of 9 satellites in view while I'm indoors, and 25 seconds to lock onto 8 out of 13 while outdoors. And the accuracy is 90 feet indoors, and 41 feet outdoors.

However, I did do the "GPS fix" by dialing *#*#1472365#*#* and changing the SUP/LCP settings when I first got the phone, but I forgot to revert back to normal settings before I did the update. Now apparently that code doesn't work so I'm not even sure what settings it's using. =[
Click to expand...

You can use the LauncherPro shortcut method, as w_bovine suggested.

Or you can try the new dialer code directly: *#3214789650#
 
Hey all, I decided to create an account for the sole purpose of letting all my fellow US branded Galaxy S owners of some terrible terrible news.

T-mobile will be announcing this soon, but my friend who works for corporate T-Mo U.S. has confirmed that they have the final build of the GPS fix, and is undergoing extensive testing, and that it will start being pushed to users OTA just after Thanksgiving. Yes, that's another 2 months of no GPS for us.

Now, the worse news: Froyo will not be ready for release until next year. MY friend said that Samsung is running into all sorts of problems trying to adapt Froyo for their phones. I'm especially pissed off about this bit of news.


***Another quick Update***VERY IMPORTANT****
My friend also advised me not to use the update samsung had posted on Kies as it will prevent users from getting the OTA of Froyo when it is released next year. So, if you plan on keeping your Vibrant, for the love of god, don't force the Kies update (that was the update T-mo rejected because it bricked their test phones and other problems).

For those of you who have held off returning their phones during the "remorse" period hoping for a speedy update are SOL, just like myself. We'll be getting 2.2 by the time everyone else has 3.0, which is ******ed. I've already filed claims for a chargeback with my credit card company, as this is a clear cut case of receiving a product that was not delivered as promised (damaged or faulty product). I suggest all of you do the same if you are out of options and shudder at the thought of having to wait 6 months for every update for the next 2 years while everyone else gets them in half the time.

Anyways, If everyone can help spread this info, it'd be much appreciated, as I want everyone to be as well informed as possible. GPS issues aside, i love my phone, but I cannot stand the thought of having to deal with Samsung's BS and incompetence for 2 years.
 
This is why Samsung continues to fall on their face with every release of Android thus far. No support. Yes, beautiful hardware can draw people in, but dejecting your products like unwanted after-birth is a sure fire way to make people give your brand a wide birth to anything you put out. I'll buy a TV or a washer from Samsung, yes, but never again after the Moment, will I own an Android phone from Samsung.
 
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