All Things GPS

[BigCiX]

This app has fixed my gps problem. 2 days straight and instant lock in position/navigation

 

[robo21]

Use your phone. It is there.

Yes it is there but not as shown above!
It is listed under GPS Restore Samsung.

Apparently, all this app does is undo any changes made under LBSTESTMODE - It might only be helpful for those who have previously altered their GPS settings.

If your GPS settings are stock I fail to see any benefit of using this app.

 

[w_bovine]

Yes it is there but not as shown above!
It is listed under GPS Restore Samsung.

Apparently, all this app does is undo any changes made under LBSTESTMODE - It might only be helpful for those who have previously altered their GPS settings.

If your GPS settings are stock I fail to see any benefit of using this app.

Gotta agree with you on that one. Even so, it might be good to keep around for those times when one is inclined to experiment. How can you not experiment when the stock GPS sucks wind as much the Galaxy S does?

 

[elgibby]

For the first time in the almost four months that I've owned this Vibrant, and after installing the Samsung GPS optimizer app yesterday, I've got 10 sats in view, 10 in use. Sitting at the window on the second floor of my house. Yay.

 

[robo21]

I recently had to get a replacement phone from Tmobile due to a problem with the haptic feedback. I received a new (not refurbed) phone in original Samsung packaging with a mfg date of 10/20/10. The phone already had JI6 installed.

Since I've had good GPS performance on my previous Vibrant I was a little concernced about what might happen on an exchange. Wow! My concerns were definitely misplaced!

The new Vibrant's GPS locks up virtually instantly, faster than my old Vibrant ever did and with higher signal strength and more birds. I've used the navigation extensively and have yet to drop connection while navigating.

My first experience with the phone was by accident. We were shopping and I needed to get around a plugged freeway on surface streets I wasn't familiar with. I went into the Navigation app, spoke my destination and was INSTANTLY provided with my location and directions.

I've never seen GPS performance this fast and powerful with my previous Vibrant although it worked well enough to get me from point A to point B. The previous phone on occasion would take a minute or two to find my location.

 

[dattack]

I still haven't received my update. I called them three days ago and gave them my iemi number and the will send me update. Blah blah.

 

[kmand]

I have an early Vibrant and my GPS has never worked adequately. I got the OTA update and have also ran gpsrestore. gpsrestore never manages to lock.
If I use navigate I do get a lock occasionally, it can take 10 minutes, 30 minutes, or never.

I decided to open a ticket with Samsung based on the warranty. They told me there was nothing I can do except hope that Froyo fixes it. If Froyo doesn't fix it there is nothing they can do. They said I could send it for repair, but that would take 2 weeks and most likely would come back the same way, since there was nothing repairable.

I haven't tried T-mobile since I don't have a current data account with them. I use the phone with a T-mobile pay as you go voice sim left over from an older phone, and a mobile wifi hotspot.

I'm not very impressed with Samsung support.

 

[wildblue]

I recently had to get a replacement phone from Tmobile due to a problem with the haptic feedback. I received a new (not refurbed) phone in original Samsung packaging with a mfg date of 10/20/10. The phone already had JI6 installed.

Since I've had good GPS performance on my previous Vibrant I was a little concernced about what might happen on an exchange. Wow! My concerns were definitely misplaced!

The new Vibrant's GPS locks up virtually instantly, faster than my old Vibrant ever did and with higher signal strength and more birds. I've used the navigation extensively and have yet to drop connection while navigating.

My first experience with the phone was by accident. We were shopping and I needed to get around a plugged freeway on surface streets I wasn't familiar with. I went into the Navigation app, spoke my destination and was INSTANTLY provided with my location and directions.

I've never seen GPS performance this fast and powerful with my previous Vibrant although it worked well enough to get me from point A to point B. The previous phone on occasion would take a minute or two to find my location.

Is it continuing to work just as fast and accurately? How long have you been using the new phone? I'm very interested in whether just swapping phones can totally fix the GPS issues. Thanks.

 

[robo21]

Is it continuing to work just as fast and accurately? How long have you been using the new phone? I'm very interested in whether just swapping phones can totally fix the GPS issues. Thanks.

So far so good wildblue. I've been using the new phone for 2 weeks now and have navigated about a dozen times half of which I also was using a Garmin Nuvi for comparison. I wouldn't say "just swapping" would be the answer. But based on the confidence expressed by the rep who did my exchange, (and the post over at xda) I suspect that newly manufactured phones with recent dating will have improved internals (contacts or antenna - who really knows?)

Samsung changed the GPS antenna in vibrant - xda-developers
The beginning and the end of this thread are the most informative. A lot of bickering in the middle.

 

[robo21]

So far so good wildblue:

It has been another 5 days of flawless navigation. I had to make a couple of unscheduled shopping stops for my wife. In both cases I went to the Vibrant supplied Navigation app, spoke the destination, my location was an instant lock, the app immediately produced driving directions and the nav was flawless. The process took no more than 10-15 seconds from speaking the destination to navigation start.

 

[wildblue]

So far so good wildblue:

It has been another 5 days of flawless navigation. I had to make a couple of unscheduled shopping stops for my wife. In both cases I went to the Vibrant supplied Navigation app, spoke the destination, my location was an instant lock, the app immediately produced driving directions and the nav was flawless. The process took no more than 10-15 seconds from speaking the destination to navigation start.

Interesting. I actually had to do the same thing just today and it also worked flawlessly within seconds. I've started using Google Nav with "Use Wireless Networks" turned off, and so far it hasn't jumped around or turned in circles at a stoplight. The blue ring isn't there either, just the arrow locked on. Maybe the extra input from cell towers causes some location calculation confusion. Just a guess. Right now I'm waiting patiently for the official 2.2 update to see if there's improvement in lock times. If not I may resort to the HW fix being posted in XDA to see if I can tweak it up a bit.

Thanks for the update.

 

[robo21]

Interesting. I actually had to do the same thing just today and it also worked flawlessly within seconds. I've started using Google Nav with "Use Wireless Networks" turned off, and so far it hasn't jumped around or turned in circles at a stoplight. The blue ring isn't there either, just the arrow locked on. Maybe the extra input from cell towers causes some location calculation confusion. Just a guess. Right now I'm waiting patiently for the official 2.2 update to see if there's improvement in lock times. If not I may resort to the HW fix being posted in XDA to see if I can tweak it up a bit.

Thanks for the update.

You're welcome... And I've never, ever used wireless networks - even on the old Vibrant. I've always felt that GPS shouldn't need wireless networks. Glad to hear your GPS is working fine.

 

[STUPID LISA GARBAGE FACE]

brand new samsung vibrant, rooted and I've removed a lot of stuff. Don't think that would be the issue but you never know.

I'm trying to do the GPS quick fix...
Samsung Vibrant Suffering GPS Issues? Quick Fix Available? | TmoNews - Unofficial T-Mobile Blog - News, Videos, Articles and more

the problem is the number to enter, when I fill it in it just disappears as soon as I finish the last character. If I hit dial it brings up my contact list. If I change the number, but keep the beginning and ending symbols intact the same thing happens.

help!!! Thanks all...

 

[PlowRox]

brand new samsung vibrant, rooted and I've removed a lot of stuff. Don't think that would be the issue but you never know.

I'm trying to do the GPS quick fix...
Samsung Vibrant Suffering GPS Issues? Quick Fix Available? | TmoNews - Unofficial T-Mobile Blog - News, Videos, Articles and more

the problem is the number to enter, when I fill it in it just disappears as soon as I finish the last character. If I hit dial it brings up my contact list. If I change the number, but keep the beginning and ending symbols intact the same thing happens.

help!!! Thanks all...

first off bookmark this page!
[REF]***Vibrant Directory(Bible)Rev3.0--Whats a face lift?--***(12/9/2010)*** - xda-developers

this link has the updated codes
[REF]/[PRJ] Updated: 7/24 Entering Service Menu / Hidden Setup Menus - xda-developers

also grab/install
"samsung vibrant service mode" by the3dman
this very handy app opens all of the above codes!

Enjoy!

 

[peepinmofo]

So I am now on my 3rd Vibrant. I was sent another one to fix my ongoing GPS issue. Prior to yesterday, they both had 2.1 on them. Both had the GPS issue. So I kept the new one they sent, and upgraded it to Froyo. Prior to that, the GPS worked - flaky, but it worked. Now I cant even get a lock at all. I occasionally get one, but rarely.

Anyone else experience anything similar? Tmobile is calling back tomorrow to follow up, and I cant wait to tell him they need to simply replace the phone again.

 

[mrsbelpit]

I could not get a lock after update so I did this:

I turned off the gps, downloaded "samsung GPS Restore" from the market, went outside, turned on GPS, ran the app, ran gps test, opened maps, locked withing 20 meters in a second. It is much improved, i used to get around 1400 meters, then take a minute to lock on JI6.


Keep in mind I have no idea if all these steps are necessary, but this is what I did and I have an awesome GPS now.

 

[peepinmofo]

I could not get a lock after update so I did this:

I turned off the gps, downloaded "samsung GPS Restore" from the market, went outside, turned on GPS, ran the app, ran gps test, opened maps, locked withing 20 meters in a second. It is much improved, i used to get around 1400 meters, then take a minute to lock on JI6.


Keep in mind I have no idea if all these steps are necessary, but this is what I did and I have an awesome GPS now.

Oddly enough, thats almost exactly what I did. Though what do you mean by "take a minue to lock on JI6"?

 

[mrsbelpit]

I mean that when I was on JI6 (Eclair 2.1.1) it would take a minute for my GPS to lock. On KA6 (Froyo 2.2) I see a huge improvement in the GPS lock time and accuracy.

 

[the1who]

No GPS issues here. You can follow me and Robo on our efforts. I can't get locks on inside that well, which is to be expected. But love it when it does.

 

[peepinmofo]

No GPS issues here. You can follow me and Robo on our efforts. I can't get locks on inside that well, which is to be expected. But love it when it does.

Stupid this post was moved in to a thread where there are a million other issues. This was a current issue. Whatever.

Prior to updating to froyo, I was able to get locks inside. Not the most accurate all the time, but still locks. Cannot get locks inside at all now. I will say though that outside it appears to be working much better after running GPSrestore OUTSIDE. Didnt do squat when inside. Seems better, but still not where it should be IMO.

 

[robo21]

Stupid this post was moved in to a thread where there are a million other issues. This was a current issue. Whatever.

Prior to updating to froyo, I was able to get locks inside. Not the most accurate all the time, but still locks. Cannot get locks inside at all now. I will say though that outside it appears to be working much better after running GPSrestore OUTSIDE. Didnt do squat when inside. Seems better, but still not where it should be IMO.

I don't know if you saw my earlier post about having GPS issues after Froyo, but doing a factory reset fixed it.

 

[peepinmofo]

I don't know if you saw my earlier post about having GPS issues after Froyo, but doing a factory reset fixed it.

Did it make it get a better reading indoors as well? I feel like this thing has been wiped, replaced so many times, and an overall PITA. I work in IT, so Im well aware of how technology can be, but this is utterly ridiculous to have to contnue to do this over and over.

Thanks for the tip though. Mine seems to be working fairly well outdoors now, and thats the only time Ill really use it I guess.

 

[robo21]

Did it make it get a better reading indoors as well? I feel like this thing has been wiped, replaced so many times, and an overall PITA. I work in IT, so Im well aware of how technology can be, but this is utterly ridiculous to have to contnue to do this over and over.

Thanks for the tip though. Mine seems to be working fairly well outdoors now, and thats the only time Ill really use it I guess.

The factory reset made it work better indoors and out after updating to Froyo. It was well worth the effort. I'm locking more satellites and getting better overall performance.

 

[Big-Dog]

After update, I tried GPS and got 14 birds in view and 10 in use almost instantly. I got 4 in use indoors. Certainly not scientific, but it SEEMS a lot better!

 

[aneftp]

Well I rebrought a Vibrant on craigslist last week. It has an August 2010 manufacture date.

My previous Vibrant had a June 2010 manufacturer date. That Vibrant's GPS worked great.

But the one I brought off Craigslist with the August 2010 date.
The GPS is totally defective. Neve got a GPS lock even after driving around for 30 minutes at a time.

I looked over at XDA forums to look for phones made after october 2010.

Anyways, I called Tmobile and they are sending me a refurbished Samsung Vibrant later this week.