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All Things GPS
- Thread starter Robinelli
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- samsung vibrant
robo21
Android Expert
I'm assuming you weren't surrounded by tall buildings or other obstructions to receiving satellite signals.
It sounds like you might have a hardware issue, I would get a hold of Tmo tech support and see about an exchange.
I"m seeing a mixed bag on GPS.
I do get the reported improvement in locked on sats, but the time to lock on each morning can take as much as 5 minutes. Once I have a good lock then subsequent locks within a couple of hours are faster, but if I wait long enough it's back to taking several minutes.
Also, I've had Google Nav lock up a couple of times. Had to hard reset (hold the power button in until it powers off) on one occasion as the phone was frozen and nothing would work.
I would say it's better, but not always as quick to lock as I would like, and definitely some remaining buggy issues.
I do get the reported improvement in locked on sats, but the time to lock on each morning can take as much as 5 minutes. Once I have a good lock then subsequent locks within a couple of hours are faster, but if I wait long enough it's back to taking several minutes.
Also, I've had Google Nav lock up a couple of times. Had to hard reset (hold the power button in until it powers off) on one occasion as the phone was frozen and nothing would work.
I would say it's better, but not always as quick to lock as I would like, and definitely some remaining buggy issues.
irmuddled
Lurker
Haa the GPS... I used it once to try it out after work and put directions to go home, but the thing was way off! It was telling me I was about a three blocks away from what I actually was, and the other time it got me pretty bad directions to get to a restaurant and got lost for a bit. :/ Maybe it's just bad luck but I'm not to keen on trying it again.
sheckylarue
Lurker
I used mine on a trip to Vegas this weekend and am very disappointed. Before the update, I was thinking this was a hardware issue and was curious to see if the update would do anything.
My experience: It seems to connect to more Satellites, but the connection is so weak that if the phone isn't on my dashboard and I'm not on an open highway, I'm back to the ol' spinning compass effect. I used GPS test and put the phone on the dash then put it on the seat next to me. On the dash it found 9/11 satellites. On the seat, 3/10 at best. Also, when driving around Vegas (even areas away from tall buildings, it took over 2 minutes to get a signal if it got one at all. It was fine on the open desert roads, but literally right when I got back to LA, it starts freaking out and thought I was blocks away doing 80 on a surface street. I was so disheartened as it kept rerouting me rapidly as if I were flying through intersections.
What probably got me the most was when I attempted to use ANY location dependant apps (like the camera with GPS tagging turned on and Yelp), it would make everything freeze while it tried desperately to lock on to a satellite. Also maps crashed my phone twice. It had no touch response and then the phone would just reboot on its own after about 2 mins.
It really sucks because I love everything else about this phone, but navigation is an important feature for me. My slow-as-molasses G1 worked perfect 99.9% of the time. Hate to say it, but slower processor or not, I may be switching to a G2. I tried to like this phone, I really did.
Part of me thinks Samsung has duped us into thinking this was fixed by taking advantage of the fact the GPS has ALWAYS worked ok after you first boot up. Since the update requires a restart, everyone tries it once, gets a signal, and thinks,"Gee, golly!". Only to have it back to the status quo next time it's actually put to use in the real world.
My experience: It seems to connect to more Satellites, but the connection is so weak that if the phone isn't on my dashboard and I'm not on an open highway, I'm back to the ol' spinning compass effect. I used GPS test and put the phone on the dash then put it on the seat next to me. On the dash it found 9/11 satellites. On the seat, 3/10 at best. Also, when driving around Vegas (even areas away from tall buildings, it took over 2 minutes to get a signal if it got one at all. It was fine on the open desert roads, but literally right when I got back to LA, it starts freaking out and thought I was blocks away doing 80 on a surface street. I was so disheartened as it kept rerouting me rapidly as if I were flying through intersections.
What probably got me the most was when I attempted to use ANY location dependant apps (like the camera with GPS tagging turned on and Yelp), it would make everything freeze while it tried desperately to lock on to a satellite. Also maps crashed my phone twice. It had no touch response and then the phone would just reboot on its own after about 2 mins.
It really sucks because I love everything else about this phone, but navigation is an important feature for me. My slow-as-molasses G1 worked perfect 99.9% of the time. Hate to say it, but slower processor or not, I may be switching to a G2. I tried to like this phone, I really did.
Part of me thinks Samsung has duped us into thinking this was fixed by taking advantage of the fact the GPS has ALWAYS worked ok after you first boot up. Since the update requires a restart, everyone tries it once, gets a signal, and thinks,"Gee, golly!". Only to have it back to the status quo next time it's actually put to use in the real world.
Just curious if you had made any changes to the GPS settings prior to the update? I had, and have discovered that the update did not set everything back to default. If you did make changes you might want to use the new access number *#3214789650# and verify that your settings are now the defaults:
standalone
hot start
GPS plus on
dynamic on
accuracy 50
Sky hook off
PC off
Supl is spirent-lcs.com
Port 7275
secure socket on
agps mode supl
I'm not sure this will help, but I have tried some other settings that I saw on a XDA forum post that made things much worse.
One thing I've noticed is if I go directly into Google Maps or Navigation it can take a very long time to lock on. If I use the GPSTest or GPS Status apps first and get a good lock there (which is faster), then using Maps or Nav is much better.
I'd be interested if anyone else is seeing this issue when going directly in to Maps.
I agree that can be frustrating. Hopefully, as noted in another post, Samsung and TMO will provide additional updates.
(Update: I also have the CoPilot GPS app. After sitting overnight I just tried going directly into that app but it sat for at leat 5 minutes with out getting a lock. Exited, went in to GPSTest and it locked within 5 seconds. Went back into CoPilot and it locked right away. Seems like there's some type of disconnect between some of the map/nav apps and the GPS since the JI6 update and it's not limited to the Google apps. I'd be very interested if anyone else sees this behavior.)
standalone
hot start
GPS plus on
dynamic on
accuracy 50
Sky hook off
PC off
Supl is spirent-lcs.com
Port 7275
secure socket on
agps mode supl
I'm not sure this will help, but I have tried some other settings that I saw on a XDA forum post that made things much worse.
One thing I've noticed is if I go directly into Google Maps or Navigation it can take a very long time to lock on. If I use the GPSTest or GPS Status apps first and get a good lock there (which is faster), then using Maps or Nav is much better.
I'd be interested if anyone else is seeing this issue when going directly in to Maps.
I agree that can be frustrating. Hopefully, as noted in another post, Samsung and TMO will provide additional updates.
(Update: I also have the CoPilot GPS app. After sitting overnight I just tried going directly into that app but it sat for at leat 5 minutes with out getting a lock. Exited, went in to GPSTest and it locked within 5 seconds. Went back into CoPilot and it locked right away. Seems like there's some type of disconnect between some of the map/nav apps and the GPS since the JI6 update and it's not limited to the Google apps. I'd be very interested if anyone else sees this behavior.)
robo21
Android Expert
First I would follow Wildblue's suggestions above of checking your settings.
If that doesn't work, or you never changed your GPS settings, then your problem sounds like it might be a defective GPS antenna or antenna connection. I would definitely bounce this problem off of both Samsung Level 3 support and Tmobile support (to get a replacement if it turns out to be hardware).
Yes, I've noticed that GPS Test gets a quicker lock than other apps too!
Just verified dialing *#3214789650# works on my phone. But I liked your AnyCut suggestion and now have a shortcut to LBSTest.
robo21
Android Expert
Just verified dialing *#3214789650# works on my phone. But I liked your AnyCut suggestion and now have a shortcut to LBSTest.
Got it to work, same as shortcut. Cool.
A little Googling shows that lots of people on different phones have reported the "searching for GPS" problem in Google Nav. I've seen several posts on the Google forums about it and no response from Google.
For now my workaround is to use either GPSTest or GPS Status apps, get a good lock, then go back into Nav and it nearly always locks quickly. Beats sitting and waiting for 10-15 minutes.
For now my workaround is to use either GPSTest or GPS Status apps, get a good lock, then go back into Nav and it nearly always locks quickly. Beats sitting and waiting for 10-15 minutes.
sheckylarue
Lurker
Thanks for the feedback. I did try the XDA settings a while back before the update, but found I was having even more issues with them than without so I put them back to stock. I went back in to check just in case and noticed there was a 'www' prefix in front of spirent-lcs.com. I removed that and will see if that works any better. Wishful thinking, right?
Yes, I do have the same experience when running GPS Test before starting programs like Maps. Sometimes I can't get a lock at all unless I do that.
I guess what really concerns me the most outside of using navigation is that it's pretty much useless with location-based apps. My G1 always worked great. For instance, I would snap photos and all my pictures would be accurately tagged with the location they were taken. I loved that feature because I live away from my family send a lot of photos as I travel. I like that it works with Picasa so that they can see exactly where I was when I share photos.
With the Vibrant, there seems no hope of location-based app features ever working accurately. The camera sometimes locks up while GPS is working to find my location, and if not I still have to wait a few seconds for it to lock on if I want the location stored at all. I used to never even think about it with the G1 but the locations were always stored fairly accurately. Yelp and Google Maps business listings are never quite as accurate as they were with the G1.
Some people don't care about this stuff, I get that. And I do realize that the other features of this phone are light years ahead of the G1 and other high end phones for that matter. But for me location-based services are what make smartphones so...well, smart. If I can get better accuracy on a 3 year old phone than I can on this 'top of the line' device, that to me is a problem.
Sorry, you need the www. in front of spirent-lcs.com.
(Just realized the forum posting SW here auto-modifies what it thinks are URL's and it removed the www from my original post.)
Everyone has their own needs and preferences. I don't use geotagged photos, but I do use lots of other location apps. The inconsistent flakiness and occasional hangs can get pretty annoying. Seems like the best we can do for now is try to come up with workarounds.
One thing I discovered is numerous postings on the Google Nav forum complaining about the same issue of it getting stuck in "searching for GPS", on lots of different phones, so that particular problem isn't just on the Vibrant or Galaxy S phones.
If I come up with any other tips or tricks I'll pass them along.
(Just realized the forum posting SW here auto-modifies what it thinks are URL's and it removed the www from my original post.)
Everyone has their own needs and preferences. I don't use geotagged photos, but I do use lots of other location apps. The inconsistent flakiness and occasional hangs can get pretty annoying. Seems like the best we can do for now is try to come up with workarounds.
One thing I discovered is numerous postings on the Google Nav forum complaining about the same issue of it getting stuck in "searching for GPS", on lots of different phones, so that particular problem isn't just on the Vibrant or Galaxy S phones.
If I come up with any other tips or tricks I'll pass them along.
sheckylarue
Lurker
No problem...I thought that might have been the case with sprient URL, but I was willing to try anything at this point!
I appreciate all your feedback and I'll let you know if I find anything as well. I do think I'll keep the phone at least a little while longer. I'm really hoping for miracle with the 2.2 update though because I do think this phone kicks ass in all other regards. And hey, at the end of the day it's a phone that doesn't drop calls, is great with email, and browses the internet at lightening speed. We're so spoiled.
No problem...I thought that might have been the case with sprient URL, but I was willing to try anything at this point!
I appreciate all your feedback and I'll let you know if I find anything as well. I do think I'll keep the phone at least a little while longer. I'm really hoping for miracle with the 2.2 update though because I do think this phone kicks ass in all other regards. And hey, at the end of the day it's a phone that doesn't drop calls, is great with email, and browses the internet at lightening speed. We're so spoiled.
Yeah, I do appreciate all the things the phone does so well. Just got back from a 2 week trip and didn't even take a laptop, nor miss it! The convergence of really usable applications is just amazing. That may be part of why the GPS stands out in contrast. So close to being just right. Looking forward to seeing what 2.2 does for us.
Discovered another workaround that may be useful.
Turns out there are two Android apps called GPS Test or GPSTest. The one by Mike Lockwood has an interesting feature. When you start the app you have to press the Menu key and select Start for it to begin GPS access. Once it's locked on you can press the Home key and it keeps running in the background. The sat dish icon in the notification bar stays on and locked.
So, if you leave it running then any other GPS app will lock instantly when you use them. No more "Searching for GPS" in Google Nav, or phone freezes, at least so far. I've just started testing this out, but so far so good.
One obvious drawback is it uses CPU. You can see this if you look at the Task Manager. It does keep running through turning the screen off, so how quickly it will cause battery drain remains to be seen. Of course, if you're in the car and plugged in then battery drain isn't really a factor.
It's also not likely to cure instances of lost signal since that's probably due to the phones GPS sensor not seeing enough sats with enough signal strength to stay locked.
Just another option to try in situations where you need to go in an out of GPS apps and want instant locks.
(Note: If GPSTest is having trouble getting a GPS lock try this: 1) click Menu and select Stop, 2) pull down the notification screen and turn off GPS, 3) click Menu and select Clear Aiding Data, 4) pull down notification screen and start GPS, 4) click Menu and select Start.)
Turns out there are two Android apps called GPS Test or GPSTest. The one by Mike Lockwood has an interesting feature. When you start the app you have to press the Menu key and select Start for it to begin GPS access. Once it's locked on you can press the Home key and it keeps running in the background. The sat dish icon in the notification bar stays on and locked.
So, if you leave it running then any other GPS app will lock instantly when you use them. No more "Searching for GPS" in Google Nav, or phone freezes, at least so far. I've just started testing this out, but so far so good.
One obvious drawback is it uses CPU. You can see this if you look at the Task Manager. It does keep running through turning the screen off, so how quickly it will cause battery drain remains to be seen. Of course, if you're in the car and plugged in then battery drain isn't really a factor.
It's also not likely to cure instances of lost signal since that's probably due to the phones GPS sensor not seeing enough sats with enough signal strength to stay locked.
Just another option to try in situations where you need to go in an out of GPS apps and want instant locks.
(Note: If GPSTest is having trouble getting a GPS lock try this: 1) click Menu and select Stop, 2) pull down the notification screen and turn off GPS, 3) click Menu and select Clear Aiding Data, 4) pull down notification screen and start GPS, 4) click Menu and select Start.)
mavictb
Well-Known Member
thats a cool feature of that app.... I kinda do something similar by running an app called "Waze" its a social GPS nav app and it runs in the background even if you back out to the home screen. it also has real time traffic (given by other peers or users of the app) so for me its a really cool app to use. and of course as long as it is open I get instant gps lock on all other apps.
Use the new Task Manager to see if something is running in the background. I've seen no apparent change in battery life since the update.
If your are on JI6 you are on the latest firmware. The next update will be Froyo (Android 2.2), but there's no indication at this time that there will be any additional GPS fixes.
I don't know if any of the custom firmwares available on the XDA forum make the GPS work any better than what you have.
You can try the procedure described here:
Having GPS issues after JI6 update? - T-Mobile Community
It did seem to make my GPS work better after the JI6 update, but no guarantees.
SamsungVibrant
Android Expert
Well I finally got the OTA! GPS is a lot better, however still performs poorly compared to HTC and Blackberry phones.
It took my phone a good 5 mins to start viewing anything more than 1 sat. Then slowly sat 2 came in view, then 3, then 4. It eventually saw 11, but was using none. Another 2 minutes and it locked onto 8. Most ever!
The accuracy is nowhere near HTC, which gets 6.6 ft!
The poor accuracy and the slow time to lock on doesn't bug me as much as the hopping around. It thinks I'm moving when I'm standing completely still!
I'll be testing it much more tomorrow when I go for a long drive in LA traffic.
Overall I like the update, phone seems to behave better.
It took my phone a good 5 mins to start viewing anything more than 1 sat. Then slowly sat 2 came in view, then 3, then 4. It eventually saw 11, but was using none. Another 2 minutes and it locked onto 8. Most ever!
The accuracy is nowhere near HTC, which gets 6.6 ft!
The poor accuracy and the slow time to lock on doesn't bug me as much as the hopping around. It thinks I'm moving when I'm standing completely still!
I'll be testing it much more tomorrow when I go for a long drive in LA traffic.
Overall I like the update, phone seems to behave better.
robo21
Android Expert
Damn, it's about time dude! What took you so long?
And hey, you live in Southern California, you might be moving and not know it... The Vibrant might be more sensitive than the other GPS you are used to.
I was getting more moving around on my location as well until I used the GPS Test procedure in the link I posted just above your last post. Give that a try (I had to do it twice), and see if if helps. The accuracy I'm seeing isn't 6 ft, but so far it's definitely good enough for driving with Google Nav, and the lock times are usable.
robo21
Android Expert
Oh sheet! Saying that to Sammy V is like waving red in front of a bull!
I said that about my GPS, pre-update, and never heard the end of it. My comments were the cause of numerous posts with oversized, all caps text fonts in multiple colors too.
