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Buyer beware... EPIC GPS DOESN'T work

I'm just trying to warn the masses that when they spend 350 plus tax on their phone... the GPS might not work. and hopefully in Septemeber.... Samsung will might...release the fix.
 
By the way folks,

Can we please keep things civil?

njnygiants, can you please stop addressing everyone in such a demeaning manor? It is only adding fuel to the fire. Can you also please do a GPS Test and tell us the result? GPS Test can be downloaded from the market.

Thanks
 
Hi. I'm a Sprint employee and Epic owner/user. First off "Sprint told me it is a known issue" is hard to believe since our employees know there aren't any known issues with the Samsung Epic 4G. There are reports of OTHER Samsung Galaxy S phones having GPS issues but the Epic 4G's GPS performance has been validated by numerous 3rd party and technical resources. So, you can quote this Sprint employee as saying "There's no known issue with the Epic 4G GPS." Please use that in the future. :)

That said, please make sure your settings are correct:
To use aGPS (assisted GPS) you need to make sure you enable "Use Wireless Networks" and "Use GPS Satellites" in the Locations & Security menu in Settings.

Check to make sure you have enabled "Use My Location" under the Privacy menu in Settings.

To use any kind of GPS make sure you enable the GPS radio by pulling down the notification bar and enabling GPS radio.

GPS cannot lock on if you're not in direct exposure to GPS satellites so make sure you're outdoors and in a clear field of view of a large portion of the skyline. If you're in a valley of tall buildings you may not get optimum coverage.

If you still have problems please send me a PM. Thanks for being a Sprint customer and Epic owner!
 
Adrift said:
By the way folks,

Can we please keep things civil?

njnygiants, can you please stop addressing everyone in such a demeaning manor? It is only adding fuel to the fire. Can you also please do a GPS Test and tell us the result? GPS Test can be downloaded from the market.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I was just reply the way I was replied too. Not to mention I'm a little POed I drop almost 400 on a phone that doesn't work as advertise.

But your right, Civil it is.

I tested with location base services in the browse.... test failed
I tested Google maps.. it worked on my replacement Epic phone, for a short while. but crashed... test failed
I just tested with yellowbook app, i searched for pizza, told the app to use my current location, it could find my current location.

I had the EVO and Iphone, both worked perfectly. even my BB works.
 
I didn't read all those but the GPS on my phone works perfectly. When using google maps or sprint nav. I haven't found one thing wrong with my phone yet. :-)
 
@ njnygiants - Well I am interested to know if your Epic is even "seeing" any satellites, GPS Test ( the actual app) will tell you how many are seen, how many are in use, and the accuracy while using those satellites.

I will go test my Epic, along side my old Moment, to get a better idea of how the two are differing

Thanks
 
CzechPleez said:
Hi. I'm a Sprint employee and Epic owner/user. First off "Sprint told me it is a known issue" is hard to believe since our employees know there aren't any known issues with the Samsung Epic 4G. There are reports of OTHER Samsung Galaxy S phones having GPS issues but the Epic 4G's GPS performance has been validated by numerous 3rd party and technical resources. So, you can quote this Sprint employee as saying "There's no known issue with the Epic 4G GPS." Please use that in the future. :)

That said, please make sure your settings are correct:
To use aGPS (assisted GPS) you need to make sure you enable "Use Wireless Networks" and "Use GPS Satellites" in the Locations & Security menu in Settings.

Check to make sure you have enabled "Use My Location" under the Privacy menu in Settings.

To use any kind of GPS make sure you enable the GPS radio by pulling down the notification bar and enabling GPS radio.

GPS cannot lock on if you're not in direct exposure to GPS satellites so make sure you're outdoors and in a clear field of view of a large portion of the skyline. If you're in a valley of tall buildings you may not get optimum coverage.

If you still have problems please send me a PM. Thanks for being a Sprint customer and Epic owner!
Click to expand...

I tired all of that and yes your advanced tech support told me it was a known issue. I even went to the sprint store to get a NEW epic as a replacement for my current new epic. both didn't work as advertise.

The rep at the store even told me the the fix will be in FroYo with it is release. Do you want the store? It's in East Brunswick, NJ on RT18.... just google it, if you don't believe. or call customer support and pretend you gps isn't working.... they will tell you the same thing.

When I get home I will post a youtube video, just to document the issue. and post it in this forum... and when samsung/sprint finally admits their is a bug... hahaha
 
This is the same issue the Moment had when it was released and sprint ignored the problem for months and months, claiming it is not a known issue. This is why I am holding off on this phone. I have one for sale and after using it yesterday, it is a nice phone but this gps problems is holding me back.

I also posted on another thread that the sprint store local to me did not have google maps loaded on both the phones I tried. I threw a conspiracy theory that this was removed by sprint to avoid any people trying the gps. The phones have Sprint Nav but it wouldn't connect and there was no user name for the market to work so the phones were basically useless. Verizon phones have market access but sprint for some reason doesn't enable the phone when it is on display. I have an epic and google maps was preloaded so why do the sprint phones not have Google Maps.....hum.....
 
GPS took forever to work the first time but now it's working just fine. Going to be keeping an eye on how well it's working.
 
Adrift said:
@ njnygiants - Well I am interested to know if your Epic is even "seeing" any satellites, GPS Test ( the actual app) will tell you how many are seen, how many are in use, and the accuracy while using those satellites.

I will go test my Epic, along side my old Moment, to get a better idea of how the two are differing

Thanks
Click to expand...

I thank you for the due dilligance, but from a normal user perspective, this should just work. Their shouldn't be a need to download any other apps.

Sprint is covering something up. Yellowbook doesn't, a preload app called places doesn't work.
 
Well ran my simple test,

Epic locked immediatly with 5 sats and built up to 12 in view/ 11 in use.

First try on Moment, nothing. Restarted phone, and waited a minute and finally got 1 in view/use which slowly built up to 10 in view/ use, but oddly it kept dropping their signals individually and in groups.

Well that's unfortunate njnygiants, I was hoping to try and get furthur into the root of your problems.
 
CzechPleez said:
Hi. I'm a Sprint employee and Epic owner/user. First off "Sprint told me it is a known issue" is hard to believe since our employees know there aren't any known issues with the Samsung Epic 4G. There are reports of OTHER Samsung Galaxy S phones having GPS issues but the Epic 4G's GPS performance has been validated by numerous 3rd party and technical resources. So, you can quote this Sprint employee as saying "There's no known issue with the Epic 4G GPS." Please use that in the future. :)!
Click to expand...

Interesting. I recall similar line from T-Mobile in the early days of the Vibrant release. For front-line sales and support employees, a "known issue" apparently meant it had to be entered into a database with such a formal status. Long after there were forum threads reporting problems, multiple users who called in were told they were the first to report this problem, and there was no "known issue." After a week or so, that story changed, and the carrier officially tagged it as such. Today is still Day 1 of the Epic 4G launch.

But other employees may still be aware of such problems before they attain that status level officially. The OP said he was talking to a tech support employee. Don't think he said at what tier of tech support. If it was second- or third-tier, they may well be aware of issues that first-tier employes are not. And another data point above, attributed to a Sprint district manager, paraphrased him as saying that there is a GPS issue for which a fix is planned.

So no offense, but I take statements by all sales and front-line support employees with a grain of salt. They are trained to deny that there are issues as long as they can. So long as an issue is not officially listed in their database, they can deny it with a straight face. That does not mean there is not really an issue -- only that the company has not officially acknowledged it.

I continue to withhold judgment, mostly because I stilll have not been able to rigorously test an Epic hands-on. But there are plenty of credible reports to be suspicious about.
 
Adrift said:
By the way folks,

Can we please keep things civil?

njnygiants, can you please stop addressing everyone in such a demeaning manor? It is only adding fuel to the fire. Can you also please do a GPS Test and tell us the result? GPS Test can be downloaded from the market.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I downloaded the GPS Test and ran it. I got 10 satilites being used and it was accurate up to 54.8 ft. I think that's pretty good. It works how I need it to and I will be keeping it and be happy with how it works.
 
MissJennell said:
I downloaded the GPS Test and ran it. I got 10 satilites being used and it was accurate up to 54.8 ft. I think that's pretty good. It works how I need it to and I will be keeping it and be happy with how it works.
Click to expand...

See the problem is, seeing the galaxy s phones get bad accuracy rubs me the wrong way when I own phones that get 5ft accuracy. Most of the time the accuracy is over 100. I've even had google maps place me in different cities.

With accuracy that bad, forget using the phones GPS on foot. Forget using it during Hikes. Forget using the layers program on foot. NY and SF customers can completely forget about getting around town on foot and trying to locate a store. Imagine being in times square, looking for a store on foot, but your accuracy is 100ft off. You gotta look in circles to find the store you wanted. With bad accuracy in the car, be ready to have navigation place you on the wrong street, when two roads run parallel.

With horrible accuracy, you can expect to say goodbye to any of the GPS security programs. You know the ones that locate your phone when you lose it. How do you expect to find a phone, when your accuracy is off? At least with 5 foot accuracy, you can pretty much pin down your phones location.

I just think it is not acceptable. Trust me I've tested many phones, both smartphone and regular messaging/texting phones with built in gps, they all work better than my vibrant.

I hope the firmware in September is better than the version epic got, because I wont be happy unless my accuracy is below 10ft. There should be no excuse why this phone isn't that accurate.
 
Just a comparison for you guys on gps test for my Evo.

In my backyard 7 in view 7 in use snr from 24 to 40, accuracy from 6.6 to 9.8 in motion 2-3

Inside my house, varies from 6-7 in view 6 in use with snr from 10 to 30 accuracy 26.2-39.4 static

This is just FYI, I'm here because I'm considering an Epic for my third line upgrade (currently 2 Hero's and an Evo). I dont believe 50-100 is what samsung intended.
 
Just tried out GPS test on my EPIC.

GPS has been working fine for navigation in the car but I had no clue what it was actually doing.

Tried in 3 different areas on the way home.

In all cases, 9-11 IN VIEW, 3 IN USE and no matter where I am, a 98.4 foot accuracy...so my guess is that this # is burned into the phone by Samsung :)
 
I dont know if I'd place too much stock in the results of the gps test by itself. Not worth getting worked up and/or making proclomations based soley on the results of that test. The gps being non-functional, as per OP, is a different situation altogether though.

Using Mytracks or actual pinpointed map locations like mentioned earlier (in this or the other thread) would give better information on how accurate (or not) the particular device is. I'd like to hear/see more OBJECTIVE reviews based on those results.
 
Tried two Epics on display, one next to another. Location from wireless networks ON, GPS ON. One was unable to get a lock more accurate than 1900 meters. The one next to it--200 meters. The EVO next to it got a lock to 4 meters.

Moved the Epic next to the Intercept, which got a lock within 10 seconds to 30 meters, and the Hero, which got a lock at 6 meters. Downloaded GPS status on one of the phones (on the advice of this forum), which then showed 10/10 sats, then went back to maps, which then locked at 30 meters but no better. Unfortunately, GPS status then locked up and wouldn't run anymore, and the lock returned to 1900 meters, so I had to restart the phone.

Certainly, this appears to be some kind of firmware issue at the very least. I don't know anything about GPS antennas, so I can't speak to that issue.

BTW, 98.4 feet = 30 meters. That's why the number comes up so much.
 
SebastianX said:
Keep your G1 then, it's a cellphone 55ft of accuracy is completely normal.
Click to expand...
No, it's not normal. Even my Captivate gets better accuracy than that.

Adrift said:
Bluntly stating that "EPIC GPS DOESN'T work" is misleading.

-Adrift
Click to expand...
And saying that it works is disingenous at best. Clearly there are issues with regards to lock and accuracy. You might accept the subpar performance but that doesn't mean it's good.
 
Android_J said:
And saying that it works is disingenous at best. Clearly there are issues with regards to lock and accuracy. You might accept the subpar performance but that doesn't mean it's good.
Click to expand...

No, when used in the context of "GPS on my device works" its just fine. There is a large difference between those two statements.
 
SamsungVibrant said:
With accuracy that bad, forget using the phones GPS on foot. Forget using it during Hikes. Forget using the layers program on foot. NY and SF customers can completely forget about getting around town on foot and trying to locate a store. Imagine being in times square, looking for a store on foot, but your accuracy is 100ft off. You gotta look in circles to find the store you wanted. With bad accuracy in the car, be ready to have navigation place you on the wrong street, when two roads run parallel.
Click to expand...

In on of the other GPS threads I used My Tracks to test how bad accuracy really was by doing a 1/2 mile walk around my apartment complex. I found it to work great and my track was only off in one spot and even then by no more 5-10 feet.

I will post that result here for all to see, once I get off work.
 
I'm noticing weirdness in the GPS as well. I"m coming from a Pre and a few weeks with an EVO. GPS Test shows 2 in view and 2 in use. Once in a while it jumps to 3 in view but it quickly drops back to 2 in view. This is on the balcony at my condo.

Perhaps some of the Epics are faulty? That would explain why some people have no problems.
 
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