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GPS After Update - Same or Better?

After updating to the UCJH7 firmware, has GPS on your Captivate improved?

  • Yes, I noticed an improvement that persists even after 3 days

    Votes: 33 35.9%
  • No improvement after 3 days

    Votes: 39 42.4%
  • After 3 days, GPS is even worse

    Votes: 11 12.0%
  • Update fails and won't install for me.

    Votes: 9 9.8%

  • Total voters
    92
kinda fixed, i can now hold my phone in my hand and it pinpoints my location on the map, no longer get my location is unavailable. But, if I use the navigation, seems to work until i stop, then my nav will start moving me all over, up to a couple blocks way. This is happening out in the open, in the county, without buildings and crap to block signals.
 
Had my Captivate for a week, GPS was terrible, did the update, still terrible. AT&T on the phone confirmed the update was to include an improvement to the GPS, and suggested I try to exchange it for another, which I did last night. Seemed a bit better, but today, again almost non-existent. Haven't downloaded the update to the new phone yet, figure no loss in trying, as the GPS doesn't work, and some have had sustained improvement with it.


or, as maybe the update "disables" the fix with Lbs testMode some were able to do, I might try that first.
 
This is exactly what I am seeing on a regular basis.

And I have tried Auto-Config, spirent-lcs.com and supl.google.com. Everything gives me the same results...

The funny thing is, for the first hour I had this phone, it was 10/10 locks. After that, never had a lock again.

By the way, over on XDA someone said that the GPS update wasn't included in the update and will be rolled out at the end of the month. I called Samsung and was told the same only they stated end of October for me...
 
And I have tried Auto-Config, spirent-lcs.com and supl.google.com. Everything gives me the same results...

The funny thing is, for the first hour I had this phone, it was 10/10 locks. After that, never had a lock again.

By the way, over on XDA someone said that the GPS update wasn't included in the update and will be rolled out at the end of the month. I called Samsung and was told the same only they stated end of October for me...

The first day I had the phone the GPS worked great! I tried it again later in the week and it simply would not lock.

I get the update and the GPS works great again locking on to 10+ satellites... The next morning it will not lock again and it's been like that for the last few days.

This seems to be a pattern with a lot of people...
 
There seems to be a lot of disagreement as to whether the JH7 update actually included the GPS fix or not... Maybe we can settle this by popular vote :).
 
The first day I had the phone the GPS worked great! I tried it again later in the week and it simply would not lock.

I get the update and the GPS works great again locking on to 10+ satellites... The next morning it will not lock again and it's been like that for the last few days.

This seems to be a pattern with a lot of people...

Yep, sadly I think I will be returning the phone. I understand to some GPS is an 'extra' on the phone, but for myself when traveling for work - having a working GPS on my phone means one less thing to carry and worry about.

Now let's see if the AT&T store will give me trouble returning it. The Sales rep at the store claimed that me exchanging my bricked phone (bricked by the JH7 OTA) for another Captivate counted as my 1-time exchange. Honestly, that makes absolutely no sense. Even when I called into AT&T they told me that made no sense at all.
 
There seems to be a lot of disagreement as to whether the JH7 update actually included the GPS fix or not... Maybe we can settle this by popular vote :).

I voted yes, but I'm not sure that I agree that it was actually fixed. I say this merely because I had a failed update that replaced some, but not all, files, and it broke my GPS completely until I flashed back to stock. So based on that, it's likely that some GPS-specific files were included.

Whether those included files actually fix anything, time will tell. ;)
 
Yep, sadly I think I will be returning the phone. I understand to some GPS is an 'extra' on the phone, but for myself when traveling for work - having a working GPS on my phone means one less thing to carry and worry about.

Now let's see if the AT&T store will give me trouble returning it. The Sales rep at the store claimed that me exchanging my bricked phone (bricked by the JH7 OTA) for another Captivate counted as my 1-time exchange. Honestly, that makes absolutely no sense. Even when I called into AT&T they told me that made no sense at all.

This odd thing is it is seeing the same amount of satellites that it did when it was locking. It just doesn't want to use any of them for some bizarre reason.
 
I voted yes, but I'm not sure that I agree that it was actually fixed. I say this merely because I had a failed update that replaced some, but not all, files, and it broke my GPS completely until I flashed back to stock. So based on that, it's likely that some GPS-specific files were included.

Whether those included files actually fix anything, time will tell. ;)

I'm voting 'no' 100% based on wishful thinking :).
 
This odd thing is it is seeing the same amount of satellites that it did when it was locking. It just doesn't want to use any of them for some bizarre reason.

My exact problem. When I called Samsung, the CS Rep told me just Factory reset the phone and a fix will be out by the end of October... I told him if that's the case, I'll have an iPhone4 by the end of September... :rolleyes:

When I left the store with the phone, it locked onto me instantly and stayed locked the whole way him. Since then (Thursday), not a single satellite lock. And it's actually pretty aggravating.

I'm hoping AT&T won't give me issues exchanging the phone (I went through 3 Captivates this week - each had quite a few issues... shutoffs, no GPS, no update available, OS restarts... Yet the Sales Rep claimed I wrote on my account I used an exchange to another phone, not because my phone was defective - read: BRICKED). I think I will go for an iPhone4 and if these ever get properly fixed, sell it and buy a Captivate again. I love this phone but the issues are starting to really get to me.
 
My exact problem. When I called Samsung, the CS Rep told me just Factory reset the phone and a fix will be out by the end of October... I told him if that's the case, I'll have an iPhone4 by the end of September... :rolleyes:

When I left the store with the phone, it locked onto me instantly and stayed locked the whole way him. Since then (Thursday), not a single satellite lock. And it's actually pretty aggravating.

I'm hoping AT&T won't give me issues exchanging the phone (I went through 3 Captivates this week - each had quite a few issues... shutoffs, no GPS, no update available, OS restarts... Yet the Sales Rep claimed I wrote on my account I used an exchange to another phone, not because my phone was defective - read: BRICKED). I think I will go for an iPhone4 and if these ever get properly fixed, sell it and buy a Captivate again. I love this phone but the issues are starting to really get to me.

I was getting ready to pack up my phone to return for a new Captivate tomorrow. I decided to try some different settings and go outside to see if it makes any difference. Of course I go outside and the phone locks almost immediately in all of my GPS programs :confused:. Almost seems like the GPS gets kicked when the settings get changed. It's a cloudy night here too. I even disabled wireless networks.

Anyhow I won't even bother posting the settings I used until I've tested them for a few days. I'm going to test Google Tracks in a bit.
 
I think mine is working better than it was, but I still noticed an accuracy problem. It still doesn't lock (finds position, but GPS symbol keeps flashing) inside away from windows, but sitting next to a window, it did lock, which it didn't before. On accuracy, I used it twice for navigation, after the update, and it showed my position moving alongside the road off to the right a couple of times. The update fixed the google sky jerkiness problem I had though, and the battery use might be better, but I'm not positive yet.
 
A quick update. After I loaded the OTA update my GPS performed much better. But as others have experienced, after a few days it started taking longer again to lock. Then I tried re-setting the GPS through the GPS Status app and it started working great again. Locked on within 20 seconds and to within 16 feet. I'll report back in a few days to see if it sticks or if I have to re-set again. The steps in GPS status to reset are below:

In GPS Status go to settings - GPS & sensors - manage a-GPS state. Then select reset to clear all the cached data. I did download the internet assistance data.
 
I've been playing with the GPS most of the morning so I'm not sure how this might invalidate the testing, but after clearing the cache GPS Test saw 11 sats and started using 6 of them within 25 seconds. Maybe the GPS was still 'hot' or fresh or whatever, from the earlier use but the improvement in acquiring sats was notable. Before the cache clearing I also had tried another posters idea of turning on airplane mode before trying to lock and it gave me comparable results: Quicker locks and usable nav location within 30 seconds or so.
 
My GPS was working better before the update. It used to lock in a few minutes if I left it on. After the update, however, I can never get a lock!!!

Also, my phone was in almost perfect condition before the update. After the update, I have had 2 random restarts, when the phone just froze up and restarted itself. Does anyone else have a similar problem?
 
My GPS was working better before the update. It used to lock in a few minutes if I left it on. After the update, however, I can never get a lock!!!

Also, my phone was in almost perfect condition before the update. After the update, I have had 2 random restarts, when the phone just froze up and restarted itself. Does anyone else have a similar problem?

My situation sounds similar to yours. After the update, my phone started freezing, screen would flicker to black etc...
I re-installed the upgrade, and that seems to have fixed it. I would say if you re-install that may solve your restart problem.
As far as GPS goes, mine would never get a lock before the update. It does now lock, but is useless for navigation, since it constantly drops, and when it does work, is so far off that it tells you to turn when you have already passed your turn by 3 or 4 blocks. It also sometimes shows you driving in the trees etc rather than on the road.
 
On my phone, after the gps update, GPS was still bad. However, I wanted to see if my experiments with LbsTestMode had anything to do with it. So I reset the phone to factory defaults (using settings->privacy->factory reset) after a backup of my data. When it was done, GPS was working great! So I wanted to check out if anything in LbsTestMode changed. Using the activity shortcut method I got into LbsTestMode and checked out the settings without changing anything. To my great disappointment, after exiting and testing the GPS once again it couldn't see a single satellite...clear sky with no obstructions. Another factory reset later and I was back in business. It seems to me, and it would be great if someone can confirm that, that there is a reason they took access to the LbsTestMode out as it messes up the GPS, or at least it did on my Captivate. So my advice is: reset the phone to stock, restore everything, and stay away from LbsTestMode!

Hope this helps!
 
On my phone, after the gps update, GPS was still bad. However, I wanted to see if my experiments with LbsTestMode had anything to do with it. So I reset the phone to factory defaults (using settings->privacy->factory reset) after a backup of my data. When it was done, GPS was working great! So I wanted to check out if anything in LbsTestMode changed. Using the activity shortcut method I got into LbsTestMode and checked out the settings without changing anything. To my great disappointment, after exiting and testing the GPS once again it couldn't see a single satellite...clear sky with no obstructions. Another factory reset later and I was back in business. It seems to me, and it would be great if someone can confirm that, that there is a reason they took access to the LbsTestMode out as it messes up the GPS, or at least it did on my Captivate. So my advice is: reset the phone to stock, restore everything, and stay away from LbsTestMode!

Hope this helps!

Same with me, after two resets, I have been getting anywhere from 6-12 locks within seconds. I didn't use the Factory reset but the GSM Reset [ *2767*3855# in the Dialer - Warning - it does not ask for confirmation so only dial it if you want to reset the phone].

I have been trying it at every opportunity for 3 days so far. 90% of the time it's accurate within 10 meters although it usually has my exact location.

I also have not touched Lbstestmode since the GSM reset.
 
My situation sounds similar to yours. After the update, my phone started freezing, screen would flicker to black etc...
I re-installed the upgrade, and that seems to have fixed it. I would say if you re-install that may solve your restart problem.
As far as GPS goes, mine would never get a lock before the update. It does now lock, but is useless for navigation, since it constantly drops, and when it does work, is so far off that it tells you to turn when you have already passed your turn by 3 or 4 blocks. It also sometimes shows you driving in the trees etc rather than on the road.

How do you re-install the update?

Thanks!
 
I haven't voted yet because I updated mine just yesterday. I never had any problem with the GPS before but it seems like it now starts faster after the update.
 
How do you re-install the update?

Thanks!

Hi:
Well, you can re-flash using the update found here: I897UCJH7 - OTA System, Kernel, Modem - Clockwork Flashable - Rooted - xda-developers
You can't flash it the 3 button way. You have to use a program called Rom Manager. You put the downloaded update on your SD card, then open Rom Manager, then flash Clockwork Recovery. You then install ROM from SD card.

There is one thing though. This version of JH7 is already rooted, so if that is a problem for you, don't use it.

If you have any more questions, just let me know, although there is tons of info in that thread I linked to.

Hope this helps.
 
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