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Help Samsung Moment GPS

3

3skimo

Lurker
Hello my name is 3skimo and although I have been using an Android based phone for some time now, I am brand new to the Android Forums.

I have a question regarding the GPS on the Samsung Moment... Has anyone else had issues while using the GPS? I ask this because I currently have the Samsung Moment and other than its hardware limitations I love this phone. However, the GPS on this phone is utterly useless. I have tried many times to use it and it has worked only once. The GPS is so useless it is actually the sole reason that I am looking to upgrade my phone (and pay full price without an upgrade discount).

Based on the nature of my job I rely heavily on GPS. I have an external GPS that I was forced to use because of the Moments failure so all was good but I want to be able to use my phone for GPS and not have to rely on maps or windows units for my car. I am not sure if this horrible GPS is a reflection of my Sprint service (which I doubt because everything else works) or if it is a problem with the Samsung Moment.
Thanks in advance,
3skimo
 
dl gps status from the market and run it. after it finds satellites, your gps should work. sometimes it finds satellites right away and sometimes it takes up to 10 minutes. so it's sort of a crap shoot but it's the only solution i've found
 
there is a gps "fix" that you can try.

look around on the SDX forums for it.
Pretty sure there is even a link for it in the directions for the radioactive ROM.

That seemed to make a big difference, but for me, it still doesn't work all of the time.

This particular phone just has GPS problems. For whatever reason, it just won't lock on. Most of the time, restarting the phone will correct the problem.

If you have had the phone for a little while, and you are feeling brave, then you can take it apart and attempt to clean the GPS antenna with a q-tip and rubbing alcohol.
be very very very careful. It is easy to break things in there and destroy your phone.
 
The GPS in the first 2 Moments I had was useless and I thought it was a design problem with the phone. I would loose lock driving past tall buildings and trees. I could see maybe 5 satellites while in a open field on a cloudless day. I tried all the software fixes available with no improvement. After seeing people post that they had no issue with the GPS, I went to the local service center and insisted they swap the phone again. They didn't want to and the tech claimed the GPS was fine, but I was persistent. The next unit was like night and day. The GPS performed as it should and I hope the person I sold it to enjoys it.
 
I have fixed this problem on my phone without going to sprint! Idiots at the store didn't even think to try this or know how lol. I'm in the middle of the woods now so I can't type up super detailed instructions but ill try the best I can atm.

From your phone menu type in #GPSCLRX# and enter your msl. It doesn't seem like it does anything. But it worked, instantly saw 9 satellites with gps status when before I saw ZERO. Phone worked fine, however after a reboot this caused a boot loop( tried it twice, I'm positive... don't ask lol). Go into recovery, I did a factory wipe and a data restore and phone booted fine. Gps still worked great. I think something we were doing was messing with the gps radio that required it to be reset that even a reflash woukdnt fix. I reapplied nooblns rom, still works great. Haven't a pplied my sdxcustim.zip yet though because I'm scared that might be the problem and this was a huge pain in the ass lol.

Hope this helps someone else, because I had already gotten a new phone from sprint because of this and I was dreading going back again for the same problem.
Click to expand...

I just tried that. Do i press call after I type everything in? Its not showing any satellites?
 
This worked beatuifal for me.


GPS fix
1. Goto your dialer press *#1472365#
2. Click the setup button
3. Click Position Mode
4. Click Operating Mode
5. Set to MSAssisted. It seems that Sprint added the options for aGps but by default it is off.
6. click back arrow once
7. Click Starting Mode
8. Set to Cold
9. Click Back arrow 4 times

I have had gps problems ever since i got the moment when it was still sporting 1.5. When i upgraded to 2.1 it got worse. My gps would take forever to find my location or it would show my location or say my location is not available. This would cuz major problems when using navigation or any app that needs gps. To finally get my gps to work i would have to kill the app i was using with a task killer and then turn gps on and off and eventually it would find my location and gps based apps would work. But now after using the fix above my gps is super quick and has not given me any problems. Usually finds me in 2 seconds and my navi works great now.

All credt goes to noobnl at SDX-Developers

Message was edited by: barker005

Message was edited by: barker005
 
edp said:
dl gps status from the market and run it. after it finds satellites, your gps should work. sometimes it finds satellites right away and sometimes it takes up to 10 minutes. so it's sort of a crap shoot but it's the only solution i've found
Click to expand...
+1

Many people have said that works for them. The "GPS fix" might work for you, but MSAssisted really works best only if you're not moving.
 
^ more to that. Technically, you're supposed to be still while getting your first lock, then start moving.
Most of us are already moving when we open the app. That alone can cause problems. Our phone's just aren't fast enough to figure out where we are while we are moving at 40+ mph.
The more I think about it, the more I recall being still (or close to it) when I got a lock with no problems. Either sitting at a redlight when it would finally lock, or walking to my car. Things like that.
I tried the GPS fix that was posted above. It did help, but it didn't make it "OMG AWESOME!"
The device just don't have the speed and hardware to make it an awesome GPS device.
The general consensus is that if you don't get a lock within 1 minute, it isn't going to. You should have at least a "within 300 meters" lock within 1 minute of "requesting" the position. If you don't get it, then hit the button to do it again. The phone only sends out the first bleep a couple of times, then gives up and just sits and waits to get a bleep back. So if you are in google maps, and you hit the "my location" button, give it about 60 seconds and hit it again. Try that a handful of times.
Between the GPS fix, and being more "persistent" with the phone, I went from getting a GPS lock maybe 2 or 3 times out of 10, to getting it 8-9 times out of 10.
 
For clarity, GPS has become the household name for navigations systems. The issue with the Samsung Moment is not the Sprint Navi or the Telnav navi. The problem from where I stand is with the GPS(antenna, if you will) that the Moment uses. As I am writing this my phone is at the Sprint repair center being flashed. This is my third Moment. The first two were replaced for ythe exact same thing. When the GPS goes, the navi doesn't work, neither does maps, nor does google locator, or anything that involves using the phones GPS. Other than that I love my Moment. If only Sprint could improve signal qualituy where I live.
 
MrKittyKilla said:
For clarity, GPS has become the household name for navigations systems. The issue with the Samsung Moment is not the Sprint Navi or the Telnav navi. The problem from where I stand is with the GPS(antenna, if you will) that the Moment uses. As I am writing this my phone is at the Sprint repair center being flashed. This is my third Moment. The first two were replaced for ythe exact same thing. When the GPS goes, the navi doesn't work, neither does maps, nor does google locator, or anything that involves using the phones GPS. Other than that I love my Moment. If only Sprint could improve signal qualituy where I live.
Click to expand...

Is there anyway to improve the GPS signal quality? I also noticed it cuts out from time to time. Every other phone I had, my GPS worked like a garmen or tomtom, this one just seems to suck.
 
Mine just quit working last week, after flashing to 2.2. I've been too lazy to flash back to 2.1 to see if I can get it working again, but I may. That's also worked for some.

There is a thread in the sdx Moment 2.2 Developement forum about GPS. In the last couple of days a few people have taken their phones apart and actually adjusted the contacts, which improved their GPS signals (or even brought them back from the dead). Of course, a couple of them have actually broken the prongs, so it's not something I really endorse.
 
I got tired of playing with the GPS signal not working anymore and jumped onto an external Bluetooth GPS receiver from Garmin and Bluetooth GPS app. Works great! Can find 3-4 sats in my home, 9+ if I am in the car. Used this for a road trip from Texas to Mississippi, no drops.

GPS Receiver: Garmin Mobile
 
HeadlessPonch said:
Mine just quit working last week, after flashing to 2.2. I've been too lazy to flash back to 2.1 to see if I can get it working again, but I may. That's also worked for some.

There is a thread in the sdx Moment 2.2 Developement forum about GPS. In the last couple of days a few people have taken their phones apart and actually adjusted the contacts, which improved their GPS signals (or even brought them back from the dead). Of course, a couple of them have actually broken the prongs, so it's not something I really endorse.
Click to expand...

Thats my problem too. After I flashed to 2.2 my GPS stopped working
 
I tried this today. Immediatly afterword my GPS worked great. The next time I tried to use it, it didn't work for me. O-well, I hate this phone. Thanks.

PowerliftingBBer said:
This worked beatuifal for me.


GPS fix
1. Goto your dialer press *#1472365#
2. Click the setup button
3. Click Position Mode
4. Click Operating Mode
5. Set to MSAssisted. It seems that Sprint added the options for aGps but by default it is off.
6. click back arrow once
7. Click Starting Mode
8. Set to Cold
9. Click Back arrow 4 times

I have had gps problems ever since i got the moment when it was still sporting 1.5. When i upgraded to 2.1 it got worse. My gps would take forever to find my location or it would show my location or say my location is not available. This would cuz major problems when using navigation or any app that needs gps. To finally get my gps to work i would have to kill the app i was using with a task killer and then turn gps on and off and eventually it would find my location and gps based apps would work. But now after using the fix above my gps is super quick and has not given me any problems. Usually finds me in 2 seconds and my navi works great now.

All credt goes to noobnl at SDX-Developers

Message was edited by: barker005

Message was edited by: barker005
Click to expand...
 
PowerliftingBBer said:
This worked beatuifal for me.


GPS fix
1. Goto your dialer press *#1472365#
2. Click the setup button
3. Click Position Mode
4. Click Operating Mode
5. Set to MSAssisted. It seems that Sprint added the options for aGps but by default it is off.
6. click back arrow once
7. Click Starting Mode
8. Set to Cold
9. Click Back arrow 4 times

I have had gps problems ever since i got the moment when it was still sporting 1.5. When i upgraded to 2.1 it got worse. My gps would take forever to find my location or it would show my location or say my location is not available. This would cuz major problems when using navigation or any app that needs gps. To finally get my gps to work i would have to kill the app i was using with a task killer and then turn gps on and off and eventually it would find my location and gps based apps would work. But now after using the fix above my gps is super quick and has not given me any problems. Usually finds me in 2 seconds and my navi works great now.

All credt goes to noobnl at SDX-Developers

Message was edited by: barker005

Message was edited by: barker005
Click to expand...

Hi Everyone,

I tried this fix today, and as soon as I turned on my Google Maps, that flashing GPS logo locked in withing 20 seconds...but I soon found out as I'm driving in the car looking at the Google Maps, the blue arrow is not moving at all, but still locked in the original position, then I turned on google Navigation, it starts up and giving direction, but within about 15 seconds..i get the dreaded "searching for gps " signal...

I guess at this point I want to undo the changes mentioned above, does any one have the original setting for the parameters described by Barker005...

If somebody can post that here, that would be great help,

thank you,
 
i want to say it is something along the lines of satelites only and change the cold back to Hot, but I can assure you, it won't make a difference.
the settings listed here are the best way to do it.
 
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