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Any problems with the GPS on the captivate?

Hi Guys,
I've been hearing about lots of problems with the GPS not picking up low SNR satellites and the GPS being wildly inaccurate on the samsung vibrant and also the euro variants of the galaxy s.
Does the captivate have the same issue?

Its true. I bought it on sunday an notice that issue. Hope there will be a update(Bug fix) soon.

Compare to my G1, the Captivate take about the same time to lock and GPStest says the SNR is better. I'm happy with it.

MFister said:
Hi Guys,
I've been hearing about lots of problems with the GPS not picking up low SNR satellites and the GPS being wildly inaccurate on the samsung vibrant and also the euro variants of the galaxy s.
Does the captivate have the same issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Define Wildly inaccurate. On my Captivate it is dead on (within 9 feet)

I am having major problems with GPS. I am getting a lock but only within 50-75 feet. It isn't good at all. The GPS is slow to update and throws me everywhere.
I amthinking of returning the phone if Samsung doesn't make an announcement about s fix for this.

dial this from your phone:
*#*#1472365#*#*
Change startup from hot to cold.....worked for me. GPS locks much much faster

What are the settings on your phone Citznfish? My phone is off by anywhere from 100-500ft. Thanks!

Ok, I tried it again... In the house I'm about 500 ft off from where I really am and placed in a golf fairway. Outside I am FURTHER off: I'd estimate at least 5 blocks and placed in the middle of a different golf fairway. For comparision sake, my wife's iPhone 3Gs has her within 10-20' while inside the house. To me, this is unacceptable and a great cause for concern. What can I do???

Smalls2 said:
dial this from your phone:
*#*#1472365#*#*
Change startup from hot to cold.....worked for me. GPS locks much much faster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm having the same problem here. My iPhone 3GS GPS responded way quicker then this phone does. I have a Weather Channel widget up, and it doesn't find the location to display the weather for a good minute and a half after. Same goes for using Google Maps to find my location. Lot of times it says, "Your location is unavailable." I even tried switching the startup from hot to cold, and that didn't have much effect either.
When I was driving today, the GPS locator had a bad lag in it, I would be down two blocks before it would catch up, and I live in a 3G area, and not a giant city like NY or something.
I wonder if it's because it's so bloated with Samsung UI on it, or if it's just the a bug. Either way, if I'm still having issues with it, I'll see if AT&T will exchange it out for a different one. Otherwise back to the 3GS, which I really don't want to do since I'm loving Android right now.

What does hot start and cold start do?

skizzz said:
What does hot start and cold start do?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hot Start - The GPS receiver remembers its last calculated position and which satellites were in view, the almanac used, and the UTC Time. It then performs a reset and attempts to acquire satellites and calculate a new position based upon the previous information.
Cold Start - The GPS receiver dumps all information and resets. It then attempts to locate satellites and then calculate a GPS lock. This takes the longest because there is no known information. The GPS receiver has to attempt to lock a satellite signal from all of the satellites, basically like polling, which takes a lot longer than knowing which satellites to look for.

Danm a cold start sounds like it would be slower. I tried it and I still can't get a lock within a reasonable range.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Appb

I've been reading online that the Galaxy S got a firmware update that greatly improved/fixed the GPS problems we are experiencing. I can only assume that we will have to wait as well for this firmware to completely fix the gps issue.

Try the fix/workaround in the Vibrant forum.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728611
I went from seeing 1 satellite and none locked to 7-10 seen and 5-7 locked.

tbae2 said:
I've been reading online that the Galaxy S got a firmware update that greatly improved/fixed the GPS problems we are experiencing. I can only assume that we will have to wait as well for this firmware to completely fix the gps issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where did you read this? I've been looking for something like this, preferably from Samsung.

i havent had too many problems with GPS here
Google maps usually locks me in a few seconds
Third party applications can take much longer, however
The problem might be the way the third party apps utilize the GPS

lyu370 said:
Try the fix/workaround in the Vibrant forum.
I went from seeing 1 satellite and none locked to 7-10 seen and 5-7 locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually that isn't a fix at all. It makes locking onto satellites much faster, but nothing to address the sensitivity issues, and there is definitely an issue. I 'found' 9 satellites, but could only lock onto two of them, for a few seconds at a time, then back to zero, out in the open.
Hopefully a software fix is on the way.
Source: /showthread.php?t=728611&page=5

This fix did help me so now i get a quick lock...as ling as i dint start moving around. It stays close enough to exact to use for driving around but not more accurate than that. The problem isn't really getting a lock so much as keeping it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

tdusen said:
Compare to my G1, the Captivate take about the same time to lock and GPStest says the SNR is better. I'm happy with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, I change my mind. While what I said still stands, I've since found that the GPS and the Compass don't track very well. I tried find a geocache using the same GeOrg software I use on my G1. The location seemed to be stuck as I was walking. From my experience with the Tilt, I'd say the GPS is running in "Static Navigation"
The clock is ticking, GPS has to be fixed in 28 days, or the phone gets returned.

lyu370 said:
Try the fix/workaround in the Vibrant forum.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=728611
I went from seeing 1 satellite and none locked to 7-10 seen and 5-7 locked.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was having problems w/ GPS on my phone as well. Would be way off in Google Maps, Navigator took forever to lock, and geo-tagging photos was also way off. I did something similar - dialed the code to get to the GPS settings. However, all I did was turn Skyhook to ON and switched configuration from manual to auto. I don't seem to have any problems between yesterday and today. It locks incredibly quick and is very very accurate.
Some of you should try this method and see if it helps with anything. Good luck.

Another GPS fix

guys give this a try and let me know if it works for you.
http://theandroidrevolution.blogspot.com/2010/07/android-tips-tricks-samsung-galaxy-s.html

Why are they running flash on that site? Bummer,i'll check later.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Seems to me that all this is going to do is have the placebo effect that the other "fixes" have had, and give you a coarse location, something my Eternity could do, and not really a fix for the GPS issue as it uses triangulation from cell towers to locate you.

amazingtaters said:
Seems to me that all this is going to do is have the placebo effect that the other "fixes" have had, and give you a coarse location, something my Eternity could do, and not really a fix for the GPS issue as it uses triangulation from cell towers to locate you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No.
Cell tower can't lock onto you exact coronates

phlunkie said:
Why are they running flash on that site? Bummer,i'll check later.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My site works on the Vibrant and N1.
If you don't have flash or flash lite your YouTube player should open

siberslug said:
No.
Cell tower can't lock onto you exact coronates
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, one tower can't. However, 3 or 4 towers can, basically you bounce a signal to multiple towers, and the time it takes for a full loop to be finished by the signal between you and the tower can be used to calculate how far you are from that tower. If you know how far you are from three separate towers, you can get a decent lock on your position. That's what the "Use Wireless Networks" function in the Location menu does.
Anyway, I tried this fix, and it didn't change the fact that my GPS signal was spotty, constantly fluctuating the number of satellites seen, and often dropping all satellites, while taking just over 7 minutes to get a lock on me that had the piss poor accuracy of approximately 30 meters.

amazingtaters said:
No, one tower can't. However, 3 or 4 towers can, basically you bounce a signal to multiple towers, and the time it takes for a full loop to be finished by the signal between you and the tower can be used to calculate how far you are from that tower. If you know how far you are from three separate towers, you can get a decent lock on your position. That's what the "Use Wireless Networks" function in the Location menu does.
Anyway, I tried this fix, and it didn't change the fact that my GPS signal was spotty, constantly fluctuating the number of satellites seen, and often dropping all satellites, while taking just over 7 minutes to get a lock on me that had the piss poor accuracy of approximately 30 meters.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
3 or 4 towers can not give you an exact location, the best I have seen was 200 meters with cell tower location.
All GPS systems fluctuate that's normal but dropping all is not unless your in a big city. for example, I have not found 1 GPS unit that works reliably in downtown Detroit and I have had 9 Nav systems in 2 years.
I turn on tower location and MS assist for faster pinpoints and indoor use .
So far out of over 300 views and 49 posts and emails only 6 people say it does not work for them everyone else says it works.

siberslug said:
3 or 4 towers can not give you an exact location, the best I have seen was 200 meters with cell tower location.
All GPS systems fluctuate that's normal but dropping all is not unless your in a big city. for example, I have not found 1 GPS unit that works reliably in downtown Detroit and I have had 9 Nav systems in 2 years.
I turn on tower location and MS assist for faster pinpoints and indoor use .
So far out of over 300 views and 49 posts and emails only 6 people say it does not work for them everyone else says it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would argue that cell tower triangulation can get you to a much closer accuracy than 200 meters. If my eternity hadn't taken a divot to the screen that prematurely ended it's life a month ago I'd take a video with my captivate to prove it. Sadly, you'll just have to take my word that my eternity often got my location right within about 100 feet, and while it would at times be kilometers off this was the exception and not the rule. I'm just saying that cell triangulation (or quadrangulation or pentangulation or however many towers you have) can be quite accurate, especially in urban areas where there a lot of towers to bounce signal off of. And 7 minutes to get a lock on my location within 30 meters is absurd, I don't think anyone would argue that.

siberslug said:
guys give this a try and let me know if it works for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Waste of time...
This was already mentioned in the sticky GPS thread.
We need a fix not an intermittent workaround.

I got my GPS to work PERFECT!!!!
The trick is.............. turn on "AutoConfig"

bassahaulic said:
I got my GPS to work PERFECT!!!!
The trick is.............. turn on "AutoConfig"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I doubt it. Try drive around using Google Navigator and see if you get precise lock through out the time. I'd bet money it won't.
So far, all the fixes are only tackling the initial quick lock on. None can fix the precision errors of the Galaxy GPS.

Hmm actually Auto Config gave me super good accuracy(5 meters), slower lock time and really laggy while driving.

YellowGTO said:
Hmm actually Auto Config gave me super good accuracy(5 meters), slower lock time and really laggy while driving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
bassahaulic said:
I got my GPS to work PERFECT!!!!
The trick is.............. turn on "AutoConfig"
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Still good accuracy?
It works for about a day.

If you want to fix your GPS, you have to flash to the JH2 firmware. It contains the real fix for GPS. Whatever setting you play with the JF6 firmware won't make much of a difference after a few days. The driver in all the early firmwares are completely broken.

foxbat121 said:
If you want to fix your GPS, you have to flash to the JH2 firmware. It contains the real fix for GPS. Whatever setting you play with the JF6 firmware won't make much of a difference after a few days. The driver in all the early firmwares are completely broken.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Granted there may be 2 completely separate problems, with that firmware update fixing one of them, but I'm sad to say that the JH2 firmware fix didnt make it past the 8 hour point for me. GPS refuses to lock without a reboot. I've been fiddling with the GPS configuration as well to see if the combination will be the answer, but so far no luck.

I can go ahead and say IMO its not a total fix with the new firmware, It's better, but my wifes my touch 3g slide blows this one out of the water when it comes to initial lock and tracking. I just flashed the new rom today and the gps isn't all that great now I'm scared about what my gps is gonna look like tomorrow!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

works MUCH better with AutoConfig on for me also
and wireless turned off
usually get a lock in 10 seconds or less
occasionally takes longer..

I finally had luck today by going with the supl.google server and changing my accuracy to 100 and my mode to ms based. Locked and was great for a good 3 hours. Later on it took a while to get a lock, but would lose it quickly, then wouldn't lock at all again. I exchanged it for a new one tonight and the gps is working great....just like when I first got the other one >.>
My question is this: If I wait for the "fix" they are releasing and it takes me past my 30 days, what recourse do I have? GPS is a MUST for me, without it this phone to me is broken and I can't settle for it. Do you think I would have any chance of swapping it for another model like the aria?? I hate that gps is that big of a deal but it simply is for me. Love the screen, the power, the speed, all the potential....but come ON how hard is it to make gps work these days? I am very function over fashion. I need my phone to work, if it doesn't I will get a less flashy, more reliable device.

Ricparr said:
My question is this: If I wait for the "fix" they are releasing and it takes me past my 30 days, what recourse do I have?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
With AT&T - zero, zip, nada. I spent a lot of time on the phone and in the store with them trying to see what options I had in this situation. They were very clear with me that in the case that a real problem with GPS is found but never gets fixed, its Samsung's issue not theirs and that I must go through Samsung for a resolution. They did also say the stores do have the power to make exceptions and possibly allow you to exchange your device for something else, but there is no obligaton for them to help you out.

Nexus S GPS Issues?

I was reading SlashGear's Nexus S Review and found something interesting.
Similarly frustrating can be GPS performance; we haven’t observed the dire positioning problems originally found on the Galaxy S, but at times the Nexus S proved simply incapable of getting a GPS lock: we drove for around 30 minutes of open, clear freeway and the handset continued to show “Searching for GPS.” The issue is intermittent, however, with the phone not liking it if you try to get a fix while moving.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.slashgear.com/nexus-s-review-14119387/
Now they probably have a preproduction unit, but what are the chances of GPS behaving similarly to the GPS in the Galaxy S/Captivate/Vibrant (all have the same standalone GPS chip as the Nexus S -- BCM 4751). Doesn't appear as severe, but somewhat problematic (from the review) nonetheless.
I'm interested to see how the GPS performs while the Nexus S is in user's hands

big suprise, the GPS dosn't get a fix while moving. this is a common issue on tons of phones.
Me and my girlfriend were driving around once and it took my phone almost 40 minutes to get a GPS lock, CM5 on a Nexus One.
Yet later that same day, standing still, it worked in under a minute.
Every phone can have GPS issues for a massive amount of reasons.
The Galaxy S issue was a software issue where it worked under 5% of the time, even if you were standing still ontop of a building.
Other ones sometimes randomly have the issue while moving, this is usually because the phone has issues connecting to the satelite. You gotta remember the GPS chips in these phones are not that great.

my mytouch4g gets a gps lock while driving, a bit longer then standing still but id say still under a few minutes

neok44 said:
big suprise, the GPS dosn't get a fix while moving. this is a common issue on tons of phones.
Me and my girlfriend were driving around once and it took my phone almost 40 minutes to get a GPS lock, CM5 on a Nexus One.
Yet later that same day, standing still, it worked in under a minute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is also how my dedicated TomTom and Garmin GPS work. Stand still, lock in less than a minute. On the move, I usually give up after 10-15 minutes and stop for a minute.

Oh ok cool.

shrivelfig said:
This is also how my dedicated TomTom and Garmin GPS work. Stand still, lock in less than a minute. On the move, I usually give up after 10-15 minutes and stop for a minute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is not correct TomTom devices do get a lock while moving and so does Nexus one and iphone 4. If this review is correct that means that Samsung has no fixed the GPS in Nexus S and that it may be suffering from the same problem as Galaxy S
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App

darkoroje said:
This is not correct TomTom devices do get a lock while moving and so does Nexus one and iphone 4. If this review is correct that means that Samsung has no fixed the GPS in Nexus S and that it may be suffering from the same problem as Galaxy S
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
were not saying that they can't, it's that it CAN take longer. in some places you can be going 60MPH and get a lock within a minute, but in another place you can be walking at 5MPH and it'll take 20 minutes.
Sorry but our phones don't get priority on any gps satellite lol

darkoroje said:
This is not correct TomTom devices do get a lock while moving and so does Nexus one and iphone 4.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, TomTom devices get a lock while moving. They get a lock much, much faster standing still, though.
For any GPS to work, it needs to download the complete almanac from at least 3 different satellites. The almanac is sent every 30 seconds, so the GPS must have an uninterrupted view of each satellite for at least 30 seconds, possibly up to 60 seconds.
A-GPS can get the almanac data faster, and TomTom has something called QuickGPSfix that pre-downloads almanac data a week in advance.
But what if you don't have A-GPS or QuickGPSfix, and the GPS hasn't been used in a week, so all the almanac data is outdated?
If you are moving so much around that the GPS antenna never sees any satellites uninterrupted for the necessary 30-60 seconds, then the GPS will never get a lock. Never.

neok44 said:
Sorry but our phones don't get priority on any gps satellite lol
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is no priority because there is no "connection". GPS receivers (sic!) don't send anything.

umbrella42 said:
There is no priority because there is no "connection". GPS receivers (sic!) don't send anything.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol true, was just trying to emphases the point that our phones aren't going to connect as fast as pure GPS devices.

neok44 said:
lol true, was just trying to emphases the point that our phones aren't going to connect as fast as pure GPS devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, with A-GPS the phones have an advantage to get first lock quicker. But the pure GPS devices have better antennas, so should give more accurate navigation.

I wander if they ever restarted the navigation app, because you know, sometimes restarting the app works. From my experience anyways.

shrivelfig said:
Actually, with A-GPS the phones have an advantage to get first lock quicker. But the pure GPS devices have better antennas, so should give more accurate navigation.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah thats when the A-GPS works. both mine and my dads phone's A-GPS has been just terrible. usually showing us 20+ miles away from where we actually are

neok44 said:
yeah thats when the A-GPS works. both mine and my dads phone's A-GPS has been just terrible. usually showing us 20+ miles away from where we actually are
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you sure that was actually GPS, and not location by cell tower or WiFi hotspot? A smartphone without GPS lock will try to find your location by other means.
All A-GPS does is to jumpstart the GPS, and when GPS has a lock, then the error should be way below 100 meters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-GPS

my GPS is working fine right now,but it does act up randomly with no reason :/

GPS work flawless
Rounding out this section is a note that the Nexus S suffers from none of the GPS issues that plague the Galaxy S. I tested thoroughly - fixes are fast and accurate over GPS and work like they should using Google location services with WiFi trilateration.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
link

Excellent!
The BB Bold I'm using right now has quick and accurate GPS fixes, usually within 0.2-0.3 meters.

shrivelfig said:
Are you sure that was actually GPS, and not location by cell tower or WiFi hotspot? A smartphone without GPS lock will try to find your location by other means.
All A-GPS does is to jumpstart the GPS, and when GPS has a lock, then the error should be way below 100 meters.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-GPS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah once i get an actual GPS lock it's perfect, but until then it's been terrible. Cell tower only has been really bad as well.
This, for me, was on CM6, haven't tested it on CM6.1. ANd for my dad on a stock vibrant, so i'm just gonna chock it up to the crappy gps in it (happened before fix)

It's apparently plagued by the same GPS bug as other Galaxy S phones; it took forever to get a GPS lock
gizmodo.com/5713986/samsung-nexus-s-review-how-to-build-an-android-phone-for-2011
So if we want to be scientific I believe thats more sources claiming there is an issue than not

Anandtech says there is no GPS issues:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/4059/nexus-s-and-android-23-review-gingerbread-for-the-holidays/6

[Q] GPS poll anyone?

Im seeing GPS complaints starting to crop up. My two day old Infuse does not get a GPS lock at all. Figured maybe we can start a poll and see what kind of leaning we get towards GPS performance on this device and show it to Samsung should it look like its a major problem.

i've had no issues at all with my GPS...

This is my third infuse. My first one had battery issues. Second woulndnt find a GPS in the vast sky. But this one is near perfection.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Infuse GPS - Location Difs?
I'm having a lot of trouble getting the Infuse to find the GPS. I keep getting messages that it's searching for the GPS. However, when it does find it, it works wonderfully. I live in Southern CA and having a difficult time here. It's not locating me correctly and is unable to provide navigation more than half the time. However, in Northern CA last week, it was working well. Do you think that the location makes a difference - or is it something with the individual phone?

Can't be I'm in sandy eggo. My second infuse didnt find any signal while my friend two feet away with an infuse had it working in two seconds.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

dont try these side by side comparisons unless you clear nmea data on both devices before hand. it can be difficult for the gps chip to download the data from the satalites directly. another device may have downloded data that is still current at any time. side by side in only side by side if both devices have a cold start and are working in the same mode.
if you have trouble with initial locks go to the phone dialer and type *#*#3214789650#*#* it should take you to lbs test mode. it can also be launched with launcher pro activities. in lbs test mode delete gps data then go to supl/cp settings. write down the supl server and port. try a different supl server like supl.google.com with secure socket set to off and the port set to 7275. or you can set it to auto config. if none of that helps try setting the gps to msbased in application settings. msbased will use cell towers to download nmea data and give the gps chip a head start.
some phones (like my captivate) dont like ms based mode for tracking but my infuse works great with msbased and supl server set to auto config. if none of that helps trade in the phone, you have a defective unit.
there were situations where a factory reset helped on the captivate but mine suffered from a specific bug where the glgps daemon would crash with certain settings, wiping gps data did not solve the problem but a factory reset did. i dont think the infuse suffers from this bug but it couldnt hurt to try a factory reset.

Another GPS post. Fine, 7-8 gps locks no problem between 3 states. I guess if you can't beat them join them.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Second infuse, first had GPS issues

Even if it only works sometimes, it blows the doors off the Captivate.

MikeyMike01 said:
Even if it only works sometimes, it blows the doors off the Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hope these are isolated incidents. I can't believe that Samsung would release another device with GPS issues.

After reading the OP's thread title, I was really hoping for something more exciting, haha

keitht said:
I hope these are isolated incidents. I can't believe that Samsung would release another device with GPS issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think that it's likely there's some user issues. As in, "it doesn't lock on in the 3rd basement of my concrete and lead bunker, therefore it sucks".

MikeyMike01 said:
I think that it's likely there's some user issues. As in, "it doesn't lock on in the 3rd basement of my concrete and lead bunker, therefore it sucks".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agree. And most people don't understand that the first seek time can take longer. So until the device learns your area it'll take longer to lock the first time in a certain area. I travel all over the world, and everywhere I go that I haven't been before a phone takes a bit longer to lock.
I think people forget about the days of the original GPS units that would take 5-7 minutes to lock on first use in a locale. Now if it takes 30 seconds they scream bloody murder.
EDIT: Why is it whenever there are polls like this people who click a negative, like something doesn't work or doesn't always work they almost never elaborate in comments? If I found this thread and had GPS issues, I'd vote, then elaborate on the problem to see if someone can help. My guess is you're spot on with user error.

My GPS was mediocre from day one. Today, did a factory reset, used tibu to restore all apps except maps, fresh install of maps from market. Had a lock in seconds. Will see what happens in the next week or two.

im not gonna say there arent bad units. and the settings could certainly be better, but i see these threads in every forum about every phone, and my friends complain about there phones. all i can say is that it get blown out of proportion.
i had a captivate and despite limited accuracy and agps that would hinder tracking it never steered me wrong after a few slight tweaks. every time i tried to follow someone elses mods it got worse. da_g's fix fixed the glgps deamon crashing while i was driving, though it only crashed if i used agps settings in the first place, so just changing the supl server and using the most recent modem.bin and setting secgps.conf to standalone to match lbs test mode was all it took to get a great tracking gps even on google maps.and it locked pretty good under cover.
the infuse is way more accurate getting <10meter locks quickly and showing the accuracy to the .01th of a meter rather than using multiples of 5 meters like the sgs. i can typically get 6 meter locks on the infuse sometimes less, with consistant altitude and 11 sats visable. if it gives you trouble i would blame google maps, it is clearly not a hardware issue. changing the lbs settings or secgps.conf may make it better but it is better to have a gps program that doesnt use data so before you complain replace maps with an application that has it's maps stored internally.

10 days in... Not one GPS issue. I just returned home from a 4 day business trip to Washington DC. During that trip, I used the Infuse often and enjoyed comparing it to the Garmin that came with the vehicle. The Infuse won hands down. The one huge triumph was the Google Navigation's ability to properly recognize traffic delays and re-route. I used it and it actually worked like a charm! The Garmin traffic portion didn't work at all. It basically didn't see the traffic that the Google Nav picked right up.

Dani897 said:
im not gonna say there arent bad units. and the settings could certainly be better, but i see these threads in every forum about every phone, and my friends complain about there phones. all i can say is that it get blown out of proportion.
i had a captivate and despite limited accuracy and agps that would hinder tracking it never steered me wrong after a few slight tweaks. every time i tried to follow someone elses mods it got worse. da_g's fix fixed the glgps deamon crashing while i was driving, though it only crashed if i used agps settings in the first place, so just changing the supl server and using the most recent modem.bin and setting secgps.conf to standalone to match lbs test mode was all it took to get a great tracking gps even on google maps.and it locked pretty good under cover.
the infuse is way more accurate getting <10meter locks quickly and showing the accuracy to the .01th of a meter rather than using multiples of 5 meters like the sgs. i can typically get 6 meter locks on the infuse sometimes less, with consistant altitude and 11 sats visable. if it gives you trouble i would blame google maps, it is clearly not a hardware issue. changing the lbs settings or secgps.conf may make it better but it is better to have a gps program that doesnt use data so before you complain replace maps with an application that has it's maps stored internally.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Could you post a link of changing the settings to lock in north America only please.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I997 using XDA App

Working fine here, just hoping I'm not jinxing myself by saying so

I was using Google navigation yesterday on the Infuse while in Kissimmee and it moved a long with the car 95% of the time, it was great! Took me exactly where I needed to go without an issue. The Captivate couldn't do this at all!!

My GPS still doesn't work, indoors, outdoors, in my car etc. Guess ill need a replacement. Thanks for the input people. Thats what these forums are for. To either uncover or put to rest potential issues, amongst many other uses.. Sorry if i "offended" any internet elitists.. Again i appreciate the useful input though.

[Q] GPS issues is this normal?

I took a trip with the tf101 this weekend. Tethered to my phone got consistent wifi for email, but the only problem we noticed was that GPS was very difficult to get correct. I was in southern Illinois and it thought I was in map maps. So I rebooted and then I said I was in England. It seems to take a long time to sync to a GPS location regardless if it is correct or not. I downloaded an app called GPS status. On my atrix phone it syncs almost immediately. On the tf101, it will not sync even if I an outside with a clear sky. It takes a couple minutes if it does sync.odds this normal? My guess is that it has a marginal GPS antenna our mine is defective. Thoughts?
Keith

I've had exceptional reception on the GPS. Frankly, it the best GPS I've ever used. You may have a lemon or something screwed up.
Get "GPS Status" from the market. In addition to having a really cool display, it has the ablity to reset your AGPS data.

keithspg said:
I took a trip with the tf101 this weekend. Tethered to my phone got consistent wifi for email, but the only problem we noticed was that GPS was very difficult to get correct. I was in southern Illinois and it thought I was in map maps. So I rebooted and then I said I was in England. It seems to take a long time to sync to a GPS location regardless if it is correct or not. I downloaded an app called GPS status. On my atrix phone it syncs almost immediately. On the tf101, it will not sync even if I an outside with a clear sky. It takes a couple minutes if it does sync.odds this normal? My guess is that it has a marginal GPS antenna our mine is defective. Thoughts?
Keith
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Your phone can use the cellular network to help fix it position. 3g tablets can do the same.
Your Wifi TF has no such aid and needs several minutes of clear sky to get the ephemeris. Once it has the ephemeris it will be quicker to get lock provide it is outside and it has not been more than a few days since the GPS last saw the sky and you have not moved too far since the GPS was last active.
Sent from my Transformer TF101

Go into settings then Location and security then under My Locations, uncheck Use wireless networks. If you have that checked, it will use the known location of the router ( in this case your phone) that is stored in an online database. In a fixed location ( ie home or office) this is usually correct. In a mobile location, this is almost always wrong as it is not a regularly updated parameter. With this unchecked, the location of the TF is determined by the TF GPS and not the stored location of the router( tethered phone) . For more information, see http://www.skyhookwireless.com/

dburckh said:
Get "GPS Status" from the market. In addition to having a really cool display, it has the ablity to reset your AGPS data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This; launch GPS Status, go to settings and tap on Update AGPS. I always do this before I launch any navigation app on TF.

GwynBleidd said:
This; launch GPS Status, go to settings and tap on Update AGPS. I always do this before I launch any navigation app on TF.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There doesn't seem to be a "settings>update AGPS" setting.
I couldn't find anything like that.

Thanks for the posts. I will try these this evening. One thing I did note was that my Atrix has higher signal levels when running GPS Status than the TF101 as well as syncing faster. It also syncs much faster. I will attempt another test this evening with wifi turned off on both devices. I will put the phone in Airplane mode or pull the SIM card and reboot it to make it 'even'.
KeithG

keithspg said:
Thanks for the posts. I will try these this evening. One thing I did note was that my Atrix has higher signal levels when running GPS Status than the TF101 as well as syncing faster. It also syncs much faster. I will attempt another test this evening with wifi turned off on both devices. I will put the phone in Airplane mode or pull the SIM card and reboot it to make it 'even'.
KeithG
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you dont need to turn wifi off just uncheck use router to set location

Well, it looks like it is pretty poor, at least as compared to my atrix. The atrix is sitting right next to me and is showing 7 of 7 sat / fix. It will get a fix in less than 30 seconds. On the tf,it is just spinning. I really don't like this. It should be decent. It was tough to try to use it to navigate because it kept losing sync. I posted a message to Asus as well. It may be sent back for repair. I have a B60 version, a I hope I don't lose the ability to root it.
Keith

Another response... If I load GPS Test, it shows the satellite number and each S/N ratio. On the Atrix sitting right next to it, there is a 20-40% increase in S/N on the Atrix compared to the TF. On the TF, they are all 15-25 and on the Atrix the same satellites are 22-40 (data from inside a building). If I were to guess, this appears to be an antenna problem more than anything software related. From the TF teardown pictures, the GPS antenna looks to be a very simple part and I wonder if it is optimized.
Older phones also had problems with GPS antennas (Nokia for example) so much so that there are hacks to increase its sensitivity by soldering a wire to it. I am wondering if we could appropriate an antenna for a phone and solder it in instead of the one already in the TF...
Still waiting for ASUS to respond to my query.
Keith

still nothing back from ASUS. This is a pic of the 2 devices side by side. I do not know if I am just noticing it now or not, but it is not very 'solid' of a lock ever with GPS. I recently turned off WiFi location, so it is now completely dependent on GPS and seldom knows where it is. Am I the only one with a weak GPS performance? Notice that my phone shows 0ft and the TF shows 45ft precision on location.
This is with the latest OTA update of 8.6.5.9.
Keith

keithspg said:
still nothing back from ASUS. This is a pic of the 2 devices side by side. I do not know if I am just noticing it now or not, but it is not very 'solid' of a lock ever with GPS. I recently turned off WiFi location, so it is now completely dependent on GPS and seldom knows where it is. Am I the only one with a weak GPS performance? Notice that my phone shows 0ft and the TF shows 45ft precision on location.
This is with the latest OTA update of 8.6.5.9.
Keith
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I seem to have the same GPS issues as you do. The GPS reception is so weak that it is pretty much impossible to use Google Maps for navigation. I've tried it with and without the wireless option and it has made no difference. It takes about 15 minutes to get a lock with a view of the open sky, then 2 minutes later it is again searching for GPS. Yet GPS Status sees all the satellites quite quickly. When I did travel with it, it usually showed (on Google Maps) a GPS location hundreds of kilometers from where I was located in an area I had never been to. I had to give up trying to use it and use my phone instead.
I'll add to the list of problems when I once again send my tablet in on RMA (after a month without it, Asus repair broke it much worse than it was before I sent it).

Note that the percision number is a calculation done by an algorithm. Different algorithms result in different results but they are somewhat subjective. I do not believe any commercial gps will yield 0 error so it sounds like your phone is a little optomistic.

keithspg said:
still nothing back from ASUS. This is a pic of the 2 devices side by side. I do not know if I am just noticing it now or not, but it is not very 'solid' of a lock ever with GPS. I recently turned off WiFi location, so it is now completely dependent on GPS and seldom knows where it is. Am I the only one with a weak GPS performance? Notice that my phone shows 0ft and the TF shows 45ft precision on location.
This is with the latest OTA update of 8.6.5.9.
Keith
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try:
* Taking the third-party case off. No idea what the construction is, but it's conceivable it could contain materials that are shielding the tablet
* Performing the test outdoors with a clear view of the sky (as much of it as possible), and the devices a couple of feet apart, not sitting on top of each other
* Giving the tablet several minutes to download ephemeris data from the satellites before performing the test. Phones can pick up info from their cell towers that gives them a huge head start in determining a fix. Your tablet can't.
* Reenable the network detection. That's the next best thing to what your phone has, and it's not likely that you're going to see a single router with the same details (it looks at more than just the network SSID) in multiple locations. Unless you've intentionally set your routers that way, anyway.
AGPS is a red herring. There's no such thing as AGPS in the Transformer, and so there's nothing to "clear". The A stands for Assisted, and that's Assisted by the cell connectivity in a phone or connected tablet. The Transformer -- unless you have the 3G version -- doesn't have cell connectivity, so it doesn't (and can't) have AGPS either.

I get the same results with our without the case. It is leather over cardboard.
outdoors I get better numbers on both devices, but the TF is always lower in value than the atrix.
I have the wifi location turned off on both devices. (trying to make it a fair comparison.) Does the phone still use the cell tower data to get location even if I have "Use wireless data" turned off on the"location" setting on the phone.
As it is, my TF is useless for maps or navigation. I am curious as to what Asus will say. I have a feeling that the antenna is just not very good. I don't know if it is just mine our if it is on all of them.
Keith

keithspg said:
Does the phone still use the cell tower data to get location even if I have "Use wireless data" turned off on the"location" setting on the phone?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would imagine so, yes. Wireless data isn't the same thing as AGPS data.
As it is, my TF is useless for maps or navigation. I am curious as to what Asus will say. I have a feeling that the antenna is just not very good. I don't know if it is just mine our if it is on all of them.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is accurate enough to correctly show which corner of my two-bedroom house I'm standing in.

Just to give a reference, I'm 12 feet from the nearest windows and my Transformer locked on to 6/8 satelites in about 2 seconds. My Vibrant takes about 2-10 minutes to do the same with a clear line of sight. B50.

dburckh said:
Just to give a reference, I'm 12 feet from the nearest windows and my Transformer locked on to 6/8 satelites in about 2 seconds. My Vibrant takes about 2-10 minutes to do the same with a clear line of sight. B50.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If yours is more typical, it may be that I have a defective one. From the replies, it also seems that I an not alone. Mine is a B60 serial number if that is relevant.
What serial number is yours?
I really do like this tablet, but would like a functional GPS.
Keith

I took the plunge and popped it open. The WiFi and GPS share the same ultra simple antenna. I did a bit of google-ing on GPS antennas and it may be a decent idea to buy a GPS antenna, but I will try making a more appropriate antenna with a piece of wire, first.
Keith