Sick of the GPS issues - Captivate General

I really needed the GPS to work the other night and it was so frustrating i about threw the phone out the window. What are some comparible phones to the captivate that are android based and can be unlocked to get the att 3g bands? Any ideas/suggestions on a phone would be appreciated.

I think HTC Desire HD is amazing...Im almost going to take it....And also, you know...HTC is much more trustble than Samsung KOREAN SUCKS company...I dont know why I got this ****...but, is to late for me...I dont wanna spend more money to get other phone now...

I love my captivate. Then again, I did come from a G1 lol. It is a great phone with great hardware.
Sent using smoke signals.

Change your gps settings to Network Provider instead of MS based it worked for me
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

if your comfortable rooting and trying out custom roms.
i highly recommend the chronos rom that can be found in the development section.
Since installing it i have only been able to test about 18 miles of travel with 18-20 turns but to this point it has not missed a single turn or shown me off the road when going around curves as it did with the stock rom and most other custom roms i have tried. Most of the i9000 based roms seem to have better gps performance but Chronos so far has been outstanding with locks and tracking.
chronos rom:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=869860

Is it really a software issue or a hardware one?
I tested my captivate last night while I was watching meteor showers, and I thought perfect time to test my gps. I used gps yest and my captivate quickly saw 9 satellites, but didn't lock onto a signal for forever. Dunno wtf is wrong with this
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

xetrev said:
I really needed the GPS to work the other night and it was so frustrating i about threw the phone out the window. What are some comparible phones to the captivate that are android based and can be unlocked to get the att 3g bands? Any ideas/suggestions on a phone would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was frustated with the GPS since a long time. But once i upgraded to assonance rom i am getting great GPS lock with 11 SATS. Try switching to that rom and see if it makes a diff

and i getting sick of fools keep saying "my gps is perfect!!"
samsung garbage is like a 10$ radio!
no matter what you do to it, it WILL NEVER sound like BOSE quality!

netnerd said:
and i getting sick of fools keep saying "my gps is perfect!!"
samsung garbage is like a 10$ radio!
no matter what you do to it, it WILL NEVER sound like BOSE quality!
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Click to collapse
In one sense i get what you say because many of the times i see that post all people are talking about are their lock times and # of sats they see/lock with no regard to tracking and navigation.
Maybe it won't last but my GPS has been perfect with the chronos rom and i am talking about locks and more importantly tracking. (i have only limited testing but in 18-20 turns it has tracked me perfectly without so much as a hiccup.....on stock and other roms it was only able to track me through 30-40% of turns so even with limited testing this is a pretty marked difference).
One thing to keep in mind is there are different batch #'s and i don't know if they have switched chips for any of the batches. Since i got mine pre-release i am assuming i have the first batch produced but after using chronos rom i am becoming more convinced it is a firmware and not a hardware issue. I don't believe it will ever be as good as a dedicated gps like my garmin and i never expected that but so far with this rom it is working as well as the gps/mapquest combo on my wifes iphone.
also on locks i am generally getting 10-12 Sats with a lock rate of 90+ - 100% and average lock time of 13 seconds

I'm with you. I am tired of the GPS not working. I am going to the Blackberry Torch this week. Probably Thursday or Friday. Either way, I need a new phone.

maxjivi05 said:
Change your gps settings to Network Provider instead of MS based it worked for me
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
This also has worked for me, but it is a band-aid option IMO. Leveraging a Wi-Fi GPS provider isn't going to help you when you're riding in your car on I-95.

I know it's a real big band-aid, but it works fine for the car and is easier than getting a new phone.
I spent 20 bucks and got a tom tom bluetooth GPS receiver, combined with a free up on the market called "Bluetooth GPS Provider" and I get 1M accuracy in Maps/Nav. Since I primarily only use the GPS in the car, it's not that big of a deal to leave an accessory in there.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HZI2YY/ref=oss_product

Ok guys not another GPS thread. We all know that for whatever reason the GPS is spotty at best. No sense in beating a dead horse.

Related

[Q] After flashing to factory default with Odin 3, GPS absolutely sucks

Am I the only one with this issue? Anyone else flashed the factory firmware/radio with odin 3 and noticed terrible GPS performance?
because stock has horrible gps issues
shabbypenguin said:
because stock has horrible gps issues
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Click to collapse
When you say stock has horrible GPS issues, I'm not understanding. When I first got the phone, the GPS appeared to work flawlessly. This was while the phone was stock (straight from Best Buy). But now, after flashing to the Stock rom with odin 3, which should have put the phone in the same state as it came from best buy with, the GPS is noticeably horrible. Is there something that needs to be done after flashing with odin 3?
rose1 said:
When you say stock has horrible GPS issues, I'm not understanding. When I first got the phone, the GPS appeared to work flawlessly. This was while the phone was stock (straight from Best Buy). But now, after flashing to the Stock rom with odin 3, which should have put the phone in the same state as it came from best buy with, the GPS is noticeably horrible. Is there something that needs to be done after flashing with odin 3?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope its just the way Epic is.
You may have thought you were getting outstanding gps but you weren't ,just because it starts fast doesn't mean it gets the job done as should.
After a couple times using gps satellite loc goes down the tubs...like 1 loc 26-30 meter location base.
Hopefully Sammy & Sprint release patch fast.
sling said:
Nope its just the way Epic is.
You may have thought you were getting outstanding gps but you weren't ,just because it starts fast doesn't mean it gets the job done as should.
After a couple times using gps satellite loc goes down the tubs...like 1 loc 26-30 meter location base.
Hopefully Sammy & Sprint release patch fast.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, thanks for the response.
My phones default settings were do NOT use cellular for gps, so it took it several minutes to get location.
Wifes samsung moment gps is horrible so it was literally the first thing I checked on epic.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
IIRC (from and engadget/giz article) this is a new decision by google that it must be disabled. I wouldn't be surprised if ready-now techs enabled this which might be why some people don't see an issue. In the article they claim to have established that there is no issue with the epic after enabling this.
I've had no problems personally, but I'm coming from a Treo 800w (which actually gave an error and said you couldn't use the GPS if you disabled the "Use Wireless Networks"-like setting)... LORAN is better than that things GPS.
Note this setting is different from the privacy setting(s) of allowing position information access but does still have privacy implications (if your phone still knows (kind of) where it is all the time you can't simply hide your location by disabling the GPS).
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
Mine was slow to connect at first but once it got locked it seems as if its faster now and extremely acurate compared to evo which I am disliking more and more by the day. Just the weight alone....hhhmmm anyone want to buy a mint condition evo? lol

Will GPS ever work like it should

Iv had this phone since the day it came out... this phone is awesome in every aspect expect GPS... I had the blackberry bold 9000 and that had an excellent GPS never gave me any issues I'm really thinking of trading my captivate for a torch 9800 ... what I want to know it that is there any hope for this GPS? And when should. We expect it
In a word No. This really seems like a hardware issue. otherwise this would have been taken care of in the subsequent updates. Cappy is a great device but the gps is very hit or miss. Line of sight is very important if that is lost gps loses fix. It seems like a hardware issue no matter what software fix or setting you can use.
No
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Am I the only one that believes it will with froyo? I'm not giving up!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
If you guys really want your gps to work there are a couple ways I have found to improve it greatly. This is as close to a fix as i can find out there, and I am somewhat happy with my gps now. I say somewhat because it really should have been totally fixed by now. I am running a i9000 rom with my lbstestmode setting stock except accuracy set to 250 which IMO only makes it lock faster and doesn't affect accuracy. I can usually get a lock accurate to 10-15 m in about 5 sec outside. Navigation tracks well I usually only have one or two hiccups on a 30 mile trip. I have been running this set up for about a month and a half so I am pretty sure it will stick. And btw my gps never got a lock stock no matter what I did if I wasn't using wireless networks. Hope this helps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I don't think its a hardware issue. I am in Canada and the GPs has been working pretty much flawlessly on the Rogers Captivate. You can see other threads and everyone who has had a Rogers Captivate and flashed other ROMS (ie. AT&T) has noted that their GPS turned to crap.
I have had this phone for a month and the GPS has been stable and I get an accurate reading down to (5-10m) in 10 seconds or so.
I believe that it is a driver issue and how it tries to communicate with the software on our phones. Sure each ROM means different software settings, which I think helps tweak the software to work a bit better with the driver, but until they fix the communication between the broadcom chip and Samsung's (or AT&T) software, it won't work like it is supposed to. Samsung so far has only tried to fix it in their software, not the driver.
This explanation also helps explain why some GPS's are better than others. No two phones have the exact same files and settings, even from stock, which can explain variance of GPS.
However, hasn't anyone else noticed that the more we move away from Samsung/AT&T software on our phones and unlock it, the better the GPS seems to get, little by little? I believe there will be no solution from Samsung, but it will just appear in the Dev section here one day, when one person stumbles upon the real communication culprit when messing around on their system.
On perception build three rom. Did juniper fix. I get a lock in under 10 seconds even with heavy cloud cover. Tracks very well too. It can be fixed. But you have to bee willing to mess around a bit.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I'm with the OP. I love every single aspect of my phone except the GPS. I LOVE google maps and location based services on the phone. But having them all be crippled is a daily annoyance for me. One person mentioned that the Rogers Captivate works well. Has anyone tried loading a Rogers rom on an AT&T phone?
We all know that GPS issues have affected every initial launch variant of the Galaxy S phones. Is there any version of the phone out there that has gotten an update that fixed the GPS issue for EVERYONE, including TRACKING? If there is, we should be looking into that rom for a fix. If there isn't, I'd say we should be very concerend that a fix will never come.
The GPS will never ever work.
Really too bad for those out there that have GPS not working as expected...I wouldn't be happy either, but since I chgd the supl server to google I've had no problems obtaining a lock-accurate as well..
gmanunited said:
In a word No. This really seems like a hardware issue. otherwise this would have been taken care of in the subsequent updates.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol
You're making the giant false assumption that Samsung cares about updating.
mcord11758 said:
juniper
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Click to collapse
It's JUPITER, as in, the planet. I tend not to nitpick spelling or grammar but in this case it's really annoying as the first time I heard about this fix I wasted some time searching in vain for JUNIPER (which is a genus of plant), which produces no helpful hits.
I was a non-believer.... The best I ever got was on Stock JH7...
But My GPS is perfect and locks in under 3 seconds on google navigation and tracks perfectly with the Axura Rom.
Last one i tried beta4 worked perfectly. Gonna flash beta5 in the morning and test that out with a long drive tomorrow.
With Axura I have officially left eclair 2.1 in the dust and won't go back due to the over sophistication of Axura. I give it a week or two before it is clearly the most used rom on the Galaxy S line.
I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.
Krad said:
I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.
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Click to collapse
Anything that incorporates the Jupiter v006 files seems to have significantly improved GPS, including Axura (I'm not 100% sure it uses the Jupiter v006 files but it sure seems like it) and Perception.
I haven't really read of anyone having significant GPS problems once they have any ROM with the Jupiter v006 tweaks or applied it manually themselves, but we'll see as time goes on.
A couple days ago I was in Perception snooping around, and found a GPS settings file in the system that had different settings than in the Jupiter006 file. The Jupiter file was in there, but this file was named something different and a different location, and it used a different supl. I was looking for something else at the time, so I mentally noted it to go back and check it out for testing, but I can't find it now, I looked for it for an hour today. :/
Hmmm..... The GPS locking on is not the problem i get locks with in seconds , what is the problem is accuracy, the gps works NEARLY flawless in locking and accuracy when on a highway or interstate but when driving in the city were streets are close to each other my location jumps around like crazy, im using AXURA beta 5 and ive tried supl.google.com with no luck thanks for all your help everyone, ill look up the Jupiter fix and see if it helps ....I'm not to good with any tweaking other then flashing and lag fix's so if someone can lead me to a tutorial on the Jupiter fix that would really help
JPS81 said:
Anything that incorporates the Jupiter v006 files seems to have significantly improved GPS, including Axura (I'm not 100% sure it uses the Jupiter v006 files but it sure seems like it) and Perception.
I haven't really read of anyone having significant GPS problems once they have any ROM with the Jupiter v006 tweaks or applied it manually themselves, but we'll see as time goes on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
with perception 4 i had my worst gps problems. I have had good lock times with just about ever rom including stock but with perception 4 i had difficulty acquiring locks period.
Tracking is a bigger issue. I don't believe the gps will ever track perfectly or even close to the performance that it should. Someone claimed their device tracks perfectly with auxura which i haven't tried but will....but again i am skeptical and would be curious exactly how much real-time driving navigation they have tested.
Anytime someone brings up the notion of this being at least partially a hardware issue people say that it just speculation. Asserting that it isn't is no less speculation.
With some of the beastly devices coming (as soon as january...im looking at your terminator aka olympus) not address the serious gps flaw is not good business. So i believe if it could be fixed with firmware it would have been and you wouldn't hear them use words like OPTIMIZE instead of fix/repair. Am i the only one the thinks it seems they realized they can't fix it and are just trying to hold on and sell as many as they can (several places had them free with 2year contract yesterday and this weekend) before the next serious contender hits.
I really don't care for IOS but mapquest + wife's iphone 4 is a good example of how the gps on a phone can and should function in regard to locks and excellent tracking.
Krad said:
I will take a video of my gps and google nav with my wifes blackberry 9700 running os6.
I know my post is unbelievable.. just wait for the video footage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
would love to see this. please make sure to use a route with plenty of turns..and some portion of city navigation. I am skeptical that it will track you through every turn as a gps should. Straight line tracking isn't using a problem except for the occasional lag. The tracking problem is it has a serious issue being able to track you accurately enough to know when you had turned 50% or more of the time.
UPDATE
just flashed axura 5 so will give it a brief nav test shortly.
The aesthetics of the settings menu is very nice in this build. I wish they would give up on 3d app drawer though UGLY and SLOW.
Haven't had much time to play with it yet but will report back.
limited testing but might have to eat crow.
FRESH FLASH of AXURA 5
only a 10 mile drive but did incorporated 12-15 turns.
Lock time and accuracy when stationary was great.
Best tracking and turn by turn navigation i have had yet.
Only missed one turn and it corrected itself to actual location much quicker (before when i would turn nav would continue through the intersection and start giving verbal reroutes thinking i was on a different street and then when it would finally think it had correctly re-rerouted it would actually be running parellel to me 1 or 2 blocks off).
Taking this with a grain of salt further testing necessary as i have had promising results with fresh flashed roms before only to have them quickly go to crap within a few days testing. But this is one of the more promising so i will be staying with Axura for now.
The only gps issue that really stood out was a little bit of a lag after you had been completely stationary. Slight Lag pinpointing me on road after i pulled out of driveway and same thing when leaving grocery store parking lot.
PS - are you using the stock gps settings that came with the flash or did you modify anything.

[Q]Anyone test out the Inspire GPS yet?

I'm seriously considering turning in my Captivate for the Inspire, but I don't want to make the same mistake I did with the Captivate.
Keeping that in mind, has anyone tested the GPS on the Inspire yet?
LiqudDeth said:
I'm seriously considering turning in my Captivate for the Inspire, but I don't want to make the same mistake I did with the Captivate.
Keeping that in mind, has anyone tested the GPS on the Inspire yet?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I returned my captivate, I will be getting the inspire. HTC has never had problems with their GPS like Samsung has. I don't think you have any worries honestly. I will know in a few days..
Gpd should be fine. My only concern is the radio and camera. Htc cameras are usually some of the worse.
I can tell u the camera is super sharp with touch focus, looks great on huge slcd screen too..I heard people saying vids look yellowish whilest using led lights..but I tested it store today so no chance to use led
Sent from my Liberty using XDA App
GPS is solid. Three days of use and no issues there.
Sent from my Inspire 4G using XDA App
If its anything like my Tilt2,itll be amazing. Im on my second Tilt2 and they both get instant lock in 2-5 seconds with 8-11 satellites. All my HTC phones had great GPS signal.
I just tested my GPS and lock was very fast.
Nice this is something that I use everyday and my captivate has never ever worked correctly, actually I think it navigated all the way home the day I bought it and never worked again lol. F&CK SAMSUNG!! I will never buy another samsung product ever.
Thanks guys. All of us soon-to-be-former Captivate owners really appreciate the feedback.
LiqudDeth said:
Thanks guys. All of us soon-to-be-former Captivate owners really appreciate the feedback.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite true. I can't bloody wait.
Sent from my Oops it just shutdown again.
GPS works fine. Phone is very. very cool. I went to Costco after seeing posts here today. Took them 10 min to activate with data. Phone also has a cool blue tooth transfer feature to move your contacts over.
How are all of you Captivate owners trading in your phones? If there is a specific complaint that will get the job done, let me know.
I just picked the Inspire for my wife and I am jealous. The phone is stupid fast. Has the HTC build quality that I love and the screen is sweet.
uhmump95 said:
How are all of you Captivate owners trading in your phones? If there is a specific complaint that will get the job done, let me know.
I just picked the Inspire for my wife and I am jealous. The phone is stupid fast. Has the HTC build quality that I love and the screen is sweet.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only speak for myself, but I will be going to the att store and.politely demanding an exception upgrade due to the general known issues with the captivate. If that works, great. If not, I will be either paying my minimal etf and going to T-Mobile, or sucking it up and paying the no contract price. I haven't decided between those two yet.
Sent from my Oops it just shutdown again.
I got to use it again today so I tried gps indoors. It connected quickly using Google maps and locked onto several satellites in gps test. Every Samsung unit I've ever had since they started having internal gps has had awful performance. My Captivate has always been terrible and I've had 3 of them. HTC phones tend to connect well and the Inspire is no exception.
This phone is just what I've been waiting for on AT&T along with the Atrix, but I have a feeling the Moto isn't going to be all it's cracked up to be.
I can also confirm that the Inspire's GPS works perfectly. I'm also coming from a Captivate, and it's so relieving to finally have a working GPS. I actually bought a bluetooth GPS receiver because I was so fed up with the GPS on the Captivate. I no longer have any use for the receiver.
Donatron said:
I actually bought a bluetooth GPS receiver because I was so fed up with the GPS on the Captivate.
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Click to collapse
Lol... I had one sitting around from my HTC 8525 days. Did the same as you and used with the Craptivate. Good riddance.
I didnt trade in my captivate, but i did sell it and have never looked back. Back in july i totally bought into the hype of the galaxy s specs and had nothing but problems with my captivate. Stock the phone is garbage, was only worth using after custom froyo rom, custom overclock kernel, lagfix and changing the laggy file system. The inspire is an awesome device even stock without any mods its fast & responsive. And also having working gps is a bonus, coming from captivate im not used to it locking on so fast.
Sent from Inspire 4G
how does accuracy up to 3 meters sound inside of my house. With samsung I never got anything better then 15 meters outside the house. Inside no signal ever.
How is the actual driving gps?
Previously had a craptivate and had horrible gps where I would stop and gps signal icon would still be going forward like I was driving into incoming traffic. How is the inspire in driving conditions? does it actually stop when your car stops? lol
Also, the compass works correctly as well.
Sent from my Desire HD using XDA App

Lack of captivate issues

My phone works perfect. My gps tracks perfectly through the woods and in my house I get 15' accuracy when running a GPS test. My phone doesn't randomly shutdown. Actually both of my captivates have the same lack of issues.
Wait, nope I did have one issue. I removed GTalk after I rooted and flashed Cognition to fix it, without enabling lagfix.
Am I alone in this? Are there other people who don't have problems?
I love the developers here, they constantly are working on improving perceived issues and do it without whining about inferior products or people. Oh and they do it for free.
Thank god for developers.
thumbs up!
go devs!
I think you're in denial or you just aren't OCD enough to realize the phone does have flaws. Mostly due to laziness in design by Samsung, not enough testing. I have an inside source saying the entire Samsung Development team was frying on mushrooms when working on this...
After Paragon RC4 fixed my GPS issue I can't think of any problem my phone has and I hammer away on it all day. I have build 1008.
Sent using XDA App
1 shut down when I first bought the phone. Going on 3 months (of ownership) now, with no issues. Of course I suppose a lot of the credit goes to Cognition 3.04 for being a great stable rom
yeah my gps is great... if im walking.. not if im driving.
no shutdown issues though.
had denied access though when trying to use "usb storage mode" returned phone. no issues with new one except gps...
I've been very fortunate as well. GPS isn't perfect, but got me around downtown Philadelphia perfectly just yesterday.
Phone is rooted, with stock rom. Removed AT&T bloatware. Using K-9 for mail, Dolphin HD for browser and of course advanced task killer.
No shutdowns, battery gets me through the day. Worst thing is the new Android Market, which is much slower than the previous versions.
I am a Samsung fan, having progressed from a Sammy flip phone, to the Blackjack, to the Jack, to my Captivate, so I am a bit biased. Folks in the office have several Verizon models, including an older HTC model, an Incredible, and a Droid 2. Each one has a few quirks, so take it for what it's worth
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Never had any issues here, either.
My GPS works perfectly too; I get 1.2 m accuracy in my house which is surrounded by trees . . . but only since I started using a TomTom Wireless MKII (bluetooth) receiver.
It's funny how the MKII which was designed and built 5 years ago can get a lock in my house in a few seconds when the Captivate's built-in GPS always takes 248 seconds to lock under better conditions (outside). I wonder if that metal case back is a problem . . . hmmmmm
Listen to the audio of a video recording.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Hurricane Andrew said:
Phone is rooted, with stock rom. Removed AT&T bloatware. Using K-9 for mail, Dolphin HD for browser and of course advanced task killer.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you are aware that using a task killer is a waste of time... right? it is totally unneeded on android.
http://geekfor.me/faq/you-shouldnt-be-using-a-task-killer-with-android/
So, honestly, I've had more issues with custom roms than with the phone at stock. I've had weird mass storage problems, GPS lock quality, force closes, strange wifi lock ups that require a reboot or a complete dump of programs in ram, data network loss until a reboot, just to name the major ones.
With the stock software, even though there was a crap ton of bloat, the phone worked. Sure, there was random lag, and the GPS took a little longer to lock(up to 1min), but when it did, it never had issues with maps or navigation like it does now, where the program thinks I'm driving in a river, or suddenly changed directions going 80 on the interstate. The mass storage worked better also, as did BT audio.
I gained speed and customization with the roms from this community, but it was essentially trading one issue for another.
groves226 said:
My gps tracks perfectly through the woods
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Click to collapse
Your GPS works cause you're in the woods. Try skyscrapers... then you'll have a fun time with that GPS unit.
That's good that you like it though. Never let someone convince you its broken if it ain't...
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
groves226 said:
My phone works perfect. My gps tracks perfectly through the woods and in my house I get 15' accuracy when running a GPS test. My phone doesn't randomly shutdown. Actually both of my captivates have the same lack of issues.
Wait, nope I did have one issue. I removed GTalk after I rooted and flashed Cognition to fix it, without enabling lagfix.
Am I alone in this? Are there other people who don't have problems?
I love the developers here, they constantly are working on improving perceived issues and do it without whining about inferior products or people. Oh and they do it for free.
Thank god for developers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're not alone.
GPS has worked for me from day one (I bought it on launch day), literally. My first full day with the phone I flew to another state, had no clue about the area and it got me everywhere I needed to go.
any gps receiver wll have issues with multipath. There is nothing that can fix, actual yes, remove tall building which are close to each other
My original phone worked fine at first, then developed the random shutdown issue. It was bone stock. I tried rooting, ROMing, etc to fix it, but it still shutdown.
I exchanged it for a "refrubed replacement" 12-31-2010. I left the replacement stock for almost a month to make sure it was going to work right before I did any mods. The shutdown issue was gone, and the GPS worked great.
I was hesitant to flash it cuz it was working and stable. But I had already had a taste of custom roms so I couldn't bear leaving it stock forever.
Flashed different roms, different kernels, numerous different modems etc.... So far so good.
No issues yet. But now that I said something it'll probably die on me tomorrow!
I do live in a small city(Fayetteville NC which is a small town compared to Philly) but driving in Raleigh and Dallas I don't have any issue. (bought my phone in dallas) Driving or walking or running it just works. Alsk I get lock in less then 20 seconds which is pretty average for a lot of gps devices I have used. (well not the military PLGR which seemed to take 30minutes to lock)
I thought about it and there is one thing I do with a custom rom I didn't do with stock: live background.
Cognition was ok but now I'm running Phoenix Rising.
Great dev community in XDA all around, and if I hadn't removed GTalk I would never have tried one of these roms.
And for playing video or media I get issues with 1080 files but everything else works good enough for a phone. Yeah a phone, compared to an Ipod touch or Zune Hd or a computer it isn't as good but I also can't make phone calls on some or fit the other in my pocket which makes this Captivate a great device.
Right on about the multipath! I wonder how many GPS complaints are from this.
Heh like listening to the radio or watching old school pre-HD tv in a city.
The only issue I had with stock cappy is it would not connect to pc. I tried every driver under the sun, on xp, vista, and even bought windows 7. Nada. My wifes would connect immediately. So I just made att swap it out for a new one and it works perfectly. I really didn't care until I got tired of waiting on froyo and decided to flash. I wanted a backup on my pc so I called att and did a swap. 3 days later I flashed my first rom. Now my OTA download rate is faster than my dsl, so I'm sticking it to att by dl'ing over their network.
My wife and son also have Captivates, both stock. They got them in November 2010.
My wife's has been fine for the most part but has shutdown maybe 3 times over the months. She has opted not exchange it yet since the shutdowns have been very rare. Her GPS works fine but is a little slow to lock.
My son's just started shutting down over the last week or so. It's to the point we are probably going to have to take it in for an exchange.

Droid Charge GPS?

Howdy all?
I don't know WHAT I was thinking but on impulse bought the LG Revolution last night. It's a decent and I do want to emphasize just decent, however it has an AMAZING GPS capability.
Well I am going to right my wrong and get the Charge, hence how is the GPS on it in comparison? I need a device that locks fast and can get below 20 meters (long story with crap phone at AT&T)!
Any guidance/perspective would be appreciated.
Angieutc
gps is great. Locks quickly. Much better than the fasciante was. I wouldnt regret buying the revo...its a great phone too.
Doesn't the Revo have Bing by default for search engine? I thought about getting the Revo but I hate Bing.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
sir2545 said:
Doesn't the Revo have Bing by default for search engine? I thought about getting the Revo but I hate Bing.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
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Exactly why I am taking it back. I did not know how deeply intergrated bing was into the phone. I thought it was just to higlight the search engine.
Plus there is not excitement about the phone. Verizon reps weren't excited to talk about it and there is not support on XDA.
On thing -- GPS and call quality were some of the best i have had on a phone.
I made a mistake and thankful I can fix it within my 14 day period.
sir2545 said:
Doesn't the Revo have Bing by default for search engine? I thought about getting the Revo but I hate Bing.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA Premium App
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Easily removed.
suzook said:
Easily removed.
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True. However, I would feel better with a Samsung or HTC model. Something is nagging in my mind that I would regret the LG purchase down the line. Just a feeling.
angieutc said:
On thing -- GPS and call quality were some of the best i have had on a phone.
I made a mistake and thankful I can fix it within my 14 day period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you will maybe regret making the change. There WILL be roms, with debloat. And make the phone what it should be.
GPS on the Charge is okay. Doesn't lock nearly as fast as other Moto devices that I have had.
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
Gps rocks under 5 meter accuracy and fast lock times. Way better than the captivate I used to own
Sent from my SCH-I510 using XDA App
im very unimpressed by ALL of its wireless network capabilities, the gps can take minutes to lock on its fairly accurate but sometimes i'll go threw 2 songs and pass 4 exits before it locks and i find out im going the wrong way. on top of that i had the HTC TB and it had great 4G signal all around my area but my charge is maybe 1/2 to 3/4 as strong in the same places, also the bluetooth will NOT stay connected to anything which is a HUGE problem at least for me because i have a tablet and the entire reason i bought the charge was for th 4g hotspot to share with my transformer but as of right now that is nothing more than a pipe dream. I'm hoping that some of these issues will be ironed out because i can't take this phone back now and i have to wait for something newer to come out.
sadly i'm slightly disappointed in this phone so far but i do understand that in time problems will be addressed.
as far as another phone to get its hard to suggest ANY of verizons 4G phones as they all kinda suck....
So far, the GPS on my Charge has been awful. I love the phone to death, but every time I try to use the GPS, it just laaaags. Doesn't matter what program I'm using to access the GPS.
Thankfully, there are very few reasons I need GPS and most of those reasons, I really don't need GPS, I just need a location, which I can get with cell tower triangulation or whatever.
...Ok, I just opened my phone, flipped on GPS, opened Google maps and it is working perfectly. Eh... so I guess I'll amend "awful" to "spotty with a chance of awesome."
The GPS in my Charge works. It is not nearly as fast as my Droid X was, and it struggles to get a lock indoors, but I only rely on it for 1 app and can make do.
My DX would have a lock within 2 seconds max, and the Charge will take up to 10 seconds for an initial lock. That being said, I have not experienced any latency/accuracy issues once locked on to 5+ satellites.
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Sent via the combination of 4G airwaves and a Samsung device, using the full featured version of Tapatalk, better known as Forum Runner.
GPS has been terrible for me. I have had to use additional testing apps to get it to lock at all on occasion and it has been slow in those instance. Prior to EE4 it was excellent, but since it has been horrible.
My GPS completely blows, just like the Fascinate.
For those with the GPS issues, download GPS Test by Chartcross and fire that up one time. It should get a signal within 15 seconds. After opening that one time, my other GPS apps lock a signal very quickly.
It sounds strange but that solved my GPS issues...
robstamack said:
For those with the GPS issues, download GPS Test by Chartcross and fire that up one time. It should get a signal within 15 seconds. After opening that one time, my other GPS apps lock a signal very quickly.
It sounds strange but that solved my GPS issues...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have taken to using that app as well. For me it means the difference between not being able to lock and being able to lock in a minute or three. Now, I have taken to modifying my gps.conf .. so we'll see how that goes.
My wife's takes literally over five minutes to lock the first use each day or so, but sped up with a the testing app. It seems like Samsung has issues with pull GPS data off the net/cell towers to speed the initial connection. Just a theory.
Sent from my ADR6300 using XDA App
My GPS has also been very awful since ive gotten my charge last week. It takes forever to lock and mostly it doesn't even lock accurately on my location kinda disappointing coming from a BB that locks on almost instantly on my exact location.
I remember it working real well but then yesterday I went to use Navigation and got nothing. Since then I've tried to clear the DV cache, clear the GPS data, reinstall Maps. Nothing has worked. Through the testing apps, I can see it is getting some gps signal but they are mostly weak and it never locks on to anything. I am thinking about wiping my phone to see if maybe that will do the trick. Might be a good time to start getting into Roms.
I've only used mine twice, but it seems to consistently position me about .25 to .5mi away to the south from my actual location. (Both times I was using it indoors.)

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