As we all know, the GPS is very spotty on our Captivate and very often we have problems getting a good satellite lock. However, after work one day I
opened up Google Nav to route myself back home. As usual, Google Nav gave me the usual "Searching for GPS" and it stayed there for at least 5-10 minutes.
Frustrated, I hit the power button and turned off the display. 20 seconds later, the female voice started shouting out directions?? I turned on the display and sure enough I had a lock. Also interestingly, 5 seconds after I switched on the display, the blue circle appeared over my position and I also lost my lock. I turn off the display, lock again. I do get a good lock once and a while with the display on, but if I'm having trouble I'll switch off the display and without fail I'll get one and I'll use the voice prompts to guide me. Anyone else notice this?
I'm running a completely stock GPS settings.
Complete coincidence, would kind of suck for Samsung if this was true.
That's odd. For me, whenever the screen turns off and locks for my Captivate, the GPS shuts down, losing whatever lock it previously fixed if it had one. I always get mad when my screen turns off when I'm using Google Maps as a result...
soloDOTcom1185 said:
That's odd. For me, whenever the screen turns off and locks for my Captivate, the GPS shuts down, losing whatever lock it previously fixed if it had one. I always get mad when my screen turns off when I'm using Google Maps as a result...
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Click to collapse
When you use google maps, yes, the gps shuts down when you turn off the screen. But if you were to use google navigation, the gps stays on even when the screen is off.
I don't remember where it was, but I remember some ceo or engineer claiming that the large screens on most new cell phones were likely to cause major gps issues because of interference. I think it was someone who worked within the GPS industry themself (think: Garmin).
Now I don't know if this person was just speculating or not but it's something to keep in mind.
Well I don't know about anyone else but DAMN! It's true! For me anyway. Screen off, navigate works. Turn the screen on and it immediately stops working and starts searching for gps.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Could be why they replaced the antenna in the Nexus S. A better/different antenna may be more resistant to interference.
TL;DR version:
1)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start driving. Result: Sporatic or no lock and definitely no turn by turn working.
2)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start GPSTest, start driving. Result: Almost constant lock and turn by turn works astonishingly well.
What gives?
Alright, please read this whole post, try it out, then comment on whether there is something to this or maybe I'm just crazy (a very definitely possibility). I was playing around with the GPS today and tried the Vibrant GPS hardware fix (pulling up the contact so that the GPS antenna is making better contact with the metal back). There wasn't much of a difference, so I decided to take the back off and run the GPS without the metal backing. I found that interestingly enough I was getting a better SNR with the back off than with the back on it was 8/8 at about 25-30 with the back on (using GPSTest) while with the back off it was 8/8 with 30-35.
Now comes the really interesting bit. On my drive home today I decided to see how well I could hold a moving lock. I turned on Google Navigation, pointed to my house, and started driving. Needless to say I was not able to hold a lock for very long. However, if I left the navigation app running and started GPSTest, all of a sudden I was getting the turn by turn voice pretty accurately. I then exited GPSTest and probably 10 seconds later lost my lock again. Open GPSTest, BOOM lock back on and turn by turn working again. Am I just hitting a really lucky coincidence or is GPSTest doing something we're not aware of? Please post here if you can either a) replicate what I'm seeing or b)think I'm blowing smoke cuz you aren't seeing a lick of difference.
smoking blow/10
anyways I'll try it out
comdei said:
smoking blow/10
anyways I'll try it out
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Click to collapse
BTW... this is GPS Test by Chartcross Limited, NOT the one by Mike Lockwood. You're welcome to try both however.
Previous GPS threads have repeatedly documented the positive effect of moving your nav app to the background. Theories on it center around backlight, temperature, or CPU/GPU. My own myTracks tests seem to point towards CPU/GPU. Or, at least, they seemed to rule out temperature or backlight as a factor.
So did you have GPS Test in the foreground during this test? This will pretty consistently give you improved performance over having Navigation up. If you turn the screen OFF altogether, it almost works as well as a real GPS! Check out the difference by recording a few drives in MyTracks -- it's night and day, on my phone at least.
My personal, uninformed theory (guess) is that the CPU/GPU and screen during Navigation are starving the GPS subsystem of power, causing either reception issues or causing the clock to desync and lose the position of the satellites it's tracking.
Ah well, such is life.
Perception 10.2 | SpeedMod K13D | I9000XXJQ1
I noticed this as well with my old setup (phone bought in August 2010 running Cognition & JK4 radio firmware). I got one of the refurbs from the random power off fiasco and GPS seemed to be just as unreliable. I've recently flashed the JL2 radio firmware, and GPS locks on within seconds and stays locked around town - as it should. I think a lot of people's issue would be completely resolved if they played around with radio firmwares...
Ikonomi said:
So did you have GPS Test in the foreground during this test? This will pretty consistently give you improved performance over having Navigation up. If you turn the screen OFF altogether, it almost works as well as a real GPS! Check out the difference by recording a few drives in MyTracks -- it's night and day, on my phone at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, GPS Test was in the foreground, navigation in the background. I get the feeling however its more to do with the application than the hardware. I say this because having other apps in the foreground doesn't quite have the same effect for me. Is that the case for everyone else as well?
knyghtryda said:
TL;DR version:
1)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start driving. Result: Sporatic or no lock and definitely no turn by turn working.
2)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start GPSTest, start driving. Result: Almost constant lock and turn by turn works astonishingly well.
What gives?
Alright, please read this whole post, try it out, then comment on whether there is something to this or maybe I'm just crazy (a very definitely possibility). I was playing around with the GPS today and tried the Vibrant GPS hardware fix (pulling up the contact so that the GPS antenna is making better contact with the metal back). There wasn't much of a difference, so I decided to take the back off and run the GPS without the metal backing. I found that interestingly enough I was getting a better SNR with the back off than with the back on it was 8/8 at about 25-30 with the back on (using GPSTest) while with the back off it was 8/8 with 30-35.
Now comes the really interesting bit. On my drive home today I decided to see how well I could hold a moving lock. I turned on Google Navigation, pointed to my house, and started driving. Needless to say I was not able to hold a lock for very long. However, if I left the navigation app running and started GPSTest, all of a sudden I was getting the turn by turn voice pretty accurately. I then exited GPSTest and probably 10 seconds later lost my lock again. Open GPSTest, BOOM lock back on and turn by turn working again. Am I just hitting a really lucky coincidence or is GPSTest doing something we're not aware of? Please post here if you can either a) replicate what I'm seeing or b)think I'm blowing smoke cuz you aren't seeing a lick of difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this worked really well for me. am on andromeda 3. but was getting on locks without staying on continuously. with the approach. gps was spot on.!! a BIG Thanks
I've noticed this for some time when running the GPS Application Test in lbstestmode. Run the GPS test first and then move it to the background and launch your normal GPS program and you'll usually be better off. Needless to say, I'm doing another warranty exchange in hopes of getting one with better GPS hardware soon.
Try this:
Get a mobile hotspot (or someone who has wifi tethering enabled on their phone). Put your phone into flight mode, then turn WIFI on and connect to that mobile hotspot. Fire up navigation, and go for a drive. You'll be amazed at how accurate your GPS is.
That leads me to believe that there is an interference issue in the GSM/GPS antennas. Part of the reason why putting navigation in the background helps improve the GPS performance is because it stops refreshing the map, which means it's not trying to use the GSM radio. But if you fire up Pandora, even with Navigation in the background, the GPS will start going nuts again.
I'm pretty sure AT&T is aware of this, and I even think they have a... well, not a fix, but a way to mitigate the problem.
A friend of mine did a warranty exchange on his Captivate last Monday for a problem with his USB port. The Captivate he got in exchange has been getting much better performance with it's GPS. And since his worked just fine all week, I exchanged mine yesterday. Now, quite often after flashing a new ROM, the GPS will work fine for a day or three. So I'm not going to be convinced mine is working as well just yet. But there are some notable differences from what I've seen before... When I'm tracking my position on Google Maps, my actual position now stays within what the GPS reports as it's error, even when I'm driving around. Previously, my phone might report a 10m error, but my actual position might be 200m or more from where it thought I was. In addition to that, I'm seeing that my phone is locking into more satellites, and holding that lock even as the SNRs drop due to obstructions. And finally, my GPS works just as good while it's in the car dock, whereas before it would only intermittently get enough signal to fix a position. Overall, while my GPS still isn't as good as other phones I've had in the past, it is now actually good enough to use and trust.
I think that AT&T isn't advertising this because it's not something that they can push out over the air or through a Kies update. I'm guessing that either they modified the antennas slightly, or that they installed a new firmware to the GPS chip (at a lower level than the driver)... or maybe both.
Either way, my friend's GPS has been working great all week long, and mine appears to be doing so as well. I'll not say that it's permanently fixed yet, but I'm cautiously optimistic. We'll see how it's doing after another few days go by.
UPDATE 3/28:
Two more days of testing have passed. So far, the GPS is holding up nicely. The only issues are with the car dock. When the phone is in the car dock, the GPS will occasionally drift 5~10 meters off of my position. This doesn't really surprise me, as the electronics in the car dock are right up against the GPS antenna, and simply putting the phone in the dock will drop the reported SNRs by more than 25% - usually a lot more.
Still, even with the car dock, the GPS is perfectly usable. And without the car dock, the GPS is now exactly what it should have been from the get-go.
I've also found that if I run either gps status or gps test to get the fix, then start whatever app I need to use, the performance is much better. Recently I just use lbs test to get the fix, then proceed with whatever app i need to use. Seems to work better, as lbs test continues to work in the background
i have seen this in the past but trying to prove that it is not random has been a problem as i cant repeat the results.
also i dont thing i have ever observed the phenomenon while using control plane mode.
maybe another coincidence, i cant tell but i have been using the control plane version of da_g's fix for a couple months now in combination with the jl3 modem and have gps that many smart phones would envy. i find jl3 to have the most stable positioning and tracking, less blue circles ect. i also find agps settings to hinder tracking. i only set agps mode to standalone. not sure how supl works or if controlplane supl setting is actually doing anything because i was under the impression that supl was part of agps but it is a combination that started working for me and i am sticking to it.
Hey has anyone found a good screensaver app for when the tablet is plugged in via hdmi to prevent damage to the screen.
I keep going to settings->about->4.1->bean flicker to get that screensaver app but irs a bit of a pain in the a** to do every time!!
P.s ideally one that activates on its own after a set time and when docked
Sent from my GT-I9505 using xda premium
You shouldn't need a screensaver as these are LCD displays, not the the old CRT displays....
The old TV's had screen burn because the picture tube was coated in phoshorus and had electrons shot at it (bit more complicated but this is what happened essentially). If the electrons were fired at the same spot the phosphorus would get burnt away creating screen burn. Not possible with LCD.... Completely different way of doing things...
On PC's screensavers have been out since the old CRT monitors and have been left in as people like them, what a waste of battery power on a tablet though...
No need for a screensaver indeed. I personally like to use app called Screen Standby - see details HERE. Or from Google Play
"Switch off the screen temporarily without actually putting the phone into 'sleep mode'. The phone is still running! It saves your battery, avoids heating to prolong battery life" Borrowed from Google Play
I have used this app many times. Works very nicely when connected to TV via HDMI. Needs root.
if you still want a screensaver however: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.j4velin.ultimateDayDream
I may have a lemon S2 Classic. 24 hours in and there are 3 relatively bad issues:
- Pedometer step counter does not work AT ALL. Wore watch all day and it shows I took *zero* steps.
- Heartbeat measuring is a major fail. Click the icon, and the resulting curve is erratic & all over the place. Never even locks on a heart rate and eventually gets to a "try again" button every single time.
- I have display set to always on. After a few seconds, it reverts to a plain black display with clock hands only. No other features. I can live with that, but wait a few minutes more and the screen goes completely black until I touch it or shake it to wake it back up.
I'm hoping someone can point out tips that mean some of this stuff is just user error, but I've spent a ton of time combing the settings both inside the watch as well as inside the phone app. HTC One M9, by the way, and the BT paired without a problem. Thinking Best Buy is about to get a watch returned! Thoughts on what I'm missing?
Sounds like you have a bad unit. My steps have been as accurate as any other wearable I've used. The heart rate monitor is excellent (you need to wear it snug though)... I can't comment on the ambient display as I don't use it
Sent from my A0001 using Tapatalk
I think You should return it - the problems You mentioned don't occur on my S2c.
The pedometer is not perfect, at least not before You make more than ~10 steps. If less, the smartwatch is not recording it (as far as I read, it suppose to work like that, cause devs implemented it to be 'eco-energy' and not start recording with every move). But in daily use it works fine for me.
Heartbeat sensor should record fine, maybe the grip on the belt is to loose? Try to make some activity with sHealth and observe if the sensor records anything.
About display - if You choose from settings 'always on' it WILL show only plain black display with clock hands. That's how it suppose to work If You are interested in having the face always turned on then look in the Store for 'I am Alive' app.
Hi
I've tried to find relevant info here but have failed...
Right were do I start?
I use Samsung Note 10 heavily for:
Android Auto
-Navigation (Google and Waze)
-Spotify
-Youtube Downloader (to play sound in the back ground)
-phone calls
GPS status app installed with A-GPS data updated.
Phone screen is always on with Courier Exchange app that uses GPS location etc
1. Main issue I get is GPS location accuracy whilst in big cities with Google maps (Waze is similar) , during navigation my position is shown with a delay and very often drive past the street I suppose to turn in or my position jumps to a street next to. After a stop for lets say 5-10 min if I start to drive again it takes about 60 sec until it picks up my location correctly again. Navigation works fine on motorways and in small towns.
I do use magnetic phone holder (the one that goes into a vent and with metal plate sicked onto a back of the phone) - could this be the issue? (never had that problem on Sony Xperia One) . Compass is calibrated and seems to be working correctly.
Phone additional Google accuracy settings (WiFi) needs to be on as this is requirement of CourierExchange app.
2. Second issue I get is phone overheating and slowing down dramatically.
As I've mentioned before I use Android Auto all the time ( for about 8-10hrs a day) , phone is charging constantly (fast charge off) and I do use Spotify / Youtube Mate to listen to music in the background. Had to switch off screen animation to speed the phone up.
I do have "Power mode" switched off for maximum performance. Phone gets very hot from time to time and tend to slow down, google maps scrolling on the vans unit slows down. Sometimes phone doesn't react on touch too.
Am I lacking the RAM here? Is the constant charging an issue (phone needs to be connected via USBcable to use Android Auto). My vent where the phone is located is closed so no hot air blows on the phone directly.
Is the phone simply too slow what I do or there's an Issue whit the phone? Phone is 3 weeks old and don't have many apps installed on it..
I did use Sony Xperia One (with magnetic phone holder in exactly same spot) before and due to its size and lack of dual sim option have decided to go for Note 10 (not 10+ which is too big). Sony worked so much faster and absolutely no issue with GPS between high buildings. Also I'm a little worried about lack of battery care by Samsung (or am I wrong?) as I constantly charge phone, Sony here was learning my habits and after some time didn't allow the phone to be fully charged whilst using Android Auto - had Xperia XZ1 Compact before and this one was also faster then Note 10 and after 2 years of heavy use battery is like new....
Can anyone help me resolve above issues? I still have the Sony One and thinking of getting rid of Samsung if the issues continue - this is costing me money.
For any help and advise what to do I will be very grateful.
I also experience the GPS issues you explain. Sitting still at a stop light and suddenly it's recalculating because I'm suddenly on a side street 500' away. I've never noticed any heat issue while using AA. I do not use any kind of mount. Also, my wifi calling often fails due to location unavailable error.