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my GPS testing: OK for me. My opinion...

I bought my first Captivate at the very beginning of August. I wanted the GPS to work, so I could use it instead of a separate GPS unit sometimes. After about 5 days the GPS was really struggling to lock. I put it outside under the open sky for 5 minutes with GPS Test, and it saw lots of satellites but used zero. I reset the phone and poof, it worked properly again. That seemed like a strange bug to me. I heard an update was coming by the end of September, but that was going to be outside my 30 days, so I returned my Captivate to Best Buy and got my $230 back, no problems.
Sept 7, I bought a new Captivate, now only $150 at Best Buy. This one worked fine and the GPS never completely failed like the first one did. But I didn't test much as I waited for the update. September 22 I forced the update on my normal unrooted captivate, and it went fine. I did some testing and the GPS seemed to track OK and lock in a reasonable time. Now its a week later and it still seems good.
Here are a couple comments.
First a note on my GPS experience. I own 3 GPS units besides the Captivate, and older MIO C230, a Garmin eTrex Centure HC, and SPOT 2 GPS Messenger. I also have extensive experience with a Garmin Nuvi 1390T. I ride a dirt bike in the desert and have used tracks to navigate extensively.
- Time to get satellite lock. The Captivate does often take a while to lock on the satellites. But so do all my other GPS devices. Sometimes they lock quickly, but often they can take a minute or more. This is related to whether they have stored data on where they are, and thus know where to look for the satellites. At any rate I don't always get a quick lock on the Captivate, but it has never failed to get a lock under a clear sky if I give it up a minute or two. 10m resolution is typical once locked under a unobstructed sky. For those having trouble with this: Are you giving the Captivate a clear view of the sky and a couple minutes? Yes, sometimes GPS's lock indoors and really quickly. But in my experience this isn't always true. What I'm saying is the Captivate works similarly to the other GPS's I use. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But it is always locking under a clear unobstructed sky within a couple minutes.
- Google maps. After it locks, the captivate shows my location on the map well. As I said above, sometimes lock takes a minute or more. And it requires a clear view of the sky most of the time.
- Track quality. I tested with "My Tracks". I run around town on a scooter every day, so its easy to turn on the tracker and and see what happens. I put the Captivate in my pocket on my thigh, back side facing the sky. The only thing obscuring its view is my body. Basically, it seems to work fine. It certainly works as well as my Garmin eTrex. The eTex tracks are always a bit rough too. Yes, the Captivate track does sometimes cut the corner or the curve and is off the street that I actually rode on. But it basically follows my route well. It has always followed me when I loop around a block, or drive down a short dead end and come back. I can definitely tell where I went and what roads I took when I look at the track. I'm not bothered if it shows me 20-40 feet off the road on occasion (as I have noted, so does my Garmin eTrex). I expect this with a 10m resolution.
- Navigation. I've been using the google Navigation app on drives in the car. I mount the Captivate in a mount on the dash, so it has a clear view of the sky through the glass. It's not on the seat, or in the ashtray or in a cup holder. It's mounted to the windshield close to the front, so it has a good view of a broad expanse of sky. This is exactly how I mount the Mio GPS or Garmin etrex or Garmin Nuvi when I use those in the car. Used like this, my Captivate navigation has been excellent. Frankly, its far better app than the Mio or Garmin Nuvi 1390T that I have used. The searches are quick and I like the presentation. Obviously, in Navigation the app knows to lock you on the street. And when I drive past an indicated turn it always notices immediately.
Summary: So I don't know what has changed since my first Captivate, but this one seems fine to me. I don't know if it's the hardware, or the SW update. But so far mine works as well as the other GPS devices I have used. If it keeps working like this for another week, I'm definitely keeping it. I'm sure some have trouble, as I did with my first Captivate. And I do think some others expect too much: I don't expect the Captivate to be "THE BEST GPS" I have ever seen. I expect it to lock within 2 minutes, work for navigation in my car, to find me on a google map and to record a track of where I went. This all seems to be working for me. (And usually it locks in well under a minute for me). I think I'll keep it... if this performance keeps up.
IMO, YMMV
Carl

vintagephone/Carl. Yours is a very useful write up. I use a Garmin GPS for Geocaching, some street navigation and bicycle riding in the country. What you wrote should be very helpful to someone not so familiar with GPS devices in general. Thanks.
= Ron

I completely agree. People looking at 'my tracks' and showing that there are some slight variations - we don't even know if the google maps is 100% accurate, as I know there are certain places where it doesn't match up directly with the road. I think as long as no errors are being presented during navigation (mine is doing fine in navigation mode) there is not really any complaining that can be done. Even my built in car GPS makes a mistakes once in a blue moon.

I'm not sure what Garmin Nuvi you're using, but I have a 2 yr old 250W and it smokes this phone. The phone has me driving through people's yards and buildings. It has gotten better since the JH7 update, its almost what I would call usable now. Try doing a Mytracks track on it, its a joke how far off it is. Its certainly unusable for that.

derek4484 said:
I'm not sure what Garmin Nuvi you're using, but I have a 2 yr old 250W and it smokes this phone. .
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I'm very familiar with the Garmin I used, a Nuvi 1390T. Negatives for the Garmin included horrible traffic reports, and searches for my destination took forever. Basic Navigation was OK, if you knew the address of where you were going. And if you were going someplace more than 30 miles away (a common undertaking in the LA basin), you just couldn't get there. Searches on the Nuvi only include locations within 30 miles. Frankly, the search was much worse than on my old Mio. I had the Nuvi 1390 for a couple weeks and returned i just as I got my second Captivate. For basic GPS navigation, the Nuvi was OK, but I saw no advantage over the Captivate. Are you mounting your Captivate in the same way and place you are mounting your Nuvi? I actually use a modified Nuvi windshield mount with my Captivate, so my mounting is literally identical.
Now, you Captivate my not work as well as mine. My original Captivate was worse than this one. As I said, YMMV (your mileage may vary).

I use a Garmin V GPS receiver for Geocaching and some other activities which demands a very high degree of accuracy. This receiver will use as many birds as it can find (seldom less than five) to determine its location but a cell phone GPS receiver may limit the number of satellites it tracks to conserve battery power.
Using four satellites, the accuracy of the Garmin V typically comes down to a target area that is two to twenty feet in diameter. This unit is fast; I can watch the current location triangle move past streets just as I am able to make out the street signs.
The Captivate I ordered will not be here until later today so I can't report anything about my experience with that device. I have been using an HTC device (AT&T "Tilt") and Google Maps for several years now and can report it has very good GPS accuracy and speed when compared to the Garmin unit. I would be pleased indeed if the Captivate even comes close to the performance of the Tilt.
As with any GPS device, it has to have line of sight visibility with at least three satellites to report its position with any reliability. Clouds (with heavy moisture), trees and tall buildings can reduce GPS accuracy substantially. Bicycling through heavily forested areas reduces the accuracy of my Garmin V from a few feet to hundreds of feet. As it takes a few minutes for the receiver to "lock on" and recalculate its position, after pedaling through a forested area I can be a mile up the road before the display catches up. Even at bicycle speeds (15MPH) I have missed turns simply because of trees!
With the Tilt, moving on foot around tall buildings, Google Maps sometimes can't figure out where I am. In the car, I usually pull the sunroof shade back so the Tilt gets a clear shot at the sky.
One final point: If I have the Garmin running at home, shut it off, then restart it again when I am fifty miles from home, it takes maybe five minutes to find three in-view birds. There is a feature in the Gamin that allows me to move its cursor to about where I think I am and it, then it uses this information to find new birds. I use this feature frequently and it usually saves two or three minutes locking on to a new set of birds. That feature is not available with the Tilt and it can take a full five minutes for it to find three birds when I change location with the GPS receiver turned off.
I hope these comments are useful. A cell phone with GPS capabilities is understandably no match for a single-purpose GPS receiver and particularly so when the two devices sell for about the same price.

I doubt that it is Maps or myTracks that is off (although I had wondered about this as well) because when you run the Captivate side-by-side with an N1, the N1's lock and track are very fast (almost instantaneous) and flawless. Of course we all know the Captivate's lock and track issues. The N1's track would not be so perfect if it were an issue with the base map accuracy, when the app on both phones is the same and accesses the same data.
The issue can also be seen running GPS Status or GPS Test together too, the N1's lock is always better, although I see no appreciable difference in SNR values for each satellite. It is just like the Captivate simply will not lock, even when it sees the same satellites. That is why I am sure it is the driver issue and therefore fixable.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

GPS Accuracy

Has anyone given the GPS a good test yet? Mine locks really fast, but I haven't gotten a chance to take a drive with it yet.

My first one did that, locked but still had the radius circle. This second unit locks in within an acceptable 5-10 seconds and is locked in.
Sent from MyTouch 4g via XDA App

Mine's taking significantly longer to lock than the G2, and even then it updates position far less frequently (sometimes taking 15 seconds between updates) - on the same stretch(es) of road, with clear view of the skies. Might be a dud?
-Moorebid

ok, i got to test it today and i'm impressed coming from the vibrant. Accuracy ranged from 6-20 ft while moving along the highway. I never got below 30ft on my vibrant.

Galaxy gps fix?

So my gps works and gets a lock, just a little slower than other phones (5-10 seconds). When navigating, it is also usually a few seconds behind (ie, I turn on road 1 and 2 seconds later, it tells me to turn on road 1).
Has anyone used the galaxy s gps fixes on the nexus?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

You may wanna try browsing this thread if you havent already, im sure they may have covered it
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=875342

I came from a Vibrant and the GPS is so good on this thing I don't want go make any changes.
Sent from my Nexus S using XDA App

So has anyone tried?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk

hah2110 said:
So has anyone tried?
Sent from my Nexus S using Tapatalk
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....the GPS fix isnt needed

Out-of-the-box GPS devices typically need 15 minutes to get a lock for the very first time. The whole point of A-GPS is to shorten that time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_to_first_fix
After acquiring a satellite signal, the receiver can begin to obtain approximate information on all the other satellites, called the almanac. This almanac is transmitted repeatedly over 12.5 minutes. Almanac data can be received from any of the GPS satellites and is considered valid for up to 180 days. Manufacturers typically claim the factory Time To First Fix to be 15 minutes.
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Of course old devices get a quicker lock than factory-new devices. The old device already has the necessary data, the new device has to start from scratch.
GPS lock in less than 30 seconds is actually impressively good. If you feel that this is too long, then you don't need GPS, you need magic.
And don't even think about returning the phone (or even complaining) before you have tried to get a fix for 30 minutes without any success. Standing still, outdoors, with a good, unobstructed view of the sky.

You guys can say what you want. I have had 10+ Android phones and [besides the Vibrant] have never had this bad of a GPS experience. It is slow to lock on (~10 seconds) and is constantly behind during navigation.

hah2110 said:
You guys can say what you want. I have had 10+ Android phones and [besides the Vibrant] have never had this bad of a GPS experience. It is slow to lock on (~10 seconds) and is constantly behind during navigation.
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Seems you're the exception rather than the rule. My Euro Galaxy S and vibrant sucked regardless. NS is immediate and accurate to single digits typically. Could not be happier with the GPS on this device.

hah2110 said:
You guys can say what you want. I have had 10+ Android phones and [besides the Vibrant] have never had this bad of a GPS experience. It is slow to lock on (~10 seconds) and is constantly behind during navigation.
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This post reminds me of Louis CK's bit on impatient people.

What kind of navigation software?
I found this kind of lag is the navigation software issue.
I am using Sygic Aura on HTC Desire, it is also sometimes behind few seconds than the actual situation. Then I turned off the POI display (it is useless anyway on Sygic Aura), and now it is OK (much better).
In the past, certain version of TomTom also has this kind of lag on my HTC Kaiser WM.
hah2110 said:
You guys can say what you want. I have had 10+ Android phones and [besides the Vibrant] have never had this bad of a GPS experience. It is slow to lock on (~10 seconds) and is constantly behind during navigation.
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GPS problems...

Its anyone else getting problem with their GPS not starting locked on...mine would lock on then search for signal then lock back on...its a pain when I'm in navigation...is there a fix...cause with my N1 it would stay locked on in the same area...thanks in advanced...
Sent From My Inspire

Do you have a network assist enabled?
Sent from my GT-P1000 using XDA App

Network assist? Where do I find that...should it be on or off?
Sent From My Inspire

Well my Network assist is on along with gps...i, still getting inconsistant gps reading in the stock navigstion with the inspire...could it be the radio, if i root and change the radio would it be more consistant??? in navigation app, i have made a turn and on the nav screen it didnt make the turn yet...it is kind of like a lag, or sometimes it would jump my position onto the next street over...anyone else expiriencing this??

Download a free app from the Market like GPS Status and see how log it takes to lock on and how many satellites it grabs. If it's really slow and can see fewer then five satellites then I'd take it in for exchange.

I say exchange the phone. GPS has been perfect for me and I've used it quite a bit.

gtg465x said:
I say exchange the phone. GPS has been perfect for me and I've used it quite a bit.
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yeah, that.

Thanks for the quick replies. so i did exchange my inspire for a new one. and same thing, i cant seem to get an accuracy under 10 meters. I also tried gps test, and with the inspire i only can get 5-7 sats locked, while my N1 gets 8-11 and the Atrix gets a 9-11...I also exchanged it for another so im on my third Inspire and the GPS sucks...will rooting and going to revolution or corddriod help with the GPS signal??? thanks in advanced...

no problem with GPS here. Locks on less then 30 secs

My GPS is perfect.
Is the SIM card door on snugly? There are antenna contacts in the SIM card door that can cause degraded signal if they aren't on properly.

Oh great. I just got AT&T to exchange my Captivate for an Inspire due to the Cappy's GPS issues. I hope this isn't a common thing with Inspires.

It isn't. This is the only complaint thread about the GPS that I've seen.

RiNo808 said:
Thanks for the quick replies. so i did exchange my inspire for a new one. and same thing, i cant seem to get an accuracy under 10 meters. I also tried gps test, and with the inspire i only can get 5-7 sats locked, while my N1 gets 8-11 and the Atrix gets a 9-11...I also exchanged it for another so im on my third Inspire and the GPS sucks...will rooting and going to revolution or corddriod help with the GPS signal??? thanks in advanced...
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This is very bizzare that you're on the third Inspire and issues persist. There are many variables that can play into GPS performance. What are the weather conditions like where you live. Low lying dense clouds and storm activities can affect GPS perfomarnce, so is being surrounded by tall structures. The elevation of the ground compared to sea level is also a variable.

AnyMal said:
This is very bizzare that you're on the third Inspire and issues persist. There are many variables that can play into GPS performance. What are the weather conditions like where you live. Low lying dense clouds and storm activities can affect GPS perfomarnce, so is being surrounded by tall structures. The elevation of the ground compared to sea level is also a variable.
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Well yesterday it was overcasted, and i do live in Hawaii. But its just weird that my N1 and the Atrix had better signal and more stable the inspire. All three were tested at the same time and in the same place...
since the code dropped for the inspire today, hope a rom will fix this...i know its just me but i will take an HTC over moto or sammy any day...

Ach, no way. This thing's gps is great. I was driving around yesterday and got locked at 45mph in about 10 seconds. I didn't even have a window mount or anything, it was in my passenger's hand below the dashboard. Wifi off, straight gps. Coming off the captivate it's nice to know your gps just works

So in general there is no GPS lag with the inspire? I'm sick of my location showing me 2 blocks away while I'm trying to find and address. I have to pull over for 30 seconds while hunting down building numbers so my captivate can catch up :|

I have no issues either with GPS and is overcast right now down here

Traded back my atrix for inspire and all is good with gps.

Mine locks in seconds..probably a dud phone I would just get another one

I'm having issues with my GPS the past two days. Clear sky and i only get 2 satellites with only 1 lock. I still experimenting to see if theirs a difference between Roms.

Weak GPS?

Just used my one x to navigate to work today. GPS seemed really fragile in that if I wasn't holding.the phone directly under my windshield it quickly lost GPS signal. It would re lock after putting it back under the wibdshield.
Anyone else? Comments/tweaks/solutions greatly appreciated.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I saw a few similar comments in other forums as well. I'd suggest you go back and exchange for another one. Any tweaks will only temporary ease the problem for a few days but a permanant solution is to get a phone that just works out of box.

Ugh, was hoping I wouldn't hear this problem pop up. Horrible GPS on my Captivate so was hoping to hear the GPS on the One X was good. Hopefully this is a rare problem...

I've seen it in using the speedtest app - where it will have problems locating a server near me (which there are quite a few) - not sure if this is an app problem or gps problem. I haven't had a chance to use gps much besides that...

I tested out the GPS last night on my way home; it locked extremely quickly and held onto it the whole time. I thought it worked very well.
For what its worth, I'm in Texas.

GPS is amazing on mine. Better than my DHD. I consistently get locks in less than 10 seconds, and most of the time it's less than 5. Maybe it's an AT&T thing, since I'm on Rogers.

Mine locks within 10 seconds in the house, I had a bunch of fc so I reset my phone to factory settings and the GPS and fc are gone. I would try factory rest then use GPS status.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

when it locks onto you, is it right where you are at or just close by? Mine seems to find me quickly, but it is always like just across the street or similar.

The GPS is definitely weaker,
My Skyrocket locks on inside of my house within 10-20 seconds and gives a very accurate reading (pinpoints my room). The One X takes about a minute to lock and it shows me inside my neighbors house..
I'll have to try this out on the road later on, might be an issue for navigation

Used mine today for something on the job. Locked extremely quick and worked fine the entire time.

Mine took under ten second to lock inside my house, but it did show me at my neighbors home. Good enough for me.
Sent from my HTC One X

I used the GPS a bit last night to track a short walk around my neighborhood and found the results to be a bit disappointing. I don't use GPS often, and my last phone was a Captivate, so I"m not sure if maybe I was expecting too much it seemed to have lost the signal at least twice and it plotted me all over the place (road) when it did hold the signal. I had it in my pocket most of the time, so perhaps I was expecting too much for those conditions.

Did you guys enable GPS satellites from location settings? Mine would load locations before I did but only was super accurate when I turned it on.

mesasone said:
I used the GPS a bit last night to track a short walk around my neighborhood and found the results to be a bit disappointing. I don't use GPS often, and my last phone was a Captivate, so I"m not sure if maybe I was expecting too much it seemed to have lost the signal at least twice and it plotted me all over the place (road) when it did hold the signal. I had it in my pocket most of the time, so perhaps I was expecting too much for those conditions.
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No, GPS in Captivate is crap. That's well known fact. Everything else should be much better. My Galaxy S2 is very consistent in tracking. I don't expect HOX be any different. You should have 15 to 30 feet accuracy all the time.

Does the HOX use GLONASS?

Cryosx said:
Does the HOX use GLONASS?
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Yes.

I tried it out a few times with gps test. I get 10+ satellites within 10 seconds indoors. That's the most satellites I've had on any phone I've owned.

GPS is a little weaker than on my Skyrocket but still good enough to get me around. Just used it today without a problem. If I had never had the skyrocket I would have said that it's "normal" for what I've seen in other phones.