Related
Hey everyone! I just picked up the Samsung Captivate on launch day and it is a very impressive phone (don't ask me why big tech blogs like Engadget and Android Central haven't even done a review on such a great phone, but this is for another day) I love the screen it is by far the best looking screen I have ever seen on a mobile device and it was even a big jump coming from my Nexus One (which I still own and will never part with, long live the king). I have been very impressed, but I am having some major problems (yes I am having some GPS and some other bugs like the lag issue which hopefully can be fixed with a firmware or Froyo). Please read on and let me know if you too have any of these problems as I have yet to of seen any of these in any threads. I am really considering taking this back tomorrow and demanding a replacement and if I have the same problems I will unfortunately have to permanently return to my Nexus One.
1. I noticed from the moment I played with the phone (after the longest charging I have ever seen in a phone btw) that when I grab the phone within a second or two I lose a couple bars of service, and yes I know that "bars" mean nothing so I have been watching my phone in "Menu > About phone > Status > Signal Strength" and I have my Nexus One (on AT&T and I have never noticed any of the T-mo N1 problems with losing service) I set my phone down in many different places in town like my apartment, work, fiance's work, a couple restaurants, and even the pool and it has given me a lot of concern.
-Sitting down on the table at my home the N1 comes in at -69 dBm 23 asu and the Captivate comes in at -81 dBm 16 asu. I have never even dropped a call here on my Nexus One ever. Picking up the N1 it will jump up to between -71 dBm and -83 dBm (sometimes a little higher), but the phone still seems to run like a champ and I have owned it going on 5 months. The Captivate once picked will jump back and forth very quickly from 81 dBm to between 97 dBm and -112 dBm and will continue to jump around going from 5 bars down to between 3 and 1 bar and then I set it down and it seems to jump back up.
I don't know a lot about signal strength even though I have done some research so this may not even be a huge problem, and that is why I am asking all you wonderful people here at XDA on your opinion as I really don't want to get stuck with a lemon. I know I am an early adopter and being a huge Android fan I run the risk of "bugs" because I always want the newest, fastest, brightest, and best before anyone else (hell, that's why we all hang out here right?). I would really appreciate it if anyone could respond to this and give me some quick advice. I have given it a couple days now.
2. I am one of those people that keeps their Nexus One in the included Android sleeve and it doesn't have a scratch or mark on it. I have always kept my tech in very nice shape and you could say I am on the OCD side of things. This brings me to my second big gripe. Where the screen meets with the plastic on the top and bottom seems to have a small gap and it is collecting so much dust. I was cleaning it out in the first couple hours and this phone hasn't even been in my pocket yet (I am using my N1 and my phone during work until I find me a nice case or sleeve). It isn't just a little bit either. It hasn't made it's way under the screen so I can deal with a little dust and maintenance (god knows I did with my Nexus One). I am worried that I will run out of time and end up with a screen with dust under it and a fight with Samsung trying to replace it. I really want to root this phone and remove it's only flaws and we all know the wonderful devs here at XDA will have some great ROMs running Froyo in no time and we can't always count on Samsung to keep up with things.
These are main gripes, but like I said I am having problems with GPS (and know I am not basing my problems off of being in the house that is just ludicrous to even ***** about something stupid like that). It took me forever to get my Captivate to lock on and now it seems to triangulate by the AT&T towers and I jump all over the place, and again I have never had any problems with my Nexus One I use it all the time as my main GPS. I have been following threads on these problems ever since the Galaxy S i9000 launched over seas as I have been wanting this phone for awhile. I also have been watching the threads about the "Galaxy S Lag" that I am sure most have experienced. I kinda think some of this has to do with coming from my N1 rooted with great ROMs and Froyo for the past couple months and going back to Eclair 2.1. I know that they don't have the HIMEM (or whatever it is called) and I am only working with half of my RAM so I am a little more patient with these two problems then I am with potential hardware problems.
If you could take a second and drop a comment on this thread about how your Captivate is running and especially holding up on the signal strength and gaps in the hardware between the screen and housing I would really appreciate it. Also, if you could let me know what you all would do in my situation as I really do love this phone and it has a lot of potential for some time in the Android world. Thanks again, you all are great and the Android community is second to none. Thanks again to all you devs that work so hard for free to make all of our devices that much better and for helping us get the most life out of our hard earned high end products. Android For Life!
Cody
hi
Your observations are exactly reflecting my opinion (minus the nexus one : captivate is my very first smart phone).
I am facing all the issues u hav mentioned
1. The bars keep varying a lot but i am inclined to believe that its a software problem bcoz i never had a drop call with the zero signal. But today morning my calls were continuously dropping. It could be an isolated incident though bcoz after tht the calls did not drop.
2. To verify the fact that the signal bars could.be misleading i made quite a number of calls, was on the speaker during the calls. I was observing the signal strength menu ( the one tht shows in dB) and to my surprise ii was still on call when the strength showed 0 dB . The signal strength indicated zero for more than a minute on multiple calls but the calls did not drop.
3. GPS issue is very significant but i am confident that will be fixed.
4. And yes i too found a significant gap in the hardware where dust is already accumalating. The charging port too does not look very sturdy.
Having said all this i really love this phone and am thinking most of the aoftware issues can definitely be resolved.
WRT hardware this phone is the most powerful in terms of graphix too and i can only imagine the awesome performance when running froyo.
I think i am gonna get my phone replaced. But definitely not thinking of switching to any other phone.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
itzz(AN)dRoiD
Hey thanks for writing back it makes me feel a little better knowing that I am not the only one. I too think that many of the problems are just problems that all early adopters have to worry about although it is a little disheartening that Samsung launched the i9000 over seas with some of the same problems and didn't fix the two that came to America (Captivate and Vibrant). I am very aware that these things take time and I won't ever say anything especially since I am not developing myself. We have some great devs working on Android phones of all makes and providers and I have confidence that a great phone like this is going to attract some great devs and who knows maybe in a couple years I will be able to give back to the community with work on some killer Android phone as I am going to school for that kind of thing and would love to mess around with it.
I too am not to the point of giving up this great phone. I know my post was filled with negatives and concerns, but this phone is great! I feel that the phone is built great and I am not to worried of breaking it as I am with some phones out there. I am blown away by the screen and 4" seems to the best size out right now in my opinion as I have messed with the Droid X and EVO 4G and I feel that the Super AMOLED blows these screens out of the water. It is a huge jump from the AMOLED on the N1 and I still love that screen. I know this phone has some great specs and I think besides the Sprint Epic it has the best looking feel to it. It is a sexy phone indeed and has the potential (along with the EVO, Droid Inc, Droid X, and Droid 2) to lead the next generation of Android phones. Being on all four US carriers and more all over the world is going to attract a great many users and better yet a lot of great devs that should be working on this great phone. It is the fastest (spec wise) Android phone out right now and I am blown away by just how much of a difference the processors GPU makes compaired to 1 Ghz Snapdragon phones. The screen is my favorite part and the MaxTouch Sensor and Super AMOLED screen make for a very responsive device and it really feels very smooth. I am willing to be patient with things that can be fixed like software (just wait until this beast gets Froyo you will be amazed), but hardware is a different story. Coming from the Nexus One (best phone I have ever owned and I refuse to give it up with all the development behind it) I refuse to deal with hardware limitations as this will be my phone for atleast the next year. Using a generation old touch screen on such a high powered best in class (at the time of course) phone is very silly and it was and still is a huge annoyance that I have had to learn to deal with while using the N1. MaxTouch was one of the main reasons I wanted this phone along with Super AMOLED (I really can't see myself going to any other screen ATM), Hummingbird Processor (and PowerVR GPU), and overall sexiness. It's a great phone and I am sure I will enjoy it as I am enjoying it now with some minor problems I just wanted to see what other new Captivate owners are experiencing and see what I could expect if I was to exchange it tomorrow.
Again, thanks for the response and good luck! I am sure I will continue to see you around as we are now in the same Android family.
generally the dust gets inbetween the screens. But since they are together in the new Super Amoled, i don't think there will be dust inbetween the screen!
Hi Angermeans,
Regarding the GPS issue, did you try the fix from the Vibrant forums? If not, go check it out. The thread is called "Gps fix 101" in the Samsung Vibrant section of the forums. Also, before you do that enable the "Use Wireless Networks" setting under Location and Security settings, if you haven't already done so.
I too had the GPS issues and once I did what was written on there (and added the Cold Start option, as you can see in my post there, you might not need to do that), my GPS locks on in seconds, I even got a lock indoors. I also locked while driving 70mph on the freeway. At home, I compared it side-by-side to an iPhone 4 and it seemed the same. I really hope it helps you out, it's lame to have the excitement towards this awesome phone dampened like this....I hope AT&T (and Tmobile) and Samsung address this crap...it's a shocker why they even let the phone get released with this bug...this phone deserves better than this
You know what I really didn't even think of that! I did read somewhere that the super AMOLED was going to be losing part of the screen and really that was my biggest concern especially since I have spent the better part of the last five mo
nths fighting with dust trying to get under my screen with my rooted nexus one. Thanks for sharing that information that helps put my mind at ease as I swear I read that it is impossible to get dust under samsungs super AMOLED screen.
angermeans said:
You know what I really didn't even think of that! I did read somewhere that the super AMOLED was going to be losing part of the screen and really that was my biggest concern especially since I have spent the better part of the last five mo
nths fighting with dust trying to get under my screen with my rooted nexus one. Thanks for sharing that information that helps put my mind at ease as I swear I read that it is impossible to get dust under samsungs super AMOLED screen.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've taken apart multiple nokia phones because of dust, and it is because there is a gap between both screens. With these, it is air free. That is why they are able to make the screen so thin. I prefer not having the gap, because if you look well enough, you can see the two screens.
With "Use Wireless Networks" enabled under Location and Security settings I've always been able to get a lock within a second or two, but it doesn't seem to be a strong lock. In Google Nav, the GPS accuracy circle around my car will randomly appear, get bigger, and then disappear, and it will occasionally think I'm off the road or will take a second to catch up after I've turned. It's usable, but I wish it was better. Hopefully it can be fixed by a software update.
No I didn't but I just read something about that on a thread just a little while ago I'll haveto check that out tomorrow especially since it worked for you thanks for sharing that. This is why I love the android community and XDA forums. Now most off my concerns are put to rest and I can continue to enjoy this phone. Now time to worry about bigger problems like when samsung is going to push froyo out to this beast! I have been spoiled using the nexus one. Do all you guys have your phones rooted? I was holding off until I decided if I was going to take this phone in for another captivate.
Yeah you are right I read somewhere tonight that some people think that samsyng did this on purpose to save battery life I'll try to find the thread and post it tomorrow. Hopefully its not a ****ty GPS chip in the phone I can't imagine samsung going top off the line in everything else in this phone and then cheaping out on a chip but then again google and HTC did the same thing with the nexus ones screen so you never know when it comes to high end android phones. I have yet to see any of the top of the line android phones ber perfect they all seem to have some problem especially HTC.
I bought the case sold at the at&t store and that solved the losing bars issue.
I posted in a different thread that I changed and tweaked my gps settings and it was spot on unless i was by a tree the size of a house.
I was very happy with it for my 2 mile drive. I will use it tomorrow since I need to navigate somewhere I've never been and update on here.
I have owned an iPhone since the day it was released and I was generally happy with the device. I of course was VERY interested in the Android OS once it was released on the G1. However I thought the G1 was clunky and just not all together there. Once Android hit 2.1 I went out and sold my iPhone 3Gs for a Nexus one. Loved that phone to death except for the fact that the screen sucks in the daylight. It was completely unreadable in dense sunlight. Once the iPhone 4 dropped I switched to it due to the amazing specs and awesome app store games (Angry birds lol) but I soo realized that I missed Android. I didn't want to go back to the Nexus One due to screen brightness issues in the day light. The Captivate was my obvious choice due to its similar spec sheet and Super AMOLED screen. However after several weeks with the device I have some griped I need to express.
1st I will say that Samsung has made some nice additions to the UI with the Mail app and the Contacts app not sure if this is seen on other devices or not. Also the stock camera app is the most excellent most feature packed camera app ive ever used. That being said the battery life is complete ****. I have no gadgets running, my screen is mostly at half brightness and yet I am lucky to get a complete day out of the battery. I doubt there are any extended batteries out there but I'm not entirely sure I even want to bother making such a slim and sleek phone more bulky.
I do at time find that the stock 2.1 is sluggish at times and I am hoping that a 2.2 update will resolve that.
I am well aware of the GPS issues that have plagued this device and I can honestly say it frustrates me that this has gone unresolved up until this point. I have had two Captivates thus far and both have major GPS location issues.
The stock recovery rom is obviously crippled. The Clockwork Recovery rom is nice but I need to know how I can install it permanently because the Nandroid backups are worthless if there is no way to for sure boot to Clockwork recovery if for some reason the OS gets bricked.
My last and final issue with this phone is the fact that it has no LED noticfication light nor is there a trackball or clear way to adjust the cursor when selecting or editing text. My hope was for google to drop a Nexus 2 but I seriously doubt that will happen.
All in all The Captivate provides a great Android Experience and I really hope to see a Froyo update soon.
Please feel free to respond to me as I would love to hear what others think.
Thanks everyone.
Captivate is my very first smartphone.I really love this phone.
Many of my friends have iPhones and i even got a chance to use the iPhone 4. Frankly, i got bored in 10 mins. Be as beautiful as it is , i cant just keep admiring it and feel happy the way it looks, bcoz there's nothing much i can do with it. Combined with the fact that i have to listen to crap on the way i need to hold my phone after paying for it i was definitely sure it was not the iPhone (I am on ATT so the high end phone choices are pretty limited. I dont consider blackberry as a phone. I think is more of a mini-keyboard in a pocket.)
But with android its a completely different story. It is like a linux machine in my pocket. Google Android OS is the main reason i bought a Captivate.
Since i am on ATT, i was waiting for a high end android phone to be released and it was samsung captivate (i wudve bought any high end android phone ATT released it with). I went for the captivate and have absolutely no regrets. I was not ready for the HTC aria as i wanted a high end phone.
Comping to the points you mentioned.
1. Why is everyone expecting everything in a phone to be perfect!!! There is no perfect phone.
2. Battery Life : This device has a 4 inch screen. Obviously we shud understand tht the display in any device sucks most of the battery. So when u know u r buying a 4 inch screen dont expect it to run till eternity.
Its no surprise that evo 4G has an even worse battery life!
(I am surprised that there are so many comparisons between phones like Nexus one, iphone4, captivate etc... Compare battery life with phones having the same screen dimensions otherwise the comparison is worthless. I challenge APPLE to make a phone with 4 inch screen and retain the same retina display and same battery life.. Does anyone think thats possible?)
3. Regarding GPS i am pretty sure its a software problem and can be fixed!! I fixed it the way mentioned in the Sticky section link and the GPS work perfect!!
4. The remaining sluggishness etc is again a software issue. Everbody has to realize that with an android phone you have the most Customizable phone in your hands. So its left upto you to modify the phone the way you want it!
Finally, i am extremely satisfied with my Captivate. It has its share of problems, and sluggishness etc , but some things we can live with (definitely this phone may not be as beautiful/good finishing as an iPhone4, but then it can do the very basic function of a Phone :: make and receive calls.)
Finally the FROYO is definitely gonna make things better.
Cheers
==============
itzz(AN)dRoiD
The only thing that I can really speak to is the battery life.
Haven't used the GPS much at all and don't really notice the sluggishness coming from a Blackjack II.
But I can easily get a day out of a charge....if not more if I stopped using this to replace my laptop lol.
I've been unplugged since 3am. Did some light emailing...Facebook checking...gtalk chatting..xda viewing, etc. Fully charged at 3am before work and used since and I'm only at 63%.
One thing that can help is keeping brightness all the way down. I only turn it up when I'm outside in the sun.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
im satisfied w/ my Captivate minus the ****ty battery life and bad GPS lol
The Captivate is my first smart phone. As such, I can't compare it to other phones, but I feel qualified to comment regardless.
The battery hasn't been a problem for me, as I'm not constantly using it during the day for texting/watching videos/etc. However, I have noticed that it drains quickly when you do watch a lot of video. But I went in expecting this, so it's not a big problem for me. If it gets to be that big a problem, I'll buy an extra battery (a cheap shot, but anyway) or pack a charger.
The GPS issues bugged me a lot to start with, but for whatever reason it's become less of a problem over time. I don't know why, but it's seemed to have become more reliable over the past week or so. Still, it is slow to locate, and I expect it to be patched in the near future. However, to get rid of it over that one issue is a bit much in my book.
The lack of a notification light doesn't bother me simply because I'm not used to having one in the first place. Besides, it warbles at me when something new arrives, so it's not a total loss. I can see where it would be useful, as when in a meeting, but you can't exactly start tooling around on your phone at those times, either, so, to quote Clara Peller, "where's the beef?"
I hear a lot of folks complaining over the lag in the phone, whether it's due to Eclair or TouchWiz or bad ley lines or whatever. I experience these from time to time, and I find that Advanced Task Killer usually takes care of the issue. I wish multitasking was handled better, and that there was a built-in way to terminate apps and services you don't need. But it's not been enough of an issue for me to bother with rooting and wiping data and risk doing something stupid and wind up with a black plastic brick for my trouble. I, too, look forward to the Froyo update and the goodness it promises to bring with it, not the least of which is greater speed and reduction of lag...not just for this phone, but the advancement of the platform as a whole.
While I have more-or-less disagreed with the OP on most of his complaints, I must also disagree with the one who said, "why is everyone expecting everything in a phone to be perfect". Anything for which I pay $200 should meet my expectations. See the GPS issue: I think it'd be foolish of me to return the phone based on that complaint, but that's because I use it primarily as a phone and not a GPS receiver. If it's a deal-breaker for someone else, I certainly wouldn't hold it against them. Their standards are not my standards, and so long as it remains a personal standard, more power to them.
The only reason I would have returned mine would have been to go to Walmart and get the same phone for $148 instead of $199, but the savings wouldn't have been worth the hassle of backing up and restoring everything. Besides, I did get it ahead of street date, and you have to pay for little pleasures sometimes
Samsung claimed that they sorted out the GPS issue's and got it working right on the Epic 4G:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Epi...g-and-all-systems-are-go-article-a_12831.html
Yet when tested, the 4G cannot obtain good accuracy like other android devices:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3891/samsung-epic-4g-review-the-fastest-android-phone/10
So, while they may have improved the GPS lock time on the Epic (perhaps by correctly implementing agps?), they clearly haven't solved the accuracy and tracking issues.
Here is another link showing the Epic vs Captivate for GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
The above video shows that the Epic locks much faster, but you can also see that it never obtains good accuracy (always has the blue circle), which means it will likely jump around in places with dense streets.
Since the Epic represents what Samsung considers to be a tested and working GPS, I think we are in big trouble. The GPS "update" that we have all been waiting for is just going to give us the same fix the Epic shipped with, which is clearly no where near the standard of today's smartphones. Maybe someday further down the road Samsung/Broadcom will be able to fix the accuracy and tracking issues, but it really seems doubtful at this point. That being said, I wonder what options we'll have to get a different phone from AT&T. I can't live with poor GPS performance for the whole 2 year contract I signed when I got the Captivate.
Maybe the longer it takes the better for us. We'll see.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
TheSopranos16 said:
Samsung claimed that they sorted out the GPS issue's and got it working right on the Epic 4G:
http://www.phonearena.com/htmls/Epi...g-and-all-systems-are-go-article-a_12831.html
Yet when tested, the 4G cannot obtain good accuracy like other android devices:
http://www.anandtech.com/show/3891/samsung-epic-4g-review-the-fastest-android-phone/10
So, while they may have improved the GPS lock time on the Epic (perhaps by correctly implementing agps?), they clearly haven't solved the accuracy and tracking issues.
Here is another link showing the Epic vs Captivate for GPS:
http://briefmobile.com/samsung-epic-4g-gps-test
The above video shows that the Epic locks much faster, but you can also see that it never obtains good accuracy (always has the blue circle), which means it will likely jump around in places with dense streets.
Since the Epic represents what Samsung considers to be a tested and working GPS, I think we are in big trouble. The GPS "update" that we have all been waiting for is just going to give us the same fix the Epic shipped with, which is clearly no where near the standard of today's smartphones. Maybe someday further down the road Samsung/Broadcom will be able to fix the accuracy and tracking issues, but it really seems doubtful at this point. That being said, I wonder what options we'll have to get a different phone from AT&T. I can't live with poor GPS performance for the whole 2 year contract I signed when I got the Captivate.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Getting a new phone through att after your 30 days up could be an pain in the butt. I could see att saying that the gps is working how its intended and wont let you out of your two year , and make you pay full price for a new phone like 500+ for an smartphone.
I agree, I doubt they'll offer any type of deal or discount on a new phone. Especially since it appears to be the whole Galaxy S line of phones and since over a million have already sold in the US. If they let 1 person switch phones, they have to let everybody and that will likely never happen.
Overall, I'm just really discouraged to see Samsung claim the GPS is fixed on the Epic and then have a review come in describing the GPS so poorly. It gives me little hope for a fix for our Captivates, especially not in any September fix they are releasing.
if epic 4g is fixed according to samsung then we're screwed indeed.
after trying the epic 4g gps fix zip file floating around, i saw the same locking performance issues. there is no way this device behaves as expected. i compared my captivate to g1, droid 1, nexus one and they all worked way better and quicker than the captivate.
for now i returned the captivate back to amazon. if they ever fix it i'll buy it again but im not gambling with my money hoping they fix this properly.
it's a shame it's got such a fatal flaw cause otherwise it's one of the best phones.
quit with the pessimism
just wait and see when the update comes out
What update? Everything points to jf7 having the "fix" if you want better buy a different phone because its obvious they are just trying to fix a hardware problem with software tricks. This can work to a certain extent but my guess is that the sgs will always have a somewhat inferior gps.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Everyone should learn two things from this.
First, buy a device based on what it does NOW, not what someone promises it can do in the future. This holds true for anything you may buy.
Second, buy a device based on its primary use. While having gps in a phone can be a useful and handy tool, the device is a PHONE first and should be phone centric when it comes to performance and features. This is the same thing I tell people who whine about camera performance, if you want a good camera, go buy one. If you want a good GPS, go buy one. Integrated devices are great but rarely can an all in one package best or equal stand alone devices.
With stock JF6 and supl settings it is dismal.
However i am running JH3 with the google settings and it is not super bad. Sure it goes out once or twice a ride, and i some times skip on roads... but it does get me to where i need to go with the navigation app.
I gave up on copilot because it wasn't working as well as the google nav.
The gps with current settings is below par... but livable for now... A fix of some sorts making it a little better would make me happy, but i probably won't buy another samsung phone because of the gps fiasco.
I am also running JH3 with the google settings. It is working ok. Used my iPhone4 on a recent trip and the gps got me off the track a few times as well. I don't know that there is the UberPhone that does everything well. It seems phones improve year by year in some areas but there is always one thing that does not work well. Evo 4G - Wifi issues, Droid X - low call volume etc.
l7777 said:
Everyone should learn two things from this.
First, buy a device based on what it does NOW, not what someone promises it can do in the future. This holds true for anything you may buy.
Second, buy a device based on its primary use. While having gps in a phone can be a useful and handy tool, the device is a PHONE first and should be phone centric when it comes to performance and features. This is the same thing I tell people who whine about camera performance, if you want a good camera, go buy one. If you want a good GPS, go buy one. Integrated devices are great but rarely can an all in one package best or equal stand alone devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
there is a long standing precedent that a phone's gps is going to work and work properly. you can not seriously say the galaxy s line, as it stands, has an acceptable gps performance. not being able to get a lock or getting a 15,30,90m accuracy is bull crap. i can not think of a single phone that has gps performance that's worse than captivate's and there is a reason for it.
with all the location services and navigation software out there there is no excuse for it.
at the same place and time, i've directly compared the captivate (with combinations of all/any "fixes" out there) to samsung blackjack2, iphone4, t-mobile g1, htc nexus one and bunch of others. it's night and day difference man. samsung needs to fess up.
i want what i paid for.
Samsung
My last Samsung phone was an Epix: it was plagued by software bugs and the GPS never worked on most of the phones.
Samsung has much more riding on the Galaxy S phones than the Epix (the Epix always destined to be an also-ran, and never promoted by Samsung), so perhaps they'll do a better job. But I'm kicking myself now for buying another Samsung phone and waiting on another GPS fix.
GPS isn't a primary feature for me, so a minor lag is no big deal. Right now, the GPS on my Captivate is next to worthless.
I agree with Chudy. It is 100 percent not acceptable that a phones GPS will not work well. So much of what is available for Android relies on location: Navigation, GPS photos, Location based searches like Yelp or Places...just to name a few common ones. And lets not even start with the fact that the Compass is extremely jumpy, inconsistent and slow to react to changes in the phone's orientation.
That being said, as you can see from my initial post, even after they push the Epic's GPS fix to our Captivates, we are NOT going to be in very good shape...
TheSopranos16 said:
Overall, I'm just really discouraged to see Samsung claim the GPS is fixed on the Epic...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
While I've read many times about "Epic and Fascinate" being good on GPS, I have not read anywhere that it is Samsung that says that.
Anyone else read that from Samsung?
I came to my Captivate from two years of iPhones, and I have to admit that the GPS is the only real downer to the device. In my opinion, it does everything better than my wife's iPhone 4 except GPS.
However, I rarely ever use GPS. Even when I go places I usually just look it up on the Maps app and remember the turns. That's how I've always done it, even with my iPhones.
So for me, it's relatively easy for this GPS problem to not really be too much of a concern. I would be much more upset if I relied on it like some members seem to.
I have to say, though: I would be much more upset if I were in my wife's shoes, paying the same amount for her iPhone 4 that I paid for my Captivate that may have better GPS performance, but is lacking in every other way compared to my Captivate. Even the mighty EVO has choppy 720p recording and a lackluster LCD screen. The Galaxy S excels in so many other areas, but falls on it's face when it comes to GPS.
I guess that I'm trying to say that the GPS doesn't bother me too much because I don't use it enough to allow it to. I have gotten frustrated sometimes when I open up the Maps app and the best I get is the 3200 meters circle...I really have to know my general area in order to get any use out of it.
Here's to hoping for a decent fix!
ewingr said:
While I've read many times about "Epic and Fascinate" being good on GPS, I have not read anywhere that it is Samsung that says that.
Anyone else read that from Samsung?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. That language comes from a few blogers heard from samsung support CSR. We all know how reliable that was.
EPIC 4G definitely does not contain the final GPS fixes. Broadcom only gave Samsung the proper driver in late August (8/23 or around that time from what I heard). There is no way in hell EPIC 4G can contain that driver in time for 8/31 release. The firmware in EPIC is probably 1 month old (or at least couple weeks old).
The new leaks of XFJM6 and JM7 showed some promise as these firmwares were produced after Samsung received the new driver.
Everyone is getting all worked up on pure speculation. Also note, if they had developed the patch on eclair, it would be out by now. It is more likely by the time the captivate was released all eclair development had ceased, knowing froyo was coming there was no point in doing a patch for it. I'll be happy to give them the benefit of the doubt till I have froyo. I doubt they want to tarnish the galaxy name before the tablets come out. That could prove quite costly.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I'm in agreement with you.
chudy said:
there is a long standing precedent that a phone's gps is going to work and work properly. you can not seriously say the galaxy s line, as it stands, has an acceptable gps performance. not being able to get a lock or getting a 15,30,90m accuracy is bull crap. i can not think of a single phone that has gps performance that's worse than captivate's and there is a reason for it.
with all the location services and navigation software out there there is no excuse for it.
at the same place and time, i've directly compared the captivate (with combinations of all/any "fixes" out there) to samsung blackjack2, iphone4, t-mobile g1, htc nexus one and bunch of others. it's night and day difference man. samsung needs to fess up.
i want what i paid for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
TheSopranos16 said:
I agree with Chudy. It is 100 percent not acceptable that a phones GPS will not work well. So much of what is available for Android relies on location: Navigation, GPS photos, Location based searches like Yelp or Places...just to name a few common ones. And lets not even start with the fact that the Compass is extremely jumpy, inconsistent and slow to react to changes in the phone's orientation.
That being said, as you can see from my initial post, even after they push the Epic's GPS fix to our Captivates, we are NOT going to be in very good shape...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And you two completely missed the point of my post. If GPS is a critical feature for you, then you should return the device. There is no other option. Moaning and groaning about how poor it is will not push Samsung to fix it any faster if at all. Coming from HTC WinMo devices I can tell you that every one had the same complaint, video performance was terrible. The problem was that HTC didn't make use of the devices' video accelerator because they didn't include the proper drivers. Many hours were wasted with people signing online petitions and complaining that their four plus year old devices had better video performance but in the end, HTC did nothing. Thus, if the Galaxy S phones don't have a GPS good enough for you, you should return it and select a different phone. That's why you have a 30 day return policy. As for my own view on the GPS, it's not a garmin, but it'll get me where I want to be. GPS is nice to have, but I can read a map well enough to make it to my destination even if the GPS puts me one street over.
Yep, reading maps solo in the car while driving down an [email protected] 70 mph. Some of you people are complete idiots, seriously... The GPS doesn't work.if you think it does you're delusional or trying way too hard to be a galaxy s fanboy.
2 contents and they both basically have no gps.
Saying that is like trinh people to stfu if their phone refuses to let them get any type of data connection...
You can do that on your laptop or netbook, so why should it matter.
Stop posting idiotic crap.
The phones should not have ben released with this problem. It's unacceptable, and its not even hard to test and se the gps is awol...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
This is my second Samsung android phone, in both cases,
I wasn't satisfied with the way Samsung handles their customers,
the only reason I gave them another shot is because that
product looked promising.
My first galaxy I7500 ended up with 1.6 when samsung decided
they no longer working on it because it cannot handle android 2 (which drakaz proved that was a lie)
My second handset is their flagship, wtf? why should I flash this expensive pos all day long in order to get the advertised features working?
The same goes with my samsung T240 lcd screen and it's software which doesn't
support windows 7, one year old screen!
I'm tired of this company, I will never, ever, buy anything from them - gonna
swap it with dell streak at least they have western standards.
Samsung should kick some asses.
I don't know why you bothered coming on here, you want sympathy? The only feature this phone really has had consistent issues with is GPS which I think is overblown by the community as is.
Other than that, I really don't understand where you are coming from, or why you have felt like you've needed to flash the phone daily. Just because there is a new revision of the current ROM you're using doesn't mean you have to have it. If it works well enough just wait until the development cycle reaches a stable release.
I've had this phone for quite awhile now. I flashed unleash the beast for fun, and when 2.2 came out, I flashed that. I couldn't be happier, this phone can handle a lot. I do miss cyanogen, but that isn't sammies fault.
Please, outline your issues more clearly.
andoh said:
I don't know why you bothered coming on here, you want sympathy? The only feature this phone really has had consistent issues with is GPS which I think is overblown by the community as is.
Other than that, I really don't understand where you are coming from, or why you have felt like you've needed to flash the phone daily. Just because there is a new revision of the current ROM you're using doesn't mean you have to have it. If it works well enough just wait until the development cycle reaches a stable release.
I've had this phone for quite awhile now. I flashed unleash the beast for fun, and when 2.2 came out, I flashed that. I couldn't be happier, this phone can handle a lot. I do miss cyanogen, but that isn't sammies fault.
Please, outline your issues more clearly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My main issue is the GPS, overblown? it's not working for me at all,
it's not usable, not when driving a car.
It works for the first time and then the performance decreasing, Tried everything - Stock Rom, froyo, I9000 roms, cog roms, jupiter fixes, the "secret" gps settings,
everything - driving my car on 35 mph and it shows 0.
The phone itself has great potential,good hardware specs, blazing fast, it can run many applications at the same time, pretty good battery awesome screen and it looks good, but it's not enough for premium product, if you ask me.
We don't even know if Samsung is going to fix it, maybe they'll release the fix
with a new product.
Not here to get sympathy, just saying we don't deserve that kind of treatment,
Samsung is not apple, and we're not blind followers.
Update: Just before I flashed it back to stock rom and selling it
I gave my cappy one last shot - Cog 2b5 with jupiter 6 without touching lbs settings -
well, it works outdoors, I'll take it for a ride around the block with my car and see
how it goes today, tomorrow and one week from now.
I still hate Samsung though.
damn.. i just paid my Captivate at ebay.. now i'm seeing this..
anyone want to protest this?
The GPS issue is not overblown. It has been, and continues to be, a huge issue with this phone.
dptnl said:
This is my second Samsung android phone, in both cases,
I wasn't satisfied with the way Samsung handles their customers,
the only reason I gave them another shot is because that
product looked promising.
My first galaxy I7500 ended up with 1.6 when samsung decided
they no longer working on it because it cannot handle android 2 (which drakaz proved that was a lie)
My second handset is their flagship, wtf? why should I flash this expensive pos all day long in order to get the advertised features working?
The same goes with my samsung T240 lcd screen and it's software which doesn't
support windows 7, one year old screen!
I'm tired of this company, I will never, ever, buy anything from them - gonna
swap it with dell streak at least they have western standards.
Samsung should kick some asses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The "XDA MAN" will shut down your post here in the next hour. I started something similar yesterday and I got all kind of responses like you and didn't know this was on the official "not talk about list"
I am as aggravated as you. If they do not get it together with the updates soon for this phone, I am gone also.
Palmetto_X said:
I am as aggravated as you. If they do not get it together with the updates soon for this phone, I am gone also.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't let the door hit you on the way out!
I agree, GPS is definitely not overblown. Samsung really shouldn't have let this get out of product testing without functional GPS. If Samsung treats Galaxy S users as poorly as they treated Behold II and i7500 users, and we don't get updated past 2.2, I'm never buying another Samsung ANYTHING in my life.
dptnl said:
This is my second Samsung android phone, in both cases,
I wasn't satisfied with the way Samsung handles their customers,
the only reason I gave them another shot is because that
product looked promising.
My first galaxy I7500 ended up with 1.6 when samsung decided
they no longer working on it because it cannot handle android 2 (which drakaz proved that was a lie)
My second handset is their flagship, wtf? why should I flash this expensive pos all day long in order to get the advertised features working?
The same goes with my samsung T240 lcd screen and it's software which doesn't
support windows 7, one year old screen!
I'm tired of this company, I will never, ever, buy anything from them - gonna
swap it with dell streak at least they have western standards.
Samsung should kick some asses.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've been buying Samsung products since the mid-80s and have had positive experiences all along. Sorry you are having bad experience but its been good for me for 20+ years.
LK89 said:
damn.. i just paid my Captivate at ebay.. now i'm seeing this..
anyone want to protest this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I protest. This person is a whiner. I have a house full of awesome Samsung electronics. My Captivate works just fine.
LK89 said:
damn.. i just paid my Captivate at ebay.. now i'm seeing this..
anyone want to protest this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unless you're giving up on navigating capabilities - Don't buy that phone, just don't, it has really pool gps reception and we don't know if samsung can or
will fix it some day, they don't give a #$$# about us.
Besides that, the speaker volume is pretty low.
If you don't need the GPS feature, you may find this phone awesome - I need
this feature and that's why I'm so pissed off.
gdanko said:
I protest. This person is a whiner. I have a house full of awesome Samsung electronics. My Captivate works just fine.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, really mature, I'm just a whiner, my 700$ phone (yeah we don't have at&t contract here) gps doesn't work, and I'm a whiner because your house
is full of awesome samsung products.
All the other posts about broken gps that were posted by other whiners, all the
tech blogs posts, everything, it's all one big conspiracy.
Even this one as well:
http://www.lieffcabraser.com/cases.php?CaseID=335&gclid=CMDK_oDNkqQCFd9n5Qod5W-7LA
Really mature, what are you, 12?
There's a chance GPS will work on bicycle, since sometimes it works
when i mount it to my car's front windshield.
Okay, I personally like samsung and think that the GPS issue is overblown, but that's just my take on it. Ever since I flashed froyo my gps has been dead-on within seconds. I think I can safely compare it to my tomtom. I loved my samsung katalyst when I had T-Mobile, and I love this phone as well. And as for flashing constantly, I think you just have the "flashing disease" Which I also have.
And if you want a phone that won't "frustrate" you, go buy an iphone. Maybe you can jailbreak it and do something snazzy with the icons.
The Cap is a fine device. It's not the best and definitely not bug-free, but it's a great device. I went hiking with my friends last weekend and my GPS worked just fine. My friend's Motorola Droid's GPS didn't work. +1 for Cap, -1 for Droid. Now hush while I try to get 3 stars on every level of Angry Birds.
shiftylock said:
Okay, I personally like samsung and think that the GPS issue is overblown, but that's just my take on it. Ever since I flashed froyo my gps has been dead-on within seconds. I think I can safely compare it to my tomtom. I loved my samsung katalyst when I had T-Mobile, and I love this phone as well. And as for flashing constantly, I think you just have the "flashing disease" Which I also have.
And if you want a phone that won't "frustrate" you, go buy an iphone. Maybe you can jailbreak it and do something snazzy with the icons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't want an Iphone.
Yeah, I like flashing, I admit, but it get tedious when
you can't solve basic feature that should come out of the box.
Dell Streak maybe, but only after investigating it's problems deeply, if any,
if not, I will wait, it sure won't be samsung again, they lost one customer for good, seems like I'm not the only one got frustrated from their products
according to this thread.
RexEscape said:
The Cap is a fine device. It's not the best and definitely not bug-free, but it's a great device. I went hiking with my friends last weekend and my GPS worked just fine. My friend's Motorola Droid's GPS didn't work. +1 for Cap, -1 for Droid. Now hush while I try to get 3 stars on every level of Angry Birds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I wish I could enjoy playing games after knocking my head on the steering wheel
because I lost my gps reception and got lost, stuck inside a traffic jam
driving the wrong way.
+1 for angry birds though (I found Raging Thunder 2 addictive as well).
Aside from the battery needing to be drained a few times to get actual battery life from the phone, i've had no issues. Second day i owned it, loaded 2.2, GPS works faster than my 3GS ever did and now rooted with cognition-I may end up keeping this phone afterall.
Also, CM6.1 looks promising.
Not to say the streak is bad, i'm sure it's also a good phone but I wouldn't expect the kind battery life i want. The only thing that would make me return my captivate would be if the Desire HD is announced state side.
Using stock JH7 and GPS works fine. Not great but fine.
And even at that it works way better than my Touch Pro 2 did, and thats an HTC device
(I dont trust most custom roms at the moment because in my experience they introduce more bugs than they solve)
Since some of you guys report your GPS works properly, I started wondering,
maybe the cappy's navigation capabilities are better inside the u.s?
I don't see any reason why, beside the ntp settings inside gps.conf,
which, I've changed to europe and verified the replay time.
Anyways, didn't have good reception inside my car, so
I flashed it to back Eclair, again, I-9000 jg8 this time with reorient 1.3
(pain in the ass), GPS worked pretty good outdoors,
gonna take my car for a spin around the block again.
see what I'm talking about? this is the second rom flash I did today, I'll
keep you updated, maybe it will help for those who live in europe/asia/middle east.
If it will work good who knows, maybe I can try installing cognition 2b5 over this one, instead over the stock, see if it helps somehow.
Well, after owning my cappy for a month and a half, I'm still confused on whether or not I love it or hate it. I'm always mad that the GPS doesn't work and that the backlit buttons look terrible and the battery door creeks and it doesn't have an ffc, but then again, somehow it doesn't matter to me. Jeremy Clarkson was talking about a car one time and used this metaphor: "It's like an annoying toddler that drives you mad, but if someone tried to take it away you wouldn't let them." (It was something along those lines .) There's just some sort of connection between myself and the phone, which sounds odd, but I don't know how else to describe it. After putting hours of research and work to make the phone work properly, I've become a bit attached to the device. The sleek lines and beautiful Samoled screen just sort of feel right some how.
The other day, I saw an ad on Craigslist for someone who wanted to trade their iPhone 4 for a captivate and to be honest, I was just about to go through with it. At the same time, I couldn't get myself to do so. I knew it would be a better move, but I somehow can't let go of this phone.
I love the Captivate.
I installed phoenix 2.0 a couple of weeks ago.. Ever since my gps had been perfect! You might want to try it. It tracks really well and locks onto satellites really fast, usually under 10 sec.
Sent from my SGH-I897 using XDA App
I love the rom in my sig though haha. Samsung gave the Galaxy S good bloatware
I love this phone with new rom everything works great.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
You probably want to hold on. The 2.2 that Canadian Rogers customers received is fantastic.
That being said, I've had zero problems with the GPS. It actually works better than my Garmin.
root ,flash ,repeat to your hearts content,,,forget updates from sam,or your carrier
@OP, I share your feelings.
When my Captivate works, I love it. I can't put it down. I use it for everything. But when it doesn't work, or when I get a huge onslaught on random shutdowns, I hate it and go right back to my Samsung Impression. I use that until it bugs me (with it's slow input slideout keyboard and random texting bug that stops sending messages after you've sent about 500 texts). And then I switch right back to the Captivate. It seems to be a vicious cycle with me and I find myself carrying two phones at once now.