Database Info

[GPS] The Unofficial GPS COMPLAINT/NAG/EVIDENCE Thread

Post all your nag/complaints/evidence of GPS problems here.
All investigation works goes here:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=789383
I just finished doing a one hour GPS test drive with the new OTA JH7 and guess what!!
The GPS is still unreliable.
I did a 30 minute drive before the JH7 OTA fix and it was terrible. It would lose GPS signal easily. The GPS would rarely get a fix and when it did, it wouldn't refresh for another 20-30 seconds.
With the new JH7 OTA, positioning while stationary is quick. You can get indoor GPS (probably from AGPS). Now, I was using it and I'm starting to believe we will NEVER see a real fix.
My reasons:
The hardware GPS has an accuracy of ~10 meters (~30 feet).
The hardware GPS has slow processing speed.
I believe this "fix" is just software code trying compensate for the poor hardware. It seems to take the bearing and speed to estimate where you will be. This won't work all the time but it gives the illusion of a reliable signal. You can see the device doing this when you make a quick change in speed or direction.
For example:
If you break quickly, the GPS will tend to position you further than your actual position. You might see GPS position "travel backwards" after you do.
If you accelerate quickly, from rest/full stop, the GPS will lag completely. It might lose the signal or not update until it gets a new "position" later (probably an amalgamation of speed, bearing, and [inaccurate] position).
If you make a sharp turn, the GPS will keep traveling that path and then slowly work it's way back to where you are. For example, if you make a 90 degree right turn, you'll see the GPS plots a semi circle arc to your new position.
I currently recorded my data with a custom written application I wrote but I had the logs set to write every 30 seconds and I didn't have a reference GPS unit to compare.
The next time, I'm going to drop it 1 second frequency and run the application on my G1 and Rhodium (TouchPro/Tilt 2).
What are you experiences with this new GPS "fix"?

I completely agree.
I just came into this forum to post the same thing.
I have some terrible My Tracks screenshots to take, but now my Captivate isn't detected when I try to plug it into my computer
This is using Cognition v2.1. The GPS locked very quickly right after flashing, but just tonight, it wouldn't get a lock to save my life. After repeatedly entering the LbsTestMode and changing settings, it went to getting a lock again... but had me ~100 feet off.
I do not think the GPS will ever work as good as any other modern smartphone. The GPS in this device just sucks, and no software will save it.

I agree with pretty much all that you wrote. It is very "laggy" and I too can see it estimate your path. Re-routing also takes very long and sometimes may not be in time.
I tested it with my Garmin side-by-side and there is no doubt the Cappy is worse. I know it's a phone and not a fair comparison with a "real" GPS, but it is a letdown.
FYI, Cognition improves the GPS significantly from my stock version (JP6)

Same here. I would not consider this as a fix for GPS.

The captivate is my first android phone. Im stuck with att so i made the switch from iphone to the captivate because it was thr first phone that was not crippled. I love android. Period. Im never going back. With voodoo and oc this phone beats the crap out of an iphone.
But today is the last day i can return it to best buy. I was waiting for a gps fix/improvement. But it didnt help. So im returning it. Im going to buy my friends aria for $100. Once samsung fixes thr gps i will buy this phone again.
Ps. Android. My new best friend.

is this the first Samsung android phone? Im pretty disappointed. Their other products are top notch

I have the opportunity to swap out my cappy for an HTC Aria phone but it's my last opportunity to exchange it because they're extending my 30 day warranty. I had to talk Wirefly into letting me because of the bad GPS in the phone. They can either give me another Cappy which would be a brand new (but another defective GPS phone no doubt) or they'll just give me the Aria which has a decent working GPS but not anywhere near as nice as the Captivate in every other way.
What would some of you suggest? I'm leaning toward just getting the Aria and maybe upgrading to a better phone later on.

galaxyjeff said:
I have the opportunity to swap out my cappy for an HTC Aria phone but it's my last opportunity to exchange it because they're extending my 30 day warranty. I had to talk Wirefly into letting me because of the bad GPS in the phone. They can either give me another Cappy which would be a brand new (but another defective GPS phone no doubt) or they'll just give me the Aria which has a decent working GPS but not anywhere near as nice as the Captivate in every other way.
What would some of you suggest? I'm leaning toward just getting the Aria and maybe upgrading to a better phone later on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My wife has an Aria, pretty good phone, verry poor battery life. Great GPS lock in 10 sec no matter where are you. Small screen but perfect size for holding.

I would have to disagree. No it's definately not as good as my garmin. However compared to stock...lol.. Its no contest. The Ota update is definately an improvement. It makes it at least usable. Before it would take anywhere from 10 min or more to lock. On several occasions i got half way to home before it would lock. Tonight i tested it and got a lock within 10 secs.
Thats not to say this update is without its issues. You can definately tell there is some anticipation of where you are going by about 10 to 20 feet. However rerouting happens quicker for me than it did before.
There is also the issue of wifi and 3g being on at the same time. Of course ill have to reenable tethering too if possible. Other that that though it is more positive than negative for me. At at least i can bring up bars and restaurants without waiting 20 minutes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

kaczu said:
I would have to disagree. No it's definately not as good as my garmin. However compared to stock...lol.. Its no contest. The Ota update is definately an improvement. It makes it at least usable. Before it would take anywhere from 10 min or more to lock. On several occasions i got half way to home before it would lock. Tonight i tested it and got a lock within 10 secs.
Thats not to say this update is without its issues. You can definately tell there is some anticipation of where you are going by about 10 to 20 feet. However rerouting happens quicker for me than it did before.
There is also the issue of wifi and 3g being on at the same time. Of course ill have to reenable tethering too if possible. Other that that though it is more positive than negative for me. At at least i can bring up bars and restaurants without waiting 20 minutes.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The problem with comparing the Captivate's GPS performance to stock is that stock was just garbage. Almost anything is an improvement from a stock Captivate's GPS.
We need to compare the Captivate's GPS performance to other phones -- the Aria, Droid, iPhone etc. The Captivate's GPS just simply sucks compared to these phones, even after Samsung's "fix".
I wish I could return it, but there are no other decent options with AT&T

I have to disagree also. I just drove from Illinois to Texas and my captivate got me to my destination with only a couple dropped GPS signals. Was a 12 hour drive and it did what it needed to. Just saying this was a "real world" test and it passes in my book.
Dropped w/ my Captivate XDA App

My captivate is every bit as good as my aria was and better than my iphone 3g was. I'll agree its not the best. But this fix is working and if that's the best it can do I'm satisfied. I took a 6 hour trip the other weekend and it did loose signal in cloudy conditions, but when the sky was clear it never steered me wrong it even redirected me quickly, my friends vibrant also got him to where we were meeting. Now with the new firmware it gets a fix in overcast conditions. It may not be perfect but its what we have to live with. And I don't think I'd give up my samoled screen and good graphics processor for a better gps.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

johnyhoffman said:
I have to disagree also. I just drove from Illinois to Texas and my captivate got me to my destination with only a couple dropped GPS signals. Was a 12 hour drive and it did what it needed to. Just saying this was a "real world" test and it passes in my book.
Dropped w/ my Captivate XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It boils down to how much you expect the GPS to work.
If you expect it to work with a few dropped signals, a few random wanders, but still generally get you to your destination -- then it is OK.
If you expect it to work as good as other modern phones, it sucks.

phr00t said:
The problem with comparing the Captivate's GPS performance to stock is that stock was just garbage. Almost anything is an improvement from a stock Captivate's GPS.
We need to compare the Captivate's GPS performance to other phones -- the Aria, Droid, iPhone etc. The Captivate's GPS just simply sucks compared to these phones, even after Samsung's "fix".
I wish I could return it, but there are no other decent options with AT&T
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
try the Sony Xperia 10a. I have one and it's a nice phone. Lot's going on in that forum also. GPS works nicely and it's an 8Mb phone. Only A-droid 1.6 w/2.1 coming.

Unfortunate for me, I had a deal with AT&T to sell 50 of these devices ($15,000 down payment) with a custom app I wrote for this company. It's not going to happen now because the GPS is borked. Highway driving is one thing, but in the city, where you would be making turns left and right, it's counter productive. The GPS will be misleading you.
My project hasn't completely fallen through, but I would have to resort to the much smaller HTC Aria. I would say the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 but their OS is a joke. It runs 1.6 and has no Exchange support. SE said they'll make 2.1 (seriously!?) available end of october (meaning November). By then Gingerbread (2.5 or 3.0) will be out.
I just don't want to return this Captivate I got for free to develop the application...

Yea here's mine... Thx samsung, GREAT FIX!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

CLShortFuse said:
The GPS is still unreliable.
...
What are you experiences with this new GPS "fix"?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've gotten what I would call good performance from the GPS today, but I only use it for driving and I probably don't need better than 10m precision. Prior to updating today to JH7, my phone would take 3-5 minutes for an initial lock (which usually required prepping with the Ulysse Gizmos' GPS app), after which it would stay relatively on-point. Today, post-JH7, my phone gets a spot-on lock with 5+ satellites within 10-15 seconds.
Pre-JH7, Google Navigation would trail my actual position slightly, as determined by the very unscientific method of glancing over at the phone while driving and noting that I would be passing a street intersection and Google Nav would still have that street roughly 10-20 feet forward of my position.
Post-JH7, again very unscientifically, the map would have me passing intersections at the exact moment I was actually passing through those intersections. Your comment about it estimating your next position rings a bell, but I could just be "remembering" a non-existent hiccup during one of my rides. Of course, I could also have missed a few dozen hiccups, because I was keeping my eyes on the road. =)
I live in the 'burbs north of NYC and, although I have no immediate plans to head into Manhattan, I will install MyTracks tomorrow and do some more testing along curvy suburban roads with and without extensive tree cover (I'd also be happy to use your custom application, if those logs would be more helpful to you).
Can you give me some specific ideas of what scenarios would help you get more useful test data? Things like:
1) Proceed straight at 30mph. Take 90 degree right turn at 20mph. Expectation would be that MyTracks would continue straight for at least a few feet before correcting itself.
2) Proceed straight at 30mph. Come to abrupt and complete stop. Expectation would match above.

I have a GPS in my car and use it for road trips. The Captivate GPS works well NOW for what I want to use it for, location based services like gowalla and such. It also works well for me using Google Nav's Walking feature.
The update is definitely an improvement for me. Before the update, unless I had wireless network assist turned on, my GPS would NOT get a lock. Now it does in under 20 seconds.

I too just joined the android community after having an iphone for 3+ years now... captivate being the first powerful hardware based phone that i saw (and that ATT had).I'm probably never going back to the iphone even if i never get gps working cause it is still so much better imho.
But the only thing that makes this so dang frustrating is the fact that... was there ANY product testing!?. I mean i can understand if it was a bad "batch" of phones that made it out. Or even if gps was "subpar", and had an OCCASIONAL incident of what we are experiencing (Like once every 15-20 min, then would reset and work fine). But the fact that it has not worked since product launch on EVERY phone (captivate, fascinate, vibrant, epic 4g, i9000) Even the ones that claim to unaffected still have accuracy/lag issues. I mean how did this get past field testing? I just hate the negligence .
I mean atleast the iphone 4 reception issue was only conditional to how you were holding the device. But no one GPS has correctly worked -_- just frustrating

I agree with this thread so far. It's insanely frustrating.

[Q] General Performance and Quality issues?

Was just wondering if any could give me some feedback on their experiences with this phone vs other carriers or VM phone models. In the little over a week I've owned it, it's horrible compared to my current AT&T phone service.
I wanted to know if it was a quality issue on the phone, or VM's network.
I've notice in Los Angeles area I almost always have 1-2 bars, often have x1 instead of 3G. I also can be stopped at a major intersection in my car and the bar goes from full 3G to no bars and 1x, then spikes back up to full, then says no service. Even when I have a full bar and 3G I get like 150kpbs using speedtest.net sometimes.
Youtube video even in low quality stutters often, in HQ it's pointless.
I've also noticed the GPS lock times are sporadic but yet a utility shows the phone has a lock on 7+ satellites, but reports only about 100ft accuracy.
Sometimes when the screen comes on it flickers for a split second.
I was also told that the phone's radio only uses the 1900Mhz bands, does anyone know if we could get 800Mhz support once we get ROM development for it?
Has anyone noticed similar issues?
Best Buy just got 8 more in stock I'm going to swap it, but wanted to have some reference before the 30 days are up. No stores have a activated VM phone that I can compare service to.
I really want to update my phone and if I can save my money from AT&T. But need something at least somewhat reliable and consistent.
Thanks,
-Lich

Hey man, I'm in southern Indiana, so I can't really say much about your service area, but mine is great. usually 3/4 bars, with 3g speeds faster than my wifi. If your device is wonky like that, where it keeps jumping from no bars to full bars, then maybe its something with the phone itself. as far as 1x data, that's the network. I'm using an optimus v, rooted running cyanogenmod7, and I have excellent battery life and performance, so if you are going to switch to a different VM phone, I recommend that.

I have had absolutely no problems with this phone that aren't software related. There are quite a few Lemons out there and it seems only people on these forums are getting lemons!
I have software version 039 (Not sure that matters)
My signal strength sitting right here in my house is -64dBm with no tower in sight, full bars. I traveled from Upstate NY to Tucson, AZ on multiple flights with multiple layovers last week with this phone and I had absolutely no problems including getting in flight WiFi.
My Triumph is everything I could've hoped for after selling my iPhone 3GS to get the Triumph.
The screen is large and beautiful with absolutely amazing colors. The screen is responsive (after taking the thick 2nd screen protector off) and nearly as good as the iPhone's screen responsiveness. Phone feels good in my hand with a nice coating on the outside. The camera is absolutely amazing. I have taken beginner SLR quality photos with it, and when focusing you can even get quite a bit of bokeh added. The 720p camera is great, though it's jumpy in low light and I really don't like that it doesn't have video focusing. Battery life will take me through an entire day of normal use.
Any problems I have had, are software related and should be able to be easily fixed. GPS Locks beautifully to 3ft accuracy in under 30 seconds with the GPS Test app, but this cannot be said for Google Maps or Navigation. I think Google has a driver problem in their software which should be easily fixed with a new update to the Maps application. The Triumph does become unresponsive for a few seconds at times, but it's no big deal to me, again that should just be a software problem.
One other major problem I have that I KNOW is software related is that the headphone volume is WAY too low. If you make a phone call while listening to music, the volume will jump up to a normal level. Without making a phone call I have to turn my cars radio up to about 8/10 just to be at a normal level, if I make a phone call I can leave it on about 3/10.
For $300 and $25/month, you cannot beat this phone in any way.

On mt phone I can see little horizontal lines.does any one else see them?

My experience:
WiFi takes a while to turn on when I wake the phone. Streaming video is a bit choppy, and downloading the videos only reduces the choppiness by a little bit. I dont have the flickering issue, and to the best of my knowledge, gps works well. Keeps up with games like my bro's Droid X. Snappier than my friends Samsung Galaxy S. Sometimes the soft buttons require a second press to initiate. Overall I'm happy with it, but will be better when CM is installed.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT using Tapatalk

My experience is that gps works just fine the phone is fast, the signal in seattle area is only good downtown anywhere els and it sucks. I searched for towers in my area and sprint has very few towers I get 1 maybe 2 bars max signal at home mostly 0 bars but can still make calls.
wifi works great and when I have a good signal 3g works great but the lack of signal in most places is what sucks my battery down.
Sprint just needs to improve its coverage

bugs i've come across :
widgets resize after holding your phone in landscape mode
wifi can't connect to a router and will keep re-trying, causing the phone to reboot
random reboots
back button will stop working, while other buttons work
light leakage between soft buttons and case
i went from 038 to 039 software and haven't noticed anything yet. i always had a good gps lock on 038 but had horrible reception, 039 doesn't seem to improve that

Faster then my daughters galaxy s , 038,sometimes the back button takes a few times to act like a back button, but over all I'm very happy with it.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT

I came from the Intercept, and so far the Triumph is heads and shoulders above that even though it has a few minor bugs. Most of the stuff works great, my gps is fine, my signal is actually better than my Intercept, and I don't have any screen flickering.
I do have a small amount of light leakage (not a big deal to me) and sometimes my widgets resize, but all in all it's been great for me.

I came from using the Droid X and let me tell you that this phone reminds me of it so much. The only thing that i dobt like is that the battery is a little lacking compared to the X. An im just waiting for a custom rom to come out for this. I was running liberty 2.0.1 on the x and i would love to see something similar.
Sent from my MOTWX435KT using XDA App

Other than the atrocious performance of the battery.......Horrible gps performance which much like my wife works whenever it feels like it. The 3g speeds are an absolute joke also. So far i'm not all that impressed with this phone. I hope that it can be solved via software and that these are not hardware issues. It's my second one....the first one had power issues.

No problems either with _38, had it since 7/14.
Signal is about 5dB weaker v. an OV in the same location, however I have seen several people report making/receiving calls fine w/no bars as well as SMS. The areas that I usually frequent, I have 1-2 "bars"(no a good sig str indicator), 3G no problem.
...and I second the app problem causing thing to f'up. I read an article the other month that the VAST majority of Android phone problems usually end up being some app interfereing with functionality. e.g. I had sudden batt drain problems, so I checked batt useage and found Star Chart(FAOD that day) was using 80% of batt, so I killed it problem solved(in that case).
[EDIT]
3G speeds: VMUSA problem, mine are as craptacular on the MT as they were on the OV, i.e. usually about 56k dialup rates.
[/EDIT]

Well here's an update.
I just got back from BB and exchanged the 1st Triumph with another. It's funny the manufacture date on this one is newer but it has the 38 firmware and my old one had 39 go figure that out. Anyway so far the performance seem just as bad, but the screen doesn't flicker on power on.
Maybe I just have the worst luck and need to try a 3rd one. I really love this phone and want to use it and VM it's so cheap. I'm going to try this one for a few days and cross my fingers my house just has extra crappy reception.
I also bought a Optimus V just to compare the signal network speed as a reference, I haven't swapped to that one. I turned it on non activated and it shows 1 bar signal also. I'll be curious if it goes up once it's offically on the network. I really would like the bigger screen and flash support though from the Triumph.
Maybe I like in the wrong state and should move where you guys live..lol
Thanks for the feedback.
-Lich

Common issues for me now are connectivity, battery drain, and light leaking from the bottom right corner. I'm going to swap mine out before the 30 days are up

mr2011 said:
Common issues for me now are connectivity, battery drain, and light leaking from the bottom right corner. I'm going to swap mine out before the 30 days are up
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yea i think everyone pretty much has all those problems. if you exchange it you will probably get the same problems or worse. hopefully a new batch will have been released by then

I own both the Triumph and the Optimus V. Reception seems a touch better with this one in known trouble spots around town here. Where the Optimus might lose connection, the Triumph retains it, if barely.

I am having issues with a greenish yellow blob in the middle of the camera. It is reducible within some combination of the setting, but in some instances it is still there. Is this a common issue, or are there MTs which do not exhibit this? The reason I ask, is that I am weighing wether to swap my MT out for another.
I also have intermittent lock screen 'flicker', but from what I have read, it seems to be fairly common. I dont see it often within normal use, but if I repeatedly hit the power button, it becomes visible.
Connectivity does however seem to be stable when I have been using it (both wifi and cdma). Even in cases where there are low bars, I seem to have a decent connection for text/voice.

Has anyone else's battery life gotten more and more horrible by the day? It seems like mine is getting worse as each day passes. The first day I got my Triumph I had some heavy use on it getting all my apps installed and configured and it lasted almost a day and a half for some time on a single charge, now 2 weeks later im having to plug it in maybe twice daily for quick charges.

So the flickering screen issue... Major defect? Or can we count on a solution when custom ROMs become available?
I'm on my 4th Triumph now, and at this point, Best Buy is probably going to ban me from making returns if I go back very much more with this crap..

mr2011 said:
Has anyone else's battery life gotten more and more horrible by the day? It seems like mine is getting worse as each day passes. The first day I got my Triumph I had some heavy use on it getting all my apps installed and configured and it lasted almost a day and a half for some time on a single charge, now 2 weeks later im having to plug it in maybe twice daily for quick charges.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try calibrating the battery with charge cycles. Might help. Or maybe it is an app you installed?
Sent from my LG Optimus V running Sense 3.0

Wifi Signal Strength

Why is it that the wifi signal strength is better on my laptop than on my phone?
I have noticed this for nearly every device I have owned. The laptop will always seem to catch a better signal than the phone, even though they are both in the same position, same network, etc.
Is there anything I can do to boost the signal range of my phone?
(no I'm not sticking an antenna on it)

Interesting - I notice the complete reverse. My doubleshot has stronger signal to my wifi router and for a longer distance (of about 5 feet in my driveway) then my laptop.
Sent from a digital distance.

Blue6IX said:
Interesting - I notice the complete reverse. My doubleshot has stronger signal to my wifi router and for a longer distance (of about 5 feet in my driveway) then my laptop.
Sent from a digital distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Out of all the different phones I have owned, NONE have been able to catch wifi signals as good as my laptop
As I speak right now, I am connected to the same network with both devices. Laptop shows a good signal, while the phone is showing a poor signal, and even disconnects at times.

Interesting. I guess logic might wanna tell me that a laptop would have a larger/more powerful radio chip, or whatever it is that receives the signal... and that has basically been my experience, my laptop can stray further away from the router. But perhaps it depends on your hardware?

gtmaster303 said:
Out of all the different phones I have owned, NONE have been able to catch wifi signals as good as my laptop
As I speak right now, I am connected to the same network with both devices. Laptop shows a good signal, while the phone is showing a poor signal, and even disconnects at times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes this has been the case from my G1 all the way til the DS.
yogi2010 said:
Interesting. I guess logic might wanna tell me that a laptop would have a larger/more powerful radio chip, or whatever it is that receives the signal...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to think the same. That has been my thinking since I started brainstorming ideas about this. It would be interesting to see a answer with facts tho. :thumbup:
Typed by ---- oh wait! I'm schizophrenic!

Well, my laptop is about 2 years old and beat up, compiling kernels is killing it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the wifi chip suffered some damage from how many times its overheat and shut off.
Sent from a digital distance.

I have this same problem, out of all my devices my Doubleshot is the worst at picking up a wifi signal. This includes two other low end Android phones, the Droid Eris, and the Huawei Ascend. On my Ascend I can pick up my neighbors wifi almost anywhere in my apartment, even better than my laptop, but on the Doubleshot I can not pick up the signal at all unless I am outside right next to my neighbors house. I wish there was a fix for this issue. Even at school where the wifi is very strong, I can only pick up a weak signal that disconnects from time to time on my Doubleshot, but my Ascend never had that problem, it always received the signal strong and clear.

Blue6IX said:
Well, my laptop is about 2 years old and beat up, compiling kernels is killing it.
I wouldn't be surprised if the wifi chip suffered some damage from how many times its overheat and shut off.
Sent from a digital distance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My laptop is nearly 4 years old. Runs a Centrino chipset. Maybe that explains the better signal it catches. Either way, I've never seen a phone outperform a laptop in signal strength

gtmaster303 said:
... Either way, I've never seen a phone outperform a laptop in signal strength
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lol - you should come by my house. Sometimes (I posted it in a thread a few months ago around here somewhere) I use the doubleshot as a wifi bridge to my router to make up for the inadequacies of my laptop wifi abilities, or for my desktop that has no other means of internet connectivity.
It seems I represent a minority (of one!) in this... i dunno. I've been excited about how well it works out, and am quite surprised (astonished even!) to find everyone else singing a different tune.

Blue6IX said:
lol - you should come by my house. Sometimes (I posted it in a thread a few months ago around here somewhere) I use the doubleshot as a wifi bridge to my router to make up for the inadequacies of my laptop wifi abilities, or for my desktop that has no other means of internet connectivity.
It seems I represent a minority (of one!) in this... i dunno. I've been excited about how well it works out, and am quite surprised (astonished even!) to find everyone else singing a different tune.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yea, seems like you're the only one. By the way, if your laptop is overheating from compiling, you're doing something wrong. No laptop should overheat, even under full load, unless you have blocked vents, or you're overclocked.

Lol, unless it's choked with dust, has no compound between the processor and heatsink, the fan doesn't work and it relies on an external cooling pad for all of it's cooling air circulation.
Half the usb ports are burnt out and no longer function and the speakers stopped working a year ago. Since the audio out jack has stopped functioning.
I'm pretty impressed with the fact that it even still turns on, let alone being able to actually do anything with it, but, I'm hoping to get a full blown linux install on the doubleshot and thereby circumvent ever having to purchase a real computer again.
I'd grab another laptop, but, i'd rather invest my limited tech funds into android hardware and write off real computers entirely, and given the capabilities of the doubleshot and future android devices on out this is no pipe dream - the only thing between me and realizing that goal is the knowledge to make it happen, a gap that shrinks daily.
Sent from a digital distance.

Amaze or One S

So I love my sister, but she ordered new phones without asking me here. They offered her the One S for100 each and since it's the nest phone right now, she agreed. They should be delivered today out tomorrow.
The thing it's that I'd prefer the Amaze. I really want a dedicated camera button better frontfacing camera, sd card slot, and removable battery. Otoh the One S is slimmer it's supposed to have better battery life and a quicker camera. Le sigh.
Is it worth sending back the One S and ordering an Amaze? When I called CS they said the Amaze pricing would be somewhere between 100 and 200 so it may end up costing more money for the Amaze despite it being an older phone and available free online to upgrades.
is it worth sending back the One.to get the Amaze?
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.

Tough call. I had the option for the GS2, Amaze, blaze and the One S. I went with the One S because of the rear camera, updated tech and premium build quality and feel. If removable storage is deal breaker or a physical camera button then the One S is not for you.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda app-developers app

Keep the One S, you won't regret.

Friend has the blaze and its junk. Sgs2 is better than that. Amaze is a good phone with a bunch of hardware issues. I gave mine away after a few months and got the One S which is the best device tmo has to offer. Built solid, sense 4, globally marketed so much better development. Amaze development is a joke. It has a bunch of 15yr old kids developing a bunch of broken wip roms. Lol. It's embarrassing. Now that they have ics, they're developing CM7 LOLOL.
Get the One S or SGS3... I say the One S
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

Thanks for the replies I first there are proud to the One S . This it's what I was hoping to hear. None of the pros for either phone are complete deal breakers. although the Sd card slot would be nice. I've got 12GB of music on my 32GB card now and 32GB will be hard to give up. Also, the front facing camera is only VGA right? How does it perform in different lighting situations? I'd only really use it for Google hangout and am current using my laptop which also has a VGA camera and I have to have a lot if lighting in order not to be a dark blur on the screen.
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.

jillora said:
Thanks for the replies I first there are proud to the One S . This it's what I was hoping to hear. None of the pros for either phone are complete deal breakers. although the Sd card slot would be nice. I've got 12GB of music on my 32GB card now and 32GB will be hard to give up. Also, the front facing camera is only VGA right? How does it perform in different lighting situations? I'd only really use it for Google hangout and am current using my laptop which also has a VGA camera and I have to have a lot if lighting in order not to be a dark blur on the screen.
Sent from my HD2 running Dorimanx.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
U do get 23GB added to your dropbox for cloud storage as well with One S... Plus Google Play Music works well for uploading up to 20k songs
But if u need an sd slot and removable battery, get the sgs3... Not the Amaze
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2

glacierguy said:
Amaze development is a joke. It has a bunch of 15yr old kids developing a bunch of broken wip roms. Lol. It's embarrassing. Now that they have ics, they're developing CM7 LOLOL.
Get the One S or SGS3... I say the One S
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
haha, that made my day. sad yes, considering I still have an amaze.
nothing like a dozen themed roms all based off of one underclocked rom. aaaah.
but, I do like the camera button, from sleep it comes on in a second and its no lag, very fast, and great pics. Expandable memory is a plus for me, I couldn't be bothered with dropbox, I prefer to have my data to myself. the vga camera I wouldn't care about, I rarely use my front facing 2mp cam, but quality isn't there, I doubt you'd be able to tell the difference between the two. So, down to you which features are more important.

I have to agree with glacier on this, we just both switched from the Amaze. There are a few good Roms.. most of them are all based off of one Rom, so you get 10 different versions of a rom.
The One S is amazing, the amaze is literally a brick compared to this.
I can actually leave my capacitive lights on without seeing the light bleed, my back over doesn't squeak, I have a stronger WiFi signal.
I would stick with the One S.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

Good to know about the front facing camera. Even though I'd use it maybe once a week, I SO want something better than my laptop camera. Alas, maybe it's not meant to be.
My sister actually waited 3 hours longer than expected for the UPS guy earlier. She lives down near Houston and she was already heading up here to Dallas today so she figured she'd wait for the phone to arrive. The sister is sweet.
I'm cautiously looking forward to it, although it would be hard to beat the all-kinds-of-awesome HD2 for me. It was cheap so I never worry about dropping it on the floor or bricking it and there are so many different ROMs available. Unfortunately I need the money since next month's Tmobile bill is probably going to be over $500(100 plus tax for 2 phones and the upgrade fees and the more expensive plan) so the HD2 is going on Craigslist this weekend. I get way to attached to electronics...

I agree with all these guys I have the amaze and one S IMHO stick with the one.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

I had the Amaze and now have the One S. Between dropbox and google drive I really don't miss having a SD card. The battery life is ok, sucks if you stay connected to wi-fi and use wi-fi calling though. But over all think the One S is far better than the Amaze. Wouldn't go back

robbyb2 said:
I had the Amaze and now have the One S. Between dropbox and google drive I really don't miss having a SD card. The battery life is ok, sucks if you stay connected to wi-fi and use wi-fi calling though. But over all think the One S is far better than the Amaze. Wouldn't go back
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im on WiFi calling almost all day, and my battery barely drains.
Sent from my HTC VLE_U using xda premium

So we kept the two HTC One S phones. As you say robbyb, the extra dropbox space is nice. I've been uploading my music to Google Play, but it's been taking forever. It is over 6000 songs though.
I should probably start a new thread for this, but I may as well ask here. My immediate first impressions were that the device is really slick and attractive and fast and the cameras are all kinds of awesome. Then I started using the phone and found a glaring deficit, the internet signal strength. grrr.
Both my sister's phone and mine seem to have pretty crappy internet signals. This effects both the mobile data and wifi. While I was getting 2-4 bars in the house and 2-4mbs d/l speeds for 3g and up to 8-9 mbs for wifi with my hd2. Now I'm getting .024-19 mbs for mobile data. Yeah that's quite a range. The .024-.7 mbs happen in the park beside my home and the 18-19 mbs were at the McDonalds less than a mile away. If I'm outside, I get up to 4 mbs. My wifi reception doesn't vary quite as much as the mobile data reception. It's 3-7 mbs. For most of my tests, I stayed in the same place in the house, except for the trips to the park and McDonalds.
The mobile speeds at home suck. If I try to do anything while not connected to the wifi, the connection usually times out. The signal also seems to fluctuate a lot. The phone will be laying on the bed and not moving and the numbers of bars goes down to zero then up again to 3. A few times it's gone up to 5 bars and then I try to use the internet and the connection times out again. The phone also gets really hot at these times.
Yeah and the wifi fluctutuates almost as much. Likewise, it will sit in the same plce and go from 1-4 strength periodically.
I went ahead and changed the APN to the old one I was using with the HD2. I don't know why, but the next test did have almost double the signal strength, although I've still getting connection time outs. For the wifi, I tried FXR Wifi Fix and Rescue which worked great on my signal when the HD2 started acting up again on some random ROM a few months ago. Thought I'd give it another shot and no, it had no effect.
Now I have been using Speedtest and I know it's not completely accurate, but the results make sense based on how the phone is acting when I'm running the tests and I can compare the data to the HD2.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation of our difficulties, does anyone have a solution to wifi and 3g/4g issues. The phones shipped with the newest update from Tmobile and have been restarted several times.

jillora said:
So we kept the two HTC One S phones. As you say robbyb, the extra dropbox space is nice. I've been uploading my music to Google Play, but it's been taking forever. It is over 6000 songs though.
I should probably start a new thread for this, but I may as well ask here. My immediate first impressions were that the device is really slick and attractive and fast and the cameras are all kinds of awesome. Then I started using the phone and found a glaring deficit, the internet signal strength. grrr.
Both my sister's phone and mine seem to have pretty crappy internet signals. This effects both the mobile data and wifi. While I was getting 2-4 bars in the house and 2-4mbs d/l speeds for 3g and up to 8-9 mbs for wifi with my hd2. Now I'm getting .024-19 mbs for mobile data. Yeah that's quite a range. The .024-.7 mbs happen in the park beside my home and the 18-19 mbs were at the McDonalds less than a mile away. If I'm outside, I get up to 4 mbs. My wifi reception doesn't vary quite as much as the mobile data reception. It's 3-7 mbs. For most of my tests, I stayed in the same place in the house, except for the trips to the park and McDonalds.
The mobile speeds at home suck. If I try to do anything while not connected to the wifi, the connection usually times out. The signal also seems to fluctuate a lot. The phone will be laying on the bed and not moving and the numbers of bars goes down to zero then up again to 3. A few times it's gone up to 5 bars and then I try to use the internet and the connection times out again. The phone also gets really hot at these times.
Yeah and the wifi fluctutuates almost as much. Likewise, it will sit in the same plce and go from 1-4 strength periodically.
I went ahead and changed the APN to the old one I was using with the HD2. I don't know why, but the next test did have almost double the signal strength, although I've still getting connection time outs. For the wifi, I tried FXR Wifi Fix and Rescue which worked great on my signal when the HD2 started acting up again on some random ROM a few months ago. Thought I'd give it another shot and no, it had no effect.
Now I have been using Speedtest and I know it's not completely accurate, but the results make sense based on how the phone is acting when I'm running the tests and I can compare the data to the HD2.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation of our difficulties, does anyone have a solution to wifi and 3g/4g issues. The phones shipped with the newest update from Tmobile and have been restarted several times.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The Amaze has those problems also, but worse.
Really the only thing you can do is flash a custom rom and hope for the best, Zydroid is pretty awesome right now. Amazing battery life, my wifi signal doesn't fluctuate, my cell signal fluctuates some but I also have a week signal at home.
The only time my phone gets hot is when it's in direct sunlight, which I assume is due to the fact that it's surrounded in aluminum which, gets hot fast in sunlight...

Yeah, that sunlight is not so good for electronics, lol. I wonder if my sister's and my phones are atypical. If the One S usually performs better, we may try to exchange them. That's why it's still stock. I'll wait until I'm outside of the 14 day return period and commited before installing a ROM, although every time I see the app drawer, I want to at least root it and get rid of all the bloatware. Now when I'm not having connection issues, this phone is pretty epic.
Eta the next morning. Oh bother. The phone has been off the charger for 1.5 hours and has only 50% battery left. That's so wrong. When I turned off the WiFi the mobile data couldn't connect until I restarted the phone. Bother that will be annoying if it continues

Thinking about coming to the s3..

Any apparent issues with these phone? I have the recent Samsung galaxy nexus, and I have the 3g-4g issue with mine and it was a PITA. Any issues with these phones, as in common issues?

This phone started getting really poor signal when the Note 2 came out. It got so bad a lot of people needed to get it replaced! Apparently, the Note 2 didn't have these issues.
Just kidding.
In some areas this phone can have signal issues. At home, work and most other places nearby I get perfectly fine signal. However when I visited some of my friends in Detroit we went to a bar that caused my phone to really heat up in my pocket. I noticed it was on 1x and my battery had been drained pretty good. Its hit or miss, but I'd say 90% of the people have no issues.
Out of the box the phone does not handle Bluetooth calling with an aux cable plugged in. You won't be able to hear the person on the other end until you unplug the cable from the phone. Fortunately, one hobbyist was able to fix what a multi-billion dollar corporation couldn't and released SoundAbout onto the play store. You'll have to buy it to get the Bluetooth correction ability, but it's worth it if this is a function that you use.
Samsung is playing coy about the availability of an extended battery. Only murmers of it exist though some people have managed to get their hands on it overseas. We're hoping this doesn't become vaporware because it's a 3000mah battery that doesn't add too much extra bulk. The stock battery provides average battery life. Better than your GNex but worse than battery titans like the maxx phones and Note 2.
There are issues with the real time clock that causes recovery backups to have an incorrect date. All of my backups were performed in 1970 apparently.
AOSP is very functional on this phone but it's still a WIP. Notable issues include staticy A2DP Bluetooth music playback (mastamoon builds unofficials that fix this at the expense of call echo), massive fps lag upon exiting games (fixed by turning screen off/on) and weaker signal strength in some areas. There may be other issues I'm forgetting about, but that's most of it.
There is a small chance you can lose your IMEI number when you flash custom ROMs or kernels. This is bad as it causes your phone to lose its ability to make calls, send texts or receive data. Luckily there are easy methods to back this up and restore if needed. I've backed mine up and thankfully have never needed to restore it. Look for the thread titled Comprehensive IMEI Backup for more details.
That's most of the issues with this phone.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.

[email protected] said:
No comparison to the GNEX. The GNEX was just terrible when it came to signal. The S3 might not be the best signal phone, but it is leaps and bounds above the GNEX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
VERY true story!
Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

I've been having trouble with signal reception at home, but that's the only place I have an issue. My house seems to be in a deadzone with a radius of no more than 200m. My iPhone4 didn't have a problem with calls there, but hte GS3 does. That said, I don't really have a problem anywhere else. A network extender remedied that issue. I also get a quick A2DP audio skip once every couple of minutes, but that doesn't bother me much.
Aside from that, it's been an awesome phone. Lot's of support, and lots of roms to try out.

You have 14 days to return, give it a run. I have zero signal issues.
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

I have the 32G blue on Verizon and although I don't always have a strong signal I have never had a dropped call. I travel a lot and watch the 4G and cell signal, most of the time I have 4G about 80 % the rest is 3G. Did notice that when the phone is switching between the two occasionally it will go to 1x not all the time. I did flash like a dozen ROMs not loosing my IMEI, however I did back it up b4 I started flashing just in case. Recommend you do a lot of reading b4 you start flashing n you shouldn't have any problems. Love the phone n the ROMs
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda app-developers app

Thanks guys especially the 2nd poster!

This phone is awesome and one of the best I've owned so.
Came from the flagship thunderbolt on the verizon network.

Oh the thunderbolt my wife has had 6 of them none worked right
Sent from my SCH-I535 using xda premium

I've had mine a couple of week now. I came from a Motorola Bionic. I would much rather the Bionic's radio, I find I have reception issue in places the Bionic was fine in. I got my wife a S3 also, it seems like her reception is better than mine.
Other than that, the phone is amazing. I would and have recommended it.