There is this great Android app that displays the output from the device's GPSr chip, as well as the data from other sensors in the phone (compass, level, accelerometer, etc). I have used it on all of my android phones. When I used it on the skyrocket, I noticed something different.
Normally the app displays a compass wheel and plots the visible GPS satellites on it, indicating how strong the signal is from each, which are being used to plot your location and where they are in the sky. The US GPS constellation has 32 active satellites and a handful of inactive spares. They are numbered, simply enough, 1-32. However, since I started using the app on this phone I have additional satellites plotted on my display, numbered greater than 60. I contacted the app's developer and he was as surprised as I was.
My handset is a non-retail version of the phone. I can't get into too many details of what that means on a public forum, but suffice it to say, mine might be a bit different than yours. Until now I was under the impression that my device was identical to the retail version in every respect except for the "NOT FOR SALE" stenciled into the case and the lack of logo on the battery cover. Now I am not so sure.
So here is the help I need: download the app (it is free), go outside and fire it up. Within seconds it should start plotting satellites on the compass as little numbered dots. Do you see any with a number outside the range 1-32? There seems to pretty consistently be about 8 of them in the sky where I am, so if you can detect them at all you should see some of them.
Please let us know if you can see them or not. Here is a link to the app on the market: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2 If you can see them, we may have additional questions for you. Please post even if you cannot see any. If no-one can, that means it has to do with mine being non-retail. If some of you can and some can't, then we may have identified a variant of the Skyrocket. Or maybe the satellites are regional. This is all very confusing and exciting, please help!
Attached is a screenshot of the app detecting satellites numbered greater than 32.
Here is a screennshot of me using the app never shows more then 9 satalites for me
Thanks!
Your screenie is in line with what's expected, showing only US GPS satellites. Hmm, curiouser and curiouser.
I'm getting 9/20 sattelites. The ones on the screen above 32 are white and numbered: 82, 78, 88, 80, 65, 72, 79, 81. Interesting, every satelite in green is below 32, every satelite in white is above 32. Oops, I take that back. There's a white 28
If you tell me how to do the screenshot, I'll post it here.
There are a number of apps on the market that run in the background and take screenshots by shaking the phone, like this one: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.geeksoft.screenshot
So you see the mystery satellites, too! Cool! We don't know exactly what they are, but they might be GLONASS satellites - the Russian military GPS that opened to civilian use after the Iron Curtain fell. Or something else entirely!
If you press and hold home and power buttons then release it takes screenshots you do not need an app its a feature of samsung galaxy phones
Hi all,
I'm the author of GPS Status and I'm 99.99% sure that those dots are GLONASS satellites.
First about the coloring:
- gray: satellite without ephemeris or almanach data.
- blue: satellite with almanach, without ephemeris
- yellow: satellitw with almanach and ephemeris data, but not used in the GPS fix
I was more or less expecting that someone will spot this sooner or later. GPS Status was written to display all returned sat data. It is just that this phone receives also GLONASS data. There are several announced/shipping phones that officially provide GLONASS support. Galaxy Note and the latest Sony-Ericcson xperia phones. BTW iPhone4s also supports GLONASS.
We can expect most new phones will support this because Russia has implemented a 25% import tax on all phones that do not support GLONASS (from the beginning of next year). Manufacturers will obviously support this to avoid the tax. So we can expect new phones arriving with GLONASS support or even older phones to have firmware updates to enable it (if the hardware supports). Long story short, I'm happy to see this happening as this will give a much better service IF the phone can work in mixed mode.
In this particular case I guess the phone is using only the GPS stats and can be switched between GPS/GLONASS, but cannot use both of them at the same time.
Great find
Cool!
We have already found one person who is apparently without GLONASS support. There are probably others (by all means, post). I guess this is a point of variation. Smartphones all seem to have them: two "identical" phones, but this one has sound card A and that one has soundcard B, etc. It happens because of the way consumer electronics are manufactured. Some of us got a GPS/GLONASS receiver and some of us got a GPS-only receiver, for no other reason than the availability of the various components at the time the production batch our phone was in got fabricated.
Yeah it appears that is the case. I just pickd up my skyrocket traded my sgs2 for it to a guy who lives in Louisiana
rhornig said:
Hi all,
I'm the author of GPS Status and I'm 99.99% sure that those dots are GLONASS satellites.
First about the coloring:
- gray: satellite without ephemeris or almanach data.
- blue: satellite with almanach, without ephemeris
- yellow: satellitw with almanach and ephemeris data, but not used in the GPS fix
I was more or less expecting that someone will spot this sooner or later. GPS Status was written to display all returned sat data. It is just that this phone receives also GLONASS data. There are several announced/shipping phones that officially provide GLONASS support. Galaxy Note and the latest Sony-Ericcson xperia phones. BTW iPhone4s also supports GLONASS.
We can expect most new phones will support this because Russia has implemented a 25% import tax on all phones that do not support GLONASS (from the beginning of next year). Manufacturers will obviously support this to avoid the tax. So we can expect new phones arriving with GLONASS support or even older phones to have firmware updates to enable it (if the hardware supports). Long story short, I'm happy to see this happening as this will give a much better service IF the phone can work in mixed mode.
In this particular case I guess the phone is using only the GPS stats and can be switched between GPS/GLONASS, but cannot use both of them at the same time.
Great find
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow I had no idea that cell were incorporating GLONASS recievers too. Guess your going to have change your app name to GNSS Status now
Here's mine. Skyrocket purchased from an AT&T Store in Honolulu a couple of weeks ago.
GLONASS IS HERE!!!
I wonder how hard it would be to enable simultaneous GLONASS/GPS support
I have both models (production and pre-production) and yes they both show the same list of birds.
This is mine!
It is from Galaxy Note!
It seems that the GLONASS Sats are used with both GPS Sats!
The reason the skyrocket can pick up GLONASS satellites is because Qualcomm released a statement yesterday saying that the S3 has a built in chip for GLONASS, and the carriers should be activating it soon, since its more reliable then the current GPS system. Honestly, Im surprised the skyrocket can pick them up without a software update, unless it shipped with support.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using xda premium
Cool beans! My skyrocket (also purchased from ATT in socal) is showing the GLONASS satellites in grey as well. I wonder if we will get the update that will allow it to work in mixed mode like the Note apparently does.
Mine shows the birds in grey too!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using XDA App
Yep, mine picks up GLONASS satellites.
I wonder if the 2.3.6 update (once it gets re-pushed) will be able to connect to those satellites... would be amazing honestly.
EDIT: here's the article. http://www.slashgear.com/qualcomm-a...-and-s3-support-for-gps-and-glonass-16202874/
Related
http://free-pc-guides.com/news/first-att-samsung-captivate-owners-report-problems-with-gps-02887
This is such a sensationalist article. There aren't any problems with the GPS. You're supposed to use a GPS outside, and even inside, mine got a signal fine.
This article also says that T-mobile is expected to get the Captivate, which is false. It already has the Vibrant.
What GPS Problem??
No problems for me, thus far...
Mine has locked once. After that it refuses and just triangulates using cell towers and accurate within 2600 meters.
I'm not sure I would call it a "problem", but the GPS chip in these things is definitely not as good as the GPS chips in most other newly released phones. It could be a software issue, but I doubt it. The Aria would consistently lock onto twice as many satellites as this thing. When driving near large buildings and under bridges I sometimes lose a lock and Google Nav jumps around, which never happens in those same places with the Aria.
It seems to be working fine for me, but then I saw that someone had posted a fix for it when you dialed into the GPS settings, so I did that, and now.... it's still working fine!
gtg465x said:
I'm not sure I would call it a "problem", but the GPS chip in these things is definitely not as good as the GPS chips in most other newly released phones. It could be a software issue, but I doubt it. The Aria would consistently lock onto twice as many satellites as this thing. When driving near large buildings and under bridges I sometimes lose a lock and Google Nav jumps around, which never happens in those same places with the Aria.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've recently used both an Evo and an ATT-band Nexus One. I do have to say that the GPS on both of those seemed to acquire signals from satellites much faster than the Captivate, and give a more accurate location. Even standing outside, in the open, this one never appears to lock in on my precise location as well. I realize that's only anecdotal, but I no longer have access to either of the other devices.
Maybe its just mine, but I traveled over 300 miles today using Google Navigation, the phone up in the dash, with a clear view of the sky keep on having issue finding me.
I have an N1 and Aria, neither of these have these issues.
Do the specs indicate which GPS chip is being used? Some are better than others. Is it SirFStar III, IV, or MTK or what? This can certainly make a difference but costs about the same, so why get a cheapo chip? Hope Samsung did not do that.
GPS is definitely poor. From watching GPS Test I'd wager it's a firmware issue. No reason to have satellites popping in and out of view in the middle of a field on a clear day...
I've had many GPS units (>10) and the GPS in the phone is the second worst I've ever had. Very flaky. It looks like they also tried to mask the problem by averaging a bunch of the last fixes. I say this because the speed indication trails reality by quite a bit!
And I did try the proposed settings elsewhere but it didn't seem to improve much.
Hopefully they'll get this fixed. It's not the way GPS should be working on a top tier phone.
AJerman said:
It seems to be working fine for me, but then I saw that someone had posted a fix for it when you dialed into the GPS settings, so I did that, and now.... it's still working fine!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Okay, so to change my stance a little, the GPS has been a little off tonight. Locking has been slower than I like, but it has been locking, and I saw it lock to at least 7 satellites earlier so I know it has no issue with handling that many at once.
The bigger annoyance that I'm having now is that my AGPS is off by quite a bit, telling me I'm in the next town over until it gets a full GPS signal. Not only is this annoying, but it also throws off every app that uses the cell data for coarse location, and I wouldn't be surprised if it has an effect on how fast it locks to the actual GPS satellites since it has the wrong location info to start which is the whole point of AGPS.
I actually did the GPS tweaks found in another thread, and I was navigating around my city. Maps was spot on for 98% of the time. Once or twice it put me about 30 meters away, but that was when i was surrounded by trees or concrete. Overall, I was very VERY impressed with the voice navigation, and the re-routing it did when i drove past a turn!
hmose said:
Do the specs indicate which GPS chip is being used? Some are better than others. Is it SirFStar III, IV, or MTK or what? This can certainly make a difference but costs about the same, so why get a cheapo chip? Hope Samsung did not do that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm starting to think that the processor and screen on this phone cost so much that Samsung had to cut corners in other areas to keep prices competitive. So far we've seen widespread evidence of crappy chargers (take forever to charge), GPS chips (slow and not very accurate), compasses (all over the place), internal memory (slow memory is causing the stalling issue / lag), and lack of camera flash. Hopefully not all of those are hardware issues and some can be fixed with software, but I'm just saying, they might have cut some corners to keep this thing reasonably priced. Personally, I would have rather paid $100 more to have the best phone ever made hands down. Oh Samsung.
I got it to lock like one time outside. Then I found this http://androidforums.com/samsung-captivate/128026-everyone-who-having-gps-problems.html and now it locks on inside my house. And this is actually GPS I'm talking about not wifi/cell tower triangulation. Hope it helps some of you.
I picked mine up the 19th in the burbs of Chicago. Drove up to Milwaukee with it the same day and did a side by side comparison with my Garmin GPS after my friend sent me the article.
Besides 2 minor hiccups, they worked very similar.
*the first hiccup shouldn't even be credited as a hiccup because it was an alternate route, I knew from experience it was slower but my Garmin and my Magellan of past never recognized it as the faster route.
*the second hiccup was when I was driving down 294 to merge into 94. Both had about the same instruction but out of nowhere my captivate's nav system said to take a left into a random road. It "recalculated" after a quick flicker and went back on course with my Garmin.
Recently I noticed there was an update for the Maps application which gave me "Navigation" and after installing it, I prefer my phone to my Garmin because:
1. It now gives you a picture of the destination in "street view" which you can touch and scroll around when you've arrived or pretty much arrived.
2. It shows traffic (green is good, red is bad)
3. I'm not sure if this was before the update but you can scroll through the map using the touch screen rather than just zooming in and out.
I'll do a few more runs driving between Milwaukee and the Chicago burbs before I completely set aside one or the other, but my experience has definitely met my expectations of a GPS
Why not download GPS NMEA MONITOR App and watch the data sentences. If they keep coming then it is a software problem, not the GPS Chipset. If those data sentences are stopped, then you got a hardware chipset reception problem. Try getting a clear view of the sky.
Zero GPS issues here, faster then backflip, tilt, & tilt2 for me. Grabs and maintains connection just fine.
Complain if you are outside with a clear sky and you can't get a lock, not if you are in your parents basement, in the cab of your car (not on the dash in a car mount), inside your office cubicle, they need a clear view of the sky to work properly.
Sorry, read too many idiots saying the GPS doesn't work IN their house... Duh!!!
THanks but I will complain if I want to considering every Blackberry I owned prior to the Captivate got a GPS lock within a few seconds in pretty much every location "clear weather" or not. Expecting GPS to work in a basement is one thing but expecting it to work in your car...anywhere in your car, or even a normal house (unless you live in your parent's basement) is completely reasonable IMHO. My Boss' HTC Incredible's GPS locks in our office which is on the 1st floor of a 4 story office building as long as he is near an exterior wall. When I run the app GPS Status from that same office space I can see the GPS sats but they won't lock. Sorry if you are tired of hearing "idiots" complain about Samsung's suck ass GPS but you should pretty much just deal with it. It isn't too much to expect a brand new state of the art smartphone to have at least as good GPS performance as a freaking 3 year old Blackberry.
I am also am unhappy consumer related the poor GPS quality - I expected a high end phone to have an accurate GPS. With that said, I think everyone can agree that it could be better, however, the phone in my opinion is very great and boasts many other positive features.
I do believe the GPS will be fixed. Why may it be taking so long? - I think they are planning to roll out a large fix including a proper GPS update as well as Android 2.2. We may even have to wait as long as November for the release of Android 3.0 (Gingerbread) as I don't believe it would make sense for them to continue extensive work on Android 2.2 and update everyone to that and then weeks later force the switch to Android 3.0
For Captivate users, this wait may end up being for the better - Imagine being one of the first devices on Android 3.0; a completely redesigned and much better Android version.
More information gathered during research of Android 3.0:
This update would be limited to only the high end devices with recommended 1GHz processor, 512mb RAM and at least a 3.5" screen. Great news! We fit all of that criteria.
It has been rumored of a release date of Mid-October of 2010 - I would say at least November for us; with some luck maybe even October 15th!
The Android 3.0 system will incorporate a complete design overhaul and include a larger Android Marketplace - Basically no more TouchWiz, Motoblur etc.
Sources:
[http://phonereport.info/google-android-3.0-gingerbread-releases-in-october/]
[http://b4tea.com/information/review...3-0-gingerbread-features-release-date-review]
[http://thegadgets.net/technology-ne...gingerbread-details-and-release-date-leaked/]
Disclaimer - Obviously I am no expert, nor am i affiliated with Google or Samsung so I can not make any guarantee to the information provided in this less than extensive research. It is solely just for a moral boost!
My Nexus had no problem getting a GPS lock, even on the first floor of my house. Even if I stand by the window on the 2nd floor, the Captivate will not get a lock. So yes, the GPS is severely crippled
CougarBroker said:
Complain if you are outside with a clear sky and you can't get a lock, not if you are in your parents basement, in the cab of your car (not on the dash in a car mount), inside your office cubicle, they need a clear view of the sky to work properly.
Sorry, read too many idiots saying the GPS doesn't work IN their house... Duh!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry to burst your bubble but GPS signals do penetrate light structures. Yes, you can get a GPS fix inside in many conditions.
The Galaxy S GPS is just terrible - why? We still don't know. But I can place it right next to any number of other GPS receivers and watch them work properly inside and out while the Galaxy S sits there wasting battery and my time.
CougarBroker said:
Sorry, read too many idiots saying the GPS doesn't work IN their house... Duh!!!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My crap Navigon unit gets a signal inside the house....Duh!!!
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I'm with the original poster on this one. I have a variety of GPS devices, including a SPOT GPS messenger and a Garmin eTrek HC. While they can work in adverse conditions, the only way to truly compare one to another is under a clear sky, not even glass in between. There are SO many variables inside a building, in an alley or inside a car that anecdotal comparisons in varied conditions are useless.
Saying your GPS doesn't work indoors is like saying your shoes are uncomfortable when you're in bed. And saying you got a lock indoors is similarly unimportant. To test GPS properly, you should turn off all other triangulation services including Skyhook and AGPS and then get into a vehicle and drive.
A - B comparisons between different types of devices would be useful but really only with raw data taken under controlled conditions. Things like SNR for each bird, time to acquire lock, ephemeris and almanac data.
I don't think I am asking too much when I want the GPS to acquire a lock wherever my old iPhone and my old Nexus One can. I also don't think I am asking too much that the signal holds steady and doesn't throw me around on the map when I do have a lock.
I really don't understand why they don't just issue an actual fix. Samsung must have a skilled software team to deal with things like this. Or maybe not.
If you can get a lock indoors on other devices, the Captivate should have NO problem whatsoever
The BCM4751 is considered(by broadcom themselves...go figure) to be the "industry standard" in mobile GPS chipsets, it was designed to be able to find even the weakest signals whilst still being a power miser. That being said, its a little strange that ANY of my older GPS equipped devices have no (0, NONE) problem getting a lock indoors (waaaay indoors at that).
Im thoroughly convinced this is not a hardware issue, I should be getting more than one satellite indoors (the same one satellite I get outside on a clear cloudless day)
It's gonna be another "wait and see" game. Hopefully sooner than later
ianwood said:
Saying your GPS doesn't work indoors is like saying your shoes are uncomfortable when you're in bed. And saying you got a lock indoors is similarly unimportant. To test GPS properly, you should turn off all other triangulation services including Skyhook and AGPS and then get into a vehicle and drive.
A - B comparisons between different types of devices would be useful but really only with raw data taken under controlled conditions. Things like SNR for each bird, time to acquire lock, ephemeris and almanac data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sigh. I'm not even going to respond to this anymore. While I appreciate your desire to add more rigor to the process you don't seem to have much experience with GPS.
My sampling is 3 Garmin GPS units, Holux, iPhone 3G and Captivate. With the exception of the iPhone none of them have any sort of AGPS. The Captivate should handily come out on top thanks to AGPS, improved circuits/amplifiers, firmware and filtering. Especially when considering some of those GPS units are nearing 10 years of age.
There is no need for "raw data" and "controlled conditions". Side by side is enough here because the performance difference is glaring. We are not talking about marginal differences in performance. We're talking about working vs. not working.
Fact is, every single GPS I have bests the Captivate under *all* conditions. The Captivate is the second GPS I've ever had that I was disappointed with the performance. (I've owned many others in addition to the ones I listed.)
Yes, GPS works indoors. It even works if your shoes are uncomfortable while taking a shower in your bed.
yeah, gps doesnt suppose to work indoor. but when compare to other phones, samsung gps is garbage!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTOi82o56Tc
Sorry but your post sucks and so does the GPS on captivate. I used to have a Backflip before my Captivate and i could be in a bomb shelter and still get a GPS lock.
After applying cognition 2.1.5 & tweaking LbsTestMode, I could get a 8/8 satellites to lock indoors ~ its amazing! I'm so happy ^_^
honestly nokia phones are the best gps phones I've used. Downloadable maps, text to speech, voice navigation, personalize your own voice, accuracy is amazing! But on my captivate I can get a lock inside my home with 10m accuracy.
haydonxda said:
Sigh. I'm not even going to respond to this anymore. While I appreciate your desire to add more rigor to the process you don't seem to have much experience with GPS.
My sampling is 3 Garmin GPS units, Holux, iPhone 3G and Captivate. With the exception of the iPhone none of them have any sort of AGPS. The Captivate should handily come out on top thanks to AGPS, improved circuits/amplifiers, firmware and filtering. Especially when considering some of those GPS units are nearing 10 years of age.
There is no need for "raw data" and "controlled conditions". Side by side is enough here because the performance difference is glaring. We are not talking about marginal differences in performance. We're talking about working vs. not working.
Fact is, every single GPS I have bests the Captivate under *all* conditions. The Captivate is the second GPS I've ever had that I was disappointed with the performance. (I've owned many others in addition to the ones I listed.)
Yes, GPS works indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Never said it didn't. I did say claiming your GPS doesn't work because you can't get a lock indoors is not meaningful i.e. it's not constructive. And most aren't doing the A-B comparisons you are. There are too many factors influencing getting an indoor lock for the forum to determine anything useful from it. It might be easier and more meaningful if we tested our devices outdoors with clear line of site to the sky so at least we eliminate the variables influencing getting a lock indoors.
BTW, I agree that the Captivate's GPS is utter rubbish. I've tested it on a number of trips in my car and it has never given consistent results. What the controlled testing and raw data might reveal is why it is rubbish. Is the ephermeris or almanac data corrupted? Is the antenna poorly positioned and therefore less sensitive than it should be? Is there noise/crosstalk?
A dedicated GPS device is always going to be better then a phone GPS. They have better antennas and usually more sensitive receivers. GPS signals are not as strong as other radio signals and are not designed to pass through buildings. If you get a lock indoors, you are lucky - or just have a house without a lot of interference.
When testing, everyone needs to make sure that they are not using AGPS or Skyhook type services (Google location services is another). AGPS uses cell towers, and Skyhook/Google location uses Wifi - even if Wifi is off. Skyhook and Google mapped all the Wireless access points they could find and use them for GPS location.
If you want to compare 2 devices side by side, you probably should put them in airplane mode and make sure Google/Skyhook location services are off. Also, be outside with clear view of the sky - no tall buildings or heavy trees.
Okay. I barely get a lock and can't hold a lock and if I had to navigate somewhere using it in a life or death situation people would be dead, outside.
I wouldn't rely on any GPS in a life or death situation - I can't even imagine a scenario.
I agree GPS is broken, but I would pull out my phone and use it to make a call to 911 - that is its primary function after all.
alphadog00 said:
I wouldn't rely on any GPS in a life or death situation - I can't even imagine a scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, of course I am using hyperbole
I bought my first Captivate at the very beginning of August. I wanted the GPS to work, so I could use it instead of a separate GPS unit sometimes. After about 5 days the GPS was really struggling to lock. I put it outside under the open sky for 5 minutes with GPS Test, and it saw lots of satellites but used zero. I reset the phone and poof, it worked properly again. That seemed like a strange bug to me. I heard an update was coming by the end of September, but that was going to be outside my 30 days, so I returned my Captivate to Best Buy and got my $230 back, no problems.
Sept 7, I bought a new Captivate, now only $150 at Best Buy. This one worked fine and the GPS never completely failed like the first one did. But I didn't test much as I waited for the update. September 22 I forced the update on my normal unrooted captivate, and it went fine. I did some testing and the GPS seemed to track OK and lock in a reasonable time. Now its a week later and it still seems good.
Here are a couple comments.
First a note on my GPS experience. I own 3 GPS units besides the Captivate, and older MIO C230, a Garmin eTrex Centure HC, and SPOT 2 GPS Messenger. I also have extensive experience with a Garmin Nuvi 1390T. I ride a dirt bike in the desert and have used tracks to navigate extensively.
- Time to get satellite lock. The Captivate does often take a while to lock on the satellites. But so do all my other GPS devices. Sometimes they lock quickly, but often they can take a minute or more. This is related to whether they have stored data on where they are, and thus know where to look for the satellites. At any rate I don't always get a quick lock on the Captivate, but it has never failed to get a lock under a clear sky if I give it up a minute or two. 10m resolution is typical once locked under a unobstructed sky. For those having trouble with this: Are you giving the Captivate a clear view of the sky and a couple minutes? Yes, sometimes GPS's lock indoors and really quickly. But in my experience this isn't always true. What I'm saying is the Captivate works similarly to the other GPS's I use. Sometimes fast, sometimes slow. But it is always locking under a clear unobstructed sky within a couple minutes.
- Google maps. After it locks, the captivate shows my location on the map well. As I said above, sometimes lock takes a minute or more. And it requires a clear view of the sky most of the time.
- Track quality. I tested with "My Tracks". I run around town on a scooter every day, so its easy to turn on the tracker and and see what happens. I put the Captivate in my pocket on my thigh, back side facing the sky. The only thing obscuring its view is my body. Basically, it seems to work fine. It certainly works as well as my Garmin eTrex. The eTex tracks are always a bit rough too. Yes, the Captivate track does sometimes cut the corner or the curve and is off the street that I actually rode on. But it basically follows my route well. It has always followed me when I loop around a block, or drive down a short dead end and come back. I can definitely tell where I went and what roads I took when I look at the track. I'm not bothered if it shows me 20-40 feet off the road on occasion (as I have noted, so does my Garmin eTrex). I expect this with a 10m resolution.
- Navigation. I've been using the google Navigation app on drives in the car. I mount the Captivate in a mount on the dash, so it has a clear view of the sky through the glass. It's not on the seat, or in the ashtray or in a cup holder. It's mounted to the windshield close to the front, so it has a good view of a broad expanse of sky. This is exactly how I mount the Mio GPS or Garmin etrex or Garmin Nuvi when I use those in the car. Used like this, my Captivate navigation has been excellent. Frankly, its far better app than the Mio or Garmin Nuvi 1390T that I have used. The searches are quick and I like the presentation. Obviously, in Navigation the app knows to lock you on the street. And when I drive past an indicated turn it always notices immediately.
Summary: So I don't know what has changed since my first Captivate, but this one seems fine to me. I don't know if it's the hardware, or the SW update. But so far mine works as well as the other GPS devices I have used. If it keeps working like this for another week, I'm definitely keeping it. I'm sure some have trouble, as I did with my first Captivate. And I do think some others expect too much: I don't expect the Captivate to be "THE BEST GPS" I have ever seen. I expect it to lock within 2 minutes, work for navigation in my car, to find me on a google map and to record a track of where I went. This all seems to be working for me. (And usually it locks in well under a minute for me). I think I'll keep it... if this performance keeps up.
IMO, YMMV
Carl
vintagephone/Carl. Yours is a very useful write up. I use a Garmin GPS for Geocaching, some street navigation and bicycle riding in the country. What you wrote should be very helpful to someone not so familiar with GPS devices in general. Thanks.
= Ron
I completely agree. People looking at 'my tracks' and showing that there are some slight variations - we don't even know if the google maps is 100% accurate, as I know there are certain places where it doesn't match up directly with the road. I think as long as no errors are being presented during navigation (mine is doing fine in navigation mode) there is not really any complaining that can be done. Even my built in car GPS makes a mistakes once in a blue moon.
I'm not sure what Garmin Nuvi you're using, but I have a 2 yr old 250W and it smokes this phone. The phone has me driving through people's yards and buildings. It has gotten better since the JH7 update, its almost what I would call usable now. Try doing a Mytracks track on it, its a joke how far off it is. Its certainly unusable for that.
derek4484 said:
I'm not sure what Garmin Nuvi you're using, but I have a 2 yr old 250W and it smokes this phone. .
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I'm very familiar with the Garmin I used, a Nuvi 1390T. Negatives for the Garmin included horrible traffic reports, and searches for my destination took forever. Basic Navigation was OK, if you knew the address of where you were going. And if you were going someplace more than 30 miles away (a common undertaking in the LA basin), you just couldn't get there. Searches on the Nuvi only include locations within 30 miles. Frankly, the search was much worse than on my old Mio. I had the Nuvi 1390 for a couple weeks and returned i just as I got my second Captivate. For basic GPS navigation, the Nuvi was OK, but I saw no advantage over the Captivate. Are you mounting your Captivate in the same way and place you are mounting your Nuvi? I actually use a modified Nuvi windshield mount with my Captivate, so my mounting is literally identical.
Now, you Captivate my not work as well as mine. My original Captivate was worse than this one. As I said, YMMV (your mileage may vary).
I use a Garmin V GPS receiver for Geocaching and some other activities which demands a very high degree of accuracy. This receiver will use as many birds as it can find (seldom less than five) to determine its location but a cell phone GPS receiver may limit the number of satellites it tracks to conserve battery power.
Using four satellites, the accuracy of the Garmin V typically comes down to a target area that is two to twenty feet in diameter. This unit is fast; I can watch the current location triangle move past streets just as I am able to make out the street signs.
The Captivate I ordered will not be here until later today so I can't report anything about my experience with that device. I have been using an HTC device (AT&T "Tilt") and Google Maps for several years now and can report it has very good GPS accuracy and speed when compared to the Garmin unit. I would be pleased indeed if the Captivate even comes close to the performance of the Tilt.
As with any GPS device, it has to have line of sight visibility with at least three satellites to report its position with any reliability. Clouds (with heavy moisture), trees and tall buildings can reduce GPS accuracy substantially. Bicycling through heavily forested areas reduces the accuracy of my Garmin V from a few feet to hundreds of feet. As it takes a few minutes for the receiver to "lock on" and recalculate its position, after pedaling through a forested area I can be a mile up the road before the display catches up. Even at bicycle speeds (15MPH) I have missed turns simply because of trees!
With the Tilt, moving on foot around tall buildings, Google Maps sometimes can't figure out where I am. In the car, I usually pull the sunroof shade back so the Tilt gets a clear shot at the sky.
One final point: If I have the Garmin running at home, shut it off, then restart it again when I am fifty miles from home, it takes maybe five minutes to find three in-view birds. There is a feature in the Gamin that allows me to move its cursor to about where I think I am and it, then it uses this information to find new birds. I use this feature frequently and it usually saves two or three minutes locking on to a new set of birds. That feature is not available with the Tilt and it can take a full five minutes for it to find three birds when I change location with the GPS receiver turned off.
I hope these comments are useful. A cell phone with GPS capabilities is understandably no match for a single-purpose GPS receiver and particularly so when the two devices sell for about the same price.
I doubt that it is Maps or myTracks that is off (although I had wondered about this as well) because when you run the Captivate side-by-side with an N1, the N1's lock and track are very fast (almost instantaneous) and flawless. Of course we all know the Captivate's lock and track issues. The N1's track would not be so perfect if it were an issue with the base map accuracy, when the app on both phones is the same and accesses the same data.
The issue can also be seen running GPS Status or GPS Test together too, the N1's lock is always better, although I see no appreciable difference in SNR values for each satellite. It is just like the Captivate simply will not lock, even when it sees the same satellites. That is why I am sure it is the driver issue and therefore fixable.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Just ran into this article on Engadget. Is this solid proof that Samsung Galaxy S devices i.e. Captivate have hardware issues with the gps and will not be fixed by firmware update, Froyo, or settings.....I think it will not be resolved until newer devices.....This is proof to me....New Radios all around.
Samsung Devices new radios
Yeah, im betting this is a hardware issue as well. It's seems fishy that we've had updates to adress the issue, and it's still not working. ATT tries to deny there's a problem until you ask them to replace your phone. Once you want a replacement, they admit to the problem, and tell you to **** off.
I'm going to be switching providers soon as this has pissed me off beyond belief.
Uhh... the title of this and the OP are misleading. The article (and FCC letter) mention new antennas (not new radios) and the change is from the original Nexus S to the production model.
Our phones may very well have a hardware issue, but these FCC docs are not the smoking gun.
Yes I do agree that radios will be changed for carriers and different frequencies but they have changed specifically the GPS which tells us that they have looked into the issue and the only resolution is to change the hardware.
I thought it was hardware as well until i tried the Axura 5 rom that has jupiter tweaks.
i have tested 50+ miles about 25-30 turns and the turn by turn navigation is working very well now (never did before)
I never had a problem with locks. Usually took anywhere from 12-30 seconds with good accuracy when stationary but turn by turn navigation was not even an option.
With Axura i ran gps test and my average lock time was 4.9 seconds with accuracy within 25 meters.
Only missed 2 turns so far in turn by turn navigation and it corrected itself within 3 seconds to proper location which it would never do before. Axura has convinced me its not a hardware issue.
gmanunited said:
Yes I do agree that radios will be changed for carriers and different frequencies but they have changed specifically the GPS which tells us that they have looked into the issue and the only resolution is to change the hardware.
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I have not seen the full specs on the new Nexus S - please show what GPS radio they are now using. We know the make and model of the current Broadcom chip in the Captivate.
The articles title "Samsung Nexus S reappears at the FCC with a pair of new antennas" says nothing about radios.
The text of the letter says that the previous Nexus S, has a different antenna from a new Nexus S that was retested:
"The device is identical to the previously certified Cellular/PCS GSM/EDGE and AWS WCDMA Phone with WLAN and Bluetooth except for the BT/WIFI antenna and the GPS receiver antenna."
Again, they are comparing one version of the Nexus S to another version of the Nexus S.
My gps works so well. I'm on the ROGERS version though.
I just went back to stock from the Axura 5 rom as I couldn't get the gps to work at all. With jh7 it like partially works(kinda works while driving but always says searching for gps).
With the millions of devices sold and the identification of a serious defect that prevents advertised features from working this seems to be moving further into class action territory. Lawyers have picked up smaller cases...
Of course, if we get anything out of it it'll probably be a $5 coupon towards our next Samsung 2 year commitment phone purchase.
What's amazing to me is that Samsung knows of the problem and were all ready to ship out a completely new phone with (Nexus S) the defect until Google cried foul. Really shows you how much Samsung cares about their customers.
epoplive said:
I just went back to stock from the Axura 5 rom as I couldn't get the gps to work at all. With jh7 it like partially works(kinda works while driving but always says searching for gps).
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Search for Jupiter GPS fix, install that and see if it works better. I went back to JH7 from Perception 4 (never had luck with I9000 roms) and installed the JM9 CWM fix from the op in that thread. Works better than stock ever has even while driving. Of course, I also have a windshield mount. YMMV
I see DG removed the zip because it's baked in Perception 5. Added for your pleasure.
Jupiter for me just increased confidence, but not accuracy.
It was really sure I was a block laterally, as opposed to having a big fat blue circle without the Jupiter tweaks. Both sucked.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
My GPS was crappy with 2.1 with 2.1 update 1 it improved a nice amount. With the leaked 2.2 for the cappy. ( the stock Samsung froyo leak) my GPS now works verrrrry well even when driving. Locks instantly starts at 25 meter acurracy then goes to 10
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
I currently have a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which I still like a lot, but its GPS is bad. Among other shortcomings it does not work in fast aeroplanes, but I need exactly that capability.
The apparently misdesigned Galaxy Nexus GPS can record a flight until the plane speeds up after takeoff and initial climb, then it stalls and keeps reporting the same stationary position until the plane slows down again for landing.
For comparison, the much older Google/HTC Nexus One has no such defect. It has no problem recording a complete airliner flight track.
If the Nexus 5 GPS worked better, that might for me outweigh the not exchangeable battery disadvantage of the Nexus 5, compared to the Galaxy Nexus.
Hence my request: Please test the Nexus 5 GPS in an airliner at high speed and altitude. Does it work?
Note that the phone should be in airplane mode during flight. Some airlines explicitly allow mobile devices in airplane mode. If yours does not, you have to decide whether you break the rules or not. I always do, but be sure to have the phone in airplane mode at all times during flight.
Note that the GPS may need a long time until it gets a GPS fix, for two reasons:
Without an Internet connection it has to receive the orbit data from the satellites themselves, which takes longer.
Even if you hold the phone against the window, it can still only receive the satellites on that one side. Occasionally, if there are not enough satellites in view, it will not lock on at all.
It helps if you let the GPS lock on once, shortly before takeoff. In the air, you have to be patient.
Depending on the window construction you may be able to slip the phone behind the window shade and just leave it there for something like 15 min. That is usually, though not always, enough for the GPS to lock on to the satellites and get a fix.
Another convenient way to have the phone at the window without having to hold it all the time is to reast a small bag, like a camera bag, on an arm rest underneath a window and put the phone into the bag on top of other bag content.
If you happen to know the answer to this question for any other phone type, please let me know as well. I would like to publish a list of phones along with their GPS flaws.
Maybe not exactly the devices you had in mind. But I've used my phones (Galaxy S3, S4) often during several flights around the globe and I usually get a fix within reasonable time. Especially when you've updated AGPS data before your flight. But it still is weather and airplane dependent.
These apps help you to discover the state of GPS-fixing pretty good, so before you fire up google maps, let these do the initial fix:
GPS Status (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2)
AndroiTS GPS (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androits.gps.test.free)
GPS Test (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chartcross.gpstest)
I've also discovered differences between fixing time among these apps. GPS Test usually gets the fastest fix times. Google Maps usually is the slowest.
Hope this helps.
This post is old now, but just for reference: the Galaxy Nexus GPS looses fix not because of the speed of the airplane, but because the altitude. When you pass 4000m, the gps reports all the satellites in sight, but doesn't obtain a fix anymore and keeps reporting the same position.
I was able to very this both on airplanes and during hikes that brough me above 4000 m. Same behaviour. And the last recorded point before the fix-loss is always a few meters below 4000. See also this tread
That's a pity, since I was planning to use the Nexus as a GPS for my mountain trips. I would be very curious too to know if the Nexus 4 or 5 have the same limitation.
Giacomo
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
robertusIT said:
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
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I don't know that app, and it does not show the position, but it seems to indicate that the Nexus 5 GPS does not have this problem and works fine in an airliner.
Good to know—thanks!