Database Info

Compass Problems

My compass is messed up. (I.E. Points in the wrong direction, jerks around when I rotate it) I can fix it temporarily by waving the phone around in a figure 8 pattern, but this only lasts for the current instance of an app.
I've had these problems after I installed MoDaCo's custom rom. (Though I am now running fresh 5d.)
Is there any way to make this fix "stick"? (Or is there some other more permanent solution?)

Did you calibrate the G-Sensor?
It's hidden under "Settings", "Sound & display"... all the way at the bottom.

I'm having the same issue, except mine was happening before I was root and before Modaco...
Hard resetting it would restore the compass to normal for a few days, then it would go fishy again.
Its doing it now with root and modaco 1.2c unofficial...
I'm really confused. Haven't heard other people complain, but not alot of people use their compass.

x99percent said:
Did you calibrate the G-Sensor?
It's hidden under "Settings", "Sound & display"... all the way at the bottom.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The accelerometer is completely different from the compass.
The digital compass (magnetometer) measures the earth's magnetic field, while the "g sensor" (or accelerometer) measures gravitational pulls on different axis.
Accelerometers use a quartz crystal mounted between a fixed point and a free floating mass. The mass puts pressure on the crystal and generates a tiny voltage (some work on resistance or capacitance change). As the direction of gravity's pull changes, so does the force of the crystal and the signal it generates. Most accelerometers are designed to sense movement in only one direction, so true 3D position sensing must use three crystals mounted in different orientations each with their own floating mass.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

poor_red_neck said:
The accelerometer is completely different from the compass.
The digital compass (magnetometer) measures the earth's magnetic field, while the "g sensor" (or accelerometer) measures gravitational pulls on different axis.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow! Thank you, Captain Obvious!
I mention the G-sensor calibration because I had an issue with a compass-related program that did not work properly until I calibrated the g-sensor. If he tries it and it works, great... if not, no big loss.

YOU'RE WELCOME, DOUCHEBAG.
How the hell am I supposed to know what your intelligence level is. You're not the only one reading posts. Someone else may find that information relevant or helpful.
BACK ON SUBJECT.
So I tried my compass again and after shaking it it was still messing up. For ****s and giggles I tapped the corner on my desk a few good times. Not hard, but solid smacks and voila... it works now. Weird.

Such Hostility!
Not sure why tapping would have worked, the magentic sensor has no moving parts as far as I have been able to read on them. Don't live at the north pole do you?
You should try to install the Metal Detector app and see if it gives you issues, it uses the same sensor and maybe its a hardware issue. Given it is not the most accurate as far as detection, but it does really work if you put a piece of metal right behind the phone.

Watch out with those belt holsters with magnetic locks. Those will screw up your compass fast. Not sure if thats your situation but just FYI.

atoy74 said:
Watch out with those belt holsters with magnetic locks. Those will screw up your compass fast. Not sure if thats your situation but just FYI.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Very good point, I hadn't though about that, especially since there is no telling really where that sensor lives on the board, and they are usually pretty strong little magnets in the holsters

Well... I tried recalibrating the g-sensor for kicks, but that didn't help. I've never used a magnetic holster, so I don't think that's it...
Any other ideas?

Does compass work in Google Maps????
I have see the commercials and youtube videos..
that show in google maps...
in street view...
you can move the phone around and up and down...
the street view.. will change according to your orientation
so if the Hero has a Compass
and we have google maps
why don't this feature work for me?
Or.. does this mean my Sprint Hero.. does not support this function at this time???
FYI...
Brand new hero (got it on 12/30/09)
Rooted
MoDaCo 1.3 ROM

Dan330 said:
so if the Hero has a Compass
and we have google maps
why don't this feature work for me?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It has to be enabled in Maps first. And you have to be in street view mode (obviously :X)

maejrep said:
It has to be enabled in Maps first. And you have to be in street view mode (obviously :X)
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Click to collapse
obviously....
so.. i am taking you have a sprint hero.. and it works in street view...
you can spin around with your phone.. and the view changes respectively????
I have looked.. and can not find any place that lets me enable this feature... inside google maps.

My compass was acting similarly a while back. Not sure when it changed, but now that I have rooted and installed Fresh, it's working fine. Strange.
Dan330 said:
I have looked.. and can not find any place that lets me enable this feature... inside google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Load Google Maps.
Long Press a spot on the map.
After the address loads, touch the info bubble.
Touch Street view.
Press the Menu Button.
Touch Compass mode.

markachee said:
My compass was acting similarly a while back. Not sure when it changed, but now that I have rooted and installed Fresh, it's working fine. Strange.
Load Google Maps.
Long Press a spot on the map.
After the address loads, touch the info bubble.
Touch Street view.
Press the Menu Button.
Touch Compass mode.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks !!!! found it.. works great now..
can not believe i did not find it..!!! ???

I9003 Compass Jumping Around!

Well the compass does point at the right direction but when I fired up street view and turned on compass mode, (which is pretty sweet btw) no matter how still I hold the phone or even place it flat on a table for that matter, the image keeps quivering. The image just does not stay in one place! Went into test mode and under sensors I checked it out it was the same quivering. Also under settings>display> theres an option for Horizontal calibration, funny thing is even when placed on a absolutely flat surface (I tried at different places), the small ball in the center does not stay still! Why is this so? This issue makes using sky map,street view,layar etc quite unusable because of all the jitter! Any fix for this?

Jumping around happens when you are near a magnetic field such as speaker,computer etc. move away in open area, jumping should reduce.
In the compass settings> noise filter set to strong, sensor rate slowest & buffer display ticket with green check mark.
This should solve your problem, if not then report back.

sgsI9003 said:
Jumping around happens when you are near a magnetic field such as speaker,computer etc. move away in open area, jumping should reduce.
In the compass settings> noise filter set to strong, sensor rate slowest & buffer display ticket with green check mark.
This should solve your problem, if not then report back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which compass settings are you referring to? Where do I find these settings?

Compass is a app which you can download from the market in that you will have those settings, once set you wont face that jumping issue. Mine stay still.
By saying street view are you referring to layar which shows a compass too?

Ok I'll try that out, but will changing those settings in the app apply to the whole system?
The street view I was referring to is from google maps with compass mode on.

I had the same problem as your since i installed compass & set it the right way that problem was never noticed, earlier it use to jump, so my best guess is that those settings are somehow being read by other apps too.
In my case google maps with compass mode remains quite still.
Do report back with the results.

Well I tried your fix and it worked kinda, the twitching has reduced but its still there which is very annoying. In service test under sensors it still keeps jumping around. I've also tried using it in a place free from magnetic signals but still the same. Is it this way for all galaxy s users our could mine be faulty?

Mine stays perfectly still (FW ddkb1) whats your FW?
Compass on google map works only when gps is enabled & locked, if gps is not able to lock then it might have the problem which you are describing.
Are you able to lock on to the gps (icon stops flashing)?

Well I'm on the same firmware as you (kb1). (kies keeps crashing if I try to update to kb2, but that's another issue)
The twitching issue I'm talking about should not be related to gps, on the map itself it does not twitch at all, but when I go to say new york on the map and go to street view, and enable compass mode, even if I hold the phone vedas still the image on the screen still vibrates.

I tried to replicate at my end but i don't have any issues, maps don't vibrate, however they rotate as per compass pointing (locked) to north.
What do you mean by street view, there is no such option in maps at my end, when i go to new york I see a road map only, is there something which i am missing?
Seems some setting we have is different between you & me though we both are on kb1 but cant figure out what.

sgsI9003 said:
I tried to replicate at my end but i don't have any issues, maps don't vibrate, however they rotate as per compass pointing (locked) to north.
What do you mean by street view, there is no such option in maps at my end, when i go to new york I see a road map only, is there something which i am missing?
Seems some setting we have is different between you & me though we both are on kb1 but cant figure out what.
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Click to collapse
Ok so i'm guessing you have never tried street view before, ok so just enter 'new york' into the search box and it will take you there, once there you will see a big red arrow pointing downwards to the map with New York written above. Click on the name and select the right most option (a man standing) that will take you to street view, once in there press the menu key and turn on compass mode. Try holding the phone still or even place it flat on a table and see if the image twitches. (Its a pretty cool thing anyways, you'll enjoy it! )
The probelm that I am facing is similar to this
Jumping Compass

Oh I have seen street view on desktop numerous time didn't know its a feature on our phones too. Now I tested street view as per your instruction & it does change its angle 5° approx & flicker but in compass mode it just show me the bottom of the 360° image & no more moves.
The issue could be in street view as its in beta testing.
The jumping compass video is what I was having the problem but after I changed the settings it got stabilized.
We can ask bala who has updated his fw to kb3 to test this if the problem is same or not.

sgsI9003 said:
Oh I have seen street view on desktop numerous time didn't know its a feature on our phones too. Now I tested street view as per your instruction & it does change its angle 5° approx & flicker but in compass mode it just show me the bottom of the 360° image & no more moves.
The issue could be in street view as its in beta testing.
The jumping compass video is what I was having the problem but after I changed the settings it got stabilized.
We can ask bala who has updated his fw to kb3 to test this if the problem is same or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Have you updated your google maps? Its at version 5.3.0 now. It could not be street view's fault because it used to work perfectly fine on my xperia x10 earlier. Come to think of it the x10 had far better gps and compass components (but seriously lacked in other areas).
Changing the settings in compass app worked only in that app itself, its not a general fix for it though.I would like to know if all i9000/i9003 have this problem...

magnetometergate?
I just bought this same phone and I'm experiencing the same jitter. This is a real show stopper since it renders useless apps like those mentioned here, panorama stitching, Google sky map and others. I'm really annoyed and thinking about returning the phone.
The Iphone 3Gs does not suffer this issue, the compass moves smooth and softly.
This seems to be a hardware problem, maybe Samsung can improve the software filter or update the sensor firmware.

Since I am using xxkb3 now I tested again but this compass jumping problem still is the same.
I remember that xxkb3 offers few calibration & tweaking of setting for compass but what these settings do is not known to us hence I have not changed anything, I still feel that this can be addressed by tweaking the settings & not really a hardware issue.
The compass in i9003 is more sensitive to magnetic field disturbance hence the problem.

[Q] Errant Sensor Behavior ??

Overall, I am very pleased with my TF. Last night, however, I found two oddities.
Bubble: This is a popular carpenter's level app. It works great on my phone. On my TF, it works correctly on one axis and backwards on the other.
Compasses: I have now tried three different compass apps. Even after calibration and recalibration, they all point West instead of North.
Is there something irregular about the sensors in the TF?

For the compass, are you holding it flat (parallel with the ground)?

Yes ... duh!
If you have a compass app that knows where North is on a TF, please share.

You have to configure them. Loads of info all over the forums for this. I'll let you search.

[Q] Anyone else's orientation sensor(compass) not working?

Last night I tried the star chart app for the first time in a while, and I noticed it wouldn't rotate and wouldn't show where I was looking.
Does anyone else have problems with their orientation sensor (specifically the compass?) if you haven't tried, download Androsensor quick, it's 200K and see if Y moves more than about 20 degrees. It should, but it doesn't for me. It's stuck. Is this something I can return it for? I really need a few of the apps that use the compass...
And to verify it, if you want, you can download GPS Test which has a compass and it should not rotate much if at all.

Mines working properly on CM7, what software are you running? I had issues like that on my last phone running certain roms.

ATTsuks said:
Last night I tried the star chart app for the first time in a while, and I noticed it wouldn't rotate and wouldn't show where I was looking.
Does anyone else have problems with their orientation sensor (specifically the compass?) if you haven't tried, download Androsensor quick, it's 200K and see if Y moves more than about 20 degrees. It should, but it doesn't for me. It's stuck. Is this something I can return it for? I really need a few of the apps that use the compass...
And to verify it, if you want, you can download GPS Test which has a compass and it should not rotate much if at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean the compass should not rotate in GPS Test? Do you mean if it's just sitting there on a counter or are you saying yours doesn't move when you hold it and spin to N, E, S, and W? The compass in my GPS Test goes to 0, 90, 180, and 270 respectively. I'm on the UCKJ4 GB leak that was posted yesterday.

Gps 90 degrees off

Gps 90 degrees off ?
Lock is good usually have more than 6 satellites & accuracy within 10 ft but north is pointing east
This happens in gps status , gps test , compass apps & maps
I am currently on jelly wiz stock kernel but this has been a problem on all the jellybean roms Ive tried
Done the gps fix & agps data update they didnt make any difference
Anyone else had this happen and or know of a fix?
Dont really want to go back to ICS

So your COMPASS, (not the GPS) is off.
From the menu in GPS status, try the compass calibrate.
Do not calibrate near any metal or magnets (keep it away from speakers).

worwig said:
So your COMPASS, (not the GPS) is off.
From the menu in GPS status, try the compass calibrate.
Do not calibrate near any metal or magnets (keep it away from speakers).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did the calibrate & same result
I dont know if the gps is reading wrong or the compass
This is really odd Google maps actually turns sideways like canada is on the right side?
All gps apps show north pointing east
Guess I will have to try flashing a stock rom to se if that corrects problem
First time I've had this happen that it didn't straiten out in a few days

Ok the google maps sideways was my fault must have hit the orientation button in the upper right corner OOPS
So now its most likely the compass as the previous post said
Now its a matter of how the heck do I get the compass calibrated
Probably need to clear the data some how
Gogle is my friend I hope

tlgem said:
Ok the google maps sideways was my fault must have hit the orientation button in the upper right corner OOPS
So now its most likely the compass as the previous post said
Now its a matter of how the heck do I get the compass calibrated
Probably need to clear the data some how
Gogle is my friend I hope
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Did you ever figure this out? I have a similar issue with my compass

I'm pretty sure this was a bug in some custom kernels, specifically KT747, ktoonsez has since fixed this problem in his latest kernel revisions.