Database Info

How confident are folks that we will get an actual FIX to the GPS issue?

Wanted to get a read from folks as to what their Gut feel is. Are you confident that Sammy will really fix this? Any by fix, I mean the following. This comes from experiences with 2 HTC smartphones (Aria, and the Pure):
1. GPS locks in under 5 seconds in clear sky conditions
2. Usable navigation; IOW, 30-50m accuracy, again under ideal conditions.
3. Usable navigation such that it stays locked while driving at highway speeds.
TIA.

I have not experienced any of the above issues (post update) except for the 5 second lock, and even my garmin can't do that. The cog2.2 had my gps jacked up so I reverted back and it works great again.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I did My Tracks for the first time today and was surprised by the results - highway for 15 miles, 15 miles off (obtained the lock at highway speeds as well) But it lost me in this one dead area about a mile from my house - I drop most calls through this one area as well too.. must be a whole in the ozone
However! (Always a however, right?) Tonight while walking the dog around the neighborhood, the phone could see up to 12 satellites.. yet it didn't get a lock for over 5 minutes. <--- This is the biggest problem I have with the GPS on this phone. INCONSISTENT AS HELL.
What causes the inconsistency?? So since I've owned the phone (release day) and it's been this long and inconsistent from the beginning, I am beginning to lose my confidence in a real fix (at least Samsung can make some kind of formal announcement you know?)

My GPS has always worked. Stock JF6. Cognition 2, 2.1, 2.2.1-5. Anything I throw at it, it just works. Freeway, walking, indoors, etc. I think it is partly a hardware issue.

Mine is fixed
I ordered my Captivate from AT&T's online store. GPS did not work, no matter what kind of settings I played with (lbstestmode, etc.). Got the update, no help. Took it back to the AT&T store and replaced it. Got the update and it works fantastically. If yours is still in the 30 day warranty period get it switched out.

Considering that many people had the gps issue fixed with the ota update or with the newly released froyo, yet many still have problems, I think there are some bad phones. I'll try to get mine replaced even though it's outside the 30 days.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I'm on my second Captivate. I have no faith that GPS will be reliable enough to use for navigation purposes or apps like My Tracks or even Layar. The OTA update definitely helped, but turns and changes in direction throw it off by quite a bit.
About all it is good for is telling your weather app what city you are in.

For me, the GPS didn't work from the first day I bought the phone. It got a lot better after the OTA update. However, it's getting mess up again in the last few days. I've heard other people from this forum said the GPS will go bad after a few weeks, I guess that's happening to me now. Moreover, the lag seems to be getting worse too.

I'm running Cognition 2.2 FroYo and for the first time ever I got 11/11 sattelites locked. My ride home it stayed more or less dead on the street i was on, occassionally wavered onto the sidewalk a bit or whatnot in My Tracks. That's using the stock settings (spirent-lcs.com and Standalone, with Use Wireless Networks off). If this does not degrade over time, I'd call it fixed for sure.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Keep it coming folks; seems like for the most part people's gut feel is about in line with mine. Im going to return my Captivate to Amazon and have them replace it to see if I can see any improvement. Not holding my breath though.

waiting4gingerbread said:
My GPS has always worked. Stock JF6. Cognition 2, 2.1, 2.2.1-5. Anything I throw at it, it just works. Freeway, walking, indoors, etc. I think it is partly a hardware issue.
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Mine has always worked on both of captivates. It's in no way perfect but it gets the job done.

I just ordered a replacement Captivate from Amazon. I will then update the software to JH7 in the un-mollested state to see what kind of improvements I see, if any.
Crossed fingers............Bottom line, im not too confident.

So I got my replacement Captivate from Amazon. The second I got it, I stepped outside to see if I can get a GPS lock. I stood there for 5 minute, and no lock.
So I did the software update; which worked. It didnt work on my "molested" captivate.
I then went outside for a drive. Locked very quickly I think 5 seconds. Accuracy was very good; certainly on par with the two HTC smart phones Ive owned.
Maybe its dumb luck that I got a good unit; but it seems not overly molesting your captivate is a good idea until people really understand the consequences.
EDIT: The above drive I mentioned was in neighborhood roads, at relatively low speeds. On my way to work it was definitely NOT as accurate as my HTC Pure. It showed me about 1 exit behind; was about a half or three quarters of a mile.

I just want to say that I called Samsung support directly yesterday and the guy told me that "he hasn't heard anyone else who's applied the JH7 update that said their GPS wasn't fixed."
SO CALL SAMSUNG SUPPORT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Don't stop calling. They need to know the update didn't fix it!

brandonb81 said:
I just want to say that I called Samsung support directly yesterday and the guy told me that "he hasn't heard anyone else who's applied the JH7 update that said their GPS wasn't fixed."
SO CALL SAMSUNG SUPPORT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD. Don't stop calling. They need to know the update didn't fix it!
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They already know. I can guarantee you that some of their dev team consistently troll these forums.

My GPS works pretty well, especially considering its a phone, since JH7 OTA update.
The problem you're talking about with locks under 5 seconds, isnt always going to happen. It depends on how long its been since the last time gps was used, and how close you are currently to where you last used it.
If you use it and then turn it off, and in a few hours turn it back on, at roughly the last location it was used, it'll get a very quick lock. If you wait days, it wont. If you use it at location A last, then are long ways away from that location when turning it back on, it wont get a quick lock, it has to calculate where its at based on new data from the satellites. Thats the nature of the beast with GPS. My Garmin in my car is the exact same way. If it has to do a cold start it sometimes takes up to 2 mins to get a lock. But once its got it, if I go in a store for a few mins and come right back out, it picks up location almost immediately.
Since JH7 I'd say my GPS performance more than meets my expectations for a mobile phone GPS.

Started out very confident.
Less confident every day.

Tinyboss said:
Started out very confident.
Less confident every day.
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Click to collapse
Yeah, I'm with you here.
When it came to the HTC video driver fiasco on many of their phones it was sickening that HTC wouldn't do anything about it, or even tackle the issue on future releases. But at least slower video performance than the hardware was capable of wasn't really a deal breaker when it was still working good. So I could understand why a company wouldn't invest a ton to fix it for already purchased phones.
This however is outright broken. It's not a phone with good video performance that COULD perform better with an update. It's a phone with a broken technology that can hopefully be FIXED with an update.
I don't know how Samsung will avoid lawsuits etc etc by manufacturing a blatantly broken piece of technology unless they can rectify the situation... quickly. I think their window is slowly closing on this type of scenario.
As for myself, the GPS problem just isn't an issue since I don't use the GPS anyhow. So I'm not a consumer frothing at the mouth, but the idea that I spent money on a fancy, but broken, phone leaves a bitter taste in that unfrothy mouth of mine.

I'm very confident. I put the leaked froyo from designgears on one of my phones and the lock was fast, and gps accurate. Drove from Chicago to Kohler, WI the other day (~130 miles) and ran gps on the phone along with my dedicated gps unit to check accuracy. Had no issues at all.
I think once 2.2 is released, all of the gps issues will be resolved if the leaked version is any indication.

I'm guessing it's the sum of several issues causing problems.
1. Basic hardware configuration that results in worse signal-to-noise than other handsets.
2. Non-optimized settings that sporadically contribute to slow or poor locks
3. Some kind of software buffering or other issues that cause freeze-ups where the position doesn't update.
When my phone is working well I don't experience problems 2 and 3, and I can live with problem 1. When that's the case I get consistent tracking 95% of my trip. Sometime 2 and 3 seem to creep into the picture for no apparent reason. I hope and expect they will get those problems solved.

GPS Time to lock on

When I first got the phone it seemed like I could lock on in about a minute. Tried to use the GPS the other day and after it searched for a few minutes in the car I just turned it off. Very frustrating... What are you guys experiencing?
I am on stock rom, rooted, gorilla v05 OC kernel.

Are you moving when you were trying to get a lock? When your moving it takes much longer to get a lock, this is true even with dedicated GPS units. Having said that my MT4G takes about 10-15secs to lock outside not moving, very nice coming from a Galaxy S which couldn't lock or track to save it's life. To many variables if moving to make a good comparison in GPS performance.

mine locks in seconds... love it after the vibrant lol

Yes, I have tried while walking and while in the car. Just tried to put the phone up to the window of my apartment for several minutes with no luck. I will try to stand still outside tomorrow.

larryg2k3 said:
Yes, I have tried while walking and while in the car. Just tried to put the phone up to the window of my apartment for several minutes with no luck. I will try to stand still outside tomorrow.
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I had the same issue! It wasn't like that in the beginning but the other day I was trying to get directions while driving and it was such a pain in the ass that after 4 minutes, it still said "searching for GPS". Garbage...
i wonder what was wrong. I was outside and the weather was pretty decent but nighttime.

Same thing here, although I was blaming it on CM rom....

borodin1 said:
Same thing here, although I was blaming it on CM rom....
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I didn't root mine but I have the same problem. When I first got the phone it used to lock on GPS very fast, now I use Igo or Copilot and both take like ever to find lock on GPS . I use GPS test app and it shows like 6 GPS Sats but the programs still can't get the gps reading.

I have just tried it after uninstalling copilot just to keep one navigation application and I disabled wireless network location assistance and I think gps worked fine,i have to try it tomorrow again.
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

Gps is not stable, today I tried it by holding the phone in street and standing . Gps test apo got about 6 or 8 but no location locking on google maps or igo . I went to my room, placed the phone on the window I got sometimes 3 and then 8or 9 .it worked eventually and started to become fast (i turned the gps on and off) it seems like a software problem!i am not sure
Sent from my HTC Glacier using XDA App

I had a lot better luck trying to lock on while standing still. I have also since switched to Iced Glacier 1.1.1 and now 1.1.2, but I think that being stationary with a good view to get initial lock is key.

My brand new Mytouch 4G (stock rom, not rooted) has the same issue. It tries to get a GPS lock using google nav for minutes without ever getting a lock. I can disable GPS and enable it to sometimes speed up the lock process, but it never locks in less than 30 seconds. From the previous posts, it sounds like the GPS hardware is sub par on this phone and there may be no quick fix. Fortunately, mine is still new and can swap it out for another and see if that helps.

My gps works fine, although once it would not lock on, and a simple reboot took care of that...
I often use GPS test or navigation just because I love seeing how well it works...
...coming from a Vibrant

I experience the same problems with the mytouch before and after rooting and installing custom roms, I think its the phone itself, I never had this problem with the nexus one

I too have noticed it is sometimes really really slow.
Much much slower than my old E-71 sometimes.
I wonder if cases/how you hold it can affect it.
- Frank

GPS story

So I spent 3 hours on the phone with AT&T last week while their warranty department did everything they could to not just honor the warranty (I can go into detail of anyone cares). But after the long grueling battle I was finally able to get my 1008 replaced with a 1009. Now the gps on my 1008 was shotty at best. I received the new phone, fired up Srendipity 6.3 and installed the free TeleNav GPS program and received instant results. Before, I was getting 3-4 sats after 30 seconds and it would barely hold. Now, I instantly get 7 or more sats and was able to lock up to 11 and hold them. My gps works spot on and I couldn't be happier. Morale of the story.. if you have spotty GPS at best, try exchanging the phone.. but be for warned about AT&T honoring the Gps capability for the Captivate with out a lot of legwork.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

I was having a GPS problem and the warranty people sent out a replacement with a 15 min phone call. got one that works ok, but with the right modem it gets 10-11 sats in under 5 seconds.
might be who you get and how willing they are to try and figure out your problem without just jumping to it being a hardware problem.

The captivate gps is way to random to guarantee a replacement will fix anything as no one knows all the details of the problem. Part of it is obviously software as several tweaks work wonders for most people. No one knows what the combination is for sure.
A standing lock shows nothing for actual driving navigation performance.
Your results will vary but do we really need a new thread from everyone who warranty replaces their phone for bad gps performance
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Remember too, almost all "new" Captivates' GPS work great for a few weeks. Post back in about a month and let us know how your new Captivate is working. Also, it seems as though the GPS will work great for a few weeks after loading a new ROM, then it goes bad again. Tells me there is s file the GPS must process avery time you turn it on. As the file grows in size, the GPS program can't process the file in a timely manner resulting in the interpretation of the GPS data being slow and off-course.

I'll do that. I like using my GPS for looking things up (don't use navigation that much since I don't do much traveling) but I'll definitely keep an eye on it and see how it handles aftera week or so and then after that.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

just got a 1007 replacement for the 1007 i have. The GPS works out of the box for stock froyo. it actually trasks every single turn and is able to catch up when i am driving 75-80 on the freeway. So ya... if anyone fail to get their gps working by software tweaks, you should go ahead and use the random shut down execuse to get a replacement phone. the 1007/8/9/... thing doesnt really matter i guess. The one I got works like a charm beside the sticker behind the battery look crappy without a SN number and the samsung logo.( oh well probably a refurb , but at least it works~)
It's like a gamble, but hey at least exchange it while u still can with warranty is better than hoping for a software fix that we are still not sure about if it's the real issue. Honestly it could be software for some people, but after u tried couple Roms and fixes, a bad gps is a bad gps.

The "batch number" on my phone is 1008. The phone came with Eclair, of course. The GPS was poor at best. I updated the phone to Froyo. The GPS was not perceptibly different; still darn poor. I remember one miserable night where I was forced to find my destination using the Biblical System. The GPS never did lock during my one-hour ordeal.
For a totally unrelated reason, I ending up doing a master clear and reset. After I got everything reloaded I "tested" the GPS. Wow! It locked, well, instantly, or so it seemed.
An app available in the Market called GPS Status has two nice features. You can set it to automatically download the A-GPS file at start up. And, it reports on screen how long it takes to get it's first lock. With GPS Test (and others) you can see when the phone locks but GPS Status reports the time-to-lock information in seconds, no stopwatch or counting required.
Fascinated at the new-found capability of my Captivate, I have repeatedly checked how long it takes to get a lock. I would say, under widely varying conditions, the lock time is almost always less than 20 - 25 seconds.
YMMV but you might try a master clear and reset if you have a phone you undated from 2.1 to 2.2. Except for the time it takes to rebuild your phone, you have little to loose and you might find, as I did, the Captivate's GPS is excellent. Had I not "discovered" this "solution" I would have abandoned my Captivate--even though I think it's great phone overall--as I routinely depend upon my PDA's GPS capability.
FWIW, I do a lot of Geocaching so I have an understanding of how a GPS should perform. I had an AT&T Tilt which I'd made usable with a Sakajati HyperDragon IV ROM. The GPS in that phone was excellent. The first few days with the Captivate was a real downer. But, the now-functioning GPS makes the Capitvate a keeper.

For those not wanting to try getting a replacement. Plumbobs gps fix worked great for me. Check it out.
Sent from my SGH-I897 Captivate cog 4.3 using Xda app

My Xoom locks on in 4 seconds, indoors, straight out of the box. This whole thing is stupid.

So I've been using my gps for a few days now and it's still working just as well when I got the replacement. IMO there may be 3 types of phones out there which is why we all get different results..
Captivate with working GPS right out of the box
Captivate with 'meh' GPS that is fixable with software tweaks
Captivate with GPS so bad that it doesn't work at all.
This could all be hardware related in just how the manufacturing process worked. Some could have just been bad apples.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

10 meter lock inless than 20 seconds. Running JVE modem on Continuum v4, and I have a 1008 build number.
Sent from a place my wife doesn't know about

[Q] should i swap my g2x because of GPS, is it worth the risk

i have been unable to get the gps on my g2x to achieve a lock in under 10 minutes, and i have tried krylon's tweak , and some other mods/tweaks i found here on XDA. Do you guys think it is worth sending the phone in to t-mobile/LG? I have seen a lot of threads about some people having problems with their replacements and having to wait weeks for a new phone? Has anyone had a good experience getting a replacement? any feedback would be appreciated

Go ahead and exchange it. The vast majority of phones don't have GPS issues. At least not on the stock ROM.

Today is my last day, and i'm debating returning it as well because of the GPS not being able to get a lock on a stock rom.

bighulk666 said:
Today is my last day, and i'm debating returning it as well because of the GPS not being able to get a lock on a stock rom.
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Id exchange it, I get a lock in seconds...

Lol go ahead and swap it I bet you the next one will have same gps issues. Use a different way rom or wait for lg to release a baseband fix
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

Every rom I run can't get a lock
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA Premium App

Suprah said:
Lol go ahead and swap it I bet you the next one will have same gps issues. Use a different way rom or wait for lg to release a baseband fix
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk
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Stock rom gps is the best man... If he can't get a lock on stock its probably hardware.the gps in this phone is top notch on stock...

This is surprising. First major great impression walking out of the Tmo store this week with this phone was how fast my GPS lock was. 2-3 seconds. Of course, I came from a year of tweaking my Captivate to finally get it to a satisfactory 100 meter lock in 15 secs.
Sent from my LG-P999 using Tapatalk

Mine sometimes locks in seconds and sometimes takes a bit of time to lock, or I may have to retry sometimes shutting down navigation and opening again... I think its because navigation is in beta, otherwise not much of a problem
Sent from my LG-P999 using XDA App

I think there must be a bug in the hardware driver for the GPS.. sometimes it works instantly for me, and other times I never get a lock.

There's clearly something funky about the integration of the GPS with the software on this phone. If you look at GPSTest, for example, all the signal-to-noise values are off the scale, running into the text above the graphical area; in GPS Status, the area of the circles representing the satellite positions is supposed to be proportional to the S/N ratio, and they're all huge, much larger than the (presumably normal) sizes in the screenshot in the market. To me, that indicates a units error, where the GPS is reporting in a smaller unit than the software is expecting. That suggests that other facets of the interface between the GPS and the software may be out of kilter and responsible for the erratic behavior.
There may be other factors in play, also. I often get a pretty quick lock, 10-15 seconds. Last week I opened Google navigation and waited for 20 minutes (5 stationary, 15 driving) to get a lock without success. I power-cycled the phone, and when it came back it got a lock essentially as soon as I opened the application. (Which is not dissimilar to other things on this phone -- I find it runs much more smoothly and reliably if I reboot it every couple of days. I'm thinking there's probably some bug in the memory management with fragmentation or leaks.)
I'm running stock everything, BTW.

I get a decent 3G, 4G and GPS signal at my house.
Right down the street I get a GREAT signal.
It's odd cause I can launch Maps or Navigation while driving, and it will take a few minutes to "lock on".
But if I set my destination at the house before leaving, it is almost instant.

wmm said:
There's clearly something funky about the integration of the GPS with the software on this phone. If you look at GPSTest, for example, all the signal-to-noise values are off the scale, running into the text above the graphical area; in GPS Status, the area of the circles representing the satellite positions is supposed to be proportional to the S/N ratio, and they're all huge, much larger than the (presumably normal) sizes in the screenshot in the market
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I've seen this issue too. It's a bug in the GPS firmware.

well i took the plunge, my new g2x is on the way. I really hope it isn't a bleeder/rebooter.

[Q] GPS not locking. Ever. Not even on V21y.

So my problem is whenever I try to use GPS to lock onto my position, the most accurate my phone gives me is to 1200 meters - like it gives me that blue circle around where it thinks I am in the maps/navigation apps. I've tried inside, outside, wherever, and it's always exactly 1200 meters. I've also tried different ROMs, froyo, gingerbread, and ICS and it's the same problem. I've updated to the latest baseband (V21y) and it's the exact same problem. I've tried GPS status & Toolbox to clear and download agps data and still no dice. I've dialed 1809#*999# and ran the GPS test, played around with the settings there, and still no improvement.
I've had my G2x since September 2011, and this problem only started about two weeks ago, out of nowhere. My GPS has always been really accurate, and consistently too, until all of a sudden it wasn't, so I'm sure this isn't another, "ohh that's the G2x for yah, buddy."
The part that confuses me is that it's ALWAYS accurate to 1200 meters in the Maps app. It's never more or less accurate. Also the compass functionality still works fine, and every other part of my phone is exactly the same.
I'm starting to think part of my hardware got messed up, and the only way to fix it is to get it replaced, but that would be annoying.

I got this phone the day it came out. I have never had any luck with the gps on this thing. Every ROM I have tried has been the same. I just updated to v21y mainly because some were saying they were having better gps signals, however, it still sucks balls for me. I'm really just tired of all the little bs issues with the phone. Can't wait until next April to get my full upgrade... lol

Bladedwings said:
So my problem is whenever I try to use GPS to lock onto my position, the most accurate my phone gives me is to 1200 meters - like it gives me that blue circle around where it thinks I am in the maps/navigation apps. I've tried inside, outside, wherever, and it's always exactly 1200 meters. I've also tried different ROMs, froyo, gingerbread, and ICS and it's the same problem. I've updated to the latest baseband (V21y) and it's the exact same problem. I've tried GPS status & Toolbox to clear and download agps data and still no dice. I've dialed 1809#*999# and ran the GPS test, played around with the settings there, and still no improvement.
I've had my G2x since September 2011, and this problem only started about two weeks ago, out of nowhere. My GPS has always been really accurate, and consistently too, until all of a sudden it wasn't, so I'm sure this isn't another, "ohh that's the G2x for yah, buddy."
The part that confuses me is that it's ALWAYS accurate to 1200 meters in the Maps app. It's never more or less accurate. Also the compass functionality still works fine, and every other part of my phone is exactly the same.
I'm starting to think part of my hardware got messed up, and the only way to fix it is to get it replaced, but that would be annoying.
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I had the same issues until the march bb update. I lock on under 10 seconds. Accuracy as good aa 5 meters. I dont know guys, the update seems to have fixed this for a lot of people. Could be hardware, ive had 4 g2x's only 1 can oc 1.6ghz stable.
jnralp00 said:
I got this phone the day it came out. I have never had any luck with the gps on this thing. Every ROM I have tried has been the same. I just updated to v21y mainly because some were saying they were having better gps signals, however, it still sucks balls for me. I'm really just tired of all the little bs issues with the phone. Can't wait until next April to get my full upgrade... lol
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Sent from my LG-P999 using xda premium

jnralp00 said:
I got this phone the day it came out. I have never had any luck with the gps on this thing. Every ROM I have tried has been the same. I just updated to v21y mainly because some were saying they were having better gps signals, however, it still sucks balls for me. I'm really just tired of all the little bs issues with the phone. Can't wait until next April to get my full upgrade... lol
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Click to collapse
Yeah I'm in pretty much the same boat. I got this phone shortly after it came out, and I've had GPS issues since I got it. I've done every baseband update hoping it would fix my issues, and it hasn't. The only way I've been able to "make things work better" is by heavily modding the gps.conf file. Even then, the TTL varies greatly - sometimes it's 30 seconds, sometimes it's 3 minutes.