Have had my GSIII for about 2 months now and I'm wondering if something is wrong with my gps. I have taken my phone and compared it to 2 other GSIII's using the app GPS Status & Toolbox. On my phone when the app is opened it says 'Looking for GPS Location' and will quite often never find anything. Sometimes it will lock on however. If I'm outside it locks on quicker but indoors it does not. On the other phones I compare it against they both lock on almost immediately.
The other weird thing about my phone is the compass in the GPS Status app. Mine never sits still it is always bouncing back and forth. The other 2 phones I compare against the compass locks on and never moves unless I move the phone.
Now when it comes to navigation my phone seems to work decent. The only places it does not take me directly to are houses it is usually off by about a block, but businesses it is spot on. I figured the maps app just doesnt have the exact house locations?
I am running stock 4.1.2 on Verizon. After reading many threads about gps problems I have already tried tightening the 10 screws under the back cover of my phone. I also did the whole clear cache and remove Maps updates and reinstall. Would this be enough to call Verizon and try to get a different phone while its still under the year warranty?
I have the same problem. Mine worked great for a few months and suddenly became very unreliable. I can be driving down the freeway at 70MPH and navigation will suddenly freak out and think I'm on some other side street and start giving me directions to get back to the freeway. It will do this constantly and never shut up and it will even show me driving in totally different directions down streets that are blocks away from where I actually am.
I tried the screw thing and cleared the cache and reinstalled the Maps updates but that did not help. The problem has recently become even worse. Sometimes it takes 15+ minutes to get a GPS lock while in my car and in my house where it used to work perfectly it won't lock at all.
Another problem I've had, while I don't know if it's related, is that Google Maps flickers when scrolling and randomly goes blank. Along with that, it will randomly scroll out into the middle of the Atlantic when I'm just trying to zoom in on a particular location near me.
Have you tried a factory reset? That's probably the last thing I'm going to try before going to Verizon and requesting a replacement though I really don't want to go through the hassle of setting everything up again just to do it yet again if I have to replace the phone.
I have not tried a factory reset yet but I should probably give it a try. I posted this on another GS3 forum and a former Verizon support person recommended to not get a replacement from Verizon cause they send out real crappy ones they have laying around. He said to call Samsung and get the phone fixed that way so I will probably try that if the factory reset does not work.
have read where removing battery door and tightening the body screws has fixed most gps problems. It seems that the contacts are very susceptible to the body getting loose. Daily vibration can cause them to slightly loosen and thus the problem. I would give it a try, it only a few seconds work.
Good Luck
See the Galaxy sIII shine via SynergyRom
I just tried the screw thing again. I think there is definitely something to that. Sitting here at my desk I could not get a GPS lock at all. After tightening the screws I get a lock within 1-2 seconds. Maybe I should get some Loctite to keep them from backing off? I'll have to drive around to see if it's really working but this is what fixed it before. The only thing now is the strange flickering/graphical glitches that I see when in maps/navigation.
bbolton_98 said:
have read where removing battery door and tightening the body screws has fixed most gps problems. It seems that the contacts are very susceptible to the body getting loose. Daily vibration can cause them to slightly loosen and thus the problem. I would give it a try, it only a few seconds work.
Good Luck
See the Galaxy sIII shine via SynergyRom
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Tried this and worked for me. Thanks Mine locks on a lot quicker now
Am I the only person who's having issues unlocking my phone using the fingerprint scanner?
I'm so tired of getting "Try again" leading up to it being disabled and having to enter my pin, I get a poor success rate. On average it works maybe 2/10 times.
When I scan my finger I move it around as much as possible, and initially I do get a pretty good success rate, but after I try again later it mostly fails and only unlocks when it feels like. I'm pretty sure I place my finger on the sensor in the exact same place every time; sometimes I give it a wipe with my finger before and it unlocks.
People who see I have the Z5 always ask to show how the fingerprint works but it never does. Surely if you scan your finger you have to keep it in the exact same state every time you want to unlock it, ie: clean, dry, etc...
It's so disappointing, it would be such a easy and fast way to unlock your phone.
I don't have any issues and in fact rarely does it fail first time
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
I don't have any issues either. There may be the very odd occasion where it doesn't work first time, but this is rare.
Add another finger and use the same finger again at even more angles
Sent from my E6653 using Tapatalk
9006 said:
Am I the only person who's having issues unlocking my phone using the fingerprint scanner?
I'm so tired of getting "Try again" leading up to it being disabled and having to enter my pin, I get a poor success rate. On average it works maybe 2/10 times.
When I scan my finger I move it around as much as possible, and initially I do get a pretty good success rate, but after I try again later it mostly fails and only unlocks when it feels like. I'm pretty sure I place my finger on the sensor in the exact same place every time; sometimes I give it a wipe with my finger before and it unlocks.
People who see I have the Z5 always ask to show how the fingerprint works but it never does. Surely if you scan your finger you have to keep it in the exact same state every time you want to unlock it, ie: clean, dry, etc...
It's so disappointing, it would be such a easy and fast way to unlock your phone.
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No issues here either but I will say the accuracy has improved since the 152 update.
Mine works great. As each fingerprint recording session requires 20 individual scans, I used three different fingers in one of the sessions for typical use cases, e.g. sideways thumb for unlocking in car holder, non-phone holding hand to unlock when on a desk, etc. Even the 3-in-1 sessions works well.
Do you have greasy fingers?!
Mines fine no issues unless my hands are wet which makes sense as your fingerprints change when wet
Sent from my Sony Z5 ooossshhhh
As above, it seems to be affected a lot by finger moisture. After training the print when my hands are perfectly dry, the scanner works perfectly, but when they're in any way damp (after hand washing, a little sweaty from the gym, heat, etc.) I was getting failures. So, I just 'learned' the same finger after getting it wet and this improves things a LOT. Had the same problem with the scanner on my S6, so this is really just a function of how much your prints must look different to the scanners in various conditions. Give it a shot.
I have problems too, and this is one of the reason why i'm gonna give it back...i'm really disappointed by this phone...
9006 said:
Am I the only person who's having issues unlocking my phone using the fingerprint scanner?
I'm so tired of getting "Try again" leading up to it being disabled and having to enter my pin, I get a poor success rate. On average it works maybe 2/10 times.
When I scan my finger I move it around as much as possible, and initially I do get a pretty good success rate, but after I try again later it mostly fails and only unlocks when it feels like. I'm pretty sure I place my finger on the sensor in the exact same place every time; sometimes I give it a wipe with my finger before and it unlocks.
People who see I have the Z5 always ask to show how the fingerprint works but it never does. Surely if you scan your finger you have to keep it in the exact same state every time you want to unlock it, ie: clean, dry, etc...
It's so disappointing, it would be such a easy and fast way to unlock your phone.
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Click to collapse
I definitely have issues with mine, seems to be worst when the phone is cold. The most success I have had is registering prints after I clean it off with warm water (ie post shower). If the green completion circle jumps from ~85% to 100% on your last scan, that's when you know you have good prints registered. I use my left middle finger to unlock the phone most frequently, so I registered the middle part of my print and then the tip of that same finger separately as 2 different prints and that seems to work pretty well. Doesn't take much dirt to throw it off track, but it's the most luck I've had so far. You definitely aren't alone with your issues
redandblack1287 said:
I definitely have issues with mine, seems to be worst when the phone is cold. The most success I have had is registering prints after I clean it off with warm water (ie post shower). If the green completion circle jumps from ~85% to 100% on your last scan, that's when you know you have good prints registered. I use my left middle finger to unlock the phone most frequently, so I registered the middle part of my print and then the tip of that same finger separately as 2 different prints and that seems to work pretty well. Doesn't take much dirt to throw it off track, but it's the most luck I've had so far. You definitely aren't alone with your issues
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check the power button and see if it's flushed or is it slanted to one side?
Mine was slanted to one side, and my hit rate for finger print unlock is very low.
Just sent it in for service. will see if it changes anything
Good feedback, at least it's not just me having some issues.
I have noticed that the power button DOES move very slightly, but we're only talking about half a mill maybe. But even if it's in a perfect position I still get about the same result. It seems to me that finger moisture is a factor. Like I said once I do an initial scan it works great for a while, but eventually it seems to fail unless my finger is in the exact same "state".
Because the button is on the left I hold it in my left hand and use my left middle finger to unlock, I scan it in many different positions to try and give it a good variety yet sadly it doesn't seem to make a difference. I will try scanning the same finger a few times to see if I get a better success rate.
I'm currently on build 32.0.A.4.11 if that makes any difference.
9006 said:
I'm currently on build 32.0.A.4.11 if that makes any difference.
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I've seen it reported that there were fingerprint improvements made in 32.0.A.6.152. I'm on that version, experiencing no issues.
I am having the same issue. Currently I have 4 profiles of my thumb but sometimes I have to enter my pin anyway.
What helps most is to clean the sensor with my shirt, although no impurities can be seen. And no, I have no dirty fingers!
The odd thing is that i.e I scan my thumb and immediately thereafter, unlocking is not possible with this newly generated profile.
I did a quick look into the Z5 and I cover the fingerprint scanner a little bit here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lloEIZU8G3Q
It works well, but you have to make sure you have it mapped well too.
I have similar issues. The moisture of your fingers plays a factor for sure. Some point in the day it will work, but at another point in the day it will fail to read even though I place my
finger in the exact same position. I end up redoing the fingerprint learning over and over. It's starting to get a bit frustrating.
None of listed issues...
My fingerprint scanner even recognise me upside down and in all conditions
All running pretty well
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From im getting louder clicking sounds it was first time that sensor doesnt recognize my finger saying that its dirty... so im going to take it to support. It didnt happen before i started to notice that i needed to press it a little more.
As in the title, now that I have turned on the lock which should only activate when I take off the watch I find that it activates while still on my wrist. This is happening seemingly randomly several times a day and is quite annoying. I like the security of it locking if it's not on my wrist but it is becoming a nuisance. Anyone having a similar problem?
I'm having the same problem. I found this post from a Google search, hoping to find a solution.
Were you able to figure it out?
same issue here. very annoying. i've ended up disabling the PIN lock because it keeps happening (i assume because it's not super tight on my wrist, but i don't want it too tight).
It seems to be one of a few glitches on the gear S2 (i also can't tag HR measurements, and the weather app often won't refresh if my Note4 hasn't been used in a few hours).
pretty disappointed with Samsung since these issues have been around for months.
It's weird because mine does too, yet my bf's doesn't. I'm thinking to just reset to factory and start over.
This is an old thread, but did anyone ever find a solution? Mine was working fine until I started disabling things to extend battery life... now it locks as soon as the screen blanks. I have a feeling there's something it needs for heartrate monitor that I disabled... any ideas? Thanks
Hello,
The FP reader was working great for me until today after I installed the update. Now it fails more than half time, where before it was almost flawless. Anyone else?
Mine is unchanged. Finicky unless I breath on or moisten my thumb. If I do that the FPS is flawless, perfect first time every time.
Perhaps deleting the old fingerprints and redoing them will fix it.
Well, I'm on A13 Beta 4.1
I have noticed FP is not consistent at all..
For some, it's unlocking after many tries or can't even register FP..
At first i thought it was an issue in A12 where FP is registering Thumb expression but unable to unlock fast enough (No. I haven't noticed but where my P6a can be unlocked with unregistered Finger)
After moving to A13 Beta 4.1 it got worst..
Just now I have noticed that FP is working completely fine when your Finger is little wet.. Yes, you read it right..
At first even I was confused but then after some searching and applying logic, i gotta know that If your registered finger is Dry, I won't be able to read it properly so Titan M2 chip just refuse to accept it..
But Once you made your finger little wet(Little saliva or less than drop of water which is enough to make your finger wet enough), It just unlock it in 1st try..
I tried it for around 2 days.. So yes, If you are having trouble unlocking your P6a, Just make your registered finger little wet & unlock it..
Before we start complaining about M2 Chip, we need to acknowledge that all phones which don't comes with security like M2 chip just unlock device instantly because they don't have additional security like M2 chip...
Sorry for bad Englis...
yeah I'm noticing the same thing... and you're right that the moisture (or oil) level in my finger matters. Sometimes I can unlock my phone easily and sometimes it just can't read my fingerprint at all. When that happens, I try to re-register and I would repeatedly get "can't read your fingerprint" errors. Even tried removing my screen protector, but same issue.
Started noticing it when I took a trip to a dry/hot city. Started noticing repeated fingerprint errors.
In fairness though, any amount of moisture on my finger resulted in my 3a XL not recognizing it.
I do definitely prefer the physical sensor though vs the under screen solution.
Odd thing is that I'm back home now where it's not as humid or hot or dry and suddenly having numerous issues with my fingerprint. I'm on Android 13 beta 4 and fingerprint was fine for 4 days or so. Tried re-registering FP today and I kept on having sensor registration issues as well as FP reading errors - repeatedly.
In fact, I didn't have much issues with the FP since I got the 6a a week ago (when I was on Android 12 and then switched to Android 13 beta 4), so not sure what changed. Going to switch back to Android 12 and see if that makes a difference.
FP is also hit or miss for me. I'm on Android 12 and actually I couldn't register my fingerprint few times when I bought the phone. In the end, after some reboots and setting all the apps up I managed to register my fingerprints but now sometimes they are scanned without issues and pretty fast, but also sometimes I get info that fingerprint is not recognized and I have to put my pin.
Im guessing most of these issues will be fixed with software updates. It seems this device may have been a bit rushed to market. This is typical new device stuff though.