I just got Captivate and I really enjoy the phone, but I'm having an issues with all applications that use digital compass (Compass, Google Sky Map, Layar, etc.). All of them are very jumpy. If I open up Google Sky Map, stand still and slowly turn, the map is jumping every few seconds, it doesn't smoothly rotate with me. I just compared it to my broser's Evo and it's like night and day. His phone is rotating the map very smoothly with no visible jumps, and on mine you can clearly notice jumps all the time. Is this happening to everyone, or my phone just have defective digital compass? Or is this an accelerometer issue all together?
Am I the only one having this issue? Should I go exchange my phone then?
I think the compass is wonky on all Captivates, and maybe all Galaxy S phones. We're hoping for a software update to fix it.
Ya I am also having this problem. I have tryed out some racing games and some other games that are not playable. I have downloaded some of the sensor test apps and they jump all over the place. Sky maps is also the same. It seems to be the magnetic sensor and the 6 axis. I don't see them using a cheap sensor and then hyping it in the ads and on the box. I am thinking it probibly a software issue as none of the other phones had this type of sensor.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
Am I the only one not having problems then? Well at least on the compass I am not, have tried any accelerometer games
Edit: My accelerometer is fine also, it seems to me a good way to check is a game like Labyrinth Lite that is solely the accelerometer for control, and that game is very playable which it wouldn't be with the problems you guys are having...
My Compass works perfectly, any gyro or accelerometer based game works perfectly, it's only Google Sky that seems to be a bit jumpy. And it doesn't jump "all over the place," rather it just is jittery while it is being moved about. However I noticed the same jitteriness on my friend's Droid, so it may just be a problem with Google Sky in general.
asrrin29 said:
My Compass works perfectly, any gyro or accelerometer based game works perfectly, it's only Google Sky that seems to be a bit jumpy. And it doesn't jump "all over the place," rather it just is jittery while it is being moved about. However I noticed the same jitteriness on my friend's Droid, so it may just be a problem with Google Sky in general.
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I just tried google sky on my captivate and it also is jerky like yours. Is your friend's droid the first moto droid? About a month ago, I was looking at my sister's moto droid (1st gen) and google sky worked perfectly.
asrrin29 said:
My Compass works perfectly, any gyro or accelerometer based game works perfectly, it's only Google Sky that seems to be a bit jumpy. And it doesn't jump "all over the place," rather it just is jittery while it is being moved about. However I noticed the same jitteriness on my friend's Droid, so it may just be a problem with Google Sky in general.
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Google Sky Map doesn't jump all over the place for me, it also just jittery (when you move slowly), but Layar does. So does the Compass app... It becomes a bit better if you run any of the accelerometer test apps in the background, but even then it's a bit jumpy... Hoping for a software fix for this some time in the future.
Similar issues
I own a Captivate, and I am a serious astronomy buff and was very excited to try out google sky. but when I tried it out I discovered it was very jumpy when I used it casually indoors during the day. But I was far more disappointed at night. When I tried it then, I started up the program and noticed it was jumpy like before but figured I would just have to live with it. But when I pointed it up at a constellation, I noticed the stars didn't match, and a nice circle labeled "sun" that clearly wasn't there. It wasn't reading the correct position apparently. This problem makes Google Sky almost entirely useless, which is incredibly disappointing.
What makes it worse is my roommate who showed me a similar program on his iPhone 4 that was completely smooth and accurate. Boy did that make me feel like I had the inferior product.
I have also had issues with the jerky compass, and seemingly anything else that deals with the physical position of the phone. For example, the phone on google maps showed me as moving around (seemingly in a path) while I was sitting down, not moving; and the GPS accuracy in general seems fairly low (usually 50-100 ft off-ish).
If these problems can be fixed via software update then I would be MUCH happier with my phone once things worked as well as I would think they are supposed to.
This is particularly important to me also because I am looking to start developing android apps and would want to use and then test apps using these systems. As of right now though, these seem to be far below par.
-TheOnlyMerlin
The compass didn't ever work for me either, would point in random directions and hop all over. Layar was unusable and Yelp's Monacle would never show things in the right direction. Skymap was just a mess.
I just thought the games that you had to tilt the thing sucked, like labyrinth, racing games, etc. Couldn't control any of them.
The two things on the phone I loved were the screen and swype.
hobbbbit said:
Google Sky Map doesn't jump all over the place for me, it also just jittery (when you move slowly), but Layar does. So does the Compass app... It becomes a bit better if you run any of the accelerometer test apps in the background, but even then it's a bit jumpy... Hoping for a software fix for this some time in the future.
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I just update Google Earth on my captivate and if I use hardware sensors to control the view, it uses compass to update your view on Google earth and it seems (at least for me) very smooth in comparison to Layar or Google Skymap.
what I've noticed with mine:
mine was jerky as mentioned above.
a simple compass app shows that if I tilt the phone the compass follows, which tells me the app is using the tilt sensors and not the compass.
I flashed jh2 and it worked for a while, but at some point it stopped again. still trying to narrow down why... but this tells me it's a software thing
I'm not sure if it was an app I installed, or maybe it worked until I turned the phone off, not sure, need to do more research, really just hoping our froyo update will fix it
I have the issue too. When you go into the test app even with the phone sitting on a table the compass heading is constantly changing. Its an issue with all captivates.
I was a vibrant owner and had the same issues. To my knowledge, this problem is evident in all US galaxy s phones. The epic may have avoided the bug due to its later release. Samsung is supposedly pushing out a fix for the GPS and we're all hoping they will address the totally laggy compass too. There are YouTube videos demonstrating the problem on the vibrant. Cross your fingers but know you're not alone.
I've certainly noticed this problem too with the compass. The six-axis seems fine though.
Mostly I've found that how you hold the phone effects the interference with the compass. I've done a side by side comparison with a real high quality compass (both phone and compass calibrated to magnetic north) and the Captivate isn't all that bad after it's "settled" and on a level non-metallic surface. It's just the quick movement or change of direction that really seems to throw it off.
Hey all - I don't mean to bring this long dead thread back to life, but I figured it was better than starting a new one.
Has anyone figured anything out with the jittery compass issues?
I've only had my Captivate for a week, but am definitely dealing w/ the jitters (let alone the GPS issue).
I've found that it can be demonstrated pretty well using the sensor test on the phone (*#0*# -> Sensor) - it displays the data from the magnetic sensor... on mine, X, Y, and Z coordinates are all bouncing up and down within a couple of points.
Any thoughts or advice on this?
I'm still well within the first 30 days.
yourtvlies said:
Hey all - I don't mean to bring this long dead thread back to life, but I figured it was better than starting a new one.
Has anyone figured anything out with the jittery compass issues?
I've only had my Captivate for a week, but am definitely dealing w/ the jitters (let alone the GPS issue).
I've found that it can be demonstrated pretty well using the sensor test on the phone (*#0*# -> Sensor) - it displays the data from the magnetic sensor... on mine, X, Y, and Z coordinates are all bouncing up and down within a couple of points.
Any thoughts or advice on this?
I'm still well within the first 30 days.
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Did you update to JH7 yet? I heard it fixed the compass issue.
gtg465x said:
Did you update to JH7 yet? I heard it fixed the compass issue.
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Indeed I did - I had the opportunity to briefly examine another unit, as well and while I believe it was on JH6, the compass seemed very steady.
Sorry for the bump- but I have a more specific question for people:
Does anyone have a unit where the compass is steady? Either in the sensor test (*#0*#) or elsewhere?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
yourtvlies said:
Sorry for the bump- but I have a more specific question for people:
Does anyone have a unit where the compass is steady? Either in the sensor test (*#0*#) or elsewhere?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Click to collapse
If i put it on a flat surface away from any metal then it is almost solid. Some minor movements and now and then. But it is super picky about being near anything metal.
evening all
Does anyone else find themselves sometimes having to tap multiple times to get something to work? (e.g. one example - clicking into a text box to bring up the keyboard)
I'm running 4.0.3 but to be honest it was the same with 2.3.6. It's certainly not terrible / unusable and I'm wondering if it is merely "lag" or an intermittent hardware fault.
Screen test applications seem to work fine by the way, possibly pointing towards "lag"?
By the way, If I tap VERY quickly too those taps are often NOT recognised, but I tested that scenario too with a friends' HTC desire and his was the same, sometimes recognised and sometimes not.
I previously had an i9023 by the way, on which I never noticed an issue. Do the 2 models have different controllers I wonder!
B
I find its finger oils that cause that. A quick wipe or turning screen off and on quick restores functionality.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using XDA App. Developer of brickROM, and OP of XDA Thread of The Year 2011.
I'm having similar issues.. either lag or the answer mentioned above. It could also be a software glitch. However I doubt it's a hardware problem since for that, the screen would be dead in a certain area 24 7 which is not your problem.
Anyone notice weirdness with the orientation sensor? If it's completely vertical or horizontal it's fine but I notice when it's parallel to the ground it starts flipping between portrait and landscape like no one's business. I usually lock screen orientation on my devices anyway, but this one seems way more finicky than any of my previous Android devices with regards to this aspect.
Can't wait for some source ROM goodness so we can control rotation more precisely; this thing needs some hysteresis, stat. Did they not teach these guys even a little bit of control systems?
The few strange orient issues I had went away with the 50 MB update that came out yesterday.
ljcook said:
The few strange orient issues I had went away with the 50 MB update that came out yesterday.
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Mine actually started with the update, . It seemed fine before. I wonder if my hardware has an issue or something.
iofthestorm said:
Mine actually started with the update, . It seemed fine before. I wonder if my hardware has an issue or something.
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I have had this happen to me on several different kinds of tablets so I don't think it is a problem with Samsung.
Hi there,
since I've rooted my Tab 2 10.1 and I've played with some custom roms and kernels, I've found out one annoying screen sensitivity issue: it is almost impossible to zoom in/out using pinch gesture. It looks like it doesn't recognize properly my movement of 2 fingers. I enabled the touch points from developer tools and as i can see it recognizes only first touch of my 2 fingers, but doesn't recognize the movement - the points are staying in the same place. This issue doesn't occur with one finger.
I've flashed many roms, kernels, wiped lots of time, uninstalled and installed many apps, killed tasks, washed hands. Nothing helped, even on clean roms.
But accidentally I've found out that this issue may be somehow related to the...air temperature. I've seen it for the first time when I was using it in my car, it was about 17-18 degrees. Then the same issue occurred in my new house, which is currently also quite cold (about 19 degrees). When I warmed up the room to more than 20 degrees - the issue disappeared. I'm not sure if it is really related to the temperature or it is only an accident. I'm investigating it right now and reproducing with different air temperatures.
But anyway: did somebody already experience such issue with his Tab 2 10.1?
Actually I'm using PAC-Rom with DhollmenCM kernel.
Many greetings!
kicikk said:
Hi there,
since I've rooted my Tab 2 10.1 and I've played with some custom roms and kernels, I've found out one annoying screen sensitivity issue: it is almost impossible to zoom in/out using pinch gesture. It looks like it doesn't recognize properly my movement of 2 fingers. I enabled the touch points from developer tools and as i can see it recognizes only first touch of my 2 fingers, but doesn't recognize the movement - the points are staying in the same place. This issue doesn't occur with one finger.
I've flashed many roms, kernels, wiped lots of time, uninstalled and installed many apps, killed tasks, washed hands. Nothing helped, even on clean roms.
But accidentally I've found out that this issue may be somehow related to the...air temperature. I've seen it for the first time when I was using it in my car, it was about 17-18 degrees. Then the same issue occurred in my new house, which is currently also quite cold (about 19 degrees). When I warmed up the room to more than 20 degrees - the issue disappeared. I'm not sure if it is really related to the temperature or it is only an accident. I'm investigating it right now and reproducing with different air temperatures.
But anyway: did somebody already experience such issue with his Tab 2 10.1?
Actually I'm using PAC-Rom with DhollmenCM kernel.
Many greetings!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There is an old guy at our work who has problems in cold weather and his fingers turn white - it's called Raynaud's phenomenon, he too has issues with his smartphone and his fingers being recognized in colder temperatures.
There are lots of videos showing this problem: after you have touched the screen sometimes the screen registers finger presses even after you've removed them.
It's very hard to see what is going on if you don't turn on "show touches" in settings, so I suspect many reports about touch screens being unresponsive, or acting strangely is really the same problem.
It occurs both in stock ROMs and aosp, but subjectively more often in stock roms. It's not about moisture remaining, I've wiped the screen completely clean and dry and the phantom touches are there before, during and after cleaning.
Is there a software solution to this or is it hardware? Any thoughts of how this problem could be approached? I'm having trouble even reproducing it reliably.
yet another video of the odd problem: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mglol5qon6vy67g/2013-08-11 20.15.01.mp4
I replaced my Asus TF300 because of a similar issue. Asus fixed it once under warranty (replaced the entire LCD and digitizer, I think) but the issue came right back within a few months after RMA. By then the warranty had expired. In my case, the ghost touches were prevalent in a specific part of the screen; couldn't tell from your video whether the false touches were in the same general area every time or not.
Surprisingly, until the problem became so bad that an entire area was unusable, I could flash a new ROM and get somewhat different behavior. Just to be sure, though, I did flash a stock ROM prior to sending back to Asus and verified the issue existed there, labeled the area with tape so they could not miss it, and described in details the steps to reproduce.
Good luck.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app
bsaman said:
I
Surprisingly, until the problem became so bad that an entire area was unusable, I could flash a new ROM and get somewhat different behavior.
Sent from my GT-N8013 using xda app-developers app
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This is my experience also, the aosp revolt rom, seems to suffer much less so than the stock roms.
It does seem to be the same area but it might be just because it's the side that is used most often for scrolling due to me being right handed.
The difference between how the roms behave is what make me suspect it's a software issue.
Just to be clear, you've not noticed this even once with your note? Before I turned on the "show touches" I saw it most clearly when I used chrome or other programs with scrollable elements. The page would sometimes just vibrate a little when left alone.
PremiumMediocre said:
Just to be clear, you've not noticed this even once with your note? Before I turned on the "show touches" I saw it most clearly when I used chrome or other programs with scrollable elements. The page would sometimes just vibrate a little when left alone.
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Click to collapse
No, my note has been rock solid, but I haven't enabled show touches so I can't say for sure.
Sent from my Vivid 4G using xda app-developers app
I'm thinking it might be possible to alter the idc file that specifies the behaviour of the touchscreen (https://source.android.com/devices/tech/input/input-device-configuration-files.html). But it's all a bit over my head.
I'm not alone at least:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii7m2696T3Y
A simpler cause?
I'm not alone at least:
(YouTube Video URL that I'm not allowed to post, yet)
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Click to collapse
The guy in the video did a great job with research. Did you catch the part where he found nearly imperceptible damage to the screen that was a possible cause? The ghosting always seems to occur in the same places because that's where the screen has been "crushed". Now "crushed" is a bad word because the screen probably hasn't been compressed beyond an acceptable level but there might be some correlation between where the users normally places his/her hand when using the pen and where the phantom touches occur. Maybe when writing, some users are baring-down harder than they realize and prolonged pressure in the same arc-shaped area created by the side of a hand, causes some changes in the capacitive properties in that area which cause a "latch" condition -- where the digitizer gets stuck and won't unstick until power is removed.
I've noticed in the videos that I've seen that the presenter get the problem to appear when using the side of their hand in a rolling fashion -- probably the same motion that they use when they just start to write. I also believe that devices that have this problem "get better" or less sensitive when not used for a while. This would follow the idea that the screen is compressed and given some time, the compression relaxes.
If the problem is limited to a certain area of the screen, I find it hard to believe that the problem could possibly have anything to do with ROM or firmware. The matrix of the digitizer in X-Y coordinates is addressed such that if there were a problem like this, the error would occur and repeat in either a straight vertical or horizontal direction instead of finite points spanning many rows and columns.
I guess one way of ruling this idea out would be to find someone who has never used the pen to write yet still has the problem.
I haven't ruled out that it is hardware related, but I have noted a significant improvement leaving stock ROMs for aosp. Maybe that's just a coincidence, I can't know for sure. I have noted something else that might help diagnose this problem.
If the period of turning on the screen, using the tablet then turning off the screen constitutes one session, there are two types of sessions. Sessions which suffer from this problem, which will be apparent in a relative short period of time. But there are also sessions where everything works as it should, regardless of how long the session is. So you will notice this problem within 10 min or not at all.