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i havent gone threw every review but any of u guys catch anything in any review?
the epic by far was the best phone ive used but the GPS was down right awful and sprint nor samsung did anything to fix it
XDA fixed it enough to keep me happy. I think people are blowing this gps thing way out of proportion. "If it doesn't work perfectly or, at least as good as other phones then it must be the most awful thing ever!".
Silent25r said:
XDA fixed it enough to keep me happy. I think people are blowing this gps thing way out of proportion. "If it doesn't work perfectly or, at least as good as other phones then it must be the most awful thing ever!".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
was never blown out of proportion.....my girls epic who is stock can never get a lock
mine who was rooted would get signal but never better then 40m lock and would lose signal constantly.....try taking an 9 hour drive with it on and see how many times ur signal is lost
imtjnotu said:
was never blown out of proportion.....my girls epic who is stock can never get a lock
mine who was rooted would get signal but never better then 40m lock and would lose signal constantly.....try taking an 9 hour drive with it on and see how many times ur signal is lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I certainly remember that a lot of people had trouble, but I never did. Mine always locked perfectly and quickly and never gave me trouble on drives short and long.
imtjnotu said:
was never blown out of proportion.....my girls epic who is stock can never get a lock
mine who was rooted would get signal but never better then 40m lock and would lose signal constantly.....try taking an 9 hour drive with it on and see how many times ur signal is lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I never understood the gps deal. It seemed so sporadic. Mine always worked and I am stock. I used it last weekend on EH17 to drive 5 hours to saint louis and it was perfect the entire way there and back. Didn't cut out once. But you see some people worth working gps and others without it.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
I have to agree on the gps sucking. On any drive over an hour I could expect to loose lock. I'd imagine if we looked in some of the other GSII forums we might get a clue.
the only thing i ever loved more about my evo then the epic was the gps....htc never gave me gps issues ever
when i had the bionic or droid x they both locked on quick
Backing up the GPS being just short of useless. Remember, just because YOU haven't experienced the problem doesn't prove there isn't one. On Eclair I had very little trouble, but on FroYo I would constantly lose signal mid-trip, having to frequently turn it off and back on to re-lock and hope I wouldn't lose it right when I was in the middle of complex turns or had missed a turn and needed re-routing. In the Gingerbread leaks it turned to completely useless, locking up 100% after as little as 10 seconds of use, requiring a full restart of the phone to be useful again.
So yes, the Epic's biggest flaw was its next-to-useless GPS, hands down. That said, most reviews of the entire Galaxy S line agreed the GPS was bad on all versions. So far I've heard nothing of the sort about the Galaxy S II phones in Europe which suggests the entire line will be similar, including our new Epic 4G Touches.
imtjnotu said:
was never blown out of proportion.....my girls epic who is stock can never get a lock
mine who was rooted would get signal but never better then 40m lock and would lose signal constantly.....try taking an 9 hour drive with it on and see how many times ur signal is lost
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you couldn't fix it then that wasn't the norm. I would have returned it to Sprint and got a different one within the first 30 days.
9 hour drives? No problem. Longest I've been on was 6 but the GPS didn't have any problems. The battery on the other hand...
got mine yesterday, used GPS with google nav and telenav. drove for about an hour in farm country Ohio. GPS took a few seconds longer to lock than my EVo but once locked didn't drop signal. Still a little early to tell but no obvious problems yet.
TurboFool said:
Backing up the GPS being just short of useless. Remember, just because YOU haven't experienced the problem doesn't prove there isn't one. On Eclair I had very little trouble, but on FroYo I would constantly lose signal mid-trip, having to frequently turn it off and back on to re-lock and hope I wouldn't lose it right when I was in the middle of complex turns or had missed a turn and needed re-routing. In the Gingerbread leaks it turned to completely useless, locking up 100% after as little as 10 seconds of use, requiring a full restart of the phone to be useful again.
So yes, the Epic's biggest flaw was its next-to-useless GPS, hands down. That said, most reviews of the entire Galaxy S line agreed the GPS was bad on all versions. So far I've heard nothing of the sort about the Galaxy S II phones in Europe which suggests the entire line will be similar, including our new Epic 4G Touches.
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Click to collapse
Since I don't know who you were responding to I will assume it was me. You know that goes both ways right. Just because YOU have experienced the problem doesn't prove there is one. I have used every official build and every gingerbread leak except EE03 and I have never had a single problem. I use GPS frequently. I have never had a lockup. I have always had an instant lock. And I have always been able to get within 10 meters with the average being 3 meters. However, I never said there wasn't a problem. I just said I never understood the issue as to why it worked for some and not others. You would think that it would be global if the hardware is identical. Makes me wonder if it has anything to do with location in respect to the satellites. Never tried to dig into it because fortunately I didn't have the issue. But I do hope that the touch is without issues because not having gps would be a deal breaker for me.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
crawrj said:
Since I don't know who you were responding to I will assume it was me. You know that goes both ways right. Just because YOU have experienced the problem doesn't prove there is one. I have used every official build and every gingerbread leak except EE03 and I have never had a single problem. I use GPS frequently. I have never had a lockup. I have always had an instant lock. And I have always been able to get within 10 meters with the average being 3 meters. However, I never said there wasn't a problem. I just said I never understood the issue as to why it worked for some and not others. You would think that it would be global if the hardware is identical. Makes me wonder if it has anything to do with location in respect to the satellites. Never tried to dig into it because fortunately I didn't have the issue. But I do hope that the touch is without issues because not having gps would be a deal breaker for me.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using xda premium
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just because he experienced the problem means that a problem exists. Whether it's a wide spread problem or a unique incident, the problem still exists. On the Epic forums people are constantly complaining about GPS issues. There are few fortunate ones like you who haven't had the same issues. I didn't have GPS issues for a while until my job had me drive long distances.
cachorropedorro said:
Just because he experienced the problem means that a problem exists. Whether it's a wide spread problem or a unique incident, the problem still exists. On the Epic forums people are constantly complaining about GPS issues. There are few fortunate ones like you who haven't had the same issues. I didn't have GPS issues for a while until my job had me drive long distances.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So if you brick your phone because of something you did is the phone bad. Is there a flaw in the phone? No. And again, I never said there wasn't a problem. Actually I said that there was a problem for some and not for others. The only point I was making is that I didn't understand why it worked for some and not others. I wish we could have found the root cause.
Generally speaking GPS on the galaxy S line sucked world wide. Generally speaking it appears that samsung fix this in the galaxy s II.
This is based on reading numerous reviews on both; though it is always possible they messed up on the epic touch as it is slightly different and has wimax; I'm expecting it to work like a charm.
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I do wonder how many folks who tested gps on the galaxy s remember to ignore wifi triangulation when voicing a comment.
Forgot about this thread and started another a bit further down. I managed to sneak GPS status onto our demo phone yesterday and it locked to 9/10 sats in less than 2 seconds from inside. Accuracy was only at 30m when I cut it off, but it was indoors in a spot where my epic cannot lock at all. Pretty sure it's fixed.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
crawrj said:
The only point I was making is that I didn't understand why it worked for some and not others. I wish we could have found the root cause.
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Click to collapse
I did spend a fair amount of time investigating the GPS issues on EC05. There are at least two problems: (i) GpsOne Xtra data that fails to download and update, eventually resulting in stale ephemeris and inability to get timely locks, and (ii) a RIL synchronization bug that results in the GPS crashing with 5% probability on every exit/switch of a GPS utilizing app.
The latter of those two problem is definitely confirmed and affects every EC05 Epic. However, if you only use Navigation once a day, you'll run into that bug an average once a month and might not even notice it. But it is possible to reliably reproduce.
The former of the two problems I never fully understood. The GPS should work as long as you reboot once a week, but we know folks whose phones chronically couldn't download new Xtra data on reboot, likely becuase it was attempting to do so "too quickly" after establishing a network connection. Forcing an Xtra download through GPS Test, GPS Aids, or with a patched framework resolved the issue for most of those folks. The remaining issue is that the ephemeris would still go stale very quickly (hours) on some phones, and an EFS/NVRAM clear appears to help that.
Part of the issue is that the "brokenness" of the GPS is somewhat subjective. It's entirey possible for the GPS to absolutely not be able to get an Xtra-assisted lock, but using almanac data still get one in 30-60s in a vehicle. For some folks, that might be "good enough" and wouldn't think there's much of a problem.
cachorropedorro said:
Just because he experienced the problem means that a problem exists. Whether it's a wide spread problem or a unique incident, the problem still exists. On the Epic forums people are constantly complaining about GPS issues. There are few fortunate ones like you who haven't had the same issues. I didn't have GPS issues for a while until my job had me drive long distances.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think the opposite of what your saying is true. This problem isn't as wide spread as it seems. The few who have this problem are very loud about it and complain about it over the forums. Though I seriously doubt that they are the majority.
If fixing your gps doesn't work then you can always set it back to stock and take it in for repair. If they can't repair and you don't have insurance then you can pay a small fee for a epic with a working gps. I doubt anyone is forcing people to live with a phone that the gps doesn't work on.
Considering that it has a dedicated GPS chip "SiRFstarIV GSD4t GPS" I doubt that we are going to see the same issues.
The integrated GPS on the SoC stinks, and samsung knows that. Using the SiRFstarIV will solve 99% of peoples GPS problems.
engadget claims it is solid. fwiw. http://www.engadget.com/2011/09/15/samsung-epic-4g-touch-review/
Our calls were absolutely solid. The phone's reception is on par with the best handsets around, and we never suffered from dropped calls or degraded quality. Our calls came in absolutely clear, and we think the speakers go to 11 because we had to actually turn down the volume to comfortably hear the other end of the line. The same thing could be said about the loudspeaker for calls and music, which both came out loud and clear without needing to strain our ears or feeling like we needed to break out the headphones. However, the sound seemed a bit limited when watching a full-length blockbuster movie, though we believe this had to do with the quality of the movie itself and not the phone.Last but not least, we double-checked the GPS to make sure it wouldn't have similar concerns to the Galaxy S series, and weren' t disappointed. In several locations -- including a basement next to a window -- the GPS pulled up our location in less than ten seconds. Needless to say, this is definitely a sound improvement, one we imagine had special attention given to it throughout the course of the phone's development.
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Click to collapse
All -
I'm hoping for a clear honest assessment of the reliability of the signal and GPS on the E4GT. I use CoPilot a TON for navigation and absolutely need the GPS to get a reasonably fast lock and be both fast (in terms of true-to-location while moving) and accurate. I also need the phone to not be dropping calls (I left AT&T for this very reason).
The reason for my post is simple - I've done a ton of reading threads both here and other sites and at this point am a bit worried that my planned purchase of the dreamy SII may have a few flaws. I've read post-after-post about signal loss issues as well as posts about very unreliable GPS qualities. But many of these posts appear to have been from the September-to-December timeframe and potentially were fixed or were older hardware versions.
SOoooo... I'm hoping a few of you real-life current owners can quell the fear - I so covet that gorgeous screen and dual-core processor. But the fact of the matter is that my Evo 4G gets near instantaneous GPS lock and pretty much never drops a call. I don't want to buy the E4GT and end up hating it for the 2 features I need most.
Thank you all in advance for your time -
I came from an evo as well and the call quality isn't an issue but the GPS is non existent on the phone. To be fair some time it locks with a few minutes some times it won't get a lock for 30 minutes even when I use GPS tool box to clear data and download the agps assistance. I'm in So Cal, in the high desert where we only have 2 story buildings and a pretty clear view of the sky.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Rats... bad GPS is a deal-breaker for me Maybe you're alone and I'll get nothing but rave reviews, right? Right?
I use GPS 4 to 5 times a day. You just need to turn GPS on. Then reboot. It sometimes takes a few minutes but always locks and always gets me where I want to go. Miner glitch in otherwise perfect phone
best gps for getting to a known address
Never had a dropped call yet. Use the gps multiple times a day and takes 1-20s to lock on, usually if it takes longer than that then something is wrong with the address. One notable problem is when using Google Navigate to search for say a McDonalds,it might give an address only relatively close and you'll need to look up the real address manually and have it go to that one instead. Also remember all phones are build a little different too so result can be way different.
The turn on-reboot-wait method on the GPS is straight up a deal breaker for me. With my "OG" Evo, I turn on GPS, and by the time CoPilot is loaded (typically about 10 seconds) the GPS is locked and ready to rock. With a newer and significantly more expensive phone, I refuse to be taking steps backward. I so badly wanted this phone but I think I'll have to wait... Or try the 3D.
Again - thanks all for your input -
mybikegoes200 said:
I so badly wanted this phone but I think I'll have to wait... Or try the 3D.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is one of those areas that really has no definitive answer. Luckily my GPS seems to work fine with pretty instant lock (knock on wood). I've seen reports of others that can't get locks unless they stand on their heads and rub their bellys, lol.
The best advice I can give is to actually get the phone and try it... if it doesn't work you have 14 days to return it and go with another one.
I have only seen problems with my GPS using google maps but if i use telenav or just Nav which also came on my phone its comes up w/i 5-10 seconds. Signal is good but not bad, i had the EVO 3d which was horrible, moto photon was excellent but i would put this signal right in the middle of them at "OK". I havent dropped very many calls but i do travel in rural areas so i cant down grade the signal for dead spots from Sprint
I have never really experienced GPS issues... I have only had one time where it took it about a minute to lock and route address.
I'd say bite the bullet and go for it. Seems like many who don't get good GPS trade their phones in for another and then they get good GPS. Seems like a quality control issue with samsung and GPS. You could always trade yours in if it's no good.
For me, my GPS locks take a while, unless I use GPS Status first, which locks consistently in < 10 sec.
If you decide to take the plunge and your ET4G has crap GPS, have them exchange it. I have a YouTube video that shows my first copy (which was aweful) and my second copy that to this day is fantastic.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk
I appreciate all the input. Maybe I've been spoiled by the GPS quality on the OG Evo - which pretty much never takes longer than 10 seconds to lock. I don't have to do any silly reboots or gps status or clearing this or that... I turn on GPS, click the link for CoPilot - and by the time CoPilot loads gps has a lock. I've talked to enough people both online and locally to have the heebie jeebies about the E4GT.
Soooo... Right or wrong, what I decided to do is buy an Evo 3D on Craigslist to try that and hopefully either wait for a consistently good report on E4GT or a different phone with a more reliable GPS. That way I can still upgrade via contract if and when that time comes.
Again I thank you all for your input -
I never had a problem with gps on the et4g. It works perfect. When I saw buddy got gps working on cm7 I couldn't believe it bc it never worked for me when I had the evo...
I believe this device had better gps quality..
Sent from my SPH-D710 using xda premium
I have two SGSII phones on T-Mobile. I just came from Sprint where I had a SGSII as well. I have had T-Mobile for 2.5 weeks and have traveled twice since then and both times were a distance of 800 miles or so. During this time I needed the GPS as expected and had countless problems.
The problems are very inconsistent and numerous to mention them all...
The generalization of it would be problems locking on to the Sats. In addition to that the GPS also has problems fully functioning when there is a Data loss. It seems to handle a loss of data differently then my Sprint SGSII did.
I am often having inaccurate locating, being off several hundred yards.
Sometimes it will lose the GPS signal altogether, and when I check the GPS app it shows 20-30 SATS visible and 0 connections etc.
With all this said again the Sprint version performs very differently, something is off. Also since I have two of these I was able to test better, and the results are almost identical. There were times that the performance was worse on one then the other as well.
Just to add, I have tried several different ROMS hoping the performance would be better with no luck. I also have tried the aGPS patch that is on here, however I believe that is more successful with the international SGSII and the ATT one.
I encourage anyone experiencing GPS issues with this phone to please post here. I also encourage any DEVS that read this or experience this issue to please check it out for us.
Thanks for taking the time out to read this or participate. Also when you post please include which color you have and roughly when you purchased the phone.
For me navigation is one of the most attractive features of a smartphone. So far my experience was very good with the T-mobile SGS SII. I am using stock firmware with removed bloatware, primarily CarrierIQ, social networks and Samsung media services.
I've found that T-mobile version can use Glonass satellites along with the US GPS giving it higher accuracy and faster lock.
Recently on my ocean trip I've used Navionics US east application in offline mode and it worked as fast and accurate as Google maps. That app is using preloaded maps without online data assistance.
In my experience Google maps worked in Europe as well as in the US.
This phone has drastically better GPS performance compare to the Samsung Vibrant.
It might be that success is dependent on a particular application because all of them do position data interpretation in its own way.
For clear comparison it might be useful to mention what apps were used for testing.
Glad I'm not the only one.
For whatever reason, the AGPS patch completely destroyed my GPS and its ability to lock to anything, so I had to hard wipe my phone after. Tried every single version the OP had in that thread.
As much as I love this phone, the HTC phones of last year had far better GPS.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-T989
The only time I EVER have GPS problems is when my phone is left on WiFi with the GPS off, or if my GPS icon doesn't start flashing when GPS is requested. Flicking GPS off then on fixes that.
If left on WiFi and GPS tries to locate me, it will never lock on.
For those that "dont have problems", how long does it take to lock and do you ever have issues where accuracy goes down for no reason?
Also if you have posted please post the color of the phone. As silly as it seems, I have heard that the white model has different issues. The only way I can think that would matter would be a batch manufacturing issue. Either way the info would help. Also a general timeframe of when you purchased the phone could help as well. Thanks!
DeeXii said:
For those that "dont have problems", how long does it take to lock and do you ever have issues where accuracy goes down for no reason?
Also if you have posted please post the color of the phone. As silly as it seems, I have heard that the white model has different issues. The only way I can think that would matter would be a batch manufacturing issue. Either way the info would help. Also a general timeframe of when you purchased the phone could help as well. Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Locks in under 5 secs usually to 20ft or less. with or without wifi but on Juggs 5.0 & Stock
Titanium, Sept 2011 manufacture date.
i'm really shocked to hear about GPS issues on this phone.. my GPS has been solid since day one.
AUTX_buckeye said:
Locks in under 5 secs usually to 20ft or less. with or without wifi but on Juggs 5.0 & Stock
Titanium, Sept 2011 manufacture date.
i'm really shocked to hear about GPS issues on this phone.. my GPS has been solid since day one.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well that's hope for me. The Sprint one I just had was solid as I mentioned prior.
well my gps on stock had no problems, un juggs no problems, i was having problems on darkside with no locks at all, but yesterday i installed the agps patch on darkside rom and im now having locks pretty much instantly so my guess is that it might have something to do with kernel or build or something.
to be honest if your in stock i wouldnt flash the agps patch, i would only do it on a custom rom that is having gps issues.
pb3000 said:
well my gps on stock had no problems, un juggs no problems, i was having problems on darkside with no locks at all, but yesterday i installed the agps patch on darkside rom and im now having locks pretty much instantly so my guess is that it might have something to do with kernel or build or something.
to be honest if your in stock i wouldnt flash the agps patch, i would only do it on a custom rom that is having gps issues.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Again what color phone do you have and when did you purchase it?
DeeXii said:
Again what color phone do you have and when did you purchase it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
white december 23
Try going to accessory greeks and check out the wireless Bluetooth receiver they have in stock for 99.99$ it's NMEa, I have three globalsat bt-359 genuine and it was very cheap and it responds very slow on my s2 andI wind up missing turns, but it should work anywhere you get clear sky, except the Sahara and a few other treacherous Arizona and Nevada stress areas probably buying one of the ones on accessory greeks retail do a custom tailor job. Happy trails.
Sent from my SGH-T989 using xda premium
My phone is black if it can help you
In regards to how fast I can tell that it locks in 5 to 20 sec with accuracy up to 9 feet.
In my experience the best results I had with the stock T-mobile ROM.
T_mobile is also the carrier that makes use of Glonass navigation satellites, not sure that others do the same. Typically I can see more than 21 satellites of both systems.
I would suggest to look closely at the software running on your phone.
Samsung included test software allowing to check signal to noise ratio and locking speed of raw hardware. If you find SN better in the range 22-34 and reasonable lock time your phone is fine.
Try flashing this, it may help.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1476962
Sent from my SGH-T989
Edit: nvm... I realized that you already tried this
DeeXii said:
I have two SGSII phones on T-Mobile. I just came from Sprint where I had a SGSII as well. I have had T-Mobile for 2.5 weeks and have traveled twice since then and both times were a distance of 800 miles or so. During this time I needed the GPS as expected and had countless problems.
The problems are very inconsistent and numerous to mention them all...
The generalization of it would be problems locking on to the Sats. In addition to that the GPS also has problems fully functioning when there is a Data loss. It seems to handle a loss of data differently then my Sprint SGSII did.
I am often having inaccurate locating, being off several hundred yards.
Sometimes it will lose the GPS signal altogether, and when I check the GPS app it shows 20-30 SATS visible and 0 connections etc.
With all this said again the Sprint version performs very differently, something is off. Also since I have two of these I was able to test better, and the results are almost identical. There were times that the performance was worse on one then the other as well.
Just to add, I have tried several different ROMS hoping the performance would be better with no luck. I also have tried the aGPS patch that is on here, however I believe that is more successful with the international SGSII and the ATT one.
I encourage anyone experiencing GPS issues with this phone to please post here. I also encourage any DEVS that read this or experience this issue to please check it out for us.
Thanks for taking the time out to read this or participate. Also when you post please include which color you have and roughly when you purchased the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have similar problems as you especially with inaccuracy and sudden loss of GPS signal In GPS Status I see, the error being as large as 150-200m in the beginning. It narrows down, gradually in a minute however its still is as large 15-30m. Sometimes its down to 3-4m from there. Sometimes it doesn't lock at all as it sees no satellite or sees them but unable to lock. It is very very unreliable as you have said.
I have Titanium version of t989 which I'm guessing is couple of months old. I got it from eBay recently. Also i'm not using any case at the moment as according to some people it limits it range.
For comparisons sake, I had HTC amaze short while back and it would lock down in 5-15secs at same place with error usually within 4-8m.
I tried aGPS patch but i don't see any improvements with it. Additionally it sometimes make the GPS act weird, like GPS status will show it locked on 1 satellite, if I open up google maps, my location had error of couple of 1000s miles, lol. I was being shown in CA (I'm in mass)
@For people having more issues with aGPS patch, no need to hard reset, it simply updates GPS.conf. You can restore your original gps.conf from my earlier post using root explorer. Its present in /systems/etc folder
First I thought it is GPS driver implementation problem with this phone but
could it be, in our phones the GPS antenna is damaged as it doesn't make any sense as most people have excellent gps performance ?
I purchased a black SGS T989 in March. I have zero GPS issues, usually lock in <5s to 4-8m. I find the spectrum of different experiences with GPS on this phone interesting, I use my phone as a daily driver (quite literally, it's my GPS too!).
Just sharing my experience, I am currently running the ICS Perfection Rom. And I was/am having GPS problems until today. I downloaded the app faster fix off of the play market and did a quick reboot>ran the app> then full restart. And now I get a pretty solid lock around 10-14 satellites.
Just sharing my 2cents. I think the problem has to do with the NTP. If that makes sense.
Sent from my ICED up Samsung Galaxy S2.
no issues on my black one, only really use GPS Status for ~2-5 min at a time , locks on to 10+ sats in ~10 sec max. While driving down highway mainly, if it makes a difference , using Darkside 2.3 and whatever kernel it came with
Guys I had similar issues with GPS until I narrowed it down by doing various experiments with different ROMs/ back to stock/ hardware etc. It turned out to be my CASE!!! I had bought this case with shiny metallic coating on the inside and it was causing the issue. With the case off I get a lock in less than 5 seconds...Hope this helps.
On AOKP M6, locks in a few seconds, accurate to between 10 to 20 meters, I've seen it as accurate to 6 meters!
Sent from AOKP Goodness :-D
I may be skewing from the main topic but hear me out. I owned an SII for about 5 months before switching to the Galaxy Nexus however still have two Tmo SGSIIs in the same household. When I had my SII I would in fact encounter the aforementioned GPS issues. They were completely sporadic which made the GPS feature highly unreliable. Spending some time with the GN I have not encountered any GPS issues, GPS locks within seconds and no loss of connection. I was curious as to why my SIIs GPS was very fickle so I did some simple, field tests if you will. They consisted of the placing of the phone in certain positions while driving for example. I found that with my SII, I had to constantly keep the phone in my hand or close to windows or the dashboard, otherwise the GPS connection would simply drop. The same if placed upside down, the accuracy radius increased dramatically ( distance-wise). However on the GN the signal remains strong in situations where the SII would lose GPS connection. To say that those affected by this issue have a hardware defect would be inconclusive but I do feel as though its not software defect.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
I'm going to try posting this differently, since my last post about these issues drew a staggering amount of ire.
Before I go into details, I want to share my phone's performance prior to 4.0.4, particularly in my house on ICL53F and the XXKK6 radio. On all floors (2 + basement), I can pull down an EDGE signal with 3-4 bars reliably. I can pull down H at 1 bar on the main level and 2-3 upstairs. I can typically pull down about 1.5 down/1 up on the 2nd level. I rarely if ever lose my signal, and have only dropped calls a couple of times.
All of that aside, I have run into a radio issue that I wrote up here on my phone:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1488097
I've tried flashing 4.0.4 to my phone multiple times, and it's not gone well.
Two nights ago I flashed IMM76I, hoping that it would clear up the issue I had with IMM76D, but it was actually running worse on my phone than the previous 4.0.4.
The issues that I've had are mostly radio related. The first time I flashed 4.0.4 (IMM76D), I had problems where the phone would drop signal on standby, but would typically regain the signal after waking the phone. The drops were somewhat frequent, but didn't happen all the time. Speeds upstairs were about 0.6 down/0.3 up on the 2nd level.
On IMM76I, it was a different story. My phone lost signal for 15 minutes plus at a time, even out of standby, multiple times. I missed 2 calls and 1 text. This was on the XXLA2 radio. I tried the UGLC1 radio and things were no better; the phone was still regularly losing its signal. Even by my office, where I get full bars and 4g, my phone randomly lost all signal in the middle of a call. Upstairs I was getting about 0.3 down, 0.2 up consistently.
On both versions of 4.0.4, my phone has an issue where unlocking it from the unlock screen will lag and half-render my home screen for a few seconds.
At this point, I'm thinking something is wrong with my phone. I'm hesitant to have expansys mail it back halfway across the world; part of me is tempted to just sell it locally for a few hundred, take a hit, and buy one straight from Google instead.
So, given all this info, I need some advice on what to do. I added a poll to the thread to get an idea of what people think. If you have suggestions about potential fixes or tests that may be worth running to detect defects, it would be much appreciated.
My nexus came from expansys (shipped in from germany), never had any issues like that.
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send it back for a replacement
"On both versions of 4.0.4, my phone has an issue where unlocking it from the unlock screen will lag and half-render my home screen for a few seconds."
This is a known defect in 4.0.4 as they changed the way auto-brightness worked, its documented as an Android bug I believe.
Do you have the same issues in a different location (with better signal) in your town/city? It sounds like you just have marginal signal.
OpusX11 said:
"On both versions of 4.0.4, my phone has an issue where unlocking it from the unlock screen will lag and half-render my home screen for a few seconds."
This is a known defect in 4.0.4 as they changed the way auto-brightness worked, its documented as an Android bug I believe.
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Ah, thanks, I'm glad that one is obvious
Cabal_ said:
Do you have the same issues in a different location (with better signal) in your town/city? It sounds like you just have marginal signal.
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It seems like the signal at my house, using the same radio (XXKK6) in both 4.0.2 and 4.0.4 has drastically different performance. 4.0.2 with XXKK6 is reliable at my house; I don't have any signal issues really. 4.0.4 with XXKK6, or any radio for that matter, constantly drops connections on all the main floor and basement of my house. This is with both IMM76D and IMM76I.
At work it's a better signal, but IMM76I with XXLA2 (I think, might have been UGLC1) flat out dropped all connection strength on me more than once, something ICL53F and XXKK6 never did.
If there are other diagnostics that could reveal more about the behavior and confirm or rule out defects, I'd love to know what they are.
I'm sure people are going to flame me and adamantly disagree, but please hear me out. No one wants this to be wrong more than me. I really like this phone, but I can't live with a broken GPS.
I have tested this two days in a row. I go to work for 9 hours, all radios are on. I never turn the GPS off. When I get home, I change clothes and go on a four mile walk. I use Runtastic to track this. Two days in a row, the GPS symbol comes up, but never stops blinking. If I toggle GPS off and back on, it gets a lock immediately and the GPS icon stops blinking. It will hold the lock for the rest of the walk. Rinse and repeat. Launching Maps or GPS test does not help it get a fix. It stays blinking until I toggle the GPS off/on.
The moral here is that I would have to toggle the GPS off/on every day before I walk. I have not tested this with navigation yet because I ride a motorcycle most days, but I intend to before sending it back. This is strangely similar to the (known) issues that my AT&T Note 3 had.
Please tell me that some of you have seen this. I don't see how it could be a faulty unit. My GS5, G3, and Z3c do not have this issue under the exact same circumstances. The GS5 being the most similar in hardware/software.
I used GPS in the car today and it never lost a lock. I haven't used the app that you speak of however. Is there anything that I can do to help test?
This happened to my note 3. The GPS chip was bad. The hardware was the problem. If you call att they can connect to your phone remotely and see what percentage you are connecting the GPS chip. They told me I was only getting 60%. Sent me a new phone within 2 days...
WizeGuyDezignz said:
I used GPS in the car today and it never lost a lock. I haven't used the app that you speak of however. Is there anything that I can do to help test?
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Good to know it didn't lose the lock on your drive. My Note 3 used to jump around all over the place.
Honestly, I'm not sure what you could do. I don't think it's the app. When it gets like this, Maps, GPS Test, etc. will not get a solid lock until I toggle GPS off and on. The only reason I notice it on Runtastic is because that's when I use the GPS every day.
Something is happening with the GPS chip. It's either going to sleep and not waking up, or it's getting stuck on old GPS data or something. Like I said, I can reproduce it every day just by using it normally and then trying to use the GPS when I get home from work.
b0Ne83 said:
This happened to my note 3. The GPS chip was bad. The hardware was the problem. If you call att they can connect to your phone remotely and see what percentage you are connecting the GPS chip. They told me I was only getting 60%. Sent me a new phone within 2 days...
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Yeah, I had the Note 3, but from what I read it was software. I never did get my unit replaced and I sold it that way.
I bought my Note 4 through Amazon, so I'll have to do a return through them, if it really is defective.
It's possible. I hope you can get it to work. My note 4 is running flawless
Here's the thing too, guys. After I toggle the GPS off/on, the thing works flawlessly for the rest of the evening and through most of the next day. Like, it gets a lock inside within seconds.
That's the thing. It's not that it doesn't work at all. It just sort of goes on strike at the same time every night and has to be woken up again.
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How can anyone here, including me, make declarative statements about what a device that's been out less than a week is or isn't doing across the board? Here's my GPS experience and I use it a lot. I use "GPS only" with Wi-Fi and carrier network sensing turned off. The GPS is slow on first lock; slower than my Note 3 was. Once it's locked it stays locked with the exception of losing signal when it encounters obstructions. That's normal and a byproduct of GPS technology not anything specific to the Note 3 or 4. I never had the issues with my Note 3's GPS that some people reported. Other than the slower initial lock I'd say, based on my experiences, the Note 4's GPS is significantly more stable and better at holding a signal. I use Here Beta a lot and the only other issue I've encountered is when the app's out of focus and comes back to the foreground it takes about a second for it to reorient itself. All that said I'd rather have the Note 4's GPS than the Note 3's (keeping in mind my Note 3's GPS served me well).
BarryH_GEG said:
How can anyone here, including me, make declarative statements about what a device that's been out less than a week is or isn't doing across the board? Here's my GPS experience and I use it a lot. I use "GPS only" with Wi-Fi and carrier network sensing turned off. The GPS is slow on first lock; slower than my Note 3 was. Once it's locked it stays locked with the exception of losing signal when it encounters obstructions. That's normal and a byproduct of GPS technology not anything specific to the Note 3 or 4. I never had the issues with my Note 3's GPS that some people reported. Other than the slower initial lock I'd say, based on my experiences, the Note 4's GPS is significantly more stable and better at holding a signal. I use Here Beta a lot and the only other issue I've encountered is when the app's out of focus and comes back to the foreground it takes about a second for it to reorient itself. All that said I'd rather have the Note 4's GPS than the Note 3's (keeping in mind my Note 3's GPS served me well).
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I was actually just hoping that someone may have noticed similar behavior. I always seem to be the first to discover issues because I get my phone early and really test it. Often times, I post something like this and no one replies or reports the same issue, then months later a new thread blows up about it or my thread gets resurrected. I'm just trying to determine if this is a real issue so I can return the phone, if necessary. I can't life with a buggy GPS. I use it way too much.
It takes about 5 seconds to get a gps lock for me. And about another 10 to get the most accurate reception.
This is indoors, just tested it in my bedroom.
harlenm said:
It takes about 5 seconds to get a gps lock for me. And about another 10 to get the most accurate reception.
This is indoors, just tested it in my bedroom.
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Yeah, well thanks, but that's really not the issue here.
greyhulk said:
Yeah, well thanks, but that's really not the issue here.
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The topic is gps and initial locking, which I commented that I'm not having the issue.
If the OP is, then it's possible he has a defective device since I don't see that issue.
harlenm said:
The topic is gps and initial locking, which I commented that I'm not having the issue.
If the OP is, then it's possible he has a defective device since I don't see that issue.
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The topic is GPS and occasional initial locking. Mine works fine when it works, but it's situational. Telling me that yours locks fine doesn't help me because mine does too, right now.
I'm trying to see if anyone else is experiencing times when the GPS simply stops working until they toggle it off and back on.
greyhulk said:
I was actually just hoping that someone may have noticed similar behavior. I always seem to be the first to discover issues because I get my phone early and really test it. Often times, I post something like this and no one replies or reports the same issue, then months later a new thread blows up about it or my thread gets resurrected. I'm just trying to determine if this is a real issue so I can return the phone, if necessary. I can't life with a buggy GPS. I use it way too much.
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I wasn't being "*****y" at you on purpose. For some reason the Note 4's forums have had a large number of "gate," "OMG!!!," and threads liberally using the royal "we" with much of what's said being baseless or exaggerative. My tone was carry over from the thread on the international forum where a guy launched a "Pen-gate" thread complete with video because his cheap-ass magnetic case was causing S Pen dead spots. So apologies. Notebook Check does thorough GPS testing and their review of the Note 4 should be up soon. Here's a sample from the Xperia Z3 Compact.
They tested the Note 3's GPS here...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3-SM-N9005-Smartphone.104798.0.html
I just finished a 1700 MI trip I lost location once but it was in the back woods of Iowa. Much better than the note 3 I owned.
BarryH_GEG said:
I wasn't being "*****y" at you on purpose. For some reason the Note 4's forums have had a large number of "gate," "OMG!!!," and threads liberally using the royal "we" with much of what's said being baseless or exaggerative. My tone was carry over from the thread on the international forum where a guy launched a "Pen-gate" thread complete with video because his cheap-ass magnetic case was causing S Pen dead spots. So apologies. Notebook Check does thorough GPS testing and their review of the Note 4 should be up soon. Here's a sample from the Xperia Z3 Compact.
They tested the Note 3's GPS here...
http://www.notebookcheck.net/Review-Samsung-Galaxy-Note-3-SM-N9005-Smartphone.104798.0.html
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Thanks, man. It may just be something in my environment or software setup, but it's definitely odd.
I see you on here a lot and I've always found you to be helpful, so no harm no foul.
I was having issues with my phone holding a lock too. It would find satellites, but would keep dropping out every couple of seconds.
I downloaded the "GPS Test" app, updated AGPS data from the settings menu, and now it locks and stays locked 100% of the time. And locks really fast, too.
May not help anyone else, but thought I would share.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N910A
I had a bad GPS chip in my Note 3, it wouldn't get a lock. Seems to work great on my Note4 so far, I use Waze every day driving to and from work.
One thing though is that if you have GPS accuracy set to also use WiFi/mobile networks you will drop GPS a LOT, that was something I noticed as it tried to lock onto WiFi carriers. I turned this off and only use GPS for accuracy and it works perfectly with the usual caveats, tunnels etc.
greyhulk said:
That's the thing. It's not that it doesn't work at all. It just sort of goes on strike at the same time every night and has to be woken up again.
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I haven't seen this myself. I just checked Google Maps and it displays my location immediately, without my having toggled the GPS today.
So I believe that you're having a hardware problem, but luckily it's not inherent in the Note 4, so you should be able to exchange for one with a properly working GPS.
Okay, guys. I'm an idiot. Turns out that this is all Runtastic. As long as the app is open in the background (during my runs/walks), the GPS icon blinks. Even opening Maps, GPS test, etc. will not give me a solid lock. As soon as I kill Runtastic, though, all is fine. It would seem that this is just how Runtastic uses the GPS and it overrides everything else. I had to do further testing to figure this out, but it would appear that I jumped the gun. For that, I apologize. I'm just glad I don't have to send my Note 4 back.
Thanks to everyone who participated.
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