Hello all,
Sorry if this was covered already, but I couldn't find anything about it.
After updating to 2.2 (OTA), Google Sky Map orientation seems to be acting weird. If I hold it so that I can see the horizon, with the phone in front of me, then spin around in a circle, the program doesn't pick up that movement. It used to work fine in 2.1.
Anyone else experiencing similar problems?
No problem here. Sounds like your compass. Do you have the same prob in street view?
Yes, same problem with street view.
I noticed that if I turn the phone around a bit, tilt up and down while rotating it, then it starts to work. As soon as I kill the app and start it again, I have to do it again. It's as if it's doing some calibration on the g-sensors while the app is running, which is then forgets when the app is killed.
Again, the exact same behaviour happens on street view and sky map.
Same thing is happening with the "Compass" app. At least this one gives me some feedback: "Abnormal magnetic field detected. Please calibrate your device". Doing a "figure-8" calibration solves this in every app, but the problem is that it never stays calibrated. I'm hoping someone else will be able to chime in with a possible fix before I try to do a full factory restore.
If anyone else is having this problem, a factory reset fixed it.
It's a bit of a shame because now I don't know what was really causing the problem.
I'm glad I am not the only one having this problem but I am not going to reset the phone. Has anyone called Sprint about this issue? If I have to reset this thing then I will be resetting to different hardware and a Windows 7 device in a few months.
Going to call Sprint to find out what they can do.
LabRat02 said:
I'm glad I am not the only one having this problem but I am not going to reset the phone. Has anyone called Sprint about this issue? If I have to reset this thing then I will be resetting to different hardware and a Windows 7 device in a few months.
Going to call Sprint to find out what they can do.
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I am afraid that factory reset is gonna be only one possible solution. Take a look at this thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=747398 I faced similar issue on my Desire. In a nutshell, all apps using embedded compass functionality just acted up (including Google Sky Map) after OTA update to 2.2.
I had a similar problem and then realised it was the magnetic clip on my case causing the problem
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
I've experienced the same problem too.
When I started skymap, the orientation didn't change, no matter how much I was waving the phone.
But today I tried to just uninstall it, reboot and then install it again. Strangely enough, now it's working again .
So you could probably try that first before considering hard reset.
Every time I use a program that uses the compass I do this trick or the compass wont work for me
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP3d00Hr14o
I have upgraded my HTC Desire to Android 2.2. Unfortunately I have realized that after that update, an embedded compass started acting up. I mean it's not showing the North anymore. It seems to me that it's not an issue with some particular application as I have tried with several ones available on the Market and it needs to be some bug with new OS. Anyway here is what I have figured out and what I have already done in order to get this sorted out. At this point of time, it even looks like I have just some kinda workaround:
Once I pick out 'Calibrate' menu item in Compass v1.1 (developed by Snaptic, Inc.) and then according to the instruction, start off waving my phone in a figure 8 pattern to reset the magnetometer on my device, it's not gonna fix the issue but when I start rolling my phone in a hand (side to side then top to bottom) and then it seems to me that the issue is sorted out as finally compass points out the North, but after I close the application and open it again (or open any other compass based app) the magnetometer is broken again So all what I can do is to reset the magnetometer as per above-mentioned instruction again. It just looks like the device is not able to save some compass calibration setting anymore.
Anyway I was just wondering if some of you already faced this same issue and know how to fix it permanently. I would appreciate it, if you could share any thoughts with me. Thanks in advance.
Hey folks, I don't believe that nobody experiences that issue too. Maybe you just haven't noticed that yet? Anyway could you please just check if your compass works as intended after the upgrade to Android 2.2? Personally, I really believe it's a bug with Froyo.
I think mine is also acting weird.
Wenn starting Google Maps and using streetview in compass mode it only looks up and down and I cannot look from left to right.
When i roll the phone a few times in my hand it starts working.
But after closing Google Maps and starting it again I have to do the rolling again
I was wondering that compass problem too. With ver.2.1 everything worked like a dream as I use compass mostly geocaching. After updating in every app I've tried the compass stucks pointing to approx. to the lower left corner of the screen. Sometimes calibration helps but it stuck again after a while even the app is running all the time.
"Compass" app kinda could wake up after waiting a while but usually it doesn't. In any other software won't work at all as I've tried, 5secs after calibration but nothing more.
JLillia said:
With ver.2.1 everything worked like a dream as I use compass mostly geocaching..
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@JLillia: Also in my case the compass worked as intended on android 2.1.
Anyway thanks for your answers guys! I really appreciate it! So it looks like at least 3 folks here are experiencing some issues with digital compass after the upgrade to the Froyo on HTC Desire
Wonder if there is anyone here who could disagree with us and say that the upgrade didn't cause any compass degradation on his/her device at all...
I can't say if it worked properly with 2.1, didn't use the compass a lot before.
With 2.1 I needed to calibrate it a few times, but probably not as much as I need to do now. I'm using the "compass" app and it directly tells me it detected an abnormal magnetic field. After calibrating it again, it points north. Haven't checked the correct north with a real compass, so it may have a slight difference.
I put my phone down at the table at 0 degrees N. I turn off my screen, and turn it back on. It is now pointing 90 degrees E. But the interesting thing is.. the east is actually located west, compared with the previous north :?
When I rotate my phone it displays only E or SE, always between 90 degrees E and 130 degrees SE. I can't even find north.
I can rotate my phone 180 degrees (Pointing south), it displays 130 degrees. When I calibrate the phone and I rotate my phone 180 degrees (Still south) it displays 160 degrees S. Which is kinda strange. And when I try to find the 180 degrees point, and rotate my phone again, it displays 35 degrees NE.
After another calibration the values seems to be okay...
My conclusion? Don't trust the compass at all unless you have a real compass to compare.
That person with the exact opposite experience is me
I complained on 2.1 here with many others about the compass going haywire every time you took it off-screen and its lack of stability and consistency. HTC 2.2 totally fixed this issue for me. I've calibrated it once about a week back and it's still accurate every time I'm opening it and in Google Earth.
Beware, the compass draws a lot of power in use so it'll drain the battery very fast. About as fast as playing a 8Mbps 720p VC-1 vid.
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- Sent via my HTC Desire -
My problem is kinda dame that with Nakebod.
As I said compass stucks pointing to the lower left corner, it infact tells I'm holding the phone towards 120-130 decrees east, where ever I turn the phone to. Calibration helps for a while as after that the compass points approxamtely to north which is enough direction to me, but after a while or at least after swithing apps or taking compass background and back on, it stucks again to the 130 decrees.
Of course I am not using this kind of device as "for real" but I'd like to have it at least somewhat accurate. As geocacher I use compass as a tool with my hobby and I was quite happy with Desire because of the quite accurate GPS but after the update the compass is practically useless.
Just a quick update, I made a quick phone call to HTC support this morning and raised that issue. The support analyst recommended the factory data reset to see if it helps. I guess it's just a standard answer so at this point of time I'm not gonna proceed with that and erase all data on my phone. (Btw, I wonder if it's possible to backup all current data from my unrooted, unbranded Desire?)
Furthermore he promised to get back to me in next few days with some official resolution of that issue so I will keep you updated.
Try calibrating your magnetometer by waving your phone in 8-shaped moves.
I emailed HTC customer care also about the issue and the answer was to factory reset the phone. Of course that was the first thing I had already done at the minute I noticed the problem in first place so I wasn't quite fond of the idea. In fact I have reseted phone three times after the update and allways the result was the same; compass stucks.
Well, I thought that maybe I have some weird app that messes up the compass so I tried one more time...
At first after the reset I downloaded only EStrong file manager, compass and c:eo. Compass worked most of the time! I kept resuming backups and compass did stuck occasionally but not very often (+ abnormal magnetic field). I am not sure what I did leave out of the phone but now the comapss works quite fine. It is a lot more sensitive for magnetic fields than in 2.1 but usually calibration works to it.
So, the conclusion is, that even for some reason first times the reset didn't work, it did help after all. Just backup your data and give it a try. Doesn't cost more than some time. The compass DOES stuck still but is most of the time usable.
At least I left out MoreLocale2, Metal detector and some games. And I DIDN'T calibrate G-sensors after reset.
So, there is still some issues with update and compass but it COULD also be somewhat application related...
G-Sensor calibration might be the answer! Following the first factory reset yesterday which cleared the compass problem initially I reinstalled all apps and calibrated G-sensor to find the problem came back. Then I factory-reset once more last night and reinstalled all apps but didn't do the re-calibration, left the phone on for the night - no problem in the morning. Feel tempted to re-calibrate to proof the point now.
Please inform here how did it do if you re-calibrate. I have an ongoing geocaching challenge, so I won't try that until I'm sure that I don't need the compass for couple of days. After that I'm going to test if calibration is the problem as soon as possible.
I have the same problem. Have tried everything but hard reset. Still, compass worked a lot better on 2.1 :-(
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
nitemarc said:
@JLillia: Also in my case the compass worked as intended on android 2.1.
Anyway thanks for your answers guys! I really appreciate it! So it looks like at least 3 folks here are experiencing some issues with digital compass after the upgrade to the Froyo on HTC Desire
Wonder if there is anyone here who could disagree with us and say that the upgrade didn't cause any compass degradation on his/her device at all...
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Click to collapse
My compass works fine on HTC Desire on Android 2.2.
Try 3d compass, and use its calibration option. Always works for me.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
nitemarc said:
Just a quick update, I made a quick phone call to HTC support this morning and raised that issue. The support analyst recommended the factory data reset to see if it helps. I guess it's just a standard answer so at this point of time I'm not gonna proceed with that and erase all data on my phone. (Btw, I wonder if it's possible to backup all current data from my unrooted, unbranded Desire?)
Furthermore he promised to get back to me in next few days with some official resolution of that issue so I will keep you updated.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wonder how does HTC support team's SLA look like in terms of resolving client's tickets as my one hasn't been resolved yet... Anyway it seems to me that HTC is not going to confirm that OTA update to Froyo could caused that compass issue.
That's why I decided on factory data reset and it looks like that helped with getting this issue sorted out. After the hard reset, my first step was an initial compass calibration and that's really all what I did. The digital compass is not maybe so precise and accurate as it used to be on Android 2.1 but finally roughly (I would say with 15° margin) points out the north so there is a progress
Just to add my 2c, I can confirm that the compass has become useless since I upgraded to 2.2 on my device. Doing the figure 8 in Compass app has short lived benefits.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App
Neither does my compass react in any application (tried Compass, Places directory, Google Navigation) after update to Froyo.
Calibrating with the 8 movement or G-sensor calibration does not help at all.
However, it always starts working normally when I tilt the phone to the side (so that I look on the slim side of the phone) and then start a short forward and backward rotation with the rotational axis going thru the display.
I need to repeat this every time I unlock the phone and the compass keeps on working until i lock the phone again or until I switch the application.
Weired.
I have the same problem, and it is a bit annoying. The compass works correctly if I wave the phone like in the video posted, but I have to do this every time I start an app that uses the magnetometer. My phone was not like this on 2.1.
Up until recently my GPS has been working great. Fast locks, good accuracy, no problems. I was on MA7 rooted/deodexed. About the time I started getting nagged about MC2 udpates, my GPS started having intermittent issues getting a lock and maintaining. And it has only gotten worse. Often, I can get a lock immediately after I reboot, but after a minute it doesn't work anymore. Today, I updated to MC2 rooted/deodexed (as well as the firmware) and still have the same issues. I can get a lock immediately after booting, but after that nothing can get a GPS location. Some apps will grab the network location, but not GPS.
Has anyone else experienced this? There was no change in ROM between when the GPS was working and when it stopped. Any ideas on what I need to do? I'm trying to avoid fully wiping the phone and setting everything up again if possible. But if I can't find a solution, I just may have to do that this weekend and see if it helps.
I appreciate any suggestions.
Update: I cleared the running applications and was able to get a gps lock again. I think my problem has to do with something I have installed. I will have to do more testing.
Have you found anything new? Because I've been having major problems as of late
If you're locked into as many as ten satellites is there any reason to have erratic GPS performance?
I got a refurbished S3 from Sprint and the GPS is a freaking mess. I can be standing perfectly still and the map starts moving around erratically, sometimes even straight backwards. Other times I'll be driving and it will show me on a totally different street or moving in a totally wrong direction. Sometimes this is going on when I'm locked into as many as ten satellites.
Shouldn't that be enough to get a good fix? Does this suggest that the GPS receiver is working well but there is a software problem? Or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
I reset/downloaded agps data with GPS Status, I've tried TopNTP and I've tightened every visible screw. Nothing has helped. I also can't get a fix indoors like I used to be able to with my original S3.
Any suggestions on other things I can try to make my GPS work or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
This is the fourth or fifth refurbished Android phone I've received from Sprint over the years and not a single one has worked right. It's like they don't ever really address the reported problem. They just factory reset the phone, give it a cosmetic facelift and then ship it back out without any testing.
uscpsycho said:
If you're locked into as many as ten satellites is there any reason to have erratic GPS performance?
I got a refurbished S3 from Sprint and the GPS is a freaking mess. I can be standing perfectly still and the map starts moving around erratically, sometimes even straight backwards. Other times I'll be driving and it will show me on a totally different street or moving in a totally wrong direction. Sometimes this is going on when I'm locked into as many as ten satellites.
Shouldn't that be enough to get a good fix? Does this suggest that the GPS receiver is working well but there is a software problem? Or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
I reset/downloaded agps data with GPS Status, I've tried TopNTP and I've tightened every visible screw. Nothing has helped. I also can't get a fix indoors like I used to be able to with my original S3.
Any suggestions on other things I can try to make my GPS work or is this a hardware problem that can't be fixed?
This is the fourth or fifth refurbished Android phone I've received from Sprint over the years and not a single one has worked right. It's like they don't ever really address the reported problem. They just factory reset the phone, give it a cosmetic facelift and then ship it back out without any testing.
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What Rom are you using ? Did it behave like this before rooting ?
prboy1969 said:
What Rom are you using ? Did it behave like this before rooting ?
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Click to collapse
I'm totally stock 4.3, just rooted. I rooted it pretty soon after I got it so I don't remember if it was like this right off the bat. I believe it was.
Weird thing is that today I tried turning of Google location services and that seemed to help a lot. It doesn't seem to be getting a lock while indoors but when I'm driving around I'm not getting the erratic map behavior I had before. No idea if it will work for long, there have been a few other times when I thought I fixed the problem and it came right back.
I know on my previous phone I had Google location services on and it worked like a charm. Anyone have an idea why turning location services off helps and what I can do to make GPS work right with location services off?
Any real downside to keeping location services off?
I've always kept it on. But if your Stock rooted, and have that big an issue with GPS. I would almost be inclined to say it's a hardware issue. You could always Nand, and flash a coherent Rom. Just to see if it resolves the issue.
TEAM MiK MikROMs Since 3/13/11
After driving extensively with Google location services turned off I did not experience any more erratic behavior. Problem solved but I'd like to have location services on.
Tonight I turned location services back on and it still seems to be working fine with no erratic behavior. I haven't given this as thorough of a test but I'm optimistic.
I have no idea why turning location services off fixed things but if anyone comes across this thread looking for a solution to GPS problems try turning Google location services off and see if that helps. It looks to have done the trick for me.
Hi,
I have noticed that the compass orientation randomly gets reset / points in the wrong direction very frequently. I have never had this problem with any other phone. I have to again move the phone in figure 8 to get correct bearing of direction. This is very irritating as it keeps happening frequently. Is this a known software/hardware issue with this phone or do I have a defective piece. As I have a very short replacement period of 2 days left, can someone please suggest if I should replace the phone.
Thanks