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
Related
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.
Click to expand...
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.
-
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.
Click to expand...
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.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hey guys,
I am thinking of switching over to iPhone 4S purely due to the fact that my ET4G is very unreliable in terms of the GPS signal..
I don't understand, my whole family has ET4G and when we all run GPS Status, everyone else's phone usually locks in less than 10 seconds and see 10+ satellite in the sky.
Mine connects usually after more than 1 minute past and also only see at max like 6 satellites.
Yes, I have dones the AGPS download/reset, and all the fixes out there..
Do you think this is a hardware problem related to my phone?
What could be causing this and what are some of the potential fixes?
Thanks.
Do different modems and kernels make difference in terms of getting GPS lock?
Exchange it. I've exchanged my epic touch for another one because of GPS. I ran them both side by side and it was such a big difference. The phone I have now locks Instantly and my old one would take a while and it would only get an accuracy of like 48 ft. My new one goes to 6.
Sent from my Nexus S 4G using xda premium
Thanks, how should I go about doing that?
Would I still have to pay the 35 dollar restocking/processing fee even though this is due to the manufacturer's error?
I am afraid of asking for an exchange and getting a refurbished phone that really has more problems..
So as much as I love this phone, I realized I do have one little problem...my gps. Before it wasn't bad, I could lock outside (in Pittsburgh) in less than 20 seconds, but after going to NYC, and other cities I started slightly hating my phone...
Story:
I was in a cab in NYC trying to go home after going out, and the cab driver didn't know the address where I was going, so I thought I'd just whip out my amazing GSII and gps it. Well it couldn't lock on for 15 minutes (but 50% of the time in Pittsburgh it would lock on pretty fast) and it took over 35 minutes for a 10 minute cab ride. Thankfully the guy was nice and reduced my fair since we both didn't know where we were going, but I was shocked that I couldn't figure out my position with my super high end phone.
This happened again in SF, and again in Chicago. (I was in the wide open with a very clear sight of the sky). Even after rebooting it couldn't find satellites using GPS status which is kind of ridiculous. But in 50% of Pittsburgh my GPS locks on fairly fast (within 20 seconds), but the other 50% it takes minutes to find a lock.
I've done all the GPS tricks on XDA, used all the apps, to no avail. On the megabus back from NYC to Pittsburgh I met someone with the exact same phone, and his phone locked on to gps status with 10/10 satellites within 15 seconds to 3m accuracy. My phone has NEVER locked on to 10/10, and the most accurate it's ever been is 12m in literally 500 tests.
So after this long drawn out story, my question is this: am I basically screwed since I didn't buy the TEP, squaretrade warranty, etc? I just got this phone too, and using my gps while walking around the streets, or being in a cab is pretty important.
Don't get me wrong, I LOOOVE this phone in every aspect, just minus the gps. Also the development community is simply amazing, and I have donated to the devs for the first time ever this year.
Just more of an arghhhhhhhhhh post...
Anyways thanks all!
1. Get your MSL. (Which I'm assuming you know how to do since you're on here.)
2. Enter ##GPSCLRX# on the dialer (4772579)
3. Wait 2 minutes, then reboot phone.
4. ???
5. Profit!
I've heard that this doesn't work on the phone. I've gone through all the gps threads and done all the fixes to no avail....
Is there anyway I can switch phones somehow somewhere even for a reburb??
Sunsparc said:
1. Get your MSL. (Which I'm assuming you know how to do since you're on here.)
2. Enter ##GPSCLRX# on the dialer (4772579)
3. Wait 2 minutes, then reboot phone.
4. ???
5. Profit!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is great. Just reset with these steps and now I can't get a lock at all.
22350 said:
This is great. Just reset with these steps and now I can't get a lock at all.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you trying to get a lock outdoors?
Any time my GPS acts up, I do the GPSCLRX then step outside. It takes a little bit to get the initial lock, but subsequent locks are pretty quick.
If you're trying it indoors, then you're doing it wrong. You need clear sky view, like with any GPS unit.
Lol, I can't believe this thread is here right now. I literally just replaced an ET4G today for a bad GPS.
He didn't have insurance either. If you go to a service and repair store, it'll be $35 without TEP, and they'll have to replace it if it is indeed defective. They'll have to test it out at the store.
The even funnier part? I'm in Pittsburgh too cranberry store. Feel free to stop up if you want. Though it'll be probably 2 days before I get another refurb in.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Fix Permissions in recovery? If you're on one of the ICS roms, back it up in recovery, restore to an older rom with working GPS, lock on to a signal, then reboot into recovery and restore your new ics backup. I had to do this to make mine work as well.
Sent from a galaxy far away.
squshy 7 said:
Lol, I can't believe this thread is here right now. I literally just replaced an ET4G today for a bad GPS.
He didn't have insurance either. If you go to a service and repair store, it'll be $35 without TEP, and they'll have to replace it if it is indeed defective. They'll have to test it out at the store.
The even funnier part? I'm in Pittsburgh too cranberry store. Feel free to stop up if you want. Though it'll be probably 2 days before I get another refurb in.
Sent from my SPH-D710 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if my GPS technically works, but not super well, would that still be grounds for me to get a replacement?
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
Greets all,
Just wanted to say I will be amongst you all by Wed, I got my HTC one X phone in white (after reading the posts about which is better), I always had black, but time for a change.
My Birthday present to myself
One question is does anyone know if the GPS is any better in this phone then prior? I know that in the past my files for the gps have made a vast improvement to the gps, and I was wondering if anyone uses it on this phone or if its even neccessary?
You should have read a little more on here as lots of people have gps not working due to a bug
AngelDeath said:
Greets all,
Just wanted to say I will be amongst you all by Wed, I got my HTC one X phone in white (after reading the posts about which is better), I always had black, but time for a change.
My Birthday present to myself
One question is does anyone know if the GPS is any better in this phone then prior? I know that in the past my files for the gps have made a vast improvement to the gps, and I was wondering if anyone uses it on this phone or if its even neccessary?
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Click to collapse
You've got to dig a bit to find most of the GPS complaints, but they're out there. Some minor, some severe. Minor ones fix with an update to aGPS files. Others like mine have major issues holding an accurate location. I'm thinking it's a hardware flaw for those of us with that problem.
Good luck with yours.
Compare with my HD2, which can't fix location indoor near window (I'm in HK), HOX can get the location fixed in around 20s indoor near window, I think it is such a great improvement. However, I didn't check if the gps information is accurate or not.
I'm curious how come you guys are having problems with GPS, it locks faster than my old DHD and pin point my location accurately
Well mine will be obviously the international one and will be testing it out Wed when it comes in. To the ones that have issues, have you tried the files I made for different regions? Most if not all Android phones use a generic gps.conf file, and when the HD2 didnt have agps working properly, I crafted the gps.conf to basically work with the HD2 until the agps driver was rebuilt, but along the way, it turned out that native android phones greatly benefited from the files I made for the HD2 because the agps driver was already there. All my phones (Aria, HD2, Inspire, Vivid) all get gps locks in under 15 seconds outdoors, and near 20 indoors, with the exception of hardware related issues.
Also take something into consideration as well, the ril/radio obviously makes a difference, as well as if you have a casing on your phone, rubber or hard will also hamper your signal, but i will be looking at how well mine handles once it gets here, going to see stock and 2 days later with my file in place.
AngelDeath said:
Greets all,
Just wanted to say I will be amongst you all by Wed, I got my HTC one X phone in white (after reading the posts about which is better), I always had black, but time for a change.
My Birthday present to myself
One question is does anyone know if the GPS is any better in this phone then prior? I know that in the past my files for the gps have made a vast improvement to the gps, and I was wondering if anyone uses it on this phone or if its even neccessary?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was shocked how fast GPS lock on is on this phone, I have the International version and I lock on to satellites within 10 seconds. usually when I set up navigation i'll be searching for GPS on average for 5 seconds with no drop outs.
A far cry from the Miserable GPS on my old Desire HD which could take up to a minute or just never connect.
TommUK, most complained about that, but after my file, it was a 180 degree turnaround, mine locks on avg with 5 seconds of turning on any navigation app I have (Sygic, Navigon, Google Maps, or IGO), I use mine quite often, and as soon as I put the phone in the cradle and hit navigon, by the time I hit the map button the lock is already there. I know my daughters HTC Vivid when she got it brand new I tested the gps, couldnt get jack for 5 minutes, so I said F this, she wanted it rooted anyway, rooted it, then put my file in, fired up gps status, downloaded the agps, 15 seconds later lock.
But I'm eager to toy with this baby, cant wait, hate waiting, I want my new toy now! (Damn I sound like that girl from Willy Wonka that wanted a gold laying goose LOL)
I remember using your files on my hd2 and they worked a treat, however gps doesn't work at all on it now sadly. (Nothing to do with your files I might add)
On my one x no such problem, I can get a fix indoors even if I'm not by the window within 30 seconds.
I've navigated to the lake district on a two hour journey without any loss of signal at all.
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium
The GPS is very good on the One X for acquiring signal and the no of satellites it locks on to.
However, compared to phones can also use Glonass (Russian satellites), the performance is not that good. You can see the test I did comparing the One X to the Galaxy Note here.
AngelDeath said:
TommUK, most complained about that, but after my file, it was a 180 degree turnaround, mine locks on avg with 5 seconds of turning on any navigation app I have (Sygic, Navigon, Google Maps, or IGO), I use mine quite often, and as soon as I put the phone in the cradle and hit navigon, by the time I hit the map button the lock is already there. I know my daughters HTC Vivid when she got it brand new I tested the gps, couldnt get jack for 5 minutes, so I said F this, she wanted it rooted anyway, rooted it, then put my file in, fired up gps status, downloaded the agps, 15 seconds later lock.
But I'm eager to toy with this baby, cant wait, hate waiting, I want my new toy now! (Damn I sound like that girl from Willy Wonka that wanted a gold laying goose LOL)
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Click to collapse
The GPS problem that has many returning their phones isn't that the GPS takes too long, it's that it can't maintain a lock or accurate position. Keep the phone perfectly still, not moving at all, and the GPS will still report you as moving at high rates of speed and wandering all over the neighborhood, sometimes many blocks away from your actual position. There's a few vids on youtube demonstrating this.
I've tried a few "fixes", including crypted's and fasterfix from the market; no joy in fixing my phones. GPS is useless for me. I haven't tried your fix, will seek it out, but not anticipating it to fix the issue.
Mine works fine, better than any phone I have used so far.
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA