All things GPS

[enjoimark]

Yep. Walked in to the ATT store, told them my GPS didn't work and I wanted a new phone. They were skeptical, until I dialed *#*#1472365#*#* and then "get position test". Nothing happened.
Guy says OK, lets get you a new one.
10 minutes later I have a new Captivate, walk outside, test the position, and bam. 11 satellite locks. Turned GPS on and off, restarted phone several times... still working. Been using navigation all day no problems.

Take 10 minutes out of your day and go get an exchange. The more you sit around bitching about it, the less time you have to return it.

You can exchange that iPhone 4 all day, but your antenna is still broken.

 

[speedfreak32]

Yep. Walked in to the ATT store, told them my GPS didn't work and I wanted a new phone. They were skeptical, until I dialed *#*#1472365#*#* and then "get position test". Nothing happened.
Guy says OK, lets get you a new one.
10 minutes later I have a new Captivate, walk outside, test the position, and bam. 11 satellite locks. Turned GPS on and off, restarted phone several times... still working. Been using navigation all day no problems.

Take 10 minutes out of your day and go get an exchange. The more you sit around bitching about it, the less time you have to return it.

You can exchange that iPhone 4 all day, but your antenna is still broken.

Already exchanged mine for another issue.

GPS was flawless for all of two or three days... I love this phone but my gps is still broken.

 

[Taero]

Tell me it works tomorrow, or next week and we'll see. Mine didn't work out the front of my apartment building or even in an open parking lot, two days before it had worked in a car going through built up houses, then it worked in Maine where other people said theirs didn't down to about 5 meters stationary in a garden then down to about 5 foot while moving in a car there. Then it did work outside my apartment building then I stood still and it started moving me away to about 5 blocks away, then I walked and it couldn't find me. I can find about 10 satellites, none lock on, or I can get 6 and 4 lock on, or 9 and 1 lock or 5 and 5 lock. It seems totally random.

 

[BigCiX]

i thought mine was good cause it worked a whole day. hasn't locked on a position in about 4 days

 

[born_fisherman]

Does your GPS work if you turn off "use wireless networks?"

Has anyone been in an AT&T store that has a live demo of the Captivate and tried using Google maps with "use wireless networks" off? I have an AT&T store by my house and by work, and neither devices work in that manner. I've also tried one at Best Buy and another shopping center AT&T store.. same results.

Just saying.

 

[enjoimark]

Well I do know my first one didn't work at all the first day. I'll keep testing it all week.

And I turned "Use Wireless Networks" off and it still works.

 

[born_fisherman]

Does Google maps get a signal indoors as well?

Is there anything different than these settings under "settings->>about phone :

Firmware Version
2.1-update1

Baseband Version
I897UCJF6

Kernel Version
2.6.29

 

[jmreed97]

Yep. Walked in to the ATT store, told them my GPS didn't work and I wanted a new phone. They were skeptical, until I dialed *#*#1472365#*#* and then "get position test". Nothing happened.
Guy says OK, lets get you a new one.
10 minutes later I have a new Captivate, walk outside, test the position, and bam. 11 satellite locks. Turned GPS on and off, restarted phone several times... still working. Been using navigation all day no problems.

Take 10 minutes out of your day and go get an exchange. The more you sit around bitching about it, the less time you have to return it.

You can exchange that iPhone 4 all day, but your antenna is still broken.

Lets see a picture of you captivate with more than 8 satellites locked when you get a chance.

 

[MeVirtually]

I exchanged my launch day Captivate after I got a small scratch on the screen and GPS never locked on when I tried it, first a few hours after I got it at while a friend's apartment, then over several days when I realized it wasn't just me. Wireless networks worked fine, but while trying it out back on the balcony off my room, GPS test would see 5 or so signals, but never lock. The new one worked while traveling on the interstate the day after I exchanged it, but when trying out back, still didn't lock on to the satellites. My Garmin also has issues there to, bomb shelter house or something. Anyways, went out front this time and dialed the code, deleted data, and tried getting my position, and picked up 10 satellites in a few minutes, accuracy to 5 meters. Went back in, checked maps 3 or 4 minutes later, picked me up, and then went out back and saw it recognize my direction of movement.

Could be the software isn't deleting data as it needs to, or something, but the hardware works. Tried to get it to locate me again indoors, as it's charging right now, and it doesn't lock in if I turn off wireless network locating, but neither does my Garmin from here either. I'll try to get a picture on here, if I can.

 

[chicknlil]

There are posts on XDA that seem to echo what MeVirtually is saying ... people having improved results after telling the phone to delete the saved GPS data. They're surmising that they'll probably have to do this every few days, but it would be interesting to see if more people can mimic these results.

 

[thindery]

There are posts on XDA that seem to echo what MeVirtually is saying ... people having improved results after telling the phone to delete the saved GPS data. They're surmising that they'll probably have to do this every few days, but it would be interesting to see if more people can mimic these results.

I have been able to test this a little bit while walking around in a parking lot. It did seem to make improvements. However I had to turn off the "use wireless networks" because anytime that is on the phone just gives me a huge circle I might be in. But the GPS test app was working and actually showed my walking speed and I saw myself move on the maps(wow that is a first!)

I haven't been able to actually test while driving because I rarely have 5 to 10 minutes to stand outside in 100 degree weather holding my phone up to the gps gods to get it to find satellites before I start my trip.

I thought the issue was hardware but having done my small test and hearing others' experience I think it may be software. But that leaves the question... why doesn't Samsung just come out and say "Yes it is a software/driver issue. There is no need to return phones because we can fix it, it just may take awhile." And for that reason, I can't confidently keep this phone past my 30 days.

 

[Terrigno]

That's funny when someone thinks they got it lol

 

[BigCiX]

Wow.....just checked out my GPS. first time it worked since the 4th!

 

[MeVirtually]

Here's photos of my screen that I took 20 minutes ago (sorry, haven't rooted yet to use the screen capture app). I rebooted my phone about 15 minutes prior, when I saw my 3G connection going, and figured some connection hadn't gone to wireless. But, the reboot, none the less, kept the fix I applied 11 hours earlier in place. Took 2-3 minutes to lock on, and a minute more it went from using 5 to 8 satellites. Anyways, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's pessimism parade, just sharing my experiences.

 

[enjoimark]

I just checked indoors at work and I got 5 satellites.
I'll check again on my lunch break but I have no way of taking a picture.

I still hate how difficult they make it to take screenshots without rooting.

 

[DaddyWhale]

Tell me it works tomorrow, or next week and we'll see. Mine didn't work out the front of my apartment building or even in an open parking lot, two days before it had worked in a car going through built up houses, then it worked in Maine where other people said theirs didn't down to about 5 meters stationary in a garden then down to about 5 foot while moving in a car there. Then it did work outside my apartment building then I stood still and it started moving me away to about 5 blocks away, then I walked and it couldn't find me. I can find about 10 satellites, none lock on, or I can get 6 and 4 lock on, or 9 and 1 lock or 5 and 5 lock. It seems totally random.

I got my Captivate on launch day. The build date was July 5. GPS did not work. I returned the phone on August 2 and got a replacement. GPS has worked flawlessly since - 9 days. The build date on the replacement was July 23.

I use GPS quite regularly - at least a couple of times a day. And being a new toy the Captivate gets used all the time to browse, text, play media, etc.

Will take a screen shot if anyone can point me to a reputable app for this (my phone is rooted).


DW

 

[jkl2000]

Is the only way you know how many satellite locks you get to do Get Position Test? Because when I do that nothing happens, but when I use Maps, it DOES show my position. It varies from pretty accurate to a several hundred feet off though.

 

[enjoimark]

yea that's because Maps is just using the cell tower triangulation.

You will notice a completely different experience when you open the "Navigation" app.

Update Maps if you don't have Navigation yet.

 

[razholio]

I wish there was a sticky fully describing the GPS issue. People need to know:
1. turn off 'use wireless network' for positioning as this will poison your results
2. you must use a GPS test app like the one in the pics above and,
3. you *MUST* use this test app while driving... and watch the number of locked satellites drop like a rock.

I too thought I had my GPS 'fixed'. I even had it tracking my walking around my office building with about 3meter accuracy. not bad, right? sure, until I tried using this thing on the highway and found my position:
1. lag behind by several blocks
2. bounce around on either side of the highway
3. completely disappear off the map...

when outside out in the open, I'm lucky to lock on to 6-8 satellites after 30secs. most of these are 30% S/N or lower, with occasionally getting 1-2 in the high 30's. I've never seen a GPS satellite S/N % higher than 40. I believe this to be the root of the problem. The GPS antenna in the galaxy-S provides insufficient gain to pull in strong enough signals for accurate GPS lock and *tracking*.

balance this with my BBbold9700 which get's a lock *inside* my house with about 1meter accuracy and follows me as I walk around inside the house with no lag. Oh, and of course it has no trouble tracking me on the highway, either.

 

[enjoimark]

I just now rooted my new Captivate through dropbox (really cool btw).
So here is a screenshot.

This is inside the building where I work.

My point here is, that the first Captivate I had wouldn't even lock on to 1 satellite.

Inside a building, I have 8, and locked on to 4.

 

[DT]

What app is that?

 

[Aerimus]

GPS Settings: Performance Options (improvement) - xda-developers

After changing to his recommended settings i'm getting much faster locks than before, and more accurate. Mine would always work, but sometimes it took even a couple minutes to lock in. Now, I have a lock in 10 seconds tops.


after dialing *#*#1472365#*#*

These are his recommended settings:
Application Settings/Operation Mode/MS Based
Application Settings/Operation Mode/SkyHook/ON (VERY IMPORTANT)
SUPL/CP Settings/Server FQDN Type/Custom Config
SUPL/CP Settings/Server/supl.google.com
SUPL/CP Settings/Server Port/7276
SUPL/CP Settings/SUPL Secure Socket/Off

I recommend reading the article first to see what he says. But I have been really impressed so far....and I use GPS a LOT. I do sales calls all day long and use it to navigate at least twice a day.

 

[MeVirtually]

What app is that?

It's called GPS Test, and I found it in the Market

 

[DT]

It's called GPS Test, and I found it in the Market

Thanks!

Er, yeah, the app to test your GPS is called 'GPS Test', now I'm sort of embarrassed for asking

Awesome, just did a web push install from App Brain, going to do a few tests here at the homestead.

 

[Dimcorner]

I can see about 8 satellites inside the building (weak signal). Once outside thou it will lock on to about 4-6 out of about 11 in view. I ordered mine from AT&T on launch day, got it 1 week later.