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Help I am officially about to lose my mind...

qwertyaas

Android Enthusiast
Aug 8, 2010
373
20
So, I just went to the AT&T store to return the phone. Tomorrow is my last day and since I got my replacement on Thursday, GPS hasn't worked once. Right before I step in the store I tried one last time... It found me within 2 seconds and 10 meter accuracy.

I shut off my phone, drove home, turned it on while in my basement. 10 second lock and it was off around 30 feet.


:thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking:

This phone is driving me crazy!!!!!! Either work or don't work. Now I don't want to return it but I'm afraid it will stop working again on Tuesday after my 30 days are up. Ahhhhhhhh!
 
Not only that but even if you want to return it, you can't prove to the store manager that there is a problem. Reminds me of the time I took my car to the mechanic...

Haha, that's exactly what I told my friend. It's like taking your car to the mechanic and the problem just goes away... Hoping it works from now on though!

Time to restore everything again as I just did a factory reset again to take back the phone.
 
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Keep the phone!!! The GPS will get fixed cause alot is riding on the galaxy S line up. That being said there will be a fix.

The question is when will it get fixed? My GPS worked perfectly for several weeks after I first got the phone, now it barely works. I use the GPS function a lot! Not just for driving, but for looking up stuff with apps. I wrote a letter to ATT on planetfeedback.com and got a response in one day from a member of the executive response team. He said he was abale to do whatever I wanted. I asked to return the phone to the store and use the money I spent on it towards and iphone 4.

I am getting it on Monday.
 
Upvote 0
So, I just went to the AT&T store to return the phone. Tomorrow is my last day and since I got my replacement on Thursday, GPS hasn't worked once. Right before I step in the store I tried one last time... It found me within 2 seconds and 10 meter accuracy.

I shut off my phone, drove home, turned it on while in my basement. 10 second lock and it was off around 30 feet.


:thinking::thinking::thinking::thinking:

This phone is driving me crazy!!!!!! Either work or don't work. Now I don't want to return it but I'm afraid it will stop working again on Tuesday after my 30 days are up. Ahhhhhhhh!


So, you're complaining about the consistency of the GPS functionality, right? I wouldn't expect any phone to get a GPS signal inside a basement without an open view of the sky. I can barely get a cell signal much less a GPS lock inside my living room, which is full of windows.

If you swapped your previous captivate within your 30-day window, that window resets with the new device as long as it was returned/exchanged based on it being defective. The AT&T 'we only allow one swap within 30 days' is if you change your mind on the device itself...meaning you prefer the IP4, for example.
 
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So, you're complaining about the consistency of the GPS functionality, right? I wouldn't expect any phone to get a GPS signal inside a basement without an open view of the sky. I can barely get a cell signal much less a GPS lock inside my living room, which is full of windows.

If you swapped your previous captivate within your 30-day window, that window resets with the new device as long as it was returned/exchanged based on it being defective. The AT&T 'we only allow one swap within 30 days' is if you change your mind on the device itself...meaning you prefer the IP4, for example.

Since I got the phone on Thursday, the GPS has not worked at all. I was in the middle of NYC yesterday and nothing. The middle of the park and nothing. The middle of a highway and nothing. Suddenly right now it started to work.

As for the 30 days being reset, they said it doesn't. It's from the original purchase date.
 
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I suppose I could be wrong, but I think for the first 30 days, it is a no questions asked return. Although you have a reason. It is inconsistent, and I don't think at the store they will make you prove it. It may work great for 2 weeks, and all of a sudden one day, it is crap. And of course, according to Murphy's law, that will be the one time when you really need it.

I feel certain (Of course I could be wrong) that it will mess up again. If you've been following any of the GPS threads, you see that time and time again.

So the decision is: If you are willing to live with it if they never fix it, then keep it. If you expect to rely on the GPS in the phone, then return it, wait as long as you can stand your old phone after this great phone, and then buy it if it is fixed, or get something else.

I returned mine about 40 days ago, and am dieing for them to fix it, and like JayC, I expect it will be fixed. But then I expected they'd come through before now, even though the official date of "September" still allows another 4 days. This update the past week was a real fiasco. So, even when they do announce "This is the real fix", I will hold off until I see some consistnet comments of it working right over a couple weeks time.
 
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use the money I spent on it towards and iphone 4.
I am getting it on Monday.

Here's MY opinion about apple's gps. If u feel that the gps issue is that important to give up a great phone and picking up an iphone 4 then more power to u. U do know that unless u purchase or jailbreak your iphone, standard or out the box navigation is as dull as a butter knife with the iphone. Yeah it tracks your location but you might as well keep your Captivate and use the navigation turn directions for that.
 
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Here's MY opinion about apple's gps. If u feel that the gps issue is that important to give up a great phone and picking up an iphone 4 then more power to u. U do know that unless u purchase or jailbreak your iphone, standard or out the box navigation is as dull as a butter knife with the iphone. Yeah it tracks your location but you might as well keep your Captivate and use the navigation turn directions for that.

They have good Navigation on iPhones but it is quite expensive (Navigon for example).
 
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I returned my IP4 because of the antenna issue and don't remember how fast it locked using satellites, but it was considerably faster than my Captivate before the update. I'm not sure if you can turn off the A-GPS on the IP4. Presumably flight mode turns off all radios and I don't remember there being a setting where you can separate out GPS from A-GPS. Perhaps with a jailbreak and some cydia apps, you can.

Since the update for the Captivate, using the app "GPS Test" I can get a GPS lock in about 10 seconds, using only the GPS module and not A-GPS. However when I try to use Google Maps or the bundled Navigation program, it still has trouble locking my location, despite the GPS Test app locking near-instantly. To me, that means there's some software issue with Google Maps and not the Galaxy S device's hardware.

Who knows. I agree with you, it's ridiculously irritating not to have your phone be able to determine your location on a map. If you use the map app more than you use the phone's other primary functions, you should probably return it and get the IP4 since the map integration on that device is best-in-class.

As for the 30-days: If you signed up or upgraded your equipment and got the Captivate, and within the first 30-days you exchanged it for another one due to a defect, the 30 days resets from the day of exchange, or date of shipment if you used the e-store/website. Call customer service if you have issues with them not extending your 30-day window.
 
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As for the 30-days: If you signed up or upgraded your equipment and got the Captivate, and within the first 30-days you exchanged it for another one due to a defect, the 30 days resets from the day of exchange, or date of shipment if you used the e-store/website. Call customer service if you have issues with them not extending your 30-day window.

I bought it from an AT&T Corporate store. They told me that the 30 days is from the original purchase date but when I called the CS Rep, they said they might be able to extend it another 30 days if the issues persist.

As for the iPhone 4, I think it does use Wireless assist as well. When I was at my friend's house earlier, we both locked on at about the same time with the same error in location.

I just hope it keeps working as right now it's working great (like my first Captivate was working for the 3 weeks before it bricked ;)).
 
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