KlaymenDK

Hum, I'm also wondering if the compass in my Galaxy is broken. Help me figure this out, please!

The Compass application is frequently way out of alignment (>90°), but always by a new degree. Oddly, the GPS Status 2 application is only slightly out of alignment, but also to various degrees. The Metal Detector application works fine. My phone has not been dropped (other than perhaps during initial shipping) and has not been near magnets except for the trains on my daily commute.

Furthermore, Spare Parts has a setting to "Show Compass in Maps", but even though I can set that check mark, it only lasts until I open Google Maps -- at which point (1) no compass can be seen, nor is the map rotated, and (2) when I afterwards revisit Spare Parts, the setting has been turned off again. I don't believe Spare Parts is G1-specific (at least I haven't seen that stated anywhere), so this is another indicator that my device is doing things that others probably aren't.

Also, and perhaps completely unrelated, the Barcode Scanner works a lot slower than depicted in this video (starting at 0m42s) -- I usually have to struggle against extreme overexposure for a good 20 seconds before I get a capture.

I had hoped this was all related to the firmware issues being discussed at the time the Galaxy was launched, but now I'm on the H8 firmware, and things haven't improved a bit.

I am of course using the latest releases of these apps.
Do these things work for you? Is my Galaxy defective?

__________________

damuffinman

I second this post, I'm having all those 'small issues' above. I call them 'small issues' because I rarely use Google Maps, the Compass, the Barcode Scanner (I don't have a data plan at home, only back in the UK).

m4j3r

In my case compass is showing in right direction. Dont know about showing compass in maps though becouse I haven't used it yet.
About barcode scanner...yeah I got simmilar problem, it's really hard to get a capture. But later I instaled one other barcode scanner (can't remmember name, sorry) and it scanned barcode in a moment. So here is probably problem in application (only supporting htc cameras or somehing).

Bomberman

There's an update out that fixes the flash/overexposure problem for the galaxy - no link, sorry

m4j3r

Yeah it's fixed with h7 update. Not sure if it helps with barcode scanner problem though.

momagic

The compass doesn't work at alll. It always shows the wrong direction.

I'm comparing it to my Samsung i8910 which always shows the right direction.

Samsung does this to me all the time! Foirst the i8910 and now the i7500! Why can't they release a phone that actually works first time around?

Rastaman-FB

compass is good because?

man theres maps and sat nav lol

btw the barcode scanner works fine for me. its about the distance you hold it from the barcode and makesure you done have it near too bright light as it starts to whitebalance it

Last edited by Rastaman-FB; 09-15-2009 at 12:00 PM.

momagic

A compass is good for moslems like me.

Russ Dill

The compass issues seem to be fixed in H8. Also, with the "Barcode Scanner" application, it seems to do a white level calibration when it starts, but never again. Point the phone at what you want to scan (or something else bright), *then* start the barcode scanner application.

Also, I don't know if this is meant for people to just feel better, to look silly in a large open space, or both, but you can try it

Ichimusai’s Place » Blog Archive How to calibrate the HTC Magic compass

momagic

Compass defo isn't working properly in H8.

KlaymenDK

If for nothing else: I paid well enough for it, so it had better work!
Seriously though, maps and sat nav are for moving around. When you're standing still, you need a compass. Also, the Sky Map and Street View apps rely on a compass reading.

It would be good to know how fast to move the phone around, because I notice the Compass application is pretty sluggish. It would be interesting to know if that sluggishness is a software "smoothing" feature or if it's due to the sensor itself.
In any case, following that advice (doing about 1 figure-of-eight per second) improved my compass from about 40 degrees off to about 10 degrees off. It might also have been coincidental, so I will retry this periodically.

This, on the other hand, I had zero luck with.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 09-16-2009 at 04:54 AM.

Rastaman-FB

i just think its one of those things that is just a gimic and should not be taken seriously as an app at all
i mean, if you are in a situation where you really need to use a compass then the likeliness is that you need to use a real compas and put the phone away. you maybe lost, wasting your batteries on a phone with no area to charge it for a compass when you can use a real one that costs next to nothing is a bit silly is it not?


if i were samsung i would never of included it as its just a cause for people to moan about a pointless app that doesnt work

how does street view rely on compass reading. its not accurate anyway as if you are away from wifi signal streetview is slow and pretty pointless.

skymap is a cool thing but seriously, they are gimics, i dont buy a phone for gimics. if i did i would have bought an iphone

chrism_s

My compas iss laggy and inaccurate as well. I really liekthe concept of a compass with GPS, it makes turn by turn routing much mroe accurate, makes google streetview really useful by moving the image with the device. It'll improve Augmented reality apps like Layar as well.

Plus, as eper all othersmartphones on the market that include compasses, this is far from a gimick inclusion and has real world use so should work as advertised.

(IMHO)

photon00

My compass is also faulty. Very slow and its definition of North varies massively. I compared it with my friends HTC Hero which works very well and they are leagues apart. Checked and both phones were running the same version of compass.

Rastaman-FB

alot of compasses on smartphones are diar
if the htc works and this doesnt then one would assume its because the memory making the software laggy and unresponsive (128meg max ram)

as much as you can say its not a gimic i really dont understand why you would use a compass in street view to rotate an image for a street you are in when you could just turn your head. if your not in the street just use your thumb its quicker
sat nav systems tell you when you are needing to turn in yards etc. if you are focusing on compass along with the sat nav while driving then i would not like to be in a car with you are you are not focusing on the road.

yeah it should work, granted but i think its the least of the problems with the phone thats all.

Last edited by Rastaman-FB; 09-16-2009 at 04:44 AM.

KlaymenDK

Yes, you're right -- but I bought this so I wouldn't need my (better) pda and (ancient) phone as two separate devices. Think of this as a swiss army knife. How practical is it really to stuff your pockets full of things you might need?

True, but alas it seems all modern phones are gimmicky. The Android-based ones seem to be the most useful gimmicks though.

Okay, so maybe Street View is not the best example; let's consider augmented reality applications then. There really is practicality in knowing how your device is oriented.

I think a lot of what is considered gimmicks now is really merely immature. I'm sure the first mobile phones were seen as terribly gimmicky as well. After all, everyone has a phone at home and there are (well, were) pay phones all around, right? Well, there are (or have since arisen) good uses for them anyhow.


... aaaanyway, this thread was not about the use(ful|less)ness of compasses per se, but whether or not they are error-prone and/or broken in this particular model.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 11-30-2009 at 02:29 PM.

Rastaman-FB

yeah no worries sorry for taking it off topic

hippy

I've also turned on the compass using Spare Parts on my Samsung and there's nothing vaguely compass-like appearing in any of the maps. I'm NOT running the latest firmware. I'm not comfortable updating it yet until I've worked out all the pitfalls and how to backup, etc.

Rastaman-FB

ok just installed this app as i realised it wasnt a default app.

looks as if it uses gps to pinpoint the poles then uses the accelerometer to pin point direction.
I would imagine this fails because the samsung have not put much effort into the accelerometer due to it only being used for screentilts as its not very sensitive.
also ive found its very depended on how you hold the device
its more accurate when laid completely flat on a table as apposed to standing up with device at a normal 70% angle

if you tilt it from normal holding to completely flat youll see what i mean

that last point isnt a device issue. that would affect any device with accelerometer that uses this app making the compass pretty inaccurate regardless.

1st point is samsung probably didnt think about accelerometer accuracy for compass use probably to similar points i made above

Xenon

Compass doesn't rely on accelerometers, it has a magneto-something sensor
of its own. A simple principle basically: you put electric current through a coil
and you get magnetic field which tries to align itself just like a magnetic
needle would.

In my opinion the Compass should be tested only outdoors as computers and
other indoor electric equipment seem to desorient it.

I agree with KlaymenDK in demanding the thing to work properly. I don't care
whether it's the main focus of the phone. It's there, it's not that complicated
and it should work.

Xenon

The barcode applications work properly now that patches for Galaxy
have been made. It used to activate the flash all the time. It isn't
as fast as in the video (hey, it's a promotional video, they probably
picked the products beforehand and practiced a little) but it's
fast enough.

Rastaman-FB

its not a default app for samsung tho. not everything works well with every device. the physical components of each device are different.
if its not accellerometer based can you explain why holding it vertical makes it inacurate as it would be the same magnet and the same current regardless of vertical and horizontal orientation


edit have you seen this?

http://www.mobilizy.com/enupdate-samsung-galaxy

Last edited by Rastaman-FB; 09-16-2009 at 02:23 PM.

KlaymenDK

You just answered your own question: what happens when you turn a regular (needle-based) compass on its side? Its plane of measurement is all wrong in relation to the plane of the magnetic field, and it will do its (poor) best.

Hey, thank you so much for linking that article! It's good to know that the issue has officially been recognized by Samsung, even if we're still struggling with it. I've just downloaded that "SensorTest" app to play with it, and I might even write to Mobilizy to ask what the latest official status is. If I do, and I hear from them, you'll be sure to hear from me.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 09-18-2009 at 02:21 AM.

Rastaman-FB

i was never really any good at boy scouts lol
this would be why.

Russ Dill

Don't know what to say. With H8, my compass always points north with the phone flat, vertical portrait, vertical landscape, 45 degree portrait, 45 degree landscape. Tested with "GPS Status" by reading digital heading indicator. If I get near a large metal object (such as a filing cabinet) or near a computer, it deviates.

I have not confirmed, but I imagine because every similar device has it, that the Galaxy has a 3 axis accelerometer and a 3 axis compass. This allows the device to determine which way is down, and which way the magnetic field lines point. Combining your GPS position allows for a true north correction.

KlaymenDK

Hmm, I've noticed a deterioration: the automatic screen tilt feature no longer works.

When I then go into the SensorTest app, it shows the "x","y","z","a" and "b" sensors flailing about as they do, but the "c" sensor is frozen at some seemingly random value. After rebooting, the "c" value is regularly frozen at zero.

I don't know if this may be caused by installing the "SensorTest" app, and I've written the Samsung developers to ask what the "c" sensor corresponds to.

The only other sensor-related application I have added in this time period is "Off the Hook", which is a great idea and seemed to be working perfectly (now, with the possibly-bad sensor, I'm not so sure).

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 09-18-2009 at 10:11 AM.

KlaymenDK

Yup, now that "c" sensor is completely down, doesn't ever change from the initial zero setting.

The Bubble spirit level app only shows the circular mode (as if lying flat on a surface), and refuses to measure more than 25 degrees of tilt in any direction.
Also, Maritime Compass, which used to show the compass dial "level" no matter how you turned it, now refuses to tilt the dial more than a little bit.

...

Aha. Sensor Test, Sensor Debug, and Sensor Insider all report no response whatsoever on the Z axis (I'd show you a screen shot if I could). So it seems that it's more than just the compass that's not right with this device. I will try to contact Samsung support and see if I can get a warranty replacement/repair.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 09-18-2009 at 10:42 AM.

KlaymenDK

I am currently having a little trouble with this (according to aTrackDog it's at v1.0.0 which is supposedly the newest version ), so I wrote back to ask for more directions.

Oh god no, don't tell me it's Internet Explorer all over again!! I'll see if I can dig up any more info on this matter, but don't hold your breath...

Rastaman-FB

so this comes to mind
basically HTC fked it up and now it looks like all the other devices are the problem not htc.
ploy by htc much?

KlaymenDK

Okay,
I have now declared my Z-axis sensor dead. Don't know about the compass.

I have contacted the retailer's preferred service partner (in Germany) to ask about the repair/replacement procedure (I would much prefer a replacement unit, if for nothing else then because it'll take shorter, but I expect they have a commitment to try and repair it first). It's going to be a bit awkward since it's across the border and I'm not entirely clear which rules apply. But we shall see.

Next step is very likely to try a factory reset. I shall want to do that anyway prior to sending it to service, but I naturally don't want to do it too soon either -- it's my daily phone/pda.

-----

Update Saturday morning: Now all sensors are flatlining , all three accelerometer axes, and the compass. The "metal detector" app still works somewhat, somehow.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 09-19-2009 at 04:47 PM.

KlaymenDK

Another update, just to note that a factory reset didn't do anything to the sensors. They're still dead.

KlaymenDK

After I've had the sensors briefly come back to life and then die again half a day later, I yesterday sent the phone to the point of sale for warranty. We shall see what becomes of it.

At this point, being back on my Palm Treo, I find myself missing the Android experience and features ... not one bit. It actually feels good to come back to handwriting recognition, proper backups, birthday reminders, and all the rest (albeit, without nifty speedy online-ness).

pegasus21

I don't know about the whole HTC vs others but my compass is working fine. When I initially used it, the alignment was out till i rotated it 2 to 3 rounds then the compass points in the right direction. Possibly the initial time was for calibration.

KlaymenDK

Thanks for the response. I do think the compass on HTC works way better. On my device, calibration brings the accuracy down to about 10-30 degrees, but only for a very short while. For any real use (say, orienteering) it's plainly useless.

Andronix

have you tried
Cyrket - MobileWrite Trial
Cyrket - EboBirthday

Regarding backup, I use "vcard io" for contacts, "apn b&r", "bookmark b&r", "atrackdog" for apps.

KlaymenDK

Thanks for the links!

MobileWrite I have tried, it's slow, puts the usual limits on the UI (as opposed to just doing transparent full-screen recognition) and, AFAICT, has no way to input an "å" character.

EboBirthday I haven't heard of before. This can sync with my existing Google Contacts' birthdays and anniversaries? It looks promising, I hope it's not fixed on the US date format!

Yeah, I too use aTrackDog to keep up to date (also on the Palm), but there's no proper mass backup/restore (at least, w/o rooting; the best one can do is copy all the apk's to SD and then manually, sequentially, reinstall everything (soo tedious!).
I could find no info on "apn b&r"?

Cougar

If you're considering going orienteering with a digital compass as your primary means of navigation, it'd save a lot of time if you just pre-arranged your collection with Mountain Rescue before you set off. Even if it -was- accurate, you really don't want to be out in the wilds with just a battery-operated compass. I'm supremely bored of reading tales of numpties in shorts and flip-flops who have to be scraped off the side of Scafell because they thought "I don't need a map, I've got a GPS."

The compass is a gadget. It's there to make toys like Google Sky Map work. I very seriously doubt that it was ever intended for serious use.

kam187

Cougar: LOL! So navigating a sailing boat using your samsung isnt a good idea too? Oh darn!

[posting by satelite phone in the middle of the atlantic... uh oh low battery]

pegasus21

Actually for contacts' birthdays, you can just use google calendars. There's a function in the website to add contacts' birthdays to your agenda.

KlaymenDK

Let's not take this off-topic, fellas.
@Cougar: No, I wasn't planning on going over land or sea based on my phone alone; it was merely an example.
@pegasus: No, the show-contacts-in-calendar isn't very useful; it does not show age, and it does not show anniversaries.

Andronix

If you install manually, I don't thing google will notify you about updates so for me it's best to download from market after reinstall. It may take a bit of time, but will also help you clean apps you don't usually use

Cyrket - APN Backup & Restore (tested)

msiviter

I've got the Modaco ROM and have tested my compass in a sterile environment next to a calibrated compass and it is between 30 and 90deg off regardless of orientation or magnetic sources nearby (god knows how it works! (or doesn't)).

I'm not going to use it for navigation but it's a potentially useful tool that's not working, the iPhone one is pretty good.

__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]UK O2 Galaxy - selling on eBay
Link to eBay item!

kam187

90 degrees?! There was a bug with the compass in older firmware. What firmware are you on? I guess I4 if you're on O2? It should be fixed in that version.

so are you saying if u calibrate the compass, and then turn it, it is way off?

KlaymenDK

So, I've sent my phone in for repair, and received it back. It's not working any better; if anything it's now even more broken.

I had a lot of "fun" communicating with the point of sale and their preferred service partner, because they kept referring me to each other. Finally, the point of sale says to send the phone to them, and I hear nothing for a month. After repeated inquiries, my father calls them up (because when I try from abroad, I receive an odd service tone) and after sitting in a phone queue for 4(!) hours they tell him that the phone is just now ready to be shipped out. Gee, what a coincidence!

One week later (Friday afternoon), and I have the phone in hand. It doesn't work any better than before, the sensors are still on-again, off-again. It's the same cover, battery, and case; I can't tell if they've actually opened it. I sent them an email about it Monday morning, but hear nothing for a week. Last night I sent them another email, demanding action and wondering about their definition of customer support (in kinder words than that).

People on the phone tell me they can't hear what I'm saying because of an incessant beeping -- it turns out that the proximity sensor has now died as well, causing me to (unknowingly) press the on-screen keypad with my ear during calls!

Also, my only backup phone is a 2G phone, and my 3G phone provider recently decided to kill all its 2G support in my area. So, if I want to be reachable while this thing is at service, I need to buy a new (2G) SIM with another phone number, or another 3G phone to use with my current SIM. This is a nightmare!

I've spent about €500 and rather a lot of time, and I have no usable phone. The next step is reporting the point of sale to the German equivalent to the Better Business Bureau, if such an entity can be found.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 11-30-2009 at 07:21 AM.

Rastaman-FB

is it not covered by samsung warrantee?

KlaymenDK

Of course it is -- but you still have to get it to them, somehow. When this problem started, Samsung in my country wouldn't touch it because the Galaxy was not on the market here; they told me to go through my point of purchase. My point of purchase apparently is not willing to replace it outright, but they evidently aren't able to repair it, either.

Meanwhile the phone is now being sold in stores here, but if I walk into any phone store they'll refuse me because I didn't buy it from them, so they can't be bothered. I've emailed Samsung, but received zero response.

Overall, this has been my last purchase of a Samsung product, ever. It really is a shame, because on the face of it Samsung makes really nice hardware.

Last edited by KlaymenDK; 12-03-2009 at 04:21 PM.

KlaymenDK

Ohh look, a same-day response from the point of sale!

They say they've upgraded the firmware (it's now at I5), and that that fixed the problem. I already knew that to be not the case.

No word on for how long they tested it, even though I specifically asked about that because it's a periodic issue.

As I expected, they will not cancel my order , and are referring me to Samsung if I want a replacement rather than (another) repair.

They are really racking up the points...

KlaymenDK

Oh great, now the phone is doing sudden restarts every now and then (about once every two days). I've never seen this before.

And the APN issue is back again (access point setup, and thus 3G data access is coming and going at random intervals).

KlaymenDK

Ok, finally got a response. Samsung claims that, because the phone was not bought in this country, there is no warranty. So much for the EU, I guess...

I've written basically the same support request (asking for a replacement) to Samsung in Germany. Here's to hoping they won't dismiss me because I'm not a German/in Germany!