Help GPS issues?

[dizzle118]

hmm I get a lock fairly fast I'm on I9000XXJF3, though Google navigation seemed slow to update, making it unuseable I'm disappointed - How do I contact Samsung? I believe they could fix it in an up and coming release but we need to put it on thier 'radar' so to speak.

Found this an interesting read http://samsunggalaxysforums.com/showthread.php/97-Latest-Galaxy-S-Firmware-I9000XXJF5-out

 

[Beards]

Just this second received a reply from Clove:-

Mike

We have been informed by Samsung that there will be a home update available this week for upgrading to JF6, by using the PC sync software. This should resolve the GPS problem. They did make us aware that the upgrade would delete all user data so a backup should be performed first.


Regards

Sales Team

Clove Technology

TEL: +44 (0)1202 552936
FAX: +44 (0)1202 552937

Email: sales@clove.co.uk
Website: Smartphones, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Nokia, Brodit, HP iPAQ, Palm - Clove Technology
Blog: blog.clove.co.uk

 

[dizzle118]

VERY interesting thanks Beards

 

[Evil Peter]

That sounds great. I hope it will include the Swedish version of Swype etc as well, which I guess is high probability since the leaked firmwares had that.

Too bad it will reset everything though but better that than nothing.

 

[sjdean]

Hi Beards,

I received a new phone from Clove which does appear to be a little better in terms of stabilisation on GPS and Battery Life (though having a think, I got a suspicion it is Swype).

Certainly satellites don't drop out so often, it's a bit more stable on my walks, and in the car, the signal even seems to be better. But its still not perfect and when it cuts out, it cuts out big time.

All hail Clove though, they've gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping me (and others out). And this information about JF6 is great news.

Im going to do some more GPS testing on the way home.

Cya
Simon

 

[Tyx]

Hi Beards,

I received a new phone from Clove which does appear to be a little better in terms of stabilisation on GPS and Battery Life (though having a think, I got a suspicion it is Swype).

Certainly satellites don't drop out so often, it's a bit more stable on my walks, and in the car, the signal even seems to be better. But its still not perfect and when it cuts out, it cuts out big time.

All hail Clove though, they've gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping me (and others out). And this information about JF6 is great news.

Im going to do some more GPS testing on the way home.

Cya
Simon

Too bad I didn't buy mine from them... you're lucky. So the new phone they sent, what firmware is it on? JF5?

 

[yakboy]

Well tried it today with skyhook enavled, did another well mixed journey including dual carriage way, country road and town driving.

Subjective opinion - bit better than without skyhook enabled but still rubbish.

I had loss of lock with a good 150 degree of sky visible, particularly if trees were present. Anything less than 90degrees of sky (like in a nice British town, say Salisbury where I was), effing useless.

Great news on the new baseband, I will keep checking back here to see how it goes.

 

[Beards]

Hi Beards,

I received a new phone from Clove which does appear to be a little better in terms of stabilisation on GPS and Battery Life (though having a think, I got a suspicion it is Swype).

Certainly satellites don't drop out so often, it's a bit more stable on my walks, and in the car, the signal even seems to be better. But its still not perfect and when it cuts out, it cuts out big time.

All hail Clove though, they've gone above and beyond the call of duty in helping me (and others out). And this information about JF6 is great news.

Im going to do some more GPS testing on the way home.

Cya
Simon

Hi Simon,
I'm very pleased you got the replacement phone.
I did tell them I personally wanted to be kept updated on this and all matters with the Galaxy and especially GPS.

To all,
I've dealt with Chris Love of Clove for nigh on 20yrs. In that time I have got to know him, his family and the staff at Clove well and as such I know when I recommend them to someone I am doing it with all the right integrity reasons behind that recommendation.

I simply can not stress enough to folk here and on other forums, by dealing with Clove you get more than a device ~ you get a personal service where you are treated not just as a numbered customer but they keep your details (not financial) on record so that should you return later they know you and try to make you feel at ease.
Clove have championed a lot of causes for various users and have helped me immensely in the past with getting action done (the HD2 camera which I charged at HTC was with the help of Clove).

Moving on......
Simon, have you noticed any difference in satellite locks with GPS Test?
A tip I have learned and now use is to first use Skyhook and then download the small app 'GPS Refresh' and run this first before running either My Tracks or GPS Test.
GPS Refresh hits the GPS receiver continuously updating the frequency.
Coupled with Skyhook I have a much better lock and location.

 

[sjdean]

I tried on the way home using Waze with MyTracks on in the background. It got a little confused a couple of times and had me just a few metres either side of the road.

Most of that could be because the phone kept slipping between the seat and the backrest - I had it on the passenger seat instead of say my shirt pocket.

Yesterday it went bad about three times while out for a walk. That was under a heavily overcast sky, under a bridge, some really thick trees, and near a big building.

I was thinking - oh dear, back to the same. But I tried MyTracks and Im delighted. Many of the issues could be just how MyTracks decides on how to interpret the signal - better results may be yielded with CardioTrainer.

I don't think the GPS is as good as it could be at the moment, but I do see a big difference. The lock is more stable, the signal strength is much better, and MyTracks isn't bombing out every couple of minutes.

I suspect there could well be a hardware fault with a few phones.


FAO Tyx - No, this one also came with JF3.

 

[gllu]

I suspect there could well be a hardware fault with a few phones.

Oh my, those are really bad news. How can one make sure to get a "good" phone? Maybe go and ask that octopus - Paul...

 

[rickyLejk]

I used the app "gps logger" and had a walk logging each 10 seconds simultaneously both the "htc hero " and the "samsung galaxy s i9000". Attached is a screenshot of the result.

I had the phones in two different cases, and half-way through I changed cases. The yellow line is the hero and the green line is the i9000. I believe the hero may have performed somewhat better, but really not much of a difference. However, both devices had problems close to 5-floor buildings (on the left side of the map).

 

[firefox73]

Just this second received a reply from Clove:-

Mike

We have been informed by Samsung that there will be a home update available this week for upgrading to JF6, by using the PC sync software. .......

When they refer to PC Sync does this mean using 'Kies'? I've got the PC to recognise my SGS but can not get Kies to work properly for toffee!

Not only that, I find Samsungs Tech Support disgraceful. Operators keep quoting a call back within 2 hours but am on day 4 having spoken with the call centre about 10 times. Call centre keep firing internal emails to the relevant department but nothing more comes of it.

Does not bode well for Samsung Customer Support in the future.

 

[Beards]

When they refer to PC Sync does this mean using 'Kies'? I've got the PC to recognise my SGS but can not get Kies to work properly for toffee!

Not only that, I find Samsungs Tech Support disgraceful. Operators keep quoting a call back within 2 hours but am on day 4 having spoken with the call centre about 10 times. Call centre keep firing internal emails to the relevant department but nothing more comes of it.

Does not bode well for Samsung Customer Support in the future.

Almost certainly it will be via Kies.
Have you considered contacting your 'local' Samsung centre and getting them to do the firmware for you?

 

[krillo]

Just this second received a reply from Clove:-

Mike

We have been informed by Samsung that there will be a home update available this week for upgrading to JF6, by using the PC sync software. This should resolve the GPS problem. They did make us aware that the upgrade would delete all user data so a backup should be performed first.


Regards

Sales Team

Clove Technology

TEL: +44 (0)1202 552936
FAX: +44 (0)1202 552937

Email: sales@clove.co.uk
Website: Smartphones, HTC, Sony Ericsson, Blackberry, Nokia, Brodit, HP iPAQ, Palm - Clove Technology
Blog: blog.clove.co.uk

Beards, do you have any guess if this is global or something just linked to the UK? I live in Sweden and also seem to have some response issues with the GPS that I would love to see resolved or at least improved.

 

[rickyLejk]

Yet another comparison of hero and sgs. This time it is compared on a highway (no big buildings). The version is i9000xxjf3.

The hero was attached in specific navigation stand and the sgs was in between the seats in a cup holder.

The attached file contains the resulting gpx files. These files were used to generate the following map (which only will be available temporarily): Map created by GPS Visualizer

My conclusion is that the sgs had at least as good result as the hero.

 

[Evil Peter]

Beards, do you have any guess if this is global or something just linked to the UK? I live in Sweden and also seem to have some response issues with the GPS that I would love to see resolved or at least improved.

I would guess that it's a European update as that region uses the same firmware, with very minor tweaks.

 

[zagan]

Do you guys have a phone signal when you test the GPS while walking?

From what I know GPS uses 2 sats and a "3rd sat" (which isn't a real sat but a ground base)

the ground base is your base reference, so if your 20klms from the ground base the right orbiting sats can be used, and once you have a lock on at least 1 ground base and 2 sats your position can be found.

That's why GPS can sometimes take a bit longer to get synced into the system properly.

A-GPS on the other hand sort of cheats to get a faster sync up to the orbiting sats.

The cheat is instead of using a real GPS ground base it uses the mobile phone towers as the ground base (they don't move and they have a locked position on the earth) so if you have a phone signal then the tower is your ground base and your over head sats can be found.

The speed up is you always have the position of the towers so your just waiting for the sats to lock.

Problem though what if you don't have a phone signal well you don't have a ground base.

No ground base means you connect to any over head sats and while you might get a position.

it could be 200 klms away from where you really are or you have the correct position of where you are but because your locked at 5,000klms in the sky your falling at 400kph or if your position is changing all the time then you travel at when ever speeds it works out from all the position changes every second so again you could be doing 400kph.

I have a HTC TyTN 2 and it has GPS and A-GPS and the above is what happens to me when I use A-GPS I couldn't figure what what was going on when I left a phone coverage area.

Anyway I notice in spec pages this phone has a GPS option but then says A-GPS as well.

So wondering if you guys are using pure GPS? or only have A-GPS? on this phone or is there an option to switch to pure GPS if you can.

I personally can't stand A-GPS flaky at best usage for the above reason and if this phone has pure GPS then it's a phone I'd like to get.

 

[Beards]

Beards, do you have any guess if this is global or something just linked to the UK? I live in Sweden and also seem to have some response issues with the GPS that I would love to see resolved or at least improved.

Yes... as Evil Peter correctly points out ~ it's a European update so you should be fine with this as well.

 

[sjdean]

I drove home from work yesterday, and drove into work today, and I've got a perfect track in MyTracks. Clean as a whistle and very accurate.

I don't know how much of this is thanks to using Waze concurrently, but Im now happy I don't have any hardware issues.


Also using GPS Test, even indoors, I get a stable lock on five satellites, if I move to the window, I get seven - no fluctuations save the odd one satellite - but I think that's largely a normal GPS. At least Im not seeing everything flutter around like mad.

Cya
Simon

 

[Beards]

I drove home from work yesterday, and drove into work today, and I've got a perfect track in MyTracks. Clean as a whistle and very accurate.

I don't know how much of this is thanks to using Waze concurrently, but Im now happy I don't have any hardware issues.


Also using GPS Test, even indoors, I get a stable lock on five satellites, if I move to the window, I get seven - no fluctuations save the odd one satellite - but I think that's largely a normal GPS. At least Im not seeing everything flutter around like mad.

Cya
Simon

Simon,
Just as a matter of interest ~ using GPS Test does it still not use satellites below an snr of 20?

 

[sjdean]

No, Im afraid it still doesn't lock on to an snr < 20. But I do suspect that is a firmware issue more than hardware - possibly driver related more than anything else.

 

[Beards]

No, Im afraid it still doesn't lock on to an snr < 20. But I do suspect that is a firmware issue more than hardware - possibly driver related more than anything else.

Okay, thanks Simon....

Chris Love has given me the option of returning the phone should I so wish but I've told him I'm going to hang on to this one so as to test it on the new firmware. If that does not tidy it up then yes... mine will go back, regardless of the fact I've got a better GPS signal using Skyhook & GPS Refresh.

 

[jimatr]

Great thread here! I too have a SGS from Clove, pre-ordered and delivered from their first batch last month.

GPS issues have been noted, I first noticed that Layar was just rubbish with its location.

The other day I had an odd one with Google Maps, turned it on and noticed that wifi came on, rather than GPS (the little icons at the top). In settings I had location from wifi disabled, and location from gps enabled! Rebooted the phone and it went back to turning on GPS, but the accuracy was awful.

Only started investigating for others with similar issues yesterday and found this thread.

I hope the firmware update comes soon!

 

[Evil Peter]

Apparently an official firmware upgrade was released in South Korea today so hopefully Europe will get it's version shortly.

 

[krillo]

Great thread here! I too have a SGS from Clove, pre-ordered and delivered from their first batch last month.

GPS issues have been noted, I first noticed that Layar was just rubbish with its location.

The other day I had an odd one with Google Maps, turned it on and noticed that wifi came on, rather than GPS (the little icons at the top). In settings I had location from wifi disabled, and location from gps enabled! Rebooted the phone and it went back to turning on GPS, but the accuracy was awful.

Only started investigating for others with similar issues yesterday and found this thread.

I hope the firmware update comes soon!

I have similar experiences, I also think Google maps tend to lock up your wifi. I have also found that it uses the wifi - even though its turned off and sometimes it fails to hang up rendering the wifi stuck in limbo which can only be fixed by a reboot.

I also notice that other apps have trouble accessing the GPS properly. It seems like they try but get no response from the GPS. I have this issue with Trip Journal sometimes and also the GPS signal tracker mentioned in this thread. It will say "GPS on" but nothing will show. Fiddling with the GPS, turning it on/off, starting Google Maps etc sometimes brings it out which enables the tracker to find the GPS. Very very strange and definitely buggy. Hope the update takes care of some of these issues.