Help I called Samsung...

[arashed31]

I spoke to a representative about operating system problems and GPS and battery issues. I gave her information about all the things this community has discovered as well as other information I read in other forums. She said documented all the problems and passed it on to the Samsung technicians. I called a little late (8:52pm) so everything was already closed so she gave them my number for them to call me back.

I'm not sure if I've made any difference, but I feel if more people called with usage information about the Moment, I think they might be pressured enough to look into the information and eventually hurry up their development.

Here is the number I called them at: 1-888-987-4357
They're open M-F from 7am to 9pm Central Time (CST).

 

[AndroidSPCS]

What were your complaints? IMHO the phone has been about perfect. I think people have unrealistic expectations of a 1st gen Sprint Android phone.

 

[arashed31]

Well, the most noticeable problem is the phone reporting incorrect battery levels. In my use, it's never charged past 90%. Within minutes of removing it from the charger, it drops down to 70%, and then about an hour later 50%. Then after 2 hours it will drop to 15% and stay like that for another 4 hours. And finally drop to 5% for the rest of the day.

2nd:
The GPS rarely gets a lock in under 5 minutes. This is probably just a bad signal problem.

3rd:
Android 1.5 doesn't support A-GPS on CDMA networks. HTC figured it out with the Hero.

4th:
LED notifications aren't implemented.

Etc.: http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/15810-comprehensive-list-known-issues.html

 

[AndroidSPCS]

I'm glad you called Samsung. However, knowing large companies and how they work, I doubt it's going to make a big difference. Hopefully Samsung will have an update to address these issues.

It's just a fact of life, of living with modern gadgets that are highly complex. There will always be issues.

 

[satinkzo]

Well, the most noticeable problem is the phone reporting incorrect battery levels. In my use, it's never charged past 90%. Within minutes of removing it from the charger, it drops down to 70%, and then about an hour later 50%. Then after 2 hours it will drop to 15% and stay like that for another 4 hours. And finally drop to 5% for the rest of the day.

I agree, but a few tricks from the battery thread make it much better

2nd:
The GPS rarely gets a lock in under 5 minutes. This is probably just a bad signal problem.

Completely disagree. My moment locks in about 20 seconds if I am outside, it's very accurate too, much better than my hero was with GPS

3rd:
Android 1.5 doesn't support A-GPS on CDMA networks. HTC figured it out with the Hero.

Yep, HTC put some hacks into senseui to get it to work. Doesn't work with SenseUi disabled in my tests

4th:
LED notifications aren't implemented.

Meh, not a biggie for me, but would be nice

 

[caspertodd]

My GPS only locks on about 1 in 10 times. I have gone through all the suggestions in this forum and nothing seems to help me. Right now I cannot use any app that uses the GPS, and that's a big problem for me, but that is my only real complaint about the phone. The other issues are small for me and is what I would expect from an initial release.

Many, MANY people are having GPS issues, just search this forum and you will see that. Since there are some that are not having an issue, it may be that there was a bad batch of phones. Who knows.

arashed31, thanks for calling them, and for the info. I think that it will do some good if we call to let them know about the GPS since that is an important feature of the phone, and it doesn't work for some.

Overall, I love my Moment, and you could not pry it from my hands (unless you were offereing to fix my GPS issue )

 

[wolfe]

GPS is a horrible issue for me. It only works about 1 in 20 times for me.
I have also followed all of the suggestions on the other threads.

Thanks for the suggestions and phone numbers for Samsung. I will call them!

 

[pastafarian]

Well, the most noticeable problem is the phone reporting incorrect battery levels. In my use, it's never charged past 90%. Within minutes of removing it from the charger, it drops down to 70%, and then about an hour later 50%. Then after 2 hours it will drop to 15% and stay like that for another 4 hours. And finally drop to 5% for the rest of the day.

2nd:
The GPS rarely gets a lock in under 5 minutes. This is probably just a bad signal problem.

3rd:
Android 1.5 doesn't support A-GPS on CDMA networks. HTC figured it out with the Hero.

4th:
LED notifications aren't implemented.

Etc.: http://androidforums.com/samsung-moment/15810-comprehensive-list-known-issues.html

2 and 3 are pretty much the same issue. Implement agps and the lock issue will go away.

 

[satinkzo]

The gps issue is interesting since mine works flawlessly when I have a view of the sky. I originally had issues but that was due to having the wireless location enabled but since turning that off till they get agps working the real gps is great for me.

 

[AndroidSPCS]

The GPS works flawlessly on mine as well. It does take longer to acquire the signal compared to my TomTom or Garmin, but it does work.

 

[caspertodd]

I stood out in my back yard with my phone on a clear day and could not get a GPS signal with either the Sprint app or Google Maps. Yes, I have wireless turned off. I tried maybe 10 sperate times. Rebooting the phone made no difference.

My wife and I were on our way up to Bowling Green, Ky and wanted to find a Starbucks (for my wife...not me), and my phone was useless. We had to break out her Instinct, and it found one in about 10 seconds. She looked over at my phone and said "I thought that was supposed to be some great phone"...I told her that maybe after an update or something it will work right.

If it took a minute or two to acquire a signal, I would accept that. Having no GPS at all kind of sucks. Every now and then, when the stars align with the moon, and I hold my tongue just right, it does pick up a signal, and when it does, it does it very quickly.

 

[PiggyGirl]

My GPS works but my battery doesn't accurately reflect what's used/available and I'd like a notification light, if they can manage that like they reportedly did with the Instinct. Besides that, I'd appreciate some assurance they will continue to support this device and get us upgraded to 2.0 and beyond asap. Maybe I'll call, too.

 

[methoderik]

I stood out in my back yard with my phone on a clear day and could not get a GPS signal with either the Sprint app or Google Maps. Yes, I have wireless turned off. I tried maybe 10 sperate times. Rebooting the phone made no difference.

My wife and I were on our way up to Bowling Green, Ky and wanted to find a Starbucks (for my wife...not me), and my phone was useless. We had to break out her Instinct, and it found one in about 10 seconds. She looked over at my phone and said "I thought that was supposed to be some great phone"...I told her that maybe after an update or something it will work right.

If it took a minute or two to acquire a signal, I would accept that. Having no GPS at all kind of sucks. Every now and then, when the stars align with the moon, and I hold my tongue just right, it does pick up a signal, and when it does, it does it very quickly.

Did you turn off use wireless networks in the security & location settings?

That should make your GPS work fine.

 

[caspertodd]

Yes. I did that day 1. Did not make a bit of difference.

 

[satinkzo]

Well, caspertodd, if you did what methoderik said and in fact it's turned off, then you have a defective phone and I would return it since everyone I have dealt with personally and on the forums who turned off the Wireless location services (not wifi) has had their GPS work fine. So I would venture if all conditions are met, that your phone needs to be replaced.

Also, when in google maps, you do need to tell it to go to My Location as that apps will sometimes not report properly on startup. Sprint Nav I had SOMETIMES had to be moving for it to report properly.

I would also recommend you download a program called GPS Status by EclipSim and see if it ever reports actually SEEING the GPS sats

 

[pastafarian]

I stood out in my back yard with my phone on a clear day and could not get a GPS signal with either the Sprint app or Google Maps. Yes, I have wireless turned off. I tried maybe 10 sperate times. Rebooting the phone made no difference.

My wife and I were on our way up to Bowling Green, Ky and wanted to find a Starbucks (for my wife...not me), and my phone was useless. We had to break out her Instinct, and it found one in about 10 seconds. She looked over at my phone and said "I thought that was supposed to be some great phone"...I told her that maybe after an update or something it will work right.

If it took a minute or two to acquire a signal, I would accept that. Having no GPS at all kind of sucks. Every now and then, when the stars align with the moon, and I hold my tongue just right, it does pick up a signal, and when it does, it does it very quickly.

The GPS failed in my first Moment. I had it swapped out and thought the GPS isn't great on the second unit, at least it does work.

 

[Grandmasterlarry]

We could talk about this all day, some work grate some work ok and some don't work at all. Mine does not work and i got the phone when it was first released which seems to be the phones with the most GPS problems. But thats not why he posted...

The point is that if everyone who post/reads here calls Samsung and reports the same issues they are bound to do something. Or better yet call in tell them the issues and than say you switched to a different phone because of them and you tell people not to get the phone because of the issues you had.

 

[caspertodd]

Well, caspertodd, if you did what methoderik said and in fact it's turned off, then you have a defective phone and I would return it since everyone I have dealt with personally and on the forums who turned off the Wireless location services (not wifi) has had their GPS work fine. So I would venture if all conditions are met, that your phone needs to be replaced.

Also, when in google maps, you do need to tell it to go to My Location as that apps will sometimes not report properly on startup. Sprint Nav I had SOMETIMES had to be moving for it to report properly.

I would also recommend you download a program called GPS Status by EclipSim and see if it ever reports actually SEEING the GPS sats

There must be a lot of defective phones out there if it is happening to so many people. I'm going to wait for an update that will hopefully come out in the next 3 months. When I open Google Maps, it just sits there, so I press Menu, and tell it to use my current location, and it times out saying that the GPS is temporarily unavailable. As far as GPS Status by EclipSim, I haven't heard of that. That is definitely a good suggestion, I will give it a try.

I hate to return the phone after all the personaliztion I have done to it. Now that I think of it, I wonder if it might be something that I installed that could be interfering with the GPS such as OpenHome?

 

[arashed31]

The point is that if everyone who post/reads here calls Samsung and reports the same issues they are bound to do something. Or better yet call in tell them the issues and than say you switched to a different phone because of them and you tell people not to get the phone because of the issues you had.

^^This. Honestly everyone, there are other threads about the phone's issues. My thread is about bothering Samsung to fix them. Please stay on topic.

I also called Sprint today. I think I got pretty far up into the tech support because I reached a guy who is a device tester for Sprint. I told him about the problems and he said they heard about GPS stuff but nothing about the battery. He told me to take the phone back to the store and pull out a couple phones to see which ones had GPS problems.

While talking to him I brought up Android 1.5 and 2.0. He said that Sprint received news from Samsung saying they were working on 2.0 but don't know when it will be released.

 

[snowcrash]

I have found that you not only have to turn the wireless network off...but you have to power down the phone and then power it back up...when I do that I get a great GPS lock if outside in about 30 seconds.

 

[arashed31]

I have found that you not only have to turn the wireless network off...but you have to power down the phone and then power it back up...when I do that I get a great GPS lock if outside in about 30 seconds.

Tried this and it works great! Got 8 satellites in my room. When I could only get 4 standing outside.

 

[decalex]

I have found that you not only have to turn the wireless network off...but you have to power down the phone and then power it back up...when I do that I get a great GPS lock if outside in about 30 seconds.

Not to extend a a tangent, but, how often do you have to do that when you're trying to acquire a GPS Lock? ...or basically, was that a 1 time thing you had to do? I've tried almost every combination of fixes to get this working, and still no consistency-- both on this forum and the sprint ones. I'm falling into superstition mode rather than troubleshooting at this point

 

[dbpaddler]

tricks aside, battery life still sucks. the innacurate gauge doesn't help much either. Have about 10 people at work now with the Moment and it's the biggest complaint from everyone, and they don't even make full use of the phone. They text, email and talk with the occasional web surfing. this phone is the worst in limited signal areas. The battery drains like crazy. a firmware update is sorely needed.

 

[njbianco]

tricks aside, battery life still sucks. the innacurate gauge doesn't help much either. Have about 10 people at work now with the Moment and it's the biggest complaint from everyone, and they don't even make full use of the phone. They text, email and talk with the occasional web surfing. this phone is the worst in limited signal areas. The battery drains like crazy. a firmware update is sorely needed.

a update will come the phones only a month old

 

[decalex]

tricks aside, battery life still sucks. the innacurate gauge doesn't help much either. Have about 10 people at work now with the Moment and it's the biggest complaint from everyone, and they don't even make full use of the phone. They text, email and talk with the occasional web surfing. this phone is the worst in limited signal areas. The battery drains like crazy. a firmware update is sorely needed.

Man, I don't know what you do for work, but are you guys hiring??