Help GPS Performance Dissapointing

[AnotherHiggins]

I got my GN on release day. Since then I've driven to and from my in-law's house - about a 3 hour drive each way.

Even though I know the route, I decided to try out Navigation on the way there. The phone got very warm (I didn't get an actual reading, but it was hot to the touch - much hotter than my DInc would have gotten), but seemed to perform OK.

On the way back, I only turned on Navigation/Maps intermittently but ran Trapster for a good portion of the trip. Once again, the phone got hot.

At some point I looked down and noticed it saying that I was driving 70MPH in a 35MPH zone?! I was on a freeway, but it showed me in a neighborhood nearly 1/4 mile to the west of my actual location.

After I got home and the unit had cooled down, I opened Maps and my location was dead-on.

I've also noticed Google Sky Map intermittently being way off.

Has anyone else had similar trouble?

 

[zerocool79346]

Nope. Mine has locked cold and hot in under 10 seconds everytime.

 

[Dubbin1]

Mine has been working flawlessly and locks on quicker than I can see even when sitting in my house. You sure it isn't trapster (never used it) causing the issue?

As far as it getting warm that is perfectly normal.

 

[syntrix]

Nope. Mine has locked cold and hot in under 10 seconds everytime.

Yup, got down to 5M accuracy at the house. Nav is spot on.

I have that program in my market account from a prior download. Not so sure it's up to speed with ICS, but I'm not really interested in testing.

Nav requires a lot of juice, but in my nav experience it just got a little warm, certainly not hot!

edit: great tool: https://market.android.com/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2&hl=en

 

[sperho]

Both Android phones that I've owned have gotten hot when using Nav. Especially when I'm streaming music and the phone is in a charge state at the same time. OG Droid and Bionic. I've not used Nav yet on the Nex.

 

[syntrix]

Both Android phones that I've owned have gotten hot when using Nav. Especially when I'm streaming music and the phone is in a charge state at the same time. OG Droid and Bionic. I've not used Nav yet on the Nex.

Bionic IMHO was the coolest out of the bunch when doing nav. SGN is just a few degrees warmer, but probably because of the thinner cover IMHO.

HOT? Really? IMHO HOT is like a baked potato out of the oven, where you can't hold it for too long or you will burn your hand.

 

[jkc120]

I got my GN on release day. Since then I've driven to and from my in-law's house - about a 3 hour drive each way.

Even though I know the route, I decided to try out the GPS on the way there. The phone got extremely hot (I didn't get an actual reading, but it was very hot to the touch), but seemed to perform OK.

On the way back, I only turned on GPS intermittently but ran Trapster for a good portion of the trip. Once again, the phone got really hot.

At some point I looked down and noticed it saying that I was driving 70MPH in a 35MPH zone?! I was on a freeway, but it showed me in a neighborhood nearly 1/4 mile to the west of my actual location.

After I got home and the unit had cooled down, I tried again and my location was dead-on.

I've also noticed Google Sky Map intermittently being way off.

Has anyone else had similar trouble?

I used google maps to navigate yesterday about a 2.5 hour drive in NE PA, and although I lost data (3G) in a few places in the boonies, the GPS worked flawlessly. It locked in less than 15 seconds, despite the rain and clouds. I was quite happy with it and I'm glad Samsung made this improvement.

 

[umataro42]

Doesn't the GPS require a data connection (3G/4G or wirless)?

I use the iMapMyRun+ app,which uses GPS, to log in walks, and my data signal is usually not great near my work. A few times it will lose signal so the entire walk doesn't get tracked/logged.

But that happened with my last phone (Moto Droid) too, so it seems to be because the data signal around there isn't that good.

 

[syntrix]

Doesn't the GPS require a data connection (3G/4G or wirless)?

No, the GPS doesn't, we have tested with the tool linked above with no data connection and no agps.

Google Nav usually requires a data connection, but you can cache areas now.

agps helps, data helps, wifi helps, but none are specifically required for operation.

 

[truelove79]

GPS works great for me.

 

[kuykendallc]

Gps takes almost a minute to lock on my phone and when I do its to 15m precision not 5 like some are reporting. I am not terribly worried about it though.

 

[DPiddy]

I had slow GPS locks last Thur/Fri. Ever since it is locking in less than 10s and doesn't overheat. I use GPS daily and frankly think that Google Nav is amazing considering it is free.

 

[esmith818]

Of the three Android phones I have used, the Nexus has had the best GPS fix for me. Of course, I always keep the GPS signal activated (it is only used when an app is running which requires it) and I have enabled all three GPS options in the settings (Google, VZW and towers).

Perhaps the OP is not using all the options available for getting a lock?

 

[moondrius]

Gps locks in my basement in under 10 seconds. No problems here.

 

[syntrix]

Of the three Android phones I have used, the Nexus has had the best GPS fix for me. Of course, I always keep the GPS signal activated (it is only used when an app is running which requires it) and I have enabled all three GPS options in the settings (Google, VZW and towers).

Perhaps the OP is not using all the options available for getting a lock?

I hit thanks.

You can turn it all off, even data. The core GPS unit will lock fast without any data inputs.

I do recall a UK user (here) where his GPS would not lock in this condition, and he got a few others around him and replicated... his GPS was indeed non-functional where the others worked just fine.

Use the tool I linked. Turn off all data and services, disable agps in the test tool and report. GO NOW!!!!!

 

[clb2196]

No issues with GPS. I was using an app that had a map that showed location inside a mall, it was getting my location to within a few feet the whole time I was in there. And GPs lock is way faster than it was on my D2, especially at the end of its life.

 

[VetteVert]

Sorry if i have been ninja'ed and missed it.

You stated your problem (the 70 in a 35thing) in the previous sentence. You only turned on gps sporadically. When trapster showed your false speed and location, it was using tower based location since you had gps off. Tower based location has a very coarse resolution.

I got my GN on release day. Since then I've driven to and from my in-law's house - about a 3 hour drive each way.

Even though I know the route, I decided to try out the GPS on the way there. The phone got extremely hot (I didn't get an actual reading, but it was very hot to the touch), but seemed to perform OK.

On the way back, I only turned on GPS intermittently but ran Trapster for a good portion of the trip. Once again, the phone got really hot.

At some point I looked down and noticed it saying that I was driving 70MPH in a 35MPH zone?! I was on a freeway, but it showed me in a neighborhood nearly 1/4 mile to the west of my actual location.

After I got home and the unit had cooled down, I tried again and my location was dead-on.

I've also noticed Google Sky Map intermittently being way off.

Has anyone else had similar trouble?

 

[syntrix]

No issues with GPS. I was using an app that had a map that showed location inside a mall, it was getting my location to within a few feet the whole time I was in there. And GPs lock is way faster than it was on my D2, especially at the end of its life.

Most of those mall things use wifi and a-gps. Glad it worked for ya!

Again, this thread is "general" gps. I posted specific gps (radio only) testing.

my bad!

 

[Khatmandu]

I've only used the GPS on mine for a few short trips to try it out. Works far, far better than my old DX, which got uncomfortably warm when using the GPS. The DX would have freezes and reboots because of the temp, had to have an ac vent blowing on it if I planned to use it as a gps on any drive longer than about 30 minutes.

The Gnex has no such issues so far. Used it coming home from one of my offices, about a 45-50 minute drive depending on traffic. Was not much warmer than it gets while making a phone call. Location was spot on as well. With the DX and my OG Droid, I'd have times where the GPS told me to turn after I already did.

Gnex finds the satellites much quicker too. Maybe there is something to that barometer..

 

[syntrix]

Thanks for not using the word hot, that means you can't handle it!

Warm, or even slightly warm is best for SGN. I feel you on the droid X, that got VERY WARM!!!!

 

[clb2196]

Most of those mall things use wifi and a-gps. Glad it worked for ya!

Again, this thread is "general" gps. I posted specific gps (radio only) testing.

my bad!

Had wifi turned off, to save battery.

 

[cggorman]

HOT? Really? IMHO HOT is like a baked potato out of the oven, where you can't hold it for too long or you will burn your hand.

My OG Droid would routinely run at 140F and occasionally make it up to 150F. I made a custom finned copper backplate to help keep it cool. Cant wait to see how far we can push the OMAP 4460. With any luck, HOT will be possible.

 

[AnotherHiggins]

OK, thanks for the feedback, everyone.

The reason I posted is because I didn't see a single other complaint about the GPS on this phone in either the Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the Verizon Galaxy Nexus forums. So I wanted to confirm that this isn't a common problem.

If it's a common problem, I wouldn't worry because it'll probably be fixed in a future sw release. But if it is just me (and it seems that it is).... Well, then, I'm screwed if I keep this handset.

I wound up stopping by my local store earlier to talk to them about it. Their suggestion: "Let us reset it at the level that we can reset it to see if that helps." Their super-secret reset-level? Factory Data Reset. LOL, I've done that dozens of times on the DInc. But I let her try what she wanted to try. She said if my problems persist, they'll swap it for a new Nexus.

You sure it isn't trapster (never used it) causing the issue?

I turned off Trapster and opened up Google Maps - same location problem.

Both Android phones that I've owned have gotten hot when using Nav. Especially when I'm streaming music and the phone is in a charge state at the same time. OG Droid and Bionic.

I did that quite often (Nav + Music streaming + charging) with my DInc and it always got hot. My GN got noticeably hotter without playing any music.

HOT? Really? IMHO HOT is like a baked potato out of the oven, where you can't hold it for too long or you will burn your hand.

I'll be sure to take your opinion about word definitions into consideration before posting in the future.

I had slow GPS locks last Thur/Fri. Ever since it is locking in less than 10s and doesn't overheat. I use GPS daily and frankly think that Google Nav is amazing considering it is free.

Don't get me wrong, I freaking LOVE the free Navigation on Android.

Perhaps the OP is not using all the options available for getting a lock?

FWIW, I was.

I do recall a UK user (here) where his GPS would not lock in this condition, and he got a few others around him and replicated... his GPS was indeed non-functional where the others worked just fine.

That's really why I posted. Like I said above, I figured the fact that there wasn't already a thread about the GPS might mean it's just mine.

You stated your problem (the 70 in a 35thing) in the previous sentence. You only turned on gps sporadically. When trapster showed your false speed and location, it was using tower based location since you had gps off. Tower based location has a very coarse resolution.

I'm sorry for the confusion - totally my fault. I meant to say that I only turned on Maps sporadically. I never turn off GPS unless my battery is really low since GPS doesn't draw power unless an app is actively using it. So my GPS was active, but had my location 1/4 mile away.

I've edited my OP to make that more clear. Thanks for pointing that out so I could fix it.

Thanks for not using the word hot, that means you can't handle it!

Dude, let it go. the 1st definition of hot from Webster's: "having a relatively high temperature". Hot /= "can't touch this". I think you might have it confused with Hammer Time.

 

[samiusmc]

It is a common problem. Mine takes a long time to lock. Others have reported it too. Just Google "Galaxy Nexus GPS Problem" and you'll see how widespread it is.

 

[cggorman]

I can't say how common it is, but the GNex CAN be exceptional. If yours isn't, exchange it.

Mine has a scary fast lock and is more than accurate enough for anything other than construction, law, or military use.