All Things GPS

[gonzo143]

I decided to exchange my phone today to see if another one picked up the satellite quicker.....it's the same! I sacrificed the screen protector/skin I already put on and I gave them even more $$ because I couldn't leave without buying the car dock.

Funny part was that as I was troubleshooting (required for exchange) with the Verizon Rep she said " that isn't' a known issue that there are any problems with the GPS".

They should all be required to read Android forums before they start their shift !

 

[tjbugs1]

So on my SF if I turn off google locations I get no lock at all, anyone else? But on a plus I turned on standalone now my GPS works almost as good as my D1

 

[baseballphan]

I tried it in all of the possible configurations w/ 3rd party GPS turned on and the two location services on and off. Nothing made mine lock any quicker than 8 minutes. That's incredibly frustrating, but not a deal-breaker. I feel like this is the kind of thing that can and will get fixed eventually and until then, I am just enjoying the phone.

Yesterday I saw a dude walking around with one of those baby-carriers on his chest in which he was carrying around his obviously VERY young infant. What struck about this dude is that while he was walking, he was holding each of his infant son's hands in his hands and he was looking at the kid's face rather than where he was going. Then I realized that this is exactly what I must look like with my phone. I was the second person to buy the phone at my local store on Sept 9 and I haven't put it down since. I even go to sleep at night reading or watching something on it. Ok, TMI, but I know some of you out there are doing the exact same thing.

 

[Moonfire]

Yesterday I saw a dude walking around with one of those baby-carriers on his chest in which he was carrying around his obviously VERY young infant. What struck about this dude is that while he was walking, he was holding each of his infant son's hands in his hands and he was looking at the kid's face rather than where he was going. Then I realized that this is exactly what I must look like with my phone. I was the second person to buy the phone at my local store on Sept 9 and I haven't put it down since. I even go to sleep at night reading or watching something on it. Ok, TMI, but I know some of you out there are doing the exact same thing.

Yeah, but does a baby have GPS at all? Does a baaby have silent mode? Does a baaaby have the ability to show you books, movies, and music?

I didn't think so.

Samsung Fascinate: Better than a baby. And cheaper, too!


This statement brought to you by the Seriously, Why Are People Constantly Wanting To Have Tiny Squirmy Things That Throw Up All The Time When A Smartphone Is So Much Better (SWAPCWTHTSTTTUATTWASISMB) Foundation. Side effects include burning, itching, random bleeding by the ears, purple hair, and in severe cases, thinking anything that has Eminem in it is worth listening to.

 

[OfTheDamned]

I was really concerned with this a I picked up my Fascinate from Best Buy today. The first thing I did when I walked out of the store was download Google Maps and test the GPS. I had Verizon and GPS turned on in the location settings and was relieved to see that it locked on in about 30 seconds and gave me accuracy up to 2 meters. Very relieved and very happy with this ginormous phone so far.

 

[Jacki1008]

Very relieved and very happy with this ginormous phone so far.

lol, having schlepped around a Droid X for 3 weeks, I'd never think of the Fascinate as ginormous.

 

[saps]

I was really concerned with this a I picked up my Fascinate from Best Buy today. The first thing I did when I walked out of the store was download Google Maps and test the GPS. I had Verizon and GPS turned on in the location settings and was relieved to see that it locked on in about 30 seconds and gave me accuracy up to 2 meters. Very relieved and very happy with this ginormous phone so far.

Just an fyi. Most of us find the GPS most effective by turning the Verizon stuff off and just using google and stand alone services

 

[gonzo143]

Just an fyi. Most of us find the GPS most effective by turning the Verizon stuff off and just using google and stand alone services

Thanks for pointing that out. As soon as I read that post, I started to question which setting has worked best for somepeople.

 

[OfTheDamned]

lol, having schlepped around a Droid X for 3 weeks, I'd never think of the Fascinate as ginormous.

Coming from an Eris and having small girls hands makes this thing huge.

Just an fyi. Most of us find the GPS most effective by turning the Verizon stuff off and just using google and stand alone services

Thanks, I'll try it that way while I am out tonight.

EDIT: Just tried it with Verizon turned off and maps showed my location in 22 seconds accurate up to 5 meters. It also told me that I could improve accuracy by turning on wifi. Tried it and it changed to accurate < 1 meter. Never tried that before.

 

[suzola]

I am very frustrated with this GPS issue. I have downloaded GPS Test and GPS Status and sometimes it seems like nothing works and sometimes things work great.

When I first got the phone I couldn't get GPS to work and found a tip about downloading GPS Test. I did that, followed the directions and everything worked great. then a couple of days ago, I started having problems again.

Right now I have reset the cache using GPS Status and now everything seems to be working again. For how long though?

I hope this gets fixed. I am really considering getting a different phone.

 

[Benrx]

I am very frustrated with this GPS issue. I have downloaded GPS Test and GPS Status and sometimes it seems like nothing works and sometimes things work great.

I've had mine less than a week, and I had the same experience as this today except that I'm not super into this stuff. I'd never heard of GPS Status or GPS Test until I was reading this thread out of frustration. So I haven't tried any tricks to fix it.

I'm vacationing in NYC. We were at Battery Park where there are no buildings. My GPS put me on the Upper West Side. After a several aggravating minutes, it had me across the park many feet away. We barely found where to get our tickets before the boat left. A little while later I was on the dock at the Statue of Liberty. Not only did it have me on Liberty Island, it had me on the dock, and on the exact spot on the dock where I was standing.

 

[beenz]

So I went into settings and turned off google locations and left the standalone gps setting on.

Best first post ever!!! I get GPS again!

 

[Zimpo]

This seems to have worked for me too (that is, turning on ONLY standalone). I turned everything off, rebooted the phone, turned on just the standalone, ran gps test, and it locks on pretty quickly. I've tried this several times now, over the past few days. It seems if I have the google one on, it borks it and it never locks. Weird.

 

[bstarr3]

Tried this. As with every fix I read about, I was hopeful that this one will work. Turned off everything, reset phone, turned on standalone gps, waited until I was outside, turned on gps status (just updated): 0/5 after five seconds 0/10 after 15, 1/11 after 30, 0/10 after 45, back to 1/11 after 60. After that I turned it off and went back inside (0/2 inside, btw. I don't expect it to work inside but frustrating that some have it working) If it takes longer than 60 seconds to work its effectively useless to me.

Have people had success returning it? Two parts to that question: 1) can I convince VZW that this is a warranty exchange worthy condition? (I got this as an exchange for my dinc on day 30/30 so no non-warranty exchange for me) 2) of people who have had problems with their gps and exchanged their phone, have they found success with the new unit? Also, will they take it for a warranty exchange for faulty gps if there is also a hairline crack/scratch on the screen?

 

[beenz]

You can try to take it to VZW and exchange it for a new one. But beware, my buddy has only gotten a GPS lock twice, and one of those times was in the VZW store trying to exchange it due to the GPS

 

[gonzo143]

) 2) of people who have had problems with their gps and exchanged their phone, have they found success with the new unit? Also, will they take it for a warranty exchange for faulty gps if there is also a hairline crack/scratch on the screen?

I exchanged mine. I had to "troubleshoot" with 1-866-406-5154 first and then they noted my account. I told them I had GPS issues and "crackling" in the earpiece sometimes ( I thought i read that some people had an issue with it). I figured 2 reasons are better than one for a defective exchange. The 2nd unit has the same issues with the GPS, at least I know it was not just my phone. It initially takes a few minutes to lock on, but once it does it works great.

Good luck....just push the defective part ( it's really not a 30 day exchange ..it's defective and you want another one )

 

[chasemyaccord]

Thanks, this definitely did the trick! Mine used to be off by a couple city blocks, but now it's extremely accurate. I use the FreeCaddie program when I play golf and the yardage is accurate to about 2 yards. Thank you!!!

 

[rxjjang]

Firmware optimization may improve performance, but there is certainly an element of hardware issues as well --at the very least, there is significant variance between each handset. I just returned my fascinate, which I bought on day 1, and "purchased" a free one from BestBuy, last Friday. Without a doubt, the GPS unit locks and fixes a location within a minute (previously it would take 3-4 min) and the signal strength for each satellite is at least 20% higher as well.

 

[stayqued]

I actually got a new one about a week ago; the first day the GPS was blazing- quick locks and more sats seen and fixed than my old one ever got. Now it's pretty much doing what the old one way doing, maybe a bit better.

Also seems to be completely hit or miss how long it'll take, regardless of place.

 

[Zimpo]

Looks like I spoke too soon. My GPS seems to be intermittent, even with the above. Sometimes it takes 20 seconds to lock on, sometimes 20-30 minutes. Rebooting the phone after turning on GPS seems to help. I've only been turning on the middle option (not VZW or Googles).

 

[suzola]

Once I put in the 10 minutes or so to get the lock, the GPS works great. Very accurate.

question: I haven't tried turning off google location services, yet. If I do that though, will google navigation work?

I've tried using Bing for directions and it is a royal pain. It wants me to enter my present location. Google can figure out where I am (once there is a gps lock, that is)

 

[Cuda52774]

This is my situation. Hope I'm not repeating info (sorry, couldn't read the whole thread) and this helps someone.

My theory is that Google location services and the other two fight each other. Google is saying you're here and the other two are saying you're 50 meters away, thus the big blue circle on Google Maps. Like others have said, I've had the best luck turning off Google and leaving the other two on. They seem to play well together.

I also find my GPS works best when I turn on GPS status first. I usually lock in at around 20-30 secs, accurate w/in 3m, and that's inside. It's been faster in my car. Honestly, my Tom-tom takes a lot longer if it's been a while since I updated the Sat locations.

The trick that I think solved it for me is that on GPS status, their AGPS download data (sat locations) is only good for a few days. I have mine set up to auto download every day and ignored on task killer.

Download GPS Status (free on market)
Open GPS Status app
Menu button then click Settings
Click GPS & Sensors
Click auto download AGPS data.
Set to every day
Ignore in Task Killer

Cuda

 

[Cuda52774]

Once I put in the 10 minutes or so to get the lock, the GPS works great. Very accurate.

question: I haven't tried turning off google location services, yet. If I do that though, will google navigation work?

I've tried using Bing for directions and it is a royal pain. It wants me to enter my present location. Google can figure out where I am (once there is a gps lock, that is)

Yes. Google Maps navigation works fine without Google Location Services.

Cuda

 

[Kabob]

Mine seems to be really hit or miss. Sometimes it locks on quickly, others it just sits and sits. I haven't found a tried and true method between Navigation, GPS Status & Toolbox, and Google Location services, but I'll keep attempting.

 

[Kabob]

Question, has Samsung released their "official GPS fix" yet or are we still waiting for that? Exactly what is this fix supposed to entail?