yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samjpullen:
That was indoors :), outside i can get upto 12 within about 20secs or so :)

Only done a little drive about 3-4miles trying the google navigation, maybe a longer trip would give different results.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
I really wouldn't worry too much about this, nav software generally locks you to a path when readings could be all over the place, you'll see this when you take a wrong turn and it takes a while to snap to the actual route you are traveling. At stationary, depending on visibility, the software will do its best with the satelites available to lock you down, but as you pass behind buildings and the such, you will lose sight and throw those calculations wide open.

some info on true unaided accuracy can be found here: http://www.kowoma.de/en/gps/accuracy.htm as well as other places.

Also, we will see in the not so distant future an upgrade to the gps satelite system bringing the true accuracy to within an arms length!

to quote:

"Achievable Accuracy

A standard GPS receiver for civil use offers an accuracy down to a few meters. In praxis the number and geometry of the received satellites influences the accuracy considerably, and in daily use, accuracies of about 20 m can be expected. More sophisticated GPS receivers as they can be found for land survey cost several thousand dollars and achieve an accuracy of a few centimetres.

With selective availability activated, receivers achieve accuracies of approximately 100 m (these declarations are true for 95 % of all cases). After deactivation of the selective availability the accuracy rose to approximately 15 m, depending of the number and position of available satellites."

and:

"The upgrade will triple the number of signals available for commercial use, which has grown tremendously thanks to the advent of consumer smartphones, geotagging cameras, and other location-aware gadgets. The system should reduce the margin of error of today’s systems from twenty feet or more down to an arm’s length. In addition, atomic clocks on all the new satellites will ensure time-keeping is precise down to a billionth of a second."

"Currently, only one of these satellites, the GPS IIF SV-1, is in orbit and fully operational since August 2010. The second GPS IIF satellite, SV-2 is planned to launch this year. Eventually 10 other units will join them, and that is when you can expect to see the upgrades"

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
Did you look at the buildings along his route? The only way to conclude anything from that track would be to redo it with another phone with known good accuracy at the same time. Even if you redo it with the same phone on a different day the results could be quite different due to different sat positions. Testing GPS performance is not simple since there are so many variables to account for.

We're going to need numerous tests by different users to draw meaningful conclusions.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
I'm going to guess you didn't own a Galaxy S and rely on GPS. What you say may be true, but there are still major variations with existing GPS technology between different phones. Some are consistently excellent, others are nearly useless. If you really need GPS to work it is a big deal when it's unreliable.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
Couldn't agree more!!

But this is a Galaxy S2 forum, and the examples supplied doesn't show accuracy outside of the expected acceptable figures to me, especially as the route shown was moving around a city, through building lined streets, with ample opportunity to lose sight of available satelites.

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dannyboyni:
Ok that first track I showed you guys had Wifi turned ON, and sensor aiding turned off. I have now made another track with both turned OFF.

http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl...d=214191035589290527223.0004a26795b9b9f7dc8f2

I took a slightly different route, but the results are still pretty bad.

I also took the chance to try out GPS test. Accuracy never got below 16 metres. I was mainly in the high 20s mid 30s for accuracy.

I remember my first galaxy s went between 5 metres and 15 metres, this was also doing similar routes.

I dont know what do you guys think?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
The lower accuracy seems to favour east-west travel, and greater accuracy north-south to me...

Perhaps trying the exact same route at a different time of day will show whether the Sat positions are affecting the reading...

I'm having no such issue in my area with very few tall-rise buildings, but i will go for a ride tomorrow and test it as its late here...

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dimaru:
I'm surprised people are so concerned about GPS, I guess it's due to past experiences on the SGS, I've not had any problems navigating so far but then again I didn't have any major issues with GPS on the SGS (after applying a fix).

Here's a screenshot of a my track recording of a 2km walk. We walked to a certain point then back, following almost the same path. The maximum variance/distance between the two lines is approximately 8m.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] NIK516:
yes it did help, now this was the most interesting part the data network part.

This makes me think that at the end of the day the information is pushed through by your data network, so if you have no signal or data the information will not get to your phone, or will get there slowly by wich time you would have moved on making it look inaccurate?

This make sense to any one else or am i just a loony lolll

So maybe some one can go on a walk using the track app and see the fluctuations in server coverage? and also tell us if its overcast this also plays on my gps sometimes.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
I think it's difficult to interpret your track data due to all the buildings. There's no doubt that high buildings degrade GPS tracking. It's not obvious how even the best GPS device would work in that location. If you can get to a relatively open area like in a park with no large buildings around I would be very interested in the accuracy reading, the SNR levels, and how much the accuracy fluctuates. To really get a good idea of how good it's working you would need to do this on several days.

In my own case I use a Galaxy S to take tracks on my daily walk. Some days it's quite good, and other days it's way off. Very inconsistent. I often use Google NAV for driving and sometimes it's flawless, other times it's useless. VERY frustrating. If the S2 isn't a major improvement it will be a huge disappointment.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Intratech:
I will do another my track tomorrow to see what gives here because I've tested it twice and it's been spot on each time. This is why I'm so skeptical of this claim and it makes me wonder if the OP is using a SGS and is on the wrong forum.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] amtrakcn:
By looking at the satellite map, I think the inaccuracy might due to the buildings.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
notice how the variations are during the section through the trees!!!

a perfect example!

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] demo23019:
I don't have a gs2 but I can't see this being an issue again. I mean nexus s came out after the galaxy s and its GPS is perfectly fine. Samsung was well aware of the problem.

that's when walking and its pretty darn accurate. when driving that slight deviation for a sec or two will not effect GPS position

Nothing like the deviation problem that the galaxy s had
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
Look at the poll results so far. 3 report it's good, 3 report it's not.

You can trust Samsung got the S2 right if you want, but after my experience with the S I'm not willing to bet my $700 without solid proof.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] demo23019:
exactly you are basing your opinion from bad experience with SGS i have the next Samsung model...nexus S and GPS is fine i also had a samsung vibrant

also 3 good 3 bad doesn't mean anything after reading allot of comment sounds like some people lack an understanding on how GPS work
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
Bingo. That's what I've been posting all along. We need more data. A couple of tracks, a few users telling us they got a lock, some mixed accuracy reports, so far insufficient to reach a conclusion. It's also not good enough to say the Nexus S works. :)

The only lesson I'm bringing from the SGS is that seeing it work once or even twice isn't enough to know whether it's reliable.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] demo23019:
i changed up my post before you posted

i get what you're saying, i wouldn't worry about GPS

Few people here and reviewers have had the phone for a little bit now and that is one of the first things that was checked
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] samnada:
I captured the quote then took some time to compose and post my response. Just a timing thing. Point was so far the results are split on the S2, so more data needed.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] demo23019:
no prob :)

again though i dont have the phone so i sill stop defending that its fine i just dont see how something that major would be overlooked when it was a huge issue prior
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Dannyboyni:
I am greatly concerned about the GPS in this otherwise wonderful phone.

Maybe its just the buildings, I shall go to an open park in the city tomorrow and try it, and I will post the results.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] boondoc:
looking at the margin for error that have been posted so far don't give me cause to worry, esp since everyone says that driving navigation works great. seeing as how thats 99.9% of how i'll be using it and not say... guiding a smartbomb onto a target i'm satisfied.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] ph00ny:
you guys do understand that GPS isn't that accurate specially in civilian form?

I can't wait to see even more post about GPS inaccuracies once LTE signal interference issue comes into play
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Phytrax:
I had a Captivate and have been using an Atrix for a couple of weeks now. I know the difference is unbelievable. I get a lock within 3 seconds, even indoors. I didn't think it was even possible for handheld GPS to be that good. The most I've had it take was maybe 10 sec to lock and that isn't very often. Accuracy is almost always less than 20m.

I still have a couple weeks to get a refund on my Atrix but if the GPS has any issues on the SGS2, I might just keep the Atrix. I must say I'm very impressed with the Atrix other than that I miss my Super AMOLED screen and custom ROM's.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] amtrakcn:
Atrix GPS is amazing, almost instant lock. However I think GPS on my Focus is acceptable enough for me. So if GS2 is as good as (or maybe better) Focus then GPS will not be a problem for me.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bilboa1:
the sgs gps was horrible

once nearly fully fixed its pretty good. a bit laggy at time but overally, pretty good

the traces from the sgs2 look mostly ok too.

you can't expect GPS to always be perfectly spot on to the meter in all conditions. even testing the same place twice in a day can lead to different results, especially in the city
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Pinepig:
I understand what you think is a major problem but lets be honest it after all is a GPS unit in a cell phone.

If you REALLY need a GPS to be reliable, get a dedicated GPS, the antennas on these are a joke. There is no way I'd fly in the clouds using the GPS on my phone regardless of how good its worked in the past. Now if you definition of REALLY need is not having to drive around the block once to find that pizza joint you've been to 10 times and still can't find it, there is no help for you ( blintz and a blunt, smoke and a pancake ).

IMHO if a cell phone GPS can get you within a block of where you want to be in a car or walking, it's good enough. If you need repeatable accuracy within a couple of meters every time, I have news for ya, a cell phone can not do that with today's tech.

Hell the 10,000 dollar GPS/coms I'm sometimes lucky enough to use can't do it.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] phonex1:
So basically the complaints here seem to be the GPS is not tracking within a few feet accuracy if I am getting this right? (Pardon me if not :( ). I would take this any day over the SGS GPS. As long as It takes me from point A to point B, I don't care if it shows me I am on the north side of xyz street when I am in the southern lane, at least navigation worked.

I mean, my iPhone 4 (and 3gs in the past) have GPS that tracks me quite inaccurately. It gets the job done just fine, but if you are talking a 10 feet accuracy in a city like Toronto then good luck....

I guess previous android devices should have been much much much perfect with the GPS, because coming from the iPhone I don't see the accuracy bothering me much.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] FRlTZ:
There are alot of variables when dealing with GPS.

1.: Location - Where in the world do you live

2.: Outside - Where you right next to a house, or did you have a clearing of about 50 meters around you?

3.: vectors of the satelites.

To get a fix, the most important thing is point 3, it does not help to have 12 satelite fixes if they all are placed in the EAST.

A "perfect" fix is 5 or more satelites, spread over the sky above you and sides.

And yes, it HAS to be better then having to restart the freaking phone, then start "Samsung LBS" to then start Google maps Java to get a working GPS function (Samsung Wave GT-S8500), so stop complaining, you get 26 meters of accuracy, that is plenty good, and will most likly get event better accuracy in future updates.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] smashpunks:
This is how my tracks is supposed to look like.... My g2x http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=203177861999786056973.0004a26d2709fb52096e2

Heres a screenshot of gps test. http://i1001.photobucket.com/albums/af140/temperbad/2011-05-03212042.png
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dptnl:
Are you serious?

I had two Samsung captivate, tried every possible rom/kernel to make the gps useable, then sold them and got Atrix.

Captivate: 10 seconds-two minutes lock time, 50-100 meters accuracy on a good day, no reception on driver's chair nor back side of the car,in other words useless if not on the dashboard - sometimes I didn't get reception even

with the windshield mount.

Motorola Atrix: 1-10 seconds lock time 1-5 meters (not a typo) accuracy, works everywhere inside my cars, heck, even indoors - with gps test two steps from standing and it gives me my walking speed.

Not acceptable with premium phone - especially since they had this problem with the previous model.

Unbelievable - if this is true Samsung should kick some asses.

Until we find out for sure - for the rest of you sgs II owners - install "gps test" from the market so you will be able to find out accuracy/lock time - ,much better than using Google maps for this purpose.

I almost placed an order after reading Engadget review - couldn't resist the screen and the specs - Thanks for opening this thread since gps performance is crucial for me.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] trickyhenry:
After reading this post this morning i decided to try it on the way to work. I had accuracy within 10m most of the way. This is fine for me. is there an app that measures and plots accuracy as i was only using maps.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] bilboa1:
lol :)

should change accuracy to say 0.001 inches xD
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Burko:
Why would i have Wifi on when I'm in the middle of the countryside?

I'm confused by your demand here, if you have a data plan (who doesn't) then why are you roaming around trying to connect to wifi? It's going to kill your battery and cause connection loss when moving in and out of range?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] onbacardi:
this might be a lot to ask but can someone do a full track record of the gps around the city center somewhere with tall sky scrapers?

- a few hard turns

- a good few kms!
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] alsheron:
Well.... I don't roam around trying to connect to WIFI. I'm going out on a limb here and saying that I think most people don't manually turn their WIFI on and off when leaving the house - I certainly don't and I'm about as tech-savvy as it gets. Sure, you CAN and there apps that automate it - but especially for the vast majority of NON-technical users out there - they ain't going to be manually doing anything with WIFI unless they're checking to see if it's ON.

Now..... given that WIFI is ON for most people most of the time (my shameful, but informed, guess) - and given that WIFI uses the same wireless chip as GPS (another shameful but informed guess) and given that it was a known "trick" to improve GPS performance on the original SGS to turn OFF WIFI (either interference on a hardware level or AGPS being messed up) I'm simply asking people to realise the above and give a set standard of tests using comparable settings. Keeping WIFI ON will then give results taken under what I consider "normal" or even "normalised" settings on the phone. Also - with WIFI OFF - AGPS is NOT used and so if this is the reason for GPS accuracy being bad and coming and going (at least for some of us) if you turn WIFI ON we're going to get a lot of people declaring their GPS peformance "fine".
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Mikulec:
I do. Its simple on Sammy phones, just pull down the notification bar, click wifi icon and u are done (it really makes a difference if we are talking aabout battery life). ;)
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] stoney73:
Not quite sure you can say its an informed guess. Just who is 'most people'? Just you? or has there been some sort of poll?

As for me, i do tend to turn the wifi on and off as i need it why waste battery for no reason?
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
I do, why would i leave my wifi on when i dont need it?? I only switch my wifi on when i want to download something large or something quickly...

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] alsheron:
Ok - so I took my phone into 02 and showed them the inaccuracy described in the first post. I used Google Navigation to get there and the blue circle was ok to be honest but not great and would get larger and then smaller etc. At junctions it didn't quite keep up and at a roundabout it was all over the place.

So when I got there I asked the assistant (who was very helpful) if he had another and if we could go outside and test the two SGSII's. He went out back and returned with a brand new box which he then opened up and we took this outside.

We turned ON WIFI - as Google Maps actually ASKS (nags) you to do to improve accuracy - and fired up Google Maps. After about 30 secs we saw accuracy comparable to my original SGSII. After about 2 minutes we witnessed the blue circle come and go - bigger and smaller. The O2 assistant then agreed that he could see the fault and agreed to my request for a refund as I considered the handset faulty and believed that at the very least it could be this "batch".

When we went back inside he then rang someone who I overheard had a samsung e-mail address and explained the situation. He eventually put me on the phone to this guy and I also explained what had happened and that my HTC Hero was virtually perfect with the EXACT SAME GPS/Wireless settings as the SGSII but that it kept virtually flawless accuracy - unlike the SGSII right next to it. Even then, he went on to point out that AGPS (used when WIFI is ON) could be causing the blue circle to go bigger and smaller etc) and asked if I'd tried it with WIFI OFF. I replied that I had and that the accuracy was just as bad i.e. no difference.

Now.... I've got my refund and the O2 assistant has asked me to e-mail him the details of the fault so that he can then forward it to the "samsung guy". I'm going to be very specific and very accurate when I do exactly that.

I love the SGSII. It's just such a huge PITA that Samsung haven't remedied the problem that their previous SGS had and ESPECIALLY given that from what I'm picking up on - OTHER handset manufacturers DO NOT have these GPS issues to the same degree (someone mentioned their Motorola Atrix was A-ok)

I also want to say that I wish I hadn't placed the poll because in a strange way some people are RELENTLESS in their insistence that "well my GPS is just fine - I don't know what you're talking about" and completely confuse the very SPECIFIC measurements I mentioned in my first post. Some people just don't care and I'm guessing that Samsung simply aren't taking this seriously because not enough people who buy their phones are taking it seriously. I suppose the answer is to switch to a phone manufacturer (maybe Motorola, maybe HTC or even wait for the iPhone 5) that has established a reputation for high GPS accuracy. Which is a great shame because in all other respects - Samsung have absolutely nailed it with the SGSII - and I'm going to spend nights crying myself to sleep if I can't get no SAMOLED+ love from anywhere else (which I can't!)

Peace!
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] dickie2007:
WHAT?

AGPS comes through cell towers over data connection using your cell ID! It uses triangulation give a rough estimation of your location, this is then sent to a server to assist.

Do a little research as most of what you are saying seems to be based on what you think, not what you know!

INFO: http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/a-gps.html

Dickie
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] alsheron:
Hold your Donkeys! You're right, I'm wrong - doesn't invalidate the rest of what I've said. Sheesh Kebab!

Also - to others - get off your high horse(s)! Is there an overload of Testosterone/Immaturity on XDA or something? Just because I say I believe (and give reasonable reasons) as to why MOST people would not be tuning their WIFI on and off manually isn't a cue to jump down my throat. Did you not READ my point about Google Maps ASKING you to turn ON Wifi? Apparently some folks on here either can't or simply don't read and are only interested in making points about a supposed lack of "evidence". That's what we're here to figure out!!!!! Gimme a break!
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] golf2vr6:
j/k k:D
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] Eddiemc:
Unfortunately such is the digital life...

"Sometimes one cannot see the trees for all the trolls, and sometimes the trollhunters loose track of their original path."

I just wanted to say thanks for the effort and for bringing up a serious issue/worry about an expensive handset. I am one of those who will probably get the phone regardless of gps issues (just because I'm impatient and I want THIS phone), but I can see how it will annoy me if the signal fluctuates like you are describing.

But at least you made me aware of the issue, whilst I tried ignore the pointless posts and bickering (alas I'm adding one more here..), when reading through your thread.

My humble opinion: This is what this forum is all about; research, development, news, and last but not least; helping others.
[Galaxy S II Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] coocood:
Looks like the GPS of SGS2 does have a 10m like inaccuracy,but how many people would consider it a crucial issue,1%?