yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] bitbang3r:
The inability of Waze & Google Maps to reliably acquire (and maintain) location fixes (despite GPS Test Plus quickly locking on and showing 10' accuracy) has driven me nuts for months. I think I might have found the culprit, though: it appears that the Note 4 doesn't get its compass calibrated by the factory, and gives no warning to tell you anything is wrong (from what I remember, my older Android phones made you do a compass-calibration at some point after booting it up for the first time).

Apps like Waze & Google Maps use both GPS and dead-reckoning (based on compass & accelerometer, correlated with what it knows about the shapes of the roads nearby). My guess is that out-of-the-box, the Note 4's compass is totally borked & ends up confusing the hell out of both Waze & Google Maps, even though apps like GPS Test Plus seem to have no problems.

Prior to following the steps below, AR Compass was indicating that my phone was pointing south-southwest (it was really pointing precisely northwest).

Possible fix:

Open the dialer, and enter * # 0 * #

touch "Sensor"

Look for "Magnetic Sensor". If the compass diagram shows a "0", the compass has never been calibrated. Mine wasn't.

aim the phone north, then slowly rotate it through each axis once. After each rotation, the phone should briefly vibrate, and the counter should increase until it says 3.

After I did it, north wasn't *quite* in the right spot, but it was still an improvement over the initial non-calibration (which showed the north-pointing phone as being aimed towards the southwest).
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Face_Plant:
My GPS sucks pretty bad. This is after sitting for a few minutes.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] niftydl:
Yep, my GPS is sucking as well. Seems to have started since the latest update to the Rapture ROM.

Update: it seems dramatically affected by the weather. This was not an issue with many of my previous devices. Yesterday we gas a lot of storm cloud cover and I could not get more than 60+ foot lock. Today skies are clear and it locks to 10-20 ft.

Update #2: I have tested the GPS in multiple locations and it seems that the official Samsung protective case is killing the GPS signal strength by 30-50%. As soon as I removed the case, the phone locked into 10+ satellites with 10ft accuracy.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] arjun90:
Stock ROM doesn't give GPS problems, which ROM's should we avoid if GPS is an issue?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] PunishedSnake:
Samsung phones' GPS have generally been poor
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] holycow1:
Same issue with my phone. The GPS icon disappears during navigation at regular 5 minute intervals no matter what GPS app (Waze, google maps, etc). I think I narrowed it down to it occurring during google account manager syncing operation. I believe it to be a software issue, rather than a hardware issue.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] arjun90:
Dates back to the Original Samsung Galaxy S (especially AT&T's Captivate) AFAIK
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] slybarman:
My note 2 GPS was very solid. No problem getting or holding locks. My note 4 running Google maps gives me "GPS signal lost" every 15 mins. Very annoying. Thinking I may need to exchange the phone.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] osetivo:
As an AT&T user who had incredible GPS with the AT&T Note 2 (Euro Rom) and significant GPS issues with 2 different AT&T SGN4s, I decided to peek into this Forum to see if it was jsut AT&T. Nope. I really like their hardware (so long as I have root) :(
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] elementalx:
I consistently have trouble getting any lock with my note 3. Gps test sees around 20 sats, but never a lock. Months ago I could get a lock, but would lose it whenever I opened any nav app, i.e. Maps or Waze. I have been researching new phones, with one hope being too leave this problem behind. After reading this though my hopes for the note 4 are diminished. I am a huge note fan, but simple functionality of such features is key.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] royisher:
Having the exact same problem with Waze.

On a side note - when i installed the ported XNote ROM (which is great, but went back to Dynamic Kat), I didn't experience this problem. When I went back to a TMobile based ROM (Dynamic Kat) the issue immediately came back.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] randpost:
My Note 4's haven't been the best with GPS. Takes a long time to lock sometimes and accuracy leaves much to be desired. Both the Note 3 and S5 are far better (only other Samsung phones I have). I no longer use my note 4 for running or biking.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] naruto.ninjakid:
Is this issue still the norm? I’m wondering if I should send my phone in since I am having the same issue. Phone doesn't lock onto GPS for a good 10 minutes and have to constantly reboot the phone. If this is the norm I would rather not send in my phone and get a refurb since I have taken really good care of mine.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] gthing:
Welcome to the Note 4 and it's potato GPS. Samsung has been having issues shipping a phone with a GPS that works since Samsung started making phones. And for all the lucky people who have a GPS that works, it doesn't help the rest of us who got stuck with this garbage. It will be a source of frustration for you as long as you own the phone, and probably on any other Samsung phone you buy. The best fix is to never give money to this ****ty company again.

Rant out of the way, there is a kinda-workaround. Just hold your phone in that way that Steve Jobs said you shouldn't hold your phone. Seriously. Put the phone in your hand and grip the sides between your fingers and palm. Give a firm squeeze. Do this with GPS status open and watch a world of GPS satellites pop into view.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Warrior1975:
Yes, that works for me as well. By far, the worst GPS I've ever had.

Sent from my SM-N910T3 using Xparent Skyblue Tapatalk 2
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rob the plumber:
Mine loses gps signal when navigating every time. I tap the back of the device on the steering wheel and it locks. I need to warranty it before it's up.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] narutonish:
Same GPS issues here, N2 seems to have better GPS accuracy than N4. hopefully is software related ?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] James62370:
Yes my Note 2 acquires a fix and maintains a lock much better. I have sent in mine for a replacement. Hopefully they will send me a new one and not refurbished.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] kaplanfa:
I am having the same problem and it drives me crazy. Having a good GPS without the need of internet on a large premium screen was one of my motivations to buy this phone so now i am really frustrated about the issue. On some posts in the internet i saw that some people dismounted their phone and moved some wires on the motherboard. They said it worked for them. I gave my phone to a service and they said they couldn't locate any problem.

What i don't understand if it is a hardware problem or a software problem. There must be a solution in either way !

PS: GPS works when i am in my apartment which is in the 3rd floor. But it doesn't work when i am in the ground level. So this makes me think that the problem is on hardware. I think there is a problem on the GPS antenna.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Cuppeerr:
GPS on my T3 works a million times better than my original N910T. Instantly lock on and the accuracy is pretty good.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] dkb218:
Hoping this issue is fixed on the Note 6.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] mxxcon:
So is this a software or hardware issue? :/

I already had my Note 4 replaced 2 times with exactly the same ****ty GPS. Originally in the beginning of summer and 2nd time on Sept 2nd.

Meanwhile my old Galaxy S3 tracks GPS w/o any problems.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] 3pcssuits:
I have had GPS issues with most lollipop tw ROMs, but for some odd reason AOSP has been instant lock
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] ac3theone:
I've been getting pretty reliable gps and I'm on rapture 5.01 rom
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] kaplanfa:
I have no idea why and how, but 5.1 fixed my problem. I was using simple rom 5.01. Since they have updated to 5.1 and i have installed it, i don't have GPS problem anymore. I've been testing it since yesterday without using internet, and each time the phone located me in a short while. I tested it by walking, and also in a bus, and the result was quite good and accurate.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] OyyoDams:
I had terrible fix issues with my GPS. I switched from wanamlite rom to sweet rom, now my GPS works again!
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] mxxcon:
Upgraded from stock 5.0.1 to stock 5.1.1, GPS is still broken.

If people have N910T and T3 at the same time, can you post screenshot from GPS Status from the same location?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Chocu1a:
On 5.0.1, GPS took about 1-2 minutes to get a lock. On 5.1.1, it is immediate. Weird....but not complaining.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] MDHACK:
I just noticed that switching airplane mode on, made the GPS work better. Also noticed that using 2G (lol) does not affect the GPS, but switching to 3G Band 2 breaks GPS. I haven't tested LTE because I am out of the US.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
Has anyone here with a T-mobile GN4 been able to perform an NV Rebuild? Many have said this has helped their GPS accuracy. I have tried and tried but can't get it to work.

Here is how it is supposed to be done:

1.On your phone keypad type *#9090# this will open secret menu

2. In the options menu (3 dots top right) select key input, type Q then select enter

3. go back to key input this time type 0000, select enter then wait... A new menu will open

4. Select UM setting and info

5. Select > setting

6. Select > system

7. Select > NV rebuild

8. Select > Protocol GPS , IMS NV

9. Reboot phone as instructed.

When I try this, I can't get past the 0000 bit. A little window appears for a split second then disappears.

Does anyone else know how to get this to work?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] vprasad1:
Wasn't that Kitkat only, disabled in Lollipop?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
You could be right. I had no idea it was only on KitKat. Thanks for chiming in.

For the record, the GPS on my Note 4 is basically useless
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] ContractorDude:
Do you have the 910T or T3. I have the T3 which was a later build. GPS works pretty well for me and I use it everyday.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
I have the 910T unfortunately. My warranty is up in June. Hopefully Sammy will exchange it when I get back to the states.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
This guy was able to do it on an AT&T Note 4 with 5.0.1

http://forums.androidcentral.com/sa...galaxy-note-4-gps-problem-10.html#post4635987

So maybe T-Mobile has disabled this feature.

Any thoughts?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] paulch69:
Hi this my first post in this forum.

I had this problem more than a year. I googled many times and I tried factory reset, firmware update, remove SD card, clear cache and nothing worked.

Today I found a site explaining that problem is a loose GPS antenna connector. The site is in androidcentral and title is 624375-gps-problem-t-mobile-note-4-a

So I dropped my phone from one feet to the floor (with carpet) and GPS started to work. Now I get GPS lock signal indoor near a window in 10 seconds.

It makes sense some people get a temporal fix removing SD card because GPS antenna is near to the SD slot

:)
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
Interesting.

I have heard about the loose antenna, but I haven't heard of dropping the phone. I'm about ready to drop mine from 100 feet onto concrete!!!!
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] yzf750:
Mine GPS never was very good, last few weeks it has been unusable. Today I took the phone apart and bent up all the little contacts in it ,and cleaned off the contacts on the other half of the back that they touch. Put it all back together and I get a 3d fix to less then 10 feet inside. I'm a happy camper again. Poor design that lets the contacts go flaky after awhile I guess. Mines back to totally usable , instant GPS fix now :)
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
This is amazing. When you took the phone apart did it appear that the contacts would benefit from being bent? Did it look like they probably weren't making a good connection? Or did you just bend them up anyway and hope for the best?

I generally haven't had a problem obtaining a GPS fix, the problem has been maintaining the fix. When I was traveling in Europe I would use an app (Maverick) to record my travels, at the end of the day there will be a bunch of blank areas where the phone lost my location. Also, even if I was walking in a straight line, the recorded track would zig zag all over the place. I would often have my Note 2 and Note 4 record the same route and the Note 2 would be perfect and the Note 4 would be way off. Would you be able to test this on your phone?

My Note 4 is still under warranty and I'm about to send it in because of this GPS issue. I'm dreading it. I'm hoping they will just send me a 910T3 to replace my 910T.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] hehehaha123:
My GPS was pretty bad from purchase! Hopefully a custom Rom can iron out the problems.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] DeeXii:
Define pretty well...

How many feet is your accuracy when using the app people are using to compare?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] DeeXii:
Which contacts did you bend? Is in where the red circle is? If not could you take this image and make a circle in the location?
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] ContractorDude:
Wow, I posted that 3 months ago. That was an opinion based on other phones I've had, most recently the Moto x 2014. With that phone I was generally around 5 yards using my favorite golf app or GPS status. With the note 4 it's more like 15 yards. For navigation though I use the Note virtually everyday, mostly for traffic info around the Twin Cities. It locks within 10 sec and always gets me where I'm going. As a side note the worst phone was the G2
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
That is a very good question. I would really like to know this as well.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] yzf750:
I went around and did all of them (gps and gprs antennas). I think there is around 8 or so contacts that mate to the plastic backs contacts for all the 3-4 different antennas.. small jewelers screwdriver and you can bend em back up taller (carefully) to make better contact.

I knew it was the contacts because i could squeeze my phone a certain way, and it would get better lock and more satellites. Pretty easy fix. Remove the battery, sim, and dozen or so screws, run a plastic knife around the screen to remove the back and side of phone from screen and that's it. Like I said I went from bad reception and drop outs, to solid 3d fix to 10 feet most the time now.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] yzf750:
there is like 3-4 antennas in the back grey plastic piece for the gps and all the different radio bands. they all use a spring tab contact from the phones motherboard. I know there is a diagram floating around that shows which is which, but if you have it open just go around and pry em all up for better contact anyway. I bet this solves 3 out of 4 peoples gps problem. thats sprints note 4 antenna location diagram for reference showing how there is contacts all around.
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] sdlopez83:
Awful GPS from day one. It acquires it but keeping it.. Not so good
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Dwillian:
​

Here's an easier fix that doesn't involve taking the mid-frame apart in case anyone is interested: see last post (by the_fixit_guy) in this thread.

I suspect all that is happening is a little corrosion is forming on the contacts and all you really need to do is twist the phone enough to scrape that corrosion off. It probably won't last forever, but it may last for many months. It's worth a try and it avoids doing potentially damaging surgery on your phone.

This solution fixed the gps on my note 4 and it is working like new now. I'm getting satellite lock within a few seconds while indoors on the main floor of a two story house with a signal-to-noise ration between 15 and 30. Outdoors the performance outdoors is outstanding now. I'm getting a nearly instantaneous satellite fix. My battery life has also improved tremendously (probably because the phone isn't constantly trying to get a satellite fix).
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] Rootabaga:
GPS on MM

Can anyone who has updated to MM/6.0.1 comment on whether or not GPS performance has improved or worsened?

Thanks
[T-Mobile Galaxy Note 4 General] 1sparky:
I am on stock rooted EPG2 and I have not seen any improvements with GPS. I feel from the get go, Samsung had a bad performing chip/interface on my note 910T and now the 901T3.

One observation - please install baidu maps. See how fast gps starts to track. I am not sure if baidu traingulates based on towers? Baidu maps are in Chinese and not easy to use.
[P3600 General] lvsw:
1) Setup driver fix (look attach)

2) Format SDHC (use RescoExloerer)
[P3600 General] MacGuy2006:
lvsw, you rock:-)
[P3600 General] psargent:
@Ivsw,

Is this fix a global fix for mini sd, or is it just if you have a SDHC card? In other words, will it mess things up if you just have a standard 4gb card? My card is pretty reliable right now (with a couple of exceptions here and there) and I don't want to make things worse. Thanks.
[P3600 General] lvsw:
For SDHC only
[P3600 General] chris281080:
Hi,

has anyone tested this Fix on other Devices and was able to use SDHC?
[P3600 General] MacGuy2006:
Hm, I may have done it wrong, but it still disconnects the card when the Trinity goes to sleep.

I installed the driver (upon completion of the install it says it may not display properly because it is for a older system, or something like that.)

Then I opened Resco and formatted the card. I thought there was a difference in formatting schemes, but Resco did not offer an option for SDHC formatting, should there have been one? It seems like it's FAT32.

Am I lost and doing something wrong here?

Thanks!
[P3600 General] lts:
There is no driver, or any other files, installed by this cab.

It contains registry settings for two keys, HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Drivers\BuiltIn\SDHC and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\StorageManager\FATFS

The values that are set are the exact same ones that are the defaults in the first DOPOD GPS enabled test rom, with just one exception being a cache size parameter that is changed from 0 to 4K; that's all.

So installing this cab will not cure the SDHC problems that people, myself included, are having with the DOPOD test rom.
[P3600 General] MacGuy2006:
Thanks its. Bummer:-( I guess I'll have to shelve the 4GB card until someone figures out a fix for this. It sucks:-((((
[P3600 General] NLS:
so for someone in the market for a 4GB card, would you people suggest miniSD or miniSDHC?
[P3600 General] lts:
Based on my personal experience I definitely wouldn't recommend a SDHC one for the Trinity right now.

Of course the problems with directories appearing empty and the need to reset etc. could be fixed in a later release; but right now, no.
[P3600 General] NLS:
but this doesn't happen with 4GB miniSD also?
[P3600 General] lts:
No; I have a 4GB FAT32 formatted miniSD from Moby Memory, and this one has been working for about a month without any problems.

Just be aware that it is quite slow compared to say a 2GB Sandisk Ultra.
[P3600 General] MacGuy2006:
I guess I am confused a bit here. My Transcend 4GB card arrived as SDHC, and had the disconnect problems in the Trinity (if the Trinity goes to sleep, upon its waking up, the card does not reconnect and it, and all applications and databases residing on it, appear to be missing, until it's taken out and placed back in, or until a restart.)

I formatted the card to FAT32, once in a Casio Exilim camera (USB 2, great to use as a fast card reader:-) and once with Resco. Neither had any effect on the disconnect problem.

Is SDHC a different medium, or a formatting scheme, and if a different medium, why am I able to format it as FAT32, and have it still show as 4GB?

The 4GB card itself is working great in two cameras, so I don't think the problem is with it, but rather with the ability of the Trinity beta ROM to handle it. Hopefully HTC will fix it in the final ROM, or someone more knowledgeable than me will come up with a solution.

In the meantime, I've gone back to a 2GB card, which works just fine, but it is way too small to hold all the stuff I need it to hold.
[P3600 General] NLS:
SDHC has a different internal protocol, a different microcontroller AFAIK. No different format (format just follows the normal "mass storage" guidelines) or real hardware (in the sense of using different kind of transistors or something).

Why wouldn't it be formated as FAT32 and show as 4GB?
[P3600 General] lts:
Yes, SDHC is different. It follows the SDA 2.0 standard and uses a different adressing method than SDA 1.0/1.1

Have look at this post: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?p=1083860&highlight=sdhc#post1083860
[P3600 General] MacGuy2006:
O.K., thanks. I think I get it, sort of.

Would it matter at all to stability, if the 4GB SDHC card is formatted FAT or FAT 32, or any other parameters are changed?

I guess I am puzzled at what might be the causing the post-sleep "disappearing files/card" problem. It seems like a software glitch, and I am wondering if a different formatting scheme might help?
[P3600 General] greatsokol:
My trinity can't find 4 Gb SDHC card after this patch was aplied. What should I do to fix it?
[P3600 General] Matterhorn:
If your card is corrupted, you may need to reformat it. That happened to me too. I'm going to try and format the card in a newer camera that supports SDHC.
[P3600 General] Matterhorn:
It works! I went to the local camera shop and inserted my Transcend 4gb miniSD card and formatted it. Now my Trinity can read it again. I'm going to stick with my TopRam normal 4gb until this file dropping issue is solved.
[P3600 General] greatsokol:
I've formatted my card in camera abd this helps. But this card doesn't work for trinty anyway :(
[P3600 General] Antonius123:
fix for 6 gb

can you make this fix also for 6 GB ?????
[P3600 General] raunak:
hello

dear everyone, i have a himalaya and a 4 gb mini sd hc with the sd adapter, now once i inserted the card in my device it wasnt detected ,can u ppl plz tell me what needs to be done in order to get that card to work on my device

please let me know how to go about it thank u all
[P3600 General] moses3k:
Kingston 4GB SDHC works?!!!

Hi there,

my Kingston 4 GB SDHC class 4 card works for a week now. And I have NOT any patches or fixes installed.

So I'm just wondering, when the usual problems will occur..?!
[P3600 General] mctrygve2:
8gb SDHC works?

I can't find any 8GB mini SDHC card, but I've found 8GB Micro SDHC. Have anyone tried with micro SD to mini SD converter and an 8GB Micro SDHC card?

Do you think this will work?
[P3600 General] evojulz:
Yup SDHC works no problem with both AX3L and Schaps ROMs out of the box. Most other WM6 ROMs should work but might require one of the many patches around.

MiniSD is old technology and won't be manufactured over 4GB, you won't have any issue with a Micro -> Mini adaptor.
[P3600 General] manhkkal:
does any minisd adapters works?? i mean, i have a micro to minisd adapter from pny..Will it works with a sandisk 6gb microsdhc ? thanks in advance
[P3600 General] kishan21:
about the sdhc driver

i downloaded and unzipped it.. but when i click on it internet explorer turns on and this stuff just comes up..anybody know what to do?
[P3600 General] kobe_dj:
hi everbody

i wanna ask a question about this sdhc driver fix.Can i use it with benq p51?İs this only for trinity??? :(
[P3600 General] polybius:
I have an HTC Tytn with Black Satin and the .CAB at the beginning of this thread works on my phone with a SanDisk 8GB microSD card.