yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nicoloco:
Honestly I am tired to hear that only people complaining come to xda so that we can't conclude anything ...

I went on xda the first time not to complain but to learn more about my device and to use it more.

Not to complain .

I don't think I am the only one (that's only a guess).

The proof is that there is people coming just to say that the SGS is a good phone and that for them there is no lag and no gps issue.

And one more time ... i am sticking to fact and the fact is that Samsung said that there was a problem with the GPS.

And I don't pretend to solve the issue by guesswork. I was just answering a guy saying that there is no gps issue at all on the Samsung SGS.

And when you say you don't know who to blame ... for sure I won't blame Broadcom as this is Samsung who decided to use this chip and did the test before they released the phone.

And I wouldn't blame google as it works with other device.Come on it's a google OS ... the least Samsung could do is to check that it works with the google software. That's obvioulsy the one everybode will use first ( especially with the free navigation)

PS : for the lack of knwoledge don't worry ... it is already confirmed ! I don't pretend to know anything about how things works. I am just able to compare what I had and what I have.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Ok, here's an update: it looks like that the extra satelite data are downloaded via a network using assisted-GPS... This process can take very long.. so I will recheck my findings. Nevertheless.. Broadcom has "invented" a facility with which users who don't have aGPS can download orbit data from satellites once and a while and use these data to fix the satellites. http://www.broadcom.com/products/GPS/Location-Based-Services/LTO-AGPS The pdf file that is linked to that page contains very interesting info.

I know this technology from a HP iPaq I owned back in the days of yore. It was working quite well. The same kind of technology is used on the WM HTC devices, and also with these devices I had very good experiences.

Now the interesting thing is that the folder /data/gps contains a file called lto.dat (the file on the ipaq also had that name), so maybe the GPS chip on the galaxy also has this kind of lto (lang term orbit) support.

Don't know yet if this whole orbit data thing (with aGPS or LTO) will actually lead to a smaller accuracy number. What this kind of technology support though is a better, stable fix, a more accurate first fix and "superior weak signal performance"..

BTW may we conclude from the fact that eph and alm data aren't picked up that aGPS simply doesn't work on the Galaxy (irrespective of all "fixes" floating around - I have tried all while testing this... ahum, including my own :) )
[Galaxy S I9000 General] milsjg:
Well earlier this summer I found this site and they also agree that there are problems with Google maps.

http://samsungi9000galaxys.com/galaxy-s-gps-review-sygic-gps-signal-and-gps-lock-times/
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nicoloco:
I would say that it's a light test and review ...

They seem to talk about a long time to lock the satellite.

I don't really see the point to be satisfied to get the lock inside his appartment honestly.

I would prefer a test while driving to see that it can keep the car in the right street.

I tried cardio trainer to come back home today with different settings and it is similar to the worst track I have done.

I waited for the fix which was quite quick and went south .... the software make me go for 2 min east .... and then I have never been close to my location.

It's sade because it looks like a good software compared to mapmyrun or mytracks.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Maybe it is an idea to collect all those tracks that users created all over the world and put them on one page somewhere and send the link to Samsungs twitter, facebook page, review pages etc. etc.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
This is the track I recorded this morning. It is now completely useable as navigation device. Not 100% perfect, still a few bumps when I make turns and lost signal one time. But overall much better track than I had before.

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF&msa=0&msid=105427637963454571567.00048da12f30ffd62fbf4

The GPS now locks to almost all the satellites it can see. The best I can get is 9 out of 9 lock. The accuracy is bouncing from 5.0 to 15.0 meters. Have not seen any accuracy better than 5.0 meters yet.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Tyxerakias:
Does it also lock to SNR < 20 ?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Can you upload the libgps.so from the /system/lib folder (that is, if you are rooted)?

Also very interested in the jupiter.xml file from the /system/etc folder ... and .. the secgps.conf file from /data/gps

Thanks

---

BTW 15.0 meters accuracy? Is that a number gps test displayed or another gps program? If so, that is something new... I only saw accuracies of 5m, 10m, 30m
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
Sorry, I'm not rooted.

As for lock on when SnR < 20, I remember briefly saw a few times it did but there were so many satellites at the time, it always prefers the one with SnR > 20.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] boomerbubba:
What phone and what firmware are you using? Are you really able to use an I9000 phone in Northern Virginia? (This is the I9000 forum.) Or are you using an AT&T Captivate with the new firmware?

5-15 meter accuracy is not that great, IMHO. The Broadcom chip in the Galaxy S is supposed to be capable of 2-meter accuracy.

As for the quality of the tracking, I don't find anything to be sanguine about in the lapses in that driving track. There are several place where the track veers far from the road, or gets lost entirely and the GPS has to reacquire. I get similar performance with a T-Mobile Samsung Vibrant -- with only the MS Based configuration tweaks applied --on driving tracks, which underperforms my trusty old G1 for accuracy.

Yes, it is "usable" for navigation. But I would not pronounce it fixed based on that test.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sanktnelson:
I concur. And that was pretty much the sate of things to begin with. Still looks like in only works reasonably where it can pretty much average out all the jumps and assume you'll be going straight. And even that fails sometimes.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
Sorry, this is Captivate with latest JH2 ROM which apparently contains the latest GPS driver that can lock on to more than 8 satellites. With old driver, I mostly in 30 to 50-meter accuracy range. So, this is a big improvement for me at my location.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
Just rooted my phone. Can you show me how to get to those files?

Yes, it is from GPS Test display.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Tyxerakias:
There are many ways, depending on your IT competency... I guess the easiest way would be to copy them to the sdcard and then use the mass storage usb to copy them to your pc. You can see them with root explorer. Alternatively, you can install a terminal emulator with busybox and copy the files over to the sdcard/ dir and do the same thing to transfer to your pc, or you could just pull them with adb straight from your PC as superuser.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beowulf_pt:
That is definitely not brilliant nor near the best similar devices can offer (I'm talking old ones here) but have to admit that it is a better track than any I have managed to create with my Galaxy S (JM2). Mine were all quite terrible most of the way (city, urban traffic).

If it consistently performs that way perhaps it can be used for navigation indeed... maybe some snapping and smart correction algorithms will make it good enough to drive to the target.

Not holding my breath tho. Seen too many magical fixes mentioned in the past and time and time again the device has proven to be a lousy navigator. But let's see what happens.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
The easiest way is with root explorer, but it will cost you a few bucks... You can always download it from the market and return it in the next 24 hours :)

Well, apart from the lock on 9, this is something new. I never seen that accuracy number. So I guess it is between the jump between 10 and 30.. Good news, they are definitely working on it!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
That's a perfect track... The GPS tracked the car even on the right side of the highway.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
At least in JM5 (haven't confirmed with other firmware versions), the accuracy figure IS WRONG! And it isn't because of malfunctioning satelites (which is what RAIM/FDE would normally help with for sensitive operations such as aviation). The accuracy calculations must be a software issue.

If you hang out in google maps, lock your screen, unlock it quickly, you'll drift dramatically, and the outer bounds of the accuracy circle will no longer contain you. That means, 5m accuracy means NOTHING, because assuming perfectly functioning satelites, you can still get outside the bounds of the supposed position you are definitely in.

Also, the accuracy measurements aren't fine tuned. The accuracy jumps from 5m->10m->15m->30m. Maybe intentional though.

I propose everyone does a simple test (to see if others are noticing the same issue). Grab mytracks/google maps, lay your mobile down on the table and sit back. Check where you REALLY are on the map (your actual house), and see if the calculated position+accuracy circle ever drifts away from where you are (let the phone sleep quickly 2 or 3 times too). This may or may not be isolated to JM5.

I'd love to see the GPS driver code to see how Samsung interfaces with the GPS, but their opensource server is painfully slow. I'd personally like to see if it is possible to implement RAIM and FDE so that we can know for sure if the position can be relied on (and that will actually make the phone useful for aviation too, if the GPS bugs get sorted). It would also allow us to see though if the drivers simply pull the position off the chip (similar to how NMEA works I think). Because if the driver is reading the position and accuracy off the chip directly, and not calculating them itself (and the data being provided by the chip is wrong), then we know for sure the chipset is buggy.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
About lock on to the satellites with SnR < 20, just did a test during lunch drive and it indeed locked on to many satellites with SnR as low as 12.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Wow, and I just read on the capative forum that someone had a continous lock on 11 sats.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
I think that is by design on Google Maps. It actually turns off the GPS when your screen turns off or GMaps no longer in foreground. GMaps switches to cell tower location mode. This is done so to conserve battery. So, when turn the screen back on, the GPS has to restart and the accuracy will be off.

That's why I'd advise you to use 'My Tracks' instead of Google Maps to test GPS accuracy. When you start recording, My Tracks will not turn off GPS at all.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
If you're using a galaxy s, then no you didn't. In gps test, grey satellites are satellites that are seen, but not used in lock.

If you use a vibrant or captivate, then you could be right, but you're polluting this samsung galaxy s forum.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
I see your using a captivate.

I would download the android development kit then from a command prompt, use "adb pull" and the path of the file, eg adb pull /system/etc/jupiter.xml

I youf need the path for libgps.so let me know
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
My post is meant to give everyone here some encouragement that there is a software fix in sight.

I consider the discussion in this thread is more informative and should apply to every variant of SGS.

Other threads in Vibrant or Captivate are mostly focused on publishing worthless *yet another* settings that worked for me.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] RyanZA:
Wow, this looks interesting.

Surely we can pull the driver's out of the captivate and use em too? :D
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
Actually, I'm thinking that if we simply replace the kernel in the Odin tar package, we might be able to use the firmware for Captivate as a whole...(cause there might be some changes in radio, I guess)...but I need to verify this.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
If you're going to use Captivate firmware JH2, you will loose:

1. USB tethering

2. Dialup modem tethering

3. HSUPA (300k upload speed max).

You also can not side loading apps and have AT&T's restricted access to market place.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
Ok, I managed to grab libgps.so and jupiter.xml using adb. However, it won't let me pull secgps.conf. I got 'Permission Denied' message.

See the attached zip file the two files
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Thanks. I did a file comparison and the captivate libgps.so and the libgps.so from JM2 are different. I definitely gonna give it a try.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TravUK:
Excellent, any way to get some date information from it?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
Don't forget there's also a /system/bin/gpsd folder that contains important GPS related files. I'm gonna put them all up soon.

Well the first three I don't really care about, as I don't tether and I'm not on HSUPA. Don't know about the side loading, but access to Market I think would be easily solvable.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] foxbat121:
You can still side loading using adb.

There are also reports this firmware gives you slightly better Quadrant scores. I personally don't care that much.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
Sorry, was just reading back over the previous posts where you say you have a captivate.

Not that I mind a captivate user with a working libgps.so... Interesting comparisons.

Time to go and play. Wheres my SGS.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
Just taking a look over that jupiter.xml that foxbat kindly posted.

First off, it still contains the immortal lines:

Now I don't know if this is still a development kernel, but, this is set under gll:

meanwhile

which means the data area is going to get pretty full pretty quick.

Curious.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Great idea, keep us posted :)

and you're probably right about the other gps files.

The libgps.so alone doesn't fix a thing i'm afraid. A quick test showed the same weird limits. At least the device did boot, and the gps was working after the update.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
Poo. Don't delete or rename libgps.so and restart your phone after root explorer no longer works:

link_image[1728]: 2244 could not load needed library 'libandroid_runtime.so' fo

r 'su' (link_image[1728]: 2244 could not load needed library 'libui.so' for 'li

bandroid_runtime.so' (link_image[1728]: 2244 could not load needed library 'lib

pixelflinger.so' for 'libui.so' (link_image[1728]: 2244 could not load needed l

ibrary 'libhardware_legacy.so' for 'libpixelflinger.so' (link_image[1728]: 2244

could not load needed library 'libgps.so' for 'libhardware_legacy.so' (load_lib

rary[1058]: Library 'libgps.so' not found)))))CANNOT LINK EXECUTABLE
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
Might not help anyone, 'cause I guess everyone who would understand the changes would also be able to track them down, but here is the diff file between new and old jupiter.xml.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Definitely fixed. Lock on 12! lowest snr 12

I'm so sick an tired of the gps that I flashed the AT&T firmware with the modem and CSC files from JM2... After that I flashed the JM2 kernel that I found here: http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=743782

So, i went the other way around :)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Kilack:
Does gps test show the locking of 12? can we get a screenshot, not that i dont believe you, just would be nice to see it after all this time :).

Also does it seem more to have more constant locks? or is it still continuously dropping satellites and picking them up again etc etc..
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
Now that's more like it! ;) No Photoshop involved! JPJG8 firmware, but should work on any i9000 fw.

If you want to test it, apply the attached ZIP from Clockwork recovery (as "flash any ZIP from SD"). Bear in mind that although I've tested it here myself, I'm not responsible if it doesn't work for you.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] appelflap:
Great! May I assume that it is enough to copy the files you zipped (except the script of course)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
That's all the script is doing, yes, just copying the JH2 files and setting the permissions to them. I just packaged it into update.zip format so it's easier to apply and test.

What remains to be seen is if the higher lock rate actually means something in the field...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Kilack:
Being able to use weaker signals should definitely be a bonus.

Do the locks seem to be more stable?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Sorry guys.... have had a busy day in theatre.

I'm a little confused in what's been posted this past couple of pages.

Are we saying there's a fix now available?

Case_, your GPS Test pic looks great. Picking up sats under 20 is the first time I've seen this.

How did you do it?

Please bear in mind I have a UK non carrier unrooted phone that has yet to be updated.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Bynar010:
Hi, zip didn't work for me. Said it ran but files not there when I checked after reboot. Copied files manually and it can certainly lock onto lower snr's now, but still not entirely stable, kept jumping to different sets of satellites and accuracy was no better than about 50 feet throughout....hmmn.

Need to do a navigation test to see how it is properly me thinks.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
I'd say they seem to be much more stable. Although it still seems to me like there's a limit or bug preventing the phone to lock onto too many strong signals. It's locking onto a 10-20 signals without much problems, but it seems to sometimes ignore sats available in the 20-35 range. Ie. you've got a lock to 10 out of 12, but the two not locked are actually stronger signals than many of the locked ones. Weird. Could that be some kind of feature by design that actually makes sense if you know why it is behaving this way? Of course, might as well be a bug and work in progress. But it's great to finally see that progress is really being made and the definitive fix WILL come (hopefully).

And from the few quick tests I'd say Google Maps and MyTracks seem to locate me more precisely than before (not that it was THAT hard to achieve...;) ). But I've been burned once ;) I'll give this a few more days before I'm certain.

Hmm, that's weird. Unless there were any errors reported I'm really at a loss...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Kilack:
An update was rolled out to the captivate. He grabbed the files from their update. It allows locking on more than 8 satellites and on weaker signals. _some_ people are still reporting that accuracy isn't that great though, mixed reports, others are saying its way better.... needs more testing probably before anything conclusive can be drawn.

The fact that it can lock on more and weaker signals is good though :) but as case says now we have to see if it actually improves things.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Thanks Kilack... appreciate the feedback. :)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
Did it by pushing (copying) GPS related files from the newly leaked Captivate JH2 firmware to my phone. But without root, there's most likely no way to do it (unless the fix could be applied as update.zip from the stock recovery, which I'm not sure of) and wouldn't actually recommend doing it - you've got no backup to go back to if something goes wrong.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] alpha300:
Samsung needs to release a proper fix for the GPS issue wtf
[Galaxy S I9000 General] larryccf:
in case you haven;t seen the orig thread, there's a thread over on the captivate developers forum here on xda, where they've been testing the new firmware that samsung put up on their web, as a beta

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=751518&page=25
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Thanks for the info guys... :)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] sjdean:
Im getting lots of fixes, and some weak SnRs.

AGPS seems a little off, in that i takes forever for the GPS system to boot back up. But looking good so far.

Time for a real world test tomorrow.

Cheers

Simon

PS I also created an update.zip that works on (at least my) Galaxy S. The gps_fix.zip fails to update.

PPS Note the thing that's missing from Samsung Galaxy S, libsecgps.conf? Note how this update provides certificate files for SUPL servers?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Case_:
You probably mean libsecgps.so. And the certificate files were there before, even more of them, they just had different names. As to whether they were actually used...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TravUK:
EDIT: Message removed.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] gllu:
wow, Bajo - great video. It's a real shame what it's showing though.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Pika007:
I'm either REALLY lucky, or it's just about the area, but i'm actually very pleased with the GPS, always getting a maximum-accuracy lock on in 19-23 seconds, and not even once did it spazz around.

Got my device from the U.K, stock firmware XXJF3, didn't root or re-flash yet.

I use the GPS a LOT, and if it would act like some people around here are complaining, it wouldn't even be a week before i'd sell it and get me another device.

I'm still convinced it's a software issue, since even though the SGS already sold more than 350,000 units worldwide, i don't see any wide-scale announcements like the ipod yellow stains problem or the reception problem.

Now, if this was a niche device i would understand, but the Galaxy S caught a LOT of titles and headlines before debuting, and is continuing to do so even now.

It has a nice share of public eye, if there was any catastrophical gps failure, we would hear about it loud and clear.

Now let's see if any big site will make an announcement or article soon...
[Galaxy S I9000 General] gllu:
That's exactly my opinion too. If engadget/cnet/gizmodo and the like post an article on that piece of information, I bet Samsung employees will get quite more cooperative.

So far the poll says "There's a BIG problem".
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Evans_Prophet:
I believe that it is not a software issue; given that software differences between phones are limited and given that many people have changed their firmware and still face the problem I think its more a faulty batch or something.

My view is that the problem gets worse when the phone gets hot (e.g. when wifi is used - on hot days etc). Just do some tests and see.

The changes in firmware are fixing the jumping around but not the bad reception. All the do is to dumpen / average the readings so as to get less jumps.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] dannyd2134:
*#*#1472365#*#* gps test

Type this into your keypad and look for skyhook, turn it on and this will solve your GPS problems. :)

I got satallites in my living room. :D

*do not adjust anything else*
[Galaxy S I9000 General] MacGuy2006:
This may improve assisted GPS, but it doesn't do anything regarding locking real satelites.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] dannyd2134:
i don't have assisted gps, it's standalone with wifi off. :)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Will.1:
Not necessarily, i bet most people don't use the GPS on their phones, and i'm not so sure these sites perform extensive testing of the GSP feature.

These is probably a dumb question but why don't they put the same gps receivers they put in tom-tom / garmin / iGo and all of these car gps systems???
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Okay.... educate me.

Apart from the words 'keypad' and 'type this' you have me lost.

Would someone care to spell it out for the remainder who are not actually following what is said here.

Basically ~

1. At what point do you bring up the keypad?

2. When you say "look for skyhook". Will what you have typed (as in *#*#1472365#*#* gps test) render on screen a selection process where you can then select skyhook?

3. Once turned on what do you do or see next?

Often is the case you have to explain in detail much greater than what you are thinking in your own mind.