yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S I9000 General] lgkahn:
that makes no sense.. there are/were a lot more problems with the gps whether you used skyhook or not.. in fact skyhook made it worse.. but just turning that off was not enough.. gps still jumped/jumps around like crazy at times.

I am having better luck with the fixes in jm7 on my 2 phones..
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
the only time i had the GPS jump around was when i used the UK version of the phone, until i loaded new firmwares to it.

the Bell version of the phone never gave me that issue, the stock GJ9 and JH2 were very stable in regards to GPS

not very accurate at times

but it is accurate 99% of the time for my navigation purposes
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TravUK:
Has nothing to do with the cause of the GPS issues. Completely unrelated.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] decepticon:
Same here the Bell Vibrant GPS works like a champ. I did have one issue once when I first got it but use mobile networks was unchecked. Simple tick and now I have a good lock pretty quickly.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] bilboa1:
i noticed that the gps lags sometimes, just run with it and see your speed then stop.. and it says 0km after a good little while

the other thing is sometimes it looses tracking then it makes those spikes when it recover

i suggest when doing tracking tests you actually watch the phone screen to test that
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DaveJeep:
Mine is a Bell too. The gps is very stable but not always perfectly accurate.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Ziostilon:
got a i9000m

and was using CoPilot app

didn't have a sim in the phone at the time, and no wi-fi connection. and it couldn't get a lock on me

don't think Google has much to do with this
[Galaxy S I9000 General] anonymusneo:
Unable to get lock on GPS

* EDITED *

Issue Resolved

Kindly close this thread.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
Read this too

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=774950
[Galaxy S I9000 General] dreamtheater39:
Is there a hardware problem with GPS on our SGS?

I'm starting to feel more and more certain that there is a hardware issue with GPS chip on board. If it was a simple sw problem, a patch should have been out sooner than later imo.

I get the feeling that Samsung is trying to cheap hack their way into fixing GPS issues by "approximating" & "interpolating" gps readings that they're receiving to show to the user that its accurate....i really like to be proven wrong...but gps seems to be extremely inconsistent.

This morning, it showed my current location somewhere around california, and accuracy being 20 meters.....while i am actually on the other half of the globe - india!!!

It would be really sad if our GPS hardware on our device is screwed up :-/

San
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TrOjAnUK:
known issue.. search these forums.. 100s of posts about it.

TrOjAn
[Galaxy S I9000 General] nemethb:
Thanks for the useless post. Why not post something useful? For example, you could have said it is known to be a SW problem and not a HW problem. You could have even said Samsung sucks at releasing FW updates and fixes which is why a fix was not put out sooner. Instead you posted a rather useless comment which did not answer his question. Yes, searching the forums would help but not answering his question certainly doesn't.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] gllu:
What software did you use that showed your location?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] MoWa22:
I've claimed a couple of times that the defective GPS is a hardware problem, and I still think so. I've never in all the different firmwares I've tried seen any changes to what seems to be the primary problem: the constant flucuation in the SNR. Samsung talked about a fix in September - right, so they knew there was a problem, but had they known what the problem was, it would take only days to fix it. This isn't exactly rocket science - it's not the world's first GPS receiver.

For the bunch of people who will tell me they can get a lock in a few seconds: yes, so can I, always got quick lock, that just isn't the problem. The problem is that the GPS becomes a Guessing Positioning System as soon as you start moving.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
it might very well be a hardware issue after all

since i never had problem with the GPS and yet other people are having GPS issue even when using the same ROM

i strongly suggest you to return the phone and get a replacement
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DamianGto:
Well my GPS is working. It was a bit off first. So I tweaked it. it worked very good, but did not hold the gps up. First I just turn the gps off, then on. Then the gps program start worked again within 3 seconds.

That was not good. But I did find a setting that did not drop the gps.

Now it work without any problem and it show me the way I do travel.

So for me it was a software problem.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TMReuffurth:
On my one i would definitaly say its a software problem. Iam getting a fix in 5 seconds outside and 8 seconds inside, both a least with 7 satellites. My problem was the inaccuracy on standing still or movjng very slow, like less than 3km/h. Since i use tracker booster the inaccuracy has gone. As i use sportypal several times a month for cycling, now i do not have any problems at all. Even using google navigation. On the other side, its a little bit stupid the need of using a third party app to correct a stock software issue. Well at least it works for me and i'm really happy that i can use my gps, not having the big problems with completely not working gps. Maybe there are some real hardware faulty devices around but i would guess that the drivers or wathever for the gps chip isnt working well too.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
On the other hand, searching the forum would have been MUCH quicker..

But fact is, nobody here knows if it's software or Hardware. Samsung claims it's software and it will be fixed soon. But nobody has actually proven what causes it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DamianGto:
It can be both. Some have hardware problem, but they faulty phones and should returned. The rest have software problem.

I did have software problem, but I did fix that.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
We don't know though.. 99% of the issues might be software, or most the problems might be hardware, which were fixed in later revisions of the phone.

We'll only find out when Samsung's official fix is released.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DamianGto:
Not true at all.

We know some phone have faulty hardware and the rest you can fix with software. That's fact.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jutezak:
I know for sure there is a software component at least (new phone, came with JM2).

Yesterday I started 'GPStracker Lite' and 'Maverick'. Maverick skipped about half the track (20 minutes) while GPStracker had a pretty good track there.

When i first used GPStracker, ISTR it was set for 2 second tracklog interval.It lost lock all the time. When switched to 1 second polling, these problems were over.

I think it is about equal to the GPS on my Sony-Ericsson C702 in actual sensitivity, That one also never tracks more than 8 satellites, and has big trouble getting started up when collecting orbit data from the satellites (the classic 30 - 45 second cold start wait).

The SNR figures reported on the S9000 are around 4 dB lower I think (average of the top 5). Could be a weak antenna, or difference in reporting, or just 'as designed' because the new chip needs less signal. Still, more signal == better.

That the S9000 will lose lock sometimes when when receiving more than 5 signals >35 dB, IMO points to a software problem.

The GPS chip outputs not NMEA position data but data about received signals. The CPU on the phone has to calculate this into positions. Multiple things could go wrong here, from a buffer overflow reading the data (because the CPU is stuck on something else) to just buggy software.

And take note that ALL gps receivers use averaging (it is called a 'Kalman filter' or tracking loop) to make tracks, speed and positions look good. That filter could lose track if it 'misses a step' perhaps.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
@Damian

No.. That's a random guess you are trying to present as fact, by pretending you have proof. Have you gone through the software code and identified where the flaws are exactly? If not, you are as clueless as the rest of us. If so, please explain what exactly is causing the problems..

We'll know for sure when Samsung's "optimisations" are merged, because if they don't work, it's probably hardware related.

Also, when we talk about "fixed", are we referring to fixed for driving, or fixed for fitness? Because technically, inaccuracies of 20 meters aren't so much a problem with driving.

Either way, I BELIEVE it's software, but I have seen no proof confirming either theory.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jutezak:
I had 2 programs, running simultaneously. One lost 'lock', the other didn't.

As there is only a single GPS receiver, this points to software doing funny things. The data was available (logged by GPStracker) but was at the same time not logged by Maverick. All programs should see the same data.

But the reduced sensitivity might well be a reducer of accuracy too. That is a different problem than having 'no position at all'.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
I meant damien...

I agree myself that there is something dodgy with the software too... But nobody has proven it.. One reason I suspect it is, is because your position sometimes exceeds the boundary of the accuracy circle (even when simply sitting around).

But the fact is, we still don't know... It may even be a combination of issues.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] mathieumeuh:
11 GPS locked

I'm using JM7, first time I'm locking 11 sats in GPS Status !
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
That means nothing math...

Because it doesn't prove that the actual tracks are correct.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jlirgg:
I actually prefer samsungs gps to iphone, i had a 3g and navigation was not at all usable actaully probably the main reason i got a new phone
[Galaxy S I9000 General] dreamtheater39:
Of course i know how to search through forums, ive been around on xda for a really long time now and have done quite a bit on the winmo side of things, so thanks very much for those "use search before barking off" advises

What i wanted to bring here for discussion is,

if or not Samsung is trying to cheap hack a software "interpolation/guestimation" type of fix or, are they really fixing the root issue. Being a developer myself, i can think of a thousand ways to cheap fix this problem. One clear cheap fix approach can be -

Since the gps coords coming in are "choppy" i could approximately guess the direction and speed and "predict" gps coordinates. This can be written at driver level, so all applications will receive these "software corrected" gps readings from the driver making it look like the problem has been fixed.

Has Samsung bungled up the hardware and is trying to do a cheap fix? or do they really have some retarded gps interface at sw level that they're correcting?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] andrewluecke:
We have no way of knowing, since nobody has actually dug through the drivers to identify where the bug is located. But, Samsung claims they will optimise the GPS this month. We don't know what the end result will be, and until the exact cause is confirmed, we are all clueless.

All you can currently expect from this forum are:

1) People presenting opinions as fact

2) People's opinions

3) People recycling Samsung's words (which is that they are "optimising the GPS")

4) People presenting evidence, but I have only ever seen ambiguous evidence.

5) People who are walking around saying it works perfectly because it works in their car (welcome to clever location snapping algorithms).

6) NMEA logs, however, I am unsure if anyone has determined if NMEA strings are software or hardware.

Samsung themselves haven't mentioned what their optimisations involve (but I recall they blamed Google once), and they don't maintain a public revision control system (so we can't see). We have no truth, only opinions. But if their upcoming optimisations don't improve it, the problem is probably hardware (even engadget commented on the GPS, so clearly Samsung must know it's a priority).
[Galaxy S I9000 General] cantIntoCode:
My GPS wasn't the greatest but when I updated to JPC/JPH my GPS seams to be spot on. But we still aren't sure whether its a software bug or a hardware issue.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] cantIntoCode:
Correct. Use an app like MyTracks and this will show just how accurate your GPS is.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Logicalstep:
I've got issues with my GPS as well.

There is one thing I know, if the upcoming software fix doesn't solve it, the phone is going back the Orange / Samsung. If a replacement doesn't solve it, then I'll be getting a new phone from Orange.

I've seen lots of people here making comments about this as if they have no choice but to keep the phone, even if it turns out to be a hardware issue....well if you live in the EU, you do have a choice. All electrical good sold within the EU carry a 12 month (or 2 year) hardware replacement warranty as standard.

Your product must be "be fit for its purpose and be of satisfactory quality"

If the GPS still doesn't work after you have given Samsung a 'reasonable' chance to rectify the issue, you are able to get a replacement or a full refund.

So to all worried who live in the EU that you are stuck with this problem, don't be.

If it does turn out to be Hardware, with what Samsung said about Apples death grip, the old saying 'People in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' springs to mind :P

Logicalstep
[Galaxy S I9000 General] TMReuffurth:
And you think that Samsung will admit it, even if it is a real hardware problem that only can be fixed by changing hardware? I don´t think so, because they sell / sold so many devices. Maybe Samsung will do it like Apple with the antenna problem giving free bumpers, but this time they give us a complete navigation system appart :D
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Logicalstep:
It's relevant if they admit it or not, the product has to be: "be fit for its purpose and be of satisfactory quality"

If the GPS doesn't work then it's not fit for purpose. It was advertised as having GPS capability, so one can reasonably expect it to function as well as if not better than the previous generation of phones.

I know you are kind of joking, but people think just because Samsung and Apple are a big companies they can get away with sending out phones with a software or hardware defect, the fact is they can't. If the phone does not do what is described or fails to live up to reasonable expectation, you are well within your rights to have a full refund or a replacement for a working unit.

That applies to Apple and their death grip and Samsung and this GPS issue.

Just because this is a multifunction device, doesn't mean the law suddenly goes out the window.

It does seem sometimes that people forget this and are dare I say it brainwashed into thinking they can't replace this phone or get a refund if it's faulty.

The burden of proof is not with you to prove it's faulty, it's with Samsung or Apple to prove it's not.

So some advice to anyone in the EU who has bought this phone and believes that there is has a GPS problem...Phone or email where ever you purchased the phone from and ask them to officially note that you believe there to be a problem with it and you are going giving Samsung a reasonable chance to fix it with the Expected Firmware update and tell them to note that if the expected update either: 1) doesn't arrive, or 2) doesn't fix it, that you will be returning this phone to them for: 1) a working phone or 2) a full refund. (make a note of the time or the call or email and log any further comms)

Orange have already promised me a replacement phone and if that fails to fix the issue, a phone or equivalent value.

Lodging your comments with them this time, is a pre-emptive way to secure your own position and thus they can have no argument of you waiting too long to notify them of the problem.

Lets hope for all us SGS users this isn't needed. As I would be more than happy with this great phone if the GPS was working.

Logicalstep
[Galaxy S I9000 General] r4ster:
Who gives a damn ? If the software interpolation, or so called "cheap hack" turn out to be working perfectly, I just wouldn't care, wheter it is fixed on hardware or software level, nor should you.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] jdrake001:
Okay, I too was uncertain and suspected it could be hardware issue and cannot be fixed by firmware. Just update to JM8 last week. And I was thinking, what would be a good way to confirm gps fix, and I thought of comparing it with my girlfriend's iphone 4.

went on a short 5 km run yesterday carrying both phones. sky was overcast. Turned on my tracks on sgs, used the nike+ gps (similar to my tracks) on iphone.

Result? Spectacular! In fact iphone 4 shows a little more deviation from my actual route than sgs!

Now, I've tested my sgs gps with stock, and jm5, with all the tweaks, it has always been disastrous, quick lock as always but starts to jump about all over the place after a while even with perfect blue sky.

So there, now with jm8 it matched/surpassed iphone 4(with latest 4.1ios), can we declare it is not hardware related already?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] DamianGto:
Like I did say, some phone has hardware fault and should returned.

The rest have been proven time after time its a software error and can be fixed with either tweaks or other firmware. That's fact.

I already told I also did have a gps that was no good, but after a firmware upgrade and some tweaks it work like it should. So it has been a software flaw for me, not hardware.

That's also facts.

If you can fix it with software its not hardware.

I do also have I iphone and sgs is better also on the gps. Iphone have more apps. Thats all.

I would never sell the sgs over the iphone.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] g@l@xyS:
Galaxy S GPS

Hello all...

i have the following prob...

everytime i want to use my gps (for the first time) it takes so much time to find sattelites (almost) 15 minutes...! after it finds the first time then it takes less than 10 seconds to connect. this happens if i dont use the gps for a long time (1 week for example) and then try to open the gps.

could be a problem of Navigon? are there any firmware updates for the gps?

thanks a lot
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
simply turn off the GPS from the drop down tab

then run the GPS program you want, and it will ask you to turn on GPS, say yes, then it works right away

another better & faster way is to reboot the phone, only 1 button to click
[Galaxy S I9000 General] g@l@xyS:
this is what i do... i open the navigon it sais do you want to open gps (yes) and it takes about 15 minutes to connect... :(
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
wow ... that doesn't sounds right, when i do it that way (fter the GPS gets stuck) it works right away.

maybe try another Firmware ROM version?

what are you using right now?

I'm on JH2
[Galaxy S I9000 General] g@l@xyS:
how can i see that?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
dial *#*#1234#*#* on the phone dial pad

you should see 3 lines
[Galaxy S I9000 General] g@l@xyS:
PDA i9000xwjg5

PHONE i9000xxjg1

CSC i9000xxjg4
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
Get wifi option enable under gps, it works for me.

And you may go 1 step further by enabling skyhook (option available if you have sgs info download or type the code)
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
Does Kies offer you the option to upgrade to a newer firmware?

you should see JM1 or newer

don't install any new ROM until you can confirm you can do the 3 button boot into the Download Mode

http://xdaforums.com/wiki/index.php?title=Samsung_Galaxy_S/GT-I9000
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
g@l@xyS,

enable this under settings > Location and Security

This option should allow you to use your mobile network and wifi to help to capture position faster, but may use some data.

Hope that you can share with us if this helps
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
Do execute the suggestion from All Gamer, update the firmware first,

and later try enable WIFI

Enable SkyHook at last if the 2 options above doesn't work.

if you want to go 1 step further, you can enable skyhook

1. go to dial pad, enter *#*#1472365#*#*

you should see the following menu (Skyhook option is OFF by default, tab "application setting")

2. Enable Skyhook

Works or not, appreciate you can post your feedback here, others can know the result.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] compi_hu:
According to samfirmware twitter channel (twitter.com/samfirmware) froyo release pushed to end of october. If it means no fix for GPS problem in September, I have a vision with lots of angry Galaxy S owners (including myself) dragging their phones to Samsung service points.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] g@l@xyS:
hello everyone...!!!

skyhook rules! i didi it and my gps catches a signal in less than 15 seconds!

thank u everyone for the help!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Unfortunately this is looking quite correct.

I've asked for an update but was aware they had last-minute issues which an employer found just over a week back.

However it was felt at the time it would not effect the Froyo release.......

...... seems it now has!
[Galaxy S I9000 General] compi_hu:
I'm afraid this was the last time I've bought anything with Samsung logo on it.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] tameracingdriver:
Well all I can say is as far as I'm concerned gps does not work: twice I've tried the google navigation program in the car it has first managed to lock but then the accuracy is poor and then it loses lick and can't regain it. Absolutely useless. I should take it back as unfit for purpose, but as I don't use it much anyway, I'll wait for the fix (if there even is one and its not just fundamentally broken).

Does anyone know if is any better with a program like copilot?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] compi_hu:
As far as I understand the way a navigation software works, the largest problem is not de inaccurate GPS position. The largest problem is the inaccurate accuracy report. When the navigation software gets a position 10m away from the road you supposed to be meanwhile the reported accuracy is 20 m, it will assume that it is caused by a positioning error, and will project you to the road (fuzzy logic and heuristic)

But if the software receives the same drift with reported 5m accuracy, it will recognize it as you left the planned route and try to re-route your trip according to the new poisition and accuracy coming from the GPS unit.

But all of this is speculation so I could be even completely wrong, it is just how I would design a navigation software to deal with an inaccurate GPS receiver.
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
+1 positive feedback for skyhook.

Do share with us if GPS give you problem after like 2 weeks you use it.

PS: Some do report that GPS is unusable/not accurate after a period of time
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Cartier23:
Does anyone know the secret code for Froyo version? The number, posted above, does not work on JPH
[Galaxy S I9000 General] kramerty88:
For some reason this combo doesn't work for me. I'm using JPC 2.2 on a i9000
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Roy Ngan:
Yes, the code above/below only works on most Eclair / Android 2.1

*#*#1472365#*#*

PS: Do share if you can find the code to turn on LbsTestMode in Froyo

PPS: I wonder if SGS info helps?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] betoNL:
And what happens when you guys are abroad and want to navigate?

Still go online to get a satellite fix? With all those roaming costs?
[Galaxy S I9000 General] AllGamer:
originally i posted this

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=775450

and sky hook is not ON see

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=8041845&postcount=18

SGS still locks on in less than 5 sec

and if you want more accuracy instead of 50 you should change it to a number you want for better resolution
[Galaxy S I9000 General] Beards:
Well... according to my source it's still on..... but I have reservations.

Will know more first thing tomorrow.... which is also the day it's meant to be out.