yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
mine worked fine for 3-4 days then got a little wonky - next day took it out letting someone else drive so i could watch the gps functions - it located me at times 75 yards to the right of the road we were on and sometimes lost me altogether. Last nite tried that "factory hard reset" suggestion - worked okay (pulled 14 sats into view, locked on 2 max) and then this AM, gone back to not locking on any sats.

thought about it, and samsung knew of this issue 3 months ago (asian market has been reporting this issue since day one

my intuition tells me if samsung were going to fix it, they'd have done so BEFORE the US release - the US market is still the primary single market in the world (probably won't be long before that's no longer the case), but in the meantime they didn't

i love the phone in every respect except for this GPS issue and actually thought about keeping it, assuming the worst - but to keep it and samsung did not correct it, would be, to me, like continuing to walk with a pebble in my shoe - i'd always know it was there

i'm (and always have been) a cynic but i have to assume samsung has had a lot of engineering resources looking at this issue, including the gps chipset mfgr - again, samsung plans on this phone being their ticket to being a major (if not the dominant) player in the smartphone market, worldwide

i'm returning mine, and will sit back for a month or two - if they don't correct by then, i'll look at other phones - and it won't be at the newest, latest greatest thing to come out - learned my lesson watching the N1 debacle with the 3g fluctuation issue, some issues with the evo 4g and others. The mentality today seems to be the bill gates/microsoft business model - launch a product with all the greatest newest "gee whiz" features, and basically use your customers as beta testers, and fix the issues or try to, later - and before you've finished fixing em all, launch another newest, greatest with all the "gee whiz" feature loaded model

the motorola phones seem to be pretty decently issue free (but that's always been motorola's SOP)

not looking to start an argument with the "let's wait and see" crowd - just trying to drop some sense of reality - hopefully samsung does correct it, as i would like to repurchase this phone
[Vibrant General] acjames:
Just bricked mine so I will see tomorrow if a simple SWAP of phones will fix the issue.
[Vibrant General] s15274n:
How in the world did you brick the Vibrant?
[Vibrant General] acjames:
Well i flashed the firmware for the Galaxy S first. I didnt read it completely so I end up flashing the wrong file. Everything went fine but I could not connect to T-Mobile's network....it only saw ATT. Plus it was spelling things wrong like "synchronizing" was spelled "synchronising". So I came here and tried to flash another firmware to my phone. It completed but it never came back on. So now its like its not getting any power, no noise from the PC when connecting the USB, nothing..... LOL!!!
[Vibrant General] granduke:
Off to the store to exchange my 7/03.

Don't really know why I'm bothering. Even If I get a better gps it will probably still suck and my current phone is very good with the compass.

I'm gambling that away.
[Vibrant General] coolguy949:
Hopefully this happens sooner than later. I heard the same thing from Sprint/HTC when I had the evo and nothing came out and ended up returning the phone with 3 more of my friends. We all have Vibrants now and I am getting this feeling of deja vu.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
For what issue?

T-Mobile/Samsung can't ignore this.
[Vibrant General] Welshy992:
for people with swapped phones

Can you let us know if the gps issue is still fixed for you? I just don't see how it would be if we're all running the same firmware/hardware. And by fixed I mean you get a gps lock under 10 seconds, google maps doesn't freeze, you don't need to apply the "fix", and your location is accurate to under 10 meters. If you can't do all these things then I'm sorry to tell you but your phone is not fixed.

I had an n1 before the vibrant and I never had these issues in areas where the reception was at least decent. Honestly if they don't release an update within the next few days I'm really considering just getting a refund and waiting on a dumbphone till they correct these issues. I'm not dropping 5 big ones on a phone that can't do proper navigation.

What people in other threads have been saying makes a lot of sense. This issue has been in existence for the galaxy s phones since they were released in the asian markets, months before we got them now and they still haven't corrected this issue? Makes me really wonder if they're even going to bother.

So can someone educate me about the 14-day vs 30 day return policy? I bought the phone off contract so does that mean I'm eligible to return within 30 days rather than 14? I'm not trying to incite any hate against this phone, everything else on it has been practically perfect for me, but really the gps is a big issue for me.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
Google Maps doesn't freeze.

I get a lock under 10Meters

Anything else? Return the phone then. It's all on your receipt.
[Vibrant General] DKYang:
Mine say 7-9-2010.

The GPS in the beginning worked fine and fast when I was outside, but when I was inside it took a really long time. Now, with the gps fix, it locks in quicker inside and within 10 feet of where I'm at. I never did a factory reset or anything besides the gps fix.
[Vibrant General] granduke:
Just left the TMO store. They were sold out and expect another 20 in the morning. The

Well, at least my swap will be from a new batch.

If that matters.
[Vibrant General] J3ST3RM4A3:
If I rooted my Vibrant, is that going to be a problem before swapping?

I can only use 1 maybe 2 satellites at any given time, and I've done the 'GPS fix' and factory reset.

Date: 7/8/2010
[Vibrant General] temperbad:
How do you check the manufacturing date?
[Vibrant General] temperbad:
Delete the superuser Apk first...

I swapped mine and forgot I rooted... they never checked and I doubt ill be charged.... knock on wood. .
[Vibrant General] acjames:
Same issues with a new phone. My story at Radio Shack was funny tho. So the guy goes to the back and brings out the phone. While he was taking it out the box he drops it and it goes flipping across the floor. I pick it up and hand it back to him with a strange look on my face im sure. It didnt seem like there were any scrapes or scratches on the phone but I was still wary. Then he opens the back of the phone and there is a Sim card already installed. I asked was that phone used and he assured me it wasnt. I ask to see the phone and go into the call log. Sure enough there was about 7 phone numbers that had been dialed. I simply told him I didnt want that phone and to get me a new one or refund me my money. But anyway I forgot to put the sim card, headphones, and extra back cover in the box with the damaged phone. Now i got extras....
[Vibrant General] t-rust:
hmmm do you guys get charged for restocking fee?
[Vibrant General] cire253:
I might swap mine tomorrow, I've done a factory reset twice and its super fast, gps works fine, etc. only problem im having is facebook wont sync with contacts, is anyone else experience the same problem, before swapping, after swapping is the issue fixed?
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
Swapping shouldn't fix this problem
[Vibrant General] acjames:
No restocking fee. I was still within my 14 day return period. Plus i dont think stores charge a restocking fee on exchanges...
[Vibrant General] s15274n:
^^^ facebook is to blame, it sucks on all android phones in regard to syncing.

THIS SWAPPING OUT PHONES IS GETTING WAY OUT OF CONTROL!
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
I am thinking of exchanging this afternoon-- I am at day 11 I think. It seems that most comments I have read from exchangers say if the date on the box is a little later, the GPS problem is not present. COuld be the first round of GPS/chipsets that got put in the devices were faulty? It ticks me off that this bug exists in some but not all phones. But if I am within my 14 days-- why not exchange? Worst case scenario seems to be I get the same buggy GPS back-- with the chance that I get one that actually works...

Edit - My box is 7/3/2010-- No lag, compass works but slow, GPS basically useless.
[Vibrant General] Keslynn:
Exchanged a 7/2 for a 7/10 phone which has the same problems. I did a factory reset right off the bat. GPS worked pretty well for a while but then got crappy again.

My original Vibrant's GPS also worked well at first and would improve again after a reboot. Then... back to the same old issues.
[Vibrant General] vibrantazn:
My vibrant is 7/9 and the gossip is perfect should I swap it with a newer ship date?
[Vibrant General] raduque:
I swapped mine yesterday. Got a 7/7/10 on release day, exchanged it for a 6/29/10 /facepalm #fail
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
when you exchange, the 14 days starts over again... stupid to exchange again in hopes of a working GPS?
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
Why not just keep exchanging every 14 days until they get GPS fixed? That way, even if the flaw turns out to be hardware-related, you are covered.
[Vibrant General] granduke:
Exchanged my 7/03 for a 7/12.

GPS is somewhat better. This one maintains a lock with 1 or 2 sats with a 5 to 14 m error.

Last phone would rarely hold a single fix.

Still, phone is brand new. Wonder how it will do in a day or so.

Guess I'll do the 'fix' and see what happens.

And for what it's worth, the store manager said Samsung will push the fix in a couple weeks.
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
Well if this turns out to be a hardware issue- wouldn't Samsung have to replace it with working ones with their 1 year warranty/?
[Vibrant General] Welshy992:
Yeah. With a refurbished unit though :/
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
That sort of depends on how much you trust Samsung, which so far has not even admitted that there is a problem. (T-Mobile reportedly has conceded it, or some customer service reps at the carrier have, but that's a different issue.) At this point, due to Samsung's stonewalling silence, the manufacturer's credibility with me is not good.

When I inquired here with the same question you just asked, I was reminded that the terms of the Samsung warranty allow the manufacturer to provide a refurbished phone rather than a new phone as a replacement. They aleady have shipped many defective phones that would be expensive to replace. If the root cause and the final fix (not the speculative "fixes" being promoted on the forums anonymously, which are basically just configuration workarounds) turn out to be a mix of firmware and hardware, then maybe Samsung will declare that a firmware fix alone is "good enough."

I am persuaded by what I have read that at least a firmware fix will be required. But I am not persuaded that debugged firmware alone can fix everyone's problems. The anecdotal reports of some users saying they get somewhat better GPS performance after a phone swap, even though the manufacturer's design has not yet changed, are a hint that maybe random chipset differences and/or manufacturing quality control are an aggravating factor here. These swaps do not cure the problem, but reportedly they sometimes mitigate it.
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
I called T-Mobile suport and talked to the rep who said that there was a problem with the GPS and sent me to PDA Support who told me there was not a problem with the GPS. I told him there is a problem and it's a well known problem. He asked me to hold on while he went and got their Vibrant which ended up having the same GPS issue. He had a MyTouch slide right there that locked in immediately. I mentioned that there are many people that have swapped out for another one and the GPS works fine and I wanted a different one. He told me I had to send the phone back call them with the tracking number and once UPS listed it in the system they would ship me the new one. Well, have already been waiting on one for that I ordered for my wife about a week ago... So I guess I can be without phone for a week while I wait on a new one that MIGHT fix the GPS or I can just live with it and hope there is a software fix down the road. I guess I could just get my money back and wait for something else. This is frustrating...
[Vibrant General] androidmonkey:
Im very skeptical about people swapping phones out and saying that one has more/less lag than the other.
[Vibrant General] DKYang:
Samsung already acknowledged the issue from what some people said here. Why not just give them a call and find out instead of assuming? I believe it was level 3 support that acknowledged the issue.
[Vibrant General] boodies:
i would be too but I did a swap and has seen drastic differences in GPS operation. I've initially used the first one for almost two weeks, now im in my 5th day? with the new Vibrant.

Here's the deal. With the new Vibrant, I still do not connect to more than 5. BUT, it always get the accuracy down to 20 feet even with 1 or 2 that locks. The difference is, now it locks and I get an accuracy reading almost instantly every time. I'm no Einstein but the swap definitely did wonders for me.

PS - I am thinking by connecting to the fewest required GPS for an accurate signal, we are saving more battery juice. Why connect to 5, 7, 10 or more GPS when 1 or 2 will do the same job ya know? Either way, with the new swap, .... wait... here, I am going to test it again as I am typing this... brb

Okay, within moments, about 3-5 sec I hook up to 3-4 satellites with 11 in view. I get 35 Accuracy. Remember that this is indoor in my house where I rarely got a lock if at all.

So there you go :)
[Vibrant General] granduke:
I wanted to run my swapped phone for a couple of days to ensure the improvements are sustainable. Yes, gps is indeed better. Not drastically, but now good enough for car navigation.

Used to get 0-1 fixes with a lock holding about 40% of the time.

Now I'm at 1-3 fixed sats with near constant lock.

Accuracy improved from an error all over the place but never less than 10 meters to between 5 and 15.

Still can take several minutes for initial lock.

Not acceptable, but functional. Don't need to worry about my 14 days and just wait for the real fix.
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
If the GPS issue is firmware and not hardware, couldn't a custom ROM fix the issue?
[Vibrant General] ChiTmobileGuy:
There already is a quick fix for the gps signal issue.....google it

Sent from my Vibrant because my iPhone doesnt have signal
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
Yes, I believe it is in this thread and many other threads.

It does not work for everyone- helped me 0.
[Vibrant General] larryccf:
sent mine back in to Tmo for credit, and they're shipping me a new unit

should be here in a couple of days - be interesting to see if new one works or not

there's talk on the captivate forum that a "level 3 tech" spoke to samsung and was told an OTA fix is emminent - we'll see
[Vibrant General] boodies:
one more thing you guys need to remember is that if you are getting a weak 3G or 2G signal, regardless of having wifi connection, you will suffer with the lock.
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
That report originated on yet another thread on yet a different forum. And that same thread contained some knowledgeable speculation (from someone with access to test different developmental firmware versions) that the firmware "fixes" in the pipeline may be workarounds for some underlying hardware problem.
[Vibrant General] jkcheng122:
So later than what date on the box is needed to have a problem-free (at least GPS/location wise) Vibrant? Mine is 7/10/2010 and I have some location issues when indoors. Oftentimes it'll say I'm at Pawcatuck, CT when I'm at work in Houston, TX.
[Vibrant General] kiddiosky:
Same here, Mines is also 7/10/10 and having the exact same problem. When I restart my phone, it works for the first 15min, after an hour.. when I try to use it again.. it wont work. That's with and without the Fixes..
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
Read into those threads a little:

http://androidforums.com/samsung-galaxy-s/104872-gps-issues.html

http://forum.androidcentral.com/t-c...t-i-stumbled-upon-more-gps-issue-samsung.html

and a few people are swearing that Samsung told AT&T who told the customer that a fix is soon. Take it for what it is...rumor... but could help some people on the fence not return their phone...like me.
[Vibrant General] jkcheng122:
Hmm, 2 more days to decide, return or not return...
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
I don't think you understood my comment, or that of the informed poster to whom I linked.

He and I don't really doubt that some firmware update will be forthcoming in the relatively near future. We do doubt that the underlying problem can be "fixed" by software alone (in the form of updated firmware). There may be an underyling hardware problem, which might be mitigated or papered over by a software workaround. But that would not be the same thing as a "fix." Only if 100% of the root cause of the problem is buggy software can we expect debugged software to cure it completely.
[Vibrant General] KNguyen104:
I was wondering if the people who swap their phone still have the gps issues.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
Yes.. it seems to be a temporary thing where the fix takes longer and longer to get.
[Vibrant General] boodies:
i've done the swap and have much better GPS operations. i'm constantly on the GPS as I just recently moved here to California. With the old phone, locks and accuracy were always hard to maintain. Even outside in the middle of the highway. All those problems are now gone. I am one happy camper. Sure it doesn't seem to connect to more than 5 satellites but that doesn't seem to matter because it is very accurate <20FT. Why waste battery and lock on to more when you can get the same job done with less.
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
My wife's Vibrant just arrived today and it seems to lock in much faster. Well, it doesn't really get a fix on a bird but it does "lock in" faster. I'm not sure how that can happen without a fix on a sat but it does. I'll monitor over time.
[Vibrant General] Dougefresh91:
...

Now you guys got me wondering if there's something wrong with my phone. I've barely tried the GPS, but the one time I was driving it worked really well. Before that when I first got the phone it was not working at all in my apt. I just figured bad signal and didn't really think about it.

Now I'm sitting here in my apt trying to get a gps signal. First it took a couple minutes with google maps. After it finally locked on I was in and out of the app and it was re-finding my position within seconds. That and the compass were working really well, the compass nailed my exact address.

That was about 20 mins ago. "You location is temporarily unavailable." Now it's once again been searching for a signal for the past few minutes. Wtf. I'll have to test it a little more to see what's going on. I have a portable gps in my car, so I can see what kind of signal that's getting here.

Also, how can I tell how many satellites I'm tracking? I DL'd the Compass app by Snaptic. Is that the one everyone else is using?

I've also been having random freezes, and sluggishness, but I chalked that up to the UI Samsung added. It is getting somewhat frustrating though. I actually just rooted and planned on deleting the crapware in the hopes that that would make things a little more snappy.

The date on my box is 7/01/2010.
[Vibrant General] dalepa:
Power off and back on.... How long does the first fix take with gps test?
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
After a few tries my wife's GPS is as bad as mine. I'm convinced GPS is total crap.
[Vibrant General] Dougefresh91:
Confirmed problem

Just tested my phone gps all the way to work. Not even a flicker of a signal. 0/10 sattelites. Outside work I turned on my regular non-phone gps and it tracked 8/10 sattelites. I think this confirms, for me at least, that there's a definite issue. Ugh. Annoyed. Bought last wed so I'll be taking this back. I'll get a another unit and if that has issues as well I may be off to Sprint.
[Vibrant General] Welshy992:
I just read the original review of the g1 on engadget. Funny it had gps issues on release as well. Based on what people with swapped phones are saying it really seems like it is just a software bug. If the gps is initially working great, like it did when I first bought mine and slowly degrades over usage that almost sounds like some bad memory allocation gone wild. I think I will stick it out.
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
After changing my mind 16 times, I think I am going to stick it out too. Last night, my device went completely haywire for the first time after I turned GPS on. Black screens, stuck on Maps screen, apps not working..anything. Was able to power it off, took battery out for a few minutes. Seems smoother now.

I will wait for a firmware fix, or custom rom. I will keep sweating TMO and Samsung. If it really is this bad still in a few weeks/months, I will just sell it on Craigslist and buy a new device off contract.
[Vibrant General] Dougefresh91:
Same thing just happened to me. Searched for a gps signal and the screen went black. I waited it out and a few minutes later it came back and all my apps were shut down and the recent apps list was empty. Idk what to do. Probably go to t-mobile after work. Figures I just rooted last night right before I discoverd the issue. I don't think they're related but I won't be rooting my replacement.
[Vibrant General] blink55184:
Just talked to Samsung Level 3 support again. Guy told me

"We are still researching in to the issue, we do not know why some phones are having the GPS issue and some aren't."

"Definitely don't have any dates yet on a firmware update, but there will probably be one."
[Vibrant General] kiddiosky:
Purchased July 15, 2010

Ship date: 07/10/10

Problem:

#1: GPS

a. Did Google fixed - Only worked for the first 30min - 2 hours, after phone idle for a couple hours it stopped working

b. Factory Reset - Worked the whole day today for 3 hours, but when I'm in a building it was off about 50 meters.

#2: Phone won't wake after Idle too long "happen once"

a. Had to pull the battery for it to work again

#3: Phone won't connect to Gmail "happened 3 times"

a. Had to pull the battery a couple times for it too connect

Exchange July 28, 2010

Ship date: 07/07/10

As you can see after I did the factory reset, my GPS was working about 75% of the time. But it was too early too tell within the 3-4 hours I had with it.

Reason why I changed it was because my 14 days was coming up and I didnt want to have a phone with Problem #2 and #3.

So far the GPS is working for me the past 2 hours I exchanged it. Eventhough the compass is a bit off. My phone havent have probme #2 and #3 yet.

Here is the thing, when I went exchange the phone. The guy that was helping me have a Vibrant also. He told me he doesnt haven any problem with GPS at all. So im pretty glad I made the exchange, but I only have one day to see if theres any glitch with this new phone, so far so good though.

*Your 14 days doesnt reset everytime you exchange the phone, it 14 days from your first purchase.

EDIT

Right now i'm in a house without any good reception or 3G and I'm running GPS Test.

11 in View, not even 1 is connected :( But Google Map shows where I'm really at.

I'll keep yall updated.
[Vibrant General] HectikDroid:
Sorry to say but that made me laugh uncontrolably lol....BTW I have no lag,gps works great, compass blows ...ship date 7/12/2010
[Vibrant General] badaphooko01:
This is just ridiculous, my first unit had a ship date of 7/2 and had all sorts of problems including gps problems,lag,black screens, google maps crashing all the time, but the worst that I have not seen anywhere on this forum was the pinch to zoom feature it was real choppy on some websites. The new unit is flawless its ship date was 7/11, I hope Samsung has a fix soon for all these issues, Its giving this awesome device a bad name. I am starting to think I may have side loaded a rouge app and was screwing up the phone. We shall see.