yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] blanked:
I've had mine for a few days now and I haven't experienced any GPS issues... the compass is complete ****, though.
[Vibrant General] mayart:
what compass

Sorry for the noob question, but what compass are you talking about. Is this a compass software that shows the north and south that you can download off marketplace, or is it a totally different thing you're talking about
[Vibrant General] Halieus:
My gps doesn't work almost at all until I use navigation then its rock solid. I can't figure that one out at all.
[Vibrant General] XfooYen:
@mayart,

We're talking about the phone's internal electronic compass which allows us to use programs that rely on it. A simple compass app from the marketplace would be one example but there are many apps which are dependant on accurate compass info ie. sky map, layar, google maps.
[Vibrant General] elkavayo:
I went to Samsung support site for the Galaxy S and had a "live chat" session with a technician. I complained about the following:

GPS:

Does not lock to any GPS Satellite

Accuacy: 100 ft

Speed: Varies widely. Even shows speed of 1, 2 and up to 6 mph when the phone is standing still.

Takes a long time to get a fix, and sometimes does not get a fix.

UTC time (and thus local time) is incorrect (7 hours ahead)

Phone slows down when GPS is in use (UI becomes noticeable sluggish)

Applications such as Google Maps, Tracks and web browser display "location unavailable" or inaccurate location.

Compass:

Does not work (does not know where the magnetic north is)

He told me to check off "Use Wireless networks" in Location and Security". I told him that it did not make much of a difference in fixing the issue list above. His answer?

"The problem is then the network because the GPS is using T-Mobile Satellites"

To which I replied: "That's not my understanding of how GPS work. GPS is funded and maintained by the US federal government, not T-Mobile or any network".

I then called 1-877-EZ2GALAXY (1-877-392-4252) and opened a suport ticket with Support Level 3 which confirmed they were aware of a widespread issue with Galaxy GPS (they claimed the compass is "linked" to the GPS, bt did not acknowledge any specific issue with the compass)

Then I asked the rep is the issue was with all Vibrant, or just a specific batch. She said she could not answer that question as it is difficult for her to know if it's a batch, a series or all, but that the problem is known and an update is being tested.

The rep. said that they are working on a fix but the support team is typically not aware of release dates, so she couldn't tell me, but she assured me it was not a hardware issue, and a software fix was on the way.

I know there's no much information in what I said. I just wanted to share the story with you.
[Vibrant General] Jon C:
Yeah, that's about what I figured out from my Level 3 tech as well.

And a future word of warning to anyone tempted to try: don't bother with the live chat. It's simply a script, assisted by someone in India. You won't solve anything with that thing.

Level 3 techs are pretty helpful, but it can be annoying, having to punch through the idiotic level 1 techs to reach them. Your best bet is to just request a transfer to level 3 for a very technical question.
[Vibrant General] mrxela:
"The problem is then the network because the GPS is using T-Mobile Satellites"

Ask them to switch you to Samsung GPS Satellites.
[Vibrant General] rsfaze:
my gps works fine on my Vibrant.. what is all this ranting about?

also if level 3 techs are the only ones worth talking to.. I would suggest getting their number so you can bypass the lower levels for an update if needed :)
[Vibrant General] candre23:
Those who are having GPS issues - have you tried the GPS fix posted over a week ago? Yes, it would be nice for Sammy to own up and fix the problem themselves, but it's a lot faster to just fix it yourself.
[Vibrant General] Jon C:
The 'fix' doesn't work for everyone.

rsfaze: If yours works 'perfectly', would you mind posting more information from GPS Test (number of sats found v. those locked; accuracy; time), your phone's build date and so forth?
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
With some casual navigation using Google Navigation my GPS seems to be working perfectly. When I actually put it to the test by testing accuracy with Google Maps it was inconsistent and spotty at best. Using GPS Test tells the tale...this thing is heavily dependent on help from the cell network because the actual GPS receiver can barely lock onto one satellite, much less the 3+ that you actually need for even an acceptable level of accuracy. Take your phone somewhere that you don't get a cell signal and see how well it works.

From what I've seen so far the people claiming their GPS works perfectly are either not testing well enough or don't know what to look for. I'm not saying that's what you're doing, but that's been my experience in other forums so far.

Also, the 'fix' that people keep talking about is just a crutch that allows the aGPS system to guestimate your location faster...it's not actually fixing the issue of weak/malfunctioning GPS receivers. It's a band-aid at best.

Also, the compass is borked. Several people have said theirs works, but as it turns out, most of theirs were either inconsistent or unacceptably slow as well.
[Vibrant General] ginzberg:
Via Samsung's Galaxy S Support Twitter account:

"GalaxySsupport

To those inquiring about GPS on Captivate or Vibrant, R&D is working hard on this. Thanks for your patience. We'll tweet new info here.^Leah"

I can't link it directly since the account is set up to require authorization before you can view the tweets... i sent my request today around 10 EST and started seeing tweets around 4pm or so
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
Good news. Now we need to start hammering on them about the worthless compass. :)
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
PLENTY of phones use aGPS and only get a "lock within seconds" with it enabled. Getting a your first lock without aGPS would take minutes on any phone.

The Motorola CLIQ also uses MS-Based. I'm near positive that most others are. The myTouch 3G I used at T-Mobile got an 8 Meter lock
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
Yep, most phones that lock quickly are using aGPS. What I'm saying is that some people are mistaking this for the GPS "working perfectly" when in fact it isn't really locking onto actual satellites.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
aGPS helps the phone get a sat fix. Getting a network based fix with accuracy near 40 (WiFi) or 1000 (Cellular network) meters isn't the same thing. To say that aGPS is a crutch and that we shouldn't have to use it is ludicrous.
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
Lol...yep, that would be ludicrous, and that's not anywhere close to what I'm saying. What I'm saying is that some folks are seeing aGPS working well enough to use for navigation and assuming that their GPS is working properly, when in fact the GPS isn't working...it's not locking onto satellites (or at least not enough of them).

For people that are having problems getting locks at all this fix may be helping aGPS work better, but the underlying problem of the actual GPS receiver failing to lock onto satellites remains. If you found yourself in a situation in which you didn't have a cellular signal and had to rely on the GPS receiver alone you'd be in trouble.

Again, I am saying that aGPS (which there is nothing wrong with using at all...it's super keen and spiffy in every way) is fooling people into thinking that their GPS receiver is working properly. In other forums there have been a few people that have claimed their GPS is working perfectly, then when they had the whole aGPS concept explained to them and tested using GPS Test or GPS Fix they were like, "oooooooooh...that sucks."
[Vibrant General] Col.Kernel:
Howso? I've used standalone handheld GPSs many times in the past. They certainly didn't have aGPS, WiFi, or cellular towers to assist them.

Try using GPS Status instead of GPS Test. You'll find that you lock onto a max of 1 or 2 GPS sats. This is bogus, it takes 4 for a decent fix.

And just to cover the whole "truth in advertising" thing here, when using a standalone handheld GPS it caches your location information and the satellite constellation internally. If you turn it off for a prolonged period (over a couple of weeks) or travel 500+ miles with it off it will probably take 10-15 minutes to get a fix on your location. Of course that info is about 6 years old and the handheld GPS technology has probably changed since then.
[Vibrant General] candre23:
If it's working well enough for navigation (as mine is), then I fail to see the pressing issue. Sure, it would be nice to have a more accurate reading for certain specialized applications. Samsung is working on it (at least they claim to be working on it). But if 99% of what you use the GPS for is navigation and location-based search, and it's working well enough for both, then why all the panic? It's hardly a "ZOMG GPS is borken!!!11!" type of situation. It's annoying, and it shouldn't have shipped with imperfect GPS, but it's still completely serviceable until a permanent solution arises. Harassing tech support is unwarranted, and is unlikely to get it fixed any faster.

I have a two year old garmin, and it takes 2-3min to establish a signal on average. Sometimes it will fail completely for 10+ minutes if it's overcast or I'm driving in a heavily wooded area. So yes, unassisted GPS lock takes a while - even with newer standalone GPS units.
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
Ok, what you're not getting is that the GPS

isn't really working at all

. What I'm seeing is aGPS (which a phone with no GPS receiver at all can do) is doing 99.9% of the work and the GPS receiver is occasionally chiming in with 1 or 2 satellite locks (which is doing virtually nothing). If you go to a place with no cellular service it's very, very likely that your location will be a total mystery to you. That means that even if you install a navigation app that loads maps on your phone and doesn't rely on a data connection, if you leave your coverage area you will have

no GPS at all

. That is not GPS...that's cellular location service.
[Vibrant General] Jon C:
'heygrl' is the king of starting pointless internet fights, so it's best to not even bother, dex1701.

More on topic: I just spoke to a T-Mo 'Android Specialist' who said that the only rumblings they've heard of a potential update for the Vibrant was expected in September. That was not official, but just something that had been floating around their offices.

It obviously plagues all Galaxy S models (including the I9000), and it's incredible to me that Samsung still hasn't addressed the problem (besides a random twitter comment). There's nothing T-Mobile can do, but poke and prod Samsung and Google.

Still, September? That's unacceptable to me, frankly. Motorola pushed out an update for the Droid X within a week.

By September, we'll have an HSPA+ phone; meanwhile, my Vibrant can't lock onto a single satellite, nor can it point to Magnetic North.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
The assisted part of aGPS will /not/ track your location, it only gives the GPS receiver an initial idea of where you're located.

Plenty of (if not all) Android phones use MS-Based location services

. We've already confirmed that the Motorola CLIQ operates this way. No network based location fix can give you 10 meters of accuracy while moving (being generous here). I was just out in my car using GPS (MS-Based) with Google Maps and I saw 6-9 meters of accuracy and I got that fix in about 15 seconds. You must have Network Based Location Services disabled within the Settings - Location/Security Menu for the lock to be this quick and good or else the phone will default to a 2000 (T-Mobile/Cell network) meter fix instead of utilizing GPS.

Not even the best navigation systems will give you a standalone GPS lock in 5 seconds so I'm positive in my assumption that MS-Based Location Services are active on other Android phones.

If there is no network coverage the phone will fall back to standalone GPS when MS-Based is active. Disabling WiFi, putting the phone in Flight Mode and clearing all GPS data with a reboot gives me a 20FT lock in about 3 minutes in doors. This is perfectly acceptable standalone GPS performance.
[Vibrant General] captain_awesome:
agreed..

a lot of people are comparing this phones gps performance to that of the Cliq, which admittedly performed admirably in the task.. but the cliq also defaulted in MS based mode and kept the GPS polling in the background on a regular basis.. this is why it seemed to "achieve lock" in a couple of seconds.. the truth is it was locked the whole time.. thats also why having the GPS on all the time drained the battery like it was going out of style.

it seems like our vibrants just cold start all the time.. and when they do find sats, the software doesnt lock properly. given that the time is always miscalculated.. i wouldnt doubt that its just a glitch in the coding somewhere.
[Vibrant General] K_esco:
I see all these complaints but it seems that my gps worjs fine. I step outside of my job and it gave me my location in a few seconds. Havent tried navigation yet tho. How do I determine how many satellites?
[Vibrant General] rsfaze:
for sure.. give me a few to go outside :)

um ok I was running GPS test and my phones screen went off.

it just came back up but now it says Safe Mode in the bottom left hand corner.. ut oh

so rebooted and its fine again, ran GPS test

not sure if this is the info your looking for but

found 13 PRN's. tell me what other info will help and I will happy to get it for you all
[Vibrant General] sfsilicon:
The gps issue is pissing me off enough that I went ahead and registered and email a complaint to Samsung. Non of the fixes worked and some actually made things worse (google maps would lock-up). Calling Tmobile now to complain as well.
[Vibrant General] speoples20:
Have people with GPS issues with their phones tried exchanging them? Seems kind of silly if you sit there and complain when switching out the phone might fix the issue. Obviously its not a wide spread issue, so a new phone might fix your problem.
[Vibrant General] boomerbubba:
Of course they have. But unless there is an issue with manufacturing quality, there is no reason to expect any change because nothing has changed in the software or hardware design. (One definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.)

I did an exchange because that's what the customer service rep first suggested. It did not cure the underlying problems, and I did not really expect it to.

Some people report that "GPS works" after an exchange. But one of the symptoms of the reported GPS problems is that they can appear over time, so some of those same people later report problems again. Some people also report improvement, at first, after just doing a factory reset on their phone -- with similar results. Many users don't really know what to look for. They just look at the apparent perforrmance within integrated apps like Google Maps, instead of exploring the low-level GPS outputs with utilities such as GPS Test or GPS Status.

Personally, I think the factory reset itself explains all the anecdotal reports of changed GPS behavior, and one can experience the same temporary changes just by doing that. I also think that efforts on the forums to divine a manufacturing/shipping date after which phoneS "got better" have been an exercise in futility. As far as we know, nothing has changed in the phones being shipped!

The PR line we are asked to believe is that there will be a firmware update someday to "fix" the GPS problems. I fully expect that there will be some firmware update that will make changes in apparent GPS behavior. What we don't know is whether the root cause of the problem is only buggy firmware -- which would be the best case because those bugs could just be fixed -- or whether it also involves some more fundamental defect in hardware. If there is a hardware problem, a complete software "fix" may not be possible, but only some methods to mitigate and disguise the problem by post-processing the GPS outputs.
[Vibrant General] thunderstruck!:
For those that are saying this fix worked or that fix worked-are you evaluating on a long term basis, or just turning GPS on, seeing it works and assuming it's permanent? I mention this because if there is long term degradation you could miss the results. Just because it's fixed for the first 5 minutes doesn't mean it's fixed for the next 24 hours.
[Vibrant General] jmacapili:
Amen to that. I've had three instances where the nav app froze and I had to exit the freeway, and either wait (for a very looong time) for the nav app to get a sat lock again, or just reboot the phone.

$500+ (outright purchase; I returned my first Vibrant, thinking this second one would solve the GPS issue) for a phone with crappy GPS just doesn't cut it. If Samsung doesn't release a fix before my 30-day honeymoon's over, I might just have to return this phone.....
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
I've slightly modified some settings, most importantly putting the GPS in MS-Based mode on stock custom or auto config settings and leaving Wireless Network location services completely off and I have no problems getting an maintaining a fix for "more than 5 minutes". I'll be on the freeway today and I'll try Google Navigation
[Vibrant General] kiddiosky:
Pass two days since I swap my Vibrant, I been testing the GPS as much as I can.

Indoor Problems:

Work- Think I'm in Rhodes Island or some other state; off by a few meters; still think I'm at a place 30mins ago; right on my location

Home- off by a few meters; still think I'm at a place 30mins ago; right on my location

Restaurant- off by a few meters; still think I'm at a place 30mins ago; right on my location

Outdoor Problems:

NONE!!! I notice the only problem I have is indoors, right when I step outside it took only 1-20 sec to lock on right away.

When I was waiting for ToGo yesterday, it couldn't find my location when I was inside. I kept on pressing My Location and it kept on thinking I was a few blocks away. Right when I stepped outside and pressed it again, less then a 2 sec, it found me.
[Vibrant General] nick_karstedt:
Isn't this already fixed in the Froyo rom for the Galaxy S...? They're just getting it ready for release man.
[Vibrant General] jamesyl:
Where did you hear that from?
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
Ok, I went camping in an area with no cell service over the weekend. I played around with the GPS for a while and got the same results that others have been reporting using the Vibrant's GPS without a data connection. I let it search for about 10 minutes. It wavered between "seeing" 8-11 satellites, but it never "used" more than 1 or 2.

Accuracy was very poor...it didn't come within 200 feet of locating me. Precision was also poor...according to the GPS I was teleporting around the area every 5-10 seconds. I didn't even know I had super-powers. :p

I brought along my HTC Touch Pro 2 for reference. I always felt the GPS in it was below-average at best for a smartphone...certainly not as good as the one in my (now quite old) HTC Polaris. The TP2 locked in about 3 minutes and said it was using 8 satellites. It nailed my position in TomTom Navigator and held onto it with no "teleporting."

heygrl, I don't really understand why you keep trying to argue with me about aGPS. I know what it does (uses cellular location service to approximate your location, downloads data to assist the GPS in locking satellites and interpolating location data faster, etc.). I have no argument about whether or not it's a good thing...it certainly is. What I am saying is that the GPS in the Vibrant needs data from the cellular network to function, and that, to me, isn't acceptable when every other phone with GPS I've ever owned is able to function as a halfway decent navigator in cellular dead zones with no problems. I truly don't understand what point you're trying to argue with me. I apologize if I'm just being dense.

For reference, I didn't think I was having GPS issues until I actually did some testing and realized that the actual GPS receiver doesn't seem to be locking enough satellites to be really effective. Outside of some "teleporting" it seems to work ok for navigation around the city where I have a cellular signal. I would not rely on the Vibrant's GPS when away from an available cellular network, however.
[Vibrant General] jonathan75:
I used it to go to the market today. The screen turned black and locked up on the way. After a power cycle it worked OK for the rest of the trip. On the way back it was fine but at the end of my trip Google maps lost GPS signal and would not acquire again even though I could confirm through GPS test it did have a lock.

Also when I looked in GPS test it was locked on to three satellites but those three all had 0 SNR. I still don't understand that. The best I can do is lock to three satellites with eleven in view. Best accuracy is 15 feet.
[Vibrant General] mi4kidzmom:
Google samsung vibrant update. They acknowledge now. If sharing your stories makes you feel better...write on I guess
[Vibrant General] zerosource:
I agree. My phone's compass also "sucked".
[Vibrant General] lmlloyd:
Not all Vibrant's are having GPS problems.

I'm new here, and not looking at getting in a fight with anyone, but I thought I should pass along the following information. I got my Vibrant a few days ago, and subjectively it seemed to get the same GPS performance as the G1 it was replacing. Nav, Maps, Tracks and the geotagging in my note app all gave me the results I had come to expect from an Android handheld. The compass is completely worthless, but the GPS performance seemed to be just fine. While looking for a compass fix, I came across this page.

Figuring I would check to make sure, I downloaded GPS Status, and took the phone out on my balcony. Now mind you, this is anything but ideal conditions, as my Balcony has two balconies over it, there is a power transformer on a telephone pole about 15 feet from my balcony, and mine is one of many buildings packed closely together. Still, in under a minute, GPS Status reported 4 sats fixed out of 13 visible. I would say that is perfectly acceptable satellite performance. Now, maybe my phone is from a different batch than yours, maybe mine came with different firmware or something, or maybe it is a QC issue. Whatever the reason, I think it is important to throw another data point in there showing that not ALL Vibrants have an issue of being unable to lock on available satellites. They do all seam to have garbage compass performance from what I can tell though.
[Vibrant General] Dougefresh91:
Why don't you go to Settings > About phone and see which firmware and baseband versions you have.
[Vibrant General] Bigshow281:
Just apply the existing fix or flash the new stock 2.1 rom using odin (which already has the fix built-in). And move on with your life...
[Vibrant General] Dougefresh91:
As I've stated before, the "fix" doesn't work for me. Instead of having bars and that little 3G icon, I have a blue circle with a slash through it, meaning no service. I let it go for about 12 hours before doing a factory restore, and everything went back to normal after that.
[Vibrant General] }{Alienz}{:
Sent an email for the issue.
[Vibrant General] jonathan75:
Does anyone else get a black screen of death using Google navigate? My phone screen will turn black and the icons light up on the bottom. The only thing I can do is press and hold the button on the right side to power off and then reboot. It happened yesterday and again today.
[Vibrant General] lmlloyd:
Firmware version: 2.1-update1

Baseband version T959UVJFD
[Vibrant General] dex1701:
That would be great advice if it actually fixed anything except aGPS. *shrug* I've still never seen my phone lock more than 2 satellites under any conditions.
[Vibrant General] Jdom58:
He he my personal best running in stock form was 4 satellites but it only lasted a few minutes:D