yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] sjdean:
I have found that the internal driver that spits out the NMEA can get locks to more than 8 satellites < 20 SnR, but when presented to the Android API, Samsung only announce upto 8 satellites > 20 SnR.

Unfortunatly the NMEA locations are just as wayward as the MyTracks information, so we can't blame the apps.

I too agree that this problem is across all phones, whether the user is fortunate to experience the issue or not. You just have to have the right/wrong conditions, and even then the system is intermittent.

I have had two Galaxy S phones now. The second isn't as bad as the first. But I know there is a large section of people who state that their GPS is perfect who then fire up MyTracks and go back on what they say.

How long have you had your Galaxy S milsjg? How long have you been testing the GPS? What firmware version are you running? Have you applied any lag fixes? What software do you use to test the tracking?

I would be keen to point out, just because you don't experience errors, do not assume your phone does not have the error.

Certainly at minimum, your phone will have the software bug where accuracy is misreported, locks on satelltes < 20SnR, or locks on more than 8 satellites are reported.

I think 22 is the wrong SnR. It's actually < 21, but lets say 20 to be on the safe side.

If you do have lots of locks, please post a picture of GPS Test output showing a lock on more than 8 satellites. As far as Im aware, no one ever has seen this on GPS Test under Samsung Galaxy S, and when pressed about the matter, they confess that they see more than 8, but only get a fix on upto 8.

Remember a fix is a bar in GPS test that isn't grey.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] PsiIion:
But there are also people who do use MyTracks that does not have problems with the GPS.

I have posted an example when I recorded with GPSCompassMap (which like MyTracks will not snap to roads):

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=e...9.033224,15.057449&spn=0.076491,0.147629&z=13

That is typical performance for me, and I have been walking and driving with MyTrack, GPSCompassMap and Co-Pilot without issues.

Obviously, judging by most disussions on the subject I seem to be in a minority, so it still seems to be a major issue with the phone that needs to be fixed.

But something seems to be at play that means that some users find the GPS unusable, while for others it is fine.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] heygrl:
That's not terrible at all.

I also wanted to note that the GPS really seems to be biploar. I think this is just a huge issue with Samsung's poor firmware/software/coding/whatever. There is no reason why it shouldn't work right, the chip is featured in many other phones and it's not from some second rate manufacture. The phone has no problems seeing sats with good enough SNR's.. etc.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] scrappy.doo:
Like suggested earlier if your Galaxy's GPS performs perfectly 100% ok to you then please: "post a picture of GPS Test output showing a lock on more than 8 satellites."

Judging the track you drove you where clearly in the open field so the GPS should perform ok. The conditions are very optimal. Despite the conditions being good you see some deviation at the beginning of your track (when you seem to be just marginally surrounded by some trees/forest).
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] heygrl:
Hell I can show you plenty of screenshots that will show my Vibrant locked on sats that have SNR's well under 22 which seems to be some type of "thing" that the Vibrant doesn't do which is a fabrication for me. I often have locks below 22SNR.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] Bajo76:
Yes, but i do bet that you dont have a lock under 20SNR!
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] PsiIion:
I never locked to more than eight satellites, but why do I need to do that as long at it the precision is fine?

GPSCompassMap shows the number of sats you are connected to, and while recording that track it was locking to eight almost constantly, only occasionally dipping down to six or seven.

There is a lot of trees and forest along the road, but not really obstructing the view of the sky.

I basically turned on the GPS and app and started driving, and the starting point was not obstructed. But of course it takes a few seconds to get a proper lock.

Like I said, I have used the GPS a lot in various conditions without problems. It does't seem like the ones having problems are only trying it indoors or in canyons, so I don't think the difference is about the conditions.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] milsjg:
Well to answer the questions that Sdjean asked: I have had the phone for one and a half month. I am using I9000XWJM2 with Samset 1,7 (I have not had any serious problem with any firmware regarding the GPS but have had some lag issues). I have used CardioTrainer, My Track as tracking software, Navigon for navigation and Gmaps for, well I don,t know. I have had a mobile from 1989 and GPS from ca 2000. I have had GPS enabled phones and handhelds for the last 6 years and also owned some external GPSs. I have worked with tracking for at least 8 years, so do not think that people that do not complain about Samsung GPS is amateurs.

IMHO handhelds without any corrections (WAAS, ERGOS, DGPS etc) will get a fix within 5- 15 meters (sd 95). If you want a fix better than that, you have to apply some correction.

This talk about more than 8 fixes is not important. If you have 8 fixes the ninth will not improve the total location fix very much, specially if it has crappy s/n. Other phones may use another statistically way of calculating the fix using bad fixes and get down to an accuracy of 5,6 feet (which I do think is highly improbable if you do not use corrections). If they use low quality fixes they may only mess things up.

However, I agree that the jumping of the GPS fix is not tolerable so if you have that issue Samsung most help you. But if you complain about the accuracy being 5 to 10 meters. Search Google and read about how the GPS works and what you can do to correct it.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] sjdean:
Definitely, I agree. An accuracy of 5m to 10m would be ideal, unfortunately while my phone does achieve that on many occasions, the signal is too sporadic.

I can turn a corner and get a signal loss and show as going round a loop, or carrying on in a straight line until the GPS catches up. I can go under a bridge and the GPS will think Im walking off to the right, or left when Im going straight.

I know XWJM2 seems to dampen the path a little. That I think is in XXJP3 firmware as "Use Sensor Aiding", but unfortunately this is a bodge that doesn't fix the jittery signal.

At times, my GPS can be flawless. I'll get a lock onto 8 satellites, stable with no problems. I'll get a flawless track. But the rest of the time, I'll lose lock at random moments and struggle to gain even three satellites.

Then there are the times I'll be out walking and the because I turn corner, despite having a ten metre accuracy and the compass pointing in the right direction, the GPS thinks Im moving sideways and plots a sideways path. It thinks Im a crab.

I would concur, 8 satellites should be enough, but we do know that more satellites can help in urban canyons when you're likely to lose 5 behind a tall building. The problem is further compounded when your GPS struggles to maintain lock. Some of us do actually need those extra satellites on the GPS, and we do need the system to lock onto <20 SnR Satellites.

Just to ask this one more time in case it was missed milsjg, are you running any lag fixes?

Thanks

Simon
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] heygrl:
What is this nonsense about the phone not allowing a lock on sats with SNR's below 20?

I regularly get 5-10 meters in my car. NEVER any higher.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] milsjg:
No lag fixes except the Samset 1,7 that may do something to run it smoother (I really do not know). I hope that Samsung can resolve this jumping fix and bad reception problems Even if it is a problem that not seems to occur in every phone (or setup) they are obliged to customers to fix the problem. I appreciate your work to get a deeper view in to the GPS problem. So as long as you are interested keep on doing your good work but remember it is Samsung that are obliged to get the solution.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] milsjg:
This seems very strange from my perspective if this is a normal view. I hope that this is the startup of the GPS in GPS test otherwise it should lock on to the satellites with higher S/N. I do not have any GPS problems just for the record. What firmware are you using?
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] AllGamer:
just for the record, windows mobile devices like my old HTC Athena, had even worse GPS tracking, and took forever to pick up satellites using any GPS software

so the SGS GPS is amazing in comparison, it picks up in less than a minute vs. like 5+ min on the HTC Athena
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] heygrl:
It's stock T-Mobile USA firmware. I changed some of the settings under GPS Test mode. It's not as good without the changes I've made (whether or not this makes a difference like some have suggested, it seems to for me). MS-Based mode, Auto-Config, Accuracy at 65.. wireless networks enabled for the time being, it seems to aid and not take over at the moment. I get these locks fairly quickly.
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] sjdean:
First up, a massive thank you for posting those pics. Very much appreciated. Shows several things clear to me and may hopefully show why we're getting so many mixed results.

Secondly, can you tell me what that icon is in the top left corner of the screen, I can't quite make it out. Also, which Galaxy do you have? Is that the i9000 Galaxy S, Captivate or Vibrant or whatever?

Observations next.

1) We actually see 0 SnR satellites. I thought maybe there was an option in GPS Test, but it appears that the phone is actually reporting this info.

2) There are six satellites with a good SnR that are not being locked.

3) You do have an orange lock on satellite 05

4) You only have four poor SnR satellites and see 18ft accuracy!

5) Your clock shows 1.07, GPS shows 9.07.

All these is something the Samsung Galaxy S in the UK will not do. The accuracy goes in steps of 16.4ft to 32.8ft etc, never uses < 20, and doesn't display 00 satellites. The time is always in the same timezone.

So what's different about the model you're using? Is it a Captivate, or Vibrant?

What firmware version/baseband are you using?

Perhaps if you have root you wouldn't mind doing me a favour, and taking a look in /samsung/etc/jupiter.xml and telling me what you have under the GLL section.

Mine reads:

<gll
LogPriMask="LOG_DEBUG"
LogFacMask="LOG_GLLAPI | LOG_DEVIA | LOG_NMEA | LOG_RAWDATA | LOG_DEVMS | LOG_ASIC_IO | LOG_BBTEST | LOG_DEVET | LOG_MESM | LOG_DEVKF | LOG_DEVJG | LOG_DEVMR"
FrqPlan="FRQ_PLAN_26MHZ_2PPM_26MHZ_300PPB"
RfType="GL_RF_4751_DANUBE"
BrcmRFwildBase="0x1E2D6409"
BrcmRFclkDiv="21"
BrcmRFclkRefHz="26000000"
pps-enable="false" pps-offset-ms="0" pps-width-ns="100"
/>

Just curious to see if you have the same chip (RfType) or are using the same FrqPlan.

Cheers.

Simon

PS Let me just clarify my thought process - if you are seeing wildly different results to me, maybe there's a wildly different firmware out there that actually sort of works with GPS.

PPS I see from another post, that you have a Vibrant and not a Galaxy S? Again, what firmware are you running?
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] Case_:
Well, as for the "below 20SNR" lock, I must say I've seen that on my phone as well a few times - but it was very, very brief and promptly went back to stronger than 20 SNR only. I wouldn't manage to make a screenshot of it even if I really tried. Then again I've also seen the GPS detect multiple 30+ SNR satellites without having even a single fix to any of them for quite a long time.

The best fix I've seen was I think 7 out of 11 visible, while on my Vodafone 845 I often get 11 out of 12 or something along those lines.

Still I do suffer from very bizzare GPS glitches sometimes, as I've reported in the General section GPS thread, ie. here:

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=7496439&postcount=401

And I've seen my phone track me far, far worse than you can see at the end of the track in the post above. I've seen my phone have lock to several satellites with 10 meters accuracy and yet MyTracks reporting me as fas as 50 or sometimes even 100+ meters off...
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] Beowulf_pt:
So many different users, do many different units, so many different results. No wonder people are lost. Even considering only those who seem to be better informed (e.g. knowing the difference between a fast assisted fix on a snapping nav app and untouched raw track data) there are many differences.

I don't know what Samsung is guilty of; poor driver coding, poor firmware, poor antenna design, poor RTFMing of Broadcom's manuals...? No idea...but of one thing they seem to be guilty of for sure... a clear lack of consistency when it comes to the reliability of the product they're pumping out - when it comes to GPS usage.

I know this isn't gear for NASA but it's not something that competitors haven't implemented much better in much older hardware, years ago.

Maybe it's deeper than firmware and it involves the design of other systems interacting with the chipset. Power saving features and so on.

Or perhaps there is simply a difference in board hardware revisions that means different batches perform quite differently from others. Samsung has not provided enough information on this nor pointed at a clear defined cause.

Makes me wonder about their transparency regarding the matter. Gotta admit however that I'm still secretly very thankful to their teams for not having come up with an explanation or fix yet... the extra 470€ that are still in my pocket make me feel as if I can still locate (no pun intended) an alternative product somewhere else. :D
[Galaxy S I9000 Android Development] Rawat:
Pretty much this for me, although I haven't played around with other firmwares.
[Droid Eris General] stephenebner:
Sorry if I missed the answer I'm looking for but I did search first, I tried editing a few .png files and after pushing the framework-res.apk back everything on my phone went into a force close loop, I tried pushing the original back and it did the same thing, any help?
[Droid Eris General] sk842018:
I tried editing a PNG file the in call screen pic and pushed it to phone and same thing happened to me,no idea why
[Droid Eris General] Captainkrtek:
After you edit framework-res it must be signed you cannot simply flash it, first you must edit the images you choose, make sure the names stay the same, make it an apk, sign the apk, the reload in the rom by pushing it.

Cheers,

Captainkrtek

Pm if you need help
[Droid Eris General] sk842018:
How do you go bouts signing it
[Droid Eris General] PPCGeek01:
I've never had to resign that one after making any changes. Just a reboot would suffice.

Edit: Maybe try using Metamorph to make your changes. That's what I did recently on that particular apk without a problem. I mistakenly thought I pulled/pushed that one, but maybe I didn't.
[Droid Eris General] frosteddroid:
heres a good instruction for theming and a singningzip for your sdk tools folder... http://forum.cyanogenmod.com/topic/56-mods-blackbar-etc-50x/page__st__20__p__3320#entry3320
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] salah_heart:
is there any way to root this device

i used superboot for pulse mini and also amonra recovery for pulse many

but realy i cant do any thing
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] TacoLoco:
Superboot from pulse mini worked for me.. But I had a little struggle with root explorer hanging but suddenly it worked!
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] salah_heart:
how can i use iti did pressed onwindows pat but it say waiting for device

and still like that

maybei need to extract the files on the sdcard first or what?

thanks for helping
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] TacoLoco:
You have to connect device via usb, turn it off, hold end call + volume down and turn phone on.. The sandclock has to stay.. Then you can execute the .bat on your PC..

Good luck ;)
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] jg1141:
Tools to root 845 and work with ADB

These worked for me:

To get root:

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=834428

To get ADB to recognize device:

http://anti.teamidiot.de/ToggleUSB.apk

Yields:

$ adb devices

List of devices attached

N??	device
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] pierrotos:
hi I have tried these actions several times and when I am clicking the bat file the only thing it says is ''waiting for device'' any idea?
[Android Software/Hacking General [Developers Only]] chris3r:
Hopefully this can help

I used Z4 root and downloaded the Pro Celestial V2 rom zip file to my sd card. I then downloaded Clockworkmod rom manager. From there i backed up all my files to sd and using the install from sd option on the rom manager, I installed the rom making sure to wipe the dalvic cache. I got all the apps for free on mobile 24 and found the rom on a fourm here. Hopefully this can be of some use.

Btw, Android runs beautifully on this rom http://media.xda-developers.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif
[Galaxy S I9000 Themes and Apps] prujinkamix:
is there any way to make SGS dialer to looks like SE x10 dialer, but black not blue ?!
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
Need to revert to the stock kernel??

www.justanotherdev.slackdev.com/kernel-vibrant-stock.tar.md5.tar

MD5:9f89f8c5a6c785ff967806a4ca70906f
[Vibrant Android Development] anomalous3:
Beautiful! now if only we can find a way to flash the kernel from recovery without needing odin.....
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
Agreed. Feel free to use this kernel/recovery in your ROMS just give credit and I'll be more than happy :)

Also more to come folks just sit tight. This is my hobby and I have to take care of some real life issue ATM...cough ...the woman...cough.
[Vibrant Android Development] frank707:
amazing job! thanks for helping calm down the xda addicts. how well does the userinit and apps2sd play with kernel, can we use those files or will they have to modified to work with your kernel?
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
Any scripts will work fine just as before. The main difference is that we dont need the "playlogo" hack that was used previously which runs a script called userinit from /system/bin/ now all user scripts will go in /system/etc/init.d/

Now we have this folder (init.d) to store all are user scripts in and gives us the option to choose which runs first according to how they are labeled. Just have a peek inside the init.d folder to see what I'm talking about. Init.d is pretty common on Linux boxes just not Android :)

Also to be clear this should clear up race conditions as any user scripts in init.d will run before the default Android services.

FYI tabbals scripts is renamed "/system/etc/init.d/07a2sd" (which I should have names d2sd but whatever lol) in this build. Same script so yes the scripts will work just fine :)
[Vibrant Android Development] anomalous3:
one of the main purposes of the kernel is to give us a linux-standard place for people to add startup scripts, and to make data2sd possible without trouble, including ext4 which combines most of the speed of ext2 with the stability of ext3.
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
Exactly.

Have fun I'm off to bed for now. I've been running this for 2 days without issues. Please let me know if you find any bugs. WiFi BT and everything else should be working just like the stock kernel :) I also haven't had one kernel panic yet.
[Vibrant Android Development] frank707:
can't wait till take takes off. So is tabbal's script already setup to run automatically as long as i have my ext partition setup?
[Vibrant Android Development] bbuchacher:
Im definately +1 for getting rid of odin, Jac do you use github at all ?
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
This is correct yes.
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
I use git/mercurial but not github. I will be creating an account their to share code as people have been requesting it :)
[Vibrant Android Development] anomalous3:
good to see some Super D/E/F power using this phone. Would I be correct in thinking the main problem with packing the kernel into a boot.img would be the offsets, or do you think we're dealing with something a bit more serious?
[Vibrant Android Development] Goog1e Phone:
Would I have to wipe if I flashed this kernal? Or can this be flashed on top of what I have now and not lose anything?
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
No Wipe is needed. Make sure you flash the update first though it is a REQUIRMENT for it to boot with this kernel.
[Vibrant Android Development] davbran:
attempted to flash the first zip but init.d folder wasn't created. Wouldn't flash through stock recovery, attempted to flash through cw, will try again and update
[Vibrant Android Development] davbran:
The follow error occurs on flash

E:Can't chown/mod system/etc/init.d/02a2sd
(No such file or directory)
E:Failture at line 7:
set_perm 0 1000 0755 SYSTEM:etc/init.d/02a2sd
Installation aborted.
[Vibrant Android Development] davbran:
problem is in script, just edited it, about to try to flash
[Vibrant Android Development] davbran:
no dice, no install
[Vibrant Android Development] justanothercrowd:
EDIT: realized my FTP client wasnt uploading in binary mode which caused some issues.

Re-download the files they have been hashed and double checked.

Enjoy!
[Vibrant Android Development] Gr8gorilla:
I know that this has been mentioned but I would like to do so again and ask a serious question.

Basically the quadrant scores coming from this kernel are amazing but the actual functionality is seriously lacking. Everyone keeps talking about wake lag, but what about general app opening lag, and general stalling issues.

I used this for about 15 minutes. I love a high benchmark. I was OCing my nexus with my own custom Kernels and having a great time. I love the work that JAC is doing and it is the first steps to getting into some great custom kernels. But if the custom kernel is not at least as functional in everyday use as the stock kernel, then I cant keep it on my phone.

Are there any ideas as to what may be causing the extreme performance degradation when we move DATA to sd?
[Vibrant Android Development] aloxotls:
I am using the version 6 kernel with the deodexed ROM, with the ttabblal MOD applied. It runs a lot smoother than with the stock ROM with no wake lag so far and I got a 1751 on Quadrant.
[Vibrant Android Development] neasoon:
totally agree.

if you use vmstat to monitor the system usage while running apps. you will find the system stalls at waiting for IO a lot (check the wa column). In my case, I can see when I test some apps, the wa percentage keeps > 90 for several seconds. That's where the big lag comes from!!!

I finally reverted back to the /data/data -> NAND solution. IMO, at least in this aspect, the much higher quadrant score is useless. It's obvious the quadrant score gain comes from the EXT4 file system, but the real user experience is much worse.
[Vibrant Android Development] neasoon:
BTW, i don't think ATM we can say that the actual apps performance degradation is caused by this mod kernel. I really appreciate JAC's work and I suggest him to spend some time investigating this performance issue. I suspect the stock system even has the same issue if we have some way to make a ext4 hack without modifying kernel.