yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Captivate Android Development] di11igaf:
ive had 4 captivates so far. me and my wifes original 2 and 2 replacements. all 4 have been the same where sometimes there dead on accurate, and they might be like this for a week. then one day they might take 10 min. to get a lock where the day before it would lock instantly. overall id say the gps on all the phones ive had werent horrible, but could be better. im to the point now that i think its just a hardware issue, and no matter what settings we put in or what we change, the gps just isnt going to be perfect.
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
I had that kind of perfect GPS with my captivate once and lost it.... once you have it never let go :) hahaha
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
I will continue to track all my trips for the next couple weeks and post my results. I also have made a nandroid backup of the stock JH7 firmware that came with my phone that I will post shortly.
[Captivate Android Development] jdphilly:
I would love to have a copy I just want a working phone
[Captivate Android Development] boomerod:
OP, so many of us are so over this GPS issue with these otherwise very nice performing phones. It's just a damn shame that Samsung let this line go to market with this type of problem. That being said, I, for one, appreciate those that continue to try to find a way to resolve this issue. I am one of those that read CLShortfuse's complete write-up on this matter and form that I feel pretty certain it is NOT a hardware issue; the same chip is used in other devices without issue. I think that the issue is with Samsung's coding and, perhaps, the placement of the chip in the phone.

I see a lot of notes about quick locks, slow locks, etc....the real issue is tracking, not locking. I have found that even my Garmin can take over a minute to lock, depending on where I am in the city (elevation, hills, etc.) and also is sometimes affected by weather. I've waited over 5 minutes for my Garmin to lock (only a few times) but when it does it stays locked and my tracking is very good. However, even my Garmin will loose me for a few seconds, especially when taking a ramp that it didn't expect me to (not the route it planned for me). Unfortunately, neither of my 2 Captivates worked this way. It's perplexing and frustrating. I can tell you that the fastest locks I ever got were immediately following the OTA update (I got mine through Kies Mini). Unfortunately, I flashed another ROM before I tested the tracking.

I hope some devs out there will take your offer seriously and take apart your backup, if possible.
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
I am going to upload the file once I have a friend with a captivate try it out first.
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
I agree with boomerod - remember the biggest problem for us is the losing a lock part mid-trip
[Captivate Android Development] TheSopranos16:
I would think the first step would be to have someone with gps issues flash your nandroid. If that makes their gps perfect as you report, then it may be worth investigating further... just my .02
[Captivate Android Development] buddy17:
are you kidding me??? zoom in on that track map, and you will see it takes you off the road all over the place. Accuracy is still horrible. I have never ever seen a phone go off track like that so dont tell us to "live with it". It may look good zoomed out but try actually looking closely at that and tell us it is perfect
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
Well buddy17, if you do look closely at that map you will notice that it is off less than 5 meters for the short period of time that it was off. Most GPS software maps auto lock onto streets when they are that close but when using My Tracks it does not. I am almost certain it is impossible to have GPS that is spot on all the time and this could also be due to the inaccuracy of Google My Tracks. If you would post your results I am sure you would see a significant difference in tracking.

Also the GPS performance on this firmware seems to not have the "turn lag" or movement while being stopped issues that I have previously experienced as well as what others have reported. I am almost done uploading and all I am respectfully requesting from the community is to try it out and see what happens please. I would like to thank the community for their time and effort to make our captivate have the best experience possible.
[Captivate Android Development] bulletproof1013:
Another useless thread of gps nonsense...lol. I cant believe I even looked. Shame on me

Sent from my Ilikeboobs897
[Captivate Android Development] denellum:
I think more or less the shame is on you for posting.

On a side note:

OP I just got a new one today too from the warranty dept. The GPS While driving is nothing but flawless. Thank you for reporting this to us, and I am a 2nd to agree how amazing the mid drive is. Showed me on the road i was on the entire time. And didn't loose a lock.
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
UPDATE**

Here is the image file of the stock JH7 that has given me VERY accurate GPS results from the previous stated post. This is from a Nandroid backup and I do not know how you would go about installing this but I'm sure someone from here does and will test it. This has not been tested yet, but I respectfully challenge the developers and community to try this out to see if it is an improvement. This is an Eclair JH7 rom. Thank you for your time.

Update links are on first post
[Captivate Android Development] alphadog00:
I agree with the others, this thread is a waste of time. Your software image is no different then the other 500,000 JH7 phones leaving the factory or that had the update. If Samsung made a fix, we would see a different version number.

They don't just replace files and leave the version numbers the same - that would be a support nightmare.

If someone was interested, they would just compare your files to another set and look for differences; BUT, because everyone else knows that files don't get changed without creating a new build, they are not going to spend time on your challenge.
[Captivate Android Development] :
omg!!! bakon cookies!!!! lol relax op its in your mind the gps fix, flash froyo,gps works perfectly....
[Captivate Android Development] Ethere:
The guy is just trying to offer something. Instead of complaining, it's good to see that someone is actually attempting to do something about it. OP, much appreciated that you've done this. Maybe there's something there that was missed by someone.
[Captivate Android Development] cnewsgrp:
I don't understand the hate in this community for people who post GPS issues. My experience is very similar to OP. GPS is good (not excellent, but good) out of box or with stock ROM or even with Cog ROM till v2.3b3. Starting 2.4 GPS just stopped working until I apply GPSFix after which it works ok.

Anyway, keep up the good work
[Captivate Android Development] anosis:
I also appreciate the effort that goes in to finding a fix. I have tried all the hacks and really nothing gives me solid results.

I have however a question for the more expreienced members in regards to the hardware. I noticed on the tear down pictures that there are two antenna connectors. One for sure is the cell phone antenna conector (smaller one of the two), could it be that the second one is for the GPS or is this just a test connection for something else??

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=740022

6th picture from the top.

If this was related to the GPS, it might be interesting to see if the signal improved if an actual wire was attached to that.

Sorry, I am no expert, just throwing an idea out there.
[Captivate Android Development] Sqdnguns:
OP, thanks for sharing. I spent a lot of time at LeJeune............just ignore most of the pricks on here, at least you're trying to contribute.
[Captivate Android Development] shiftylock:
Thanks for posting... I flashed to froyo because of the gps issues, but now that my phone seems to be running SLOWER with cognition I think I'll try the new stock kernel. >_>
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
While I have not looked at the mainboard in my hands, it looks like the output from the larger connector goes straight to the cell phone antenna connector.

If true, this would suggest that it is just an alternative cell phone connector. I wouldn't make too much of it. Just looks like two of the same.
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
Look, the only reason why I posted this thread is because I have seen no other reports of the GPS working as well as this and I am NOT saying that this JH7 is different than other JH7's, but what I am saying is alot of people were unable to receive the official OTA update and could only get the release through 3rd party means. I have yet to see a STOCK JH7 rom that is flashable on XDA other than the one I just posted. I know everyone in this thread is tired of people coming up with a GPS fix but yielding no positive results, but all I ask is a few try it out and post your mytracks up here. I still believe there is something in that image file that is different than what is contained in all custom ROMs. There are too many variables in this problem to just exclude the idea that this could not possible contain the solution. Technology is not that simple.
[Captivate Android Development] boomerod:
What's useless is your comment!

Sent from my SGH-I897, disguised as a GT-I9000.
[Captivate Android Development] boomerod:
Are you serious? If so, can you prove it?

Sent from my SGH-I897, disguised as a GT-I9000.
[Captivate Android Development] nsaia:
Hell, I'll try it if someone can tell me how to flash the Nandroid backup.
[Captivate Android Development] boomerod:
You wasted a lot of space with your unhelpful post. There seem to be a lot of unhelpful smartasses on here.

Sent from my SGH-I897, disguised as a GT-I9000.
[Captivate Android Development] boomerod:
Well said!

Sent from my SGH-I897, disguised as a GT-I9000.
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
I think you just copy to your SD card, open ROM manager and hit restore backup? Let me know if that doesn't work you may have to copy to the right folder if so.

I'd try but I have batch 1008 and don't want to lose download mode :)
[Captivate Android Development] bulletproof1013:
Sorry for my previous response. I am a ass. There are just alot of "gps fixes" here and they r all about the same to me. Once again I mean no disrespect. I will try your gps but it looks off to me.

Sent from my Ilikeboobs897
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
UPDATE 2****

I went on about a 30 minute trip and here are my results

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=114887993519189258855.000494f37559dc102964c&t=h&z=12

** Please note you will need to zoom in to notice all of the turns that I made. I also made a U-turn and traveled on some of the same roads in opposite directions. Everything is just as accurate as the day before.
[Captivate Android Development] Sqdnguns:
Nice results................., you drove pretty close to my old house too.
[Captivate Android Development] foxbat121:
OP,

Do me a favor will you? Use GPS Test app or any other GPS status app or bulit-in lbstest mode app. Please report your GPS satellite receiption values when you stand outside or in a car using your normal nav position:

* How many satellite visibile? How many locked?

* Of those locked, please report the SnR values of each satellite (range from teens to 40s).

I suspect that your new phone is the reason why it worked, nothing to do with any special firmware you have on your phone (flashing a custom ROM with worthless GPS hacks could certainly mess up an otherwise working GPS). I've seen a few Galaxy S phone with exceptional receiptions (2 ro 3 more satelittes with SnR over 40 while mine barely ever has one satellite reach 40) that work flawlessly with navigation.
[Captivate Android Development] kaczu:
backing up system now... i'll help test....
[Captivate Android Development] BigEHokie:
Dude...you live in Jacksonville..and right by the water at at that. Why are you out driving around playing with GPS and not on the water fishing?
[Captivate Android Development] iamcombat:
I'd still love to know why everyone *****es about GPS....does everyone REALLY use it that much? I know I don't....
[Captivate Android Development] zippox180:
its not a matter of whether or not you use the gps. its a matter of buying a phone that list the features including gps and when the time comes to use it, does not work. i use google nav everyday for work. i can use it and get where i need to go because i know the area. but say someone is driving and does not have a standalone gps because they bought a phone with this feature, and takes a wrong turn. oh no where am I? i'll just use the gps, oh it doesn't work. well ****. that's the whole point. you might not use the gps but there's a hell of a lot of people that do want to use it.
[Captivate Android Development] di11igaf:
Its not really the point of using it that much, its that it should work out of the box like without major problems like 99% of other phones with gps. I dont use it THAT much, but when I do need it, gps that only works half of the time is pretty much useless
[Captivate Android Development] Jaycdenton:
First off, why all the hate for the OP? He started a new thread that is CLEARLY a GPS topic. Question: If you are so sick of talking about GPS WHY IN THE FECK WOULD YOU CLICK ON A POST WHICH HAS GPS AS THE MAIN TOPIC!??

Secondly, I think the OP may be on to something here. I just had my phone replaced under warranty for a "reconditioned phone". First thing I did when I stepped out of the store was to try my GPS. I got a lock which pinpointed my location (maybe off by a few yards). It not only found me but tracked me accurately for a 30 minute drive. The difference here isn't really how fast I got a lock but how accurately it was able to track me. Granted this is my first day with the phone but my old captivate was never this good even on the first day. I'll check in next week for an update.
[Captivate Android Development] kaczu:
OP would you mind redoing the backup using clockwork?
[Captivate Android Development] mattbeau:
Flashed this with clockwork of jf6 one click. ( you have to recreate the md5) i got pretty good results. Though i still had the old baseband. Not sure if that matters

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://...&usd=2&usg=ALhdy29Q-0vMDZS1P9Frj0kGt7iDpAWDfw
[Captivate Android Development] eclypse3demons:
^^agree

As a consumer when you purchase a product that gives you a list of supported features it is not "dumb" to expect these features work, regardless of those haters out there that just want to look cool and post "not another post about blah blah blah" Those posts are unneeded and if you cannot post anything relevant, just keep your rants to yourself. The OP is doing some of the leg work that some people who post nothing of use here would never do because they are lazy. i.e. "we are so over the GPS issue" like you represent the planet or something...

Good job OP keep it up. This is important stuff.
[Captivate Android Development] kaczu:
Oh yeah... forgot about that thanks.....
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
***ATTN TO: mattbeau

This is great news! Could you please help everyone here out and post detailed instructions on how to flash this? I thank you for participating in this effort and it appears my original hypothesis is true. Did you notice a significant improvement?
[Captivate Android Development] mattbeau:
sent you a PM
[Captivate Android Development] kaczu:
md5sum *img > nandroid.md5
[Captivate Android Development] JPS81:
For people who use GPS rarely, it's actually even more important that it works well out of the box, because when you do actually use it, it's likely in an emergency, like you're lost or you need to get somewhere quickly and you don't know where it is.

It's like a lesser version of an airbag or parachute. Do you really need them? I mean, do you really use them that often? Obviously you don't use them everyday, but when you do need them, you want to be 100% sure it works. GPS navigation isn't generally life threatening (although once I did get lost in the stolen car/car jack capital of the US and my Garmin bailed me out), but if I have a need for it, it's pretty damn important.
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
UPDATE 4****

Very special thank to mattbeau for posting instructions on how to get this to work. Still need a few more people to test this but so far this is the most accurate the GPS has ever been on the Captivate here it is:

download the following: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2UD37VJ8

extract with winrar or what ever you want

so this is what is working for me.

ensure the clockwork update.zip is insalled on the root of your internal SD card

create a folder /sdcard/clockworkmod/backup/jh7gps/

copy system.img and nandroid.md5 to the above folder

Oneclick back to JF6

enable debugging under settings

using adb

adb restart recovery

select reinstall packages

(it will install teh clockwork recovery)

again select reinstall packages

select advanced restore

select jh7gps

select restore system

select yes

your phone will reboot with the new system.img installed

baseband is still jf6

If I could as that everyone that tries this please post their results. The more consistent this is the more things we can rule out.
[Captivate Android Development] rfarrah:
This looks promising!
[Captivate Android Development] darkamikaze:
that's 2 people.. can we get more people do this test :x.. I would.. but.. lol x">
[Captivate Android Development] mattbeau:
I inderstand how you feel. I've done a billion different Roms. And a major selling point for me fir this phone was openness and the navgation with Google maps for free I actually went to Sam's club to see if they carried the iPhone 4 when everyone was out of stock and I was captivated with features and price ( they had a really good deal) . I even ran jf6 to jh7 through kies mini then this and had worse results. So what's different? I'm currently running Cog 2.4.1 still not up to par GPS wise. Just roll over? Give up? It takes 3 minutes to backup your setup and try. All we Need is data. We just want to compare results. So if you want to post mytracks with results please do so. otherwise move on
[Captivate Android Development] bmvik:
I'm curious what DG has to say about this
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
Nobody knows precisely what is going on.
[Captivate Android Development] zippox180:
i will def help out as much as i can. i just downloaded and about to load it up will post results tomorrow.
[Captivate Android Development] varunkumars:
Hey OP great work. I am really very happy to see this. I am really dying for a GPS fix. I learnt from somebody that its due to the bad phone design. Can you try froyo JI6, just to make sure your phone hardware has not changed. If this is a bad idea sorry for my ignorance.

Don't care if somebody is not happy with this thread. Keep posting your maps. If possible can you try it downtown in between skyscrapers(my gps barely works in downtown dallas).
[Captivate Android Development] Krynn!:
Already done, and yeah, the GPS went to crap. Well, not JI6, but Cog 2.4.1. Check out the original post in this thread for the info.

This makes it look more than ever like it's just a software problem. I'll still remain skeptical until someone has a week or more under their belt with this rom and the GPS remains working properly, but it's looking very promising.
[Captivate Android Development] cnewsgrp:
Have you tried this? My GPS went from good to crap with cog 2.4 & 2.4.1, but after this it is ok now

http://xdaforums.com/showpost.php?p=9150551&postcount=7862
[Captivate Android Development] cropythy:
This has already been posted in this thread and us no way related to the topic if this thread...please leave this cog talk to the cog thread.
[Captivate Android Development] cnewsgrp:
I thought this was GPS thread. Just responding to a Cog GPS question. I am sure all Cog users with GPS issues are going to peek here and this will help them. I get GPS lock in 15 seconds or less now.

Wonder by GPS invokes strong emotions.Let me get this straight

Can't post GPS issues in Cog thread

Can't post Cog GPS issues in GPS thread

Seems to me that many of participants in XDA Captivate section are more interested in moderating than discussing improvements.
[Captivate Android Development] zippox180:
Those settings have been posted all over for forever. So it really wont help with this thread. This thread is for the firmware that the OP posted. Which is standalone gps. And locking onto satelites is minor in regards to holding that lock while moving. Gps issues with cog should stay with cog as far as i know this is not a general gps discussion. So if something is worth mentioning about this firmware in particular with these settings then post away. Sorry don't want to seem like a jerk just trying to keep this on topic.

Oh and i loaded the firmware last night will post my tracks later.
[Captivate Android Development] Ricparr:
I have had (almost) perfect gps since I exchanged my original device about 4 months ago. I am running cog 5,5 or something like that, don't have the phone with me to give the exact version, but it's a much older one. I have no explanation as to why some have great gps and some have terrible, it's just odd.
[Captivate Android Development] netnerd:
just admit it, samsung gps is GARBAGE!

that is like trying to make a 10$ radio to sounds like a BOSE! it' not possible!
[Captivate Android Development] zippox180:
This is the most educated statement ive seen on here. While yes there are many problems with the gps there are still possible solutions. Ive seen my gps be absolutely perfect then the next day be completely horrible. But it doesn't hurt trying.
[Captivate Android Development] Mac11700:
OMG...:eek::eek::eek:

I'll take a few $10 radios I've bought before day over any POS Bose radios...and most likely it will sound 10x better..:p

Nice to see a few trying to make this GPS problem go away..Good work to the OP and volunteers

Mac
[Captivate Android Development] heymanator:
Just wondering if someone can mirror the link for downloading this on megaupload is temporarly unavailable as of 9:27 am Nov 14th

Sent from my att cappy modded
[Captivate Android Development] boborone:
Just to add something about the update and gps. After my ota, the gps was spot on, Iindoors, out, driving, from a stop, moving, changing directions. I saw more satts, locked on more, had higher values on the same satts and the compass and gyro were much better. Only after flashing diff roms did it get worse. If I go back to the update, it's just as good. They got some thing right with three update.

From a phone on an app
[Captivate Android Development] cnewsgrp:
Sorry, my GPS is good (not great). I get lock in 30 seconds and only occasionally I lose location accuracy.

I have a 1008 model if that helps. I agree with OP. For many of us hardware is not an issue.
[Captivate Android Development] danquirk2000:
UPDATE 5*****

I apologize that the megauploads links it temporarily unavailable. We are currently working on getting this back up as soon as possible. Also will be posting my My Tracks for day 3 shortly as well. I encourage anyone else to post their results as well.
[Captivate Android Development] fatttire:
be careful - i think you just lost download mode via holding vol +/- during startup.

batch 1008 has this issue...

EDIT realized you didn't say whether or not your flashed this. if you did, then you need a fix to re-enable button combo download mode with Eclair, or you could potentially permanently brick your phone due to a hardware flaw in batch 1008. anyone on froyo with 1008 is fine.
[Captivate Android Development] bmvik:
you can get to d/l mode in 1008 batch by holding vol up and vol down while plugging in usb cord while phone is off. sometimes just vol down while plugging in works.