yashsingh1/xdaforums huggingface dataset:
[Vibrant General] tjhart85:
That is correct, BUT when pretty much EVERY other Android phone on the market out performs it in this aspect, there is a flaw in the system. As stated, the G1 locks on faster & stays locked on much better than this phone.

With that said, I tell the GPS where I want to go, and by the time I've left my neighborhood, it's working great. The fact that it takes 10 times longer to lock on doesn't really matter to me.

Using all of the Bionix ROMs and now using the Axura 2.0.5 ROMs, I've been happy with my GPS. When I was using complete stock, it was crap. IIRC, JI6 wasn't bad though.

I'm currently playing with a friends Galaxy Tab and inside nowhere near a window, it locked on and showed my location without the wireless network assist or verizon location assist being turned on (but that could just be because the phone is bigger and would therefore use a larger antenna).
[Vibrant General] Ebicoustic:
It's just sad what has happened to businesses, they really just don't care about consumers. I really doubt we'll ever see a fix and if we do, i doubt it'll work for more than 50% of people. I've never been so disappointed with a company. The only thing we can do is just never buy samsung again. Just so disappointing all around.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Microwave frequencies antenna design is fraught with both peril and magic

NOPE! All antennas must be designed with a physical length that matches the frequency they are designed to operate at. For GPS this is 1575.42 Mhz and therefore due to the physics of radio frequency ALL GPS antennas are about 7.5 inches long, they have to be to work. Antennas typically work better if they are designed with some type of coil (wrapped around something) so by the time you take 7.5 inches of wire and coil it the resulting antenna is quite small. You can also make a panel antenna by creating a trace of conductive line on a flat surface, but the length still has to be the same to work. Regardless of the size of the device it is going into, if you want the antenna to work at a specific frequency it must be a specific length - end of discussion.

So if the GPS issue varies from phone to phone so much, assuming the antenna is the problem, but it can be affected by software, what is likely the problem? Logic would say that it might be either poor quality control in manufacturing causing slight variances in length (at 1575.42 Mhz a small difference in length can make a big difference) or a design that partially obstructs the antenna. Software can not fix the physical antenna issue, but it can compensate by attempting to filter noise better thus increasing the receiver sensitivity, boosting transmit power, or by shifting phase of the signal to make minor adjustments to the effective conductive length of the antenna.

Another possible issue (but less likely because I see no way for software to effect this) is that Samsung did not get a good impedance match between their antenna and their radio. If this was the case you would lose a great deal of signal to and create a lot of noise because of reflective power. Transmitting at a lower power would reduce over all signal, and boosting power would just create a greater reflective power problem.
[Vibrant General] raverj:
Ditto
[Vibrant General] soarsore:
I too am a replacement Vibrant GPS lover now. Both phones were stock. It has been a week with the new phone and I have not seen any decrease in the GPS performance yet. The old phone had mic issues

I have read many of the GPS posts, but will admit I have not read them all so I don't know if this was talked about yet. While outside tonight as I was doing my daily test I turned the phone upside down so screen is facing the ground and my signal improved from the mid 30's of the "in use" sats to the low to mid 40's. It was nice to see a lot of green for a change. Accuracy improved too. Not sure how the GPS gear is mounted in the phone, but it sure looks like there is a lot stronger signal coming in the the back side then the screen side.

My "use wireless networks" is off

I did this test a number of times while keeping the phone the same distance from the ground. Same results. If there is any other questions or other tests I would be happy to do what I can.

So there you go, the GPS works great, we all just need to hold the phone above our heads..
[Vibrant General] DMaverick50:
My g1 and mytouch 3g and nexus all had great GPS. The sgs is advertised as the premier device. We have every reason to expect GPS to work and we have absolutely no reason to think one of the advertised features will be broken. GPS is a huge part of smartphones, and since its proven to work on thousands of handsets for years it should work on our vibrants. Maybe new technology gets flexibility but this is GPS we are talking about, its been done and been done perfectly a thousand times over. The phone has plenty of small bugs which is acceptable. Its not acceptable for GPS to be f****d. I think even Samsung would say its unacceptable that I have to carry around my nexus one for its GPS. My vibrant works until I'm about 2/3 of the way to my destination. So basically my screen starts spinning when I'm about as lost as possible. Thank God for my nexus one
[Vibrant General] Telanis:
GPS on the Vibrant is not a hardware issue. If they have change the hardware, which I doubt, it wouldn't have fixed anything unless they also changed the software. And if they've fixed the software -- which they did in JI2 and JI6 for most people -- then we'll get that fix with the official 2.2 release. OR you could just flash a custom wrong and get good GPS now.
[Vibrant General] samomamo:
Hi this is the software I have on the phone.

Firmware version. 2.1-update1

Baseband version. T959UVJI6

Karnel version. 2.6.29

Build number. ECLAIR.UVJI6

I don't know if anything diferrent.
[Vibrant General] gregc2009:
I don't understand the comparison to other devices and talk of "I'll never buy another Samsung device."

Since the Galaxy's screen demolishes the competition, I guess the rest of the manufacturers out the are just junk. They are supposed to be top of the line devices so their screen should be as good as this subpar samsung.
[Vibrant General] 12paq:
My GPS has worked since day one.

+1

But certainly Samsung should be better at fixes and T-mobile couldn't be any slower.

Still by far the best device I've ever had, and I had a lot. Axura

And Froyo pull it all together.
[Vibrant General] ZX3ZX4:
tf442-

Since the JI6 update, the lock has not been the issue for me: I can lock on 9-11 out of 12 birds in under 20 seconds, and the accuracy ranges from 10'-20' typically. However, I'm still annoyed by the apparent wandering. In Google Earth or Google Nav I can see the location stumble around like it's drunk when I am standing still. It's pretty good at tracking me when I'm moving, but occasionally strays off next to the road, or tries to re-route me if I am at a stoplight because it thinks I'm moving the wrong way.

So the lock is only part of the picture. See how it does when you are just standing still and using a locating app....
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
have you tried the hardware fix in the first sticky in the general forum?

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=878970
[Vibrant General] ZX3ZX4:
T313C0mun1s7-

No, I've been too chicken. I'm in the position of being somewhat unhappy with the GPS, but it's so much improved since the JI6 update that I'm afraid to try to "fix" it if it's not clearly broken. I see enough people here who have broken the contacts or not gotten much improvement that I'm not quite ready to do surgery. It seems like those who got significant improvement out of the hardware fix are at about the performance level of my phone. I'm waiting to see if someone says: I did the hardware fix and it's near-perfect, meaning it locks quickly on most of the satellites, AND it doesn't wander around at all. I think the hardware fix is a brilliant discovery and am convinced it works for a good number of people...I just don't know if it would do anything more to improve my phone. In other words what are the limits here: will the GPS in any Vibrant ever perform as well as many other phones?
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Most of the reports from people seem to be that it does fix all four: accuracy, locks # and speed, SNR, and wandering.

One person (I would have to go back reading in the three different GPS threads that mention the hardware fix to see who) even said his phone was now on par with his Garmin Nuvi.

It would be easy for me to do this as I have a bit of a electronics background and I am an expert in RF. I was a journeyman AWACS RADAR Technion, worked Identification friend or foe systems, and I setup 3 Wireless ISPs from scratch. I even built some Wi-Fi client bridges before they were commercially available. However, I am in the same boat as you in that I am not sure it is worth it to do the surgery. The fix is obviously in place for units made in 10/10 or later but mine was made in 9/10 and it works OK but not great. I don't know how much it would really help me as my GPS is borderline. It is OK but not great and I am still under warranty.
[Vibrant General] KWKSLVR:
Well, it was similar to my Garmin Nuvi in terms of # of Satellites and accuracy. SNR obviously isn't near where my Nuvi is but it's still good enough to have accurate and dependable GPS.
[Vibrant General] DreamcastDC:
I just asked T-mobile for a replacement for my messed up GPS Vibrant, hopefully I will get one that works.
[Vibrant General] robo21:
I'm betting that you will be delighted. ;)
[Vibrant General] DreamcastDC:
Hope I get one that is not refurb.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I have been following 3 different GPS threads. Based on my possibly faulty memory, everyone that has reported back after getting a replacement because of GPS issues has gotten a new one.

Oh Yea almost forgot . . .

http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=878970
[Vibrant General] jbeez:
I called tmobile, told them my gps doesn't work at all(I factory reset, downloaded the gps restore app, etc etc), they sent me a replacement phone VERY quickly(1day?), they sent me the unlock code even though I was at my limit because it was a warranty replacement, and the gps works way better. I got my original vibrant the morning it went on sale, the new one works so much better. The manufacture date was november, so it seems like they send you a new phone.

Call tmobile, tell them there is an issue with your gps hardware, phone has a 1year warranty I believe. You aren't screwed, they'll take care of you. Even if you previously didn't have an unlock code from them they should be able to unlock your new one under this warranty replacement clause as well. I used the sgsunlock tool on mine back in... august? When it still worked instantly because the codes were just sitting there. I was a little concerned that they would just tell me to go screw but they took care of me. I'm very impressed I'm not used to this level of service from many companies.

Side by side, running the gps test app, my old phone and new phone running nero v3 intiially had an issue, i ran the samsung gps restore(standing outside). After that both phones started to get something going on, the new phone had accuracy as low as 20ft, my old phone could never get below 100ft, this is side by side at the same time, same rom. The old one had trouble locking into 1 satellite usually, after a while it would find like 8? The new phone found more satellites, stayed locked on more, and was alot more accurate and quicker.

-J
[Vibrant General] supraman89:
Exactly happened to me, my dad ordered my replacement, it shipped within one day, gps locked up to 5 meters, in 10 seconds(yes I was very stunned at surprised). The build date is 6.11.
[Vibrant General] dillym34:
Got mine back in August of last year and GPS is great.
[Vibrant General] zerosource:
great detail. i like. ;)
[Vibrant General] Tynen:
I always knew I shouldn't have gotten a damn samsung.
[Vibrant General] reuthermonkey:
+3

it only stopped working right after i tried one of the many BS "fixes".

Now running stock TMO Froyo and it works great again.
[Vibrant General] lexluthor:
Ultra misleading title and it's pure speculation your part.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
I posted this a week or two back. It went unnoticed I guess.

Yes, there is a difference in performance between my older Vibrant and the newer one I got from T-Mobile. It navigates with Google Navi perfectly.

The Galaxy Tab has excellent GPS performance. No lag as well with the same file system.
[Vibrant General] down8:
You're far off the mark on your comment.

Screen-to-screen, the Samsung SAMOLED is "better" than others, but the other screens still work as advertised.

GPS-to-GPS, Samsung's simply doesn't work well in the Galaxy S. It's not that others have higher performing GPS units, it's that Sammy's implementation is junk.

-bZj
[Vibrant General] Tpavey:
With these reports it seems like the problem is manufacturing or a bad supplier that has since lost its contract.
[Vibrant General] :
and for all of you who were not electronics technicians in submarines like i was and are wondering what the hell he's talking about... read this: http://www.hnsa.org/doc/neets/mod10.pdf
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
I was never on a sub (I have a good friend who worked sonar though). Other than building a couple wireless ISPs from scratch, and doing the world's first VoIP PBX over a wireless link in a production environment, I have no real RF experience. Well . . . Unless you count being an AWACS RADAR and IFF Journeyman in the USAF. Oh yeah, I forgot about creating WiFi client bridges from scratch before they were commercially available, but I swear that best I can remember off the cuff that is all - I am just a layman. :rolleyes:
[Vibrant General] ZX3ZX4:
Interesting stuff. I got as far as page 245 and now I want to know who's scoring the exam...
[Vibrant General] DreamcastDC:
Just wait a while, its going to not work so well later, my launch Vibrant GPS worked great when I first got it, now it takes forever to lock.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
This sounds like a classic symptom of what they call a cold solder connection.

Would you concur luckyduck69?
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
Proof of change via FCC, but not on Vibrant

This just in - it appears that Samsung IS IN FACT CHANGING THE GPS ANTENNA, at least for the up coming Nexus S.

Originally posted at:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/11/28/samsung-nexus-s-reappears-at-the-fcc-with-a-pair-of-new-antennas/
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
The GPS on my new Vibrant works great and has been working great(no degradation in performance over time with fresh flash).
[Vibrant General] ZX3ZX4:
After reading this, I performed the same test with mine. My GPS works quite well now -- after the JI6 update -- but I was curious to see if orientation made a change. I definitely noticed an effect like you described. Usually when I'm playing with my GPS the screen is facing up and I'm looking down at it in my hand. I went outside, and got my usual quick lock of about 8/11, and the signal strengths probably averaged about 25+ today with an overcast sky. When I held it up with the back to the sky, the strength increased to about an average of near 40. Pointed it down, signal strength decreased; pointed it back up, signal strength increased, etc. The signal strength was also at this higher level when the screen was perpendicular to the ground (like it is oriented when it's on my dashboard). I didn't lose any of my locks when it was at the lower signal strength, but the accuracy decreased some.
[Vibrant General] crabjoe:
So if you bought a car and the radio only worked sometimes or the stations kept cutting in and out, you wouldn't complain? You know, you bought a car with a radio antenna and not a Stereo.

Regardless of whether it's a phone, car, TV or what not .... If the manufacture says it's got GPS, the GPS should work. The GPS shouldn't work for some or sometimes; it should just work, PERIOD. It's not like they haven't had time to fix it, if it was just software and I can guarantee that Samsung couldn't have sold nearly as many Galaxy S phones if it was advertised to have no GPS or a "sometimes" working GPS.
[Vibrant General] gregc2009:
Mine works great and always has worked. Just like the screens in other devices. You expect all devices to have the same performance GPS, yet when I point out, sarcastically, that other devices fall short in the screen department, you get bent outta shape.

Don't like the GPS? Get an external bluetooth unit and be done with it. FWIW, my Vibrant performs just as well using the external antenna or internal.
[Vibrant General] soarsore:
Thanks for checking it out too ZX. I agree, it being perpendicular is just about as good as screen down. I don't think any difference in real world applications. Any added degrees, lets say 20% leaning from perpendicular is right about the same gps signal as full screen down. Anyone with crap GPS try it yet?
[Vibrant General] zoid_99:
Pardon my French but this post is total bull ****. I bought a phone that is also a GPS receiver. It doesn't "just also happens to receive signals from GPS satellites", this is why I bought it. I just want my phone with a GPS receiver to work as advertised... period...
[Vibrant General] epakrat75:
I also believe I purchased a GPS Receiver. Though, I also understand that I didn't buy a "standalone" one but rather a all-in-one device. It shouldn't matter.

Until there's proof of Samsung having switched the GPS Antenna in the "new" Vibrants like they apparently have with the Nexus S, anyone who says otherwise is merely speculating. :rolleyes:
[Vibrant General] N8ter:
Galaxy Tab performance isn't all that great. It's already be reviewed, and I spend about an hour in Best Buy using both the Sprint and Verizon Versions. they didn't have any third party applications installed on them, and I even rebooted them. I also tested the T-Mo version in two of their stores (they already know I'll be there with my tent when a new device is released and I'm getting out of my car :P).

That being said, the performance is slightly better than Galaxy S because some of the components are better. Better NAND chip. They run FroYo instead of Eclair. More RAM, etc. I obviously couldn't test battery power.

As far as the GPS in the Vibrant is concerned, I've pretty much given up on it. I have a GPS unit in my car, so I don't need it for that. What I do need it for is to lock fast and provide accurate location data for GPS-enabled applications, and it has failed me more than enough times to be considered useful to me. I don't even bother using it anymore.

But overall that Tablet was a bit of a let down. I was thinking of getting one, but it's butt-ugly as well. I'm waiting for the Blackberry Playbook, now :< I may just go ahead and get a new laptop, though :P
[Vibrant General] Plato56:
I have a replacement Vibrant with a GPS that wasent working as well as my old one. I had two batteries, could hold them next to each other and see that I had less signal strength on the same satalites. This equated to longer intial lock times, as well as accuracy issues.

I keep thinking, "Same software, same hardware, less signal, must be an antena issue". So I took the phone apart, and found the the GPS antena and noticed its on the back plate of the phone and makes contact by a "spring" style gold contact point on the motherboard. So I took some contact cleaner on a Qtip to it, expanded the sping slightly to provide more pressure and make shure it was makeing good contact.

Well, I put it all back together, and go figure, 9 out of 12 birds indoors, first lock after reboot was 35 secs, and 5 sec after that (hot starts). signal strength was just like the old one, actualy a little better.

Here is my thoughts, if the motherboard contact is just barely touching the antena contact then the impedence could be just off enough to cause problems and poor signal quality, or simply reduced signal. Honistly, I dont know the science behind it, I just know that if any antena is making poor contact with its device, signal quality is reduced.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
trooooooooooooooool and a liar.
[Vibrant General] N8ter:
Troll has two l's in it (extending nouns is popular internet jargon, and singers do the same (every note is a vowel sound) as well).

Your reputation preceeds you, and no, I'm not lying. Why would I?

The device just doesn't perform all that well, and there has been more than enough reviews on it saying just that.

Also, Adobe Flash on the tab is terribad.

Samsung's widgets still take up an entire Home Screen (on a 7" tablet, that is heresy). The screen is worse than that on an iPad (sAMOLED maybe on the Tab 2.0?)

Etc.
[Vibrant General] heygrl:
Yeah right, you're a liar. It's as simple as that. Performance is great with the Galaxy Tab, the only place it has any mark against it is with flash when it's "always on" - On Demand is the setting to have it on. Most of the reviews note that the performance is excellent with the Galaxy Tab. You're just a bitter person. Still around here, posting, trolling (performance on the Tab is slightly better/still poor - yeah ****in' right!) complain, kvetching - nonstop. Get a life
[Vibrant General] epakrat75:
How about we stop bickering about a device other than what this forum is for and about overall performance which is not what the topic of the thread is? :confused: Take it elsewhere.
[Vibrant General] T313C0mun1s7:
This makes some sense. If you have poor contact it cause an impedance mismatch which will give you reflective power. The bad contact would create symptoms almost identical to a cold solder joint. Also, arcing caused by the minute (as in small, not 1/60 of an hour) space that the voltage has to jump will cause a carbon buildup that will make it worse over time. At the voltage we are talking about the space would be so small that you would not be able to see it with the naked eye, but it still happens all the same.

This may be a fix. The big problem here is that disassembly that goes deep enough to remove a single screw will void the warranty and is not undo-able the same way unrooting or going back to a stock ROM is. When you took it apart did you happen to notice bluish or redish stuff on the treads of the screws? That is threadlocker, and it is how they determine that the unit was taken apart.
[Vibrant General] N8ter:
^- You font is borderline unreadable (very hard on the eyes). Can you fix that, please?

I have heygrl on ignore. I shouldn't have scratched that itch.
[Vibrant General] swehes:
I'm curious. With Samsung changing the antenna for their GPS/WiFi/BT on the Nexus S, is that a recognition from their side that the Galaxy S phones are having issues and if so, will they either change the antennas on our vibrants or will we be able to pursue them getting us a Nexus S in exchange for our faulty Vibrant? Don't take me wrong. I love my Vibrant but would want to have my GPS working.

And yes. My GPS is still having issues, even with different 2.2 ROMs. Currently running Axura 2.0.5 and it would not lock properly and bouncing all over the place when driving.
[Vibrant General] Zylograth:
sometimes a well placed troll post just tickles me. My GPS on my Vibrant has worked perfectly ever since I got the JI6 update. Sucks if yours isn't working right but mine is great. Also worked great with the 2.2 leak and custom ROMs I tried. If your GPS is still not working I suggest you try the 2.2 leak and see if it improves at all.