Gps - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II SGH-I777

I have had the captivate for over a year now and have been plagued with terrible gps performance.
Anyhow I am considering an upgrade to the sgs2. But before I upgrade I'd like to know how the performance is on the sgs2's gps. I'm sure samsung improved the gps for this model, but I was hoping to confirm it here.
Thanks
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

I also had a captivate for a year. I never had too big of issues with it. It always got a lock ... eventually. The GPS on the SGS II is definately better, but to me still feels like its slow to get a lock. My wife's iPhone 3GS locks faster than my SGS II.
You have 30 days up decide if you want you keep it. I don't think it will be possible for this phone to disappoint you.
Sent from my SGS II

A simple search would have shown a dozen or so threads on GPS performance. They all say the same thing.

the GPS on this phone is eons better than the captivate. On a 3 hour trip from NY to PA, it dropped the signal once. I had to actually reboot the phone to get the GPS to pick up again but it was fine after that. That was the first time I had to reboot to get the GPS to work. Otherwise, its fine.

I get very fast locks ... Even in my house
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using xda premium

OK. So it gets fast locks which is good but the real acid test is navigation. And not on big straight highways but on surface streets with lots of turns. Does it do this well? Does it need to sit in line of sight to the sky in your car (i.e. on the dashboard) to work or can you drop it in a cup holder and have it track you accurately? GPS was the Achilles heel of the Captivate. I nearly threw mine out the window several times. This was the Captivate experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXM_g3mqew

we all agree, GPS on the captivate was not good, although the model i got was OK but still took some time to get a lock and forget about starting the cappy GPS from a moving vehicle.
BUT - the GPS on the SGS2 is SICK !
Samsung went all out to make it a non issue. Will be interested what they did this time - did they use a better chip from a better maker or what, maybe soon we will know.

I had an unlocked vibrant for awhile and similarly to the captivate, the gospel was spotty.
The GS2 has substantially better gps. I haven't used it consistently to give you a full impression about it;however, it seems to lock and track well from past experience. My Atrix has excellent gps as well.

ianwood said:
OK. So it gets fast locks which is good but the real acid test is navigation. And not on big straight highways but on surface streets with lots of turns. Does it do this well? Does it need to sit in line of sight to the sky in your car (i.e. on the dashboard) to work or can you drop it in a cup holder and have it track you accurately? GPS was the Achilles heel of the Captivate. I nearly threw mine out the window several times. This was the Captivate experience:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZXM_g3mqew
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
my 3 hour trip was 75% highway and 25% city (philadelphia and its surrounding areas). The city had a glitch once where it thought i was a block or two off but it self corrected within 10 seconds.

Cool, thanks for ask of the replies. It appears samsung improved gps for the sgs2. If I get one I will definitely test the gps thoroughly within the first 30 days.
I just thought it was sad that my sons cheapo htc aria had excellent gps compared to the captivate. It would lock and track better than most dedicated gps devices.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk

sblees said:
Cool, thanks for ask of the replies. It appears samsung improved gps for the sgs2. If I get one I will definitely test the gps thoroughly within the first 30 days.
I just thought it was sad that my sons cheapo htc aria had excellent gps compared to the captivate. It would lock and track better than most dedicated gps devices.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It was not just the us variants of the sgs that had issues the i9000 phones had crappy gps, and even my launch captivate had decent but nothing like my i777 sgs2. All the time it took me to type this, my phone's gps now states I am in the correct building via google maps lol where as my Captivate would usually say I am a block to 5 blocks away!
HTH,
Charlie

This has the best GPS performance I've ever had on a device. Mine consistently locks on in under 7 seconds .

axis01 said:
A simple search would have shown a dozen or so threads on GPS performance. They all say the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And yet you link to none of them.

Related

Any JL5 Roms with working GPS..Help Us!!

I am a captivate owner and I am using Dilligafs 4.0 in captivate section of site. Flawless rom except we havent been able to get GPS to work at all. Wireless works for location but GPS does not work whatsoever. If someone can post their gps files and state the folder it is located in for me to try it would be of great assistance to us Captivate owners. Thanks in advance. Please no flaming I know this is a Vibrant forum but we Galaxy S owners should all work together for the greater cause of romunity....
momulah said:
I am a captivate owner and I am using Dilligafs 4.0 in captivate section of site. Flawless rom except we havent been able to get GPS to work at all. Wireless works for location but GPS does not work whatsoever. If someone can post their gps files and state the folder it is located in for me to try it would be of great assistance to us Captivate owners. Thanks in advance. Please no flaming I know this is a Vibrant forum but we Galaxy S owners should all work together for the greater cause of romunity....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Pretty much every recent ROM I've used has had very good GPS performance. I'm currently on Master's Axura 2.2.5.9. But I've tried both Eugene's Gingerbread Clone and TW's Nero v3 and both have properly working GPS for me. I'm no dev so I don't know what files have it working so well but someone might.
Nero V3, Eugene's R2 both have properly working GPS.
I have trouble working gps on nero v3...very slow. I went back to jk6 modem and this solved all issues.
Try "GPS Restore" from the Android Market, published by Samsung for the Galaxy S phones. Worked wonders on my phone. Sats lock up in 2 seconds flat!
momulah said:
I am a captivate owner and I am using Dilligafs 4.0 in captivate section of site. Flawless rom except we havent been able to get GPS to work at all. Wireless works for location but GPS does not work whatsoever. If someone can post their gps files and state the folder it is located in for me to try it would be of great assistance to us Captivate owners. Thanks in advance. Please no flaming I know this is a Vibrant forum but we Galaxy S owners should all work together for the greater cause of romunity....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are in the wrong place my friend. You need to look on the captivate site on xda. you won't find a solution for your problem here
I had the same issue when i upgraded from JL4 to JL5 on Eugene's Ginger Clone. Flash the JL4 modem back over it and it will work flawlessly - I am living proof.
fF
nero v3 here, indoor lock with 20 seconds, usually within 5, 15 foot accuracy.
Nero V3 perfect GPS. Less than 3 seconds!
nero v3 and M9 gps working
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Master's Axura 2.2.5.9 is the only ROM that worked for me for the GPS. Why don't you download the ROM and check the GPS files
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=891657
i duno..my GPS indoor never lock up as you guys~~on Nero V3. i duno wut's wrong with it. living in brooklyn, nyc. with the wirless it lock me on 2 blocks away where i am...><
What next? G2 owners posting in the dev section having touchscreen issues, justifying their actions because the vibrant and G2 both have touchscreens? Every time I visit these forums this crap gets more and more depressing......
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
No more responses unless you can answer his question
He just wants to know if someone can point him to the gps files in any of the roms. If you can do that, respond, if not no point talking about x rom locks in x secs!
Indoor lock that quick?...how? Did you perform the hardware fix or have a newer vibrant?
harabinger66 said:
He just wants to know if someone can point him to the gps files in any of the roms. If you can do that, respond, if not no point talking about x rom locks in x secs!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Here is the deal, the GPS files for the captivate, ARE NOT the same as the Vibrant, so it is pointless to post in the vibrant section.......
And he probably has a driver issue, we have no idea what he really wants, and i believe even he has not idea..... What are the "gps files"??? Does he means drivers (inserted in the kernel?). So yes this post is absolutely pointless in this site
While stefan.buddle may have been a little rude, he is right!
Essentially there are 2 basic problems with ALL the SGS phones. One the software was not 100% when released, now they have a patch that supposedly fixes the GPS, but it works for a while then get flaky.
The other is a hardware issue. The way the antenna in the SGS is made it is a spring clip that pushes against the antenna that is mounted on the backside of the internal case. alot of the phones especially the earlier manf.dated phones ,,,this clip doesn't touch completely resulting in a poor or inconsistent contact to the GPS antenna so poor locks.
So, to correct you have to go open the phone up and CAREFULLY bend this clip up to engage. To assist this not Squashing back down (my fix) cut a piece of the peanut cell foam to wedge in between the clip opening (the flat area) this will give you proper contact and WOW way better reception. Perfect? no way but it will be usable for sure !! also you clean the contact etc... common sense stuff....
Now remember this is not a tom-tom it even in the best working condition will not be as good as that (Samsung calls this GPS assist). But, you will be way happier......
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878970 This is the sticky that shows how t odo this. Hope this helps.........if so give a thank you
oka1 said:
Essentially there are 2 basic problems with ALL the SGS phones. One the software was not 100% when released, now they have a patch that supposedly fixes the GPS, but it works for a while then get flaky.
The other is a hardware issue. The way the antenna in the SGS is made it is a spring clip that pushes against the antenna that is mounted on the backside of the internal case. alot of the phones especially the earlier manf.dated phones ,,,this clip doesn't touch completely resulting in a poor or inconsistent contact to the GPS antenna so poor locks.
So, to correct you have to go open the phone up and CAREFULLY bend this clip up to engage. To assist this not Squashing back down (my fix) cut a piece of the peanut cell foam to wedge in between the clip opening (the flat area) this will give you proper contact and WOW way better reception. Perfect? no way but it will be usable for sure !! also you clean the contact etc... common sense stuff....
Now remember this is not a tom-tom it even in the best working condition will not be as good as that (Samsung calls this GPS assist). But, you will be way happier......
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=878970 This is the sticky that shows how t odo this. Hope this helps.........if so give a thank you
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That fix is for the vibrant, are you sure is also for the captivate also?????
I have had a captivate apart they look the same in the inside The Epic is different I have not pulled a Fascinate open to know what is what with them I would guess they are closer to the Epic
I enclosed a picture so you can see the tab touches a piece on the back internal case. I like taking things apart, if you do take it apart go to a music store and get 2 medium flat guitar picks it makes it easier and you do not damage the chrome trim. Take the screws out and then slide between the snap case connection with one get it in then put the other in and work them around about 30 % of the separation and voila' !!! it will open pretty easy. putting back together is way easier snaps in just make sure you get the little radio wire antenna out of the way
gagb1967 said:
That fix is for the vibrant, are you sure is also for the captivate also?????
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Check the Captivate forums, they have a thread with the equivalent hardware antenna fix.

which GPS chip?

I hope S II is equipped with the most amazing gps chip.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA Premium App
ok good to know
......
Sent from my Captivate
since u opened this thread i might as well ask a question here....
has anyone seen a video or got any info about the S-II gps? is it same chit as galaxy s I gps? or did they do anything about the hardware bug?
no
Sent from my Computer
If you get your hands on one...
..would you mind posting an indepth analysis of the gps (navigation etc while driving in cities-country without agps support) in sgs2? Rest of the flaws in sgs were all fixed by xda and it was a brilliant phone. It saddens me to see people with prototypes fixating on lag etc which is easily fixable. If there is confirmation of working gps on this it will be well worth waiting even until summer. Almost tempted to pull the trigger for nexus s as soon as it lands with att friendly 3g as the ip is suffocating me
have you done any reaading.. agps does nothing for driving around.. it is only used to get an initial fix quicker.
lgkahn said:
have you done any reaading.. agps does nothing for driving around.. it is only used to get an initial fix quicker.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alright, my point is about general gps use. Lets forget agps and if someone can please confirm a working gps in sgs2 it will be the best phone ever.
Wish it has a powerful GPS chip and does not ruin the chip with athena design.
wait about a month and see some video reviews on the internet thats all you can do now
if sgs2 has a good gps system in it, im ready to sell my sgs for sgs2
Sources tell me that it uses miniature homing pigeons to calculate latitude and longitude. Lock on is a brisk 3 days. Still better than original galaxy s.

GPS Signal Strength and Quality

One of the things I really appreciate about my EVO is the strength of the GPS when using Google Navigate - especially after my dismal experience with the Samsung Moment.
Although I've seen mostly positive reviews about call quality, signal strength, processor speed, etc., I haven't seen anyone on the forum comment about the Photon's GPS. Can any of you former EVO users comment on how the Photon's GPS compares to the EVO?
Thanks,
Flipper
flipper12 said:
One of the things I really appreciate about my EVO is the strength of the GPS when using Google Navigate - especially after my dismal experience with the Samsung Moment.
Although I've seen mostly positive reviews about call quality, signal strength, processor speed, etc., I haven't seen anyone on the forum comment about the Photon's GPS. Can any of you former EVO users comment on how the Photon's GPS compares to the EVO?
Thanks,
Flipper
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I fired it up for the first time the other evening, to get directions somewhere. It got lock in under 30 seconds, which is satisfactory for me. My Evo was inconsistent and definitely took much (with stock drivers).
coming from the Vibrant here and anything is better then what I had. But as far as I can tell GPS locks on and really sticks. It is accurate to as it places me in my house and fallows when I walk around outside.
actually got a lock in my office building through the roof once, but never watched to see if it would wonder.
The gps is very fast to lock on and solid. My evo 3d before the photon was horrendous, wouldn't ever get a accurate reading inside and even outside was bad. My original evo was very good as well, both the evo 4g and photon will get a very accurate reading inside almost instantly and even follows me around when i walk.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
codee said:
The gps is very fast to lock on and solid. My evo 3d before the photon was horrendous, wouldn't ever get a accurate reading inside and even outside was bad. My original evo was very good as well, both the evo 4g and photon will get a very accurate reading inside almost instantly and even follows me around when i walk.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this....my EVO was great but the 3d was awful....not sure what htc did but they screwed that up big time. My photon actually locks in as quick id not quicker than my OG EVO...
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
phyba said:
I second this....my EVO was great but the 3d was awful....not sure what htc did but they screwed that up big time. My photon actually locks in as quick id not quicker than my OG EVO...
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My Evo4G was also excellent, but the MoPho is even better. It bested my Evo in all tests I've run.
Gps works great here too! Coming from the OG I noticed that lock ons are faster. Only issue is while in the car dock, and selecting my location the image loads in sections...its kind of crappy but I don't think its a gps issue rather a software issue.
Sent from my MoPho using XDA Premium.
My Photon GPS is horrible, especially compared to my EVO. If I'm driving and put the phone in my lap it looses signal until I hold it up to the windshield or slide back the sunroof cover. My EVO rarely lost the signal once it acquired a lock.
JarkMackson said:
My Photon GPS is horrible, especially compared to my EVO. If I'm driving and put the phone in my lap it looses signal until I hold it up to the windshield or slide back the sunroof cover. My EVO rarely lost the signal once it acquired a lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, based on everyone else's experiences and their posts on this forum and the android forum, it sounds like you may have a bad phone. If I were you, I'd probably bring it in and have someone at Sprint look at it.
JarkMackson said:
My Photon GPS is horrible, especially compared to my EVO. If I'm driving and put the phone in my lap it looses signal until I hold it up to the windshield or slide back the sunroof cover. My EVO rarely lost the signal once it acquired a lock.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I completely agree, I logged on just now to create a post about this exact thing, not only that I can put in an address and it works great. Then on to the next addresses and it won't even lock, just sits there. I am in sales and I bet no one on these forums uses navigation more than I do. On the photon it just sucks, period. One of the many reasons I am waiting for root. I absolutely love this phone, but the gps sucks.
If someone could post some tweaks maybe that would be great because I'm not trying to do what motorola wants us to do and just reboot every time.
Also, it isn't the phone, I have had two do this same exact thing, and my buddy at sprint let me use his for a few and his ended up doing the same thing.
I think most of the people commenting here have used it maybe twice.
-DJ
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
newalker91 said:
On the contrary I'm using my GPS daily traveling to all of our Sprint stores in the area to train techs and I've never once had an issue with the GPS. Have you updated to the most recent maintenance release?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, on both phones.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
newalker91 said:
Which navigation app are you using?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Stock bud, google
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Djspinister said:
I completely agree, I logged on just now to create a post about this exact thing, not only that I can put in an address and it works great. Then on to the next addresses and it won't even lock, just sits there. I am in sales and I bet no one on these forums uses navigation more than I do. On the photon it just sucks, period. One of the many reasons I am waiting for root. I absolutely love this phone, but the gps sucks.
If someone could post some tweaks maybe that would be great because I'm not trying to do what motorola wants us to do and just reboot every time.
Also, it isn't the phone, I have had two do this same exact thing, and my buddy at sprint let me use his for a few and his ended up doing the same thing.
I think most of the people commenting here have used it maybe twice.
-DJ
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I work for fedex as a swing driver which means I do every route at my station. I use my gps heavily and not once have I had an issus
Sent from my MB855 using XDA App
my gps said i was a 1/4 mile off from where i was
I use my GPS whenever I'm in the car with Trapster and I also use Foursquare and the Photon has been rock solid. My Epic was a pain in the butt trying to rely on any kind of a quick GPS lock and with the Photon it just works whenever I need it. Now when I open Foursquare and go to check in someplace my list is up to date even when I'm in an area I've never been to without having to keep refreshing.
Sent from my MB855 using XDA Premium App
for the guy having problems, could it be you are in some type of dead zone? Or maybe its solar flares? I have not tried much but did want to add that for those testing in your home don't forget to turn off the location setting. The one that will use wifi and/or cell towers to triangulate your location.
My GPS does not work well either. It has been taking about 10 seconds to get a signal, and seems to always have a 1-2 second delay. I had one day I had to turn the phone off and back on to get a signal. I have tried the newest release and am getting the same thing. My EVO got a lock instantly and never had any delays. Even my old Touch Pro had faster GPS locks.
netsys said:
My GPS does not work well either. It has been taking about 10 seconds to get a signal, and seems to always have a 1-2 second delay. I had one day I had to turn the phone off and back on to get a signal. I have tried the newest release and am getting the same thing. My EVO got a lock instantly and never had any delays. Even my old Touch Pro had faster GPS locks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you should return the phone because its obviously defective. I'm returning mine because when the phone is shutdown it doesn't startup immediately when I press the power button. It actually takes a minute before I can use it.
Seriously, mine gets a lock in about 10 seconds inside the house while my Evo took about 15 seconds. When I traveled with the Evo and I turn it on in a new city, it could take 30 seconds to lock. I've not traveled with the mopho yet. 10 seconds to get a signal is nothing to complain about.
I have had no issues with my GPS, gets a lock quickly and never loses the signal afterwards. I've used it probably about a dozen times since I've gotten the phone a week ago and hae pretty much exclusively used the Telenav App and not really tried Google Nav.
My GPS is hit and miss
Comparing with my EVO 4G, this Photon GPS is not better. My EVO 4G performed very well. This photon may loose signal during driving in the tunnel but could acquire signal quick enough after leaving the tunnel. I had to disable and enable GPS and it locked right away. It happened several times. Not sure if worth to bring back to store.

How is the gps on this?

On my captivate gps is not working. Can't even get a lock on anything. I'm planning to upgrade to this phone but can anyone tell me how the gps is on this phone?
No issues.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
GPS works just as it should for me... fast and accurate. MUCH better than when I had my Captivate a while back.
Kadin said:
GPS works just as it should for me... fast and accurate. MUCH better than when I had my Captivate a while back.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 to this. My Cappy never had great it was decent but my i777 sgs2 = great and locks with in a few seconds minus 11 - 125 seconds lol.
HTH,
Charlie
Massive improvement from the Infuse, which, as I understand it, was quite an improvement from the Cappy.
zero issues.
No issues with the gps at all.
The SGS2 GPS is dead-on. Great for navigation. After getting my SGS2, I called Samsung and complained about the GPS on my Cappy. They had me return it and provided me with a replacement phone. It looks almost new, so it's probably a refurbished unit. The replacement Cappy also has a good GPS but I've only tried it a couple of times.

[Q] So how bad is the GPS / 911 situation?

I want a device that "just works". But I also want a relatively current version of Android (4.1+).
I don't like spending more time trying to get my device to work than actually using the device.
I've been getting rid of my older devices, and I'm probably getting rid of my Galaxy S 4G next. There has never been an official CyanogenMod release for it, and the current software doesn't work with the GPS.
I noticed the Galaxy S Vibrant had official CM and AOKP releases. Great! I can install a stable release and be done with it... But then I started reading about the GPS issues. From what I've read:
GPS doesn't work right. There are patches you can try, but then they break 911.
Is that the current situation? I have to pick between GPS or 911 if I want to use a Jelly Bean ROM on the Vibrant?
From what Iv heard the 911 issue is compleatly fixed. And GPS on this phone is complete and total s*it
Sent from my SGH-T959 using xda app-developers app
OK, I've been playing with the Vibrant/SGH-T959 on CM 10.1.2 for a few days.
GPS will usually see 10-13 satellites and get a lock within a few seconds. Accuracy has been as good as 20 feet. (I've only been testing this indoors.)
...If it works.
Twice now it seemed like GPS just "died". I had to reboot to get it working again. I see on the CM bug tracker (http://code.google.com/p/vibrant-cm/issues/list) that GPS can randomly crash.
^Try the gps hardware fix, my gps was absolutely awful before but now it works great. There is a tutorial in the Bible thread showing how to do it. You basically bend the copper conductor up slightly to help it make contact. Samsung really messed up the design or rushed it , simply bending the copper up fixes the issue.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
iTz KeeFy said:
^Try the gps hardware fix, my gps was absolutely awful before but now it works great. There is a tutorial in the Bible thread showing how to do it. You basically bend the copper conductor up slightly to help it make contact. Samsung really messed up the design or rushed it , simply bending the copper up fixes the issue.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My T959 has a "10.10" date on it, which should be new enough to have whatever improvement Samsung implemented (mentioned in the hardware fix thread).
I'm not too concerned with the the reception. When it works, it can get a lock from a fresh reboot in under 2 minutes. The signal ain't so bad. I don't expect to use this for navigation.
The problem is when GPS "dies". I don't know if it happens after deep sleep, or what. I'd rather it work all the time, even with a bad signal, than sometimes work well, and sometimes not work at all.
Edit, here's a description of what it does:
http://code.google.com/p/vibrant-cm/issues/detail?id=5
That's from August 2012. It still does this, even with the latest CM10 August 2013 builds.
Yea I personally use a Froyo ROM and jilette's gps fix, which has everything working. I also have issues with gps on Jelly bean ROMs. It's give and take really, that's why I prefer Froyo, it has everything I need.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using Tapatalk 2

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