GPS Issues?

[taj7575]

I am a person who travels quite a bit. Sadly though, with my most recent phone being a Samsung, that travelling aspect was a headache most of the time. It has the worst GPS pickup every.

Before I ramble on, let me get to the point - one of the reasons I went for this phone and not another samsung was because I perceived this to be a phone with not only good hardware, but reliable hardware.

Today though, I ran into some problems. On 3G/HSPA+ (and I was getting good coverage), I was trying to lock onto my location, but my phone just continued saying searching for GPS. This was indoors though, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. But I entered my car, and it still couldn't lock onto my location.

Is this a problem with anyone else? Could it just be that I may have some faulty hardware? Just curious guys, thanks.

 

[saadi703]

I am a person who travels quite a bit. Sadly though, with my most recent phone being a Samsung, that travelling aspect was a headache most of the time. It has the worst GPS pickup every.

Before I ramble on, let me get to the point - one of the reasons I went for this phone and not another samsung was because I perceived this to be a phone with not only good hardware, but reliable hardware.

Today though, I ran into some problems. On 3G/HSPA+ (and I was getting good coverage), I was trying to lock onto my location, but my phone just continued saying searching for GPS. This was indoors though, so I thought it wasn't a big deal. But I entered my car, and it still couldn't lock onto my location.

Is this a problem with anyone else? Could it just be that I may have some faulty hardware? Just curious guys, thanks.

Samsung phones no longer has issues with GPS ever since S3 and Note 2 came out. My note 2 locks the satellites within split seconds (I mean short time) as soon as I turn on GPS

 

[N4Newbie]

As a side note, your network and/or current signal strength have nothing whatsoever to do with GPS. In fact, you can turn off all radios by putting your phone in airplane mode and still use your GPS successfully.

Couple of things:

1) Try a GPS monitoring app like MobiWIA GPS Status to establish a baseline

2) I have noticed that the N4 GPS establishes a lock much more quickly if it is not moving at 60 mph but I haven't done enough testing to rule this in or out. Just now, laying here in my bedroom I was able to lock on within 5 seconds using the GPS Status app.

 

[ijonbrown]

I feel your pain, I travel quite a bit for work and I was also one of the many burned by the original Samsung Galaxy and GPS issues. I have had the N4 for almost 2 weeks now and so far I have not had any gps issues, it usually locks in seconds so I do not think this is a wide spread issue like we had with the original Galaxy's. I agree with N4Newbie try a GPS monitor and see what kind of locks you are getting, it could be a number of issues so start there and if you are not getting a lock I would contact Google for warranty service or replacement. As an example I just got a lock on 10+ satellites in less than 7 seconds indoors on my Nexus 4.

Dont get the Galaxy woes I don't think its the same issue

 

[taj7575]

I feel your pain, I travel quite a bit for work and I was also one of the many burned by the original Samsung Galaxy and GPS issues. I have had the N4 for almost 2 weeks now and so far I have not had any gps issues, it usually locks in seconds so I do not think this is a wide spread issue like we had with the original Galaxy's. I agree with N4Newbie try a GPS monitor and see what kind of locks you are getting, it could be a number of issues so start there and if you are not getting a lock I would contact Google for warranty service or replacement. As an example I just got a lock on 10+ satellites in less than 7 seconds indoors on my Nexus 4.

Dont get the Galaxy woes I don't think its the same issue

Thanks for the tip man. Yeah, your right. I may just have happend to be lucky enough to get one with a defective GPS system lol. I'll try out some of the GPS apps that I constantly had to use to get a hold of a GPS satellite on my GS2. If the problem persists, I'll contact Google for a replacement.

 

[peejay1977]

Turn WIFI on if it isn't already, just trust me.....


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[taj7575]

Turn WIFI on if it isn't already, just trust me.....


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

I don't mean this in a harsh way, but I don't understand why people answer that as an answer for GPS issues. Most of the time, GPS is needed when you are out somewhere. If I'm driving on a highway, how am I supposed to access Wi-Fi? Everyone knows Wi-Fi helps with GPS, but modern phones should be able to have good GPS technology in them even without Wi-Fi.

 

[peejay1977]

Because if it can find a router it recognises it will help. But beyond that I've had problems on previous phones where I can put the phone out on a table for 15mins and still no lock, turn on WIFI (but no routers in the area) and bang almost instant. I put it down to bad coding.


Sent from my Nexus 4 using Android Central Forums

 

[taj7575]

I don't understand why this is happening......

 

[N4Newbie]

Just to be clear, have you rooted your phone? Are you using a custom ROM?

 

[taj7575]

Nope. I bought a stock android phone just to avoid having to do that.

 

[N4Newbie]

Stupid question: is your phone in a case? If so, which one? What happens if you remove it?

What is the name of the GPS status app in your screenshot?

 

[taj7575]

I have a skinomi back clear cover on it. It's fairly thin though. Do you think that could potentially be getting in the way?

The app is called GPS test by the way.

 

[N4Newbie]

I have a skinomi back clear cover on it. It's fairly thin though. Do you think that could potentially be getting in the way?

The app is called GPS test by the way.

I don't know, but it is certainly worth trying it without the case.

 

[taj7575]

But I don't understand. It's not even a case. It's a wet-application screen protector. Also, if I take it off, there's no way of putting it back on again.

I'm really starting to think it's a defective device. *Sigh*, I thought I would never have to deal with faulty phones again after the E4GT.

 

[N4Newbie]

It was just a thought; I understand your reluctance to remove it.

 

[taj7575]

It was just a thought; I understand your reluctance to remove it.

No worries, I didn't mean that last post in a rude way. I was just saying that I hope something as small as a screen protector doesn't interfere with a phone's GPS.

 

[sga999]

I just got my Nexus 4 tonight. I'm having similar GPS problems. GPS Status always says "Looking for GPS location". GPS test does nothing...yours at least shows 20 satellites, mine shows none. I've tried it with wi-fi, without wi-fi, airplane mode, etc., no change at all. Like you, I can't believe I could get a "bad" one after waiting 2 weeks for it (some people are waiting much longer than that). I guess I'll try again tomorrow morning (actually it's 2:53 am already!), and if no luck, I'll have to talk to Google.

Taj7575, has yours improved at all? Or have you gone ahead and sent it back?

EDIT: A few minutes later, I did see 21 satellites. (Strange, because I had been trying these two apps for about an hour, and no satellites showed). But there weren't fixes on any of them. And a minute after that, they are completely gone again. So either we are the unlucky ones, or we just haven't set something correctly? I doubt it. I have 2 Samsung devices, and I've gotten those to work just fine.

 

[N4Newbie]

Not sure about GPS Test, but MobiWIA's free GPS Status app has a "Reset" function which clears the GPS cache and a "Download" function which downloads "GPS assistance data from the internet
which "will speed up your GPS for a few days..." I guess it is a map of current satellite positions or something like that.

Both functions are found under Menu -> Tools -> Manage-A-GPS state.

It doesn't cost anything to try...

 

[sga999]

Thanks, N4Newbie, I had already tried the Reset and Download functions of GPS Status with no luck. I just called Google (they're there 24/7!). The guy talked to developers, and they said there will be a fix coming. I wasn't happy with that answer since there was no timeframe given, so I decided to send it back. But before that could happen, he had me do a factory reset. I had only installed about 5 or 6 apps, and I had just been playing around a little, so I had little faith that would help. But it did! I haven't had time yet to test it well, but both gps apps seemed to show the satellites fairly quickly.

I wondered if the 4.2.1 update that I let install right after I got it had something to do with the problem. But even with factory reset, I'm still at 4.2.1, so that isn't it. So I'm kind of baffled about what state my phone could have been in when I got it. I'd swear that none of the apps I installed could have caused any problems (calendar, weather, launcher, etc).

Now I'm very curious about the fix that he said would be coming for this issue, but I won't worry about it now.

Taj7575, I hope you talked to someone and got a good result also!