Brand New Nexus 5X w/ Compass/GPS Issue: No way to manually correct? What else?

[pgtrr]

I received my new 5X a few days ago from Google and made the switch to fi at same time.

On very first car drive noticed it was repeatedly recalculating and rerouting me... hmmm - thus began my discovery of the GPS issues. Turns out it was 90 degrees rotated to the right and about 40+ feet north of actual location. Depending on direction of travel it kept thinking I was taking every highway exit or traveling down parallel access roads. When in motion direction was OK but at a traffic light it would have me pointing 90 degrees off.

I've tried all the standard solutions (see long version below). I briefly came close to a usable state but it didn't last.

I've looked and haven't found any software solution that will allow the user to enter manual correction values for direction or location? I would think it'd be simple arithmetic to subtract 90 from the heading and subtract 40 feet from the latitude. Is there not any?

If I can't correct my compass and GPS I think the phone has to go back. But then what? There's impressive anecdotal data that suggest the chances are not good. Assuming one can live w/ say 10 degree accuracy maybe 1 in 36 chance? But are there any success stories? Many report eventually 'calibrating' it into submission. But then many report it doesn't last. Appreciate any input on possible next steps and alternatives to consider...

Thanks,

 

[pgtrr]

What I've done - long version:

There's a LOT of articles, blogs, threads, posts on this very topic and I believe I've tried most of the solutions...

When first trying Google Maps, got the prompt and did the up down left right rotate calibration and did it. No joy.

Nougat 7.0 upgrade presented itself and did all the updates. No joy.

Tried the popular 'GPS Status and Toolbox' app. Lots of data but it doesn't really do anything. Although it does erroneously state "Your compass is calibrated" as it points 90 degrees off. No joy.

Did many more calibrations via Google Maps this time following the figure-8 motion (varying speed, precision, etc.) based on Google and youtube videos. 'Some' progress...

After countless calibration attempts (all done outside, clear sky) got the compass to withing about 15 degrees of accuracy and about 10 feet of my location and tightened up the blue 'accuracy' range field to about 30 degrees or so. I could have lived with that!

Well I should have left it alone at that point! But I did one last figure-8 exercise and it reverted back to the original 90 degree off rotation and 30 to 40 feet off reported innacuracy. I distinctly recall watching the blue dot start creeping and crawling away from my location and rotating to the right. Sigh. The blue angle field widened again to almost 180 degrees too. So no joy - back to square one.

I've also done the 'clear cache' and 'restart' thing several times as well in conjunction with some of the steps above. No joy.

I've *NOT* done a factory reset but it's a brand new phone and just spent all this time getting my apps set up, settings done etc...

I've *NOT* removed the back and tried to improve the antenna connector. Again it's a brand new phone and while that might speed up GPS lock - would it fix compass/GPS accuracy?

So ultimately No joy - back to square one.

 

[Manic Monkey]

I feel for you. I just got my 5X and it initially appeared to have compass issues, but I think I got it fixed, just by doing the figure 8 calibration (moving the phone very quickly when doing it seemed to help). Even after rebooting it seemed to hold calibration, so I'm relieved there.

I know you said you read a lot about the compass issues, but did you see this thread on the Google product forums? I suspect you did because it is one of the first things that comes up when you google Nexus 5 compass issue, but there is a lot of interesting information about how the compass actually works (by apps integrating info from different sensors in the phone) and some technical stuff about testing the sensors (I didn't read it all so I can't say how helpful it might be to you).

Also, and I don't mean to insult your intelligence but I don't know how much you know about these things, but your GPS issues and compass issues are two different things. Your compass being properly calibrated won't help your GPS accuracy or vice versa. You don't have to calibrate the compass outside on a clear day, but you do need to do it (and use it) away from metal objects. Your car can screw up the accuracy as can a big metal belt buckle or another phone (the magnetometer in these phones seems pretty sensitive). For the GPS being in a car might cause accuracy problems as can overhead trees.

I hope you get things worked out soon one way or another.

 

[pgtrr]

I've done several more Figure8 dances and I'm seeing minimally accurate directional accuracy. GPS location is still spotty with it jumping around a lot between 10 feet shifts to 50 feet shifts and in different directions at different times. But it's reverted to crazy directions excessive location inaccuracy too.

I don't understand why but using Waze (which I prefer) instead of Google Maps - yields crazy inaccuracies especially at stop lights where it moves me all over the place. Once in motion Waze settles down a bit. Switching back and forth to Google Maps app and it's a completely different story showing 'reasonably' correct location and direction. (still not as good as my venerable Samsung S4)

I really want this phone to work along w/ my Project Fi experiment but I'm leaning towards returning it. In addition to the GPS/direction issue it has one other serious issue - I may have to return it and look at other options.