How is the GPS reception on the S3?? I need to know...

[Night Train]

Can anyone tell me with certainty if the S3 will find and lock onto a GPS signal with greater reliability than the S2?

I've enjoyed using my S2 since it came out last September and am inclined to get the newer version soon. BUT...if the GPS issues have not been resolved, I'm headed over to get the new HTC Evo LTE which I have already seen handling GPS signals the way it should be done with nearly instant lock and rock steady, consistent reception.

Anybody??

 

[blitz118]

[YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SIKmrtuUQM[/YT]

 

[biff6789]

The GPS in the S3 (well, at least in the international version of the S3, but I don't foresee them changing such hardware in the US version) has the Broadcomm BCM47511:

Integrated Monolithic GNSS Receiver - BCM47511 | Broadcom

This chip can communicate with both GPS and GLONASS (Russia's equivalent of GPS) which means the S3 can communicate with 51 total sats instead of 30. This is great news when it comes to location support in the S3

 

[LazrRocketArm]

Don't believe anybody has reported any issues with the international. Alex Dobie did say in his thread that he has had no issues.

 

[Night Train]

Thanks for these responses so far.

So from what I understand, the S3 has an upgraded GPS radio compared to the S2.

What I'd like to see now is a comparison between the S3 and the HTC Evo LTE. I've seen how good the HTC is (it locked onto and held a GPS signal inside a Sprint store away from the window last week) and if the S3 performs equally well, I'll buy it.

 

[biff6789]

Thanks for these responses so far.

So from what I understand, the S3 has an upgraded GPS radio compared to the S2.

What I'd like to see now is a comparison between the S3 and the HTC Evo LTE. I've seen how good the HTC is (it locked onto and held a GPS signal inside a Sprint store away from the window last week) and if the S3 performs equally well, I'll buy it.

It's not the Evo LTE that you asked for, but the lady in this well-done review compared it against the HTC One X and found the S3 to be somewhat superior in terms of GPS (again, due to the fact that the S3 can communicate with both GPS and GLONASS technologies at the same time):

Samsung Galaxy S3 vs HTC One X in-depth comparison Part 2 of 2 - YouTube

 

[JayWill]

While the hardware will probably be the same, the software that drives it will probably be a bit different, and I think that's the key variable here. Samsung has a spotty history in writing solid modem code for their US CDMA based Android devices.

I think your best bet is to wait until your local Sprint store has a demo unit, and compare GPS performance side-by-side with the EVO LTE.

 

[tekhna]

While the hardware will probably be the same, the software that drives it will probably be a bit different, and I think that's the key variable here. Samsung has a spotty history in writing solid modem code for their US CDMA based Android devices.

I think your best bet is to wait until your local Sprint store has a demo unit, and compare GPS performance side-by-side with the EVO LTE.

Yeah, the RIL is the real question, and has me nervous. Fingers crossed.