Bad GPS? Slow pic review time? I might have the answer

[pantlesspenguin]

I posted this in the GPS thread, but I also found something else this fix works for. As some of you might recall, I've had GPS problems that have plagued me across 4 devices. I could get an initial lock, but it would soon go away once I was in motion. I posted a thread on Reddit about it. Yesterday someone posted on the thread saying that a Samsung rep told him that some memory cards weren't playing nice with the Note 4, especially if they were older. He said he got a new memory card and it completely fixed his GPS. I took out my memory card and rebooted my phone. I tried the GPS on the way to Best Buy and it worked!!! I bought a 64gb Samsung Evo card ($26.99!!) , transfered all my data, and went out to test the GPS again. It still worked! Problem solved!

This morning I discovered something else. Like many people here, I had complained about the long time it took between taking photos and reviewing them. It was faster to just take the pic and look it up in the gallery than to wait for the preview to open. What a pain. Well, this morning I was taking pics and found that the preview is now instant! Bonus!

Now, my memory card wasn't that old. It was a PNY 32gb Class 10 card. I got it less than 2 years ago. So even if you have a newer card and are still plagued with these same problems it might be worth trying a new card.

 

[ChemMan]

Excellent, sounds like a good fix. I have a 64gig Sandisk that my phone quit writing to at about 45gig, Sandisk sent out a new one but I suspect it could be a similar problem.

 

[family_guy26]

Doesn't make sense for that to fix your GPS. If you didn't have a SD card in your phone then would it be any different?

 

[pantlesspenguin]

Doesn't make sense for that to fix your GPS. If you didn't have a SD card in your phone then would it be any different?

I have absolutely no clue how it works. But I had tried everything including 3 returns all with the same problem (so 4 devices in total), factory resets, refreshing the firmware at a Samsung kiosk at Best Buy, a new SIM card, and hours talking to both T-Mo and Samsung support. I had never tried GPS without my card in because I basically viewed it as part of the phone. Every time I got a new phone the SIM and memory cards would go in first thing.

 

[family_guy26]

I have absolutely no clue how it works. But I had tried everything including 3 returns all with the same problem (so 4 devices in total), factory resets, refreshing the firmware at a Samsung kiosk at Best Buy, a new SIM card, and hours talking to both T-Mo and Samsung support. I had never tried GPS without my card in because I basically viewed it as part of the phone. Every time I got a new phone the SIM and memory cards would go in first thing.

So could you test it without and then report back?

 

[pantlesspenguin]

So could you test it without and then report back?

It worked without the card like I mentioned in the first post. I tried it without the card on my way to Best Buy to pick up the new card. I guess it would work if one just took out their card and rebooted the phone every time before using GPS, but that would be somewhat of a pain. Plus, if getting a new card would help other areas of the phone, like the pic preview issue, it might be worth picking up a new card especially since they're so cheap right now.

 

[Haalcyon]

Actually, it does make sense. If the phone is constantly trying to work with your SD card it can't focus those energies on other things it needs to...like enumerating the GPS signal. ...just a hunch.

 

[MightyMike]

I wonder if this is creating poor battery life too? I wonder if it causes Google maps to lag. I also wonder if Samsung didn't build this in? Hmmm...it would be a Nice way to sell more branded sd cards. I know...Samsung is too big to worry about selling a few more branded sd cards...said Microsoft! Lol

MAY THE 4 BE WITH YOU!

 

[anon(1385125)]

I really appreciate this. It worked for me, I also had a 64GB Class 10 Sandisk. I switched to a Samsung 64GB Class 10 Pro and reset and was still having problems with Google Maps and Navigation, I cleared app data on Maps and the next time I ran it, it all worked beautifully. This was driving me crazy to the point that I was seriously considering giving up on the Note 4. I'd done a factory reset, updated to Lollipop, tried every fix out there, done ANOTHER factory reset and was out of options, so thank you for sharing this and allowing me to keep an otherwise amazing device.