confused as to why people are having problems with gps?

[tropolis]

gps loads quick on my phone, rooted, using google navigation and ive never had any problem. takes about a minute to lock in and then im solid.

i actually love using it because it tracks you as you drive on the screen. navigation is hard to hear when im driving so i just put headphones on and do turn by turn that way.

people saying they cant get locks, etc. not sure why.

 

[emptycube]

People get locks it just takes too long. People that have had other smartphones report locks in seconds but the Fascinate seems to take minutes ('minutes' is too long). It varies so don't be surprised if the one time you really need a quick lock it takes a couple of minutes. There is a fix for the navigation volume problem.

And this only applies when getting your first lock after a while without using GPS. Once I get a lock I can reboot my phone and still get instant locks, but if I wait long enough it's back up to a couple of minutes.

 

[geocomp]

Check out the Google Navigation Volume thread, specifically post #27, on the volume issue. Worked for me and my navigation sound is loud and clear now.

But yes I agree I don't seem to have the GPS issues others seem to have.

 

[tropolis]

let me try a gps lock right now, will time it.

havent used gps in days, will do a location i havent used before.

 

[Ewald]

I don't understand the complaints either, my Fascinate locks in the the GPS signal faster than my hand held Magelan GPS does.

Must be operator error???

 

[tropolis]

5 seconds for navigation lock

 

[jack22182]

gps loads quick on my phone, rooted, using google navigation and ive never had any problem. takes about a minute to lock in and then im solid.

i actually love using it because it tracks you as you drive on the screen. navigation is hard to hear when im driving so i just put headphones on and do turn by turn that way.

people saying they cant get locks, etc. not sure why.

I have an issue with the GPS because I came from a Blackberry Storm 2 that would achieve a real GPS lock instantly whenever I used Google Maps, even indoors.

On the Fascinate it's a lot like using a standalone GPS - it has to find the spaceships, then it sits there and watches them for a few minutes (perhaps downloading the ephemeris almanac) then it achieves a lock.

Using GPS Setup seems to jumpstart the process a bit.

Honestly, this is not how GPS is supposed to work on a cell phone. I think there's a very real possibility that this phone would not meet FCC regulations as they apply to E911 location accuracy and reliability. The GPS should be maintaining the ability to get a lock instantly and send it over to a 911 center when 911 is called. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes as long to get a fix and transmit the location to the PSAP in an E911 call as it does to come up with a fix when we want to use it for non-emergency location services.

 

[BKVic]

I purchased one when they were first released and mine would go 5-10 min sometimes searching for sats. As a reference my BB Storm 2 was 15-30 seconds at most.


BKVic

 

[Adiliyo]

it's not operator error, it's samsung not knowing what they are doing.

 

[voghan]

I really don't get it. I use Waze daily now and have no issues with locks. I guess it's not fast enough for some which is better than never which was the original problem on the Vibrant.

 

[propellerhead]

The problem is very inconsistent and it is NOT operator error. I've seen time-to-first-fix (TTFF) in as little as 2.5 seconds (indoors!) and then in other instances it can take 40-50 seconds if it even gets a fix at all, even when reconfigured for a cold start.

The bizarre part is that for those times when it can't get seem to get a fix, the receiver is "seeing" 8 to 10 birds but it refuses to use them for a fix. I don't know enough about assisted GPS (aGPS) but I'm wondering if there is a time sync issue due to availability of the specified NTP server or perhaps an issue with accessing Google's SUPL server.

The best way to see this strange behavior or to measure TTFF is to access the hidden GPS Setup menu and the TTFF Test under the Commands section.

Frankly, this failure is *almost* cause for filing a class action lawsuit.