Indoor Fascinate GPS testing (via Google Maps)- not good

[kilofoxtrot]

If any GPS device works inside, consider yourself lucky... its not the norm.

 

[joebob2000]

If any GPS device works inside, consider yourself lucky... its not the norm.

My Storm 1 works great inside, as do a ton of other GPS devices that use cell network assistance to allow for location with a weak satellite signal. A heavy metal roof will still kill the signal, but light buildings like houses or smaller stores will allow a 3 meter accuracy.

Oh, and I do consider myself lucky!

 

[PJnc284]

Bought the Fascinate Friday and gave the GPS and Google Nav a thorough test on Saturday driving over 400 miles and 8 hrs. What I noticed is that the Fascinate is much slower to lock on than the Droid I had previously. I drove for about 5 min with it saying "Searching for GPS" before it ever locked on and started routing me to my destination. I got the audible "GPS signal lost" briefly on the way back but only for 15 seconds or so. I hit a couple pockets where I lost verizon signal all together but gps and google nav still tracked me. However, I do think the GPS issues have been blown a little out of proportion and it should be fine for the average person. If you want instantaneous gps lock on a regular basis, then the Fascinate probably isn't for you but for all others, it will be more than enough.

 

[namebrandon]

Any new GPS can take 10+ minutes to lock from a cold start. I'm on my second fascinate, both out of the box took ~8-9 minutes of sitting there and staring at the sky (running GPSTest) before they could lock a signal and get down to ~3 feet accuracy. Once that is done once, it takes about 15 seconds to get a lock.

From my experience (with two devices) the Fascinate / Broadcom GPS is fine.

 

[bmoore0909]

I bought my Fascinate on Saturday. Loaded GOogle Maps before i left the store. GPS locked on as soon as I stepped outside.

Later that day I tried again and it look about 10 minutes to lock on. Since that time I've used it back and forth from work and it's been consistant at about 2-minutes to lock. That's fine with me, because once it locks it stays locked. So I'm happy. It would be nice to get a quicker lock, but its ok for now.

Now what about apps like Facebook places? Doesn't that rely on GPS for your location? I've never used it. So do i need to be outdoors to "checkin"?