Is your compass "jumpy"?

[chymmylt]

For some reason when I load apps like google sky or put google maps/streetview into compass mode, the image kind of jumps around like it's not getting a clean signal from the compass. If it hold it very still it will settle down but if I move it at all it jumps around in a very jumpy/choppy way. It'd done this since I first got it but I rarely have used the mode until recently so I never thought twice about it.

I've reset the phone 2x since I've owned it (unrelated to this) and the problem has persisted. Just curious if this is a flaw in my Optimus V and I should have it warrantied or whether the phone is designed with a lousy compass and it wont do any good to warranty it.

Thanks

Chy

 

[Desmock]

You know you have to rotate the phone while it is in compass mode in a figure 8 a few times to calibrate it, right?

 

[chymmylt]

Yes I've tried calibrating it a number of times though it has not helped the jumpiness. So I take it that your phone is smooth then without the jerkiness?

 

[mmarz]

The "compass" is actually your GPS. It gets your direction by comparing your last two positions. If you are not moving, your direction is actually just an artifact of the error in your GPS location. The error in your direction reduces with movement. The faster you move, the more accurate it will be. The same goes for your velocity. All of this has nothing to do with the Earth's magnetic north.

 

[chymmylt]

Huh. I thought these phones had a magnetometer that it was using for the compass. Hence the compass apps that have built in "metal detectors". Also it would make no sense that it works off GPS as it is way to accurate in my basement for it to be receiving any sort of accuracy from GPS. Let me restate, the readings I receiving from the compass appear to be accurate. It's just when using it the position jumps around (no noticeable difference between indoors or out). This is subtle in say a compass app or even the orientation of the top down view of google maps but is particularly (for me) pronounced in google street view or sky view, my direction jumps erratically with in a small amount of space unless I'm holding the phone dead still and then it locks in. It makes these apps less then desirable to use

 

[mmarz]

I am 99% sure this phone does not have a magnetometer. Where did you get the idea that it did? I haven't seen it on any of the specs.

 

[chymmylt]

I was fairly certain I read the Optimus S had one and from everything I've read the Optimus V has nearly identical hardware. It's quite possible it does not have one but the "metal detector" built into some compass programs does seem to work which again would point to me as a magnetometer and not gps. I don't see how gps could detect a magnetic field?

 

[mmarz]

Wow, you're right! I had no clue. I've searched and searched and there is no mention of this in the phone specs. I just installed the metal detector app and it seems to detect things.

I wonder which orientation the detector is in, if you have to hold the phone upright or lay it on a table to find north.

 

[JerryScript]

It seems as if it gets better readings when holding it upright. Once I lay it down flat, it seems to go a bit to far east, then going back to upright it points in the proper direction.

I read that the magnetic pole has been moved a bit since the Japan earthquake, so perhaps I'm wrong and it's more accurate when laying down.