Defective GPS hardware: get another phone, HTC preferably - Captivate Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting

I just wanted to warn poor souls like me.
A couple of months ago when I was trying to decide wich phone to get, I read in
http://forum.xda-developers.com/wiki/Samsung_Galaxy_S_Series
that for some users sometimes the GPS migh be a little inconsistent, or something like that. Now I see this text has changed to something more accurate,
PLEASE READ IT
This devices GPS' is just plain DEFECTIVE. Period.
If you don't need GPS then go ahead, but this was not my case and now I am bitterly regretting having bought a SGS. It only works on the highway, and not always. In the city is just plain useless. My old Tytyn II and my wife's ACE are much much much much better at this. I mean it's not that they are better: they work an the SGS don't.
I have tried several patches and several modems. This is pure fantasy, nothing is going to fix a defective hardware.
It is also very irresponsible form samsung not issuing a recall or something. Never again will i buy a Samsung phone.
very frustaed here. regards.

Check your build number. If it is 1010 or earlier, then you have a well-known bad GPS. They started fixing phones that were made or refurbished after November 2010. If your build is 1012 or 11xx, then your phone should have a fixed GPS.
My 1101 is much better than my 1007. It's not perfect, but it gets the job done. Most of the time it's dead-on accurate, but it jumps every once in a while, putting me on a side street.
I took my 1007 to an AT&T device center, told them the GPS is not acceptable and that it shuts down on its own once in a while (also true), and they exchanged my phone with no problem. Try returning it to a device center. If they exchange the phone for you, test out the GPS until you get one that locks fast.

yup, mine's a 1007, so that's it, I have a well know defective phone and there's propably nothing I can do about it since I bought it used on ebay and brought it to Spain, both at&t and Samsung would probably laugh at my face if I ask for an exchange here.
as I said, never again Samsung, too irresponsible.
thanks,

I have a 1007 that I bought on the very day it was first released. Some ROM's seem to make the GPS work very well. I'm on CM7.1 now and it works pretty good. Its not as flawless as my friends DroidX or iPhone but it locs within about 10-15 secs and once its locked it stays locked.
Try different ROMs. I had good experience with FireFly 3.0, Cog 2.2Beta7 or Beta8, CM7.1.
A few of them I could even get a GPS lock indoors. I cant do that with CM7.1 but as long as I'm outside it works very well.

You really should rename this thread "Let's bash Samsung"

mcongosto said:
yup, mine's a 1007, so that's it, I have a well know defective phone and there's propably nothing I can do about it since I bought it used on ebay and brought it to Spain, both at&t and Samsung would probably laugh at my face if I ask for an exchange here.
as I said, never again Samsung, too irresponsible.
thanks,
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Click to collapse
lol. Good, go to HTC (they will treat you even worse if you have any problems) at least I won't have to sift through any more useless threads made by you in Samsung sections.

derek4484 said:
I have a 1007 that I bought on the very day it was first released. Some ROM's seem to make the GPS work very well. I'm on CM7.1 now and it works pretty good. Its not as flawless as my friends DroidX or iPhone but it locs within about 10-15 secs and once its locked it stays locked.
Try different ROMs. I had good experience with FireFly 3.0, Cog 2.2Beta7 or Beta8, CM7.1.
A few of them I could even get a GPS lock indoors. I cant do that with CM7.1 but as long as I'm outside it works very well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've heard people talking about ROMs improving GPS, but that the improvements were temporary. I experienced this, too.
The GPS on the phone when I got it (Eclair) was decent in clear weather. It took a while to lock, but once there, generally stuck. It seriously sucked in cloudy/rainy weather, though. I installed the Paragon RC6 ROM, and the GPS was amazing for a few months. It went to hell really fast, though, getting to the point where it wouldn't even lock outside on a crystal clear day. I restored the phone to stock Eclair hoping the GPS would return to the original state, but it remained practically unusable.
I've heard others say that some ROMs had awesome GPS functionality to start and then ended up being worse than the original. YMMV, but something to keep an eye out for.

this is after many months that I saw any thread about Captivate GPS, i think we captivate users matured enough to deal with crappy gps in our phones.....
I think if you really want good gps buy one of ebay.....just becoz your phone cant use google's Navigation Beta doesnt mean its useless....see the other good thing abt it..

viny2cool said:
this is after many months that I saw any thread about Captivate GPS, i think we captivate users matured enough to deal with crappy gps in our phones.....
I think if you really want good gps buy one of ebay.....just becoz your phone cant use google's Navigation Beta doesnt mean its useless....see the other good thing abt it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what I said, captivate is a great phone if you don't care much about GPS, but that's not my case. I have had several smartphone with GPS in the past and they all worked much better.
I wish I've read a rant like mine before making my decision. Everybody was so "mature" that no one said anything anymore.
I think is normal to be disappointed with Samsung. It seems that is a proven fact that old builds are defective, so it should be much more easier to exchange them. No receipt or warranty needed, free shipping worldwide. But I guess that's not how it works...

viny2cool said:
this is after many months that I saw any thread about Captivate GPS, i think we captivate users matured enough to deal with crappy gps in our phones.....
I think if you really want good gps buy one of ebay.....just becoz your phone cant use google's Navigation Beta doesnt mean its useless....see the other good thing abt it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Matured enough to deal with crappy gps"? Not sure about you, but the Captivate was my first smartphone, and I bought it long before ever finding XDA. I bought it based on specs, the promise of Froyo, and screen quality. It was only after I bought it and got locked into a 2-year contract that I discovered that the GPS sucked. And I had never owned another Android phone, so I had no basis of comparison for how good/bad a phone's GPS should be...except my boss' Droid X, which wasn't an option for me because I didn't care for the screen. The turn-by-turn navigation was one of the features that attracted me to Android over iOS.
I understand the GPS situation NOW, but when I bought the phone a year ago, the box said it had GPS, so I was naturally...um..."disappointed" that it didn't work. I considered it false advertising. I paid a lot of money for the phone..."dealing with a crappy GPS" isn't something I was willing to do for $100 down and $100 a month. That's too much money for a broken phone.
I ultimately got so fed up with it and some other issues that I brought the phone into a device center and got it replaced. GPS is fixed and works much better. Now it's really only the intermittent, ridiculous lag in the phone that gets on my nerves...but I'm much happier when driving in unfamiliar areas.

mrhaley30705 said:
You really should rename this thread "Let's bash Samsung"
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Click to collapse
This would be funny if Samsung wasnt bashing themselves by releasing a product with broken features. It might be a rant we have all heard before but its still right. While I really do enjoy my captivate, I probably wont buy another Samsung device due to all of the issues.

Related

Why does everyone appear to complain about their kaiser?

I had this phone for almost two months now and I have not experienced anything that has turned me away from another HTC device. I purchased it with only 35mins of call time for only $210 and I believe its worth double that. My life has become more organized, I get much better reception, I can use the internet at decent speeds, hell and the video quality isn't that bad, i got TT6, and so on.
I've really enjoyed this device, xda, and the learning process.
i've paid 800 cdn when it first came out and dont regret one bit...yes maybe there are issues with the phone but which phone is perfect? its all about personal prefs and give and take..to me this phone is good and i can live with whatever wrong with it...having said that its not the perfect phone cuz everyone wants this n that...i'll still switch over to the x1 just because its new and id like to try it out...if its not good then i'll go back to kaiser...if kaiser isnt good...maybe i'll look into another machine...but a phone is a phone...its not perfect...unless we manufacture our own phones
Since most forums are essentially self-help groups, it's not such a surprise. When I think of my previous WM5 i-mate - the hourly soft re-sets, unreadable screen in sunlight, constant need to re-calibrate the screen, poor receptoion (even though at the time I thought it was the coolest thing) - I thank my lucky stars!
chuk
i agree, its not perfect and the camera is rubbish, i still have the hermes and i prefer the camera on that but, updated hardware and built in gps does it for me.
People should start complaining about things that matter!
I'm irritated on principle about the driver issue - I strongly believe they should have supplied whatever software support was necessary to get the best out of the hardware, because we all paid for the latter and we shouldn't have to get it working ourselves.
On the other hand, generally the performance is acceptable and as a whole the device works very well. I'd probably be more annoyed if I'd paid a lot of money for it, but as it was quite cheap for me I'm more than happy with it overall. But HTC need to take note of the driver furore and the damage it's quite fairly done to their reputation.
redbandana said:
Why does everyone appear to complain about their kaiser?
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Click to collapse
I don't! ;-)
No, seriously: I thinks that's a false impression. In this forum you will find a lot of perfectionists who always want to get out the most of their phones. And even if they do, they still look forward in buying the next generation. At least that description fits me. ;-)
I don't complain about mine and I was one of the first people in my area to buy one. I Think someone cried wolf regarding the video driver and now everyone wants to be cool too. I would like to see them but my phone kicks other phones butts for breakfast.
I was perfectly happy with my 8125 (Wizard) until I saw Engadget's preview of the Tilt. I immediately pre-ordered it through AT&T Premier, and had it in hand on launch day. Even though I will probably buy the Xperia sometime next year, I am in no rush to get rid of my Tilt.
As a noob to the whole genre of ppc's... I have to admit from everything i have seen here at work with other pda's and ppc's, My tilt kicks the s--t out of the rest. I know there are complaints about the video drivers but f--k it, i didnt buy my tilt to watch videos... i bought it to take care of my daily needs for when i cant get to my computer....
Probably because it is human nature to complain......
I've had mine since the first of October 07, and haven't really had any issues.
I had to return it because the USB port died. Didn't really like the camera
until the hotfix came out, which pretty much fixed the camera issue for me.
Exactly... Ive upgraded like twice and got the fixes I wanted and I'll tell you I wont get rid of this phone for awhile.
I think the only real reason for a complaint is the driver issue...
people had expectations that the device would out perform a hermes for video playback because of the data sheet and the graphics chip. Then when people got it and it shuddered and such due to no driver support people got mad.
I understand, people bought the phone expecting one thing, spent a lot of $$ and it did not meet there expectations.
Maybe it was their bad for having expectations but, they were founded on qualcomms own marketing for the 7200 chip.
Oh I understand what you're saying about the driver issues, I'd be pissed too if I had bought for those issues. Its HTC/Qualcomms f--- up for putting out the ifo like they did. They have a right to be upset if they bought the phones expecting something that wasnt delivered.
No complaints on my side so far! XDA helped with any issues and couln't be happier. I too will look into the SE Xperia but the Tilt will stay
If it weren't for me finding XDA I probably wouldn't have figured out the possibilities of my tilt. And I have found some really awesome stuff for it.
Sure, I am annoyed that my Kaiser is not being all that it could be as its missing some drivers, but I still like it and don't think I have ever complained.
However, I liked my Hermes. If I had not broken it I would probably not have upgraded when my contract ends in June (I only want a 12 month contract max and am a student, so not a heavy spender and can't really afford £150 for the handset as well as the contract).
I see a note about a HTC Raphael - it might get me to upgrade, but then I might just ignore it as I don't dislike the kaiser. It's not like the Wizard which really annoyed me by the time I upgraded. At the moment the only thing I am interested in is moving to a rolling 1 month contract (which is not a bad deal) and I might buy the Raphael without a contract.
The tilt is the best phone i've ever had. Who says the camera is rubbish?! did you see the panoramic shots some dude took and posted here. Those are clear as crystal. I mean geez people want a perfect cell phone with nikon capabilities. People can't seem to remember that it's a PHONE!!.. if you look at how far we've gotten in technology it isn't a bad device. I personally won't get the Xperia. I'll wait for the next HTC launch. Videos play fine on my phone and I have full movies on my SD card and stream music and videos from my home pc with no problems. People just like *****ing. Like I said before nobody started *****ing until Bill Nye the Science guy started that driver post.
read my signature..
remember people... quest for perfection ends at you feeling empty and betrayed.
I have taken mine to Hell and back ...the fact that it still works is amazing
I realise it has some drawbacks..but I am fine with it. Not changing it anytime soon.
Im quite happy with my tytnII had it for six months now,it is a shame that the drivers are not there for the imageon card,mainly because im a bit of a gamer and was looking forward to seeing what it was capable of.
Unfortunately it seems its not upto much, the slow down on call of duty is laughable i think my nokia 6680 could out peform it.
That aside i am very pleased with it.
If it wasnt that i was put onto this site by someone i probably would have sent it back (HTC TAKE NOTE)...I got this phone free on cotract at the time they were going for £440 pound on ebay i would have been seriously pissed if id paid cash for it outright.
A set of drivers would be sooooo nice,so keep putting in the hard work those who are working on them,and thanks to xda devs a invaluable lifeline to many.

Why i'm switching to the Iphone.

The HTC Touch Diamond is a piece of **** for what you pay for.
I paid almost 800$ for a great phone that I expected a lot out of, what did I get? A phone that worked for 20 days and then ****ed up. The entire phone just does not connect when it is not plugged into the wall outlet, and I've used another battery and it still does the same thing, it's a piece of ****.
For the past month I've been trying to get the damn thing to work, I've treated it like a diamond because I've paid as much as I would.
It was awesome for the first 20 days, but now it's useless unless connected to an adapter. Amazing. Mobilecityonline the guys i bought it from are willing to repair it on warranty but it will take 4-6weeks, THATS MORE THAN A MONTH.
I'm ending with my illusion of WM powered phones, goin to the iphone which has basically the same features, not all the looks but god damnit, the tech support is great, and the phone does not lag, and you don't need to cook roms to get the damn thing to work faster.
This is my rant, and anyone else in California who has a working HTC Touch Diamond, good luck keeping it running.
So it was awesome until it broke? Why not just get it repaired then?
Hardware fails from time to time, do you think the iphone is bullet proof? You say you've been trying to get it working for the last month, well if you'd just had it repaired under warranty you'd probably have it back by now.
No, 6 weeks is more than a month. That's far too long for a phone to be in repair. The company was ****ty, that's a given, but the phone ****ed up.
My sister has an iphone and has had it since it came out. The thing with apple is, you can walk into an apple store down the street and walk out with a brand new phone. Repairs take 1 day.
HTC America was really nice and offered the European hotline, but they agreed that if I sent it out to them it would take more than a month, 2-3 apparently. And they cannot send me a new phone but would have to repair this one.
I thought this phone was bullet proof, people f'ing compared it to the iphone. It's an amazing phone, but not worth 700$.
And to get even the basic tools from diamond you need to jailbreak the iphone or use the 2.0 appstore(not the good solution)
haha nice one mouseymousey made me chuckle!
good luck with your iphone mate, you'll soon come running back! 'basic'illy has the same features just about sums it up! and make sure you have a good belt to hold your trousers up! ahem.. BRICK lol
like mousey says, hardware can break down, lifes not perfect mate!
if your fridge breaks down are you going to switch to only eating tinned food?
How so? What basic tools does the diamond have that the iphone does not? What are we missing here? Jailbreaking is meaningless anymore because i'm already on the network with the iphone. You still have to pay for WM applications, it's not like the appstore is killing you.
Sorry double posted on accident. Anyways. I'm sorry, everyone on this board has been great, but no one anywhere on the internet could help me solve this problem, and HTCs best support told me to "hard reset" amazing.
I've just realized that WM is too much trouble, and HTC products are and will always be far too expensive for what you get. If the unlocked iphone cost about 700$ with 4/gigs of internal storage people would be ****ing pissed. But nothing about HTC but rather its a supposed competitor. Failed to impress.
Also, hardware does not break down in a matter of days of you getting it, that's ridiculous, that's showing the quality build of the product being really ****ty. Honestly, If i got a fridge from sears, that broke down in a weeks time I would not get the same brand again. The problem is that every product that you get has to work for atleast a couple of months and you have to do something to do it for it to breakdown. For god's sake, I haven't bought a single product that I couldn't fix, this is literally a hardware failure, that wasn't warranted, I didn't even touch the phone the wrong way, I swear to you I have had it in a case as thick as my wallet. It's ridiculous. If you call it a random breakdown that happens every now and then, **** that. 700$ is a lot for me. And a months time for repairs isn't gravy.
bye bye then
ta tar then!
car navigation, copy - paste, does not even exist... good pushmail etc. exchange stuff... remote desktop, video recording, crappy speeds compared to htc on connections, even with the new 3g... just to name few...
i love the use of iphone, theres no comparison to that, but featurewise its no match for diamond
iphone can melt...
Do you even know that the back cover from the Iphone can be so hot...even the backside can melt...it's posted on a dutch website which found an article from an american user....
If you don't believe me, here's the link to the dutch website:
http://www.allaboutphones.nl/forum/iphone-3g-wordt-ook-erg-heet-en-kan-zelfs-smelten-t3131.html
http://forums.macrumors.com/showpost.php?p=5943855&postcount=288
So you'd better think twice before you buy the Iphone...
greetzz Jeroen
oh yes, the '3g' phone that CANT make video calls?? errr, whats the point!!!? haha
iphone sucks big time!
There are so many good reasons to switch to the iPhone (useability, following the masses, trying to look cool, for example), but "because my phone broke" is not one of them when you consider that iPhone users have just been complaining about that very issue - and I'm not speaking about activation problems...
Anyway, have fun. Good luck with the battery.
I'll stick with the Diamond. Its features simply blow the iPhone out of the water. Most importantly for me is that I can easily write my own apps for it.
Car navigation does exist the new 3g has built in GPS. Copy and paste is released with the new 2.1 firmware, mobileme is up and running, HTC's wifi blows donkey, 3g is fast as hell on the iphone.
And again folks its not about features, its about BUILD QUALITY.
Pietje_1985 said:
Do you even know that the back cover from the Iphone can be so hot...even the backside can melt...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So they found the TRUE reason to the clobal warming... iBlaah
Hi Intradvocate, can you please confirm that 6 weeks is longer than a month?
Sure, 31 days in a month (average) 7 days in a week, 4.4 weeks in a month. (divide 31 by 7)
Intradvocate said:
The HTC Touch Diamond is a piece of **** for what you pay for.
.....
This is my rant, and anyone else in California who has a working HTC Touch Diamond, good luck keeping it running.
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I can't help noticing that if the same thing happened to your iphone you would be probably writing similar post. Honestly WM6 is for professional and semi-professional users, perhaps closer to blackberry so if you were looking for an iphone like alternative it was a mistake. I am under no peer pressure in terms of "coolness"- the HTC SD must perform efficiently the business tasks that I throw at it and honestly there is currently no better alternative for my needs.
Intradvocate said:
And again folks its not about features, its about BUILD QUALITY.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, on iPod touch and non 3g iPhone, unfortunatelly the 3g version has not been the best quality from apple... this is quite tough place to get sympathy when changing to iblaah...

Hesitant to upgrade from g1 due to reputation

So what if any issues have you had with your stock nexus1 ? Has rooting helped or hurt?
I love my G1 but it will be time to upgrade soon. Ive just done a wipe and upgrade to cm 5.0.8 DS and like it so far.
Id love to have a rooted N1 but the horror stories with post as recent as today about wifi,trackball & screen issues make me reconsider. So far I don't know of anything else in the same ballpark that will work on Tmobile.
Thanks for any input
G1 rooted with cyanogen 5.0.8 DS
Xda app
I have not seen any issues with wifi, trackball nor screen. I been the owner of my Nexus One for over 2 months already and I can tell you, This was the best investment ever. Now, with custom ROMs you can improve the functionality of the Phone by a lot. 720p video, faster, wifi n, radio fm maybe? etc...
The N1 has very good hardware, it has things that may be officially unlocked in the near future who knows, though they are already unlocked for custom roms.
Also good to have if you plan to be the base for Android, Since Google will use the N1 as their main device, everything will be optimized for you. (That's my bet, we all saw it with Froyo Demos)
It's fine. 99% of the people wit thing are happy with it, the 1% with problems are understandably vocal. I have two N1's on my account mine (which is rooted) and my girlfriends (which isn't rooted, but has been running the Froyo test ROM for a while). Both work great.
I loved my G1. Probably the phone I loved most when I had it.
The N1 is a better phone in almost every single way ((I was able to change alot of the hardware kb/tb/covers etc on G1)) which is why i loved it.
Nexus One is a leap ahead of every phone prior to April its not even funny. Dont hesitate the N1 >> > and >> over any other phone on Tmobile right now. I love the Mytouch slide but the power ability of N1 are a much better choice.
IMO N1 still has best overall feature set in HW/SW available on the market. Even though that lead has slimmed its still the best you can get right now.
The only problem I have ever heard with the N1 is dust under the screen. But that seems few and far between.
I have had my N1 for about 2 months not and zero issues. I came from an iPhone 3gs (unlocked and jailbroken) and I'll never look back. The N1 is the best phone I have owned. Nothing comes close to it.
they arent problems, just people complaining vocally. the wifi works great, the screen works great, and i've never heard of any trackball issues. go for it you wont regret it.
[IO]ERROR said:
The only problem I have ever heard with the N1 is dust under the screen. But that seems few and far between.
I have had my N1 for about 2 months not and zero issues. I came from an iPhone 3gs (unlocked and jailbroken) and I'll never look back. The N1 is the best phone I have owned. Nothing comes close to it.
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Click to collapse
My exact situation, and thoughts. I actually have my 3GS in the cabinet here at my desk because I thought I might want to switch back and forth, but I haven't touched my 3GS since the N1 showed up in the mail.
That's exact what I'd like in an N1 and get a 8" or less touchpad running android later lol
Now I need to decide on a renewal or pay full price
Sent from my HTC Dream using XDA App
Ok so after checking the Google page I qualify for an upgrade and with overnight shipping ( which oddly is the same as ground shipping) for $313.38
Does T-mobile charge anything else?
My current plan is the MyFaves 1000 and I guess will be the Even more individual 500 plan. which wont be so bad now that everyone texts rather than calls, and there is wifi calling
issues
The N1 has issues with the voice cutting out frequently (at least, mine does, on Rogers/Fido). Look on the Google support forum to see lots of people complaining about this issue. Maybe T-Mobile units are unaffected?
Haven't had any voice issues at all on Fido in Canada.
Your voice as in people you call cant hear you?
Hesitant to upgrade from g1 due to reputation
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why? If you don't like it, return it. If you like it and you have a problem with it, HTC will fix or replace it under warranty.
Honestly, the "reports" on this or that regarding Nexus One deficiencies were broadcasted much louder than any other phone because of the hype surrounding the device. In reality, they are the same few and far between issues you'd find with any other phone on the market.
From someone who used to swap phones as frequently as once every month, I have been using the Nexus One since launch day, had problems with the first AT&T version I bought, and had HTC replace it. Not a problem since.
Where do these reputations come from? the dust issue is the only real one ive seen and htc has fixed the glue problem. its a great phone buy it.
midtoad said:
The N1 has issues with the voice cutting out frequently (at least, mine does, on Rogers/Fido). Look on the Google support forum to see lots of people complaining about this issue. Maybe T-Mobile units are unaffected?
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Click to collapse
I've never had this issue on Rogers and I've installed practically every ROM available.
Personally, I would wait for a phone that has a better touch surface. I was really looking for a multi-touch keyboard but was really disappointed to find out that the phone would never be able to do that. Other than that I love it.
benricosan said:
Personally, I would wait for a phone that has a better touch surface. I was really looking for a multi-touch keyboard but was really disappointed to find out that the phone would never be able to do that. Other than that I love it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Swype. I'll never go back.
2. The possibility is there for an app to have it.
Back to topic, I love my N1. I kept it stock for a few months, but I rooted it about a month ago and somehow, the phone is that much better. It's a staple of what I have the freedom to do now. AGPS + nav is phenomenal and comes with the phone. The camera is great. Video can now be shot at 720p (if rooted), and will soon come to Froyo. The hardware is crazy fast, Javascript 2.1 vs 2.2 vs iPad, 40+MFLOPS performance. And, since this is Google's baby, it will be the first to receive updates like Froyo.
The touch surface isn't as bad as people are making it seem, and if you're really up for gaming you can hook a wii-mote to it. Talking on the phone is fine. I occasionally have a weird call, but my friend with an iPhone drops/no-connects calls way more than me.
It has it's quirks. The antenna is located at the bottom of the phone. The reception isn't the best, and T-Mobile doesn't have the strongest signal. I work in a office building/warehouse, and getting 3G in some parts of the first floor (built on a hill, sometimes underground sometimes not) is difficult. A few N1s have had dust under the screen (fixed from what I've heard). Other than that... The phone is excellent.
midtoad said:
The N1 has issues with the voice cutting out frequently (at least, mine does, on Rogers/Fido). Look on the Google support forum to see lots of people complaining about this issue. Maybe T-Mobile units are unaffected?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also got the AT&T Phone, but No Issues with voice or anything like that.
The only downside of AT&T phones are.... NO FROYO GOD DAMN IT... well just yet.
pass and wqit
pass on the n1. I own an n1 for a few months now and HATE THE 3G ISSUESthat it has. also miss the physical keyboard... your g1s keyboard is great and I'd toss this nexus for a snapdragon g1 in a heartbeat.
I'd also suggest not renewing your contract so youccan chose any phone.... any carrier.
two cents
That's Funny
Haha, reluctant to go from the G1 to nexus? I guess I kinda understand. I went from my G1 to the Nexus 6 months ago and god damn I haven't thought twice about that decision! Rooting your phone just makes things that much more fun too!

Should I buy the samsung captivate?

hey guys how are you?, I would like your thoughts on this phone( if y'all don't mind) how easy is to root? what are the best roms available? you guys think it will be waste of money buying it?? all the feedback about this phone is welcome, (good and bad)... I am planing on the gifts I will be buying for x-mas , (I know a bit to early) and I was thinking buying this phone for my lil sis, she currently has the motorola flip which I got her last year, I am planning on spending $200 refurbished, out of contract, used in mint condition..I seen so many reviews but we all know that reviews are just eh, the best way is to ask an actual user,I am a sprint user so I don't know nothing about AT&T phones, well thank you guys, i am eager to hear your thoughts on this phone, and or should I consider getting a better one (more recent phone) thank you again!!
Its alright. Check the build number, GPS, and other specifics off the phone. Development makes it amazing
Sent from a phone controlling a computer controlling a different phone
If you are comfortable with HTC modding, then modding SGS is usually mind boggling (at least for most people). I find it much much better, but thats just me. Look at Build number since the newer ones have better GPS and don't suffer from sleep death.
Devs make this a great phone that is very fast with an amazing screen. There are many great custom ROMs here...
If it's a refurbed early model it might have fixed GPS (or not). GPS performance is a crap shoot in general...Otherwise, it's solid.
Sent from my SGH-I9000 using XDA App
For 200 bucks this phone is worth it. The roms are great and stable as well as good support incase something goes wrong with flashing or what not, and I think it will still be a good phone in a years time (if you are going on a yearly cycle with new phones for your sister).
pretty much as stated above the phone is a great phone with the exception of the gps , sometimes it works great other times , not so much- if you sister doesn't nee the phone for the gps it is def. a phone she will enjoy using especially with a custom ROM to cater to her likes- bottom line go for it im planning on getting one for my daughter
I'm going to go ahead and list the issues I have with the Captivate off the top of my head and let you decide off that.
As has been stated previously the GPS is generally pretty crappy, but mine's actually been pretty good on the latest leaked firmware KI2.
The cache by default is only around 30M so if you want to download anything larger then that you'll have to flash a modded PIT file or fine some other means to give you a larger cache (see the Cache link in my sig).
Phones tend to have their own individualism so what works for me may not work as well for you
I wish you the best of luck with whatever phone you decide to go with.
I got my Cappy on release day. Never had a single problem with it. Kernel updates are coming to a close and ROMs for 2.3.5. are following closely. Best phone I've ever owned hands down. Development makes it better. I wish my Glock was this perfect! I will be upgrading to Galaxy S II in January when im due, but I will always keep this phone as backup.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App

Samsung Hardware GPS Fix

Since Samsung appears to have fixed our GPS hardware on the newer and refurb phones (Captivate) is there no one that has found the fix from a Samsung tech? Or in investigating the insides for changes? It seems like everything else about these phones is out in the open. I have an old phone 1007 and it's gps works kinda. It would be neat to fix it.
Who's got the fix, come on out with it.
If you'll do a search on " GPS " you'll find theads like..
Best option for GPS performance improvement?
and True GPS Fix.
and Some background on GPS performance issues
and GPS Question
and Can't get GPS to lock at all ,
thats a just a few off the first page I searched so, do a search, you'll find enough info to keep you reading for a week . Try each of the recommended fixes , that should keep you busy for another week. BTW, early made captivates just have ****ty GPS, good luck.
I believe, Hes wondering what the hardware GPS fix performed was. And if there is any noticeable visible difference between a working and non-working GPS. Perhaps to be able to fix it himself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
ConeyKiller said:
I believe, Hes wondering what the hardware GPS fix performed was. And if there is any noticeable visible difference between a working and non-working GPS. Perhaps to be able to fix it himself.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Yes, Coneykiller you are correct. I know all about the so called fixes that don't work. Now that Samsung is sending out the refurb's and they are reported to work what are they doing to fix this problem at Samsung?
Id say probably a new gps chip, but thats just a wild guess. Fixing that, I assume, would be on the micro level.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
My refurb 1007 was way better than my build 1012 so I think they either fixed something or the 1007 was just better. I compared with someone who got a 1100+ phone and she had at least 5 db better S/N using GPS test. She was running froyo and I was running gingerbread so I had faster lock but I still had a worse reciever/antenna or whatever the problem was.
I'm sending back the 1007 and going to try again and see what I end up with. The samsung guy admitted that the newer builds had fixed the GPS. He didnt' say what was fixed however.
ConeyKiller said:
Id say probably a new gps chip, but thats just a wild guess. Fixing that, I assume, would be on the micro level.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I897 using XDA App
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Past experience has shown me that software plays a big part in how well a gps operates on a phone (my tilt 1 was poor with many early roms then got great). The captivate gps was almost useable with gingerbread but was total crap with froyo.
I'm happy to say that the refurb captivate I just recieved (build 1101) has a kick ass gps even with froyo. My captivate is finally the phone I expected it to be.
If anyone is keeping score:
I started with a build 1012 that had a really sucky GPS.
My first replacement refurb was a build 1007 with a pretty good gps (much better that the first) but still not able to keep lock all them time when inside the car.
The 2nd refurb i got was a build 1012 with horrible GPS and now
My last refurb is a build 1101 with a stunningly good gps turning it on, out of the box, with froyo on it.
So, I can say confidently "The captivate HAD "hardware" issues with the GPS with build 1012 being the worst of the worst and totally crap".
How do you guys get replacements if at&t refuse to replace it because gps isn't covered under warranty. My phone has no problems with unexpected shut downs. There is nothing to prove it except the sucky gps.
mobileseq said:
How do you guys get replacements if at&t refuse to replace it because gps isn't covered under warranty. My phone has no problems with unexpected shut downs. There is nothing to prove it except the sucky gps.
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The random shut-down thing seems to be their trigger. I returned my first Captivate to an AT&T device center with three problems. I walked in and said, "I'm having three problems with this phone..."
"First, the GPS is horrible. It doesn't even lock on a clear day. I travel for work and this isn't acceptable. It used to work pretty well, but suddenly doesn't work at all" The lady I was talking to (the manager) just stared at me.
"Second, the phone has Froyo available, but Kies refuses to do the update. It starts and downloads, then tells me it failed and to try again later. With Gingerbread coming at some point, I want to be able to update this phone." She continued to just stare at me.
"Third, every so often it reboots itself or shuts itself down and requires a battery pull to turn it back on." At this point, she started nodding her head emphatically and sent me to one of the reps to push through the exchange.
I traded in my 1007 for an 1101. The GPS works fine and it came with Froyo, but the shutdown problem is more pronounced. It happened to me twice in the last week (coincidentally, both times it happened while the Amazon AppStore was installing updates). I can deal with the shutdown thing once in a while if I have a decent GPS, but as soon as the Galaxy Nexus becomes available on AT&T, I'm getting one.
were you under warranty when you swapped the phone?
KreepyKen said:
The random shut-down thing seems to be their trigger. I returned my first Captivate to an AT&T device center with three problems. I walked in and said, "I'm having three problems with this phone..."
"First, the GPS is horrible. It doesn't even lock on a clear day. I travel for work and this isn't acceptable. It used to work pretty well, but suddenly doesn't work at all" The lady I was talking to (the manager) just stared at me.
"Second, the phone has Froyo available, but Kies refuses to do the update. It starts and downloads, then tells me it failed and to try again later. With Gingerbread coming at some point, I want to be able to update this phone." She continued to just stare at me.
"Third, every so often it reboots itself or shuts itself down and requires a battery pull to turn it back on." At this point, she started nodding her head emphatically and sent me to one of the reps to push through the exchange.
I traded in my 1007 for an 1101. The GPS works fine and it came with Froyo, but the shutdown problem is more pronounced. It happened to me twice in the last week (coincidentally, both times it happened while the Amazon AppStore was installing updates). I can deal with the shutdown thing once in a while if I have a decent GPS, but as soon as the Galaxy Nexus becomes available on AT&T, I'm getting one.
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ap1618 said:
were you under warranty when you swapped the phone?
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Yes. I highly doubt they'd replace a phone that's not under warranty.

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