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Top left: Note 4. Bottom left: S4. Right hand side: Z2 Tablet.
All devices are configured to use the built-in GPS receiver only.
The photo was taken after waiting for more than 5 minutes.
Z2 Tablet and S4 receive 23 satellites, S4 using 18, Z2 Tablet using 16 (after a couple of seconds). But Note 4 receives 11 satellites, uses 0 (ZERO) - even after 5 minutes.
Here's a quick and shaky video: http://youtu.be/nVOF2n8AYDk
Software: I used "GPS Test" by "Chartcross". Other apps show the same results.
I tried countless comparisons, using A-GPS data and without, tried resetting the radios via the service menu - nothing helps: Note 4 GPS receiver does "see" some satellites (but always less than other devices), but just doesn't get a fix, at least not indoors.
It DOES work outdoors, but the results are similar and very poor: Note 4 takes a lot of time for the fix, uses less satellites, provides a less precise position and/or permanently loses the fix again. Even with using A-GPS data, a fix takes ages if the Note succeeds with a sat fix at all, situation becoming even worse if moving in a car. Z2 Tablet and S4 provide an almost instant fix, don't drop the fix again.
Of course I searched the net (and XDA) for that issue, found just some posts claiming the same.
Problem: Most users just see it does work outdoors, but don't realize the poor, close to subzero performance. So they believe it's all ok.
It is not.
I really hope it's just a software bug. If not, our Note 4 GPS becomes close to unusable if used in forests, under heavy rain, indoors or under other adverse conditions.
Please do a comparison yourself, check against any other GPS-enabled device - let's see if your results differ or are similar.
Please note: It does not help if your GPS just works outside. It does. But it's far, far worse than other devices - just see the photo above.
----
I found two videos showing a part of the problem (without being noticed by the "reviewer"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHDVZEKBD8M
GPS test starting at 3:41. Note that the Note 3 retains it's satellites after the fix (8/21), while the number of the satellites used by the Note 4 wildly changes.
At 4:17, it drops to 4, causing losing the fix for a moment - note that the colors of the satellite signals momentarily change from green to yellow/grey.
Similar with the other video of the same reviewer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X3Ucqnu9_g
GPS test starting at 3:57. Note that the Note 3 retains it's satellites after the fix (14 to 15 of 22), while the number of the satellites used by the Note 4 again constantly changes.
At 4:34, it drops to 2, causing losing the fix for a moment - note that the colors of the satellite signals momentarily change from green to yellow/grey.
That's what I observe with my Note 4, too.
And that's what causes that expanding and shrinking of the blue "GPS accuracy" circle around your position in Google Maps, that's what causes showing a momentarily wrong position while driving.
I am not sure if this is a real fault or just the results of a different approach by Samsung - MAYBE they try to use a kind of diversity algorithm causing that short "dropouts".
In any case - it's a bad thing. And an issue wreaking havoc in the background, broadly unnoticed by the majority of Note 4 owners (which regard the GPS as working perfectly just because the sat fix doesn't take long), I fear.
But it might be model or firmware specific.
So please check if your Note 4 shows the same behavior.
The speed of a GPS fix does not say anything as there are too many different factors of influence involved; sorry.
---
I had been asked why indoor reception is important at all. Here's the answers:
1) Indoor reception is an indicator of the sensitivity of a GPS receiver. Under the open sky, just every GPS receiver delivers a sound performance - so you cannot see differences.
But if you've got a good indoor reception, you'll also get a high sensitive under problematic conditions - e. g. under bad weather conditions, in cities where you are surrounded by tall buildings, or in regions like forests or even underwater. Performance in locations like forests is highly important for outdoor enthusiasts or people doing geocaching.
And you'll be quite happy if your navigation software leads you to your destination even if it's raining cats and dogs - instead of being forced to leave your car to ask for directions.
So if your device performs well indoors, it is very likely to also perform well in every demanding outdoor situations.
Practical, personal example: Every year, I leave for a months vacation to Asia. I usually don't follow the beaten tourist tracks, I prefer the secluded, more unknown places. That often leads me into jungle regions, tall trees everywhere. If I can't rely on a solid GPS fix, I can get lost in no time.
If I know that my Note 4's indoor reception is pretty good, I can be assured it won't leave me if I'm out in the middle of nowhere.
2) Most of the time, you use for mobile phone indoors. At your home, at shopping malls, you name it.
Of course you know where you are, so it might sound needless to know your GPS position.
But just have a look at your power options, at the information about your battery drain: Settings > Power Saving, tap the chart.
Then have a look at the "Location on" graph.
You'll notice that your GPS receiver is active pretty often - even if you don't use it actively and knowingly.
That's because many apps use the GPS in the background - like Google does; GPS is used every time you utilize e. g. Google Now, or use your browser (remember the question if you wish to allow the browser know your location ? - If you agreed, it will use GPS, even if you aren't aware of that).
If you've got good GPS reception, GPS will be used just for a very short time. But if the reception is bad (e. g. caused by bad indoor reception), the GPS receiver will be on for a long time; could be for hours.
That drains your battery significantly.
So good indoor reception is also one of the keys to good battery life.
You see, it's not just over nothing. It SEEMS like that at first sight - but be rest assured: I am a very practical person (e. g. I don't care at all about benchmarks - if a device just fulfills my needs, I don't need any more information). I don't care if e. g. the front camera distorts my pretty face.
But I care if a malfunction shortens battery life or leads to vital features becoming unusable if external conditions aren't optimal.
And please don't forget about the most important impact of such discussions: This way, Samsung gets aware of a problem. So there's a chance that the problems will be solved by an update - for the benefit of ALL users, even if they weren't aware about the problem at all.
If you report the problem to the Samsung "support", you can be sure nobody will care about it. I checked that myself (for Germany, to be precise): I reported a problem more than seven times. Always the same problem, always using a different name. The staff always assured me that the issue was stored in the system and forwarded to the technicians. Guess what ? - At every next call (or chat), I was told that I was the only one reporting it, nobody else had that problem.
But threads at XDA are likely to be noticed by Samsung - and the media.
For me, if it can get me from place A to B when I'm driving or walking in an unknown area, then it's OK.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's one of the reasons why I raise that problem.
As said: If your GPS receiver works well, it WILL navigate you safely from A to B. But if it's sensibility is weak, it will do so under bright sunshine, but will fail if there's heavy weather, as such conditions attenuate the GPS signal strength significantly. Result: Under heavy rain, your device will be unable to navigate you safely from A to B.
If you search the net a bit, you'll also find a lot of similar threads where people ran into exactly that situation with the Note 4: On the road, the GPS lost position, leading them nowhere, showing their location 100 m away from the street, and so on.
---
Here's three COMPARISON (!) videos I just took.
Note 4 GPS vs. Z2 Tablet GPS - indoors, good conditions (near window)
Note 4 GPS vs. Z2 Tablet GPS - indoors, worse conditions
Note 4 GPS vs. Z2 Tablet GPS - outdoors
Identical device settings (internal GPS use only, A-GPS data loaded).
If you wonder why the Note 4 performs worse outdoors: It's because the device is flat on the ground. Reception is better with the Note 4 slightly angled.
We got a GPS fix in all three cases; in two cases, the Note 4 achieved a real quick GPS fix.
That's what's making most of you cry out in ecstasy: "Oh ! I've got a fix ! And so fast ! It's such a great device !"
But: Note 4's GPS sensitivity proved far worse than the Z2 Tablet's GPS in all three cases.
THAT'S THE PROBLEM, GUYS.
What I ended up doing once is opening the phone and pulling the springs a bit for better contact with the GPS antenna. Was good to me on the Note 3.
you have a defective phone. i just measured time to cold fix and it was 1.5 seconds indoors on my 910U.
Mine is set to GPS only, google location services OFF.
Have the same lousy gps and bad reception compared to my iPhone 6 plus. Got the phone replaced today but still bad gps and bad signal so in my house I can't even call with it when the same sim in my iPhone gives enough signal for calling. Gonna return the note, feels like they did a "Apple" antennagate with som bad antenna design
Skickat från min iPhone med Tapatalk
What "Location Mode" do you have on? When mine is on "high accuracy" it jumps all over. When i set it to "gps only" its pretty good. Not sure this has anything to do with you issue or not.
I just tried that software, and after about 60 seconds it was locked on 14 and accurate to 12 feet, sitting indoors.
ChickenWingSoup said:
What "Location Mode" do you have on? When mine is on "high accuracy" it jumps all over. When i set it to "gps only" its pretty good. Not sure this has anything to do with you issue or not.
I just tried that software, and after about 60 seconds it was locked on 14 and accurate to 12 feet, sitting indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you open Google Maps and scroll in all the way, how far is the dot from where you're actually sitting in your house?
Like right on the money or 5', 10', 20', ?
My S4 was on the money. My Note 3 consistently has me about 30-50' from where I actually am.
It's one of the reasons I'm considering an N4 upgrade.
@Class said:
What I ended up doing once is opening the phone and pulling the springs a bit for better contact with the GPS antenna. Was good to me on the Note 3.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I saw, the GPS antenna is not in the cover; so it won't help pulling any springs. :/
ChickenWingSoup said:
What "Location Mode" do you have on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tried both modes, results are similar. Right now the Note 4 is next to me, trying to get a fix.
Number of used satellites is permanently changing second-wise: 4, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 1, ...
I just tried that software, and after about 60 seconds it was locked on 14 and accurate to 12 feet, sitting indoors.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Doesn't help much as an indoor fix heavily depends on many factors like satellite positions, positions of windows and phone, wall material, and so on.
Sometimes I get a quick fix indoors, in most cases it just fails.
Different with Z2 Tablet and S4: Just ALWAYS a fast fix, S4 even fets a sat fix in the basement, where the Note 4 doesn't even see a single satellite.
We need comparisons with other devices.
Chefproll said:
Tried both modes, results are similar. Right now the Note 4 is next to me, trying to get a fix.
Number of used satellites is permanently changing second-wise: 4, 3, 2, 3, 2, 1, 3, 3, 2, 2, 3, 1, ...
Doesn't help much as an indoor fix heavily depends on many factors like satellite positions, positions of windows and phone, wall material, and so on.
Sometimes I get a quick fix indoors, in most cases it just fails.
Different with Z2 Tablet and S4: Just ALWAYS a fast fix, S4 even fets a sat fix in the basement, where the Note 4 doesn't even see a single satellite.
We need comparisons with other devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Having the almost the same fix and locked satellites on my s5, note 4 and Note 10.1 tablet indoor concrete apartment building . They lock on 12 to 15 satellites in less then 30 seconds. no problem
I had the exact same symptoms with my lg g2. When set to high accuracy, the location would jump around. Also, it would see satellites, but take forever to get a fix.
When set to GPS only, it would work fine.
Never was able to fix it.
I have a feeling that it worked fine at first and that this weird behavior started after a firmware update. Could not verify, coz I did not know how to downgrade.
Sent from my A0001 using XDA Premium HD app
marleyb said:
Having the almost the same fix and locked satellites on my s5, note 4 and Note 10.1 tablet indoor concrete apartment building . They lock on 12 to 15 satellites in less then 30 seconds. no problem
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Depends on your location; if your room is just under the roof, you'll experience less problems.
I added a quick video to my first post; just have a look. :/
Chefproll said:
Depends on your location; if your room is just under the roof, you'll experience less problems.
I added a quick video to my first post; just have a look. :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah I understand your Note has a problem just saying mine has not. Even with 8 floors above me I still have a fix within 30 seconds
Got a GPS fix inside my living room in less than 30 sec. 4 meters presicion. Can't post a screenshot cause I don't have enough posts yet lol.
I get instant. No problem so far. Mine is Exynos 7 (5433) edition - N910C.
@Chefproll
What processor do you have in your GN4?
I had 2 different AT&T Snapdragon GN4's with very bad GPS.
I've found the GPS to be outstanding on the note 4. It will even locate in an airplane in under 45 seconds at a point over a thousand miles from where it was when it was last on. My HTC EVO 4G lte could not do this, the original Evo could. As for day to day use, it's been flawless.
Yippee. Another considered "based on my expert opinion and test sample of one" thread from an XDA member declaring all Note 4's to have an issue. These "expose" threads get tedious.
Here' what AnandTech found in their testing and what they are reporting maps to my experiences...
At this point, it really goes without saying that the GNSS solution of choice is the one built into Qualcomm's modem. This allows for fixes based upon initial location and time data that the modem has, and therefore in practice every GPS fix is a hot fix and takes around 5 seconds for a lock in good conditions. In the case of the Note 4, with airplane mode on and no assistance data I saw that it took around 50 seconds to achieve a lock, but this is strongly dependent upon environmental conditions. Once locked, I found that the Note 4 had quite a strong lock and quickly went down to 10 foot accuracy level without issue.http://www.anandtech.com/show/8613/the-samsung-galaxy-note-4-review/9
BarryH_GEG said:
Yippee. Another considered "based on my expert opinion and test sample of one" thread from an XDA member declaring all Note 4's to have an issue. These "expose" threads get tedious.
Here' what AnandTech found in their testing and what they are reporting maps to my experiences...
At this point, it really goes without saying that the GNSS solution of choice is the one built into Qualcomm's modem. This allows for fixes based upon initial location and time data that the modem has, and therefore in practice every GPS fix is a hot fix and takes around 5 seconds for a lock in good conditions. In the case of the Note 4, with airplane mode on and no assistance data I saw that it took around 50 seconds to achieve a lock, but this is strongly dependent upon environmental conditions. Once locked, I found that the Note 4 had quite a strong lock and quickly went down to 10 foot accuracy level without issue.http://www.anandtech.com/show/8613/the-samsung-galaxy-note-4-review/9
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it works that good when under open air. In the city between high building and threes it is totally worthless. I live in single-storey house made of wood and the Note 4 cant get a fix untill I leave the house. My old SGS 5 had no problems with that and not my current iPhone 6 Plus has no problems with it either. They both get a fix instantly when inside the house. But I have tested three Note 4 and no one of them get a fix inside the house. Think that is a pretty good sign that the Note 4 has worse GPS signal than most other phones. And even the carrier reception is worse with the Notes tested compared to iphone 6 Plus, a Moto G 2013 and a HTC One M8 I have tested in my house. If it is the metall rim or if it is fixable by software I dont know but I am disapointed with my Note, thought I had a faulty one first.
osetivo said:
@Chefproll
What processor do you have in your GN4?
I had 2 different AT&T Snapdragon GN4's with very bad GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As mention mine is Exynos 5433 edition. I found most complain is Snapdragon 805 edition. This time Exynos perform better in every aspect.
BarryH_GEG said:
Yippee. Another considered "based on my expert opinion and test sample of one" thread from an XDA member declaring all Note 4's to have an issue. These "expose" threads get tedious.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And another "MY Note 4 is ok, so all others claiming their Note doesn't work as expected are wrong. So let's say something negative things about them and don't take it for real.".
You posted a screenshot, making it impossible to see if the device was used outdoors or indoors.
I also get a quite good reception if I am outdoors - but:
a) There's just no fix although the signal strength is sufficient. Here's a screenshot, taken OUTDOORS:
Note the time of the last GPS fix in the lower right corner. Note 4 had been on all the time, with all Google services active, so there had been a constant check for GPS positional data - with NO success all night long.
b) Indoors, reception is a horror - COMPARED WITH OTHER devices.
It's of no further use if you post a screenshot without comparing the reception with other devices.
Just be happy about YOUR device working - but this does not necessarily mean it's the same with other devices.
Related
i've been switching roms trying to get my GPS to lock back on.
i used to get it down to exactly which room I was in in my House.
i think it said accurate to 2 meters.
I could use google nav like a champ and it would lock on quickly.
now i can't get it any closer than 20 m. It seems to refresh my location slower and I have problems using google nav b/c it continuously loses my GPS signal.
Any suggestions? thoughts? people with the same problem?
Where do you live, remember weather is a significant factor when it comes to GPS. It is getting about that time of year where it is going to be cloudy and rainy a lot. We had a big rain storm come through a couple weeks back and I couldn't even get a lock in my car.
ah i was replying to this thread when XDA froze.
But i'm in southern cali and everywhere it wasn't working.
on the 101 freeway, 110, 405, highway 1
anywhere
it used to be so spot on.
Was it overcast or raining when you were having problems? I have checked the public GPS interference notices and there is nothing specified in your area and there are only 2 unavailable sats right now, although there is the slight possibility that there is something on the classified notifications that may explain any service disruption, but I doubt it. Most likely it is due to atmospheric effects, although there is also the chance that something is indeed broken, whether physically or in software. There is an app on the market called GPS status that has an interface similar to old-school garmin devices where you can see where all the sats are and your signal strength for each of them. Also, once you get it installed play around with it in different weather conditions and times of day(the signal should be stronger at night if it is clear). If you want I can do some baselines and send them to you to compare, although I am in CO, so it may be better for you to compare to someone else in CA.
I just received my new hero and it definitely was an internal problem. I can get a lock in seconds now and.within two meters.
Sent from my HERO200 using Tapatalk
im considering buying this phone,but i hear there's problems with the GPS. my current phone has a great GPS receiver and i use it a lot for day to day navigation.How much will i be disappointed if i were to expect the same from the galaxy s?
http://forum.xda-developers.com/search.php?searchid=42858169
Here in holland I have no problems with the GPS reception...
Personally, I found that straight out of the box the gps was dreadful, but an hour later after I did the simple gps fix, it navigated me on a hundred and fifty mile round trip with no problems at all.
The fix is simple and easy and takes literally no skill. When you take your sgs out of the box, see if the gps works for you, then try the fix. If there is still no joy then take it back and say the navigation is busted and you want a different handset.
I'd certainly say its worth trying at least. Chances are can get it working and everything else that you like about droid is better on the galaxy .
It's worth remembering that the gps is not battery friendly and you'll need a potent (2A output)car charger to keep you running on the move.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Basically, in summary:
1) In late firmware, the lock is quite quick, especially compared to car GPS units. Maybe not as fast as some other phones, but fast enough. Certainly faster than my Garmin Forerunner
2) The accuracy boundaries on this phone are wrong sometimes (at least in XXJM5), but this may be a bug in that specific pre-release.
3) With JM5, the unit seems to only lock onto 8 satellites max, but, some people are saying apparently newer firmware's are locking onto more
4) People are complaining of issues getting locks when moving with the unit. However, I've experienced this on ALL GPS units I've owned. AGPS should help with this though (but I've never tested initial lock whilst moving except in a firmware where GPS was 100% broken for me).
5) In some cases, the GPS goes skitzo, this might be fixed in later firmwares
6) Finally, sometimes the track is a bit off to the side, and doesn't handle cornering well.. This is likely related to (2). But this makes it useless for fitness at the moment
Anyway, the GPS is usable, but there are serious accuracy problems with it still. Samsung has said that they are working on optimising GPS for a September update. My best advice is wait until then, because if it isn't fixed in September, the possibility that it is due to poor hardware design seems to grow significantly..
thank you for your valuable input,this forum really is the best on the internet.I'm gunna be buying it next month anyway,so lets see if the update fixes the GPS or not.To be honest,theres no other phone that can match it,so theres no alternative to this phone even if the GPS IS dodgy
The GPS sucks so hard that I'd rather use a regular map for navigation.
My Galaxy S has no gps problems. The first time i went out from house to check GPS accuracy I got GPS signal after 3 seconds. It's stable in 100% cases.
Acquiring signal is not the issue. I don't understand why people keep comparing signal to accuracy. it's not the same thing.
Exactly, there are people in other topics that are just inflating the whole issue, their claims are way exaggerated, and the original issues has already been fixed on newer firmwares, yet they refuse to accept it.
AllGamer said:
Exactly, there are people in other topics that are just inflating the whole issue, their claims are way exaggerated, and the original issues has already been fixed on newer firmwares, yet they refuse to accept it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Go for a 20min jog then and show a track of your perfect GPS. I have a lower standard than many of them, but all tracks I saw lost lock excessively at some point or another..
I haven't tried it myself, but can on tuesday.
damn,so many different opinions on this issue.also not being able to track my runs is a BIG minus but still not a deal breaker.day-to-day city navigation is a must though.
It's just as simple as that - you don't check gps functionality just by its fix time. you put it in your car, and start driving - if it's accurate (highly unlikely), gewd. if not - go back here and whine.
kingofkings2603 said:
damn,so many different opinions on this issue.also not being able to track my runs is a BIG minus but still not a deal breaker.day-to-day city navigation is a must though.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The big problem is that many of them seem to be testing quickly from their chair.. There is overwhelming evidence that the GPS doesn't work accurately, but barely any showing it does.. In fact, in one case, I saw someone claim the unit was working perfectly, but the track they showed was on a straight highway, and was fluctuating excessively between both sides of the highway. And the most vocal of those who claims it works perfectly don't seem to be posting logs..
There is also some confusion between whether it is "fitness grade" or "car grade". Car navigation GPS can snap to tracks, and has more room for accuracy errors, because it can assume you always exist on the closest road, and if you use directions, it can assume you took the correct turns when it told you to do so (and correct itself a bit later). That's what most car units seem to do, and it helps compensate for most inaccuracies. It can lead to a bit of pain though if you make lots of turns, some of which aren't correct. Some people are possibly happy because they have used dedicated car units before which suck (some navman's take at least 5 mins to get a basic lock, negating any benefits of having them), but, since some phones offer better directions apparently, people are complaining it should be better.
Fitness grade requires MUCH higher resolution to be usable, because the distance is shorter (generally), and if your GPS veers off course, it gives you a false indication of jogging distance. Garmin forerunners feel generally like they are within 1 or 2 meters a of the time (but occasionally veers off 3), but from what I've observed standing still, the flaws may be less visible when moving, but simply appear as slightly off course.
Then there are those people who stare at the SNR/locked satelites for hours at end without checking whether the long/lat is actually correct, or the accuracy boundary (they see 5m accuracy, but don't actually check if it is accurate within 5 meters). I was one of these, until I realised that the accuracy boundary was wrong..
Part of the issue also comes down to firmware though. People are using pre-release/leaked firmware (which might not even be complete) and are judging the GPS quality based on that. No comment needed except, don't assume that Samsung aren't working on fixes because there is no fix in pre-release firmware.
I haven't properly tested either though personally because I use a forerunner for jogging (waterproof), and since I fly, I prefer to use maps to understand locations better. I did notice though that leaving my phone on my desk for a long period of time sometimes allowed the signal accuracy boundary to not include me (ie, allow a position of 20m away from me, but show 5m accuracy) intermittently. And this might explain the fluctuations in position many others have gotten..
Either way, it is debatable. The biggest issue is that the assumption so far is that everyone got exactly the same hardware, and exactly the same revisions. But the other problem, is that GPS quality is open to opinion, because in some areas, roads are so far spread out that even inaccurate GPS works fine for driving. It really depends on your needs. But the facts are, the accuracy of the GPS isn't worth debating anyway currently, because Samsung have already told us they are "optimising" the GPS in Sept, which may make this unit as good as a garmin forerunner anyway. All any of us can tell you as that we'll know the TRUE potential of the unit after the september patch.
But for me anyway, I think the GPS is fine (I don't need perfect accuracy, even if I needed this as a fallback in a plane)
The GPS is bad to the point of being unusable for car navigation or fitness tracking. Yes you may get a lock in GGps test but when moving the reported location is all ov
er the place.
andrewluecke said:
Then there are those people who stare at the SNR/locked satelites for hours at end without checking whether the long/lat is actually correct, or the accuracy boundary (they see 5m accuracy, but don't actually check if it is accurate within 5 meters). I was one of these, until I realised that the accuracy boundary was wrong..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Case in point to illustrate what andrewluecke is trying to explain here about the accuracy not being exactly...well, accurate. Take a look at the attached screenshot. My GPS had a great fix with accuracy of 5m (the best it's able to report), stable for a few minutes, everything was working perfectly. Or so it seems. Except for the slight problem that I was actually standing where the red dot is... There's no scale on the screenshot, but it's a good 30-40 meters off. And that's quite common for me.
Case_ said:
Case in point to illustrate what andrewluecke is trying to explain here about the accuracy not being exactly...well, accurate. Take a look at the attached screenshot. My GPS had a great fix with accuracy of 5m (the best it's able to report), stable for a few minutes, everything was working perfectly. Or so it seems. Except for the slight problem that I was actually standing where the red dot is... There's no scale on the screenshot, but it's a good 30-40 meters off. And that's quite common for me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Exactly Case_. The point of the accuracy measurement is to say "you are somewhere within this range". But, with the Galaxy S, it isn't, and that shouldn't happen, at least not as often as it does (except maybe at the beginning whilst obtaining a lock"). Professional systems have something known as RAIM and FDE which detect when the accuracy may be incorrect due to external factors (such as shonky satelite, or serious atmospheric interference). But this happens a LOT, and I would have thought it affects GPS units equally (unless the Garmin forerunners in fact DO ship with fault detection, which could explain it, in which case, Samsung should implement fault detection and exclusion too, to make it usable).
Anyway.. What I am trying to say is summed up easiest with Case's post.
Fatherboard said:
Acquiring signal is not the issue. I don't understand why people keep comparing signal to accuracy. it's not the same thing.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It most certainly is an issue. It takes a minute or longer to acquire a lock in some cases despite stationary and clear line of sight.
The people who stomp their feet with "The GPS is fine" are no different than the iPhone4 users who claim there is no attenuation in their phones.
In my case with the DDJG4 update, I see some minor issues.
Once in a while when I am at home (indoors with no visible satelites) my location shifts from bangalore to toronto. All my stuff changes to that. It looks like AGPS is not turned on or buggy becuase 80% of the times it works well. Does anybody else face the same problem ?
So when my phone takes me to toronto, i restart the phone and everythng is back to normal
SOmetimes, the location service fails to find where I am and shows Toronto in Google website. Is there anyway to avoid this.
It's just like what most people say, you can get a fix, and GPS seems fine. Try to use it, and it's a whole different story.
Somebody on the forum posted a link of a run, where the SGS GPS went everywere but on the straight line, it even made a hilarious loop. Too bad i can't find it.
People need to stop saying "Firmware updates fixed it already" as that's just not true.
Hah, there it is, posted by sjdean.
Desire, and SGS GPS.
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...52.48542,-1.742063&spn=0.014138,0.045319&z=15
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=U...=52.48082,-1.761761&spn=0.01414,0.045319&z=15
Ok..this is going to be a little long-winded so bear with me.
So there seems to be a new fix posted for gps every other day, some are just snake-oil while others might actually be doing something. The problem is how to tell what is working and what is not...and to what degree. Trusting the word of some guy on a forum with 200 posts is NOT the answer. What we need are some objective tests that produce quantitative data. It would also be nice to objectively compare our device's performance to the performance of other android devices out there too...to get an idea of what a realistic gps performance expectation would be.
So far MyTracks seems to have been the best approach but it's still a very poor method for several reasons:
The software acts as an abstraction layer - it's unknown what kind of filtering may be occurring here.
The data is only meaningful to the originator; we don't know which street(s) you were really on.
At best only 1 dimension of the error is preserved; we might be able to assume you were driving down street X, but how do we know how far down the street you actually were when the sample was captured?
Bottom line, there is no way to programmatically extract quantitative results.
I've got half of the solution: Collect a series of samples from a stationary position and collect lat/lon/alt/time, reported gps accuracy, number of satellites used, time to lock, device make/mode, device uptime (to weed out the "I rebooted and it works!" phenomenon) etc.
With this data we can calculate things like jitter, deviation, acquisition latency and all kinds of other interesting things.
I know that sounds like lots of work, but I've already done all of the above (scroll down to the bottom to read more about that) and for the most part the data collection and result presentation components work. The problems I am running into are related to the details of how the above data maps to real world performance.
So let's talk about some potential algorithms:
1. Deviation
This was my first hope as a solution; grab bunch of gps coordinates and use the lat/lon positions along with reported accuracy to get a centroid location. Then using the centroid, calculate the distances between each point and the centroid to measure accuracy. In theory, if the distribution was random, this would work. In practice however, I found that:
A - You get A LOT of duplicate points that throw off the statistics.
B - Even if you throw out duplicates, the coordinates you get are usually very close to one another, in spite of being far from the true location. In hindsight, I think that should have been obvious. Oh well.
In any case, let me illustrate:
I took 30 samples sitting in front of my office. The distribution looks like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps/api/staticmap?size=512x512&maptype=hybrid&markers=color:blue|label:1|37.280015489448,-121.943445407709&markers=color:blue|label:2|37.280015489448,-121.943445407709&markers=color:blue|label:3|37.2799150689755,-121.943469689324&markers=color:blue|label:4|37.2798287737251,-121.943507481842&markers=color:blue|label:5|37.2797409130025,-121.943532462122&markers=color:blue|label:6|37.2796490544446,-121.94354159922&markers=color:blue|label:7|37.2796117648545,-121.943468886907&markers=color:blue|label:8|37.2796034813727,-121.943455640717&markers=color:blue|label:9|37.2795946561935,-121.94344227994&markers=color:blue|label:10|37.2795861462627,-121.943431154687&markers=color:blue|label:11|37.2795786087998,-121.94342342341&markers=color:blue|label:12|37.2795720667083,-121.943418240036&sensor=false&sensor=false
And the centroid I calculated from these looks like this:
http://maps.google.com/maps/api/sta...7,-121.943465819874&sensor=false&sensor=false
Looks pretty good so far right? Not even close. You can almost predict where the gps will say I am going to be next just by looking at those points. Unfortunately, there's no data there about where I actually am. I was actually standing outside of the building, smack in the middle, which is about 30 meters south of the closest sample I got.
Which brought me to idea #2:
Measure reported accuracy, sampling frequency/jitter, time it took to acquire the initial lock and call it a day.
Which brings me here - I'd like to do this right and so I'd love to get anybody's feedback on what kind of algorithm to use to characterize gps performance.
Also, if anybody wants to take a peek at whats been done so far, here's a link to a page with the latest version of the android client. Just install it and start it up. It will pop up and error if it can't connect to the server and the server does go down from time to time, so if you get a connection error, try again a little later. The other thing to be aware of is that I enforce the "stationary collection" rule by monitoring the accelerometer. When you hit start you will have 3 seconds to put your phone on a table or the sidewalk or somewhere else that isn't moving. Once the collection starts, it will monitor GPS until it gets 30 samples. You can cancel at any time by moving the phone. If any samples were collected, they will be uploaded and you will get an option to view the results. The results aren't too terribly meaningful for now, but there are a couple interesting statistics there and you will be helping me out by stress testing the server. Feedback appreciated!
Thx
The only problem is I believe there may be some hardware variation. I've read some posts where they took two completely identical stock phones and got completely different results.
I don't see a problem with stationary data. It will always jump around. That's hardware. The hardware cannot accurately track anything less than 10 meters.
I'm more worried about why it's jumping around and losing accuracy when it's in motion.
I would make a data collection for TTTF , satellites in view, satellites with fixed, signal strength (SNR), bearing, hasAlmanac(), hasEphemeris() and accuracy.
I was thinking of writing an app but I really don't have the time for it. I have a bunch of projects lined up and really won't see any real free time until a month or two. I program for a living and currently have a private android application that uses GPS that I wrote for my clients. It's a shame the GPS is borked with the Galaxy S because I was going to use it to market my application. I have to resort to the Xperia X10. My interest in fixing the GPS is both personal and business related.
Regardless, if you need any help, let me know.
PS: I believe we need a program to really compare our "fixes" and narrow down what changes makes things better and worse. I would like to get to the point where we can calculate: X # of satellites with an average of Y dbHZ of signal strength gives you Z% accuracy
ThisWasATriumph said:
The only problem is I believe there may be some hardware variation. I've read some posts where they took two completely identical stock phones and got completely different results.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont really think that the variations are hardware related, at least I've not seen any solid data to support that assertion. Different results, even wildly different between two identical phones is expected to some degree...theres too many variables involved to directly compare two phones and expect to get identical results, even side by side. For instance, reboot one of the phones and try again. The rebooted phone will have much better performance. If we get some averages based on device and software version / configuration with a large number of samples behind it, actual differences should emerge from the noise. In any case, if there truely is a hardware problem, that will probably also be discoverable as an abnormally high standard deviation compared to other devices.
CLShortFuse said:
I don't see a problem with stationary data. It will always jump around. That's hardware. The hardware cannot accurately track anything less than 10 meters.
I'm more worried about why it's jumping around and losing accuracy when it's in motion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In theory, there shouldnt be any functional difference between a moving receiver and a stationary one. At least over relatively short distances. Yes one will be cross cutting various geometric relationships with the satellites, but they are so minute that its a moot point.
On top of that, benchmarking while moving introduces two problems:
1 - Telephone poles, buildings etc. Will periodically obstruct the signal introducing an error that cannot be subtracted out.
2 - As mentioned above, there is no known point of origin. One of the consequences of that is that the conditions surrounding the data collection of user A can vary wildly from those of user B. In essence you stop measuring performance alone and start measuring performance plus the dynamics of the neighborhood. With a stationary position at least you know that your gps shouldnt be showing you moving.
From my own testing, I can say that the Captivate typically does not even calculate stationary locations correctly, as seen in the links posted above. Sadly the error signal bears no obvious relation to the true origin. And although there is a definite pattern I don't know how to analyze that pattern. I'm humble enough to admit that I'm not smart enough to figure it out. Hopefully somebody else here is though At the very least, I think that the error patterns generated from a stationary position are a solid basis for a standard test.
You should try cognition 2.2 with CLShortfuse's jupiter tweaks. For the first time I was driving 55mph with 9-11/11 sats locked on the whole time, kept an accuracy of 5-10 meters and it accurately reported my speed dead on with my speedometer. I'm pretty satisfied with the performance right now.
Have you done any tests at a benchmark site to see how accurate it is? I have been at a benchmark site one day and gotten really accurate results, only to return on another day and have trouble getting within 300 ft. accuracy. And this was done with a "real" GPS.... I think that it is going to be difficult to get good results with a smart phone acting as a handheld GPS device. Maybe I am wrong ..... I'm no engineer or programmer...
Sent from my custom EVO PC36100 Using XDA app
halfhp said:
From my own testing, I can say that the Captivate typically does not even calculate stationary locations correctly, as seen in the links posted above. Sadly the error signal bears no obvious relation to the true origin. And although there is a definite pattern I don't know how to analyze that pattern. I'm humble enough to admit that I'm not smart enough to figure it out. Hopefully somebody else here is though At the very least, I think that the error patterns generated from a stationary position are a solid basis for a standard test.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't taken a look at your program but collecting mass amounts of information is a start. We can draw a correlation between signal strength, # of antenna and accuracy.
There is another option, that I believe would be best to identify the underlying issue. Have different Android GPS units side by side both running the same application, and have them report data for each satellite (based on PRN). They SHOULD be identical (azimuth, elevation and if possible, the reported time). Also, we would check the system times and see if they are synchronized.
According to Garmin:
Sources of GPS signal errors
Factors that can degrade the GPS signal and thus affect accuracy include the following:
Ionosphere and troposphere delays - The satellite signal slows as it passes through the atmosphere. The GPS system uses a built-in model that calculates an average amount of delay to partially correct for this type of error.
Signal multipath - This occurs when the GPS signal is reflected off objects such as tall buildings or large rock surfaces before it reaches the receiver. This increases the travel time of the signal, thereby causing errors.
Receiver clock errors - A receiver's built-in clock is not as accurate as the atomic clocks onboard the GPS satellites. Therefore, it may have very slight timing errors.
Orbital errors - Also known as ephemeris errors, these are inaccuracies of the satellite's reported location.
Number of satellites visible - The more satellites a GPS receiver can "see," the better the accuracy. Buildings, terrain, electronic interference, or sometimes even dense foliage can block signal reception, causing position errors or possibly no position reading at all. GPS units typically will not work indoors, underwater or underground.
Satellite geometry/shading - This refers to the relative position of the satellites at any given time. Ideal satellite geometry exists when the satellites are located at wide angles relative to each other. Poor geometry results when the satellites are located in a line or in a tight grouping.
Intentional degradation of the satellite signal - Selective Availability (SA) is an intentional degradation of the signal once imposed by the U.S. Department of Defense. SA was intended to prevent military adversaries from using the highly accurate GPS signals. The government turned off SA in May 2000, which significantly improved the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
rtdrumz said:
Have you done any tests at a benchmark site to see how accurate it is? I have been at a benchmark site one day and gotten really accurate results, only to return on another day and have trouble getting within 300 ft. accuracy. And this was done with a "real" GPS.... I think that it is going to be difficult to get good results with a smart phone acting as a handheld GPS device. Maybe I am wrong ..... I'm no engineer or programmer...
Sent from my custom EVO PC36100 Using XDA app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have neither used nor heard of gps benchmark sites - do you have any that you've used that you recommend?
I'm fully expecting the variance you are talking about, but I also believe that the variance is there because of measurable variables...it's just a matter of identifying enough of those variables to make the results understandable. For example, we know a reboot can temporarily fix gps issues so we wouldnt want to compare the gps results of a device that was just rebooted with the results of one that has been running for days.
CLShortFuse said:
There is another option, that I believe would be best to identify the underlying issue. Have different Android GPS units side by side both running the same application, and have them report data for each satellite (based on PRN). They SHOULD be identical (azimuth, elevation and if possible, the reported time). Also, we would check the system times and see if they are synchronized.
According to Garmin:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I briefly started down that road by grabbing the raw NMEA sentences but quickly abandoned that path due to the volume of data being pumped. Maybe I should take a second look.
Regarding the dual phone test, thats an interesting idea. I wouldnt have expected the clock times to vary at all. I'll check into it!
Also, for whoever is interested, here is a link to some results generated by the app in progress:
http://www.halfhp.com:8080/ggs/results/show/1?mode=mobile
It only shows a small subset of the data collected, but you get the general idea of what I'm going for.
I disabled the automatic time sync. I'm going to look for an app to synchronize my clock. I'm going to disable AGPS and take a test run. It could be wrong timing that makes it unable to grab a fix
WOW, talk about a difference. I disabled time sync and I used an application called "Micro Second".
Clock difference: 5.41638 seconds
That GPS trailing/sliding issue seems about 5 seconds as well......
CLShortFuse said:
I disabled the automatic time sync. I'm going to look for an app to synchronize my clock. I'm going to disable AGPS and take a test run. It could be wrong timing that makes it unable to grab a fix
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Shouldnt the chip be keeping track of it's own time? One common use of gps is to provide a time signal accurate to the microsecond. As far as I know, all gps devices are capable of that kind of accuracy - they have to be in order to work at all, they just dont advertise it because many dont provide a physical interface to the PPS necessary for external devices to utilize it.
halfhp said:
Shouldnt the chip be keeping track of it's own time? One common use of gps is to provide a time signal accurate to the microsecond. As far as I know, all gps devices are capable of that kind of accuracy - they have to be in order to work at all, they just dont advertise it because many dont provide a physical interface to the PPS necessary for external devices to utilize it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
"Should" and "does" aren't the same thing. That's under the assumption that the NMEA data is provided by gps device itself. I don't believe it is. I think the GPS device gives raw satellite data and the driver wrapper calculates NMEA data back to Android.
Also, factoring the clock desync from the correct atomic-based time should be in the data.
CLShortFuse said:
"Should" and "does" aren't the same thing. That's under the assumption that the NMEA data is provided by gps device itself. I don't believe it is. I think the GPS device gives raw satellite data and the driver wrapper calculates NMEA data back to Android.
Also, factoring the clock desync from the correct atomic-based time should be in the data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think you might be at least partially right as far as the NMEA sentences being generated outside the chip. I did a little bit of digging on the BCM4751 chip and it appears that the protocol used is MEIF, which according to the internet is a proprietary nokia protocol. I havn't found a description of the protocol yet, but I would think that it offers at least the same amount of data that NMEA offers, meaning time is kept on-chip as expected. I just cant imagine the system clock being anywhere close to useable for such a time sensitive calculation as gps triangulation. I'm gonna keep looking though.
Something else to consider guys...
I've seen lots of people referencing GPS accuracy when in motion versus standing still. I'm not so sure that all of them are complaining about what they think they're complaining about.
My primary vehicle is a motorcycle. For crappy weather, I've got a Jeep Wrangler with a fiberglass hardtop. In both cases, the phone has no sheet metal between it and the sky. And in both cases, the GPS appears to track just fine. It may not show me in the proper lane of a multilane highway, but it at least always shows me on the right side of the road, and it never lags behind my actual position. Nor does it suffer from any 'inertia' problems. When I turn, so does it. When I stop, it does too.
Now... I'm out of town at the moment on a business trip and am driving a rental car - one with a fixed sheet metal roof (no sunroof either). Since my GPS had been working at home, I was expecting it to work over here as well. Wrong! It takes forever to get a lock, and when it finally does, it drifts in and out of lock. And as I'm driving along, it's sometimes as much as 5 seconds behind me. Or sometimes along side me on a side street. Or when I stop it keeps going. You know, all the crap that everybody's been complaining about.
So. Is it a setting issue, a driver issue, or is it a problem with the hardware? I can't tell you. But what I can say is that when there's any significant metal obstruction between the phone and the sky, the GPS is hit and miss... mostly miss.
Guys,
I spent 2 weeks of holidays (my wife almost left me for that) mostly trying to find out why GPS performance on my P970 is so poor, losing satellites fixes every so often and sometimes no fix at all although 'seeing' satellites. I did not find a 'real' solution, even after tests on both mostly Huexxx 7 and lately boype's 0909, too.
Best results now on boype's 0909 CM7 but with adapted gps.conf and gps_brcm_conf.xml. Nevertheless, the result is still disappointing, far away from satisfying.
However, during all these checks, I found that satellite's receiption is depending on the way I hold the device in my hands, at least on MY device. Whenever I hold a finger on the top left of the chassis (just above the location where the GPS chip is located, see pictures), then receiption improves by 0 up to 14 db (!!!).
Also the number of 'seen' and 'used' birds increases from 6 to 10 easily!!! However, the fix did not become more stable through that.
Pls check on your devices if you can verify the same behaviour.
If so, what could be the reason (i do not put any pressure on the device)? And is there anything that we can do to make this improvement permanent, i.e. put a piece of 'aluminium foil' between the back lid and the device or something similiar?
Let me know your remarks, guys.
No problem at all. Riding on the tram right now. Fix on 12 in few seconds. Sure it's not because of your position? And 6 is enough to fix the position.
@eighty-four
I appreciate your info, and you are surely right it is depending on my position. My question was a different one though: Do you observe the same reaction as soon as you put the finger on top of the device; i.e. increase of signal strength?
BTW You attached an impressive picture, would like to aks you are you still on AOKP beta 1.1 ICS 4.0.4 and how do your files gps.conf and gps_brcm_conf.xml look like? Can you share them?
AOKP 1.1, no any GPS fixes
Hard to say about reaction while on move. But didn't noticed any noticeable changes.
Can't check now - I'm in home.
I've been using Marvel v9 since released, with the GPS "Tweaks" installed too.
I'm getting GPS signal, sometimes really fast, some others i need to wait for a couple of minutes (maximum 3 minutes).
There are certain times though, that it doesnt lock no matter what, just like in your situation. It manages to find many sattelites (7+) with an average decent signal strength but it refuses to get a gps fix location.
I believe it has to do with the temperature of the chip (i couldnt get easy GPS fix at winter) because now that summer passed by and used my GPS a lot, i had no issues... might be the clouds, might be the stars alignment and zodiacs ... i really dont know.
It's not that accurate and fast though for city driving. Some turns are being announced way too late (Sygic Aura) and the error treshold is about 10meters mostly, rarely goes down at 5meters.
I guess it's a chip manufacturing bull**** rather than a "case construction" or antenna problem.
@morx
I just wanted to check if others can verify better receiption when holding finger on top.
I agree it seems a hw or engineering defect, nevertheless I am trying to optimize the settings in order to compaensate at least partially.
Interesting you mention the temperature: In my research I came across a relationship between temperature and gps accuracy. Our (and any other gps chip) uses a oscillator hw module for precision timing. These oscillators' accuracies depend on the temperature and are measuered in PPM. There is also a setting in the gps_brcm_conf.xml that refers to this, it is "FrqPlan". The usual value in CM7 is "FRQ_PLAN_26MHZ_2PPM_26MHZ_300PPB". However, other values do also work, like "FRQ_PLAN_26MHZ_2PPM_26MHZ_100PPB".
You can check details in THIS post.
Would be interesting to determine if different values lead to better results.
I had no clue that chip temperature had a side effect on GPS fix !!
When i was writing my concern about that, i was feeling stupid until i saw your redirection to that post...
hmmm there are many factors which can be put on the table about optimization and troubleshooting.
Later on, i'll give a try keeping the cellphone with both hands, different angles, one handed on top/bottom etc...
Interesting thoughts.
I'm on CM10 nightly and always had blazing fast fixes until yesterday. I activated GPS in my car and after 3 minutes it fixed (in Osmand), after some more minutes the fix got currently lost.
Due to my big custom 3500 mAh battery I couldn't place my phone in the cradle therefore I simply laid it onto my dashboard. Maybe because of this the signals were harder to receive.
I will switch back to the normal battery today and try to test your variant.
Sent from my LG-P970 using xda app-developers app
I have a Note 9 on Sprint, and everytime I go to use Waze, or Gmaps, I do not get a GPS lock. Restarting the phone fixes it, but by the next day, the issue crops up again. Anyone else seeing this?
I too have issues GPS, my. device is constantly loosing its fix. It aquires 20+ Sats very fast, then fix within a few seconds (what is absolutely fine), but a few seconds later it loses the fix for a few moments, fix again, lose again, and this then goes on forever...
I now have the device (512 black Exynos ATO) since a week, but I started to observe this behavior since today!
How is the GPS performance of other users?
Had it happen again today. Went to use Waze, and it would not lock on. Installed GPS Test, and it shows no sats, nothing. Restarting the phone does fix it, but it's a pain. May have to contact Samsung/Sprint.
Done a bit of geocaching and it was spot on the whole time. Also used at work , both trouble. US unlocked 512gb
Sent from my Samsung SM-N960U1 using XDA Labs
Note 9 gpsfix lost
I have the sane issue..i have tey many thinks but i havent locate the source of the problem yet
I had similar issues but it turns out the location method is always set to "phone only", changing back to "high accuracy" fixes it.
Sent from my SM-N960W using Tapatalk
GPS signal is lost in Goolge Maps after update N960FXXU2ARJ1
I have a Note 9 since a few weeks now and it worked perfectly until I installed the latest update (N960FXXU2ARJ1), the one with the fix for the photo quality.
Now when i'm using Google Maps or Waze in my car with Android Auto my GPS loses fix. Google Maps constantly says that the GPS signal is lost.
GPS Status or GPS Essentials show 10 to 15 satellites in seconds with a GPS fix. So GPS seems to work fine. Only when driving the signal is lost.
Maybe there's a bug in the update?
Note 9 on ATT, sporadically it will ask me to turn on high accuracy setting and submit random anonymous data, but it keeps asking me, even when I haven't turned the GPS on. When I hit accept it turns the GPS on, I assume it's the weather widget or something like that needing a location.
My actual issue is I already hit accept and don't want to keep hitting accept and on top of that it will sometimes default to battery saver GPS which is useless.
I dont know how to keep it at either high accuracy or phone only when I go to turn on GPS.
Still having the issue....happened yesterday.
No issues here so far. I'm inside my apartment on the third floor, so sandwiched between apartments. I turned off WiFi to make sure it wasn't using my router. Opened Google Maps and it immediately locked on to me. Right down to what room I'm in.
I still don't know why my gps keeps trying to randomly turn on and asks me to accept or deny, regardless what I choose my GPS turns on without me turning it on.
Same issue here. Losing GPS and the finding a fix again shortly after. Happens in locations with no problem before and changes status rapidly. What's going on?
Looking for this problem in another forums I've discovered that the problem is related with Power Saving Mode in Samsung phones.
Yesterday I disabled the power saving mode and it worked flawlessly through Android Auto, even with the phone at the glove box I had a consistent and precise GPS fix.
ubiquist said:
Same issue here. Losing GPS and the finding a fix again shortly after. Happens in locations with no problem before and changes status rapidly. What's going on?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The answer is easier (and more disappointing) than anyone might guess.
The phone simply, has a mediocre GPS unit.
But it's a PREMIUM DEVICE?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
And? No one cares. OnePlus has been featuring horrible GPS units since forever.
How do you know?! Can I verify?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Of course, you can verify. Install GPS Test (or any other GPS app from Store) on two or more phones of yours (including the Note 9, duh) and see the results.
Inside your house, outside, in a car.
So other devices have better GPS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only Notebookcheck (from what I saw) features GPS reviews, and they don't check all phones.
My experience. (from the phones I tried, owned, had. DB = Dual-Band GPS.)
Note 4: 5/5 || Always worked superb.
Note 9: 3.75/5 || Bit better signal than the 7 Pro, but puts you off by a street or two in the car. It's nothing good/great.
OnePlus 6T: 2/5 || Horrible. Even on a plain street has difficulties.
OnePlus 7 Pro [DB]: 3.5/5 || Not bad, not good. Has trouble finding you in the streets. Works OK until you enter a place with various roads (like an interchange).
HTC 10: 4.5/5 || Good. Stable, solid. Works great really.
Huawei Mate 10 Pro: 5/5 || Perfect.
Huawei P10 Plus: 4/5 || Had some trouble on foot, but okay-ish.
From what I saw, learned:
- Dual-band does NOT matter. If the module is bad, signal will be bad.
- Car glass can block out a good deal of the signal. Heated glass, heat-reflective glass. Ford, for example, uses both on cars. Does not mean it will like reduce signal by a LOT, but will make it worse.
- Phone cases matter. Even thicc plastic cases can reduce signal.
From what I read lately... the following high-end phones have good GPS modules.
- Pixel 3a: Good, thought not flagship SOC/internals/ram/storage. Only 1 camera.
- Huawei Mate 20 Pro: Great phone, albeit bit dated by now. Huawei updates are erratic, support/warranty is horrible. I had huge fights with them, since my family had 4 flagship Huawei devices. Court was always there, legal actions, threats. It's insanely bad. And now they have the Google problem (US vs China), and the phone is 100% locked down, no unlock possible. Unless you buy at external shops - but then you can't get warranty on them.
- Samsung A70: The horrible in-screen fingerprint reader ruins this otherwise perfectly great device.
GPS signal lost a few weeks ago and I tried everything but no signal. Is there anyone who can help with this topic? Galaxy Note 9 - SM-N960FZBDDBT