Galaxy S II GPS issues anyone

[Robert Munch]

I received my replacement smartphone yesterday which was replacing the original Epic 4G because of bad battery and poor GPS and come to realize that the Samsung Epic Touch 4G too has terrible GPS signal and has a hard time locking on in open areas within Chicago.

I was really hoping that this would have at least been corrected or updated on the newer device. When I had a Motorola Photon a few weeks back that baby would lock on to everything including my high rise apt. which the Galaxy S II will not do. The Photon did this without issue and quickly just didn't like the poor battery life on it.

I'm running 2.3.4 with EG30.

 

[swanysto]

Interesting. I have the samsung epic 4g and I lock on pretty quickly. The only issue I sometimes have is when I have been using wifi, it sometimes has a hard time locking on cause my phone sees the last location my wifi was locked on. How did you manage to swing a SII? I wouldn't mind getting an SII replacement.

 

[Robert Munch]

Interesting. I have the samsung epic 4g and I lock on pretty quickly. The only issue I sometimes have is when I have been using wifi, it sometimes has a hard time locking on cause my phone sees the last location my wifi was locked on. How did you manage to swing a SII? I wouldn't mind getting an SII replacement.

Ebay. Depends where you live I suppose. My old epic would lock on at times downtown but, when in suburbs or other areas outside of chicagoland locking was such a frustrating problem when I needed navigation most.

 

[zerogear]

No issues here. In middle of NYC, locked on with no issue ~1 minute.

 

[Red Storm]

No issues here. In middle of NYC, locked on with no issue ~1 minute.

Are you saying it took around a full minute to get a lock on? If so, that is an issue, especially in a city. I always get a full lock within seconds whenever I'm in a big city...

 

[the DRIZZLE]

Cities with tall buildings can be rough on GPS. It always takes me longer to get a lock in Manhattan than in the burbs.

 

[swanysto]

Hmm I live downtown and I work out by O'hare. I travel a lot for work and don't usually have issues. Maybe you can try a factory reset. Or maybe it is worth taking to Sprint. Looking on the forums at XDA, there don't seem to be the GPS issues with the SII that the epic originally had. I know my GPS was non existent when I first bought it, but some of the new modems have corrected the problem.

 

[Adam8281]

Are you saying it took around a full minute to get a lock on? If so, that is an issue, especially in a city. I always get a full lock within seconds whenever I'm in a big city...

Shouldn't it take longer in a city than a rural area, due to the sky obstruction from buildings?

 

[Red Storm]

Shouldn't it take longer in a city than a rural area, due to the sky obstruction from buildings?

I dunno. That makes sense, but I've always noticed that I personally get faster locks whenever I'm in a city.

 

[Robert Munch]

Hmm I live downtown and I work out by O'hare. I travel a lot for work and don't usually have issues. Maybe you can try a factory reset. Or maybe it is worth taking to Sprint. Looking on the forums at XDA, there don't seem to be the GPS issues with the SII that the epic originally had. I know my GPS was non existent when I first bought it, but some of the new modems have corrected the problem.

I've done factory resets, added custom roms that supposedly have better locking features but, in the end felt like the same result and I ended up throwing back the stock rom back on and let Sprint update my old epic to Gingerbread via OTA.

XDA is my primary source for reviewing and checking and I did not see any threads about GPS issues either. :\

I may give Sprint a call and see what's up. Data connection seems ok and no LOS yet on the Epic Touch.

 

[gorcorps]

No issues here. In middle of NYC, locked on with no issue ~1 minute.

~1 minute is acceptable to you? Ack... I think it's really just an android thing. I know I may be opening a huge can of worms here... but when I had my iPhone 4 the GPS locked on within seconds, and didn't rely on wifi for assistance. My Atrix takes forever to lock on with full cell signal, and then tells me to turn on my wifi to make EXTRA sure it has the best chance of connecting quick. It's the one thing I very much miss on the iphone. I don't know why it takes so long but it seems to be a widely reported issue on many devices. And then there's lots of people who don't think there's a problem because they don't seem to have an idea what is actually possible on a phone.

 

[swanysto]

~1 minute is acceptable to you? Ack... I think it's really just an android thing. I know I may be opening a huge can of worms here... but when I had my iPhone 4 the GPS locked on within seconds, and didn't rely on wifi for assistance. My Atrix takes forever to lock on with full cell signal, and then tells me to turn on my wifi to make EXTRA sure it has the best chance of connecting quick. It's the one thing I very much miss on the iphone. I don't know why it takes so long but it seems to be a widely reported issue on many devices. And then there's lots of people who don't think there's a problem because they don't seem to have an idea what is actually possible on a phone.

It's not an android issue, it's usually a hardware/driver issue. When I had the EVO for a while, the GPS worked flawlessly anytime, anywhere. I know the same to be true for quite a few other phones. The problem is, Samsung did not do a good job on the drivers/modem for the first Samsung Epic. The newer modems have gotten far better. The other issue is going cheap on the hardware. Some phones go cheap, some do not.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I was just able to get a lock in less than 30 seconds while indoors on my At&t Galaxy S2.

 

[gorcorps]

It's not an android issue, it's usually a hardware/driver issue. When I had the EVO for a while, the GPS worked flawlessly anytime, anywhere. I know the same to be true for quite a few other phones. The problem is, Samsung did not do a good job on the drivers/modem for the first Samsung Epic. The newer modems have gotten far better. The other issue is going cheap on the hardware. Some phones go cheap, some do not.

I see... so does this thread point to Samsung cheaping out yet again? The SGS II is supposedly a top of the line device, yet still has GPS issues.

 

[dguy6789]

The Galaxy Nexus also has GPS issues.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

I see... so does this thread point to Samsung cheaping out yet again? The SGS II is supposedly a top of the line device, yet still has GPS issues.

The only thing this thread points to is one person having issues. I have no problem with the gps on my Galaxy S2, it could not be better.

I had a Captivate for more than a year so I am well aware of the gps issues the Galaxy S had and the S2 does not have them.

 

[snikt]

I had a Captivate for more than a year so I am well aware of the gps issues the Galaxy S had and the S2 does not have them.

I had the Captivate as well, and currently have an intl. Galaxy S2 and I didn't have GPS problems with my Captivate nor with the S2.

 

[zCypher]

My S2X has a hard time when I'm indoors, I noticed that for sure. Usually can't even get a lock at all.

When driving around though it worked 100%.

 

[Oyeve]

Are you guys testing with pure gps or are you using the cell to help? Makes a huge difference in successful connections or not. To truly test gps just use gps and not the cell. I know on my vibrant I rarely get a true gps connection, but all the GS1 sucked in that regard.

 

[gorcorps]

The only thing this thread points to is one person having issues. I have no problem with the gps on my Galaxy S2, it could not be better.

I had a Captivate for more than a year so I am well aware of the gps issues the Galaxy S had and the S2 does not have them.

No, this thread points to one saying he has a problem, one who doesn't think he has a problem despite taking a full minute to lock, and another who says it takes 30 seconds. None of those are good. I'm just saying in my experience a phone is perfectly capable of locking with local accuracy in less than 10 seconds, and that's with no wifi and 3G cell data only. Indoor and outdoor.

Look... I only have 1st hand use of one android device, which may be one that's particularly bad. It's also not something that I'd avoid the SGS II for (I plan on getting one soon), but I haven't heard very many good things about many GPS signals on Android phones. I don't know why, but it seems like a common corner to cut if it's just a matter of optimization or a slight hardware bump.

 

[snikt]

Are you guys testing with pure gps or are you using the cell to help? Makes a huge difference in successful connections or not. To truly test gps just use gps and not the cell. I know on my vibrant I rarely get a true gps connection, but all the GS1 sucked in that regard.

No cellular or wi-fi assistance, strictly GPS and no problems, although if it was raining hard locking then was a minor issue.

 

[swanysto]

I see... so does this thread point to Samsung cheaping out yet again? The SGS II is supposedly a top of the line device, yet still has GPS issues.

I don't think it was samsung cheaping out, as much as it was their lack of ability to make a good driver/modem in the case of the galaxy s line. I think in the case of the OP, he might have a bad phone. XDA will typically give you the best/worst of a phone based on reading their forum. If you read on the SGS2, there really aren't any complaints on the GPS.

Android is kind of like windows. Since there is all different kinds of hardware that has to work with it, some of the hardware isn't as good, some of the drivers aren't as good. And in cases like this, some of the hardware is simply broke.

Apple phones are all the same, and use the same hardware, so that is why there are less issues. However, during a trip to somewhere new, my gf's 4s is sitting in her purse while my android phone is giving us turn by turn directions. Not to knock the iphone, it is pretty darn nice.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Hey OP. Make sure it is not your case.

I thought my AT&T SGS2 GPS sucked, but I later realized it was the case I had it in from day 1. Now I have a cheapo thin ebay case and its fine.

 

[Puddle Jumper]

No, this thread points to one saying he has a problem, one who doesn't think he has a problem despite taking a full minute to lock, and another who says it takes 30 seconds. None of those are good. I'm just saying in my experience a phone is perfectly capable of locking with local accuracy in less than 10 seconds, and that's with no wifi and 3G cell data only. Indoor and outdoor.

Look... I only have 1st hand use of one android device, which may be one that's particularly bad. It's also not something that I'd avoid the SGS II for (I plan on getting one soon), but I haven't heard very many good things about many GPS signals on Android phones. I don't know why, but it seems like a common corner to cut if it's just a matter of optimization or a slight hardware bump.

I don't see how taking 30 seconds to get a lock is bad, given where I was testing it at I would be amazed if any other phone could do significantly better.

 

[Ns1]

I don't see how taking 30 seconds to get a lock is bad, given where I was testing it at I would be amazed if any other phone could do significantly better.

how's everyone testing GPS lock?