Galaxy S II GPS issues anyone

[McWatt]

I have a GS2. If I turn off my GPS and fly a thousand miles or wait a week, then turn it back on it takes 30s-15 minutes to lock on. My EVO did the travel and never took more than 10s. I have a family member with a GS2 and a friend with a GS2 and they each have the same issue. Previous Samsung phones have similar issues as well - cost cutting on GPS chips seems to be part of Samsung's culture.

 

[WelshBloke]

I have a GS2. If I turn off my GPS and fly a thousand miles or wait a week, then turn it back on it takes 30s-15 minutes to lock on. My EVO did the travel and never took more than 10s. I have a family member with a GS2 and a friend with a GS2 and they each have the same issue. Previous Samsung phones have similar issues as well - cost cutting on GPS chips seems to be part of Samsung's culture.

Thats not to do with the GPS chip its to do with the way AGPS works and that your OS caches your last location.

 

[gorcorps]

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.

Obviously everyone has a different gauge of "bad". All I can do is simply compare it to what I've owned in the past, and from everything I've read here and experience in other Android devices it's a step backwards. Years go on, so things should improve... not get worse. It's perfectly acceptable, but the point still remains that it's still behind where it should be.

 

[Robert Munch]

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.

If it turns out to be a bad device then i'm willing to get another and give it another go to verify. If my second device does the same thing then S II is out for me unfortunately.

 

[WelshBloke]

Obviously everyone has a different gauge of "bad". All I can do is simply compare it to what I've owned in the past, and from everything I've read here and experience in other Android devices it's a step backwards. Years go on, so things should improve... not get worse. It's perfectly acceptable, but the point still remains that it's still behind where it should be.

I doubt your getting a pure GPS lock as quickly as you think.

If I use google maps I get a pretty much instant accurate location. Its doing this by a combination of remembering where I was and using the using cell and wifi to confirm it, the gps lock kicks in a bit later. Thats why Google maps gives you a quick lock indoors.

If I use some of the GPS test apps which just use GPS the lock can take a lot longer and will struggle indoors.

 

[Robert Munch]

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.

Good call! My purchase did come with a CaseMate back casing. I'm going to remove it and give it a shot and see how it pans out.

 

[poofyhairguy]

Good call! My purchase did come with a CaseMate back casing. I'm going to remove it and give it a shot and see how it pans out.

Yep. Mine was a CaseMate too. You could easily see the difference with it being on and off using the app GPS Test.

 

[CVSiN]

No issues here at all locks right in instantly..
pleasantly surprised
love my new phone.. Ive got the Sprint version btw.