Samsung commits to September updates for Galaxy S GPS woes
By Chris Ziegler 
posted August 13th 2010 8:09PM
posted August 13th 2010 8:09PM
posted August 13th 2010 8:09PM
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This better be coming out the same time froyo comes out!
@webosandroid
I think that update is coming in October.
I need my GPS fix yesterday Samsung!!!
@webosandroid I'd rather have them as soon as they're ready, no need to have one sitting there waiting for the other.
@webosandroid
couldn't agree more, the best thing we can do to improve our Galaxy S is with that ext2 lagfix for now, and that doesn't even resolve the GPS problem.
@webosandroid If it was about the iPhone, this would make headlines all over, for sure people would make up stories how their iPhone got them lost. But sinces its Samsung. It is just a minor footnote.
@iPhone 4
Hate to admit but thats absolutely true. My gps on the vibrant version sucks pretty bad, as does the compass(If it even has one). The gps only functions when the gps wants to function. It works ok when it actually works however
@iPhone 4 -- you may have a point, but downranked for threadjacking!!
@iPhone 4
iPhone has way more market share than these 2 Samsung phones, so of course this will not make headlines.
@webosandroid If Samsung screws this up (like they did on their previous T-mobile Android phone), they'll kill themselves. Froyo should have been ready ages ago, but I'm guessing all that customization is proving to be a pain to deal with.
No idea why they need a month to fix something so simple.
@scoobydooby dude there's only three phones on froyo at the moment
@Ceyran also it took apple a month to aknowledge the issue... samsung took slightly less time to respond
@iPhone 4 So true. People are like the mob they love to be a part of bashing.
@webosandroid I sure hope so. Samsung had acknowledged the samsung moment's gps issues and still hasn't fixed it in almost a year. In fact they even released the sequel Moment 2 with the same issues.
@iPhone 4
iPhone 4 sales 1000 to 1 over the Vibrant. The Vibrant costs less and so does the service. Apple said deal with it, we don't have a real fix and Samsung is fixing the problem without changing the form of the phone. Excuse the pun but it's almost apples and oranges. I own an iPod and a MacBook Pro and soon an iPad and love them all but Apple made a wide-spread mistake. It is what it is. I don't know why Jobs is taking the low road and putting down other phones to cover his own flaws just as you just did. I love the Vibrant! (love my Nexus One a lil more : )
@MooTron89 go to xda they have two things up for the lag fix in one click form
@webosandroid Yea but are they gonna update after that? How about next year updates Samsung? Guess what samsung?! I hate you!! Except your TV's.
@webosandroid finally! the achilles heel of the Galaxy S will be patched up.. now to see the goodies of Froyo (:
@webosandroid If you guys head over to xda-developers, they have a kernel that supposedly contains tons of fixes and tweaks including one for the GPS issues. I can't wait till I get back to the states and have some Galaxy S lovin' in my hands.
@Samsung so you mean Fascinate will come out with Froyo and without GPS issue?
@deliteguy
You have to calibrate the compass before it becomes accurate. Try opening a program that accesses the magnetometer, like google sky maps, and then spin the phone on all three axis. First spin it once around the x, then y, then z. It should be fairly accurate after that.
@iPhone 4
Lol, at leasr my Captivatez hardware issue can be fixed with software (cough, antena issues on the iphone, cough). Lol, in all seriousness though, I haven't had those problems with my Cappy, don't use it as my main gps though, garmin still owns imo. At least there is a fix though. Ill use it more to see if I really do have an issue. I just want Froyo though...
It's still too late for me. I'm returning the one I got 2 weeks ago and probably getting a Streak. I've heard some Galaxy Ss work better than others, which may mean it's at least partially a hardware issue.
@jroff You even own the phone?
@iPhone 4 Your comment is deemed to be down-ranked into oblivion here, but this is really the truth. Apple is getting so big that even 0.01% of its users got problem, it's a hell lot of people. If it's 1%, it's the end of the world. What's so amazing is that the news will be on every major newspaper, with higher priority than a disaster in another side of the world which took thousands of lives.
@haruhiko
It has absolutely nothing to do with that. If Apple would've acknowledged the problem instead of denying it and then claiming everyone has their problem, the story wouldn't have been news. Apple did it to themselves.
Got a pal who is advocate for Sprint's Galaxy, the Epic, he got it today and first thing he checked. working perfectly.
@BigJayDogg3 my vibrant is running like hussain bolt!! So is my gps.
"optimize"?
@GaryZ
Yeah, like get it working in locations on Earth.
@MeVirtually I luled :D
I don't understand why it would take so long.
I feel bad for all the Galaxy S owners out there.
@xmonkey Don't feel too bad. I rarely use the GPS feature on a phone, so right now I am absolutely thrilled with my phone. One of the neatest gadgets I've owned. I'm now an iOS -> Android convert :X
@xmonkey actually the sad part in all this is that no one's taking about the Lag fix, basically samsung messed up yet gain by using a un-optimised File system which leads to slow I/O speeds {Their software team needs to be fired} Essentially the galaxy s phone are crippled and are operating at nearly half the speed.
I just did the XDA one click lag fix a few days back and it feels like I went from a iPhone 3g to a iPhone 4, the speed is stupid fast now , which is how it should have been out of the box, it's too bad the average user won't know a thing about it though.
I hope they fix all of this with the 2.2 update in September. GPS is weird, sometimes it works with no problems, sometimes it takes ages to get a fix, sometimes the location is completely wrong.
The file system used is so amateurish. It's baffling how the XDA community find out what's wrong with the phone very quickly and get fixes that circumvent the problem when big Samsung is just trailing behind, I bet they won't even fix the file system.
Stillnot sure whether to pick this or the htc desire
@Cynical Hippie
It's a tricky one, best hardware vs best software. I'll probably pick the galaxy s and root.
Of course I would see this update from Samsung 2 days after I went back to my iP4. I had other issues with the phone but GPS was the big one...
the apparent result of a bunk positioning server being used to associate towers to geographical locations.
That's not the reason behind the GPS issues, if it were, it would be trivial to update. I've tried the various "fixes", and whilst they may help with initial GPS location, the accuracy and tracking is still woeful.
The problem is a software one, that it probably down to the GPS drivers.
Maybe Apple will start giving out free iPhone 4s to people who complain about their Galaxy S on Twitter.
@CoffeeCoffee
LOL
@CoffeeCoffee. We don't need C3PO to tell us how slim the chances of that happening are
@CoffeeCoffee
Haha, nice... :)
@CoffeeCoffee
Galaxy's GPS will be fixed. iPhone 4's reception won't. Who would want such exchange? Besides, the problem with Galaxy's GPS is caused by the use of new GPS chip (BCM4751 from Broadcom) which is much better than the one in iPhone 4 ( BCM4750). Once Broadcom fixes the driver, Galaxy S owners should have much better GPS than iPhone users because among other improvements, BCM4751 provides "increased satellite availability: supports GPS, SBAS and QZSS satellites at L1 frequency band"
@lilo
GPSGATE!
Supposedly this has been pretty much solved with the last update for the Captivate. This update doesn't apply to any other Galaxy S devices though.
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=751518
@psychoace
You beat me to it!
GPS fix has been onxda for some time :-)
@ekeefe41
What your talking about is the hack fix which is available for all Galaxy phones. If you wanted an official release though this update will take care of most of the gps problems.
@psychoace
No, there was a leak from samsung for the GPS fix for the Captivates. It seems to fix the problem.
@psychoace After the captivate fix, what kinda accuracy are you getting using GPS Test? With the SUPL tweak on the Vibrant the best I've seen is about 18 feet using 4 satellites. Meh
Proud owner of the Captivate. No major issues just small annoyances I miss from WM (eg Exchange) but not wrong but a minor learning curve.