I have to say as an Android device I really like the Samsung Galaxy S, but as I have mentioned previous posts its not all that rosy.
The worst part I would have to say about the Samsung Galaxy S for me is the GPS is virtually non-existent. I have only ever seen one device marginally near as worse, and that was the iPhone 3G in the early days, but unfortunately the Samsung Galaxy S is significantly worse, and here’s why…
In 10x 1 hour drives, I have only had a GPS fix where GPS applications could reliably track where I am on the road and provide voice navigation guidance for me. Out of that 1 hour, I would have to say that a good 20 minutes of that guidance put me in side streets or streets up to a mile away.
I used a variety of navigation applications including Navigon, TomTom, Ndrive so no one application was at fault, and all they do is ask the GPS chip through the Android java layer “where am I” so really can’t be faulted. Due to the lack luster GPS performance I decided to try geolocation applications like GoWalla and Foursquare and likewise a good 50% of the time these showed me being >1 mile away from where I was, and in some cases over 10 miles away! Great if you want to check into some more places you haven’t visited, but useless to check in to locals places. Trying Google Maps likewise saw the same distances. If you disable getting a GPS fix over wifi then you wont get a GPS fix. If you have this enabled then it seems to preference wifi GPS positioning more and place you way off from your current location. Speaking to other users of the Samsung Galaxy S they seem to be experiencing similar problems. Sometimes it works and seems to work pretty well, when it does you’re very lucky. When it doesn’t work well you are left high and dry with no GPS.
I have tried applications that use both the standard Java framework and also the newer NMEA stream in Android OS 2.1 but alas, the GPS inside the Samsung Galaxy S is just too poor quality to have it be anymore accurate. Samsung are already aware of this as you will see in the below tweet.
Samsung have an update scheduled worldwide for September to help reduce the poor performance of the GPS the Samsung Galaxy S but whether it can resolve the performance issue fully we wont know until it arrives. If it’s clearly a software issue the it might be possible to resolve it in a ROM update. However, if it’s a physical hardware problem (which I’m starting to wonder about) then it won’t be fully fixable. The reason why I’m wondering about a hardware flaw is this wouldn’t be the first time I’ve seen this problem arise in devices with GPS chips and antennas. What could be happening is that the GPS chip is too close to maybe the processor or other parts of the system board that are generating adverse RF interference, enough to splatter the circuit board and GPS antenna to degrade the quality of the GPS signal it thinks it is receiving and creating a lack luster GPS performance problem.
With over 1 million units allegedly sold in the USA already in a month and worldwide sales on the increase, you have to wonder whether Samsung knew about this problem prior to release. Was enough QA performed prior to releasing the device to market, or did they chuck the device out because they thought it was near perfect in the hope to get sales and fix it in the field?
One thing for sure is that if you want to buy a new mobile phone and want to use it for GPS, whether it’s satellite navigation, geotagging photos or location based services, you should seriously consider holding off until its seen that the Samsung Galaxy S problems are fixed. The Samsung Galaxy S is a great device, but with the slow performance issues dogging the device along with the GPS problems that have also been reported on Engadget, this really hampers the device as a good iPhone killer.
As far as we know, this also affects the Samsung Galaxy S other brother and sisters which are just a name rebranding of the Samsung Galaxy S:-
UPDATE #1 – Other sites reporting GPS problems:-
Like I said before I have had little to no problems with my GPS. The only thing I have found is that sometimes it will show ‘Searching for GPS’ and wont switch to a 3D view or give voice commands, but will still have my exact location. A simple restart fixes this every time. I have used my Samsung for a number of journeys short and long and I have always found my way. Longest been a round journey of about 222 miles and shortes within 5 – 10 miles. I’ve heard the rumours about the GPS problems but out of the 4 people (5 including myself) that I know who have one… none of them have had any problems.
By: lee on November 3, 2010
at 11:22 pm
@lee Do you really have a GPS lock.. or you just seeing the map with the blue pointer and you think it all works.. does the blue pointer move as you travel?
The GPS on my Samsung does not work for more that 1 minute of moving around. But I flashed using Development 2.2 Froyo and it seems to work a bit better and get a lock quicker. but for some reason the offical release Froyo 2.2.1 gps does not work. Took it to the Samsung repair centre and they too told me it’s ok untill I showed them it does not work. Most users think it works because you get the map with the blue circle and pointer if using wifi.. but turn off wifi and all is lost..
By: Dex on January 5, 2011
at 3:42 pm
Well I tried everything and finally I downloaded an Android ROM called “Sconcau_eXtreme” and my GPS works and lock for a long time. I tested it walking from work to home which is a 20min walk and it tracked my position all the way and never was off. GREAT WORK by this ROM developer..
By: Dex on February 9, 2011
at 12:34 pm
my GPS doesn’t work at all…when i open the GPS it showe “ur current location is temporarily unavailable” but it ain’t temporarily and it is permanently for me…damn thing! .do u guys have any idea if my device doesn’t have gps sensor or it juz doesn’t work properly ???
By: mike on July 23, 2011
at 5:23 pm