GPS is useless on Samsung Galaxy S ?

Puteq

Has anyone else found the GPS to be useless on the Samsung Galaxy S? I tried using it twice (I just use the default 'Navigation' program that came preinstalled with the phone).

The first time i tried to use it was driving from Galway to Kilkenny, and the entire journey, it kept losing connection, and returning the message 'Searching for GPS'. If I rebooted the phone it seemed to find GPS again, but would lose it again within a few minutes. One of my mates had an iphone and used it no problems to find our way to our destination.

The second time i used it was just going from Galway city to 'Briarhill Business Park' - I know the way but figured i'd like to try the GPS Navigation again. there were 2 entries for this destination, so i picked one and followed it. I knew it was sending me the wrong way but went with it to see what it would do. it sent me into the driveway of a church, and confirmed i was at my destination - i was no where near it! I remembered there were 2 entries for this destination so i chose the other one - it sent me down small country roads and directed me into the driveway of someones house.

Being so inaccurate is worse than useless - whats the story here??? I know the GPS is accurate, because i used a 'location finder' program at one point and it used GPS to find me exactly on the map, so what gives with navigation? its one of the features of my new phone i was most looking forward to! Is there some alternative program that can be downloaded from the market to replace the crappy one that comes preinstalled on the Samsung? Or am I the only person to have these problems with the Samsung Galaxy S?

patch

It's a common problem with the old firmware.
There are fixes applied by updating to leaked newer firmwares, but at this stage you are better off waiting for the official froyo.
This due any day now, but there are talks of it not being out till end of october.

Puteq

Ah OK thanks. I was kinda wondering allright if the new 2.2 update would sort anything out, and at this stage it seems close enough that i wont go messing around with unofficial leaked updates. Thanks for that, I will try again after Samsung move the Galaxy to Froyo and hopefully that'll sort it out

partyatmygaff

Tried using it once on a trip to somewhere in Lucan and we ended up in front of a petrol station on the border between Meath and Dublin. Inaccurate is not the word...

Keith186

partyatmygaff wrote: »

Tried using it once on a trip to somewhere in Lucan and we ended up in front of a petrol station on the border between Meath and Dublin. Inaccurate is not the word...

Clonee is my guess!

jimmycrackcorm

Don't confuse GPS with mapping. GPS is specifically about locating your position then if your are being mis-directed then what navigation is it you are using?

Bugzy

do you have a quick gps function on galaxy? maybe you should try to update that so it would have a better chance at knowing where abouts are satellites floating around

Puteq

Bugzy wrote: »

do you have a quick gps function on galaxy? maybe you should try to update that so it would have a better chance at knowing where abouts are satellites floating around

Good point to specify the difference between GPS and mapping - though i have had problems with both (mapping sending me to the totally wrong places, and GPS continually losing signal). However I am pretty sure the GPS works and all, I tested it with some kind of a 'find me' program and it worked fine.

still though, I am quite happy to wait for Froyo and see will it fix all these problems before i start looking into whether some alternative mapping program might work better ...

Bugzy

did you try a different navigation app?

Puteq

Bugzy wrote: »

did you try a different navigation app?

No actually - would you recommend any one in particular?

Viper_JB

Try using Co pilot as your sat nav program I find it to be excellent (it's a paid app, worth it though)

Bugzy

well google maps for a change try navigating with that if you need to cache maps search brut maps to cache maps in case you don't have a way to connect being around the place.

i use iGo MyWay on Android and Windows and works perfect...Though it takes a long time to find the gps signal if i dont update quick gps. it finds the signal in around 2 secs now

Puteq

Bugzy wrote: »

well google maps for a change try navigating with that if you need to cache maps search brut maps to cache maps in case you don't have a way to connect being around the place.

i use iGo MyWay on Android and Windows and works perfect...Though it takes a long time to find the gps signal if i dont update quick gps. it finds the signal in around 2 secs now

Yeah but does Google maps talk you to your destination like a sat nav app would, or is it just a map? cos i have google maps on the phone allright but never used it, i can see how it would be useful to plot a course before starting driving but I’m lazy, I’d like the phone to do all the work and drip feed me information as I need it :-P

and what is 'quick gps' thats the second time someone has mentioned it but i don’t know what exactly it is or what it does? if it would help with my phone constantly losing connectivity with satellites that would be great.