so far epic gps sucks.

[flyers2114]

Mine has been rock solid....like Gten said....I think it depends on where your at........I have heard mixed reviews...

[darren.wlsn1]

Originally Posted by flyers2114

Mine has been rock solid....like Gten said....I think it depends on where your at........I have heard mixed reviews...

just got done chatting with my sprint guy and theres a hotfix coming maybe next week.

[gTen]

Originally Posted by darren.wlsn1

just got done chatting with my sprint guy and theres a hotfix coming maybe next week.

Is it just a hotfix or 2.2 altogether...cause rumor is Samsung is launching 2.2 internationally on sept 23rd..and austin I think was told by sprint that it would be on 23rd as well..can you get your sprint guy to confirm it?

[sndtubes]

What's wrong with the GPS? Lag? Not getting a fix? I played with the Epic the other day and I'm really anxious to get one. I have to wait till Friday. My upgrade date is Oct 1 but they will only push it ahead 2 weeks. They were being jerks about just a few extra days.....

[gTen]

Originally Posted by sndtubes

What's wrong with the GPS? Lag? Not getting a fix? I played with the Epic the other day and I'm really anxious to get one. I have to wait till Friday. My upgrade date is Oct 1 but they will only push it ahead 2 weeks. They were being jerks about just a few extra days.....

If you are on a 2 year upgrade no reason why you cant get them to push it up..just gotta find the right representative...

As for GPS, what samsung says is there is a multi-pathing issue..aka it works but its accuracy is not as good as it should be. This is in certain environments.

[TheMostToys]

When the GPS works, it works well enough (a little slower to lock, but only about 10 seconds).

When the GPS stops working (I've not been able to figure out the exact steps or time to reproduce, but could be made worse by using WiFi) it will not lock (at least not within ten minutes, the longest I've waited.) It will see satellites but not lock.

There is also a case somewhere in between where it will lock but it's slow and has horrible accuracy.

All in all, whatever is wrong, seems to be fixable with an update because it works fine immediately after a reboot.

[sndtubes]

Is the GPS only AGPS or does it have it's own GPS SiRFIII chip?

[TheMostToys]

Originally Posted by sndtubes

Is the GPS only AGPS or does it have it's own GPS SiRFIII chip?

Both.

[rdm]

Originally Posted by BenC

The first time GPS is run on any device (even top of the line Oregon series), it will take a few minutes to find, lock and calculate its position. After that and if there is not a major change in location, operation is much quicker.

Originally Posted by rdm

Not really true of smart-phones

Yes, that is my point. aGPS, in the presence of a network signal can populate the almanac and ephemeris in three or four seconds. That initial time on a non networked device can be 15 minutes. I was making the point that aGPS can take just a few seconds out of the box. and that BEnC statement wasn't really valid for smartphones.

Originally Posted by BenC

Stand-alone GPS units do not have the ability to access the Internet or cell phone assist services. If you are in an area without data or cell service, the initial time will be greatly extended.

Ben, we are talking about this device. The first time it is run it is going to be in an area with service...it needs to be to be activated.

Originally Posted by crazaytalent

It is random users... the ones who can't figure out that you need to turn on the agps as well as my location in setting to get gps lock... Ive never even used android before and I got a lock instantaneously...

No it is random users who don't know a spin when they hear it. You do realize aGPS is on by default on the Epic? What is not on is non aGPS tower triangulation ("use wireless networks."). Turning that on masked the problem, it doesn't affect GPS at all. It is an inferior alternate location method for use indoors.

Originally Posted by CzechPleez

Hi. I'm a Sprint employee and Epic owner/user. First off "Sprint told me it is a known issue" is hard to believe since our employees know there aren't any known issues with the Samsung Epic 4G. T!

False, but thanks for the happy talk!. Sprint knows of several issues with Epic, including GPS on Epic, specifically cache problems, and is tracking them at the device team level.


Friends, the use wireless networks has no affect on aGPS or GPS. NONE. It is an alternate, non-GPS method of finding a less accurate position.

agps is on by default on the Epic, but has problems. The biggest problem is that the cache sticks with old satellite assistance data. The thing is that depending on user habits, that bug is going to manifest often or only very rearely.

That is why, you, me, and everyone who turns on GPS with view of the sky for the first time gets a near instant lock. It is why a lot of people never see a problem as well. It is why you get an instant lock if you reboot, change your your settings, or if you go into the aGPS settings. But is also why, without a reboot, or change in the settings, after half a day or so of first invoking GPS, it is quite possible under several circumstances to be sitting there with perfect view of the sky,and even with several satanical shown as in view by the Epic, and no lock.

There are better, more serious, and more informed discussions about this shown bug in the Epic on XDA and elsewhere. On Xda people have looked at the cache data itself. Essentially the very thing that helps you get a faster fix, the "a" in aGPS, can also be a hindrance if the data becomes old and invalid, but the device doesn't cast it away and get new data from the network or the satellites.

If you are outside or in your car, you should NOT try and use wireless networks locations. You should use GPS. There are plenty of users who fail to get location in optimum GPS conditions, but they all do get one after rebooting their Epic.

[rdm]

Originally Posted by crazaytalent

Also... i dont understand why it seems so many people are not or refusing to use the wireless network/asissted gps feature.!

Kinda funny since you are wrong. Your combined phrasing of "wireless networks/assisted GPS" is bizarre since they are two totally different methods! The use wireless networks has zero, zip nada to do with the "assisted" in assisted GPS (aGPS).

AGPS is on by default on Epic

Want proof? Hard reset your Epic. Leave that wireless networking location off. Install a GPS debugging or NMAE utility (like astra). Start Astra. You immediately see your 3 or 4g light up (that is the assistance data populating from the NETWORK assistance servers) and you get an IMMEDIATE fix. If you are outside the network coverage you will get it form the satellites instead, which takes longer but also works (Autonomous or standalone GPS)

The main GPS bug in Epic is that the assitance data once in cache, expires in a matter of hours and the Epic doesn't know it. That causes intermittent problems with getting a fix half a day later. Under certain usages the Epic is getting rid of that bad data and users are not experience any problems, and under certain usages they are experiencing the problem.

There are manual ways to clear the bad data from cache. Example would be reboot, reset. The Epic may have partially working drivers which may kick in if almanac is out of date. But the fact that the described condtion is Epic "seeing" satellites, but not placing them in "use" for a location fix is a classic sypmtom of expired ephermis.