GPS Altitude (request for help)

[Coffee Monkey]

I think I've found a software bug in the Droid Charge related to GPS altitude and need some volunteers to help verify the bug. I've tried three different apps that all report the same wrong altitude. The altitude is off by a factor of ten! I live at 5600 feet and the DC reports roughly 560 feet. When I drive up to 6000 feet the DC says 600 feet. One of the app developers was kind enough to send me a custom version of his app (AndroSensor) that multiplied the altitude by 10 and that made it display the correct altitude. Has anyone else noticed the same problem? The error doesn't seem to affect the accuracy of navigation or google maps so unless you specifically look at the altitude parameter you may not know there is a problem.

The three apps I've tried are: GPS Test, AndroSensor, and GPS Essentials. All are free. If any DC owners are game, please download one of these apps, or any other app that reports GPS altitude, and relate your results. I'm especially interested in hearing from owners who live at an elevation of three hundred feet (one hundred meters) or higher since if you live near sea level the error is smaller and may be within the margin of GPS accuracy.

Useful information to include in your results are: actual altitude, reported altitude, hardware version, firmware version, and build number. The last three are found in Settings...About Phone.

If we can verify other Droid Charges have the same problem as mine, hopefully we can get Samsung to fix it in a future update.

Thanks all.

[mgasman]

You have discovered a bug it seems. I ran this morning at 600-700 ft and Google MyTracks says it was at 90-98 ft. This is not as much as your 10X error, but an obvious problem. I also was running Adidas micoach and when the track was loaded onto the online site for that (which processes the workout for feedback) the altitude seemed accurate.

I was running both apps to try and figure out why the accuracy of the Charges GPS trace is less precise as I run through my neighborhood. If I go around a block or down a cul de sac it does not follow the course and cuts off a lot of my hard run miles, which affects the pace and feedback this coaching program provides. MOTODroid phones were very accurate with their traces.

I will assume that the correct elevation data from the online source is because it pulls the elevation from established terrain data given the GPS coordinates. GPS altitude is not as accurate at the position fixing capability.

SO SAMSUNG needs to fix a Charge GPS bug - and hopefully make it more accurate/precise at the same time.

Bluetooth relability needs some work too. Quite frustrating.

How is this remedied......?

[byteryder]

Same problem here. Altitude reads 0. has never changed off 0

[skifari]

I too have had a problem with the gps displaying the wrong altitude by a factor of 10. I've tried a few different apps,i.e my tracks, jog tracker etc to track my mountain bike rides but each app doesn't calculate the elevation correctly. Yesterday I rode from about 6900ft to 8500ft which my tracks calculated the elevation of 690ft to 850ft.

coffee monkey-have you had any luck getting the gps calibrated correctly?

my current set up is:
hardware version: i510.06
firmware version: 2.2.1
build number: sch-i510.ee4

[byteryder]

Hi, Ski...

Altitude still at 0. Did read a fix for Compass, it works. Hold your DC vertically, make "figure 8" motion in the vertical plane 4-5 times. Check the Compass, it should be starting to correct itself. If it isn't just right, repeat above.

[bkedp]

YES!!! I found this thread while searching for an answer to my altitude problem with my new Droid Charge. This past weekend I rode my mountain bike near Sun Valley Idaho, I reached a max elevation of 8770'ish feet and my "My Tracks" app indicated max elevation as 877ft max and minimum elevation of 679ft. The trail head for our ride was roughly 6790ft. I never considered the phone being off by a factor of 10, but that is exactly the amount my phone is off.

At least at this point it's refreshing to know that the problem is not something that I have caused with the phone, but now I'm left with finding a fix. Could you explain your fix with the app? Is it something that needs to run in the background?

Thanks!!!

edit:

hardware version - i510.06

firmware version - 2.2.1

build - SCH-I510.EE4

[byteryder]

YES!!! I found this thread while searching for an answer to my altitude problem with my new Droid Charge. This past weekend I rode my mountain bike near Sun Valley Idaho, I reached a max elevation of 8770'ish feet and my "My Tracks" app indicated max elevation as 877ft max and minimum elevation of 679ft. The trail head for our ride was roughly ft. I never considered the phone being off by a factor of 10, but that is exactly the amount my phone is off.

At least at this point it's refreshing to know that the problem is not something that I have caused with the phone, but now I'm left with finding a fix. Could you explain your fix with the app? Is it something that needs to run in the background?

Thanks!!!

Its and inherent problem with the compass . My original Motorola Droid had the same problem. every so often I'd have to reset the compass. However, the Altitude function worked properly on the original Motorola droid. It is not working at all on the new Samsung Charge.

[EmanP223]

The 'compass' app works fine on a few other phones but doesn't seem to work with the Charge. I verified it against a Droid X and Incredible 2 and it worked fine. My Charge doesn't work no matter how many times I recalibrate it. It's got North pointed all over the place.

[bkedp]

So how do we as a collective voice go about calling for a fix from Samsung?

[BeefJerky]

The 'compass' app works fine on a few other phones but doesn't seem to work with the Charge. I verified it against a Droid X and Incredible 2 and it worked fine. My Charge doesn't work no matter how many times I recalibrate it. It's got North pointed all over the place.

The compass works fine for me. Maybe this phone is more sensitive to stray magnetic fields than others, which could cause the problem for some people.