Compass accuracy, not so accurate.

[bchi49]

My Motorola Droid doesn't seem to have accurate compass reading, The arrow to North doesn't seem to be consistent when I lay the phone flat on a surface and rotate 360 degrees. I tried almost all compass program from the market place, same issue. Does it need calibration?

Does HTC Eris have this problem with compass?

I tested with Google Sky Map, it seems to find moon right, not sure if compass is involved or not.

[otaku]

Compass seems to work poorly for me too if the phone is lying on a table. But as soon as I pick it up and hold it (semi) perpindicular to the ground, it seems to give me pretty accurate readings.

Make sure there are no metal or magnets nearby when you are testing the compass.

[New2u]

the one i downloaded sucked complete a**. removed immediately.

[Danthok]

Please make sure your desk or whatever you are laying it on does not have magnetic parts. It will void your readings, I would know I used to manufacture and test magnetometers.

[iclickjohn]

This MUST be a droid issue then. I've had very wrong compass headings. I've tested in a variety of settings and apps. Off. As I posted in another forum. When I was heading true South, the compass read it as SW. When I faced true North, the compass read South as SE. They should have been the same. But it was weird that each was off by about the same degrees, but in different directions. You mentioned sky map. it does show the direction on the horizon line, and for me it is off as well. In fact it was almost 90 degrees off. Facing South it indicated West. For Sky map at night trying to find stars that is really bad. So, we need to determine if it is an internal problem, can it be updated, or does the phone need to be replaced. And you think it's a small thing. It's not. That compass in the phone may show up in a whole lot of apps in the future that you would wish that it was accurate. I plan on taking it back if I can't find a resolve in a few days.

[bigjohn]

I found "GPS Status" to be a more accurate compass than any of the "compass" apps i tried, still a little wonky though.

[mivok]

I'm pretty sure the compass is oriented to work when you're holding the phone vertically, if you hold it out in front of you with the screen facing you, then up on the screen will be the direction in front of you (assuming you have a compass app that prints a 2d compass on screen). Why this is the case I have no idea, unless it's for use with augmented reality apps, in which case you will be pointing the camera in front of you.

[otaku]

This MUST be a droid issue then. I've had very wrong compass headings. I've tested in a variety of settings and apps. Off. As I posted in another forum. When I was heading true South, the compass read it as SW. When I faced true North, the compass read South as SE. They should have been the same. But it was weird that each was off by about the same degrees, but in different directions. You mentioned sky map. it does show the direction on the horizon line, and for me it is off as well. In fact it was almost 90 degrees off. Facing South it indicated West. For Sky map at night trying to find stars that is really bad. So, we need to determine if it is an internal problem, can it be updated, or does the phone need to be replaced. And you think it's a small thing. It's not. That compass in the phone may show up in a whole lot of apps in the future that you would wish that it was accurate. I plan on taking it back if I can't find a resolve in a few days.

Where do you live? Sounds like normal variations in true, magnetic, and compass headings?

[Zennmaster]

I was having a similar issue, here's how I solved it: First, I moved the Droid away from the Laptop. Then, I found a few threads on other forums about other phones having similar issues. The solution was to hold the phone flat in front of you, then move it in a "figure eight" pattern, left to right and up and down. I did this while I had a compass app running, and was amazing to watch the needle swing back to where it was supposed to be.

Of course, YMMV, but I swear it worked at least once!

[volando]

compass sucks, totally broken... i thought it was a gimmick thing, was it really supposed to work well??