Compass App That Works?

[1776]

I have tried two of three of the compass apps and no matter how I try to calibrate them, I can't get the compass needle to point in the direction that I am standing in. I have tried it inside and outside. I have watched videos about how to calibrate an android compass and tried it all. Has anyone gotten one of these to work on a SGP5 and if so which one and how did you do it?

[CrowdAds]

[tcat]

You need to be standing North, should point close to north, and most have an option to point True or Magnetic. This is most accurate I've found: http://www.appbrain.com/app/compass/...ftware.compass

Originally Posted by 1776

I have tried two of three of the compass apps and no matter how I try to calibrate them, I can't get the compass needle to point in the direction that I am standing in. I have tried it inside and outside. I have watched videos about how to calibrate an android compass and tried it all. Has anyone gotten one of these to work on a SGP5 and if so which one and how did you do it?

[gotok]

I have found that on my international, Froyo 2.2.2 SGP5 the compass stops working after a while. Then if I power fully down and back up again, the compass starts working again. You might try to power down/up and see if that helps.

[1776]

Originally Posted by tcat

You need to be standing North, should point close to north, and most have an option to point True or Magnetic. This is most accurate I've found: http://www.appbrain.com/app/compass/...ftware.compass

Thanks. I will try that app. Nothing I saw talked about standing north. I'll try that too. Mostly, I have only gotten the ones that I tried to point north no matter which direction I turn it is either North, NW, or NE.

[tcat]

That's what a compass is for, the needle always points north if it's working. That way you can find your way home.

[1776]

Originally Posted by tcat

That's what a compass is for, the needle always points north if it's working. That way you can find your way home.

Yes, but the needle is supposed to turn if you face a different direction, correcting itself to point back to north... So far every direction has been North. And last time I looked this was not the North Pole. Now I know what is happening, Santa must have calibrated the compass before he brought the SGP 5 to me.

[tcat]

Yeah they can be real squirrely. Make sure you calibrate it and aren't near any magnetic objects or big metal buildings... or standing on the north pole.

[GeorgeP1111]

I thought I'd bump this thread and see if anyone found a work-around to get the compass to work correctly on the SGP5 v2.3.5?

I have two compass apps (Compass, A Compass), Two GPS apps (GPS Status & Tool Box, GPS Test), and the Sensors Monitor app. All five of these respond the same way to the compass sensor. The compass heading will either rotate in the "general direction" of North +/- 90 degrees, or after about 5 - 10 or so seconds it will freeze. I have found that sometimes when it freezes that shaking it will reactivate it for a few seconds, but not every time.

When running the Sensor Monitor app the Speed, G-Force, Pitch, Roll, and Magnetic Field sensors appear to function fine, but the Direction (compass) sensor is the one that freezes.

I really don't need a compass, but the Star Chart app I really like is unusable because of this sensor.

These tests were done outside (various locations), away from any magnet influence (that I know of), I don't live on the North Pole (or magnet pole), and this is the second SGP5 v2.3.5 that I have had and it's response is identical to my first one (returned due to WiFi issue).

Anyhow, just thought I'd ask.

tnx
George

[1776]

George - I have not found any way to get the compass to read other than pointing north or nw or ne no matter what direction the unit is facing. None of the calibration methods change that. I just gave up. The GPS should obtain a direction on its own - though I don't know if there is any app or system in the SGP that reads that. A car gps gets compass direction from the GPS satellite and this should too if there is something to access that data.

[skwatch]

Just for grins and whatever else it is worth -- you need to be standing on the South pole for every direction to be north. Back to the point- My compass originally worked pretty well on the international version SGP5 shipped with Froyo. When I upgraded to Gingerbread, many things got better, but the compass lost the ability to hold calibration more than a couple of minutes. This is very annoying for Google Sky Map and somewhat so on other map oriented Apps. It is easy to recalibrate and works fine (for a minute or two) but having to calibrate all the time is pretty ridiculous.

I reported this on the Bug report string here and have heard no feedback there or other resolutions to this problem.

Question: Is this compass problem only happening on units that have been upgraded to Gingerbread or is it also happening with units that shipped with Gingerbread?

[sideways]

None of the bundled digital compasses I have tried have been reliable. I had a few bad experiences when using them for navigation and this has lead me to not trust any digital compass. You'd be better served bringing along a dedicated compass and learning to tell directions based on the movement of the sun and stars. I think it would be bad idea to blindly follow what your compass is saying.

Locating yourself using the GPS, moving and then locating yourself again can be informative as well.

[GeorgeP1111]

Originally Posted by skwatch

Question: Is this compass problem only happening on units that have been upgraded to Gingerbread or is it also happening with units that shipped with Gingerbread?

Yup, both of my SGP5's are OEM 2.3.5 Gingerbread. I got the first one from BestBuy 2 weeks ago and the second 2 days ago. Maybe if (??) there is another upgrade for us, it will include a fix.

"sideways" - Compass or GPS, I agree that one should always have alternate sources for information. I don't hike or really do anything that requires a compass but I just feel that if something is advertised as having a feature, it should have one that works. In the case of our Players, if a app requires the input from the compass sensor, that sensor should work.

Thanks for the replies folks.

George

[sideways]

I agree 100% that they should work. I just wanted to point out that that has not been my experience. Hopefully is saves some folks some shoe leather and awkward "sorry babe we've been going in the wrong direction and need to retrace our steps" moments. Test your gear!

[tcat]

I installed androsensor to see if I could figure out what's going on. Lots of stuff "not supported".

[GeorgeP1111]

I got a call from Samsung Tech Support as a follow-up to my call two days ago about my Static IP issue. While I had him on the phone I also mentioned the issue with the compass sensor(s) I and others are having, and that it appears that the compass did work before folks upgraded to Gingerbread. After he finished typing my concerns (seems to be more of a secretary than a "Level-2 Tech") he said he would check on this and call me back. Stay Tuned!

tcat: I installed the AndroSensor app and it shows three sensors for the Orientation (compass icon) X,Y,Z. The "X" appears to correspond to compass direction, but it seems to dance all over the place. In the Sensors Monitor app, the Direction (Compass) sensor acts like all the compass related apps I have and work for a few seconds before locking up.

George

[1776]

Originally Posted by GeorgeP1111

I got a call from Samsung Tech Support as a follow-up to my call two days ago about my Static IP issue. While I had him on the phone I also mentioned the issue with the compass sensor(s) I and others are having, and that it appears that the compass did work before folks upgraded to Gingerbread. After he finished typing my concerns (seems to be more of a secretary than a "Level-2 Tech") he said he would check on this and call me back. Stay Tuned!


George

George -

Thanks for asking Samsung about this and I would love to hear their final tech reply. To say that this occurred when "FOLKS" upgraded to Gingerbread is an poor excuse on Samsung's part, because I bought my SGP 5 with Gingerbread installed - by Samsung -and if there were any issues with their features, sensors, etc, they needed to be found and fixed before these units left the factory.

[tcat]

I installed this on my SGP5 and my Optimus-V. Something is definitely messed up with "orientation" in Gingerbread. Not sure what half the other stuff means, but looks OK (similar on both devices). What that app did do was find my location to the house number without GPS on! I'm thinking maybe one of the sensors is too close to something magnetic in the device, and really messing it up. Although if folks say it was OK on Froyo, then it's something in the software... I'd like to hear an ICS announcement someday!

[GeorgeP1111]

I installed the Sensor Test/Plot app and it displays (at least for Direction (AZ)) the same as all my other compass/GPS app's... It Sticks, the Pitch/Roll look Ok. The compass arrow in the "Show Orientation" display sure seems erratic when it's not stuck pointing in one direction. I hope this is a software issue, that means there is hope of it being resolved.

The "Location" screen pulled up my correct address (with the help of GPS) also. Nice.

George