Those who have been suffering from the GPS issues that have been plaguing the Samsung Vibrant since it’s release on T-Mobile can now breathe a sigh of relief, as T-Mobile has come out and said that they are working on a fix. The GPS fix for the T-Mobile Vibrant will be pushed out sometime in September, according to official announcements.
The Vibrant’s GPS radio will rarely lock on to your location, and if it does, you’d need to be in an optimal area – outside with a clear view of a wide swath of blue sky. But even those optimal conditions don’t guarantee that you’ll get GPS lock on your location. From my experience, I would have to wait around five minutes to get an approximate lock on my location, only to find that it was still locked onto the same area hours after I had left. Although I praise the Vibrant for being a great Android smartphone, drawbacks like this can really make the experience less than enjoyable.
It’s taken quite a while for either T-Mobile or Samsung to even make mention that they were aware of the issue, but I guess it’s better than nothing. The GPS Fix is likely to be addressed with an OTA (over-the-air) update. Hell, if they wait long enough, they might as well throw some Android 2.2 Froyo into the mix, right?
Galaxy S owners in the UK are expected to get the Android 2.2 Froyo update sometime in September, so we couldn’t imagine that the US variants could take too much longer. It’s wishful thinking, I know, but I also think that it’s a possibility that could happen. Why else wait so long to push out a GPS fix? Maybe I’m giving too much credit to T-Mobile and Samsung, but it sounds like it could definitely happen.
While you’re waiting, be sure to check out the manual fix that we posted on how to fix your Vibrant’s GPS yourself. It worked like a charm for me, and I haven’t had a problem with the Vibrant’s GPS since. Most success has been seen on the Vibrant, but the operation executes for the Captivate as well, although many have reported that it’s done nothing to help.
[Via: PhoneDog]