Galaxy S GPS

Samsung Galaxy S GPS

The Samsung Galaxy S (including variants) has a GPS problem that prevents a decent lock from occurring, especially when in canyons and busy places with a lack of view to the clear sky.

The problem is caused by software which can get a fix on your position, but often shows you a few streets away and in some cases, you could be seen as being in the next town which basically renders the GPS pointless.

It’s not all bad news though as the Galaxy S smartphone will be getting a firmware update that should resolve all the problems. expects to have both the patch and its installation instructions available for download in September. It does mention for the US Galaxy S, but the info does come from the Samsung US twitter account. Samsung

While you wait for Samsung to rollout this update, you can manually change a few GPS settings deep within the OS that will improve performance. If you are not afraid of what lies behind the LBSTestMode menu, then you can follow our detailed set of instructions here. These instructions were derived from the folks at xda-developers who took it upon themselves to craft a fix for the Galaxy’s ailing GPS. We tested this fix last month and confirmed that it works for the Samsung Vibrant and the AT&T Captivate. Presumably, the other variants of the Galaxy S will see a similar improvement in GPS performance following this 6-step modification.