Umi Plus and GPS Signal

Pmagall

Hello,

Anyone have experience using the mobile phone's GPS ?
is true that it's very inaccurate ? and it fails a lot, and it's slow to display the signal?

Or Umi has resolved this problems?
No one has problems like these?

Regards,
Paul

Menomis

I don't think the issue is chipset related.
Meizu M3 Note shares the same P10 CPU and the GPS works well, it also shares the same Alluminum body..
Anyway reports say that GPS gets eventi worse in Nougat's Beta. I think the only way is to sell this phone and buy from a more reliable brand

Jay_Ponce

Umi this only shows that gps problem is not an isoated case.
Maybe you should strongly consider fixing this. It is getting disappointing by the day that you are not acknowledging this. We are your customers and we give our honest feedback to you. Do not treat us like nuances that you will just suggest "an isolated case" and "return the phone to the reseller". We want to make this phone successful and with our feedback, it can greatly help you.

MarcinP

Hi
Guys you are probably fully right.
There is no information about  separate GPS module used by umi for umi super, max and plus so I presume that there is built in GPS module in SoC as follow this MTK information. Probably to fix this issue needs to be replace complete mother board.

DeepAnger

rossi1979 replied at 2016-12-30 21:33
Edited by rossi1979 at 2016-12-30 21:35 \n\nI still have the same problem even after the upgrade, i ...

The procedure is here.

DeepAnger

jipux replied at 2016-12-30 19:15
Hello DeepAnger,
Thanks for this good news! It seems you're the quality engineer at Umi now!
Ca ...

Hello jipux,

I've only tested it on a short 6 km trip but I saw no jump out of the road on the GPX track with countinuous recording mode (osmand). I had lateral jump only once, with Android 6 and that was 2 weeks ago (but after FasterGPS). Altitude was odd with up and down jumps of +-10 meters. I'll need more time to tell if this has improved. I live in a very flat countryside so +10 m is a hill here.

DeepAnger

I have just installed the latest N version and am testing it right now. I can confirm that the GPS + Glonass now works "out of the box". I have added a screenshot there http://community.umidigi.com/for ... &fromuid=257807

zarlydoug

Hi there everyone.  I've had my UMi Plus for a few weeks now and can confirm that my GPS is also very buggy and unreliable to the point of being useless. It freezes up every ten seconds and then takes 5 minutes to show any movement and then freezes again. I've read through this entire thread and I'm totally confusez.

ithilmir

Well, since shipping it back to China to get replacement (and HOPE that it does not have the same issue) is too expensive and not worth it, I am trying to find options.

So, after a couple of times on the road, GPS (with wifi off but data on) seems better. Almost no jumping around, but still the ocassional weak signal and missing it when I turn and thinking I continue on straight for a while.

Will test it out more and on more locations and see if the improvement is stable or a fluke.
As it is, it seems acceptable. By no means is it ok or great, but at least it mostly gets the job done and it is sort of ok and working.

And I am of the same opinion: this would be the best low-middle cost android device, if not for the GPS issue. Everything else is spot on and stellar so far.
Well, I guess the total lack of customer service and support on UMI's part is a negative as well. I mean they could at least look into the GPS issue that's been reported for the last 3-4 models at least, for -it seems- a quite substantial number of people, and see if anything can be made to improve it.

As it is, I am seriously considering selling the Plus getting the Plus E, as with the new mediatek P20 board MAYBE the GPS issues will be solved.
But of course after verifying no GPS issues exist on the model, and if (and that's a big IF) I have not lost my patience with UMI altogether by then.
Shame, as I would have accepted a simple press release pinpointing and recognizing the issue, even if it was a harware or assembly problem and I could do nothing to change it. It would at least show they sort of care and have a semplance of customer service.

Fyodor

Man, don't give them ideas, like bundle paper map with each phone.

And then write new slogan on box, like "Paper map don't jump around, always stable"

Fyodor

They use a GPS + WIFI combo antenna.

One is 'receive-only', the other one is 'transmit+receive', no big surprise if any kind of transmission in one antenna interrupts reception in the other antenna, as they are 'combined' into one.

They save space this way, of which there is not much at all behind that plastic cover.

It is also cheaper to have only one antenna instead of two.

Too bad after all this design effort that it does not work satisfactory at all, who wants to mess with a new device, but what else can be done?

Some more reading if anyone is interested in combo antennas (GPS + WIFI) in mobiles.

http://www.jpier.org/PIERL/pierl39/12.13021901.pdf

Fyodor

bencebacsi

Hi,

Normally the GPS of this model always work perfectly. There wasn't any general problem that should have been resolved. I don't know where you heard about those issues.
Here's a YouTube review by an independent reviewer, that talks about the nice GPS reception.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9xGzBjUlLY

Sincerely,
Ben

Fyodor

Hello everyone, I really want to buy this phone.

However I have seen video reviews as the one posted above by Ben which state the GPS is ok, and have seen other video reviews stating that it is a bit worse than UMi max, like this one here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0fAzhtjeo

And this is not a bad review at all, even the title says about the phone being the best for 200 US$ but also at some point shows the GPS being slow to acquire signal and after that jumping around and not following direction smoothly as expected. Review calls it 'weird' GPS behavior.

In the end is this kind of lottery if the GPS will be working ok or 'weird'? Or is it some batch problem or pre-production review units maybe using circuitry from UMi max, where people report similar issues?

Is this some kind of SoC issue not controlled by UMi at all?

Really like to know, I can not accept that people are reporting this by mistake or because they have nothing better to do with their time, while UMi is not providing a proper answer maybe because the issue is out of their control.

Man, I really like this phone, it has everything I need including decent audio but 'weird' GPS is kinda deal killer almost.

What else can I say, thanks for reading this long post.

Fyodor

pedromar

Hi!

I bought the Umi Super and GPS is not working at all and I was wondering if Umi Plus has this issue solved.
In some of the youtube reviews I saw that the same problems are found in Umi Plus. Is there any fix for this.
These are such nice phones, very well built, they deserve better gps signal.

Tks,
Pedro

MarcinP

http://mediatek-helio.com/p10/
Here is link to helio p 10 details

nazimshah

Hi,

I bought the phone already. Yes it's look impressive.

But this issue is still there: "but also at some point shows the GPS being slow to acquire signal and after that jumping around and not following direction smoothly as expected. Review calls it 'weird' GPS behavior."

Please fix this

enricof

Dear Friends
I m a little bit worry about the GPS of this smartphone. I have brought the device and I don 't want it will have many issues to fix the sats.
Are there another reports about the GPS?
I hope they will be positive because the tool to navigate is an main function of the smartphone...
Enrico

GEX75085

hello bencebacsi ,
still waiting information about GPS umi rome !(6 months and more)
when you say "Normally the GPS of this model (umi plus ) always work perfectly."
what about others models ? some (many ?) users wait for answer.
cordialy.

Fyodor

Latest review compares GPS function side by side to another phone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kHsag9t2UFE

Does not look too good, actually reviewer mentions that UMi said that GPS behavior is attributed to power saving but reviewer doubts that because he never enabled power saving during review.

Unless internal SoC power saving or power management is what UMi meant which is probably not user controllable at all.

Sorry for bringing the bad news.

Fyodor