Yet another major Samsung Galaxy S20 series flaw is spreading like wildfire
Our in-depth Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra reviews are in, and shockingly enough (no, not really), it appears that Samsung has done a pretty bang-up job of providing stiff Android-powered competition for Apple’s similarly well-reviewed iPhone 11, 11 Pro, and 11 Pro Max.
A steady GPS connection shouldn’t be a luxury in 2020
GPS tracking is one of the basic features we’ve been taking for granted for a long time even on the most affordable smartphones, so as you can imagine, it’s pretty painful for owners of ultra-high-end Galaxy S20-series devices to admit such a problem nowadays.
That means there’s no word right now on a solution for eerily similar issues making it impossible to properly use popular navigation apps like Waze and Google Maps. Yes, things are reportedly so bad for many people that getting an accurate location reading and firm GPS lock either never happens or the signal is lost shortly after being found in the first place.
While some users are able to complete the occasional commute without a hitch after employing various tricks and workarounds, like rebooting their phones, turning location services off and on, and even disabling 5G, others simply cannot get the GPS to function properly, be it indoor or outdoor, while driving or sitting still. Even though the issues are not very widespread in the grand scheme of things, they’re clearly unacceptable for a flagship lineup of the S20’s stature.
By the way, the dozens of complaints splashed across Twitter, Reddit, and Samsung’s official forums appear to have one important thing in common. They all come from owners of Snapdragon 865-powered S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra units in North America rather than those rocking “international” variants with Exynos 990 inside. That being said, we have no idea if the GPS issues have a hardware or software-related root cause.
Just the tip of the iceberg
Granted, it’s not unusual to see the user experience on new phones negatively impacted by a few minor bugs as far as early adopters are concerned. But we’re starting to deal with more than a few problems here, and some of them are not exactly minor.