North and South exchanged on a Xperia Mini Pro

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coke72

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Aug 31, 2011, 4:23:38 AM8/31/11
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Hello!

On the Xperia Mini Pro (Android 2.3.3) I experience a strange
behaviour of Google Sky Map. While west and east appears at the
correct locations, north and south are exchanged. The whole sky seems
to be mirrored. When I turn right, the sky map on the phone also moves
to the right and not to the left as one would expect.
My first guess was that probably due to a sensor problem the up-vector
is oriented in the wrong direction. But when I look for the Crux
(southern cross) the phone directs me towards the floor which is
correct, because I am located on the northern hemisphere.
Does anybody have an idea how to fix this problem?

Best regards
Arno

Roger

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Aug 31, 2011, 8:28:57 AM8/31/11
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My Droid X had east and west switched.
Workaround: landscape mode view
Fix: System update

Kevin Serafini

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Aug 31, 2011, 8:39:18 AM8/31/11
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Thanks for posting the workaround.

I'm not really sure what happened with the compass drivers for 2.3. We had a number of devices with a buggy compass. Luckily the vendors were pretty quick with fixes, since you need a system update to really fix the problem.

I'll poke around here and see what I can find out about the Xperia.

Thanks,
Kevin

coke72

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Aug 31, 2011, 9:19:32 AM8/31/11
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Roger, I have no idea, how to fix the orientation in landscape mode.
The Xperia mini pro changes the orientation automatically based on a
sensor. The only way I know ist to flip out the keyboard - then
landscape is fixed. If you have any better suggestion, please let me
know.
I do not believe that the compass is incorrect but probably the gyro.
After Roger's post I tried a compass app (the one by catch) and there
the compass is displayed correctly and points in the correct
direction. But: If you switch the display mode to "GPS" this app also
displays the inclination in two dimensions. If you hold the phone
upright and turn it around the axis perpendicular to the screen, there
is obviously a sign error in the right display. I guess that this
could also affect the Google Sky Map app.

Best regards,
Arno

On 31 Aug., 14:39, Kevin Serafini <kevin.seraf...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks for posting the workaround.
>
> I'm not really sure what happened with the compass drivers for 2.3. We had a
> number of devices with a buggy compass. Luckily the vendors were pretty
> quick with fixes, since you need a system update to really fix the problem.
>
> I'll poke around here and see what I can find out about the Xperia.
>
> Thanks,
> Kevin
>
> On Wed, Aug 31, 2011 at 8:28 AM, Roger <s10stea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > My Droid X had east and west switched.
> > Workaround: landscape mode view
> > Fix: System update

Roger

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Aug 31, 2011, 9:51:34 AM8/31/11
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I didn't change any settings. I just noticed one day that the east / west problem was only in the portrait mode.

coke72

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Aug 31, 2011, 10:14:13 AM8/31/11
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Thank you, Roger. It looks like this is different for the Xperia Mini
Pro. Perhaps it might be an option for Google to add checkboxes to
invert roll, pitch, yaw and compass like you find it for example in
the app aTilt as this seems to be a common problem.

Best regards,
Arno

On 31 Aug., 15:51, Roger <s10stea...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I didn't change any settings. I just noticed one day that the east / west
> problem was only in the portrait mode.

hlustik

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Sep 14, 2011, 9:15:55 AM9/14/11
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adding checkboxes to invert the axis would be a great workarround!

i recently bought a xperia pro mini (sk17i with gingerbread 2.3.3) and
many AR apps don't work, showing the same symptoms.

i just hope it will be patched with a system update...

Ed Bowman

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Sep 14, 2011, 9:40:37 AM9/14/11
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Stop sending me all of everybodys questions!

John Taylor

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Sep 14, 2011, 9:45:43 AM9/14/11
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Hi Ed,
You subscribed to the mailing list - that's why you're getting all these messages.  Would you like me to unsubscribe you?

John

Kevin Serafini

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Sep 14, 2011, 9:49:05 AM9/14/11
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Yeah, we thought of that. Turns out its not quite that simple, as in, its more broken than that. :-(

There was a bug in the compass drivers for some devices that caused the compass to provide bad data. We've fixed the problem with the drivers, which does resolve the problem. The issue is that it takes some time for those changes to make their way out to the users. Google has to send a new build to the manufacturer, who then tests it and sends it to the operators, who then tests it and pushes it out via OTA. It just takes a while to go through all of these steps.

I tried creating a Sky Map build that works around the problem, but I wasn't able to do it. I had hoped that the bug was a wrong sign or exchanged variables or something, but that wasn't it. /shrug

Anyways, you should be seeing OTA updates at some point. I just don't know when that will happen.

Thanks,
Kevin

hlustik

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Nov 3, 2011, 5:36:44 AM11/3/11
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I just got Android 2.3.4 on my Xperia Mini Pro.. but the error is the
same

in which version of android is this fixed?
because i would even consider switching to cyanogenmod

thanks in advance

Stefan

Roy Groh

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Nov 3, 2011, 6:03:04 AM11/3/11
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Only it's work from Updated by OTA (Over the Air). It's did fixed for Google Sky Map.. not Cyanogenmod...  

My phone was Gingerbread 2.3.4 build 2.15.531.5.. now after OTA, build 2.16.531.5.

T moblie G2 aka Desire z
Gingerbread 2.3.4

hlustik

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Nov 3, 2011, 6:36:59 AM11/3/11
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so it's not dependent of the android version :-(

Roy Groh

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Nov 3, 2011, 6:40:19 AM11/3/11
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Which is why I won't go for Cyanogenmod.. too many bug, risky, etc..  sorry

On Nov 3, 2011 5:36 AM, "hlustik" <hlu...@gmail.com> wrote:
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