Re: Google Sky doesn't work reliably on my 4 Android devices.

[SidGabriel]

It sounds like you live within range of a strong magnetic field or
have some kind of equipment that generates a strong em field. Have you
tested the devices in different geographic locations?

On Saturday, June 16, 2012 1:12:53 AM UTC-7, canman wrote:

The Google Sky Time travel for sun location made to buy first Android device.

1. After checking several Android devices I must admit I couldn't get Google Sky to work properly, when hold toward horizon - when trying to view the sunrise, sunset or prersent location. 

While tablet Samsung P7300 has been best close to almost working but sometimes sensors fail to provide data or Google Sky doesn't understand it. As a result I never know if next sunrise is this time correct or not.

 I checked with Androsensor app and orientation data was incorrect, unit couldn't display it's vertical angle and as such - should work for Google Sky.

Android v 3.2

2. phone Samsung Galaxy S Plus I9001 - is weirdest unit, while compass is correct on the table, it's Google Sky time travel mode fails near 90 degrees when toward horizon and so is the sunrise 90 degrees shifted. Sunset time is 2 hours earlier and next sunrise 2 hours later. Does anyone knows how to interpret this??? 

I checked with Androsensor apps and orientation data was correct, the the unit might be expected to work.

Firmware 2.3.5

 

And that is not all - things go even more weird, when map display is set to "now" the sun direction is correct, except it's below the horizon and map too is rotated 180 degrees (up-down)

I carried the Samsung phone to warranty but since Google Sky is not Samsung Apps there was nothing wrong with phone according to Samsung and it was returned without any fix.

3. Motorola Defy+ and LG E510 similar behavior to Samsung phone, in time travel mode when hold toward horizon direction is shifted some 90 degrees, while compass is correct on the table.

Obviously the problem isn't in Google Sky alone but as well in hardware sensors readouts, which aren't compatible.

I'm not sure what sensors are required and do these units even are expected to be Sky Map compatible.

 But the first thing always has been to check compass and presence of GPS location data.

Any suggestions which models must have required sensors?

As I use it mainly for sun location in time travel mode and don't use social networks, I'd stay with budget class device.

Any ideas? I presently have run out of thoughts what's going on.

[SidGabriel]

The other important point to make sure is working properly is the device location. This influences how the data is displayed. Perhaps that's obvious, but I wanted to mention it, since you hadn't mentioned confirming that the location was set properly by gps in your message.

[Andy Raynor]

I must say I've had very similar issues on my Razr Maxx. The issue I
see is the phone doesn't "pan" and adjust what I'm seeing. I
essentially have to recalibrate the compass every time I use the app,
usually through a 3rd party GPS application.

[Kevin Serafini]

FWIW, there are three things that can affect your view of the sky:

1. Incorrect time. Normally, this is not a problem, since you get time from the network. 
2. Incorrect location. This can be a big one. By default, we use Android's location services, which is either GPS or network. Either one is fine, since you don't have to be super accurate. However, if neither of them work, we fall back to Pisa, Italy. We did that because we originally defaulted to Pittsburgh, PA, but since we all worked there, we wouldn't notice if something was wrong. Now, if something is wrong, its very obvious. Well, except for folks in Pisa...
3. The compass. At some point, Motorola had a bug in their software that broke the compass. That caused no end of problems, although it should be out of the system by now. Also, we've noticed that some phones have flaky compasses/accelerometers. Manufacturers assume that people only care about direction on earth (i.e, north, south, east, west), so they don't worry as much about testing whether it works up/down. Since we need a combination of the two, a bad sensor can cause really wacky behavior. (TL;DR: Sensors are hard! :-)

The best advice I can give is a) make sure you're time is correct, b) make sure that your location is correct, and then c) make sure compass is calibrated. Note that most apps only calibrate in the horizontal direction (north, east, south, west) and not in the vertical. You actually need both to work.

Note that there is also a chance that you have broken hardware. We have seen that multiple times. Usually, the folks at the cellular store are cool about it, especially if you have some way to prove that its broken. Usually they have some sort of test software. I'd make sure that it's broken before taking it there, though. :-)