iPhone 3GS GPS disappointment

I’ve been mostly pleased with my 3GS, with one exception: GPS flakiness.

The hardware upgrades certainly make a difference, not only in applications but
general UI responsiveness, which makes the whole experience of using the device better.

The GPS however, bluntly put, sucks.

In Maps, I’m lucky if it ever uses the GPS (yes, even when standing outside
in clear skies). Even when Maps does decide to use the GPS, it doesn’t update frequently
enough and can take minutes to decide I’ve moved, which when driving can represent
a substantial distance. It’s essentially useless to me as a map+GPS device, which represented
the majority of my usage of my 3G.

Being a developer gives me access to the 3.1 betas, and I have the same poor GPS performance
on stock 3.0 as well as both 3.1 betas that have been released. At least it’s consistently crappy

I’ve combed forums and tried every possible solution, including many targeted at the 3G, but
nothing makes a positive improvement on my 3GS.

Hopefully the source of this issue is the firmware and can be fixed. It’s really disappointing, since
I came to rely very heavily on my 3G + GPS, which always worked impressively well, even in my
car. I trusted the 3G so much that I wasn’t bothering to look at a map prior to going somewhere.
I’d just head to my destination having a rough idea of where to go, pull up Maps on the 3G, and
depend on it to worry about the details. I had such trust in the 3G that I did this in states I’d
never driven in, and was traveling decent distances between cities, and it never failed me.

For example, last January I was in San Fransisco for work, and had to drive South to meet someone in Menlo Park.
No problem, just ask the phone. Then along the way, the phone’s battery nearly died. Again, no problem,
ask the phone for the closest Fry’s. It led me right to the closest store, at which I bought a cigarette
lighter charger and kept on truckin and made my appointment with plenty of time.

Alas, no more…