Compass seems not to work on XA2 Ultra

Bug Reports
1

REPRODUCIBILITY (100%):
BUILD ID = OS VERSION (3.4.0.24):
HARDWARE (XA2 Ultra Dual Sim):
UI LANGUAGE: English (US)
REGRESSION: Don’t know.

DESCRIPTION:
The compass in OrienteeringCompass and in SatStat (via F-Droid) points into a more or less constant wrong direction. Calibration in OrienteeringCompass goes up to 33%, but drops back to zero almost immediately. Calibration does not improve the accuracy of the compass.

PRECONDITIONS:
Recent install on XA2 Ultra. I did not try the compass with the stock Android before flashing sailfish.

STEPS TO REPRODUCE:

  1. Install OrienteeringCompass
  2. Try calibration
  3. Compare direction indicated by the application to the correct one.

EXPECTED RESULT:

The compass should indicate the correct direction.

ACTUAL RESULT:

The compass points into some random direction.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

None

2 Likes
2

Just came across this:
https://together.jolla.com/question/211542/sony-xperia-xa2-magnetic-compass/

This does not look good. Is there any hope to fix the compass? How are the navigation apps affected?

3

Just a short update. All of a sudden, compass calibration remains constant at 33%. Rotating the phone rotates the compass needle correctly, but the direction is about 90 degree off.

4

Do you happen to have your XA2 in some kind of protective case? On my XA2 the compass behaves pretty much like you described when the device is in a case, but when I take it out it starts working normally.

5

Hello,
No problem with my XA2 plus Dual Sim. Compass works fine.

6

Thanks a lot for your responses.
The phone has no case, and I made sure that there are no metallic objects nearby that could have an impact on the field. The direction is 90 degrees off, and calibration went up from 33% to 67% all of a sudden.
Is there a way to reset the calibration? Does resetting the device help? Or do I have to reflash?

7

You can just enter CSD tool and run the individual test of the compass, this starts recalibration.

However recalibration doesn’t last long on my XA2+, well I have a magnetic usb connector in the phone that excuses anything with the compass.

8

Thanks for pointing me at the CSD tool. I tried recalibration a few times, and it keeps failing. Does this indicate a hardware error?