Comments on: How to calibrate the HTC Magic compass

By: Ichimusai

Ichimusai — Sun, 16 May 2010 07:22:52 +0000

Cetrainly, all compasses except those that use dead GPS calculations, are magnetic in origin and will of course sense other magnetic fields as well. The effects should be temporary however, removing the case and then re-calibrate it should make it work properly again.

By: tkid

tkid — Sun, 16 May 2010 02:52:13 +0000

I suspect that strong magnets can also influence phones like the HTC Desire. I have a case that has a magnetic latch, and i notice if i hold the phone near while looking at the compass app it goes crazy. I think this may also screw up the calibration. But your method of recalibrating does seem to work well. Thanks.

By: Ichimusai

Ichimusai — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 17:26:17 +0000

I had similar problems so I started testing various applications. Some said “your compass need calibration” but there was nothing in the manual that explained how to do this.

So eventually I started figuring that you needed to let the accelerometers find a null point. The way to do this is to move something in a circle but since it is a 3 axis accelerometer you need to do it both counter-clockwise and clockwise and then repeat in another plane.

So I tested the figure-8 movement and it worked really well. Later I tested another compass application and lo and behold, in the instructions it said “to calibrate compass north, hold the device flat and move in figure-8 circles for about 30 seconds”.

So others have figured the same thing.

By: Usus

Usus — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 10:58:03 +0000

I really did not expect this to work. Don’t know how you figured it out but thanks a lot my friend!

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By: Ichimusai

Ichimusai — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:24:52 +0000

The “calibration” is done by turning the device on, then holding it flat facing up and moving it in figure-8 circles for a while. Then hold it upright and repeat. That will help the accelerometers and magnetic compass to find the resting point and the north direction after which you can use the device with pretty good accuracy.

I am not aware of a file where the calibration data is stored in unfortunately.

By: Han-Droo-ïd

Han-Droo-ïd — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:45:08 +0000

May be i’m blind, but it seems that this calibration can be done without tools or software ? Do you know if I can find a “calibration” settings file ?