Database Users

GPS Today

GPS Today
I am very impressed with this program so far. Found it at
http://www.freewareppc.com/download/travel/gpstoday.shtml
Like Google Maps but with a Today Plugin.
Works easy and fast!!
Try it!
Mobo

Sounds cool, I'm trying it now. Here's a link to the full page with the description: http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=26396
Application Description
GeoTerrestrial GPSToday is a lightweight today screen plugin that will allow you to utilize the full capabilities of your device.
* It utilizes intelligent algorithms to always maintain and display a fix on your position right on your today screen, without draining the battery.
* Always see your full street address, not just geo-coordinates.
* Currently WORKS in the US only!
* Slide the red icon over to the right to start the GPS in continuous mode, or single-tap the red icon to start the GPS in quick-fix mode.
* GPSToday always shows the distance to the nearest contact from your device's address book.
* Single tap to create a new contact with your current location as the address, or save the current location as an existing contact's address. Imagine not having to type the full street address on the PPC keyboard!
* You will never need the stylus to use GPSToday!
* Speed, heading and satellite data is shown clearly on the today screen whenever the GPS is running.
* In-pocket tap protection. A single tap on the today screen only operates the GPS in quick fix mode. To fully start the GPS in continuous mode requires an iphone like sliding motion, guaranteeing no pocket accidents.
* Single tap from the today screen to access fully draggable online maps!<
* Always see all your address book contacts on the map. Just tap a contact to quickly call/email or send sms.
* Single tap from today screen to quickly do a yahoo local search around your current position and see the results on a live map. Just tap a result to call or open the website.
* High quality Yelp Reviews for local search results!
* Fetch the full street address for any point on the map.
* GPSToday automatically disables data access when your device goes into roaming mode.
* And many more features.
* Best of all, its free!
Update Description
Added Note: Currently Works in the US only!

i'm trying t too

I'm really curious how can it be "without draining the battery" when internet is active and gps is active. If those two features are active then battery must be drain more than normal usage. Hopefully, someone can measure it. If it is true, we can have GPS open all day long without worry about battery drain and in the same time no need to wait for "cold" boot and have instant gps when open tomtom or other gps application.

I had it on my device for the last few days and while it does offer direction, speed, etc it does consume battery life. It stays active and when it hits open sky, begins the search. Several trips home from work monitoring my speed yielded a very warm battery...

I'm really curious how can it be "without draining the battery" when internet is active and gps is active. If those two features are active then battery must be drain more than normal usage. Hopefully, someone can measure it. If it is true, we can have GPS open all day long without worry about battery drain and in the same time no need to wait for "cold" boot and have instant gps when open tomtom or other gps application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There should be no extra Battery drain with GPS on because GPS doesn't require the transmitter to be turned on like the internet access does.
The receiver in the unit always stays on (so you can get calls) so receiving satellite data doesn't require any more power than normal.
The internet connection DOES drain the battery though as it needs to turn on the transmitter each time it sends data.

i used it this morning and last night.
first off, it leaves the data connection active while it updates your location/address so yeah, it drains the battery. i lost 10% or so in about an hour of constant use. but keep in mind that also had the screen on while i was watching it. next, its a little buggy because, for me, it would stop GPS'ing when the screen shut off and once the screen came back on, it would get the sats for about 20 seconds then stop. i have to go into the map, choose MORE, and chose run GPS to make it stay on. all in all, its a really neat app, i love the speed part.

I just found this the other day and tested it. One problem I had was I had to go to the map to keep my connection open. It kept turning on and off until I clicked on the map and it didn't turn off afterwards. I didn't have to keep it open. I just opened and closed it. It seems to get a pretty quick connection when outside. It seems to be a memory hog I think for what it does. I start at 11 mb with just this on the Today screen using NexVision rom, which I usually started at 15. I like the plugin. I wish it didn't use at much ram as it does.

OK.. I might just be lame but I ran the cab on this.. Did the soft reset and there is nothing installed for it.. In my programs there is no listing for it and on my storage card (where I installed it) there is only a listing for a help file that does not open...
Any ideas??

RevSand said:
OK.. I might just be lame but I ran the cab on this.. Did the soft reset and there is nothing installed for it.. In my programs there is no listing for it and on my storage card (where I installed it) there is only a listing for a help file that does not open...
Any ideas??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
NM... just installed it to the device and it works.. hmmm not a fan of it there but it will have to do...

Asphyx said:
There should be no extra Battery drain with GPS on because GPS doesn't require the transmitter to be turned on like the internet access does.
The receiver in the unit always stays on (so you can get calls) so receiving satellite data doesn't require any more power than normal.
The internet connection DOES drain the battery though as it needs to turn on the transmitter each time it sends data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you delve a little bit deeper into how GPS receivers work, you'd understand that it actually does draw quite a bit of power. Also, the mogul does not use aGPS, which uses the cellular tower information to help get a faster fix without as much effort on the part of the GPS chip. Your explanation of "The receiver in the unit always stays on (so you can get calls)" doesn't make any sense in this case since the technologies do not rely on each other.
To prove my point:
Turn off the cellular radio on your phone in the comm manager. Turn on Bluetooth. They both use a receiver, however bluetooth uses far less power than the cellular radio. Your battery will last longer. The GPS radio also uses power, perhaps less than cellular, but more than not using it at all.
BOTTOM LINE: Leaving GPS on will eat your battery. Period.

it's a today plug in. if it doesnt show up, reinstall it to your device

This program makes my mogul really slooooooooooow...

hmmm, I was really trying to prevent downloading on device but i'll do it and hope all works.
Update. I now see the gps but my phone is slow as dirt. Cant even click on Start or anything....whenever I receive a new message I get same issue...bout to soft reset again to see if it works a little better....

seems to be running better just needed time to boot up I guess....should we be changing anything on GPS settings? I feel like I just got a new toy man...

Seems like a cool new toy.. I cannot wait to get outta the cave I am working in right now and see how well it really works with a sat signal...

Dishe said:
If you delve a little bit deeper into how GPS receivers work, you'd understand that it actually does draw quite a bit of power. Also, the mogul does not use aGPS, which uses the cellular tower information to help get a faster fix without as much effort on the part of the GPS chip. Your explanation of "The receiver in the unit always stays on (so you can get calls)" doesn't make any sense in this case since the technologies do not rely on each other.
To prove my point:
Turn off the cellular radio on your phone in the comm manager. Turn on Bluetooth. They both use a receiver, however bluetooth uses far less power than the cellular radio. Your battery will last longer. The GPS radio also uses power, perhaps less than cellular, but more than not using it at all.
BOTTOM LINE: Leaving GPS on will eat your battery. Period.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
and besides that, even if the gps doesnt need extra power to recieve GPS data it still has to do something with the data, that means the processor is running, stuff is being written to and from RAM, then displayed on the today screen, all this takes more power that doing nothing
anyway, i ended up having to prime the GPS with google maps to get this thing going, and the today plugin flickers rather annoyingly (and its definately eating the battery, i got it charging now but its charging up a lot slower than usual)

hmm, i have google maps on my laptop for mobile. I will attempt to install later. as far as the gps working, I was driving to work and it showed me how fast I was going and how far i was from work. I didnt even put it to search for work but it must have found the address somehow in my phonebook?
I'm lookin at the program and its linking to an Autozone that is 5,397.7 miles away from me. I know which one they are referring to since i saved that name and number but i'm pretty sure its closer than 5 thousand miles from me...WTF
i'm still trying to learn how to use this...

program seemed REALLY cool.. but while it was installed and looking for a signal it seemed to REALLY lock up my phone... I could not do anything on it for a couple mins. I will keep an eye out for a newer version when it comes out since I did really like the concept of this program...

Thank you
Hi all,
First, its wonderful to see so many positive comments about the software just days after its first release. Now we know we are on the right track!
Secondly guys, apologies for the bugs/issues you faced, or are still facing. This is still version 0.9, so its actually a beta release (not that that's an excuse!). Also please excuse us for the lack of documentation.
About the "without draining the battery" part, I agree the language is somewhat confusing. It was meant to compare with the consumption that would occur if the GPS were actually running all the time. You'll agree that if you start up the GPS at 8:00 in the morning on a typical Phone-PDA and leave it running non-stop along with an active internet connection, it will not last until noon. With GPSToday one can get the same benefit throughout the entire day. There have been some inconsistencies though, with some users reporting almost no perceptible change in battery life, and some being seriously affected.
Please note that tapping the red icon on the today screen is intentionally meant to temporarily start the gps, obtain a fix if available, and then stop. To start the GPS in continuous mode from the today screen itself, drag the red icon over and drop it onto either of the two icons on the right. Once you are done, you must remember to stop it by repeating the same gesture. Also, try this once if the automatic mode is not able to get a fix the first time you go outdoors.
Memory: our tests indicate significantly less than 1MB consumption when the map window is closed, and about 1.5 Mb overall when the map window is being actively used. We agree this is a bit high (but nowhere close to the 4mb one of you is reporting). Some of this is also an offshoot of the fact that it uses up only a tiny amount of storage memory, < 200kB. Nevertheless, expect to see ram usage being reduced significantly in later versions.
Lastly, please fetch the latest version 0.9.1 which fixes some battery life issues and other minor fixes, from Pocketgear at http://classic.pocketgear.com/software_detail.asp?id=26396. Make sure the download filename is GPSToday091.CAB. We recommend a soft reset immediately after installtion. We also promise that from v 1.0 onward soft resets will not be required!.
Thanks!
GT, Inc

Weird GPS problem. Moving even while my car is motionless.

Hi i have weird problem with my GPS.
While I driving (car is moving) everything is beauty and sweet but once I stop my car my GPS is still moving for about 10 sometimes 20 sec showing 2km/h then 0km/h then 2km/h again. Sometimes when I stop car on junction my Gps will jump on the perpendicular road and from time to time my arrow on the map just turn around to opposite direction and the maps sets a new route! Once i move my car everything going back to normal.
I was using first my TomTom and i just thought it`s a map problem although i haven`t problem with that on my Rhodium either X1. So I decided to try Igo8 and it`s exactly this same. Even on the roundabout my gps can jump somewhere else on different road.
I tried all Radios available for HD2, many Roms and just have no idea what more I can do. Many people on HD2 forum in Poland have this same problem.
I also tried GPS fix cab downloaded here from xda but no luck its ever worst.
I can add that i'm getting GPS fix in few second so its good the problem is just my gps is moving around.
PS. Very, very rarely have no problem with this jumpin gps around. But is like 1/30.

Do you have access to an external Bluetooth GPS receiver you can test out? That could eliminate or isolate some possibilities.

balane said:
Do you have access to an external Bluetooth GPS receiver you can test out? That could eliminate or isolate some possibilities.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
unfortunately i don`t. but on my Touch Pro 2 and Xperia never had this problem.

hi,
are you using the 'gpsmoddriver' software, that is floating around here in the forum?. its made for using the compass data when no gps fix is available. it causes such failures in igo and copilot on my hd2. after uninstalling it gps works much more percise to me, when im not moving.
regards mad

Happens with mine as well. I have replaced my HD2 and it seems that the 2nd unit acts the same. tried various ROMs/RADIOs (official/cooked) - nothing seemed to fix this.
It's quite funny though... most of the people rather paying attention to the fix time instead of the accuracy (which is quite bad imo) in addition to this weird phenomenon. I doubt that the AGPS is somehow related, but it will be nice to know how to disable this feature, and try to acquire the signal without it. maybe this is the cause.
Btw, check this out - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=600232

Fatherboard said:
Happens with mine as well. I have replaced my HD2 and it seems that the 2nd unit acts the same. tried various ROMs/RADIOs (official/cooked) - nothing seemed to fix this.
It's quite funny though... most of the people rather paying attention to the fix time instead of the accuracy (which is quite bad imo) in addition to this weird phenomenon. I doubt that the AGPS is somehow related, but it will be nice to know how to disable this feature, and try to acquire the signal without it. maybe this is the cause.
Btw, check this out - http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=600232
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agps - this feature is available in NRGZ roms. I tried to turn on and off and it was no different.
PS. thanks for answering.
madbird said:
hi,
are you using the 'gpsmoddriver' software, that is floating around here in the forum?. its made for using the compass data when no gps fix is available. it causes such failures in igo and copilot on my hd2. after uninstalling it gps works much more percise to me, when im not moving.
regards mad
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As i said before : i was using it. I had feelings its jumping around the places more than without it so I uninstalled it.

Tried to email HTC regarding this. they claim that their HD2's don't exhibit this behavior, even though I've tried two different units, from different batches.
I don't know what to do... this drives IGO nuts - it causes igo to switch lanes, directions and having the route recalculated without any good reason.

Fatherboard said:
Tried to email HTC regarding this. they claim that their HD2's don't exhibit this behavior, even though I've tried two different units, from different batches.
I don't know what to do... this drives IGO nuts - it causes igo to switch lanes, directions and having the route recalculated without any good reason.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sometimes its just pointless to talk with those dickheads.
They ll never say true.
With pink camera was this same. They were saying at the beginning that they have no problem with pink spot at all. And what was next? We need just more people to email or ring them.
Most of them even not using HD2. They've seen for few minutes and think they'll know everything about it.
It was so many bugs with this device they just dont want to hear about another one!

In addition to that, both of my units tended to show different position and altitude readings each time i powered up igo or google maps. while exhibiting the differences I obviously didn't from my current position, not even an inch.
to try to make things clearer. that's what I did :
loading igo -> acquiring signal within seconds -> getting a certain position reading with altitude of 11 meters (for example) -> quit -> reloading igo -> acquiring signal within seconds -> slightly different position, altitude of 75 meters or a negative value (for example).
even the small blinking dot in igo (which determines the actual gps mark) doesn't fit to my physical location on the road which I'm currently driving on. it sometimes blinks few meters to the right/left, and sometimes it tracks behind the guidance arrow (as it should be).

Could be
Simply a limitation of GPS. I have seen it on other GPS's. Garmin etrex. Try walking with one and even thou you are walking in a straight line it plots a zigzag path. More satelites (10+) should reduce this issue.
Basically the GPS is only accurate to a certain range from +-50m to +- 2 meters depending on the no of sats. The location is detemined by timing from when the signal was sent to when it was received. Calcs how far away the sat is (Speed of light??). It is possible you care getting a fluctuation in your current location. Eg
Sample 1 says you are point a.
Sample 2 says you are 2 meters to the right.
Sample 3 says you are 2 meters to the left.
Still in the +- 5 meters but the gps is plotting you moving backwards and forwards.

Guys, it is a problem everyone has, gps position is not as accurate or stable on the hd2 as on most other htc devices. And with an erratic gps position automatically comes an erratic speed. Don't know yet if it is because of a different gps module that's inside the hd2 or because of the inclusion of crappy gps drivers. Will try to find out soon....
Anyway, gpsmoddriver is not the cause of this problem since the problem is also on an hd2 without having gpsmoddriver installed. Because of the functionality of gpsmoddriver to improve the gps readings, in some cases it can amplify your erratic gps position, and that is also what some of you have been experiencing. Remember you can always use gpsmoddriver to add the hardware compass functionality to your navigation software, while additionally configuring gpsmoddriver to leave gps data untouched so it won't make the erratic position and speed worse. For more info or help, please visit the gpsmoddriver thread: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=571266
EDIT: Of course the HD2 has a new snapdragon chip which has built-in GPS just like many previous generations of phones. Most likely qualcomm changed the way gps works in their new line of Snapdragon processors...

The movement of vehicles around you or even the movement of the sun's rays on buildings nearby can distort GPS signals. The GPS navigator software tries to rationalize this distortion and that usually appears as a movement when you are still. On the other hand, if you drive into a tunnel using TomTom and some other software, you will often see yourself driving straight on in the tunnel well after the GPS is receiving no more satellite signals.
In top-of-the-line built-in navigation systems, the GPS data is supplemented by inertial guidance. (Someone could create a similar supplement for the HD2 The supplementary information allows the system to reconcile the GPS information with information on your car's actual movement.
But for us mere mortals, we just have to live with it.

Well... this particular gps chip is quite useless, then. if my navigation program has to recalculate the route each time I stop at traffic light, then it seems that I either have to purchase a usb-based gps to pair with the HD2, or replace this device. I counted on it to perform well.

Fatherboard said:
Well... this particular gps chip is quite useless, then. if my navigation program has to recalculate the route each time I stop at traffic light, then it seems that I either have to purchase a usb-based gps to pair with the HD2, or replace this device. I counted on it to perform well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Complain to HTC, perhaps if they get enough complains they will come out with a hotfix or a rom upgrade that fixes it. Nobody said that the hardware is not that good (though it's possible), but it could also very well be a bad implementation by HTC!!

Already did.
They have obviously denied my complaints.
thanks again, anyway.

I noticed this behaviour yesterday night, at about 10pm. I was playing with NoniGPSplot, and while I was completely still (and freezing me arse outside believe me), it was tracking a movement back and fro and all around in small step, keeping track of me traveling some meters still while I was standing in the same point.
It was night and I was in my big yard, so no sunrays nor moving vehicles around nor buildings over my head.
I think this behaviour is very well hidden in tomtom since it automatically puts you on a road, and "smoothens" the gps data by making you follow that road no matter what, but a "realtime" software like nonigps tracks that all so well. Gonna notify htc about it now.

Guys, let's not go overboard on this. Non-military GPS is only claimed accurate to around 20 metres, regardless of the quality of the receiver. It's the US Defense Department messing with your HD2, not HTC.

Stephen Selby said:
Guys, let's not go overboard on this. Non-military GPS is only claimed accurate to around 20 metres, regardless of the quality of the receiver. It's the US Defense Department messing with your HD2, not HTC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, absolutely, I've noticed the same behaviour with all three of the BlueTooth GPS I used in the past. So, I would not be too quick to blame HTC for this.

my touch cruise's gps receiver worked with static navigation enabled to avoid this false movement. maybe this is just a usual behaviour?

Agree to that.
But regardless of the fact that the thing is not a military GPS system, It should do it's work correctly as for me the GPS is almost useless when driving slow or within a city. My 2nd phone (HTC DIAMOND) and 3 personal navigation devices are mounted in my car to compare and all work fine when the HD2 isn’t .
The GPS looses all the time the fix to the satellites and then quickly gets the fix back. when using a GPS monitor you can see that the satellites constantly moving really rapidly. (moving --> getting fix and loosing it again)
This is for 4 other reference devices which are running simultaneously not the case so it seems really an issue with the GPS device.
I tested this with different ROMs (1.44 Vodafone, 0.6 dutty WM 6.5.5, 1.66 stock and another one I cannot recall the producer anymore.)

GPS Problem, or Compass/G-Sensor issue?

So I hooked up my bluetooth GPS to the phone the other day, and one thing I have noticed (during testing driving only, with MyTracks) was that the track was indeed better, however all the while the compass arrow was swinging wildly from one direction to another. Sometimes 180 degrees while phone and gps were sitting still.
This leads me to wonder if the GPS itself isn't the issue, but some integration with the other sensors. Has this been discussed and considered?
(I know someone mentioned it recently, which is why I paid so much attention to have noticed the way the arrow was deviating from the direction of travel.

No, the GPS is defiately the issue.
I had seriously thought this for a while and suspected some sort of sensor mixing on Samsungs part, but now that i've investigated the phone thoroughly, including roothing and looking at the drivers and processes that run while navigating I can confidently state that the teeny-tiny GPS antenna is the problem. That and a proliforation of advice in this forum to use the GPS in MS-Assisted mode, which doesn't use 'GPS' at all, but mobile base stations instead.
The reason the compass was swinging around was probably because you were driving in a car made of metal.
I saw very similar behaviour when I first got the phone and had it in a case with a magnetic fastening. Strangely enough no matter what direction I faced I was always heading south according to the phone.
You can help the phone out considerably however by making sure that it has a decent sky-view in a car - so put it in the windscreen rather then attaching to air vents.

dangrayorg said:
No, the GPS is defiately the issue.
I had seriously thought this for a while and suspected some sort of sensor mixing on Samsungs part, but now that i've investigated the phone thoroughly, including roothing and looking at the drivers and processes that run while navigating I can confidently state that the teeny-tiny GPS antenna is the problem. That and a proliforation of advice in this forum to use the GPS in MS-Assisted mode, which doesn't use 'GPS' at all, but mobile base stations instead.
The reason the compass was swinging around was probably because you were driving in a car made of metal.
I saw very similar behaviour when I first got the phone and had it in a case with a magnetic fastening. Strangely enough no matter what direction I faced I was always heading south according to the phone.
You can help the phone out considerably however by making sure that it has a decent sky-view in a car - so put it in the windscreen rather then attaching to air vents.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You could try using the 'calibrate' option of the Compass program (catch.com) that is available on the Market. It gets you to do a figure 8 movement of the device during the processes. I have to do this after using my beltclip with the magnetic fastener which messes up the compass. I think it's best done outside the car. Before I did that I was always facing south too!
As far as the OP's post, I don't know if the calibration would help when an external GPS unit is employed.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using Tapatalk

first of all: the gps implementation on this device is a disgrace. absolutely worthless. as far as compass goes, that is a weird one. you can get it to work sometimes by running /system/bin/sensorcalibutil_yamaha (need to be root to run it). but it "breaks" again after a while.
also if someone could test the following: get wifi signal, get gps position (not a-gps, turn that off completely), be sure that the lock is there. then switch off the wifi without touching gps settings. does the gps lose signal instantly after switching off wifi?

Should I give up on i9000? GPS will NEVER work! Can't we sue them or get a recall?

I actually need gps quite a bit in my line of work. I bought this phone because of it. But, it just does not work. Some claim it works fine, but at the same time they are saying they get 5-10m lock! (thats off by 30ft!) With a borrowed motorola atrix i was getting 4.9 feet accuracy (thats like accurate by 2 steps!). I think I have come to the conslusion that it will never work, and samsuck doesn't even care! Why else would they keep releasing newer phones with the exact same problems? I'm gonna jump ship...everything else about this phone is awesome. Any ideas if HTC has good gps/reception? I am thinking about the incredible S. (and i'm not a troll, I have lived with this phone's gps issues for almost 1 year now).

Get a real GPS receiver, and don't expect it will be cheap if you want a real 4.9ft accuracy.
and for i9000 is about 15ft~30ft accuracy, quite good when compare to my garmin unit.

Samsung should get sued for that piece of hardware ****... but the i9000 is still the best phone
You should try Darkys 10.1 with Darky Core and JVO Modem. GPS works okay but no perfectly !

i do like this:
android market : gps toolbox , in settings has 2 options - download agps satelites and reset gps
1st i download the satelites data
2nd i reset gps
and after closing this app , i open my gps soft and it works , i use iGO

Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.

And if your unit performs worse than everyone else's SGS, then you might consider bending the contacts that connect the GPS antenna inside. Seems they don't make good contact on many units.
There is a thread about it somewhere.
Mike
Garbled meaning induced by swype when posting from XDA app on SGS I9000.

at the beginning gps was not very good but after android 2.2 and newer fw gps is totally fine for me. outside and in car it works very good. btw data network is activated for me and it helps for faster fix...

I gave up on the Internal GPS after a few Months.
Purchased an External Bluetooth GPS Receiver and now have accuracy to around 5 meters at times.
Also easier as the GPS Receiver can be turned on the get Satellite lock then connected to the Phone.

GPS on JVO ROM is all you can get. It's not enough to lead you driving on a city. GPS antenna is too small, does not update position often enough, keeps using guessing instead of real GPS position (your previous speed is used to calculate the supposed position, something very bad when you're turning around many times).
It's good enough to use it walking outside the city (main reason for me), or in highways (smooth curves and slow change of direction), but the GPS on the Galaxy S is real ****. Worst than the one in my previous two phones, and worst than the one in many current phones.
I really don't understand why having a phone that big we keep having to deal with so much unuseful plastic. 1.5 cm above an below the screen. Just make the phone the same size as the screen. The speaker can go in the top, like in many Motorola models. The battery could be bigger. If they have to make an GPS antenna that's 5 cm long, make it, running along one side.
It's like the phone hanging after a call. I would not advise this device for anyone depending of his phone to receive critical calls at any time. This **** just hangs radomly and you have to force a reboot.

Just to let people know that I've spent all afternoon trying 3 different ROMS, 2 times each, and the GPS sensivity is better on XXJVO.
I flashed the deodexed versions from Ramad, and used GPS status app to test. Just flash the ROM, install GPS status, see how many satellites it detects.
JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 1 or less while on my desk
XXJVO detects 4 and gets a fix, and sometimes it mantains the fix
Next to a window, JVJV9 and XXJVP detect 5 or 6 satellites, get a fix but lose it, most of the time 0 satellites in green.
XXJVO detects 8 satellites, 7 in green all the time
Accounting for the fact that satellite positions change between one test and another, I repeated tests twice.
I tried XXJVP on the field last weekend and was unable to get a fix while on the car.
Phone is sitting now on my desk, and has 4 satellites in green and intermitent fix. Much better than the other ROMs that see 0 or 1 satellites sitting on the same spot.

SKeijmel said:
Why do i always hear people with problems my gps works fine since day one. even on the old roms. only with these newer ones i get real fast lock.
never had any problem with navigation software and driving my car
i a using sygic mobile maps because i dont wanna waste data with google maps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Gmaps 5.x and above has cache option...I'm finding very useful. Plus offline navigation should be coming this summer

Personally, I've given up on the GPS.. Samsung should honestly be sued, but it is too expensive to do so.
It has gotten better with newer ROM's, but, the sensitivity still appears to be a joke compared to my years old garmin forerunner. It may be good enough for some people who use it for navigation (because, I'd imagine there are plenty of algorithms which can probably be employed). However, the track quality produced seems semi-laughable, and the GPS appears to be nowhere near the quality of a dedicated unit.
People also need to stop checking programs like "gps status". They don't tell you if the location is correct (because it wont show you on the maps). So the accuracy value means nothing (the accuracy value means nothing without RAIM/FDE anyway regardless of unit).

GPS doesn't work at all on my SGS.
I tried that 'push the upper part of the rubberplastic thingy' trick, no result.
Whenever I try to find my location in Google maps, it can only find the WIFI center about 1km away from here. I think that's thanks to the Use Wireless Networks setting. but the GPS in my own SGS has never ever succeeded in locking any satelites.
Must be a hardware fauly I guess?
I bought it in October IIRC.
I don't mind though, never had the need to use GPS.
But it just bothers me that I got a somewhat malfunctioning device.
No big deal though!

Its been working fine on mine.. The only time i had issues was with 2.2/2.2.1
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk

Some data points:
The signal to noise levels reported by the test tools seem reasonable.
All GPS systems use averaging to get a lock.
All GPS systems use Kalman filtering, which filters and connects location and speed, to make the system work at all. The stronger the filter, the more stable the position. But this gives bigger problems in turns.
Dedicated receivers have a much bigger antenna and thus need less averaging to get a stable position.
Receiver software has 'modes' - for example walking and driving mode. In driving mode, movements at low speeds are suppressed.
GPS is still a work in progress; there must be a reason Samsung renamed LBStestMode into AngryGPS!

Planning to use ONLY for Navigation, need good battery

So I'm planning to recycle my old Inc as a dedicated GPS for my car... Using Navigon and local maps to do so. (Among some other small things like aCar, Torque, etc... but Navigation is my main concern) Anyways, I only care about battery. Any recommendations regarding a simple, plain ROM for optimizing battery life? Especially idle times. It only has to be fast enough to provide me with navigation... The phone's not even activated.
Thanks in advance!

anekdotos said:
So I'm planning to recycle my old Inc as a dedicated GPS for my car... Using Navigon and local maps to do so. (Among some other small things like aCar, Torque, etc... but Navigation is my main concern) Anyways, I only care about battery. Any recommendations regarding a simple, plain ROM for optimizing battery life? Especially idle times. It only has to be fast enough to provide me with navigation... The phone's not even activated.
Thanks in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use CM7 straight up on my retired Inc. Use it mostly as an alarm, light gaming and to chat. I get 16-20 hours out if it easy. Stock battery. SetCPU throttles the proc when the screen is off. It's been a good setup.
From the Rez Beast

Same here. If you're looking for more battery life than AOSP is the way to go, and CM7 is well polished and very efficient, not to mention they throw in a bunch of settings for you to mess around with.
I would also suggest you look into optimizing your gps.config file and other GPS enhancements to better lock onto satellites in your region. There's also setting changes you can do to aide the satellites in finding your generic location and also allowing your phone to lock onto more than just a few satellites. I don't know any threads off hand, but I thought I'd mention this as something you'd probably want to do if you're going to be a heavy GPS user.
Note: If you're retiring this phone, it won't have service right? Navigation needs 3G (or wifi) to download the maps. But you may have an option to try and download the maps beforehand and store them on your SD card, I've only heard of people doing small areas but you may be able to get a larger area to save on your card.
Also ideally you would have a USB plug in your car and just snap it in whenever you really need it, GPS will drain your battery one way or another no matter the ROM.

Okay great. Flashing CM7 as we speak. And yeah, I know. I would LOVE to be able to use the native Navigation app, but I can't find a way to cache a large area. So for the meantime I'm going to be using Navigon which stores the map files locally.

You may also want to look into this script: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1217038
It disables the 3G but keeps Wifi working. I would assume that would save you some battery.
But, as POQbum said, Navigating is going to burn through your battery either way, so you'll want a car charger.