Database Users

Backlight switches off when using TomTom ?

My MDA Compact works beautifully with a BT GPS and TomTom 3....... except I have to keep touching the screen to keep it lit
Is there a way to stop this happening - actually is this normal or is mine broke !!??

You need to ensure the back light is not set to switch off after a certain amount of inactivity (yes, although tomtom is 'on' your pocket pc will not agree and will turn the back light off to save battery).
The solution really is to ensure your pocket pc is getting power.......

It's normal. I use Mbipocket (ebook reader), and even having the text scrolling up the screen won't stop the backlight turning off.

Dang !
How do you read your ebooks - by pressing the screen every few minutes ?
Something this obvious and they haven't fixed it !!
A simple tick box in the options menu isn't asking too much ??
So I guess the only way around it is to go into the backlight options and set it too stay on for 1 hour before turning off ...... wait, the maximum is only 5 minutes ..... I love Microsoft

????
very simple, watch under backlight, there you can adjust your settings...
the best is to buy a chargecable..and plug it in..
you mda will now charge , and navigate at the same time...
8)
have fun

Aitch said:
Dang !
How do you read your ebooks - by pressing the screen every few minutes ?
Something this obvious and they haven't fixed it !!
A simple tick box in the options menu isn't asking too much ??
So I guess the only way around it is to go into the backlight options and set it too stay on for 1 hour before turning off ...... wait, the maximum is only 5 minutes ..... I love Microsoft
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By tapping the screen every few minutes. Which as most of my ebook reading in dduring a 30 minute train journey to and from work, isn't much of a problem. And I've just realised that unticking the "turn off backlight" box means that it doesn't get turned off.

use TomTom4, the screen doesn't go off with that version
also BT is automaticly activated when starting TT4 when it was disabled in the systemtray.
TT4 r0x0r

Sweet !
TomTom 5 will be released in May - hopefully it will have those features included

tCC said:
use TomTom4, the screen doesn't go off with that version
also BT is automaticly activated when starting TT4 when it was disabled in the systemtray.
TT4 r0x0r
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Strange, TomTom upgrades from TT3 to TT5 (in may) and skipped 4...
You are really sure you have a TT4 ???
Did i miss something?
Thomas

Hell Yeah !!
TT 5 is coming for sure !
Checkout it out - http://www.pocketgps.co.uk/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=17753

Display stays dimmed

I know I know there are tons of topics about this
But here this out. I ve got the problem for about a week and hope some one can help me out.
After 30 secs my screen goes to dimmed-fase ( correctly as I setted )
And after 1 min. it suppose to auto turn it off but, it does try to by it only locks it down so the screen stays dimmed and doesnt go in standby ( total black screen and stuff )
Any one know what this might be?
Ive check the power settings and I have ticked the auto turn off after a ... minutes not used :S
So hope some one can help me out cause it drains my poor battery

sounds like a software issue, perhaps someone here knows the correct registry settings applicable to powersaving

I hope some one knows Cause I thought there were more folks that are looking for this

is it plug in for recharging? if yes, it's normal, during rechargind, it dimms out after 30 mins or so (please check both options, to dim out after 1-2 mins.)

Nope just normal use, so I sure hope some one knows the right registry setting to it

When plugged in USB and sync with PC, the Touch HD stays on with dimmed backlight. No matter how long the settings to turn off the backlight, the backlight still keep on its minimum level.
This is totally different with my Hermes, which the backlight can turn completely off after some time.

ahlok_hk said:
When plugged in USB and sync with PC, the Touch HD stays on with dimmed backlight. No matter how long the settings to turn off the backlight, the backlight still keep on its minimum level.
This is totally different with my Hermes, which the backlight can turn completely off after some time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I noticed that happens even when using a bluetooth to sync. No matter cable or not, connected activesync keeps light on.

Arrggh? Does no one know the right registry key value to it ? its quit annoying

*bump*
Really no one knows anything about this

same problem for me
I use LumOS, are you using it too ?

I removed LumOS, and everything is good now

Do you have MobileMagic installed?
I did and it had 'Stay On' activated in its settings which meant it always stayed on!
Might be the case here too!

koxx said:
I removed LumOS, and everything is good now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Even if my HD has no LumOS or Mobile Magic (from hard reset), the problem (backlight stays on during USB sync) still exist.
P.S. My previous X1 has the same behaviour...

koxx said:
I removed LumOS, and everything is good now
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well I had it installed but I removed it later one cause I didnt liked it too much
But the problem still occurs so there most be a registry value that didnt change with the install :\ or something

I've looked up some registry value's but really dont know which one i've have to edit
or if I even have looked up the right one
BatteryTimeOut 30
BatteryTimeoutTemp 0
BatteryTimeoutUnchecked 0
Maybe some one that still has the function that the screen goes black after a while.
Can look up the registry value's ? here is the path I dont know if i'm looking at the right point:
HKCU\\ControlPanel\Backlight
Maybe some one is kind enough to list all of there value in this map ?
PS:
My problem is that my blacklight doesnt go fully to black and that's when using it normal. Not connected to anything or something .
It usualy goes to black after a XX amount of time. but that doesnt happen any more :\

Dang no one is offering his self up too look up those registery valves

Guys, the fix is simple. You must have turned on the Autolock feature using HD Tweak or Advanced Config.
If yes, just turn it off.

I have got the autolock function on, did it via HDtweak
Havent check it via Advanced config.
But I dont know what you mean with the last sentence?
Should I turn it on or off?
Edit:
Well dang you were right, i've turned off the autolock function.
And now the display does go to black.
But I find it strange that it worked nicely a few weeks ago and now the problem occurs
so any idea?

*bump*
still no one has found the solution?

wrong reply

Diamond2 TouchFlo always returning to Home screen

Hi,
Has anyone noticed that the Diamond2 always returns to the home screen after comming out of lock mode or standby?
For example, i could be listening to music, after 5 mins of me not using the screen, the phone would lock. On entering the PIN, the TouchFlo retuns to the home screen, instead of my music app. Same goes for any other app on the TouchFlo. My previous Touch Pro came back to the last opened app on TouchFlo.
Not a huge problem but would be good if there was a tweak to stop this behaviour.
M

mgumbs said:
Hi,
Has anyone noticed that the Diamond2 always returns to the home screen after comming out of lock mode or standby?
For example, i could be listening to music, after 5 mins of me not using the screen, the phone would lock. On entering the PIN, the TouchFlo retuns to the home screen, instead of my music app. Same goes for any other app on the TouchFlo. My previous Touch Pro came back to the last opened app on TouchFlo.
Not a huge problem but would be good if there was a tweak to stop this behaviour.
M
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I dont think that the people here see it as a problem like you and myself I started a thread weeks ago
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=507358
1300 views but still no solution, its prob too hard to do Dammm HTC
Martyn
Ps if you find a solution please let me know

I also experienced a problem with switching screens when turning the device back on. Uninstalling TouchLockPro solved the problem for me...

@Brempie
I took your comment about uninstalling TouchLockPro. I didnt have that program installed but i took the PIN lock off my phone temporarily, and hey presto, phone works as it should!
So now we know what causes the problem, hopefully HTC will have a fix for it....eventually.
I'll live with the bug for the moment, i prefer a phone which is PIN locked.
Cheers,
M

I have never had this happen to me. I also installed throttle lock and it always goes back to where it was when I unlock. I just uninstalled throttle lock and did a soft reset to test and make sure it never reverted back to the home screen. Nothing.
No matter what program I am in it wakes up to that same spot. I don't know what the registry hack for this is but there probably is one.
Could you possibly try this? Install ThrotleLock v0.6 and then see if it will work. If it wakes back up to the same screen and not TF3D uninstall it and see if it goes back to TF3D or not.

*warming up this thread*
So, has anyone yet found a solution for this?
It's annoying for me as i have set the device to go to standby after 2 minutes of inactivity when on battery. When i listen to music with the musicplayer in foreground, or when i write an email and someone interrupts me, i put the device in standby by myself or it does automatically after the defined time.
In 95-99%, when i turn back on the device, it has returned back to the touchflo home screen. Very rarely, and it could not yet find any system, the device wakes up exactly where i left it. This is, what it should do everytime but sadly it doesn't.
I'm using the Stock-ROM, activated PIN-Lock of my SIM, having a (WinMobile default) device Lock (4-digits) set to activate after 24 hours (this way it does not activate itself during normal usage, unless i long-press the end-call-button), using 2ndToday with SPB Diary.
It gets more annoying for me every day, because especially during working time i frequently turn the device on and off. Reading RSS-news, turning the device off for an incoming call, turning the device on just to get welcomed by the home-screen instead of staying on the news i previously read isn't that comfortable
Having to open the taskmanager and reactivating the program means at least two more clicks everytime i use the device... so - any solution?
edit: I think i tracked down the source of the problem, watch in this thread:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=4366357&postcount=14

Screensaver that powers off screen but leaves device running?

Hi,
I've searched for several hours now in these forums and on Google, with no success.
I need an app that leaves the device switched on, but powers off the screen.
In settings/power I can dim the screen, but there is no setting to dim it completely or just switch it off.
I've found screensavers that can show a blank screen, but the screen is still actually powered up, just showing a black image presumably.
I've found apps that can switch off the screen. But you have to manually click on them to switch off the screen.
Does anyone know of a screensaver that after a set interval will leave the device running, but power off the screen please?
Suspend is no good, the device must be up and running apps.
Thanks for your help.

ClearOutLoft said:
Hi,
I've searched for several hours now in these forums and on Google, with no success.
I need an app that leaves the device switched on, but powers off the screen.
In settings/power I can dim the screen, but there is no setting to dim it completely or just switch it off.
I've found screensavers that can show a blank screen, but the screen is still actually powered up, just showing a black image presumably.
I've found apps that can switch off the screen. But you have to manually click on them to switch off the screen.
Does anyone know of a screensaver that after a set interval will leave the device running, but power off the screen please?
Suspend is no good, the device must be up and running apps.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What apps are you trying to "keep running"? The only thing that might be an issue when the screen goes into it's normal sleep mode is that audio will stop outputting, and wifi connections will suspend, but there's cabs available here to easily get around both of those (and keep them going even when the screen shuts off).

Well, it's actually to solve another long-running problem that has made me almost lose the will to live....
Alarms don't go off reliably on my TP2.
Sometimes, randomly, the alarm doesn't go off until I press the power button to wake it up. The the alarm instantly goes off. So, if I set an alarm for 6am, sometimes the phone wakes up and the alarm sounds, sometimes not. And if I switch the phone on manually sometime later, at 6:15 say, the 6am alarm sounds then.
It will work fine for a few days, then fail.
It happened on WM6.1 and still continues after upgrading to WM6.5.
I have spent countless hours googling and searching XDA-Dev. I have tried probably ten different alarm apps, with no luck. I have hard-reset various times. I have tried various recommended registry tweaks. I've tried checking the notification queue regularly for any errors. I've tried so many different suggestions, for example, never pressing the power button to turn the phone off, only ever let it hibernate automatically. Warm-resetting it each day. And the list goes on.
So, I'm experimenting with just leaving the phone on forever. But turning the screen off at night to save power / not shorten the life of the screen hardware.
Which leads me to the question about screensavers which actually power off the screen automatically after a set delay. Just like a normal screensaver on a PC.
It's hard to easily convey the frustration I have for the TP2. An excellent phone. But a phone which I can't trust to do the simplest thing: to wake me up in the morning?
It'll end up in the bin at some point very soon now.....

A suggestion
Hi,
In my opinion there must be an application, change or customisation that is leading you to those problems. My suggestion is, to perform a sync towards any computer or server to keep your contacts, then, hard reset and keep the phone with the factory defaults for a while. Then, test the phone's alarms and if all is okay, add one by one your applications and changes, testing the alarms in between. Please do that on the official ROM (whatever 6.5 or 6.1) but official one. You will flash if needed later on.
I know it will be a pain, but you will find the problem.
I am using a TP2 with stock WM6.5 ROM. I have not had yet any issue with the alarms. However, I remember to have had those kind of problems before with WM 5.0 and 6.1. There were always related to freeware applications, customisations, no official ROMs, registry hacks and restored backups done from older builds upon upgrade. The alarm bug in old WM version was also known, but I have not experienced it on newer versions.
There can be some issues with the notification database by times, but as said above, it is almost every time due to customisations.
I am not saying that we should keep our phones without applications, third party software, cooked ROMs, customisation etc. But the goal is to find out what is the reason, and believe me. It is the best if not only way.
If you post the list of applications and hacks that you have in your phone, I can try to see if there is any I could identify like guilty one, based on my own experience.
Complementary, I recommend you to install and use these two applications in attachment. They have worked for me on WM5, 6, 6.1 and 6.5 so far. They are freeware and therefore you can use them without problems.
Good luck!

Thanks for taking the time to reply. All very good advice. I'll have a go when I've got some free time again. In the meantime, has anyone come across a screensaver that actually powers off the screen please?
Thanks again.

ClearOutLoft said:
Well, it's actually to solve another long-running problem that has made me almost lose the will to live....
Alarms don't go off reliably on my TP2.
Sometimes, randomly, the alarm doesn't go off until I press the power button to wake it up. The the alarm instantly goes off. So, if I set an alarm for 6am, sometimes the phone wakes up and the alarm sounds, sometimes not. And if I switch the phone on manually sometime later, at 6:15 say, the 6am alarm sounds then.
It will work fine for a few days, then fail.
It happened on WM6.1 and still continues after upgrading to WM6.5.
I have spent countless hours googling and searching XDA-Dev. I have tried probably ten different alarm apps, with no luck. I have hard-reset various times. I have tried various recommended registry tweaks. I've tried checking the notification queue regularly for any errors. I've tried so many different suggestions, for example, never pressing the power button to turn the phone off, only ever let it hibernate automatically. Warm-resetting it each day. And the list goes on.
So, I'm experimenting with just leaving the phone on forever. But turning the screen off at night to save power / not shorten the life of the screen hardware.
Which leads me to the question about screensavers which actually power off the screen automatically after a set delay. Just like a normal screensaver on a PC.
It's hard to easily convey the frustration I have for the TP2. An excellent phone. But a phone which I can't trust to do the simplest thing: to wake me up in the morning?
It'll end up in the bin at some point very soon now.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
do you turn your ringer to silent or vibrate when you go to bed? if so,
go to start/settings/clocks&alarms/more and make sure that the "sound alarms box" is checked. this will make sure that even if your phone ringers/alerts are off, your alarm will ring. also, if you charge your phone while you sleep, go to the backlight settings and uncheck the "turn screen off on ac power" box. if you cant sleep with the phone light on, set it to max dim on ac power and flip it over. i always had this issue when i had the tmobile wing.

ClearOutLoft said:
Hi,
I've searched for several hours now in these forums and on Google, with no success.
I need an app that leaves the device switched on, but powers off the screen.
In settings/power I can dim the screen, but there is no setting to dim it completely or just switch it off.
I've found screensavers that can show a blank screen, but the screen is still actually powered up, just showing a black image presumably.
I've found apps that can switch off the screen. But you have to manually click on them to switch off the screen.
Does anyone know of a screensaver that after a set interval will leave the device running, but power off the screen please?
Suspend is no good, the device must be up and running apps.
Thanks for your help.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2U2 on this forum.

try g alarm.it worked perfect for me with tilt

I have similar Issues with my TP2;
I notice that it is more to do with HIBERNATING than screen off.
My TP2 has go to the point where allowing it to go to hibernation means Screen of Death.
Overnight I charge it and do not let the screen go off and it seems ok (so far).
Guess I will have to Hard reset and test my freeware.
Cheers
G

I had the exact same problem. When the phone goes to sleep, it is ASLEEP. I didn't use the alarm too much but the phone would never notify me when SMS arrived. I'd hit the power switch to check, and bam, three messages arrive at once, some from hours ago. Immensely frustrating, but the problem went away when I installed Energy rom.

Lock the screen but leave the GPS module running?

I don't know if this is really just a "screen lock with disabled bits" or if this is some full-blown idle mode, but I was wondering...
I don't have any car-accessories, but I'd still like to use TomTom. Now, TT offers some nice voice guidance, which is more than enough for just getting around (if I ever get really lost, I can pull over and pick the thing out of my pocket).
However, leaving TT running in my pocket means that the screen is on, the display changes and thus battery will be drained considerably faster than if the thing would be locked... not to mention an accidental press of a button (it's in my pocket, after all).
However, locking the phone turns the GPS off, so even if I leave TT running in the background it does me no good.
Is there anything I could try out in such a case?

So... this is impossible? :/

Nothing specially made for that has been released that I know of.
But from info I could gather around, RunGPS has the capability to be set to turn off the display leaving the GPS running.
So you could just install rungps as well, set it to turn off the display with GPS on, and at the same time also run your fav GPS app, tomtom in this case.
What should happen is that the screen will go off with the GPS still working (thanks to rungps) and tomtom will run in background being now able to access the gps device (still thanks to rungps).
Still worse for battery than having only the useful app running (as rungps will take some cpu cycles for itself and will cause more load on the device) but should still be better than leaving the display on at all times.
Let us know your results.
hey what do you know, 900th post

Hmmm... strange... Last I've noticed my GPS kept runnung while the device was locked. I used NaviComputer to track a walk I did with a friend and had my HD2 locked in my pocket most of the time.

ThoroSOE said:
Hmmm... strange... Last I've noticed my GPS kept runnung while the device was locked. I used NaviComputer to track a walk I did with a friend and had my HD2 locked in my pocket most of the time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
uhm, don't let that fool you.
First times I used navicomputer just for fun, I thought gps was running in background, but only later I realized that the GPS signal was restored right after turning on the display, and navicomputer was showing a straight line going from my latest positiotn before turning off the display, to the first positiotn it got after wakeup... and I'm sure of that since I double checked several times
In case you check and you DO have your GPS on at all times with device in standby using navicomputer, please let me know the list of installed programs you have (I doubt it tho)

jan-willem3 said:
Change this with your registery
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Resuming]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Unattended]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\State\Suspend]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
"gpd0:"=dword:00000001
Normaly the numbers are on "4" - put this on "1" and gps should stay awake even when you put the phone in standby.
It will stay on until a program stops using the gps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bib_x said:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Contro l\Power\State\Unattended]
"gps0:"=dword:00000001
This was already "0". I changed it to "1", too.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.

Bib_x said:
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks!
I'll try it out tomorrow. A bit too late to go for a walk now.

Bib_x said:
Try this. It works on my HD2. I use Run.GPS to log my tracks while jogging or mountain biking.
Other way to keep gps-fix while screen is off - you have to do only a "screen off", not "standby". I did it with AEButtons+ (e.g. screen off on long-press green call-button) - but with this reg-changes it works better for me.
Or you can only lock your phone and let it go to standby on its own. Then gps-fix will still keep alive. GPS-fix only gets lost if you press hardware-power-button (red end call button) - and registry not changed like above.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
as far as I know rungps is able to use the gps during screenoff as a feature.
I tried locking the device without pressing endbutton, but navicomputer loses the fix no matter what.
I also noticed thos reg patchesin some other thread but I also read there that other users tried them with no avail; did you test those registry fixes with software other than rungps by any chance?

Without these reg-changes i tested RunGPS and when i press hardware-power-button - GPS-fix was getting lost.
If i only did a screen off - then GPS-fix was still there.
Now with these reg-changes i can press hardware-power-button during running RunGPS and GPS-fix is still there.
I did only test with RunGPS because that is the only GPS-app i want to use while screen is off/device in standby.
If i use a navigation software (iGo8), then i want to have screen always on- so i didn´t test this scenario.

Bib_x said:
I did only test with RunGPS because that is the only GPS-app i want to use while screen is off/device in standby.
If i use a navigation software (iGo8), then i want to have screen always on- so i didn´t test this scenario.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I see, thank you, let's wait for the OP to test this himself.
Since I already knew rungps has a feature to turn off screen without losing gps signal, I don't think it's the reg settings, but rather it's rungps itself that allows you to do that; since you couldn't test different apps we don't even have a verification
I may try to get at it tomorrow, no guarantee I'll have the time tho

I´ve installed sportypal, too. Maybe i can make some tests this weekend.

Bib_x said:
I´ve installed sportypal, too. Maybe i can make some tests this weekend.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
us wants tests with navicomputer
No really, navicomputer is cool anyway, so install that too since you're at it

All right! I'm back with some results. Now, a quick note: I switched to MapaMap, a Polish map application, as it has a lot better maps for Poland.
I performed two tests: firstly, I started a route around the street and used the softftware lock to lock the screen. Result? MM application kept running and kept talking to me. Nice. However, this is still vulnerable to the physical button being pressed and locking the phone; when that happens, MM looses GPS and, in fact, I think the system somehow pauses this applicaiton altogether (more on that in the next bit).
So, since the physical button is still possibly a problem (after all, during driving the phone is in my pocket, and it's not really difficult for that button to be pressed), I tweaked the registry as Bib_x suggested. However, it seems that even IF the GPS module was still running, the MM application enters this weird suspended state, and whenever I resumed it, it would always greet me with a "searching for GPS signal" message. Granted, it would find the signal very quickly, but it still didn't work while the screen was off.
The odd thing is that mode the application went into. Normally, when it's minimised, I can pick it from the task-switcher and bingo! It's instantly back up. But when I press the hardware lock button and then unlock the phone, I get the Windows "please wait, I'm working" wheel in the centre for a while, before the app is restored.
I can check with TT again to see if the problem is restricted to only MM, but something tells me it's not an isolated case. So now I'd need to figure out a way to keep MM working when the phone is locked; kind of like the music player.
EDIT: TomTom resumes a lot faster, but it still looses GPS; right after resuming it says "no GPS device", and that's with the registry changes applied and after restarting the phone.

Shaamaan said:
EDIT: TomTom resumes a lot faster, but it still looses GPS; right after resuming it says "no GPS device", and that's with the registry changes applied and after restarting the phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
exactly my experience with any other gps software.
Didn't even try the reg tweaks as I didn't trust them that much.
Just try installing rungps as per my suggestion and using that at the same time with your fav navigation software, maybe the fact that rungps keeps the gps subsystem working while screen is off makes also the other app do its job.

After some more fooling around, I've made it, albeit I fear this method might be limited to MapaMap only.
When installing MM there are two options: either installing onto the HD2 or directly onto the MicroSD card. The former option will always install something called "wake up plugin" (might be worded differently in English) which doesn't show up in the "remove applications" menu, so it's more of an integral part of MM and probably can't be removed in this case. In the latter option, this plugin won't be installed, and in fact, is unavailable.
Initially, I've installed the app directly onto the phone, so that plugin was included automatically. My guess is that THIS was the bit responsible for putting the app into some sort of "sleep" state. However, when I installed the app onto the SD card without the plugin, I could lock the phone using the end-call button and the app wouldn't shut itself down like that; it even kept talking to me during the ride, so everything worked. Once more, I can confirm: THE SYSTEM KEPT ON WORKING DESPITE BEING LOCKED - I drove quite a distance and took some different turns, and the phone kept nicely informing me of the new distance and of upcoming turns.
This was all done using the registry settings suggested in this thread! Without them, the app will loose GPS data when the phone is locked, and if I set it to record my movements, it'll create a straight line between the start and end point, with a "no GPS signal" in the middle
EDIT: Do the registry values 1 and 4 mean "always on" and "always off"? What about values 2 and 3? I'm assuming there's no way to make the GPS module "smart", so that it's turned on only when needed? Or is it possible to add a manual switch for the GPS module to the Comm Manager?

GPS will only be on if a program sends this comand. And if you end the program, then this program sends a kill-comand to gps.

Have you tried with Pocketshield screen lock?
There is a setting at Locking > "Except when...", there you add exceptions to applications which will be allowed to continue running with the screen turned off.

The reg edits work for me with GPS Tuner and google maps, not with iGO8. I had actually tried that myself, but only the ones in "unattended" and set to 0 instead of 1 (as that's the fix that's used to keep music playing in Coreplayer and that works), but apparently it wasn't enough for the GPS. Good news