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Hello everyone.
I am going to buy htc desire soon. I have a query to ask. Please help me on this.
How would you rate the GPS on the Desire if i am going to use google maps? As is the speed. The screen view-ability etc.
The reason I ask this is that if it is not that good then I'll buy iPad 3G else the wifi version. I am really stuck with the decision. Please help me on this.
restrict said:
Hello everyone.
I am going to buy htc desire soon. I have a query to ask. Please help me on this.
How would you rate the GPS on the Desire if i am going to use google maps? As is the speed. The screen view-ability etc.
The reason I ask this is that if it is not that good then I'll buy iPad 3G else the wifi version. I am really stuck with the decision. Please help me on this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I am not sure about using it with google maps, but I have copilot and it works very good with that.
Also, comparing with HTC Diamond's GPS, the GPS in Desire is much much better. It locks the location even faster than my old Garmin Nuvi 350 that use sirf III.
The GPS in Google Maps is pretty spot on, and also works very well for Google Navigator too. The lock speed with assisted GPS is probably the fastest I've seen in a phone. Certainly better than my previous HTC Touch HD.
I've used 5 different HTC Devices with GPS Receivers throughout the years and the Desire beats them all. Time to get a fix is nearly 0 (Well okay, but it is veeery fast) and also very precise. Using it with google maps and Mobile Navigator and have never been happier with a GPS Device. Scrolling the Map in Google Maps is the smoothest i have seen on a mobile device (it is easily as fast as the iPhone, personally i think even faster) and it never loses the GPS Connection. I made a trip with my bike the other day, Desire in my Jacket and only took it out every 10 minutes or so, when heading towards an intersection where i had to turn and didn't know where to ;P It wakes incredibly fast from Standby, the Fix has never gone and your position is acurate again in an instance, not lags at all.
Yes, I can confirm all above, also sensitivity is excellent, I was able to fix inside my living room 3m far from window
+1. I use an app called GPS Test which shows you how many and where the satellites are you're connecting to. Also gives speed info. I'm shocked how quick it locks onto satellites. I use in on the bike and car with no problems.
Stimpoff said:
Yes, I can confirm all above, also sensitivity is excellent, I was able to fix inside my living room 3m far from window
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Can anyone confirm how the "stand alone" GPS works by itself? What if there is no mobile data coverage available?
Stand alone gps is even better as long as u have good navigation software installed with maps. Like co pilot, motonav (igo for desire.). It's almost instant... well worth of money. Paid
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Sent from my HTC Desire
Can also confirm that the GPS is superb. GPS Test from the market shows you number of satellites used & degree of accuracy. My Desire stabilises on 2-3m accuracy I'd hazard that stand-alone GPSs won't do any better than that, and I've only seen it lose GPS signal once... for about half a second.
Coming from a Touch Pro, this thing's GPS (along with absolutely everything else!) is a revelation!
I'm an avid cyclist, use the Desire with runkeeper & sportypal, it is spot on accurate with my rather expensive & well tuned bike computer.
I also use it with copilot and it works perfectly...
Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk
I usually get a lock when outside within 10th seconds maximum, compared with about 3 minutes on my Omnia without tweaks.
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Sent via the XDA Tapatalk App
When You are roaming then MB prices are very high... so I understand using google maps is working great when You are in your home network.
What other GPS software (with maps stored on the Desire, not downloaded in real time) have You used and was it any good?
i think my old Hero was faster, but i could be i imagine it... Will traveling in high speed affect the lock time?
i think my old Hero was faster, but i could be i imagine it... Will traveling in high speed affect the lock time?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It won't be an issue upto 140 MPH, I can confirm that. Faster... I'm not sure. I've used the GPS facility for routes and disabled my TomTom over 60 times by now. Never once has it failed signal or lost tracking (in the UK).
I can confirm all the above positive sayings. Apps like Car Home / Navigator will assist you well. The GPS Test app is excellent (I use GPS Speedo and GPS2GoogleEarth at times too).
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- Sent via my HTC Desire -
hi mates!
i am a newbie here
i use my desire in Greece so i want to know how i ll find CoPilot 8?
if i search to market there are no effects
I tried geocaching over the weekend with the Epic. I love the app (c:geo I think?), but the phone's GPS is spotty at best. Obviously, when geocaching, you're probably in an area with no signal, so I had to rely on whatever info the phone already had downloaded and being able to fix.
About 9/10 times, the phone would see no satellites at all. Not even yellow non-fixed ones. Randomly, it would suddenly see a bunch of them and lock on within 10 seconds. I had no cell signal the entire time so no AGPS here (except for the previous night making sure it had downloaded satellite data). GPS Status was useful in figuring out what was going on.
The accuracy was horrible compared to an old hand-held standalone device. My phone was easily 20-30 feet less accurate. Note that the shown 98 feet accuracy level is BS - i'ts definitely more accurate than that. But whereas a standalone GPS might be within 12 feet, mine would be about 30 feet.
So overall it's mixed. The app for geocaching is really great, but the hardware to run it on is pretty lacking on the Epic. I'll retest sometime if we ever get a GPS fix.
Did you have the Cold Start workaround applied or is this with stock?
I switched to warm. Cold would have sucked without the network. Hot seemed the most problematic from what I've read, but maybe I should have left it on hot?
To be clear my gps works awesome as long as I have a network.
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
yes the only drawback to cold start, is if you are outside of network connection of some kind.
We are also not even absolutely confirmed that Epic has true standalone GPS. And if it does, it maybe pretty poor due to the low signal to noise, which may point to attenuation problems at a hardware level, or some other issue. (I am fooling around lately with the settings for SNR threshold rejection)
There is a lot to like about the Epic, and some GPS issues have been reduced by the cold start workaround, but it may not be the best choice of smartphones, notably compared to the EVo's excellent GPS, if you need or enjoy use of GPS.
On accuracy, you have to remember that the real world accuracy is negatively affected by not moving or moving slowly. It is counter-intuitive but this is the result of two factors affecting real and simulated accuracy respectively: Multipath is better rejected when moving as the algorithms to reject and compensate for multipath are facilitated by moment. Secondly, there are all those predictive forward and back axis compensators based on speed (and more recently argumented on smartphones by inertial data from the gsensors) , and road "snap" compensators for lateral movement that help in nav based programs.
Also keep in mind that elevation measurements are not as refined (with inbuilt compensation tables) as far as I know on Andorid as they are on WM applications. I believe there are some apps that will query online elevation tables -- present an data connection.
Thanks for your data on off connection results.
That's why I removed everything but the basics from my Hero and am using it solely as my geocaching GPSr!
Then I don't have to worry about ruining my Epic by getting it wet or dropping it or just getting it dirty!
jirafabo said:
That's why I removed everything but the basics from my Hero and am using it solely as my geocaching GPSr!
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Click to collapse
Yea I have a Palm treo pro (designed and made by HTC) that has outstanding GPS, standalone on it is excellent. also it runs both a WM navigon and WM tomtom perfectly with no data connection. Works from Topeka to Timbuktu
I just got the JI6 update and the GPS is definitely much better. However, I was wondering how it matches up to the GPS on other smartphones.
Does anyone have a Nexus One or another android phone to compare it to? Could you please post some results. Only post results from the official OTA JI6 update.
I just got my OTA update this morning.
I am comparing my Vibrant with my BF's Nexus One (running Froyo 2.21) using GPS test.
The result:
Nexus views fewer satellites and locks them much faster than my vibrant on the other hand Vibrant views more satellites locks them a bit slower (Nexus : in view : 8 in use 8 instantly, VIbrant in view : 13 in use 7)
Nexus has better accuracy 9.9 feet VS. 22ish feet on vibrant.
I definitely like the gps on my vibrant much better after the OTA.
I am curious about the GPS performance test among other samsung galaxy s brethren (Captivate, Epic 4G, and Fascinate)
yea my nexus had much better GPS
and got instant lock when any app required gps location
but vibrant works perfectly fine just takes little longer
Just tested against N1 in a real life situation using C:Geo on both phones and the N1 had me rock solid on a Geocache and the Vibrant had me 15 feet off of it plus after trying to get my bearings it decided to start wondering off and I ended up in another county in 3 minutes. The N1 GPS just works and work rock solid, the Vibrants GPS is obviously not a hardware issue but a software issue. The reason I say that is because when I got the Vibrant Geocaching was a no go at all, wouldn't even lock onto enough sat's to be useful. Now at least it has me within 15 feet of my caches.
So all in all it has improved, but it is still not as good as my old N1.
Gps on the vibrant sucks. I honestly believe it's a hardware issue. JI6 update addressed a stupid software issue that prevented the gps to lock onto satellites probably due to wrong time information, but even after that, performance is really lacking.
I have a nexus one, and it gets a fix in less than 5 seconds with an accuracy of 2 m (6 feet). Once it gets a fix, it doesn't wander all over the map. It stays put.
The vabrant ( before and after JI6) doesn't get an accuracy better than 6 meters (20 ft). That's not to bad, but in google maps, it starts jumping all over the map until it settles -usually- at the farthest place from the actual location.
After JI6, the gps locks very quickly, definitely an improvement, but it it's more important the accuracy than the TTF.
In google navigation, when you stop at a red light, the inaccuracies og the gps and its constant jumping from place to place, triggers re-route after re-route. This is uncomfortable and dangerous when you are driving in an unfamiliar area.
The phone is great, but could have been better had some minimal QA been done.
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
reddragon72 said:
Just tested against N1 in a real life situation using C:Geo on both phones and the N1 had me rock solid on a Geocache and the Vibrant had me 15 feet off of it plus after trying to get my bearings it decided to start wondering off and I ended up in another county in 3 minutes. The N1 GPS just works and work rock solid, the Vibrants GPS is obviously not a hardware issue but a software issue. The reason I say that is because when I got the Vibrant Geocaching was a no go at all, wouldn't even lock onto enough sat's to be useful. Now at least it has me within 15 feet of my caches.
So all in all it has improved, but it is still not as good as my old N1.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This saddens me. I used to be able to cache almost exclusively off of my G1, unless under heavy cover.
studing
After manually flashing the updated (the OTA bricked my phone), I tested the GPS on its own, as well as side by side with my wife's G2. While JI6 allows the Vibrant to get a satellite lock in seconds, the accuracy of the GPS is virtually nonexistent, with the location bouncing all over the place. Forget about stopping at a red light - the cursor will start jumping around, sometimes placing me 2-3 blocks away from my actual location. While driving on a local highway (with a clear view of the sky), the GPS would frequently lose signal, although it would lock on again in a few seconds. Although the Vibrant can now get a satellite lock, the accuracy has not been fixed. The G2 does not suffer from these issues, reporting accuracy of 4-6 feet and getting a much quicker satellite lock than the Vibrant.
I am starting to think it is definitely a hardware issue. With GPS test I am getting locks on 9 of 10 or 10 of 12 satellites, but the bar is not very high for the signal on any satellite. Driving down the road it losses signal randomly. My G1 and HD2 had much better GPS performance.
I guess I will live with this until it is time to get another upgrade phone for the cheap price. Maybe the new Mytouch when it comes out. I have extra lines on my account just so I can get early upgrades. An extra line using the same minutes is $5 a month. It is worth it to me to keep getting new phones and selling the other phone on ebay.
Just did a side by side test with my Vibrant running Bionix 1.7 with the JI6 modem.bin vs. my wife’s brand new G2. My Vibrant instantly saw 13 satellites and took around 10 seconds to lock 11 of those 13. Initially it showed 90 ft. accuracy and after around 20-30 seconds it was bouncing between 18-25 ft. on accuracy. On my wife’s G2 as soon as I opened up GPS Test it saw 11 satellites and locked all 11. It initially showed 20 ft. on accuracy and then after 2-3 seconds it showed 12 ft. on accuracy. I watched it for about 2-3 minutes and it didn't really move as far as how many satellites it had locked or its accuracy.
Gps will never be as good as other phones lets face it, but it does the job, it haven't failed me yet since ji2 and up..... Not perfect but usable... I'd rather have a not so great gps that still works vs a n1s multi touch bug that don't get real mt......
Take the good with the bad
I just flashed the ji6 and although the GPS is improved it is far from being fixed. With my Nexus One and G2 I get a fix within 5 seconds and usually locks on all birds. With the Vibrant it takes much longer and the best it can do is 5 out of 12 birds. This GPS is a real shame as it takes a marvelous phone and makes it less than stellar IMO. I would love to use the Vibrant as my Main Phone but with the GPS still not quite right it is not happening as I use GPS everyday throughout the day/.
For those that have gotten the update, what are your GPS settings now? Is it a different server?
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Agreed with most comments already posted. The update helped to lock faster, but accuracy really sucks. Google navigation only works about 70% of the time. I find my location drifting to side streets quite often which keeps triggering re-routes all the time. I lose lock randomly (although it does regain lock fairly quickly).
Overall, compared to all other android smart phones I've used, the accuracy/reliability of gps is horrible.
I've also lost all hope in a software fix. With all the press it got and the two plus months to release a fix with marginal improvement...means one of two things.
1-samsung software engineers suck or
2-its a hardware issue and they've done the best they can with software to optimize the broken hardware.
Although both may be true to some degree ... I think we are dealing with case #2...
Sent from my SGH-T959 using XDA App
Roomates Nexus one sees 7 satellites, 10 seconds lock.
My vibrant JI6 sees 9 satellites, 4.5 minute lock
GPS is no worse than the other phones I currently have access to.
Google Maps doesn't jump around like Google Navigation. Google needs to implement smoothing software into their navigation program. Copliot works great with JI6 and Google Navigation gets Parkinson's disease at stop lights. Like I said, same place and Google Maps shows me as stationary while Google Navigation is all over the place
heygrl said:
GPS is no worse than the other phones I currently have access to.
Google Maps doesn't jump around like Google Navigation. Google needs to implement smoothing software into their navigation program. Copliot works great with JI6 and Google Navigation gets Parkinson's disease at stop lights. Like I said, same place and Google Maps shows me as stationary while Google Navigation is all over the place
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Agreed. With CoPilot it works perfect. I havnt noticed any jumping around at all. The only problem I have had with the GPS since JI6 is that it sometimes takes 3-5 minutes to get a lock on my location.
Try to delete your GPS Data and make sure it's all stock under lbstestmode. I get locks fairly quickly.
kgbkny said:
While JI6 allows the Vibrant to get a satellite lock in seconds, the accuracy of the GPS is virtually nonexistent, with the location bouncing all over the place. Forget about stopping at a red light - the cursor will start jumping around, sometimes placing me 2-3 blocks away from my actual location. While driving on a local highway (with a clear view of the sky), the GPS would frequently lose signal, although it would lock on again in a few seconds. Although the Vibrant can now get a satellite lock, the accuracy has not been fixed.
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Click to collapse
I got the identical behavior last night. Is the GPS that flawed that it thinks it's moving when it's not? If they could at least have the software not move the pointer when you're standing still that would likely make a huge difference. Instead it moves you onto another street and starts speaking out "corrections".
Hey G2'ers, I've got a question: how well does your GPS work?
I (and the wife) currently own Samsung Vibrants, which are great devices save for the woeful GPS and compass performance. Turns out this is kind of a big deal; google nav completely flakes out in cities or at stop lights, and I find myself horribly frustrated with it. As a point of comparison, I find that device much worse than the GPS on my old Nokia N95 or iPhone 3G.
I'd love to know how the GPS on the G2 holds up; does it get a lock quickly? Is it accurate when recording tracks? Does google nav's arrow point in the correct direction when you're stationary? Does sky maps work?
Especially awesome would be opinions from anybody who's used both devices.
Thanks!
I have both devices. Suffered through some of the woes on the Vibrant with the GPS, locating fixes. Froyo on the Vibrant seems to fix some of the issues but truth be told, I still have had GPS issues. On the G2, I have not used tracks but I have used GPS a bit like "places" and "maps". Both seem to get locks very quickly compared to the Vibrant. The external quality of the G2 seems better at a subjective level to me since it feels "metal-ly" and the Vibrant while slick looking still feels kinda plastic.
The main issue for me was rooting and getting the latest updates. The Vibrant took awhile to get some ROMs going with Froyo and after loading a few different ones, it still seems a work in progress. The G2 comes with a "vanilla" look but they load these applications which for some reason they think I would want. There are ways to remove or disable them without getting root.
All in all, I like the G2 for its "heft" and feel in my hand. The G2 feels like you are holding something and its physically a beautiful phone to me. The Vibrant is all glossy and plastic looking. Both phones are nice. Given the choice, I would take the G2 since its been rooted permanently. I would choose the Vibrant for other reasons like a simple root path; but Froyo has taken way too long and I got tired of waiting.
I'm not convinced battery life is much better on either; but on the G2, I've been running JuiceDefender Ultimate and I get decent battery life on the regular battery. On the Vibrant with Froyo it seemed the battery just drained and I think there are processes running when the handset is in standby which drain the battery IMO.
Final analysis for me is what phone I feel the most comfortable using. I like the G2 for many reasons and have given the Vibrant to my daughter as her first touch screen phone. She likes lots of games and the display and the Vibrant will hold bunches of stuff.
I can't help with the final decision because its yours.
mpmilestogo said:
I have both devices. Suffered through some of the woes on the Vibrant with the GPS, locating fixes. Froyo on the Vibrant seems to fix some of the issues but truth be told, I still have had GPS issues. On the G2, I have not used tracks but I have used GPS a bit like "places" and "maps". Both seem to get locks very quickly compared to the Vibrant. The external quality of the G2 seems better at a subjective level to me since it feels "metal-ly" and the Vibrant while slick looking still feels kinda plastic.
The main issue for me was rooting and getting the latest updates. The Vibrant took awhile to get some ROMs going with Froyo and after loading a few different ones, it still seems a work in progress. The G2 comes with a "vanilla" look but they load these applications which for some reason they think I would want. There are ways to remove or disable them without getting root.
All in all, I like the G2 for its "heft" and feel in my hand. The G2 feels like you are holding something and its physically a beautiful phone to me. The Vibrant is all glossy and plastic looking. Both phones are nice. Given the choice, I would take the G2 since its been rooted permanently. I would choose the Vibrant for other reasons like a simple root path; but Froyo has taken way too long and I got tired of waiting.
I'm not convinced battery life is much better on either; but on the G2, I've been running JuiceDefender Ultimate and I get decent battery life on the regular battery. On the Vibrant with Froyo it seemed the battery just drained and I think there are processes running when the handset is in standby which drain the battery IMO.
Final analysis for me is what phone I feel the most comfortable using. I like the G2 for many reasons and have given the Vibrant to my daughter as her first touch screen phone. She likes lots of games and the display and the Vibrant will hold bunches of stuff.
I can't help with the final decision because its yours.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Awesome, thanks for the input.
The slow pace of progress on the Vibrant is also a cause of concern for me. Even though the G2 has suffered in getting root working initially, the fact that it's an HTC device seems to be radically speeding up progress now that it's been rooted. The unfortunate lack of open source drivers for some key components in the Vibrant means that, at least for a while, a pure AOSP-based release is off the table, and waiting for Samsung is a real downer.
Now all that said, I really love the Vibrant's form factor and display. I've held a demo G2 and it feels great, but it's a bit on the clunky side for me. I know I'd be OK with it, it's just not exactly what I want; if I could have the G2's guts in the Vibrant's form factor (and with the Vibrant's display!) I'd be all over it
Ultimately, all that said, a working *good* GPS and compass are going to be the deciding factors for me though. I just rely on that stuff too much to be happy with the performance I see from the Vibrant.
JeremyNT said:
Does google nav's arrow point in the correct direction when you're stationary? Does sky maps work?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What you are asking for is impossible. GPS does not provide any information on ORIENTATION, nor is it used in sky maps any more significantly than simply finding your location on the surface of the planet. Sky maps uses the COMPASS much more than the GPS since it can actually determine your orientation wrt the planet's magnetic field.
GPS devices can only judge a direction that you are pointing by assuming that the DIRECTION you are moving in **IS FORWARD**. If you are driving backwards, google maps will turn the map upside down.
Now vibrant is a samsung phone. You realize that the nexus S is as well? It has apparently been delayed on account of THIS EXACT PROBLEM. There is some SERIOUS issue, either with the firmware or with the hardware on those devices that is leading to your frustrations... and there are apparently MULTIPLE causes coming together.
I really wouldn't worry about the GPS and compass on the VISION. HTC (unlike samsung) has a good track record with these components.
My g2 has a great gps. Locks quick and is accurate every time. I've used tracks to test and walking 100 yards and back with varying direction was mapped perfectly.
I had the captivated before (ATT version of vibrant) and it was horrible. The file system, gps, battery life, random shutdowns, cheap feel, plus ATT locks the market down and disabled sidelong of apps.
The problems of the g2 are minor compared that other mess of a phone. JMO
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Agreed with everyone. The Galaxy S gps is horribly slow.(don't get me started on the touchwiz interface)
But there have been people who liked the galaxy s more than the g2, and because you are asking this in a g2 section.. it tends to be a bit bias.
I would go to a store and check active demos and decide for yourself.
One of the best phone out there, with oc to 1.4 ghz it will be best keyboard phone out there for a while. Stock android is a only way to go. Other addons like track pad wake just make a cherry on top and I am sure that there will be more cool stuff to follow. Hope this helps.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
dhkr123 said:
What you are asking for is impossible. GPS does not provide any information on ORIENTATION, nor is it used in sky maps any more significantly than simply finding your location on the surface of the planet. Sky maps uses the COMPASS much more than the GPS since it can actually determine your orientation wrt the planet's magnetic field.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google navigation uses the compass to determine orientation of the arrow when you're stationary. I know this because, in the case of the Vibrant, the compass is always wrong. This contributes to issues when I'm sitting at a light, since google nav will use the (bogus) compass reading on the Vibrant and decide I must be facing the wrong way, triggering a reroute.
JeremyNT said:
Google navigation uses the compass to determine orientation of the arrow when you're stationary. I know this because, in the case of the Vibrant, the compass is always wrong. This contributes to issues when I'm sitting at a light, since google nav will use the (bogus) compass reading on the Vibrant and decide I must be facing the wrong way, triggering a reroute.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It doesn't use the compass. It is constantly polling the GPS to see which direction you are traveling. So if one second you are at a specific location and the next second you are 5 feet to the North, it thinks you are moving North at a speed of 5ft/s. The reason they don't use the compass to see what direction you are traveling is because what if you turn your phone sideways while navigating? Or what if I turn my phone sideways to the left but you turn your sideways to the right? Will you be traveling backwards?
It polls the GPS. And since the GPS on the Vibrant is so inaccurate and unreliable, it sometimes thinks you have moved when you are standing still. That's why it sometimes thinks you are facing backwards when you are at a stoplight. It thinks that you have actually moved backwards a foot or two.
gravis86 said:
It doesn't use the compass. It is constantly polling the GPS to see which direction you are traveling. So if one second you are at a specific location and the next second you are 5 feet to the North, it thinks you are moving North at a speed of 5ft/s. The reason they don't use the compass to see what direction you are traveling is because what if you turn your phone sideways while navigating? Or what if I turn my phone sideways to the left but you turn your sideways to the right? Will you be traveling backwards?
It polls the GPS. And since the GPS on the Vibrant is so inaccurate and unreliable, it sometimes thinks you have moved when you are standing still. That's why it sometimes thinks you are facing backwards when you are at a stoplight. It thinks that you have actually moved backwards a foot or two.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google maps most certainly does use the compass to determine which direction the arrow points if you're stationary.
keenerb said:
Google maps most certainly does use the compass to determine which direction the arrow points if you're stationary.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tell me, how does the compass know what direction you are facing?
gravis86 said:
Tell me, how does the compass know what direction you are facing?
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Click to collapse
Because it's a COMPASS, man. It's a tiny little magnet(*) inside the phone that a sensor uses to determine whether you're facing north, south, east, or west.
How do you think layar or google sky maps knows which direction you're facing if you're standing still?
keenerb said:
Because it's a COMPASS, man. It's a tiny little magnet(*) inside the phone that a sensor uses to determine whether you're facing north, south, east, or west.
How do you think layar or google sky maps knows which direction you're facing if you're standing still?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I know what a compass is. What I meant was how does it know what direction YOU are facing? I'll answer that question for you. It doesn't. A compass tells which direction is North relative to the orientation of the compass (or in this case phone) itself.
If you assume that the top edge of the phone is always pointing in the direction the user is facing, then the compass would work for that. This is how the Google Sky Maps application works - it assumes that you are facing the same direction as the camera on the back of the phone. So it works.
Assuming that any particular edge of the phone is facing forward during navigation is bad programming. Like I asked earlier, what if I turn my phone upside-down, or one the right side versus the left? The compass will know what direction the phone is facing, but now the phone is facing the opposite direction of me. So does it think I'm going backwards?
Of course, if you hold your phone upside down, or backwards, the compass may report an incorrect direction.
That doesn't really have any bearing on my comment, or the fact that google maps WILL use the compass to determine orientation when stationary.
I think you're rebutting an argument I'm not making.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
keenerb said:
Of course, if you hold your phone upside down, or backwards, the compass may report an incorrect direction.
That doesn't really have any bearing on my comment, or the fact that google maps WILL use the compass to determine orientation when stationary.
I think you're rebutting an argument I'm not making.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was showing you the reasoning behind why Google Maps does not use the compass to determine orientation. It does not because it can not. Google engineers aren't that dumb. The only time Google Maps activates the compass it when the user has selected StreetView.
I disagree on both counts.
The reason google maps uses derived direction of travel rather than compass orientation is because direction of travel is more useful to a moving vehicle than true orientation. That, and some devices may not have a functional or calibrated compass.
Also, on my google maps, while standing still, the arrow is currently indicating my true orientation based on the internal compass. Perhaps your version is different.
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I totally forgot about the accelerometer. My bad. Google Maps uses the accelerometer to determine the orientation of the device relative to you, and then the compass to determine the orientation of the device relative to the Earth. So it actually can see what direction you are facing... I stand corrected.
My gps was having nasty issues pre OTA, but now it works beautifully
Sent from my T-Mobile G2 using XDA App
I love these forums. We start with a question about the Vibrant versus the G2 handset. We end up and I learn a lot about compasses, GPS, which way I should face, and accelerometers!
Thanks wizards of XDA. You guys rule! I mean it seriously. The evolution of threads on XDA is an interesting cultural and sociological perspective.
Hello,
Got a gs2 and still have my incredible s so I tested GPS precision: got 4 meters for the HTC and not stable and lower precision 18/20 meters on gs2.
Is something adjustable with new kernels?
Another two questions : about voice low quality ( someone said that it depends from noise reduction filet) and low volume during a call are these issues already addressed by some roms?
Low volume and quality with earphones is addressed too?
Thanks!
GPS is a disappointment. On my old pda asus a696 precision is much better. I wish gps was working better for me, I use it with sport tracking software. I changed ntp server, played with all kinds of gps apps, updated AGPS data, helped a bit but fix is still slow and precision is almost always more then 30m.
If anybody saw an improvement on some ROM or kernel, please let me know.
Attached my device info.
bzpwhx2 said:
Hello,
Got a gs2 and still have my incredible s so I tested GPS precision: got 4 meters for the HTC and not stable and lower precision 18/20 meters on gs2.
Is something adjustable with new kernels?
No as no reported flaw in GPS so nothing with GPS altered that i have seen.
jje
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i am honestly very disappointed with the sgs2's gps precision. tested it side by side with the HTC Chacha...rebooted, cleared gps data and redownloaded it (Gps status app), then run test on both devices for abt 2-3 mins.
SGS2 7/7 satelites, error 40m!!!
HTC Chacha 10/10 satelites, error 6-10m!!!
frm both rooted 2.3.4 and stock firmware ...
I agree that the precision (error) is bad on the S2. However, in my experience, when I open maps and look at the location, it seems to be just about dead on. Meaning, even though there is often a blue circle, the center of the circle is extremely close to my actual position. So, I think the issue may be with how the phone calculates the "error" and not with any real inaccuracy. It feels like the reported error value is double what it should really be based on my position on google maps. This is just my experience, ymmv.
TheSopranos16 said:
I agree that the precision (error) is bad on the S2. However, in my experience, when I open maps and look at the location, it seems to be just about dead on. Meaning, even though there is often a blue circle, the center of the circle is extremely close to my actual position. So, I think the issue may be with how the phone calculates the "error" and not with any real inaccuracy. It feels like the reported error value is double what it should really be based on my position on google maps. This is just my experience, ymmv.
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I agree with this. I was puzzled at first too when I looked at the accuracy reading, but then I realized that the actual positioning was much better than the reported 'error margin'.
The GPS itself is fine, but whatever algorithm they use to report accuracy is flawed..or should I say, could be better.
TheSopranos16 said:
However, in my experience, when I open maps and look at the location, it seems to be just about dead on.
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Same here.
jimbiye said:
I agree with this. I was puzzled at first too when I looked at the accuracy reading, but then I realized that the actual positioning was much better than the reported 'error margin'.
The GPS itself is fine, but whatever algorithm they use to report accuracy is flawed..or should I say, could be better.
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Click to collapse
GPS accuracy is a statistical estimate of the maximum error and many assumptions must be made when calculating this, and I don't think different manufactureres does this in the same way.
So a HTC could very well report better accuracy than SGS2 but provide worse position (or vice versa).
Here is an interesting article about GPS accuracy, it mainly concerns static accuracy (reported accuracy in specifications), but the problems are basically the same for dynamic accuracy.
http://www.romdas.com/technical/gps/gps-acc.htm
When I've logged driving on a highway with SGS2 (with my tracks, i e no map matching or other filtering) the position is often within the correct lane but still SGS2 reports 10 meter accuracy (good GPS reception). But once in a while the position drifts a bit further away, mabe 5-10 meters. I would guess I get similar results with other modern smart phones with good GPS even if they report 4 meter accuracy. What phone is wrong in this case? The one reporting 4 meter accuracy that often is correct or the one reporting 10 meters that is even more often correct?
So please compare the phones by logging routes simultanously with "my tracks" instead. I've seen very few tests doing this, and SGS2 seems to do very well in the few tests I've seen
But not only the accuracy is an issue but initial fix is very slow compared to other phones. Even in hotstart mode when it had fix ten minutes ago it still most times takes over a minute to get a fix vs 7 to 10 secs on my Sgs 1
Sent from my GT-I9000 using Tapatalk
I had this problem and found that disabling wifi with data enabled led to much faster first fixes - I assume because the a-GPS data could be obtained more quickly direct from the carrier rather than over the wifi?
Also my UK phone shipped with a US NTP time server. I have since rooted and used GPS Aids to change this and refresh the other GPS data and now have no problems getting a first fix, usually in under 10 seconds.
Last week i traveled to Bosnia and used GPS on my SGS2 for the first time. I have only good words for it as with IGo it was very accurate (in a meter).But as i see with Google maps app GPS is wrong up to 20m.
I was also concerned about the gps first cause it seemed to show very inaccurate results and I have used gps with running a lot. However after using it to track my tracks I have to say that its 98% perfect. Also used it to navigate while driving and its also perfect. Samsung has just done something which makes it look like it would be more inaccurate but reality it is not.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA Premium App
same here. I tested GPS performance a few times when i was walking (relatively static), the error was never under 10 meters, however it did not have a problem tracking my position.
In the other hand, I did have some long long GPS locks from time to time, once in a while the GPS just cannot seem to find my position, despite the fact that I am standing outdoors with no tall buildings around.
Overall experience, just acceptable.