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I've got problems with the GPS on my Polaris and I'm wondering if anyone else has the same issue: the accuracy is abt 5-15m off and it updates less than 1frame/sec regardless of the gps software I use (tomtom, google maps or garmin xt) My Radio version is 1.64.08.21 Murata and the rom pdaviet v16
Can anyone point me towards a solution for this please? Thanks!
To my knowledge gps is off target for a reason. All comercial versions are innacurate either in time or position so you cannot use it for war or something like it. If the 5 to 15 meter difference is to much I do not know.
pereirald said:
To my knowledge gps is off target for a reason. All comercial versions are innacurate either in time or position so you cannot use it for war or something like it. If the 5 to 15 meter difference is to much I do not know.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for your answer pereirald, I knew that commercial GPSs are off so they can't be used for military purposes but the GPS on my Polaris is annoyingly slow. If I compare Garmin mobile XT runnin on my polaris with a friend's Garmin nuvi 760, his is smoother, updates faster and slightly more accurate...so any1 knows whats going on here? Is it only me with this issue or it happens on all HTC phones with Qualcomm chips?
I am on the latest udK rom using radio 1.64.08.21
I can GPS sync inside buildings
Syncs VERY fast
I also find it very accurate and def not 15meters off
Actually I also use Garmin XT and most of the time I can even pinpoint me using "Where am I?" but sometimes it does not give the right door but the neighbours. So I guess there is an up to 5 meter innacuracy. Being slower one should expect: The the chip isnot dedicated is it? It does other stuff while we are trying to use GPS. So you could try to things:
1) Minimal services running and disconnect phone (Airplane mode)
2) I don't know but that is a possibility that you will get different results with different rom. (I think I do, altough I haven't measured it).
Hope it helps
atl4ntys said:
I've got problems with the GPS on my Polaris and I'm wondering if anyone else has the same issue: the accuracy is abt 5-15m off and it updates less than 1frame/sec regardless of the gps software I use (tomtom, google maps or garmin xt) My Radio version is 1.64.08.21 Murata and the rom pdaviet v16
Can anyone point me towards a solution for this please? Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The accuracy depends on the number of satelites as well.
I noticed that the GPS chip of the TC is more nervous then a SirfIII chip like the one I had in my MIO A201.
But both the MIO A201 and the TC didn't show a better accuracy then around 10M.
Thanks for your replies guys, I did some testing over the last 2 days and after taking a trip in the middle of the country with the GPS on, I was surprised to see that it fixed itself At home is not showing me 5 doors down the road and in someone's garden anymore and when I walk/run with it, it pinpoints my location within 5m. The smoothness is still not there even if I turn off the music player and any other progs that I had running in the background, but I know thats because of the lack of proper graphic drivers
So in conclusion the accuracy is down to these 3 things:
1.radio flash not os-rom update.
2.number of satellites it connects to.
3.apparently driving around a bit
Cheers!
In case you use google earth, its the program which doesnt update quickly enough. The receiver does...
The receiver has a very irritating 'feature' built in which is very annoying when trying to use your GPS unit while walking: to make car navigation less jerky and stop you from jumping from road to road, the receiver doesnt update the position anymore after you came to a stop (or move slowly, eg: by foot ). It updates again after you covered several meters of ground and keep moving. This might be useful in your car where you can move fast and steadily, it's very very annoying if you try to find something by foot. The 'feature' is hardware-based, by now no one managed to turn it off.
Edit: uuhm... yes, of course the Radio. The Operating System part of the ROM only houses programs and such, the hardware-near stuff like phone functions, bluetooth and wifi and most important the GPS stuff gets updates through the Radio-ROM. I figured this is a widely known fact...
This person has like the best ive seen so far does anyone know where i can get this GPS or something similar, please, i have the titan on the new 3.35 rom so any steps i need to follow, let me know, watch the linked video and youll see wat im saying http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDXXYuJSWM4
I don't recognize that exact piece of software, but basically any of the commercial ones will do the 3D view and turn by turn instructions like he had. I personally have used IGO and am currently trying TomTom6
I think I sway more towards IGO for a couple of reasons, but I'm trying to give TomTom a fair swing.
Are these GPS programs cracked or did you have to pay for them, and where would i find them?
some, like google maps, are free, others you have to pay for
There are a couple threads on XDA talking about GPS... I've tried most of them and personally, am happiest with Garmin's XT software. The only downside, is it uses a ton of memory with its latest release and will sometimes only run after a soft reset. I like its features for finding nearby gas stations with current prices, current traffic, weather, hotel rates, etc. If you are in Europe, it also has traffic safety cameras. All of these are included for no extra monthly fee (unlike TomTom).
On the other hand, I absolutely love TomTom for its quick page rendering. As you turn, the screen shows you turning smoothly... Garmin is quite jerky and not nearly as smooth as TomTom.
Both of them can plan a route for you quite nicely - both of them do end up giving me different directions from point a to point b, but neither seem to be horrible. Also - TomTom gives you directions in a couple of seconds. Garmin can take 30 seconds and sometimes up to a minute to calculate your route. Not a deal breaker.
I have heard some good things about iGo, but tried it several months ago and stopped using it for some reason - not sure why. I do remember it was nice because it included text to speech.
Google Maps and MS Live Search are both nice, but you need a continuous internet connection to render the maps. The above mentioned programs have the map stored on your storage card... only times it connects to the internet are for traffic updates, etc...
Good luck!
I myself am currently using Garmin Mobile XT. I've been using it for a while, and I love it. I'm on vacation now in North Carolina, and this thing hasn't skipped a beat for me at all. NONE. So I have no complaints.
I am rather curious to try out the newest distro of Tom Tom software when I can get it, and I wouldn't mind checking out Igo just to Give some feedback. I just haven't gotton around to it.
I have used IGuidance 4 and TomTom Nav 6 and Garmin XT
TomTom 6 is, I think, the best because it behaves itself most of the time. Garmin is a memory hog and IGuidance freaks me out because the different voices for the directions and the text to speech.
I like IGuidance's interface. I think v4 is very easy on the eye and the finger. But TT6 is smoother in 3D rendering, but due to lack of hardware acceleration in the Titan, none of them look particularly smooth compared to older HTC devices, or newer ones with proper graphics acceleration.
In terms of maps accuracy, TT6 seems to have the edge in North America and is far superior in Europe.
In Asia, I revert to MapKing as it is the only software with map coverage of any use. But then the MapKing interface is not up to TT6 or IGuidance level.
I like that IGuidance gives text to speech (i.e. "turn right in 100 meters at Oak Street" as opposed the "turn right in 100 meters") but as I mentioned the different voices freak me out a bit. I know there is a hack to make all the voices the same, but it degrades performance noticeably.
Overall TT6 is the best of the non data (google maps, live search) nav softwares for Europe, USA and Australia. Mapking for Asia.
Of the data services, Nav4All is pretty good for turn by turn directions, and Live Search is probably better than Google Maps for simple routing and mapping.
Just wondering if the Touch HD will get the same laging GPS receiver the Touch Pro and Diamond got? I sure hope not. Its the only thing that dissapoints me with my Touch Pro.
utvol06 said:
Just wondering if the Touch HD will get the same laging GPS receiver the Touch Pro and Diamond got? I sure hope not. Its the only thing that dissapoints me with my Touch Pro.
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It's not an issue of hardware, but software. That's like asking if it will have the same laggy TouchFlo3D because of its processor... It's just the software. My Fuze didn't have any of the complaints of slow TF3D or GPS lag, but it had the same GPS receiver as the European Touch Pro.
Black93300ZX said:
It's not an issue of hardware, but software. That's like asking if it will have the same laggy TouchFlo3D because of its processor... It's just the software. My Fuze didn't have any of the complaints of slow TF3D or GPS lag, but it had the same GPS receiver as the European Touch Pro.
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Click to collapse
I think the cause is the hardware, because some people tried with an external gps antenna, sirf3, and no lag at all. And changing software doesn't eliminate the lag. I use iGo and TT and the lag is always there...
onesolo said:
I think the cause is the hardware, because some people tried with an external gps antenna, sirf3, and no lag at all. And changing software doesn't eliminate the lag. I use iGo and TT and the lag is always there...
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Click to collapse
Hopefully HTC will be able to fix the GPS Lag in the diamond and Pro with a rom update...they are supposed to be working on it. I just hope the Touch HD wont share the same lag problem and that HTC sees that it doesn't before release.
Isn't the difference between the built-in GPS and an external GPS antenna the method? The built-in GPS is (AGPS) and an GPS antenna uses "normal" GPS....
No, that's not it.
Assisted GPS is something extra for a normal GPS system, not a different system. A basic GPS system will have to download the satellites' position each time it cold-starts, and that will take time. An A-GPS system will have an additional way to download the current position of all GPS satellites, in order to speed up the process, by knowing the position of your phone in a GSM network or by downloading an updated file containing the satellites' current position, through a data network (wifi or 3g). That's why the "gps assistance" files you download through this kind of assistance application (in HTC's case, it's called "Quick GPS") are only valid for 2-3 days: in 2-3 days, they expire and the satellites' positions aren't valid anymore.
All GPS systems must have an antenna of some kind, either internal or external. Mostly all PDAs with integrated GPS have an internal antenna, which does the job in most conditions, but it's not perfect. I used an external antenna for car navigation, and in most situations I went from 4-5 detected satellites (with so-so signal) to 7-8 with full signal, only by having an antenna on the roof of my car. However, this shouldn't influence by all means the GPS lag, only the precision of GPS positioning on the map (coordinates).
That's not it either.
Quick GPS downloads a file prior to GPS initiation. When started the GPS works off-line.
A-GPS is a hybrid technology that auguments the GSM satellite signal with GSM signal on-line.
You can use Quick GPS without A-GPS, which is the case of most users today, for compatibility reasons.
As for the previous question regarding GPS lag, here are two points (depending on what you understand by GPS lag):
1. the GPS chipset has a built-in refresh rate, which should be something like 0.5 seconds. This is the same for all devices sharing the same chipset.
2. when saying that the GPS performance depends on software, it does not mean IGO or TomTom, it means the Radio drivers. Newer Radio versions come up from time to time and may improve GSM / GPS signal strength or battery life, and in the very best cases both.
Follow the ROM Development threads for more info.
dani31 said:
That's not it either.
A-GPS is a hybrid technology that auguments the GSM satellite signal with GSM signal on-line.
You can use Quick GPS without A-GPS, which is the case of most users today, for compatibility reasons.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not to be a GPS-nazi but A-GPS doesn't necessarily imply the usage of a GSM network, but the usage of an assistance server. From Assisted GPS page on Wikipedia:
A typical A-GPS-enabled cell phone will use an internet connection to contact the assistance server. Alternatively, it may use standard non-assisted GPS, which is slower and less accurate, but does not lead to network charges for data traffic, which can be considerable.
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Click to collapse
So, it can be done either through GSM networks, or through a data connection; therefore, the Quick GPS app is simply another form of A-GPS.
dani31 said:
1. the GPS chipset has a built-in refresh rate, which should be something like 0.5 seconds. This is the same for all devices sharing the same chipset.
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Click to collapse
That I don't think would be visible to the end user. According to the NMEA/SiRF specs, the min refresh rate would be 1 Hz (one time per second), but the average among devices seems to be around 5 times a second, once every 200 miliseconds (5 Hz refresh). The GPS chip should do that without a problem (according to the manufacturer's specs), therefore the problem must be somewhere after the GPS data is sent to the device; either in communication to the CPU, either in the navi software. My 2 cents. We'll see.
Review from SlashGear
HTC Touch HD's review by SlashGear talks about the GPS lag..
this is the part about GPS performance of the Device:
"The HTC Touch Diamond has been criticised for its GPS performance, which can lag behind actual position when moving at speed. Hopes were high for the Touch HD to avoid such a fate, but unfortunately that doesn’t appear to be the case. Whether from the processor (the same 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7201A as in the Diamond) or the GPS receiver itself, when driving the indicated position is always 50-80ft behind. This makes navigating via the on-screen directions incredibly difficult. At lower speeds, such as when walking, the Touch HD has no problems, just like the Diamond. We’re still attempting to get hold of some alternative GPS programs, such as TomTom or Garmin Mobile XT, and will update this review when we’ve had an opportunity to try them out."
has anyone else bought the Touch HD yet who can confirm this?
i just hope the GPS lag isn't as bad as the HTC Touch Diamond/Touch Pro as i'm going to order one pretty soon.
For the sake of millions of readers and potential touch HD buyers like me,can someone who already own a touch HD,please be kind enough,do an experiment about this gps lag issue and give an absolute answer to this issue.Gps lag is very noticeble when you are navigating at high speed(eg:80-100km/h) or when doing multiple rapid turns(eg:driving on back alleys).at low speed(slow drive or walking),no lag is apparent.Currently i'm using ipaq 612c where it has this lag issue and its most noticeble when using Garmin XT.When using mapking or tom tom it is not that bad..Really waiting for all your answers.
Thanks in advance for all your help
iznee said:
For the sake of millions of readers and potential touch HD buyers like me,can someone who already own a touch HD,please be kind enough,do an experiment about this gps lag issue and give an absolute answer to this issue.Gps lag is very noticeble when you are navigating at high speed(eg:80-100km/h) or when doing multiple rapid turns(eg:driving on back alleys).at low speed(slow drive or walking),no lag is apparent.Currently i'm using ipaq 612c where it has this lag issue and its most noticeble when using Garmin XT.When using mapking or tom tom it is not that bad..Really waiting for all your answers.
Thanks in advance for all your help
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I have performed an experiment. Hopefully it will help you and "millions" of readers to decide if GPS lag is a problem or not on this device.
Test setup:
PDA 1: Mitac Mio A701, GPS chip: SIRF III, navigation software: IGO8
PDA 2: HTC Touch HD, GPS chip: Qualcomm, navigation software: IGO8
Experiment:
I start IGO8 on both devices and select the same destination. They both pick up GPS signal and the show starts..
Result:
PDA 1: depending on your speed, there is a GPS lag. This is between 0-2 seconds. In distance I would say about 20 to 50 meters. Again, all depending on your speed. When you stop (which unfortunatelly happens a lot in the netherlands due to high traffic ) the GPS gives the right position.
PDA 2: see PDA 1. There is practically no difference. Sometimes PDA 1 is more ahead, sometimes PDA 2 wins. The voice commands start virtually at the same time "take a turn left", "leave the highway" and so on. Maybe PDA 2 is a bit faster (less GPS lag) since I heard the voice like a 10th of a second earlier than on PDA 1.
Conclusion:
GPS lag is a problem that practically all "cheap" GPS devices have, specially in a moving vehicle. Since your GPS data is refreshed every second, you would be one second off every time. Moving at 100km/h, that means an offset of 27 meters. Moving at 150km/h that is about 41 meters (and yes, I know I should not drive that fast in the netherlands ). Add to that the GPS errors and you will get an impression on how hard it can be to predict where you will be in a second.
You could then say that the navigational software should take that into account and predict where it would be, but that also has a negative side. Have you noticed what happens when you do not follow the course laid ahead by the navigational software? it stays on course for a couple of seconds and then it notices you actually turned left or right, thus the direction should change.
The more aggresive the prediction is, the more you will have a problem when deviating. The less prediction, the more GPS lag you will have.
Is this a problem while driving? I have never considered it a problem. On the highway you do not decide to take a turn within 50 meters (I hope ). In the city, you should have way less problems with GPS lag...
Last, for all the "millions" of readers, please read these two articles:
Article 1, an abstract about navigational state estimator
Article 2, a forum discussing this very problem in the i-Blue receiver. Pay special attention to the answers given by JakeRich
I hope this helps you all out...
David,
I am so very pleased you had these two devices with the software mentioned.
It just so happens that I too have a Mio A701 with iGo and my next purchase will be the Touch HD.
Your test served as a good starting block for me to build upon.
I did wonder how well the Touch HD would fare against my A701.
Many thanks.
Beards
Thanks for your test. What about TMC info with iGo8 ?
gergy said:
Thanks for your test. What about TMC info with iGo8 ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The device finds the TMC receiver (using 8.0.x version, 8.3.x version does not find anything) but then it does not find a channel. This would need a TMC expert to work out...maybe you need to change something in the sys.txt file of IGO8
Something I would add is that until last week I was using a SirfStarIII equipped BT GPS receiver linked to my Hermes and running TTN 6.03, now I'm using the Touch HD internal GPS and TTN 7.45. I have found that the GPS signal appears to be significantly weaker on the Touch TD. However, it does have the capability to pick up more satellites it seems.
In my standard journey between home and work the BT GPS receiver never picked up more than 8 satellites but never picked up less than 4 and spent most time tracking 5-6. The Touch HD at times picks up 10, maybe even 11(!), satellites but often drops to 2 and spends most time tracking 3-5.
Impression
I'm using Tomtom 7,451 now on my HD.
I tried it with the internal GPs and even with an external bleutoth GPS receiver from Tomtom itself.
The so called lag is the same in both cases.It is caused by the slow refreshing rate ( almost 1 second ).That is not a major problem and is the same that I experienced already with the Polaris,Cruise and Diamond.
So when driving try to think at least 1 second ahead.
When you're not moving I got a pefect lock on my position with Tomtom but with Googlemaps i'm of by almost 150 meter to the East.
So that's software I think.
BerreZ said:
I'm using Tomtom 7,451 now on my HD.
I tried it with the internal GPs and even with an external bleutoth GPS receiver from Tomtom itself.
The so called lag is the same in both cases.It is caused by the slow refreshing rate ( almost 1 second ).That is not a major problem and is the same that I experienced already with the Polaris,Cruise and Diamond.
So when driving try to think at least 1 second ahead.
When you're not moving I got a pefect lock on my position with Tomtom but with Googlemaps i'm of by almost 150 meter to the East.
So that's software I think.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I get my touch hd today. looks like I wont be installing Google maps at all on it. I'm going to buy Co-Pilot 7 when I get the chance. I also like Windows Live search GPS app, but it may lag like google.
utvol06 said:
I get my touch hd today. looks like I wont be installing Google maps at all on it. I'm going to buy Co-Pilot 7 when I get the chance. I also like Windows Live search GPS app, but it may lag like google.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Google maps is already preinstalled, at least on my Touch HD it was (Netherlands)
last word on gpslag?
Hi to All,
Personally, i start realizing the limitation of forums in producing real information.
First of all, most "commercial" and consumer GPS update their position every second, as correctly pointed out in this forum. Said this, faster position updates are possible for professional devices, see
http://www.dsprelated.com/showmessage/22833/1.php
but we can probably forget about it for the time being.
so, don't be surprised if - driving at 100 km per hour alias 30 m/s - you will miss the exit by 30 meters. Be reassured: Felipe Massa will miss the box by 100m if he would drive by looking to the GPS - and your braking distance was anyway 60 m....aaaghh....i hope i will never meet any of you while making the test.
My firm and conclusive opinion after extensive evaluation with Igo and Tomtom and gwatch:
The GPS LAG on the touch HD is a metropolitan legend invented by i-members!
If you check on igo8, there is a small dot representing the actual position, and the arrow or the car is the position compute by software interpolation/filtering etc. Everybody can notice that the dot moves instantaneously. It is a matter of software to decide how to filter this data, and how "reactive" you want the position change to happen. On top of this, it is obvious that updating a VGA or WVGA screen will be heavier than updating a small screen, so there should be a lag which is dependent on the navigation software you use and on the load on your telephone.
However, there is definitely no lag on tomtom....the problem is: how to buy version 7?
Here is video comparison omnia vs hd
It seems to me there is little lag on hd.
Colud somebody translate it?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v45--rkRgjk
Which version of which GPS software works on the Touch HD ? i used to use the Miomap and IGo8 on the Touch Cruise but cannot get them to work.
Perhaps with a tweak ?
thanks, yves
Just search the forum.
There are threads for iGO8, TomTom and Navigon. All of them work on the HTC Touch HD (with some tweaks).
http://www.66.com/route66/index.php?cid=UK&act=1&prodid=5723 works without tweaks.
iGO works but is not really useable in my opinion
there is no "programm close" button in expert mode, only one in simple mode.
program nearly never really gets closed by command.
voice from the navigation continues in programm-volume-setting, even after you are back in touchFlow and used task manager to stop the program.
it still runs and runs ..
a next problem is the standby mode.
you cant set it up, that while iGO is active, standby wont happen.
at the moment, you start navigation, wait some seconds without doing anything, but listening and the HD drops in standby.
and NO i dont want to set new windows standby settings everytime i want to use a navigation tool :/
I believe you can get them all working with the right tweaks.
I've used TomTom for years, without any problem. Currently using v7.910 on my Touch HD and it looks nice.
For fun I also downloaded Navigon (there's a two week free trial with full functionality) and with the help of a couple of xml files have it running. Different look and feel to Tom Tom but I like it. Probably worth a look for the two week free trial if nothing else.
Have seen iGo8 and I must say I like the look of it. Have seen a thread with details of a tweak, though that may have been for an earlier release.
Currently waiting for my TomTom services to run out (speed cameras and traffic) and then I may switch. The UI looks fantastic, but have to justify the cost to the missus .....
loadme said:
iGO works but is not really useable in my opinion
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I don't know what you have messed up, but for me it works just fine. Not a single "bug" you mentioned has occured, maybe you are just using the wrong version / configuration.
I had also some problems in the beginning (dropping the gps), but after setting up the right configuration it works just fine for me now.
johnpatcher said:
I don't know what you have messed up, but for me it works just fine. Not a single "bug" you mentioned has occured, maybe you are just using the wrong version / configuration.
I had also some problems in the beginning (dropping the gps), but after setting up the right configuration it works just fine for me now.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You are correct, it works fine. However, occasional GPS drop does happen, and, from what I understand, it happens with all softwares, not just IGO. I would also be curious to know what configuration could possible effect GPS dropping issue?
Thanks
michael_r said:
I would also be curious to know what configuration could possible effect GPS dropping issue?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For me it was the wrong baud rate. It must be set to 9600. As I was using GPSGate I had to change the baud rate within GPSGate and not in iGO8.
loadme said:
iGO works but is not really useable in my opinion
there is no "programm close" button in expert mode, only one in simple mode.
program nearly never really gets closed by command.
voice from the navigation continues in programm-volume-setting, even after you are back in touchFlow and used task manager to stop the program.
it still runs and runs ..
a next problem is the standby mode.
you cant set it up, that while iGO is active, standby wont happen.
at the moment, you start navigation, wait some seconds without doing anything, but listening and the HD drops in standby.
and NO i dont want to set new windows standby settings everytime i want to use a navigation tool :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Kinda strange that you are incapable of setting up a navigation software like igo on the Touch HD.
I myself only had to set the resolution and voila, all worked perfectly.
All the so called 'failures' are entirely untrue from my point of view.
Cause they work perfectly ! (yes also shutdown in expert mode), maybe your failure is using the correct settings in the sys.txt file...
Therfore I have to disagree with you completely on the IGO satisfaction scale.
I give it a 9,7 out of 10 (cause it can always be improved).
Tomtom is great and also is IGo in my opinion (havn't tried the rest om my HD).
with regards,
Ikkezelf
I am using Garmin Mobile XT, and it looks and works a treat.......
IGO8, does look good but there seems to be a lot of screen size problems for the HD. I too have tried IGO8 and all the stuffing around to get the correct screen resolution files sent me nuts.
I am using co-pilot 7, working well so far, especially when I remember to switch it from walking mode to car
A quick summary of my experiences with iGo 8, TomTom 7 and Garmin Mobile XT on the HD, in the UK.
iGo 8
Pros:
Has the nicest looking graphics, with terrain elevation and 3D models of major landmarks (and many more buildings too, in major cities) and a good variety of views.
Text-to-speech support for reading out road names, if you have enough memory (sometimes needs a reboot or to disable TouchFlo to get enough - sadly it doesn't default to the normal non-TTS if there's not enough memory, so you have to turn it back manually).
Routing between multiple maps installed.
Cons:
Long startup time.
Incorrect speed limits in my area (30 instead of 60-70 on some roads!)
The voice directions have been misleading when crossing a roundabout over a motorway, telling me to incorrectly take the first exit from a roundabout, when the direction arrow clearly shows the second. I verified by plotting a route on to the motorway that it also said "first exit" for that exit too. Very strange - I haven't seen problems with other roundabouts, yet.
Bad default POIs, listing the nearest cash machine as 25 miles away, when I was standing right next to one and no shops that I was looking for.
TomTom 7
Pros:
Reasonable across the board.
Cons:
Average default POIs, finding cash machines but not most shops.
Garmin Mobile XT
Pros:
Great default POIs, being able to track down most shops, etc.
Great free online services, such as Google local search, cheapest petrol
prices nearby, weather, traffic reports, flight status and Panoramio.
Being able to install subsets of maps, to reduce space on the device.
Cons:
Very slow graphics engine.
arghness said:
[*]Text-to-speech support for reading out road names, if you have enough memory (sometimes needs a reboot or to disable TouchFlo to get enough - sadly it doesn't default to the normal non-TTS if there's not enough memory, so you have to turn it back manually).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using the latest iGO8.0.x release and haven't noticed any memory problem at all. I think it is a problem of the 8.3.X release(s), as they are not optimized for our devices yet. There are some sys.txt tweaks regarding to the tts functionality out there, maybe they will fix it for you.
arghness said:
Long startup time.
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Click to collapse
What do you mean by that? Mine is up and ready after 10 seconds (or something like that).
arghness said:
Incorrect speed limits in my area (30 instead of 60-70 on some roads!)
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Click to collapse
That's not iGO8's fault at all. The speed limits are integrated in the card material, mostly coming from tele atlas. For Germany the cards are really good.
arghness said:
Bad default POIs, listing the nearest cash machine as 25 miles away, when I was standing right next to one and no shops that I was looking for.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't noticed any lacks of pois yet. But you can easily add pois (look for poi plaza).
johnpatcher said:
I'm using the latest iGO8.0.x release and haven't noticed any memory problem at all. I think it is a problem of the 8.3.X release(s), as they are not optimized for our devices yet. There are some sys.txt tweaks regarding to the tts functionality out there, maybe they will fix it for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll take a look, thanks. The normal voices are fine, just not the tts. It could be due to the high quality tts rather than the 11KHz pack.
johnpatcher said:
What do you mean by that? Mine is up and ready after 10 seconds (or something like that).
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It's not unusable, it just takes longer than the others. Sometimes I want to quickly look something up. My usage scenario and my opinion of course
johnpatcher said:
That's not iGO8's fault at all. The speed limits are integrated in the card material, mostly coming from tele atlas. For Germany the cards are really good.
Haven't noticed any lacks of pois yet. But you can easily add pois (look for poi plaza).
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I did say it was my experience in the UK. Also, I think that they do count as negative points against iGo as they make it less useful to me compared to the competition. Giving incorrect voice directions is bad, especially when the visual direction is correct. I'm glad you're happy with it - the graphics engine, buildings and terrain really are good. I'd love to see some online integration like Garmin, especially Google local search, which would make the POIs less of an issue.
Gps sofware in uae
Just for anybody here in UAE ... Sygic Drive 2008 from ORION MIDDLE EAST.. works great on my HD.. and its maps are more updated for the GCC regions.. atleast here in UAE..
My comparison between Garmin mobile XT Vs Mapking R12
hello
yesterday i have chance to fully try out my GPS function on my new HD
This is my findings...
I have expirient using Mapking R12 with my Tytn2 and it is much faster in the term of rerouting if u miss any turn,the accuracy is much better but the graphic is quite "cartoon"... anyway it is quite simple to use and straight forward....
With garmin mobile XT i found that, graphic is cool, many additional information such as speed limit, traffic light and ETA....time...
but it is not that easy to handle in term of finding your destination, etc...
it is slow responding and this can cause u miss some turn since u been passing that turn about 5-10 meters then only in the graphic u will reach there... the speed indicator also slow 10 Kmph...then my speedo meter
anyway i'm not really sure this is due to the sofware or the GPS chip... since i'm comparing my expirient with 2 different device that running with 2 different sofware
anyway i will try to run my HD with mapking and look the different....
Comparison TomTom 7, IGO 8 and INAVI
TOMTOM 7:
It has the most user-friendly interface and most stright-forward menu. You get whatever you want in just several pushes of buttons. Maps are very precise in west Europa and I think in the USA. In other countries maps aren't that good if they exist. It computes almost the best way. Better than all other programs.
IGO 8
It is the most complete navigation program. It has plenity of options. The drawback of this is that you will need more time to do the same thing. The most useful function not available in TomTom is easy moving and zoming map during navigation. It has maps for much more countries for Israel, Eastern Europa and they are more precise (there are even 3D buildings) and they take less space. If you travel outside Europa and USA or like exploring options then it will be the best choice.
INAVI
It is good. It's the only choice for eastern Europe and some other countries. It has many options (more than TomTom and less than IGO) but navigation is less easy and less precise than others. You can choose it if there is no maps for the country where you go.
Personally I choose TomTom 7 because of it's stright-forward interface. In the car you don't have a lot of time to play with options. 3D buildings don't interest me (I can see them through the window) and I live in west Europe.
Just installed Garmin Mobile XT
Updated to version 5.00.20wp
I'm impressed, works full screen and very smooth, Garmin Online is very well integrated, the interface is clean and easy to navigate, you can really just install and drive/walk off (I did not have to do anything to activate the GPS just plug in the MicroSD card and it automatically installed the soft and I could start navigating)
This does not mean that things cannot be customized, from my first look at the settings it looks like just about anything can be customized.
The integration with WM seems very complete too, from the large "Where to" button I can select a contact and it will have a large "Go" button to start navigating to it.
This morning I tested it in my car and I even got a phonecall during navigating which went flawless, the phone screen came on but I went back to Garmin Mobile via the Start menu and it continued navigating (the data connection was stopped so no more Garmin Online service but it did not stop the navigation)
Voice prompts and warning signals were quite clear through the HD speaker.
The only thing is that the location of my car holder might not be ideal on the open road it was ok but the GPS connection became quite erratic when I entered the city, the GPS info screen showed only 3 satellites that flickered on and off, when I took it out of the holder and held it to the windscreen things got better.
hijamir said:
the speed indicator also slow 10 Kmph...then my speedo meter
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this is normal, the speedo in your car is set slower than the actual speed by design (so you don't think you're driving the speed limit but you're actually speeding). If GPS connection is good GPS speed can be accurate to about 0.1km.
On road GPSes there is always a 1 second lag (1Hz, professional and aviation GPSes can have multiple Hz updates) so accelerating/decelerating will not be correct but for constant speeds the GPS indication is superior to most cars speedos.
I've never had a gps device before, and am pretty new to the whole Winmo scene in general. I saw someone mention that Route 66 worked without tweaking so I bought a discounted version of their Route 66 Navigate 7. I wasn't able to install it directly from the CD, but their customer support responded within an hour or two telling me to copy the memory card directory from the CD directly to my HD's card and run the .cab from the phone.
Works great. Now I just have to fool around with it so I know how to actually use it effectively.. lol.
From their website they list the HD as compatible for their latest "8" version too. I just decided to get the old one for cheap since I don't really have a need for gps. Maybe I'll upgrade at some point if it's worth it.
What do you think about the GPS, which app would you recommand ?
People report back that TomTom version 7.915 is working fine......
Can recommend you TomTom
There's also a Copilot trial already in ROM, which is the other main option.
gps is excellent - better (more sats) than my rhodium and far far faster to lock than my kaiser. best yet in my opinion,
Does anyone know if IGO8 works with the mini? I am seriously considering this device since I at the point of being able to renew my contract.
Would love to know if anyone knows. Thanks!!!
Hi,
I have started a third party program which uses the gps.
When I turn off this program, the gps-icon in the tray doesn't go away.
I assume the gps is still running, but I can't find any settings to turn it off. Only thing that seem to work, is truning the phone off and on..
Anybody got an idea?
Hi stefanthege
I had this too with a little GPS app I use.
As far as I can see there isn't anything you can do to turn the GPS off, although it is supposed to shut down automatically if nothing is calling the GPS hardware.
For me, I noticed the application wasn't shutting down correctly, and was still listed in the task manager. Check there that your application isn't still running in the background when you think you have closed it.
Cheers
ow.
Hi,
Yes, I checked the task manager, and turned off ALL programs.. the GPS-icon was still showing in the icon-tray..
I don't think it's a big problem, because I don't use the GPS all that often.. but a little annoying..
Garmin
I'm using Garmin Mobile XT, Version 5.00.20wp, and is working well.
My ROM is 1.36.410.1 PTG.
GPS works great!
I've tested a lot of PNA & PDA devices with GPS and I'm very very satisfied with the GPS function on HTC HD mini, it works absolutely great! Finds satelites very fast, faster than some PNAs even it uses A-GPS. This can be problem when you are in roaming zones, for that, I use application DATA CONTROLLER (you can find it here in some forum).
I use iGO8 navigation software, with costumized DATA.zip archive, it works fine and I like it very much. Also iGO Primo is great solution.
HTC HD mini has totally satisfied my needs!
Hi Piona,
I was working several years ago with devices + external GPS units and devices with GPS inside (Pda, Notebook, smartphones,..)
I was working with GPS units from several manufacturers, kinds and versions (BT, serial, CF, SD, cable...).
In fact, several months ago, I was talking to HTC to know what is the brand what they included (Sirf,...) because it is a very interesting data to know if it works fine or not, in advance.
They did not confirm me this question but they informed me very good and send me tech. information in order to warranty a good perfomances.
Later, when we checked a couple of terminals (HTC mini) here, I could see is the best GPS what I checked.
Of course there is people with more experience than me but I can confirm you I invested days and days to check this question during a lot of years and GPS units and it is the best one.
It is a real GPS working in COM4 (Nmea, 4800bps)(remember it if you need to configure any software) but, the most important for me is it is very stable.
In short: fast, strong signal (I can work inside my office) and very stable.
Upon my point of view, the GPS is a very good argument from this terminal.
Have a good day
The GPS signal acquisition of my HD Mini is poor in comparison to my previous HD2. It can take 3-4 minutes to get a valid fix whereas the HD2 took only a few seconds.
This may be software related as I think it was better when I bought it, but until we can get the tools to update the Radio ROM I can only think of doing a hard reset to see if it improves.
My HD Mini (bought from Clove) came with a free copy of NDrive on a Micro-SD card.
It works very well. I find the HD Mini usually locks onto the satellites quickly when outside and holds that lock for longer, where my previous Sony Sat-Nav lost signal in the same position, in the same vehicle far faster.
If I had a criticism of NDrive it would be that it will sometimes instruct me to 'keep left' when what is really meant is 'turn left'.
Having said that recalculation of the route is almost instantaneous, it includes safety camera alerts and warns if I exceed the given speed limit for the current road.
I'd certainly recommend it and would probably buy NDrive next time I needed to.
I've now upgraded my ROM though still no new Radio ROM, but since then it has been far better. Fixes in about 20 seconds now from warm start.
GPS works great on HTC HD Mini.
Garmin mobile XT works like a cream.
Miero Via GPS Black edition is another one.
@ people who have the gps icon not removing itself as a status icon...
I myself have this problem using third party GPS navigation software...
try using google maps app after... then close google maps app ... with me this shuts down gps also...
Best of luck..
Joey
Garmin here also, flawless
GPS of HD mini is one of the best, if not the best. It acquires satellite signals and lock on very quickly. Even inside my office room. Takes seconds to lock. It out-performs the dedicated GPS device i bought earlier and installed in my car. So, now, the removed that device, and use my HD mini as primary navigation device.
I use NaviComputer instead of the built-in Google Map.
NaviComputer is a great app. It allows offline maps to be downloaded and saved on the phone. No need for internet access when i go out and use the phone as GPS device. This is a big plus, because in some areas -- especially in places when you most need to find your way back, GPRS/mobile internet is so weak and mostly non-existent. So that makes the wonderful Google map practically useless for me.
I use TomTom and also GPSTuner.
with both programs I haven't any issue
ozi
also oziexplorer works very well. I noticed it continues logging when the display switches off. this is really good for battery life!