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I am currently using my Hermes with an external Bluetooth GPS receiver that has 30 hours battery life. I need this because I do not use the GPS in my car but out mountainbiking or hiking. I love the idea of using the larger Athena screen with digital mapping, but I am worried about battery life if the GPS is built-in since the calculations will probably drain the battery. Has anyone tested the GPS on battery power? How long does it last? Has anyone found good spare batteries?
I have also noted with interest the problems with GPS reception. Has anyone tested this in remote locations (where reception should often be good) or under cloud cover?
I will post a separate thread on this, but I am also concerned about using the hard drive while out mountain biking. Is that just a non-starter given all of the vibration and indirect impact?
Kurvenal said:
I am currently using my Hermes with an external Bluetooth GPS receiver that has 30 hours battery life. I need this because I do not use the GPS in my car but out mountainbiking or hiking. I love the idea of using the larger Athena screen with digital mapping, but I am worried about battery life if the GPS is built-in since the calculations will probably drain the battery. Has anyone tested the GPS on battery power? How long does it last? Has anyone found good spare batteries?
I have also noted with interest the problems with GPS reception. Has anyone tested this in remote locations (where reception should often be good) or under cloud cover?
I will post a separate thread on this, but I am also concerned about using the hard drive while out mountain biking. Is that just a non-starter given all of the vibration and indirect impact?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Can't be sure..I wouldn't want to test it....but having said that, my cousin chased someone who stole his Ameo and they deliberately dropped it onto the concrete pavement to avoid a much deserved beating. lol.
It withstood the fall barring a few scratches and still works fine...so who knows for sure. If your truly worried about the Microdrive, why not transfer the GPS software to the Mini SD card?
I know I did, in case I drive over bumpy terrain and suffer the scenario you outlined above. No issues so far for me.
Ameo for outdoor digital mapping
I have the option to test the Ameo (T-Mobile's name for the Athena) for 30 days so will take it out on some rides to test. I am wondering if it makes more sense to continue to use my external Bluetooth GPS receiver since I will want to put my Ameo in sleep mode when I am riding (as opposed to looking at a map) to conserve battery power and protect the hard drive, which I presume will cause the in-built GPS to lose its signal. If that is the case, then every time I stop to look at my map I will have to switch on the unit for hunt for a signal again, whereas if I have the external GPS on all the time (no problem given its long battery life) the Ameo will pick up the coordinates immediately when I switch it on and display my position on the map. I suspect the GPS in the Ameo is better placed for use in a car with constant power supply. It definitely might be useful, however, to have a backup on the SD card. I am not sure that will work for my Memory Map Pocket Navigator though since I need to send a license to my handheld every time I install. How did you manage to do it?
Does anybody know about WAAS/EGNOS support on the Ameo?
I installed GPSInformation and it has a tickbox to enable them, and it seems to say "ok" when you tick it. However, if you quit the app, when you re-run the box is unticked again.
Does this mean you have to enable WAAS everytime you use the GPS receiver?
Does software like Virtual earth, google maps and TomTom etc enable WAAS by default?
had my one day old ameo out mtbing today.
no problems except the internal gps is appalling, it needs direct view of sky, no tree cover at all, with white part facing upwards to get any kind of signal.
maybe I'm doing something wrong...
on my mdapro with bluetooth GPS i would leave memory map running in my gillet pocket with the external in my backpack with no worries.
not tried external with this one yet
I think memory map installs the licence to main memory (maybe a reg key)
As an update to that, after setting both hardware and software ports to none, and turning off the automatic control of gps in the control panel, it's working really well inside the house, and in my pocket.
Battery had dropped 4% after 1hr ride to work, this morning, running mem map & media player. So not bad at all, there were some odd spikes on the mm track record, where I'm presuming the signal got a bit hazy, but other than that good.
Was accurate enough to record when I'd changed lanes on dual carriageway.
Vibration didn't seem to cause any issues, and this was on my recumbent trike, which is prone to loosening fillings..
Do you have a better battery indicator program. The standard one only seems to measure in 10% intervals?
Turn GPS Off?
Out of interest, is the GPS chip always running? If so, is there a way to turn it off? I would hope it only turns on when needed, but just trying to increase battery life...
-Krip
The GPS chip only comes on when you use it. You can see its on because there is an extra flash on the left hand led. You get a GSM flash, then a GPS flash.
Pyrofer said:
The GPS chip only comes on when you use it. You can see its on because there is an extra flash on the left hand led. You get a GSM flash, then a GPS flash.
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Click to collapse
Thanks for the tip! Never noticed that before. But your correct, the GSM led blinks twice as fast after starting TomTom.
It also flashes a different colour, I see a green GSM flash, then orange GPS flash. I dont know if it changes again when you have GPS lock, because im inside
This bluetooth gps receiver (canmore GT-750FL) is simple to use and satellite reception was always great, even during snowstorms, being indoors, or metro areas. In six months, I never experienced anything that disappointed me w/ it's performance with my Dell Axim X51. and Hermes.
Absolutely has exceeded my expectations right out of the box, so far. I should probably wait until I've really played around with this device a bit more but so far it's amazing. I test it up with my BlackBerry,x51 and hermes and right away it was on the ball. Using the Google Maps with it, it said it had located my position within 20 meters. I switched over to the satellite view in Google and zoomed in on my current location. Baloney! It was more like 20 inches! It showed my position to be not only in the correct parking lot but the exact parking space I was in!
Hi,
I bought my Nexus 7 about a month ago. It works perfectly apart from the GPS. It can get a signal fast enough when I'm outside, but if I'm in my car it will get the signal will stationary, but once I start to move it loses connection and I have to come to a stop for a while to regain signal.
I downloaded the GPS Status app and looking at the number of satellites I have about 8/8, once I start moving it drops to 0/2 sometimes 0/0.
Should I take this back under warranty?
Thanks
Nick
I dont have this problem. Try latest update 4.2.2 and see if there is still problem. Also download FasterGPS (if you are rooted) and select your country. If not just replace it with new one.
Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2
I have already updated it. And it not rooted, guess I'll take it back.
Thanks for your help
Nick.falconer said:
Hi,
I bought my Nexus 7 about a month ago. It works perfectly apart from the GPS. It can get a signal fast enough when I'm outside, but if I'm in my car it will get the signal will stationary, but once I start to move it loses connection and I have to come to a stop for a while to regain signal.
I downloaded the GPS Status app and looking at the number of satellites I have about 8/8, once I start moving it drops to 0/2 sometimes 0/0.
Should I take this back under warranty?
Thanks
Nick
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sort of depends - on a number of things
- # of satellites above the horizon
- clear Brillioun zone (no trees etc)
- sitting inside of heavy buildings or metallic enclosures (like autos)
Metallic cabs on vehicles have a way of making signals that are already at -155 dB in free space that much more wonky once you climb inside them. But if you have other consumer/commodity GPS units (e.g. a smartphone) that can maintain a good lock very well in the same vehicle, then perhaps it could be a hardware problem.
All these phones - Android / Apple / whatever - seem to come out of the chute with widely varying reception sensitivity floor (btw, there is no "connection", the GPS chip only listens). The original Samsung Galaxy was pitiful - it could barely maintain a lock with a clear sky and an unobstructed horizon - sitting side by side with other phones that worked perfectly. Never mind getting in a vehicle and moving - a lock condition was nearly impossible in that case.
The origins of the problem can be a poor gps reciever front-end, or more likely antenna design - possibly even interference from the tab itself (in the form of IF mixer spurs that land in the GPS band). Hmmm interesting - Asus is not exactly a cellphone design company - if your unit is a tilapia (3G) N7, does the problem change if you put it in Airplane Mode?
If it affects only a single unit, look for a loose connector for the external GPS antenna. There is a thread here on XDA in the N7 forums somewhere - search for that.
I took mine out for a drive with a different Android device right now - no speeds in excess of 30 mph, but they both seemed to hold lock with roughly the same error estimates. Unfortunately for the test, there were 10 satellites up, so maybe that test means nothing for when there are only 5 or 6 visible.
I doubt I'll be using my GPS much in a vehicle as it is WiFi-only (I suppose I could tether, but none of that seems like something I should be doing while I am driving It seems to lock pretty easily indoors, but that is not the problem you are experiencing.
(I vaguely recall that some of those Galaxy S users were trying to tweak GSP configuration files so that their devices would accept poorer lock conditions. I'm not sure if something equivalent is easy to do for the N7)
hope that helps - it's not a fix for you but at least a little more info.
I just tried it again outside alongside my nexus 4. My nexus 7 (which is 32gb without 3g) would only find at most 5 satellites and even then it would keep losing lock. My nexus 4 on the other hand would find about 17 satellites and have a lock on at least 9 of them. I then moved inside and my nexus 4 maintained a lock on most of the satellites whereas the nexus 7 lost all.
I think it is faulty in some way.
Thanks for your help
Hi all,
I'm on 4.4.2 (Singapore NC2) and I keep losing my GPS signal. No different from any of the other 4.4.2 ROMs I tried (all stock Samsung, initially not rooted but now I am)
I've tried:
- Turn off data (as someone suggested the Note 3 loses GPS when data changes from HSPA to 4G and back)
- rebooted
- Shut down the phone, take battery out and wait a few minutes before rebooting
- cleared the cache
- all sorts of location modes
, turned off wireless and bluetooth
- installed gps status and toolbox (another suggestion)
- full wipe and reinstall all apps
Things I have not tried
- wipe again (but I don't want to keep wiping to get GPS working)
- break the piece of sh1t in half
Is there any way to make this pile of [email protected] work. This is seriously THE worst GPS I had since the original Galaxy S (the S1).
I could not honestly say whether it was any better or worse before the upgrade as I got it two weeks ago and immediately upgraded to 4.4.2
Somehow, after I upgraded to NC2 it was fine but this afternoon it was absolute hell and took all the self control I had NOT to open the window and throw the POS out.
Any suggestions would be greatly(!) appreciated.
TIA
ewok666 said:
Hi all,
I'm on 4.4.2 (Singapore NC2) and I keep losing my GPS signal. No different from any of the other 4.4.2 ROMs I tried (all stock Samsung, initially not rooted but now I am)
I've tried:
- Turn off data (as someone suggested the Note 3 loses GPS when data changes from HSPA to 4G and back)
- rebooted
- Shut down the phone, take battery out and wait a few minutes before rebooting
- cleared the cache
- all sorts of location modes
, turned off wireless and bluetooth
- installed gps status and toolbox (another suggestion)
- full wipe and reinstall all apps
Things I have not tried
- wipe again (but I don't want to keep wiping to get GPS working)
- break the piece of sh1t in half
Is there any way to make this pile of [email protected] work. This is seriously THE worst GPS I had since the original Galaxy S (the S1).
I could not honestly say whether it was any better or worse before the upgrade as I got it two weeks ago and immediately upgraded to 4.4.2
Somehow, after I upgraded to NC2 it was fine but this afternoon it was absolute hell and took all the self control I had NOT to open the window and throw the POS out.
Any suggestions would be greatly(!) appreciated.
TIA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
to be frank, wifi/data/blututh has nothing to do with the GPS. Mine is working well, has never disconnected when I needed (especially when I m driving)
have u tried to test ur gps ? u can use gps test to see how fast it is to lock a satelite, how many satelite detected, how strong is ur gps signal.
then you will know whether your gps got problem or not.
By any chance ur using aluminum casing? With it NFC won't work and very weak GPS signals.
antique_sonic said:
to be frank, wifi/data/blututh has nothing to do with the GPS. Mine is working well, has never disconnected when I needed (especially when I m driving)
have u tried to test ur gps ? u can use gps test to see how fast it is to lock a satelite, how many satelite detected, how strong is ur gps signal.
then you will know whether your gps got problem or not.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I know none of these should matter when it comes GPS except data and obviously the phone can scan for Wi-Fi networks to get an initial position.
When the phone gets a lock it usually does so within seconds and I've compared signal strength with an S4 and it's give or take the same.
Still, the Note lost the signal without moving, got it back only to lose it again and so on......absolute nightmare trying to navigate with it. I'll check it again today.
I have no case on it, it just sits in a Brodit holder.
It seems ok this morning.....I'll just keep an eye on it.
EDIT: Was OK for most of the morning while driving. However, this afternoon, after some playing some games, I took it for a drive again and GPS went all ballistic. I wonder whether it's a heat problem. I have another Note 3, also KitKat but different version, not rooted and when I put them both next to each other on a table they both intermittently lost GPS without being moved around....very strange.
Never had this issue... Mine only looses signal when i'm in a parking garage, on the tube or in between several high concrete buildings. But that's elementary physics, not a hardware defect.
Have you tried another GPS app?
ShadowLea said:
Never had this issue... Mine only looses signal when i'm in a parking garage, on the tube or in between several high concrete buildings. But that's elementary physics, not a hardware defect.
Have you tried another GPS app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I've tried a few including GPS testing apps. Are you on 4.3 or 4.4.2?
I've also had the two Note 3, a SGS3 and Note 10.1 (2014 LTE so also Snapdragon 800) next to each other on a table outside. The SGS showed a rather consistent view of 6 to 7 satellites while the Notes (all three) had their satellite readings go up and down. However, ONLY the Note 3s lost the signal. It looks something like this: Has 8 to 10 sats in view, suddenly drops four, then another 3, then it's dead and then it seems to restart......and it's good again. This is all without the phones/tablet being moved or touched.
Mine does it as well rooted and before unrooted! Could be hardware although it's not as bad on Google maps more on waze!
Sent from my SM-N9005 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
ewok666 said:
Thanks, I've tried a few including GPS testing apps. Are you on 4.3 or 4.4.2?
I've also had the two Note 3, a SGS3 and Note 10.1 (2014 LTE so also Snapdragon 800) next to each other on a table outside. The SGS showed a rather consistent view of 6 to 7 satellites while the Notes (all three) had their satellite readings go up and down. However, ONLY the Note 3s lost the signal. It looks something like this: Has 8 to 10 sats in view, suddenly drops four, then another 3, then it's dead and then it seems to restart......and it's good again. This is all without the phones/tablet being moved or touched.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
4.4.2, NB7.
I'll test. Note that I'm inside a newly build concrete building between several servers and computers, and below 7 floors filled with people. (It's a hotel.)
Start: 22 in view.
10 sec: In use: 6. Accuracy: 60 meters
25 sec: In use: 9, Accuracy: 10 meters.
MapsWithMe and Google maps drop me in the wrong part of the building, but the readings remain consistent after it has sucessfully located me. Even when I'm walking down the hall it accuratelly follows me without skipping.
(It still thinks I'm doing it in the wrong part of the complex, but no connection is lost. Could be worse, most apps' locationservices still think I'm somewhere in the arse-end of nowhere in Eastern Europe. Dear Phone, I've seen enough of Serbia to say I wasn't impressed. I have no intention to stay. )
Mobile data on/off makes no difference, WiFi is off.
Is it relevant to mention that I'm in western Europe? Might be, for the number of sats.
ShadowLea said:
4.4.2, NB7.
I'll test. Note that I'm inside a newly build concrete building between several servers and computers, and below 7 floors filled with people. (It's a hotel.)
Start: 22 in view.
10 sec: In use: 6. Accuracy: 60 meters
25 sec: In use: 9, Accuracy: 10 meters.
MapsWithMe and Google maps drop me in the wrong part of the building, but the readings remain consistent after it has sucessfully located me. Even when I'm walking down the hall it accuratelly follows me without skipping.
(It still thinks I'm doing it in the wrong part of the complex, but no connection is lost. Could be worse, most apps' locationservices still think I'm somewhere in the arse-end of nowhere in Eastern Europe. Dear Phone, I've seen enough of Serbia to say I wasn't impressed. I have no intention to stay. )
Mobile data on/off makes no difference, WiFi is off.
Is it relevant to mention that I'm in western Europe? Might be, for the number of sats.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the test. I've been on NB7 (BTU). THis is when I first noticed the problem, the day after I got the Note 3.
All I can say is that it's fine again now. Something triggers the problem and once it's messed up it stays that way until I shut the phone down AND take the battery out for half a minute or so. A simple shut down and restart after a few seconds does not seem to help.
No clue whether this is related to there not being an Australian 4.4.2 ROM although I would have though Singapore would be close enough.....geographically.
I'm indoors at the moment and it has 13 satellites in use with 36ft (about 10m) accuracy and has been stable for the last 15 minutes. When it's screwed then I don't get a lock for longer than a minute or two. I'll just keep playing with it and if I can't fix it at all it's going to a better place
Thanks
I have the same problem. I'm on 3uk network and have to have a booster box for my phone at home as there is no network coverage on any network where I live but sometimes lose signal even with this. With friends, on same network, they have a perfect signal on their phones, none have the Galaxy Note 3 except me and I have have zilch. I didn't have any problems when I first got my phone but approx 9-10 mths later Gps signal totally unreliable. 3 told me the handset would have to be sent back to Samsung but this means I have to be without for, well who knows how long...
I have tried all the same remedies as you, none work. If you come up with any solution PLEASE post it here. thanks.
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
bump! Any help, methods to trouble-shoot between hardware/software. I tried to erase modemst1/2 see if that would jog anything, no effect.
thanks
water- said:
Hello,
Recently noticed my GPS barely works. If I'm out in an open field it can get medium strength locking from satellites in GPS Status. My wife has identical phone and gets the type of GPS signal I would expect to get. Side by side my phone simply cannot get much. Indoors forget about it. It use to be so good. I certainly have dropped this phone here and there but in the past it never influenced GPS. Is there any possible software/firmware side of things that could be causing it? I may have installed apps or updated apps but I didn't do any tinkering with the GPS specifically or with flashing roms or whatnot since this summer--and it worked fine then after any tinkering---this is a recent development.
Can anyone provide any ways to troubleshoot this? Possible the GPS chip is partially broken? I mean.. it can get signal.. just piss poor and struggles mightily. Almost can't get it in the car, loses GPS lock under tree cover, etc. Very temperamental.
Seems a little bit like 4G has also degraded but a little more unsure of that.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's freaking Christmas, just buy yourself a new phone
Sent from my HTC One using XDA Free mobile app
tempting..and I will in a few months when my contract is up. But this was a spectacular GPS for navigating in the backcountry with downloaded maps. Would love to be able to retain that use after it is no longer a primary phone.
please, any troubleshooting suggestions would be appreciated!
I've had very few problems since switching to Waze and SlimKat. It was horrid under CyanogenMod no matter what I used.
I had been having similar problems under stock KitKat. Here's what I noticed, maybe something will help you:
Resetting aGPS data and re-downloading wouldn't help.
Sometimes GPS would never give a location with plenty of satellites locked to. I modified some build.prop stuff to give me a horribly inaccurate lock in these cases. It was also usually fixed with a reboot.
GPS status would show TONS of satellites overhead, but never be able to lock on to more than one of them. Making sure I had wifi turned on (even if I was in the middle of nowhere with no wifi signals) eliminated this problem.
Something would randomly disable the GPS while I was using it, when it turned it back on a short time later it wouldn't lock (usually due to one of the above issues). I eventually concluded it was how Google Maps and some of the new location stuff works these days. I assume it's trying to save GPS power, other programs were much better. Solution: F Google maps; I only use it as a fancy yellow pages these days. I had stuck with the old, old, version (that still supported Latitude), but had to update when I went to KK and that's when my problems started. This is just another thing that pisses me off about it. I use Waze for navigation now (though I miss lane guidance and using my own text to voice software).
Some GPS bugs can be resolved by flashing to stock firmware, getting a GPS lock and while locked on GPS, reboot straight to recovery and flash your new ROM. After doing that once I have flashed (too) many ROMs with no GPS locking or accuracy issues.
Also make sure your GPS is set to high accuracy and not battery saver.
Sent from my RAZR M on BlissPop Lollipop 5.0.2 from Tapatalk
ezdi and kronik.. thank you for suggestion. unfortunately to no avail even with full reset.
sometimes really seems like my general phone reception, wifi, gps, and data (1x/3G, 4G) are all haywire. Certainly they all work. But the data is never as strong as it should be. Often seems like it needs to be jogged (airplane mode on, then off)/dead areas--while my wife's phone is solid (same razr m but rooted with unlocked BL and stock rom). Likewise on the GPS. it can certainly find and lock satellites but in GPS Status only ever reach 'half bar' strength green.. they use to be able to lock multiple sats at max level.
It's odd...we are talking about the 'radios' of my phone, no? or mostly? I generally consider digital electronics to either function, or not. That they function at all--can receive pings from a satellite, can transmit data to and from towers... tells me the electronics are functional and this is software side. UNLESS there is some radio hardware component that is an amplifier of sorts. If that electronic was broken it would make sense why things function but appear weak/spotty.
thoughts?
aside from my contract being up in a month and what the hell next phone I should get from verizon... haha. But no I'd love to get my phone back to where it was and have a dedicated backcountry/hiking/skiing GPS... which it wouldn't be capable of now (it was..when it worked).
Cheers
bump bump