Download. Simply decompress it and copy it on your Windows Mobile 6 device and run it. (Works on my Polaris.)
Details
Source code
Description
Use your PDA to acquire your GPS position and send it through an SMS.
The GPS position is update every 5 seconds (in order to conserve energy).
SMSs can be sent automatically at regular time intervals.
Do you like hiking?
What if you go out in the wilderness and have an accident? How do you direct a rescue team to your location?
You can use Astrolabe on your PDA to acquire your GPS position and send it through an SMS to your friends / parents / children / rescue team.
Privacy
SMSs are not encrypted, so anyone who tracks your phone number can tell your precise position by reading the SMSs with your GPS position.
However, it's debatable whether this is relevant because if someone tracks your phone number, they may already know the position of your phone in the communication grid.
Power saving modes explained
The following power saving modes are available: none, manual, auto.
None
In this mode there is no power saving. The application and the GPS are running even if the PDA is in standby.
GPS positions are retrieved as soon as they are available and are automatically sent through SMSs as soon as it is mandated.
Warning: In this mode, the battery is drained quickly (because keeping the GPS active requires a lot of power). Therefore, the "Auto" power saving mode is active by default.
Use this mode only when GPS position availability is critical.
Manual
In this mode the power consumption is the same as if the application (including the GPS) is not running.
However, you must keep your PDA on in order for GPS positions to be retrieved and automatically sent through SMSs.
Use this mode only when power consumption must be at minimum.
Auto
In this mode the application is running all the time, but the GPS is sleeping most of the time.
Once every 30 minutes, the GPS is awoken for maximum 5 minutes in order to get a GPS position and automatically send it through SMS. When a GPS position is available, this timer is reset.
In this mode, since the PDA sleeps most of the time, it may miss the narrowest chance it may have to get a GPS signal. In order to be sure that GPS positions are retrieved and automatically sent through SMSs, you must keep your PDA on.
Warning: Do not rely on the ability of a PDA in standby mode to automatically acquire a GPS position in (maximum) 5 minutes. Check this yourself!
Use this mode in most cases.
Tests showed that in this mode the battery (of a HTC Polaris, 1350 mAh) would be depleted in about 16 hours, if no GPS signal is available; if there is a GPS signal, the autonomy should be greatly increased (an informal test indicates more than twice the autonomy). Without power saving, the battery would be depleted in about 6 hours.
Do you like hiking?
What if you go out in the wilderness and have an accident? How do you direct a rescue team to your location?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
what if there isent any signal?
(joking..)
Nice app btw
If there is no signal, the program waits until it acquires a new GPS position. Then, a new SMS is sent within (generally) 5 seconds.
(Of course, if the repeat time is X, the SMS is sent only if more time than X has passed since the last sent SMS.)
Note: Keeping the GPS active drains the battery quickly.
6ITdtvFQqY said:
If there is no signal, the program waits until it acquires a new GPS position. Then, a new SMS is sent within (generally) 5 seconds.
(Of course, if the repeat time is X, the SMS is sent only if more time than X has passed since the last sent SMS.)
Note: Keeping the GPS active drains the battery quickly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I hace seen many programs like yours, almost all drains battery when there is no GPS signal (inside buildings). Only one programs deals it better, but that has many other issues. One way to stop draining the battery is to read 'N' (say 50) number of NMEA messages from GPS and then turn off GPS for about 'M' (5 - 15) minutes. Then try again. This will save lot of battery. May be you can try implementing it.
You can download a new version which has 2 new features.
You can see the trail of GPS locations where you were. The trail is updated once per minute.
A power save mode is available. If this mode is active, the PDA's power consumption is the same as if the application is not running; however, you must have your PDA on in order for GPS locations to be retrieved and automatically sent through SMSs.
Warning: Keeping the GPS active drains the battery quickly. Therefore, the power save mode is active by default.
Download
Details.
tahdor said:
I hace seen many programs like yours, almost all drains battery when there is no GPS signal (inside buildings). Only one programs deals it better, but that has many other issues. One way to stop draining the battery is to read 'N' (say 50) number of NMEA messages from GPS and then turn off GPS for about 'M' (5 - 15) minutes. Then try again. This will save lot of battery. May be you can try implementing it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As you can see, I've implemented a manual power save mode.
In theory, an automated power save mode can be implemented, where the GPS is woke up every 30 minutes to get a location and then sent back to sleep. However, I have no idea what that would do to the device, that is, waking it up every half hour and then shutting it down.
But most importantly, if a GPS location can't be retrieved, what would the device do? The user could be sleeping in a motel for the night (or move through caves or canyons) and the walls could block the GPS signal. Should the device keep trying and thusly consume energy (for how long?), or go back to sleep and miss even the smallest chance of getting a GPS location in those 30 minutes?
An automated power save mode is in conflict with the criticality of having a GPS location any time it is available. Of course, if the device has no power this becomes irrelevant, so a power save mode is necessary. But it's important for the user to understand what's going on.
The current manual mode allows the user to understand that and allows the settings (especially the trail) to remain active all the time. For the moment I consider this to be the best solution.
Accelerometer
Hi,
Your program i very interesting, it will be great to manage the accelerometer
and send a SMS when the phone do not move or when it goes from vertical to
horizontal position.
What do you think of that?
Regards
doco76 said:
send a SMS when the phone do not move or when it goes from vertical to horizontal position.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
In what context would someone use such a feature? I mean, what does an accelerometer provide that the GPS's altitude does not?
I guess an SMS could be sent as soon as a significant change in altitude occurs (because this could indicate a fall).
Very good idea, thank you
I know you're still developing this program,
Can you add customizable SMS feature? I might need to send an sms in my native language.
And
The program will send SMS automaticaly to Predefined Numbers feature would be great
May it be easy
I know you're still developing this program
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The development is actually frozen. I am just implementing critical stuff, like power saving, and doing bug fixing.
Can you add customizable SMS feature? I might need to send an sms in my native language.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can simply send a normal SMS. I'll add a "copy GPS position to clipboard" feature to go with that.
The program will send SMS automaticaly to Predefined Numbers feature would be great
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
SMSs are sent to a predefined agenda contact. Someone who wants to send SMSs with his GPS location should normally do so to a regular agenda contact, so he'll already have an agenda contact or can setup one anytime. What particular usage would there be for an SMS sent to a phone number instead of an agenda contact?
I'll have a new version by tomorrow (if tests are okay) with multiple power saving modes: none, manual (as is now), automatic (where the GPS is automatically woken up to get a location - 5 every 30 minutes). I'll include the "copy GPS position to clipboard" in there.
In automatic power saving mode, tests showed that the battery (of my Polaris, 1350 mAh) would be depleted in about 16 hours (if no GPS signal is available; if it is and reception is good, the autonomy should be greatly increased). Without power saving, the battery would be depleted in about 6 hours.
Although the new version is already up, I'll make a small change later today.
Version 1.3.1 is up. See the first post.
I am going for a hike up the cobbler and Ben Ime in the Arrochar Alps on friday so i will take my polaris and see how things go.
Well that hike went well and i have taken my polaris on a few other hikes.
To be honest you have almost developed a GPS application for your phone. The sms ability is great, but what i really liked was the trail plotting ability.
A standalone GPS will provide you with a line route against gradient maps. I don't expect there to be gradient maps but just a route line sampled at regular intervals would be great. It would be a good aid to plotting your route with a paper map.
Can i ask if the trail samples can be increased?
The current default power saving mode is "Auto", which means that Astrolabe can only take a GPS location once every 30 minutes. As such, the trail can't be updated more often. Moreover, if the 5 minutes window when Astrolabe attempts to get a GPS location is missed (because the GPS reception is poor), the next one is 30 minutes later, which mean that the trail accuracy is getting worse.
You can change the power saving mode is "None", in which case the trail is updated once per minute... but the battery dies out fast.
Instead of changing the power saving mode, you could manually start your PDA every time you think it's necessary to get a GPS location (and trail location). (Just look in Astrolabe to make sure that the time of the last GPS location is the current time.)
(As I said, the power saving modes will cause confusion.)
I added the trail feature after a bunch of us got lost in the woods. After some 2 hours of being off course we were debating whether to return or go further. Fortunately someone went 200 meters further and saw the road (from where we started). With this feature I could have seen that we were going in the right direction.
Related
I really want to improve the battery life of my Hero as at the moment it only lasts about a day.
What would you say are the best 'battery life saving tips'
Thanks!
I don't have 10 saving tips, but turning off wifi and roaming internet will probably save some battery power and only use them when needed. lock screen after a 1 minute is probably another tip that will go along way.
ddind to what tweedie suggested: Turn GPS off when not using.
All those tips might make battery last 5 minutes longer or thereabout!
Personally I have found that the following settings suit me:
Internet- always on (for calendar and email updates)
Phone set to 2G (GSM)- I switch to 3G manually when actively using internet
Bluetooth off unless I'm actively using it
Wi-Fi off unless I'm actively using it
GPS off unless I'm actively using it
Just to let you know - turning GPS off or on is reliant on the application you use.
ie, if you turn GPS on and dont use a program which requires GPS, then GPS wont be activated.
But for my two cents which i've read around:
- Turn off automatic weather updates
- Turn most schedule feeds to be at least 1 hour (twitter, email, facebook etc). The more the longer your battery will last
- Turn off 3G if not actively using internet (as mentioned above)
- Install "Spare Parts" to check which program is eating your battery the most and consider if its worth it or not
- Turn off contact sync after your initial setup on your phone. No need to keep syncing contacts when it doesn't change too often
Advanced Task Killer - Download and properly close apps down after using them. Shortcut on home for quick access
APNDroid - Disable data services (3G/GPRS/EDGE). Home screen widget for quick access
Battery Widget - Handy home screen widget showing battery life and also gives options for enabling/disabling WIFI, GPS and Bluetooth. Also display settings.
Disable auto synchronization on things like people (facebook integration), mail etc.
Screen timeout - 1 minute is normally adequate, but I suppose there's no harm in turning it down to as low as 15 seconds, just depends on how you use it.
Turning off animations? - Don't know about this but surely it won't use as much memory so can't be a bad thing. (Spare parts)
Basically everything is off unless I need it, then I switch it on.
Adam
Wifi. With wifi on all day and barely any usage of 2G, I'm down to the red zone. Without wifi and 2G all day with text, emails, web browsing, etc, I'm only down to about 80%.
Hello everyone, I have a few questions / issues regarding this phone and android in general, here it goes:
Voice Talk: what are the differences between the two apps (the one with the green and the one with the blue background colors)? They seem to do the same things to me.
Energy saving: the energy saving implementation doesn't seem too "smart" to me. I'm cool with setting reduced energy configurations like lower brightness and turning off bluetooth etc when the battery treshold kicks in, but I'd expect it to restore my setup once the battery level goes above the treshold again. Atm I have to manually undo all the changes that the battery saving functionality does, basically once a day. Isn't there a "smarter" app that restores my settings before the energy saving mode kicks in?
The battery: I've streamed 30 min of music from the device to my car's bluetooth stereo, and it removed 26% of the battery charge. I'm on fw KE2 cause it seems that KE7 is even worse when it comes to power consumption. Still, isn't it too much?
Volume: I've turned it all the way up both with the side button and inside settings -> sounds (all 4 of them). Still, if someone in my office is talking I miss a sms reception etc. It never happened to me when I had the 5800 express music, so I'm not deaf
App notifications: I left my phone near my bed, there is at least 3 out of 4 bars of 3G signal, facebook is set on 30 min updates, accuweather on 3 hours, info-costs every hour, the phone never turned off nor lost the 3g coverage, yet it missed completely or partially a LOT of updates
App settings: app settings also seem a bit random. I have an app called noLed to show led notifications on the screen when it's locked. I had enabled it, checked the "start noled after phone reboot" and all, and even if the phone never even rebooted, after a day or two I went it and the first checkbox (activate NoLed) was misteriously turned off...
Thanks everyone,
TD
tylerdurden83 said:
Hello
What are the differences between Maps,
Maps are MAPPING Latitude Is a precise location for locating friends in the nearby location and Navigator? Voice guided navigation walking driving ..
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
JJEgan said:
tylerdurden83 said:
Hello
What are the differences between Maps,
Maps are MAPPING Latitude Is a precise location for locating friends in the nearby location and Navigator? Voice guided navigation walking driving ..
jje
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Not that I'm not following your logic, it just seems kinda silly to have 3 apps for doing something that 1 app would be enough to do. For example, it's like having Street View as another external application, even thought it's just clearly a Maps "add-on".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes true but a lot of users are incapable of using stuff that requires effort and need big shiny widgets and hand holding .
jje
mini bump!
Some GS2 issues / questions
Hello everyone, I have a few questions / issues regarding this phone and android in general, here it goes:
Voice Talk: what are the differences between the two apps (the one with the green and the one with the blue background colors)? They seem to do the same things to me.
Energy saving: the energy saving implementation doesn't seem too "smart" to me. I'm cool with setting reduced energy configurations like lower brightness and turning off bluetooth etc when the battery treshold kicks in, but I'd expect it to restore my setup once the battery level goes above the treshold again. Atm I have to manually undo all the changes that the battery saving functionality does, basically once a day. Isn't there a "smarter" app that restores my settings before the energy saving mode kicks in?
The battery: I've streamed 30 min of music from the device to my car's bluetooth stereo, and it removed 26% of the battery charge. I'm on fw KE2 cause it seems that KE7 is even worse when it comes to power consumption. Still, isn't it too much?
Volume: I've turned it all the way up both with the side button and inside settings -> sounds (all 4 of them). Still, if someone in my office is talking I miss a sms reception etc. It never happened to me when I had the 5800 express music, so I'm not deaf
App notifications: I left my phone near my bed, there is at least 3 out of 4 bars of 3G signal, facebook is set on 30 min updates, accuweather on 3 hours, info-costs every hour, the phone never turned off nor lost the 3g coverage, yet it missed completely or partially a LOT of updates
App settings: app settings also seem a bit random. I have an app called noLed to show led notifications on the screen when it's locked. I had enabled it, checked the "start noled after phone reboot" and all, and even if the phone never even rebooted, after a day or two I went it and the first checkbox (activate NoLed) was misteriously turned off...
Thanks everyone,
TD
I'm particularly interested in a response to the energy saving that is stock on the sgs2.
However what i want to know is if the energy saving is active, or whether 'energy saving enabled' simply means it is ready to cut in when battery gets down to set target.
Any response to the above questions would be appreciated.
Ta in advance.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I don't think there's any difference between Voice command and Voice talk. Different interface is all I guess?
yamanote said:
I don't think there's any difference between Voice command and Voice talk. Different interface is all I guess?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Isn't it kinda silly to have two different interfaces for a program I'm not even really supposed to use via its interface, but via voice commands?....
samed1983 said:
I'm particularly interested in a response to the energy saving that is stock on the sgs2.
However what i want to know is if the energy saving is active, or whether 'energy saving enabled' simply means it is ready to cut in when battery gets down to set target.
Any response to the above questions would be appreciated.
Ta in advance.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As far as I've understood, when it says 'energy saving enabled' in the notification panel it just means that the feature is turned on, but it doesn't necessarely mean that it's gone into 'energy saving mode' already.
My issue with it remains, I don't want it to disable account sync, bluetooth, turn down the brightness etc, and the day after, once the phone is recharged, I have to re-enable all of them...
tylerdurden83 said:
Isn't it kinda silly to have two different interfaces for a program I'm not even really supposed to use via its interface, but via voice commands?....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Got it figured out.
Voice command is for when you're sitting down or something and can give the phone your total attention, while Voice talk is for when you're driving or something.
In Voice talk you can enable 'driving mode', which reads out and incoming texts and numbers of the phone which is calling you.
Even with that disabled, you can just say 'Hi Galaxy' or 'Hey Galaxy' and it will start listening to your commands.
(useful while you're just driving and don't want to be distracted by having to hold down the home button (ahem iPhone) or tap the Tap to speak button)
Still a bit redundant (why not just have voice talk?) but at least there's a difference
I now see what you mean about sync being disabled after leaving power saving mode.
Had a scout about and can't find a solution to this.
Anyone have a solution because this is very annoying.
Sent from my GT-I9100 using XDA App
I'm a bit puzzled by the battery life. I mean, afterall they advertise the various components of the gs2 as battery saving (for example the actually turned off pixels of the super amoled, or the dual core).
So, by logic, if the more advanced parts of it are energy saving compared to other less advanced models, why isn't it consuming less battery?....
Any more info?
I have a new question, is it normal under KE2 that the wi fi can't catch the signals almost al all?
At university I couldn't even detect the network, while the guy next to me with an iphone4 had full signal strength. On the train I had 1 line and it kept disconnecting, while my mate with the nokia 5800 express had no issue with it.
Even at my house going from my desk where the router is to my bed right in front of it, it already starts to drop significantly.
Another issue that I've noticed is that sometimes even tho there is 3g coverage the apps won't refresh. For example, AccuWeather hasnt refreshed since the day before, or manually firing a refresh of the contacts in my WhatsApp list ends in a "update failed, try again later" message, but after rebooting the phone it magically works right away...
The battery life on my 3D is far worse than my 4G, which had the extended battery (obviously). But until an extended battery is available for the 3D, I will have to deal. In order to make the battery last longer, I'd like to automatically disable background data (or auto sync) when the signal is less than 2 bars for a few minutes. Can any of you help me with this?
I've created a profile that will disable auto sync when signal is "2" or less. But I'd like to enhance it by saying it has to remain less than "2" for 3-5 minutes, so it isn't constantly enabling/disabling auto sync when I go through tunnels, etc.
Thanks in advance!
Dave
Power saver feature that is built in does that.
Oops, reading comp fail. I thought you said battery. Sorry.
-----
3vo. That is all that needs be said.
user7618 said:
Power saver feature that is built in does that.
Oops, reading comp fail. I thought you said battery. Sorry.
-----
3vo. That is all that needs be said.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, it does it when the battery reaches 15%. I want it to do this at any battery level, but only when the signal is weak.
Dave
I've made some progress with this. It's not perfect, but I think it will work.
First, create a task called "weak signal"
Check state, signal level is 0-1
Set variable %WEAKSIGNAL to 1
Wait 3 minutes
If %WEAKSIGNAL = 1
Disable auto sync (I wish this could be background data, but I don't see an option)
Then create a second task called "normal signal"
Check state, signal level is 3-8 (left a gap to prevent flapping)
Set variable %WEAKSIGNAL to 0
wait 15 seconds
If %WEAKSIGNAL = 0
Enable auto sync
I'll test this for a few days and see if it improves things. Coincidentally, I've been in areas with weak signals each day since I got the 3D. As a result, I'm lucky if the battery lasts 8 hours. I know disabling always-on data will fix this, but I don't like that the weather and everything stops syncing. Hopefully this will be a happy medium.
Dave
The tasker script seems to be working perfectly! It has definitely improved my battery life in weak signal areas, and I haven't noticed any ill effects.
Dave
dodgeboy said:
I've made some progress with this. It's not perfect, but I think it will work.
First, create a task called "weak signal"
Check state, signal level is 0-1
Set variable %WEAKSIGNAL to 1
Wait 3 minutes
If %WEAKSIGNAL = 1
Disable auto sync (I wish this could be background data, but I don't see an option)
Then create a second task called "normal signal"
Check state, signal level is 3-8 (left a gap to prevent flapping)
Set variable %WEAKSIGNAL to 0
wait 15 seconds
If %WEAKSIGNAL = 0
Enable auto sync
I'll test this for a few days and see if it improves things. Coincidentally, I've been in areas with weak signals each day since I got the 3D. As a result, I'm lucky if the battery lasts 8 hours. I know disabling always-on data will fix this, but I don't like that the weather and everything stops syncing. Hopefully this will be a happy medium.
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Only problme I see with this is that it will kick in if you have a weak signal but still are connected to a wifi hotspot.
Could someone explain how to do this ? how to add this task? So i could save the battery when signal is low . Thanks
I am also having pretty horrific battery life, only 6 hours where my 4G use to last 36... So I thought I'd take this idea and make my own little modifications to it.
First I thought I would explain to those not familiar with Tasker. It is an app that allows you to setup your phone to automatically do "tasks" based on contexts. These contexts can be things like whether your connected to wifi, what time of the day it is, how good your signal strength is, anything your phone can "sense." And tasks are basically anything your phone can do, like turn on and off settings or launch applications.
Market Link: https://market.android.com/details?id=net.dinglisch.android.taskerm
Dev Website: http://tasker.dinglisch.net/
Now for my take on dodgeboy's 'profile'.
Code:
Context 1: Signal Strength, from 0 to 2
Context 2: Wifi Connected, Invert (Not connected to wifi)
Enter Task 1: Wait 1 min
Enter Task 2: Auto-Sync Off
Enter Task 3: Notify,[Title] Low Signal, [Text] Auto Sync Off, Permanent (I wanted a notification that auto sync was off)
Exit Task 1: Wait 15 sec
Exit Task 2: Auto-Sync On
Exit Task 3: Notify Cancel (Clears that Permanent notification)
Here is a link to my exported profile. Just put it on your phone's sd card. Once tasker is open, hit menu, profile data, import one profile.
http://db.tt/gb9w8O4
Let me know what you think. Haven't tested it beyond testing it at my desk by "death gripping" the phone.
ok, so there is some issue with my profile. Occasionally it will not perform the exit tasks, so the notification stays up and the auto-sync remains off. Not sure why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't..? Maybe I'll try a 2 profile setup like the OP using a variable. Will post back if I get around to making a new profile(s), or if I figure out what is wrong with my current profile.
Thmstec said:
ok, so there is some issue with my profile. Occasionally it will not perform the exit tasks, so the notification stays up and the auto-sync remains off. Not sure why it sometimes works and sometimes doesn't..? Maybe I'll try a 2 profile setup like the OP using a variable. Will post back if I get around to making a new profile(s), or if I figure out what is wrong with my current profile.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Are you waiting for it to go through the wait period? The way I wrote it, it needs to stay in one state for a period of time before it changes whether or not the auto sync is enabled. If you want it to happen immediately, just write it without the variable and wait sections.
The reason I want it to wait is because when you enable auto sync, it seems to perform at least a partial sync immediately. I don't want this script to make the battery worse, because it is constantly syncing as it comes in an out of signal range.
Thanks for all the comments, very helpful !!! It is noticeable the battery saving
Hello,
Like some of the other users, I had GPS problems after installing these two ROMs: connecting to the satellites took a very long time, if at all. Below I describe my fix, gathered from searching on the web, including here on XDA, and by using trial-and-error testing. Hope it helps others.
Install GPS Test by Chartcross. This helps monitor the GPS activities. There are other similar apps out there, but I like this one for the purpose of monitoring the GPS.
Install FasterGPS, by Dominik Schürmann. This is to edit the file /system/etc/gps.conf. You could edit it manually, but I like the GUI of this app.
Check if your /system/etc/suplcert/cacert.txt is "MIIDazCC......neEj8Nq/", then under the advanced settings, make sure SUPL_HOST is "supl.sonyericsson.com", SUPL_PORT=7275. Each cacert corresponds to a particular SUPL server. The above cacert is for the Sony server. If the host doesn't correspond to the cert, then you will not benefit from a quick retrieval of GPS info via the internet. Instead your GPS will download the info from the satellites themselves at a very slow rate (50 b/s according to Wikipedia). Your GPS would still work, but it won't acquire a fix quickly. Sorry I don't know what the cert for Google is.
Set NTP server to something close to you. Some people suggest to enter several servers (more can't hurt), some people suggest not to do that (more does hurt, if the previous ones fail.) I imagine that, at the higher level, the ntp pool servers don't usually fail. Thus I choose a single server that is close to me. In addition, I stay at the "country" level instead of going down to the numerical prefix level. (I.e. I don't bother with 0.uk.pool.ntp.org.) I figure going down to the numerical prefix level would more likely expose me to server failures.
Set INTERMEDIATE_POS=1 (enabled), then set ACCURACY_THRES=0 (passing all positions). With this value GPS Test usually reports satellites "in view" very quickly [<= 1 sec]. [Note: "in view" not "fix".] When I set the threshold to something non-zero (even a large value like 5000), it takes several seconds to see them.
Set ENABLE_WIPER=1, which supposedly turns on wifi positioning. Not sure what that does, but sounds like it can help . I assume the GPS system reads info from the wifi to get a rough estimate position. GPS Test probably isn't affected by this, although something like Maps might.
Set REPORT_POSITION_USE_SUPL_...=1. Again this sounds like a useful thing. My trial-and-error testing didn't discover anything conclusive about this. If anyone know more, please let me know.
Set DEFAULT_AGPS_ENABLE=TRUE, DEFAULT_USER_PLANE=TRUE. These are probably already true by default, but I figure it doesn't hurt to be explicit.
Reboot your phone if you had to change the SUPL setting. I had to do this to see the change. Would love to hear your experience on this.
With the above settings, GPS Test usually reports about 10 satellites in view in about 1 sec; satellites signals popping up above 10 db in about 5 sec, and the GPS acquiring a fix with about 4 satellites in less than 30 sec. All this _inside_ my house, which is a timber frame house with tile roof. I get this even with airplane mode on, i.e. no network connection!
If I use GPS Test to download AGPS data first, then the fix could be even faster, at less than 15 sec. And once the GPS has acquired a fix then, within a short time span, it will do so again very quickly (< 5 sec). Thus I have no problem as I switch from app to app and the GPS sensor turns on and off.
If my AGPS data is several days old, I still can get a fix in about 1 min.
Still, sometimes no matter what I do, the GPS would take more than 1 min to acquire a fix. Not sure why this happens, but it usually occurs after I haven't used the GPS in a while. In those cases I might have to wait up to 5 min for a fix.
Notes:
I assume you have root (since you managed to install ROMs )
According to the official ntp pool website,
As pool.ntp.org will assign you timeservers from all over the world, time quality will not be ideal. You get a bit better result if you use the continental zones (For example europe, north-america, oceania or asia.pool.ntp.org), and even better time if you use the country zone (like ch.pool.ntp.org in Switzerland)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
More about my choice of accuracy threshold: if a threshold is active, it seems like the GPS would wait for the signal of a satellite to be of a certain strength before reporting it as in view. I figure it is better to just grab all the satellites possible, even if there is no signal yet.
The app GPS Status & Toolbox, by MobiWIA - EclipSim is also a very useful monitoring tool. I like the feature that reports how "stale" the AGPS data is. Wish GPS Test had this as well.
Toggling on the GPS from the settings menu simply allows apps to turn on the GPS. This doesn't use any battery. Only when an app starts using the sensor does it take energy. I recommend having this on. Having said that, do make sure you don't have any rogue app keeping your GPS engaged.
Install NTPSync, by Dominik Schürmann again. This helps set your clock. Not sure if this is necessary, but it gives me a good feeling that my clock is accurate
gps
its still not working
zivalarasa said:
its still not working
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After running GPS Test out in the open for, say, 1 min, does it report any "in view" satellite at all? Any satellite have signal > 10db?
GPS Test
HHest said:
After running GPS Test out in the open for, say, 1 min, does it report any "in view" satellite at all? Any satellite have signal > 10db?
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GPS test runs and doesnt find any sattellite. It ran for around 10 minz
zivalarasa said:
GPS test runs and doesnt find any sattellite. It ran for around 10 minz
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I assume you had GPS working at some point prior to installing the ROM? If you've done all the steps (particularly steps 3, 5, and very importantly 9), then I'm afraid I'm out of suggestions.
spelling?
On the off chance... perhaps you have a spelling error?
I find it quite easy to spell "sonyericsson" wrong, especially the ericsson part. Now I have a way to memorize it: "Eric" (that's easy), "Eric's" (as in something belonging to Eric), ericsson = "Eric's son"
Guys,
Lot of talk regarding battery life/ standalone/ accuracy of gear S apps for running.
Used both Nike and S Health- to me both were standalone.
Few bullets
1) some stated that even with GPS on and locked that s health still uses pedometer for distance? (is this true?)
2) I'm still confused if I need gear network AND/OR mobile network on/off - does this affect battery life- if I leave OFF all networks...will my run sync once I turn mobile network or Bt with phone on?
3) any way to get splits read to you (cannot believe this is missing)
4) I don't think this device will get through a marathon unfortunately
Yikes! Just did the car test (run shealth with hand out car) and I can confirm that it doesn't use gps for anything other than map. Feel duped
Relies on pedometer I think
Sorry for my blast posts. It is possible that it only records speeds in running range? I shook hands and didn't increase speed. Also noticed a bike option. Perhaps wrong about duped. Lol
Hello Jeffruby,
I've been in contact with Samsung about S-Health on Gear S and they confirmed that they are not measure the distance with the GPS, just the map (Totally insane!)
The Nike+ app is tracking the distance correctly with GPS though. If you have everything turned on (GPS, GSM, Bluetooth), then you would get probably about 4-5h of battery time. My goal is to use it on the next marathon and be able to listen on music for the last 60min of the race but i guess I need to run on 3:30 or something to make this possible
BUT, unfortunally the Nike+ app are missing the most important thing and that's the avg pace for the total run. It just show current pace and I don't really like that since it's changs so often so it's hard to see what speed you are runnig at.
So, yeah, I really hope for an update on either of these running apps ASAP!
HTC, thanks.! What a shame re s health app. How do you think it does distance for biking though if uses pedometer for distance?
The Nike app is close to being good..... I can't see the red on black, while your running you can't read scrolling info and of course the avg pace of run is the gold
Also in Nike app you have to turn on GPS manually, not from the app, if you want to track distance accurately. If you don't it uses accelerometer. With GPS on in general battery life is not good. My longest run was 30K in 2:45 had 18% battery left. Also there is one more strange thing about S health - calorie count maxes out at 1000
OK , so I did another test today - used shealth on bike mode. Stuck arm out car window with GPS on. Kept arm still. It tracked distance completely accurately. This tells me that the s health must indeed use GPS accurately. I think the jog portion only measures speeds in running or walking rates as it did not pass my car test.
The Nike app is a bummer as you can't verify GPS lock before it starts. Also the reasons mentioned prior.
The s health app is easier to read but doesn't show you 1 mile splits on the phone app. This is unacceptable.
Completely agree with the issues mentioned with nike+ Visual gps status before starting, the ability to display the info you want while running, and a always on mode during use would also be handy. Now I have to flick my wrist and wait untill the display goes on. It takes too much time and you're not seeing what's happening before you. A quick glance should be all. Currently i use a gear store app called screen awake for this.
Yeah, i have been logging miles with the Nike ap too. Its not perfect, but it works for me.
I have 79 miles all logged on my Gear S nike ap this year.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using XDA Free mobile app
Not to mention Nike app wastes battery with hr but doesn't record it.
The S Health app records continuous HR during your run. I'm not sure how the Nike+ app works to record HR data. Is it continuously tracking/recording HR data? Or does it do it intermittently when you activate the display and wait for the information to scroll (on the bottom of the screen) to HR?
glenner05 said:
Completely agree with the issues mentioned with nike+ Visual gps status before starting, the ability to display the info you want while running, and a always on mode during use would also be handy. Now I have to flick my wrist and wait untill the display goes on. It takes too much time and you're not seeing what's happening before you. A quick glance should be all. Currently i use a gear store app called screen awake for this.
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In the Nike+ app there's a small round indicator in the upper righthand corner that turns green as soon as there is a GPS lock. Always on mode is great, but it increases battery drain, so I just do the wrist flick.
Jerome, I think he is referring to indicator if Nike gps locked in before you hit start run. No runner wants the first 0.1 mile not to be recorded.
htcdiamondswe said:
Hello Jeffruby,
I've been in contact with Samsung about S-Health on Gear S and they confirmed that they are not measure the distance with the GPS, just the map (Totally insane!)
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Could it be that the person you talked to had no idea what they were talking about (my usual experience with samsung, sadly)?
I am asking because Gear S tracks distance even with data off. After the run, if i don't see a map, only a track of my steps(*), I think data was off, but I still get the same results. I took mine to Europe with me and still got the distance tracked on my runs, even though the SIM card in it wasn't working. Wouldn't that be a sure indicator that what Sammy told you is incorrect?
(*) when data is on, my tracks are superimposed over a map.
xendula said:
Could it be that the person you talked to had no idea what they were talking about (my usual experience with samsung, sadly)?
I am asking because Gear S tracks distance even with data off. After the run, if i don't see a map, only a track of my steps(*), I think data was off, but I still get the same results. I took mine to Europe with me and still got the distance tracked on my runs, even though the SIM card in it wasn't working. Wouldn't that be a sure indicator that what Sammy told you is incorrect?
(*) when data is on, my tracks are superimposed over a map.
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Hello,
I guess I have to answer both Yes and No on that question
I've tried to reinstall, run without data, without simcard, yeah, tons of different test and it's always way off (map is accurate but the distance it shows is totally off). Another poster in this topic also had the same issue but then he told me to test and choose 'cycle' as training mode instead of running, and, when I did that, then S-Health tracks the distance accurate. So, with other words the application have support for tracking distance in that training mode but of some reason it seem to choose to track the distance by counting steps if I choose running/walking as training mode. So, i'm not sure, maybe your device of some reason have this working on all traning modes. I hope so, and, that someone can explain for me hoooooooooooooooooooow to change this
My gear s tracks distance very accurately when I run gps on. However with GPS off using pedometer it overestimated my distance by approx 0.1 per mile. So gps must work. I did discover as mentioned above, that at high speeds need cycle on.
Not sure if this has anything to do with anything, but my Gear S is the US ATT variety.
In my case, I am fairly certain that no maps are used for measuring distance. Maybe I lucked out.
And when I said my distance gets tracked earlier, I meant the tracks you see at the very bottom of the log in S Health, that correctly display where I took turns, looped back, etc. Without data on, there is no actual map behind them, with data on, there usually is (I had a few flukes before.) The pedometer would not know about turns taken, though.
BTW, I had issues getting a GPS lock for a while until I realized that my phone is messed up. Once I started using the Gear S in stand-alone mode, all was good.