Hello, I am interested in buying either the Defy or Samsung Galaxy Ace and would like to ask users of the Ace their opinon. As well as the obvious phone calls & text, my main application will be GPS & navigation. Can users of the phone tell me if the GPS gets a reliable quick lock on satellites and maintains the fix?
Thanx
I use my phone for workout logging with GPS. I have no problem finding satellites. It usually takes a minute or so. Up to date AGPS data helps a lot.
Maintaining a fix is no problem. Sometimes a problem in tunnels but there is no surprise there.
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stock rom
If i leave gps on.... and all the apps i have that may use gps (travel, voucher etc) do not run in the back ground,
except google maps.... will this really drain random battery throughout the day.
The reason I ask this is when using google maps...i see the gps symbol on the top of my phone, but once i back out of it...the symbol disappears, and when i go back into it to resume what i was doing the symbol turns back on and the gps has to find my location all over again.
Hence I come to the conclusion that the gps is not 'always on' when you don't need or (given you don't have any dodgy apps)
Then I could turn off googles location sharing thing, because if I am correct you need that on if you want to use location services without gps?
SGS2 uses sirfstar IV
http://www.sys-con.com/node/1822443
http://www.csr.com/products/25/sirfstariv-gsd4t
This is a modern GPS chip, it don't think it uses much battery. I've always GPS on and I've no battery issues. And I agree that it seems that the chip is set to some kind of standby when not in use so turning off the GPS in the settings (or notfication pull down) seems more like a privacy thing than power related.
Thanks for confirming. Will now try leaving gps on and location services off and see what happens. sometimes gps on its own takes a few extra seconds to locate you...might be annoying with certain apps
If you refuse location sharing you will not be able to use WIFI positioning service, but can still use cell tower positioning if your GPS is off. Personally I never use WPS since WIFI use a whole lot of power so I always keep it off. There are situations where it's useful (i.e. inside downtown can't get a GPS signal), so you can decide if you want it or not.
I usually keep my GPS off too, since when I open maps I just want to look at map, I don't need to know my exact location (and use the extra power).
My Galaxy S2 GPS sucks the battery life when I keep it on. My partner keeps his Galaxy S2 GPS on and the icon only comes on when something like Maps loads but immediatly goes away when you you exit Maps. Mine seems to stay on all the time and I can't see any obvious process running all of the time (except Maps). I monitor the battery usage with a tool and GPS is certainly running my battery down far quicker than if I turn it off.
Anyone else experiencing the same?
marklyn said:
My partner keeps his Galaxy S2 GPS on and the icon only comes on when something like Maps loads but immediatly goes away when you you exit Maps. Mine seems to stay on all the time and I can't see any obvious process running all of the time
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I have the GPS setting turned on all the time, but my GPS only really turns on when I open an app that uses GPS, like Maps or Facebook. Just like your partner.
I actually want to keep it on all the time... like yours
Can you send me your /etc/gps.conf and /etc/sirfgps.conf ?
I'm not sure if that's what control this behaviour.
Noed said:
I have the GPS setting turned on all the time, but my GPS only really turns on when I open an app that uses GPS, like Maps or Facebook. Just like your partner.
I actually want to keep it on all the time... like yours
Can you send me your /etc/gps.conf and /etc/sirfgps.conf ?
I'm not sure if that's what control this behaviour.
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Click to collapse
I only had the gps.conf, not the sirfgps.conf file. Attached here.
I have to turn on GPS only when I need it for something and turn it off, otherwise it clearly drains my battery, in pretty quick fashion.
I had to rename it gps.txt to upload it.
Keeping GPS on is not draining your battery, because its realy turning on, only on application requests. Battery drain may come from some buggy app, which not close it GPS connection. You can easily see this by your GPS indicator. No indicator - no app using GPS atm - no battery drain, flashing indicator - GPS trying to lock ur position, indicator on - GPS is used and got lock on sattelites.
incident404 said:
its realy turning on, only on application requests
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Is there a way to keep GPS always on, independent of an application request?
I want to control it on/off manually
I leave GPS on all the time. Only works when apps request / need it. No battery life issues for me.
Sent from my GT-I9100
Hello everyone!
We have an fleet management app that runs continuous background updates every 1 minute using an Android service. We are seeing that sometimes the devices are failing to receive new GPS locations, and continuously report that they are at one location, when they are actually somewhere else. You can imagine this doesn't work well for a fleet management app. Rebooting the device seems to rectify the problem in the short-term. It also doesn't happen on every phone, even if they are the same model with same fw.
Any ideas? Thanks!
Case: If I download maps for my city.
Then turn off WIFI and data connection. Just Keep ON GPS.
NOW what things can I do with downloaded maps???
Q1. Can I search for places in my city? (Offline)
Q2. Can I search for directions to a destination from my Location (using GPS) without any data or WIFI.???
I mean the downloaded maps contains streets and places and landmarks also. So Can I get directions WITHOUT any data / WIFI connection??
Q3. Say I search a location and also get direction to that location in OFFLINE mode, (((((assuming answer to above 2 questions as YES)))
So can Nokia maps guide me with NAVIGATION to that location WITHOUT any data / WIFI connection??? Just by using GPS...
Yes, yes and yes. Just tested it now.
Sent from my Nokia Lumia 920 using Board Express
Wow, I tried searching it on YouTube, but there aren't any videos for this.
Maybe I’m just being impatient, but I’ve never managed to get a GPS fix without any sort of data connection. Can anyone confirm this is possible, if so how long did it take to get the fix?
Ooije said:
Maybe I’m just being impatient, but I’ve never managed to get a GPS fix without any sort of data connection. Can anyone confirm this is possible, if so how long did it take to get the fix?
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Yes, with a data connection, you can dramatically shorten the GPS fix time. Without it, it may take many minutes from a cold start and still a minute or two from a warm start (means you had a fix before on the same location short time ago). With data connection to assit, you can get a fix as short as less than 10 seconds.
AGPS is a quick way to get a GPS lock by downloading ephemeris data.
Without a data connection the GPS chipset will manually discover the positions of the satellites which can take up to 5 minutes. The longer the time between each use of GPS the longer it takes to get a lock. So the first lock may take a few minutes but another lock on attempt on the same day may take 10 seconds.
I have used so far the GPS without Data(phone is locked no sim) in a few countries now. Mexico, USA, Canada and China. So far I had only one issue in Canada as I never had a wifi before going to car rental at airport. The GPS didn't link up for a long time. If you can hook up to wifi before leaving airport and turning Nokia Maps or navigation on to learn GPS positon may help out the time. There is sometimes a small lag in China for position but normally working ok and acuracy seems to be within reason. Funny issue though it sometime always takes me back to Mexico, like it is stuck in memory even after weeks abroad until GPS position is located.
Ooije said:
Maybe I’m just being impatient, but I’ve never managed to get a GPS fix without any sort of data connection. Can anyone confirm this is possible, if so how long did it take to get the fix?
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Click to collapse
With data - fix in seconds, even indoors - that's because the system will get an idea of where you are based on the location of the cell tower or failing that using wifi to get a location. This inaccurate location is good enough to narrow down the possible locations of two or more GPS satellites, so the system can more quickly triangulate your position on the earth.
Without data - standard "search sky for fix" cold start time for GPS - with a clear view of wide area of sky, 5 minutes to find three sats, figure out which hemisphere you are in, and then fix your position. If you are standing still. With obscured sky or you moving reasonably fast, 2-3x longer. Indoors (or in a car), forget it.
http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/howgpsworks.php
Real world - on a cruise ship in the pacific making 20 knots or so, I was not able to get a fix from the balcony of my room, ever (not enough sky) but on top with clear 360 degree view of sky it did fix after 10 minutes. When in port in Mexico (not moving) on deck, 5 minutes, or instant fix when roaming on one of the Mexican cell towers.
5 minutes? that is very long, probably has to do with the location. with deactivated data/wifi cold start gps fix takes me 10s, accurate location (<5m) after 30s (cloudy, indoor but next to a window)
Question ...
Are you satisfies with the number of locations Nokia Maps knows in your country??
In India, in my city, it does not know names of places not even 60% of Google maps.
I'm talking about places and NOT about names of streets and squares . It knows names of many streets & squares(still less than Google maps)..
I'm asking about places and bussiness places. New places.
Also, for any restaurant, the number of reviews Are. FAR FAR less than the number of reviews of that same restaurant available on GOOGLE maps.
This is about Nokia Maps in my city (very famous) in India.
Please tell about your city/country so It'll help me and all whether they'll need Google maps ( gMaps )app to Download or not.
recommend have gmaps as well. It has more detail. No app is perfect, Nokia doesn't have as much details for locations.
Vangink said:
recommend have gmaps as well. It has more detail. No app is perfect, Nokia doesn't have as much details for locations.
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I went to Nokia Map Maker and there I located my college and some other places in my city and then I added them to Nokia Maps.
But then after a month also, when I search for my college using Nokia Here maps, it doesn't show it,even though I added them 1 month ago.
No GPS coordinates in photos
Guys, I need your advice.
I am travelling with turned-off cellular data on my i9100 since I am abroad.
I am taking pictures - a lot of pictures. But I just found out that app. 90% of them do NOT have GPS coordinates.
I tried everything:
- checked settings
- restarted phones
- connected to WIFI
- installed GPS Config for rooted phones and set up the location
- flashed ROMs (AOSP, AOKP, MIUI, stock ROMs).
BUT nothing helped. I think that something is wrong with my phone.
Why? Because iPad Mini + iPhone 5 captured GPS coordinates IMMEDIATELY. I mean in 1 second!
The strangest thing is that Navigon gets GPS position really fast on i9100, but it cannot navigate me - it is waiting and connects after app 2 mins.
Thanks for help.
It looks like that stock-based ROM are better - if you wait app. 1 minute, it gets GPS data to your photo.
Good ROM is here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2411990
Otherwise, it is still bad that you need to wait to get the GPS fix.
iPhone really gets it in 1 second.
So buy an iPhone. I've never had GPS problems with the S2 provided I regularly clear then update the ephemeris data (which is basically the position of the satellites at different times/in different locations; in GPS Status - tools/manage A-GPS state - reset data then download new data), and then put the phone in flight mode (obviously with GPS on) & stand outside with good line of sight in all directions to enable it to 'learn' where the satellites are for 5 minutes or so/until you get a good fix. This has always enabled me to get a fast/accurate fix for a couple of weeks until the ephemeris data gets old, then I repeat the process.
I do have iPhone 5 ... that is why I could have compared the GPS results.
How do you reset "ephemeris data"?
I tried GPS config for ROOTed phones, but it does not help.
(I set up the country in the settings.)
Generally speaking - if I am in my country, there is no problem.
BUT: Once I am abroad and have cellular data turned off, then I cannot get GPS in my photos.
I tried about 10 ROMS - but all are the same ===> no GPS if you take photos when you are abroad.
So everytime I open Maps or Waze to help me navigate. It always keeps searching for gps, and it will not navigate without gps. Also , my location in both apps are completely wrong. I'm very sure that I've turned on gps in settings. Is it a software problem?
I have had the GPS problem from day one and have never found a solution; I have tried every suggestion located. It is extremely frustrating when I am trying to get somewhere and it has me driving circles: telling me to turn around, stating to turn early (or late), constantly recalculating, etc.
The map shows I am close to where I actually am, but it is off just enough to cause an issue. When I am in my home it shows I am actually up in some farmer's corn field rather than my subdivision. When I drive it shows I am driving through fields rather than on the road.
Im really upset because Ive had returned the mobile 2 times to the store because the GPS problem. Every damn Xperia XA ultra starts working great with the GPS and after 6 months or so it becomes to stop working. Ive used the app GPS test and it shows that the phone wouldn't connect to any Satellite signals. Then I try GPS test in my GF smartphone (Samsung J5 prime) and it connects to 20 or more satellites.
Did you find a solution?