Related
I am thinking of getting hold of one these phones as a cheaper alternative to my tmobile upgrade options. It will allow me to make substantial savings by reducing my tarid.
At the moment I am on tmobile and have a vario2 so I realise I am going to notice a huge difference but I was hoping for some advice as to what I can expect.
My main use for my device is to have regular email and internet access. It doesn't need to be great - just reliable and in my pocket. It doesn't need to be 3g as long as it is good enough to cope with.
Can I have your views on this one. Do you like the phone you have if you have it.
I have had a good search but cant find much in the way of opinions.
Browsing the web on a non-touch screen device is definitely a step down from PocketPC experience. That said, Opera mini and PocketIE work on it. The phone has EDGE, no 3G or Wifi. That is going to make browsing a lot more like the 56k days than you might like. That said, the nice thing about htis phone is that you don't need a geeky holster to carry it around. It fits in your pocket, and its probably thinner and smaller than your wallet.
Do you find you can browse the internet without too much trouble. I do realise it isn't going to be the same as a big screen and a stylus and a qwerty keyboard.
Wifi doesn't bother me because I have an unlimited data tarif so I never use it - even in the house - there isn't any real point.
I wish there was something decent available to buy out there that didn't cost the earth.
To renew my contract and to get a touch plus will cost me £27 per month (more than I pay now - £25.49). TO renew my contract with no phone will be £15 a month. I need the tarif I am on as its the bees knees BUT I need to replace my VarioII as it no longer syncs at all and other bits and bobs are failing now too
I really like my StrTrk. It's a great size, and with WM6 now realy functional. It's main limitations (for me) are lack of WiFi, inability to read SDHC cards and no 3G. Having said that, there isn't another phone currently on the market tempting me to switch. I'll take the convenience of the StrTrk over these nice-to-have features for some time to come.
I use push email all the time as I travel a lot for work. xT9 input works well for short replies. Browsing is OK for an emergency, but it isn't great. Pocket IE in the WM6 builds is much more functional than it was on WM5. The screen resolution is actually the same as a Pocket PC (320x240) but obviously the screen is much smaller. Also, as mentioned EDGE is as fast as it gets.
There is a thread under the General Smartphone forum called something like "Smartphone Web Browsing Bible" or somesuch. Definitiely worth a read if browsing is one of your main cirteria.
Good luck and let us know how you go.
I love it. I'd love it more with Wifi, but not having it hasn't been a big deal.
I'm just surprised it hasn't been more popular.
Thanks for that - I will ahve a good look at the guide.
The wifi won't bother me because I dont use mine now. I also mainly use my Vario2 for mail so that sounds ok but I would like to be able to use the net as well.
How long do pages take to load with edge on the phone. Its hard to guess because newer systems and older technologies sometimes do the same as older systems and newer technologoes.
Just have in mind low battery life, especially when making a lot of calls and low ringtone volume. Other than that its great!
I charge my vario2 overnight every night. Would it be worse than this?
Just won a touch on ebay so I will see how I manage speed wise. If its hugely worse than my current phone I will sell it and try for a touch plus.
mobilecat said:
How long do pages take to load with edge on the phone. Its hard to guess because newer systems and older technologies sometimes do the same as older systems and newer technologoes.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just switch your Vario2 down to GSM and find out for yourself.
I could do that (if I knew how) but I wasn't sure if the phone itself being faster which it probably is because it is a newer breed may affect the speed anyway if you know what I mean.
How do I switch down by the way?
what are the odds that in the new version of android , the issue with bluetooth file transfer will be fixed ?
doubt it, i dont think its a bug but more a compagny policy.
they dont want you to send apps and games to oher phones
i think we have a better chance with the xda community here for developing/porting a proper bluetooth stack to our hero` s
there is a lot more you can do with a proper bluetooth stack than sending files, you know. so i doubt this is a company policy thing but rather a BIG failure to deliver what has been standard in mobile devices for years now. (especially for handsets in this price range)
coming from the iphone, i learned that all the "BT is necessary" chants were a bit overrated; I didn't know it was not possible until way after I upgraded to the 3G. I never used it or saw the need for it.
In the beginning BT filetransfer was 'cool'; "wow I can send a picture! or a MP3 !!"
But now I would just email it, even if the person is standing next to me.
A2DP I can understand. But all other functions like "cool! I can use my phone as a mouse for my computer!!" for me got old 4/5 years ago.
Still, if people want it, you could just write a program, no?
No, obviously it is not possible to "just write a program" if there is no API for Bluetooth file transfer and there is no information on how to do it without an API.
There are now several programs that can do BT file transfer on other Android phones, but none of them work on the Hero.
And you can use only mail if the receiver can also use mail. My BT carkit certainly can't use mail.
elmicha said:
No, obviously it is not possible to "just write a program" if there is no API for Bluetooth file transfer and there is no information on how to do it without an API.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, almost true.
There's an app in the market called "Bluetooth File Transfer" which allows you to send and receive files by Bluetooth and doesn't require a rooted phone.
Sounds great, but.... (yes there's a but!)
You can only receive files being sent from another Android user via "Bluetooth File Transfer"
See http://www.medieval.it/content/view/61/85/
Regards,
Dave
Does it work on your Hero? It doesn't on mine (GSM Hero). The market description still says "Currently, doesn't work on HTC Hero and Samsung Galaxy, but we are working on it." (http://www.cyrket.com/package/it.medieval.blueftp)
Same problem with Androbex: "Reported not to work on HTC Hero and Samsung Galaxy. you can try yourself and tell us."
As far as I know, neither the Hero kernel nor a Hero image for the emulator is available at this time, so it is a lot more complicated to develop such things which are not covered by the API.
foxmeister said:
Well, almost true.
There's an app in the market called "Bluetooth File Transfer" which allows you to send and receive files by Bluetooth and doesn't require a rooted phone.
Sounds great, but.... (yes there's a but!)
You can only receive files being sent from another Android user via "Bluetooth File Transfer"
See http://www.medieval.it/content/view/61/85/
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have another but on this. It doesn't just have to be to another Android phone, I can easily send to my Sony Ericson & LG & Moto friend's phones.
Although I'm on a rooted G1, so take that with a grain of salt.
However you are right about not working on a Hero.
Geniusdog254 said:
I have another but on this. It doesn't just have to be to another Android phone, I can easily send to my Sony Ericson & LG & Moto friend's phones.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As I said, it says that you can only *receive* files from another user of this software. I always presumed that sending would be ok!
However you are right about not working on a Hero.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I installed it on my Hero, and it seems to run ok (i.e. no obvious errors) but as soon as I saw that I can only receive from another phone running this software, I dismissed it. I seldom use BT file transfer anyway, and this restriction would've made it pointless for the limited occasions that I might use it.
I will give it a try today though, and see what happens, but I'm also on a rooted device so this may make a difference.
Regards,
Dave
Ok, when I start the application it tells me that is has successfully started the "Bluetooth file receiving" and "Bluetooth file sharing" service.
However, I tried to pair with my laptop and I got an error message that it couldn't start the OBEX FTP service. So, it looks like it doesn't work at all for devices not running their software. I do wonder though if it would work between two devices running the software simply because it looks like they don't use OBEX FTP.
Regards,
Dave
maybe someone can make a wifi based peer to peer app FTP orso
at least then we can send stuff
I think dismissing it as simply being 'cool', is incorrect.
I know alot of people that arn't 'smartphone' savvy and don't have email accounts that they use on the phone or have internet access on the phone for that matter. They tend to use the phones mostly for (shock horror) making call and taking pics etc.
There have been several instances when they like a picture/video clip or something and want to send/receive via bluetooth.
They are somewhat surprised when I say I can't do that, especially after I've shown them all the other clever things I can do on the phone...
Zuber
Bluetooth
Begin rant:
I know everyone keeps saying you should sync your entire life with Google's servers (as that’s the point of having an Internet device) but there are times when a quick sync with Outlook (or another client) is desirable just to back-up your contacts or to grab a file/contact through the use of Bluetooth. Hell, that’s what the technology was created for!
Yes, I know everything is online with Android, but using BT to sync is something I took for granted with my Win Mobiles and Symbian devices. With me it’s a privacy issue, I don't want my entire life to be blasted off into the ether, transmitted across the globe, stored on a sever (in a country for which server security may not be a top priority i.e. Korea) and back again just to ensure my phone calendar is up-to-date with my computer's calendar.
From my phone in my pocket to the computer sitting less than a foot away on my desk, Bluetooth seems the best solution.
Yes, there's USB but that means plugging in a cable...
End Rant.
If you have a WiFi router (or access point) it's possible to use an ftp server on the hero and an ftp client on the desktop (or vice versa). See FTPServer and SwiFTP Server for ftp servers.
I didn't try aFileSync yet, but from the description it looks nice.
But this doesn't help if you don't have a WiFi router avaliable, although WiFi ad-hoc mode might be possible with android-wifi-tether on rooted phones. And Wifi ad-hoc mode doesn't help if the other end has only Bluetooth.
agent-5 said:
From my phone in my pocket to the computer sitting less than a foot away on my desk, Bluetooth seems the best solution.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To be honest, it's probably partially Apples fault as it took them ages to get something half resembling Bluetooth into their iPhones. Given the take up of the iPhone, it does go to show that much of the market can just live without it.
Googles "excuse", way back more than a year ago, was that they hadn't quite finalized the API and so they shipped the G1 with only support for headsets. Skip forward a year, and they've only only added a couple more profiles to their bluetooth stack, which is pretty poor going for a multi-bazillion dollar organization!
Regards,
Dave
foxmeister said:
To be honest, it's probably partially Apples fault as it took them ages to get something half resembling Bluetooth into their iPhones. Given the take up of the iPhone, it does go to show that much of the market can just live without it.
Googles "excuse", way back more than a year ago, was that they hadn't quite finalized the API and so they shipped the G1 with only support for headsets. Skip forward a year, and they've only only added a couple more profiles to their bluetooth stack, which is pretty poor going for a multi-bazillion dollar organization!
Regards,
Dave
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
True, I know its a feature that (some) of us expect but at the end of the day the Android OS is still in its infancy. Give me Android over Symbian (which I've been using for the last couple of years) any day!
It would be nice to see things like OBEX implemented into the OS (perhaps in a future release?). But for all the small picky things that its missing, Android makes up for its 'downfalls' in a million other ways. I certainly would not switch now, I just hope that Google, HTC and all the freelance Dev's keep up their amazing work.
One final word: I'd still like to Sync with Bluetooth though!
This is not just a cool feature, it is an expected feature. To have a smartphone released without that is ridiculous, in this day and age. Unlike Apple, who have ideological reasons why they dont want it, I dont believe that Google have any reason; it is just a massive slip up, probably because they werent thinking globally.
It is the most starred/wanted issue in the Android bug/development list, higher than anything else which shows that it is pretty important to tech- savvy users as well as the average joe who takes it for granted.
People simply expect this standard functionality to be there. I never fail to be embarrassed when someone asks me to bluetooth a photo to their crappy Nokia and I admit I cannot.
I could on my Jam, I could on my Touch, I could on my Diamond, but I cant on my Hero. Pathetic.
bluetooth obex on donut 1.6
hey i have been looking all over for an up to date blog on android obex development. I notice many of you guys are complaining about not having the capability. Look up Medieval software app that is freeware in the Android Market, and also have a webpage. I have used them for windows mobile. I have seen sites where people have created their own stacks and have directions to help you. I would be interested on learning how to actually do this. I know cupcake had a directory and stack for this. I would like to know if any of you know anything for the donut build. Every time I connect to my pc from medieval via my G1, i get this error "Service not found, you can't connect with target device because it lacks of the obex ftp bluetooth service"....oddly however when i linked up this app it allowed a stack to become visible underneath the vista bluetooth properties on the G1 device. it had handset and file transfer which i selected because it wasnt. Actually as im writing this i just checked again to verify the name and now i have another one! Object push! wow. so i will keep you posted. going to try harder. i think this program will work. thanks
Idea
Correct me if I'm wrong but seeing as the Blueooth standard is open and Android is opensource, how much time/effort/cost would it involve in a 3rd party dev like MoDaCo/Cyanogen implementing additional protocols into the BT stack?
A custom ROM with this feature would be an instant hit. I'd make a donation to anyone developing such a feature.
agent-5 said:
Correct me if I'm wrong but seeing as the Blueooth standard is open and Android is opensource, how much time/effort/cost would it involve in a 3rd party dev like MoDaCo/Cyanogen implementing additional protocols into the BT stack?
A custom ROM with this feature would be an instant hit. I'd make a donation to anyone developing such a feature.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, it can totally be done. Im pretty sure people have made steps to do this and some 1.5 cupcake roms had support. There is many BT stacks out there and are dependent on the more primitive driver, known as the API. The Kernel is the base framework which is chosen for these Roms. Most rom developers like Cyanogen pick a certain one to fulfill an obligation, ex speed, Hero, experimiental. From what I get on here is that many of the top rom developers dont care much about BT and alot of people are waiting for BT 3.0. So in short i behind what you stated and maybe we could start a donation fund towards a developer that would be willing. Maybe theres already someone out there even! Alot is changing with Android, its exploding.
Hello everyone,
just got my brand new shiny Streak. And man its something. Basically, everything I ever wanted from and now looking back at all the phones I had and other phones on the market I can`t keep wondering why in gods name would someone buy something else other than a 5" phone. 4-4.3" is good but 5" is just perfect.
So I made this upgrade from an Xperia X1 and never do I want to see WinMo in my life. But right now I have an ... android rush lol. Lots of info, apps, games. Its like an overload to try and understand everything and get use to everything. In a good way.
My first issue was with the car charger. Dell charges a lot as you already know. But I found an universal car charger for 7 pounds, that outputs 5V and 1A and i`m using the data cable to charge the phone in my car. No need for a holder just yet.
The pouch is good, but definately needs a proper case as its getting annoying sometimes to take it out all the time.
Got a few questions, regarding apps and games and such, if anyone here has more experience with android than me...
1. I`m planning to buy this (http://www.zagg.com/invisibleshield...es-screen-protectors-covers-skins-shields.php) . Will it affect the screen brightness in any way ?
2. Currently using GoNews as my newsreader but I`m looking for a good working one that also has to option to search a website for RSS feed. The one i`m using at the moment gives me the option to import from a file or input the whole adress manually.
3. Gaming wise, I dont mind paying for games. And the ones i`d pay for would be a good RPG and an RTS. Currently thinking about buying ZENONIA, but I can`t seem to find any RTS games out there (StarCraft, Age of Empires, Command and Conquer). Not those games, but they are examples of gameplay i`m looking for.
4. Also looking for a game that works on Streak similar to Worms world party. Could have tanks or other things, but should work lol. Tried something Armored Lite or whatevr the name was but the graphics war very buggy and made gaming pretty impossible.
5. Dialer. Can it be changed ?
6. Email client. BEfore getting the phone, i was reading reviews and stuff. People said the email client sucked. At first I thought it was ok but god I was wrong. Can`t do anything besides reading the email. Could anyone recommend a better email client ?
7. How do I make it stop turning the display on and off while on a phonecall ?
8. What benefits would I have if I root it ? Not an android expert and not sure if I should give it a try or not.
9. 3g or Wi-Fi videochat. Are there any apps that do this ?
10. Last but not least hehe Navigation. Basically I think its great and considering I spend A LOT of time in my car and using a TomTom, I was thinking of replacing my satnav with my Streak. BUT, is the navigation software dependent on internet connection and gps ? As far as I saw, if my internet connection drops the navigation looses the map or something. Is there any android navigation app that is GPS only. Giving the 16 GB memory, I don`t mind downloading maps and such.
Thanks
I may not be able to answer all your questions, but i will do my best
1) No, it shouldn't affect the brightness much (maybe slightly). I've never owned an invisible shield, but i've heard very good things about them. The 'feel' of the screen will change, however.
2) Not sure, sorry
3) There are not that many good android games out there at the moment (not that look good on the streak at least). I'm not a big gamer though, so i can't really answer this question well
4) as above
5) Of course! there are numerous 3rd party diallers out there. Or, you can pull the dialler application from your phone and change the images if you want (requires root)
6) There's a nice e-mail client in the market called K9. It works perfectly.
7) The display only turns itself off when the sensor is covered (when you hold the phone to your ear), i believe that otherwise the screen stays active. If it does not, you can always change the 'screen time-out' in settings to 'Never Timeout'.
8) Rooting allows you to modify the system files. This means, like mentioned above, you can pull applications from your phone and modify the images. This means you can create and apply themes. You can also overclock your phones processor (not been done yet on this phone i don't think). There are countless other things you can do. Here's a good list- http://android-dls.com/wiki/index.php?title=Why_Root
9) There aren't many video call apps, but if you search 'Movicha' in the market place there is an app called 'Live Mobile Video Chat' which apparently does the job. (no idea if it works on the streak though)
10) Good question, never really thought about this before. I've found a good (and more importantly, free!) app though, called 'TrekBuddy'. You download the maps prior to your journey and then it allows offline navigation. Not sure how well it works, but it's the best i can do!
Hope this helps!
Thanks a lot. Still reading tons of android forums and websites.
If you're uk then copilot is the best android compatible sat nav app
fards said:
If you're uk then copilot is the best android compatible sat nav app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes that is true and if you know where to look there is a not so legal one out there
I have the Invisible Shield and it works like a charm. No brightness effects at all. The only thing is that the shield for the back left and right is not cut very well, but the front ones and battery cover is great.
Sent from my Dell Streak using XDA App
fards said:
If you're uk then copilot is the best android compatible sat nav app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
agreed. copilot is very good, it almost pains me to say that considering how god awful it preformed on my G1 but on the streak its fantastic. little extra power goes along way
I travel a lot, and I'm a minimalist. In other words, I'll travel for a week and take a paper lunch bag as my carry-on with hopes that I can get by with wearing the same outfit the entire week. I don't like carrying a full Navigation system and use my phone. This isn't an 'iPhone lovefest' because honestly, I hate everything about Apple, but I never had problems like this on my iPhone.
My problem though is the GPS. I'm on my third phone because of the GPS. The first phone would never get a lock on GPS. I could be sitting outside with a GPS satellite dedicated to me directly above me, and it would still say "Searching for Satellite". That phone went back and I took on another one.
Second phone had a problem where every now and then it would work, then stop working and never start working again until I rebooted the phone and even then it was questionable if it would start working again.
I just got my third phone a couple days ago. I did a stock root w/ no bootloaders, used Entropy's 11/13 Kernel, then threw on UnNamed ROM. This morning, I started up my car to drive somewhere and decided to test the GPS/Navigation. It took it a couple minutes to find the Satellite, then all seemed to be working ok. Then 20 minutes later it dropped the Satellite and it spent the next 40 minutes of my drive into the office saying "Searching for Satellite" no matter what I did.
This is really important to me as is the ability to tether when I want to (hence the reason I want a phone I can Root). So what can I do. At the moment, I've (In my head, so I could be wrong) narrowed it down to a couple things that could be wrong.
1. It's the ROM that's the problem. Though unlikely, it is a factor and it's me messing with the way the phone was designed and distributed.
2. It's the GPS in general. Seems like 95% of the people on here aren't having problems at all. There does seem to be 5% that seem to be having the same problems I am.
3. My region has crappy Satellite Coverage. Doubtful since my iPhone worked fine, and unless Apple did something amazing like put in an entire dedicated Satellite network to work with Jailbroke iPhones then this kinds of negates this though.
4. My cars are interferring. While this is entirely a possibility (I never do think to test this out in the open not in a car, so i can't say for sure) if it is the problem, then the device goes back as it's much cheaper to get a new device than to replace 2 cars. Again, though, my iPhone never had a problem doing this in these cars.
I love the phone, the speed, the Android OS etc... I don't want to go back to an iPhone because I"ll shoot myself. I just want to be able to have GPS work on this as it's the only hold up on the device. Any help anyone can do?
Take it back then. Honestly you say you have tried 3 different phones and all 3 are broken. I call bull****.
Never had a problem with it.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
You didn't mention if you've tried in ANY of the three (3) phones if the GPS worked before rooting?? I'm not saying it's the rooting that's causing the problem, but I'm still running stock on my SGSII and have had no issues with GPS? Not saying it's not possible but three phones is kinda stretching it a bit to all have the same issue.
Yes, I know you took it back to STOCK rom with #3 but who knows if the STOCK ROM is really *STOCK*, you should try a new phone #4 stock without ROOT for at least a day or two to determine if it is a DESIGN/HARDWARE issue rule that out first and then try from there... If this still happens with STOCK phone, you may have to switch to another phone (iphone or otherwise)...
Good Luck!
I just took it back to stock and was going to go outside to see if it had problems finding service. Though as mentioned in many other threads on here, it's not so much it finding you when you're standing still. It's when you're driving the streets of Atlanta that things get crazy.
stalked_r/t said:
I just took it back to stock and was going to go outside to see if it had problems finding service. Though as mentioned in many other threads on here, it's not so much it finding you when you're standing still. It's when you're driving the streets of Atlanta that things get crazy.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi Stalk,
Keep in STOCK mode and drive around with it and see if this is still an issue then... Also if you have an aluminum case, this has been a known issue where the TARGUS (SP?) korean made BEAUTIFUL/GORGEOUS case affected the GPS antennae. Try it stock no case on the dash away from DIRECT sunslight and begin troubleshooting there...
UNFORTUNATELY it may boil down to Stock and working GPS or ROOT with Tethering... You ***MIGHT*** not be able to do both...
Good Luck...
If you JUST root, it shouldn't affect GPS - but test without rooting first.
And I agree - if you've got a metal case, DITCH IT.
So far, my experience is that the GPS chipset is almost as good as any standalone GPS chipset I've used - Sirf StarIII, MTKv2, STM Cartesio (the latter being the chipset in my Garmin Oregon, the former being chipsets in various Bluetooth dataloggers I've used for hiking). Actually, the GPS in this phone beats the StarIII and is around on par with the Cartesio. So far nothing I've ever used can touch an MTKv2 though.
I'm used to phones having crappy awful GPS chipsets - this is the first device I would ever consider using for geocaching on its own.
Thanks for the replies. I did test just now on the way to and from lunch with stock everything. I do have a case that's part aluminum (Case-Mate). I didn't try it without the case. didn't even think it could affect this.
Running a stock setup, I attempted to get navigation to my lunch location The drive was about 6 miles each way. When I left the office, I started Navigation. It never found a satellite enroute to the restaurant. I never stopped it during lunch from looking, though I was in a building, so i didn't expect it to find anything. On the way home, same status. Searching for satellites. I'm torn. I want this phone bad, love the Dev support, and there's nothing coming from AT&T that makes me want to use an old Blackberry to wait for. I also don't know what I can do to test this further.
On the way home, I'm going to do something very simple. I'm going to wipe the phone. I'm going to skip all steps of the initial setup, just have service and that's it. I'll start navigation and have it direct me home. If it doesn't work, I'll look at my options. If it works, then I know it's an app that's causing the problem.
Unless someone else can think of something for me to try. I wish this just worked like I know it can.
Ok. So an update. Wiped phone, not even associated with Google, Removed my 32 gig SD card for the heck of it, removed the case. Started nav and INSANTLY inside a building it had me pinpointed and was directing me to the next turn point to get home.
Here's the case I have: http://www.case-mate.com/Samsung-Ga...rsion-Barely-There-Brushed-Aluminum-Cases.asp
In one of the reviews, this is said:
As much as I wanted to love this case, I couldn't. I've used many Case Mate products before and I am just disappointed in them for the lack of quality of this case. There is a noticeable issue with the case fitting the bezel on the top right corner of the phone. The lip of the case fails to properly wrap around the front bezel. There is also the connectivity problems that come with this case. GPS has especially weakened with this case on. Other than that, I like the quality material that this case is built out of and feels very sturdy. Unfortunately though as of this writing, this is really the only choice for a decent case for this phone on the market. Time will tell if better choices come about.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm going to keep this setup through tomorrow, then root the phone if there's no difference in performance and all is well. If that works fine for 2 days, I'll throw the Kernel on and throw UnNamed on. If that works, I'll throw the case on and see what happens. I now feel like this could be the problem. Thanks for the thoughts guys. I'll continue my abuse of the "THANKS" button and thank you all.
ride home was flawless. If ride to work tomorrow is flawless, I'll root and flash.
Entropy512 said:
If you JUST root, it shouldn't affect GPS - but test without rooting first.
And I agree - if you've got a metal case, DITCH IT.
So far, my experience is that the GPS chipset is almost as good as any standalone GPS chipset I've used - Sirf StarIII, MTKv2, STM Cartesio (the latter being the chipset in my Garmin Oregon, the former being chipsets in various Bluetooth dataloggers I've used for hiking). Actually, the GPS in this phone beats the StarIII and is around on par with the Cartesio. So far nothing I've ever used can touch an MTKv2 though.
I'm used to phones having crappy awful GPS chipsets - this is the first device I would ever consider using for geocaching on its own.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I haven't gotten enough free time to log the NMEA output, but I don't think our "SirfSTAR IV" chipset is actually even using DGPS/WAAS. Which makes the accuracy it get's even more impressive. The chip definitely supports WAAS, but who knows exactly how the implementation is done between Android & Samsung...
I've also owned a SirfStar III based Bluetooth GPS, a MTK-based GPS (also the best I've found), and several phones with dedicated and integrated GPS chipsets. Have to agree our GS2 is one of the best. I can't exactly wander around the house and have it track my every movement like my Bluetooth pucks can (also having a large ceramic patch antenna helps a bit no doubt), but my GS2 locks fast, and stays locked. What else can you want from a GPS?
Might be worth it to look into WAAS either way though. On any standalone GPS unit, WAAS is the difference between 15-30 meter accuracy, and 3-5 meter (or better) accuracy. That is unless you have a military GPS unit, and the appropriate keys to receive the high accuracy P(Y)/M signals...
If you want to get a good idea of how the GPS is doing, this app will show you the strength of your GPS lock:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2
Also, upon further research, the NMEA output is reporting that WAAS/DGPS is not in use.
Example: "$GPGGA,222520.000,4218.460926,N,07111.901869,W,1,06,1.2,77.1,M,-33.8,M,,*53"
Where the bold "1" should be 2, and the null field right before the checksum "*53" should be the age of the DGPS/WAAS info if it were in use.
The chipset in our phones (http://www.csr.com/products/35/sirfstariv-gsd4e) clearly states that it supports WAAS. And since the choice of DGPS or not is solely in the hands of the chip and software (wiring/antenna connection/configuration is irrelevant) perhaps there is a way to enable the DGPS mode? If so, I'm sure we would all see MUCH better position and accuracy information.
WAAS probably requires modifications to the host processing binary (SIRFHost)
BTW, our chip is a GSD4t, not 4e.
I was having problems with my gps losing its lock for the longest time, i got a replacement phone and it started doing it again AFTER root. Im thinking some app might be causing the issue. I read somewhere that ROM Manager can cause issues. I deleted it and so far my gps has been working. I am really baffled on to what can be causing it.
stalked_r/t said:
ride home was flawless. If ride to work tomorrow is flawless, I'll root and flash.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Its the case man. Great looking case, but kills the cell signal and terrible GPS. Mine went back after 3 days.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I777 using XDA App
Yep. Ride into work today lost signal once. After letting it sit for a couple minutes, I rebooted. After reboot it worked flawlessly. Definitely the case at this point. Putting Root/Kernel/ROM on it today and seeing how the drive home is. If it's good, then the case can be tossed and I'll find a different one.
Entropy512 said:
WAAS probably requires modifications to the host processing binary (SIRFHost)
BTW, our chip is a GSD4t, not 4e.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Good catch. Interesting. Haven't checked out the sources, but I'm assuming all the GPS binaries are blobs? And source is not available?
Always wondered why mobile phones never have WAAS support... course then again, if the hardware was developed in Korea, that would make a little bit of sense. Seeing as there isn't WAAS coverage there, although I do believe there is an alternate DGPS solution for Asia.
So while I am waiting (and waiting, and waiting, LOL) for my Keyboard Dock, i remembered that I bought the USB adapter for the TF101 (fits into the proprietary charging/dock connector port, provides 1 USB port)
A soon as i attached it, I put a USB Mouse receiver/transmitter and it worked really well. The mouse tracked MUCH better than it even did on the TF101.
Until I went to the browser, and went to type a URL. The onscreen keyboard wouldn't come up (none of them, I have the two stock, plus Swiftkey X Tablet)
Stranger still I see the keyboard icon in the taskbar, and suddenly it hit me! The goofy thing thinks that the dock is attached! Sure enough as soon as I pulled the adpater out, the freaking keyboard popped right up.
None of this is going to cause any major issues, as I have a dock arriving tomorrow (I hope), but it's just another one of those overlooked items, and one that is SURE to get just about NO attention, LOL!
While I appreciate Asus wanting to get the flagship Tablet out there, and get ICS on it (has to be the #1 directive in tablet development at Asus at the moment, Asus needs to do a LOT more testing.
Also, and I have said this before, Asus needs to a) Try and get workable GPS functionality since it was they who put it in the tablet and b) Asus needs to repair the hardware on whatever percentage of tablets that get NO GPS signal at all. There is obviously a software component, since quite a few folks had, then lost SOME GPS function, but I have never had any, and I want it. Even if it is sub par, and works marginally, they advertised the spec, I wanted it, I bought it, I don't have it. End of story, as far as I am concerned.
Nobody has GPS working. Some may say they do but they do not know what they are talking about.
Also since the latest update, wifi location gets turned on automatically when a GPS app is trying to get a location.
Pretty much sweeping it under the carpet, it may work on those that don't know any better but for those that do know the difference it a pretty pathetic attempt.
jzen said:
Nobody has GPS working. Some may say they do but they do not know what they are talking about.
Also since the latest update, wifi location gets turned on automatically when a GPS app is trying to get a location.
Pretty much sweeping it under the carpet, it may work on those that don't know any better but for those that do know the difference it a pretty pathetic attempt.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Dude, Jen, seriously you are such a tool. Most everybody's GPS works. It is just not working well enough to navigate (which I agree is unacceptable). He is saying his won't see a single satellite in any condition. That is not working by definition. You insist on stating things as if they are fact when they may only apply to you. I can cold boot in airplane mode with nothing switching on my wifi and lock satellites in a windowless room in my house. I cannot however navigate. Those things are facts. If I were to continuously post that 'everyone can lock satellites with their prime and those who say they can't are just too stupid to know it' I'm guessing you would get annoyed at some point right? So please, if you have nothing constructive to say or you are too dense to know that just because something is happening to you doesn't necessarily mean it's happening exactly the same way to the whole community, then stfu. Please and thank you.
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium