Develop Bugs

Slow GPS Fix Workaround (Maybe)

Hi,
I dont know if this is pure fluke and this just works on my setup but i seem to have found a way to get a 5-6 second fix GPS, having said that i cannot guarentee that it will work for everyone, but you are all welcome to give it a go!
Firstly i will list my setup:
SwiftBL WWE v6.5 16Mb PP
Radio v1.00.25.07
TomTom Navigator 7.450.9028 for HTC Diamond
Process Used:
1: Load TomTom 7, and wait until you get the message "Waiting for valid GPS Signal" at the bottom left
2: Once the message appears select "Browse Map" -> "Find" and go to the page with "My Location" this will be greyed out.
3: Exit TomTom 7
4: Restart TomTom 7, once you see the message "Waiting for valid GPS Signal" it should fix
As i said previously, i dont know if this is a fluke, but i have had 100% success with this.
My Testing:
Everytime i have done this i have done this from different locations 30 - 40 minutes appart (I travel alot on the train) so my device has not been locking onto the same satelites
To ensure fairness in these tests i have powered down my device totally, started the device from cold, entered my PIN and loaded the desktop. Then launched TomTom 7
I have tryed 5 different locations in the UK over 2 Days:
Southport, Manchester, Bolton, Churchtown and Preston

I've never had a problem getting a fix with any of the diamond roms - often as quick as 5 or 6 seconds depending on where I am.
The issue that I think most people are having is the lag in providing an accurate fix.

chrisnash said:
I've never had a problem getting a fix with any of the diamond roms - often as quick as 5 or 6 seconds depending on where I am.
The issue that I think most people are having is the lag in providing an accurate fix.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Im jealous!
Until i started doing this i was getting 1-2 minute lock on and fix my position, but as i said this seems to speed it up alot for me.
Also, there is no lag to get an accurate fix doing the process i suggest, once there is a gps signal detected, my location is zeroed instantaniously!!

My experience is as follow (I tested a lot):
With radio 1.00.25.05 cold fix takes about 5 minutes. After that a few minutes. Once I get a fix, it's stable.
With radio 1.00.25.07 cold fix less then a minute. After that about 5 seconds. It's also stable once I get a fix.
Quality of calls is the same, so is the signal strength and battery life.
So I would recommend radio 07 for those who use navigation.

It is weird indeed. I have 05. Sometimes I get a fix in 5 secs, sometimes it takes forever.
I also found that once I get a fix the accuracy fluctuates from poor to high indeed.
Once I hit the roads, np but need to do more tests
Trance

DFTrance said:
It is weird indeed. I have 05. Sometimes I get a fix in 5 secs, sometimes it takes forever.
I also found that once I get a fix the accuracy fluctuates from poor to high indeed.
Once I hit the roads, np but need to do more tests
Trance
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would definately update your radio to .07, i have much better signal in general and GPS is much better

bennec83 said:
Hi,
SwiftBL WWE v6.5 16Mb PP
Radio v1.00.25.07
TomTom Navigator 7.450.9028 for HTC Diamond
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have had the same problem as yours with those details...
I think it maybe to do with the ROM, mainly because I have not had an issue with other roms...

Hi everyone,
I try Radio .08 and the same thing. I fix GPS in 5-10 secondes...
Some people say that with the .08, less batterie is consumed...
I don't know need to do the test...

I try Radio .08 during 4 days, and my batterie is good !
My phone is charging during 1h30 - 2h and it's full...
less consumption, but when i use GPS.... my lifetime is very short....
No lag ! but high consumption.
I can call and use 3G, during 1,5 days !

How long will the battery last with GPS use?

Has anyone tested how long the battery lasts when using GPS?

PaulusUK said:
Has anyone tested how long the battery lasts when using GPS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can't imagine any reason to just run the GPS.. What context? Car navigation? GPS Tracking? What?
The Tilt used about 120mA just for the GPS, I suspect the TP2 would be very close to that.

As a handheld GPS for walking.
I use a program called Memory Map which has terrain maps and plots routes, waypoints etc.
The GPS would need to be on all the time, but the screen could be off and just turned on when I need to glance at the route/map
I used to get just under 2 hours from my Diamond and about 2 1/2 hours from my m700 - so I had to carry some external batteries

PaulusUK said:
As a handheld GPS for walking.
I use a program called Memory Map which has terrain maps and plots routes, waypoints etc.
The GPS would need to be on all the time, but the screen could be off and just turned on when I need to glance at the route/map
I used to get just under 2 hours from my Diamond and about 2 1/2 hours from my m700 - so I had to carry some external batteries
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For thst sort of usage, I'd honestly suggest getting a bluetooth GPS unit. Does MUCH better under cover (trees, urban 'trees', etc) and takes a huge load off of the device.
I've gone on 3-4 hour hikes using TrackMe, which sounds like a similar program, and was only down 20% on battery. That'd get me WAY more battery life than my legs had in 'em.
Good luck, I'll check out Memory Map. I'm a geogeek, I collect all sorts of GPS related software.

PaulusUK said:
Has anyone tested how long the battery lasts when using GPS?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have a question regarding GPS. Once you've started using GPS, do you have to manually turn it off (like WiFi or BlueTooth) or does it cycle off automatically?

hempel said:
I have a question regarding GPS. Once you've started using GPS, do you have to manually turn it off (like WiFi or BlueTooth) or does it cycle off automatically?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
it will turn off automatically when you exit the program

khaytsus said:
For thst sort of usage, I'd honestly suggest getting a bluetooth GPS unit. Does MUCH better under cover (trees, urban 'trees', etc) and takes a huge load off of the device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wouldn't bluetooth communication also drain the power?
Which would be worse - the BT or the GPS working?

TP2 GPS battery usage
My TP2 lasted 2.5 hours using Memory-Map in full mapping mode, where I had to plot map I created on PC.
Tunc

superflyboy said:
Wouldn't bluetooth communication also drain the power?
Which would be worse - the BT or the GPS working?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
erm... Perhaps not you, but I answered this very question somewhere else already.. anyway...
Bluetooth is very low power. And obviously if I'm saying the GPS uses hordes of power and to use a Bluetooth device because of power, the internal GPS is worse (much worse). How much worse? Same workload, same software, BT vs internal GPS on the Kaiser (same GPS as TP2) was a difference of 100mAh. 8.3% more battery drain per hour.
Bluetooth GPS also has other advantages...
Faster fix
More accurate
More sensitive
More options (in terms of which GPS you get and what features IT has)
Disadvantages
One more small thing to carry around
In terms of features, I keep saying I'm going to upgrade my BT GPS to the Columbus V900 (or other like models). It'll act like a normal BT GPS, or self-logger to a memory card, even a 'stealth' mode which logs a point every N minutes which you could effectively let run for a week without running out of battery and years before filling a 1G memory card.. Also you can attach voice notes to a coordinate, or 'mark' a spot with a button push, both of which you could refer to later by viewing the resulting data in Google Earth or other means.

GPS on the TP2

I am losing my mind with my GPS. I have had my TP2 since last August and I have never been able to find a solution to the horrible GPS quality. I have tried matching up the ports, changing the ports, different software, hard-resets, I have installed the hotfix, I have called HTC, but things are still terrible. The only thing that ever cause an improvement was manually choosing the ports and such, however the improvement was only slight.
I have used GPS on Google Maps on the iPhone under the same provider (Optus in Australia) and the moment I opened the program there was always a GPS lock, not once did I ever have to wait or get it ready, but on my TP2 using Google Maps (or any other application), sometimes I am forced to wait minutes before getting a signal, if at all. I have searched and searched for a resolution but im not finding any. I just don't understand what I paid top dollar for, I chose the TP2 over the Xperia for it's GPS capabilities, but its hardly capable. I feel as if I am out of options, i've had it for too long to get my money back; I would really appreciate your thoughts on this?

I use iGuidance2009 and have no problems, though I do update quickGPS regularly. Google Maps I dont know about as I dont use it.

This has been a problem ever since the Touch Pro. My old Kaiser never had these horrible GPS issues, Touch Pro and Touch Pro 2 do.
What I have found to work well is to toggle the phone in the Comm manager when GPS is not working correctly.
Also, if you can get AGPS to work correctly, that does wonders for GPS lock time speeds! It would take minutes before, but once AGPS is set to work correctly, I can get a lock in 10 seconds! You have to go into the registry and make sure AGPS is set to use the right data connection.
This only improves acquisition times, it does not reduce the lag which was introduced in the original Touch Pro.

Google maps is probably the worst test app for speed. I use TomTom and iGo on Juicy R5 now, default rom before, and both have no lag. Google maps lags as much as 30 seconds, Garmin and also a few free gps apps I tried lagged 10-15 secs. So this is really, really app dependent. Don't know why.
As for lock speed, agps is a must. If QuickGPS/SEASGEE isn't working then you get the same lock speeds that you would get on old, old car gps systems (up to 5 mins to get a lock).

petard said:
This has been a problem ever since the Touch Pro. My old Kaiser never had these horrible GPS issues, Touch Pro and Touch Pro 2 do.
What I have found to work well is to toggle the phone in the Comm manager when GPS is not working correctly.
Also, if you can get AGPS to work correctly, that does wonders for GPS lock time speeds! It would take minutes before, but once AGPS is set to work correctly, I can get a lock in 10 seconds! You have to go into the registry and make sure AGPS is set to use the right data connection.
This only improves acquisition times, it does not reduce the lag which was introduced in the original Touch Pro.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's just you with such serious problems, maybe your phone has problems..

AGPS is key to getting a fast lock. That's where you should be focused.

Some registry tweaks may improve your fix. It rocks for me and others owners, but not sure for every body.
take a look there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=523676
and there:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=524655
It could be a good beginning ;-)

khaytsus said:
It's just you with such serious problems, maybe your phone has problems..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
No, its not. Everyone has position lag. It isn't unbearable, but it is pretty annoying. You take an exit on a highway and it takes about 3 seconds to realize you took it sometimes. What is really weird is it keeps going on one road while the arrow turns in the direction you are headed until it finally places you on the correct road. That part may be due to TomTom though, but I'm not sure.

petard said:
You take an exit on a highway and it takes about 3 seconds to realize you took it sometimes. What is really weird is it keeps going on one road while the arrow turns in the direction you are headed until it finally places you on the correct road. That part may be due to TomTom though, but I'm not sure.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As per my personal experience, this is due to internal GPS data filtering by WM, so tweaks recalled by woaloo (I mean reducing of WM's GPS-related data buffer sizes) can help here.
Be careful however with it as too low values will drives GPS to become "nervous" - your position will become unstable, starting to jump randomly with a radius of few hundreds meters.
Another reason of the lag is (most likely) related to the navi software one uses. I use iGO8 and there are for sure settings moderating position behavior from pretty quick (but unstable) to rather slow but noticeable more stable. I personally prefer this last one.

To the original poster, have you tried running a program like VisualGPS? If so, how much signal strength is it showing for the satellites? I see as high as 39 when indoors. I get quick and accurate locks and I am very happy with the GPS performance. I have to believe that you have a hardware problem.
As for the thread drift on the few seconds delay, yes, that is there, but not a big issue.

Personal experience with the GPS... initially could never get it to connect, basically because every time i tried i was inside behind venitian blinds..... never use GPS before so my bad.
Walked outside and it was great. About 10 secs or less to lock, the lag is only a couple of seconds, no more than 5 secs. Added the tweeks and it was improved slightly. The accuracy was within 5 meters or less (used the property boundries in google maps to verify).
Moving at high speed it was pretty good too.
Compared to other phones and iPhone borrowed from a mate there is negligable difference in the accuracy and lag.
BRETT

So the GPS performance on the Touch Pro 2 is not that much better than the Touch Pro? The receiver on the Touch Pro is extremely weak.
At my work we have a GPS re-radiator for use with the equipment that we build. Indoors using the re-radiator I can get a lock in seconds with 11 satellites (the signal is abnormally strong). Outdoors, I'm happy if I can get a lock with 7.

worwig said:
To the original poster, have you tried running a program like VisualGPS? If so, how much signal strength is it showing for the satellites? I see as high as 39 when indoors. I get quick and accurate locks and I am very happy with the GPS performance. I have to believe that you have a hardware problem.
As for the thread drift on the few seconds delay, yes, that is there, but not a big issue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did try something like that, not sure if it was VisualGPS but it showed me the strength of GPS signal and it was quite accurate with how the GPS appeared to be behaving.
I got the phone's motherboard replaced and that fixed the issue. Thank you all for the replies though, it was possibly faulty.

Have the new Energy rom on but used the GPS hotfix. Seems to have increased lock time considerably.
I'll keep an eye on it though in case the lock time increases...
Wonder if we can find an app that would imbed GPS co-ordinates in any pics we take... Got a Samsung S8300t as well & it does this though the GPS navigation software is non-existant....

ultramag69 said:
Have the new Energy rom on but used the GPS hotfix. Seems to have increased lock time considerably.
I'll keep an eye on it though in case the lock time increases...
Wonder if we can find an app that would imbed GPS co-ordinates in any pics we take... Got a Samsung S8300t as well & it does this though the GPS navigation software is non-existant....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
One of the extra camera modes you can unlock in the TP2 is a geotagging mode that does exactly that. There's a number of ways to enable them...Rhodium Settings Tool has a switch for each of them individually (burst, sport, video share, and geotagging), or you can just run the cab below

....and, for anybody else on this thread who hasn't tried it already, I'd suggest checking out the cab fone_fanatic put together to help with GPS locks on the TP2, details HERE

[Q] Smoothest (by refresh rate) SatNav....

Hi
Ive been looking everywhere in the forum but no one is saying anything about how does actual sat navs perform.
I Have Sygic Mobile Maps on my Desire and to be hones i think its crap!!!
Went abroad and it directed me to the dead end, so had to recarculate, than it directed me to the city centre where i could see motorway that i was heading for from the car. And this was just drive from airport to the place i was staying
Also (a part from good directions this is most importan thing for me) smoothness and refrashe rate is far from good.
Quite often Sygic updated directions after 20-30yards after a turn and i was driving slow so update rate should be a lot better. Same on motorways etc. driving with high speed sygic screen refresh is like every 100-150 yards and comparing this to Google Nav has no sense here.
Ohh and with sygic if you dont take the turn the arrow icon will turn anyway and it will go back on the road after few seconds (sometimes way toooooo late)
So my question
Is there a Sat Nav that will compete with Google Navigation or will be lets say smooth as TomTom??

Have you tried co-pilot?

co-pilot is better than tomtom, i have a standalone tomtom satnav and prefer to use the co-pilot on my desire

[Q] Anyone have GPS tweak for accuracy?

Is there anyone who use defy GPS daily? Can you share which rom or any GPS tweak to make defy more accurate and responsive for navigation?
I have been testing defy GPS, it seems like its rather not accurate to pinpoint location. Accuracy show 4-9m, but often real position is off by 30-200m. For navigation, it's response time rather slow plus the inaccuracy makes it not reliable. My old windows mobile P3600 gives precise position when put beside defy while navigating.
For info, I have disable wifi in location setting. I know I have successfully download supl data. With data enabled, I can lock under 10 sec.
This inaccuracy had been a problem for CM7. I have tested stock froyo and gingerbread, and problem still there.
So, can anyone help here? Do you have the same problem, if not please share your rom version or tweak..

I've used mine a lot for gps, i just make sure to download agps data with an app called GPS test as soon as i can, then if i'm not moving too much from where i stopped gps for the last time it takes very little to lock.
I'm on CM7 and it never disappointed me in Italy, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium and France.
Any GPS fix i've tried did nothing good for me.

My defy lock fast. What bothers me is the accuracy.
Google maps shows accuracy 4-9m, but real position is off sometimes by 200m.
Sometimes it correct itself, other time, even if I waited for a few minutes, it didn't show my real position.
And I'm sure I disable Use Wireless Networks in location setting.
So how is your accuracy?

Relly good, thanks
Seriously, i've seen this mentioned quite often in the CM7 thread, but it never happened to me.
As said before, keeping agps data pretty updated to my position or close enough has always been enough for me.
Good luck in finding a solution that works for you!

GPS has been working perfectly for me under any Rom. Stock GB, CM7 and Stock Froyo.
In CM7 it locks pretty fast, always under 10 secs, after a few secs accuracy down to 3m. Works really good.
I only have GPS Status to download from time to time accurate AGPS data and that's all.

Thanks for the reply..
I have tried almost everything.
Tuning gpsconfig.xml and location.cfg, clear agps cache, restart before testing many value one by one. Tried many stock rom, take GPS files from milestone and milestone2 and the GPS still inconsistent.
Sometimes its accurate, but after turn off GPS for a few second, turn on again, its showing wrong position with accuracy shown as 4-9m, waited for some minutes, and still wrong. Sometimes its accurate for a few test, but after a few minutes, turn on GPS again, its showing wrong position again.
Tried also calibrate compass, even remove the compass driver, but still error.
There is a possibility of multipath error in GPS (bouncing signal from surrounding), but with easily lock to 5-6 satellites with 10-12 satellites in view, I suppose this can nullify error, as real for positioning, we only needed 4 satellites.
I hope there is someone out there know fix for this..

use this fix: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=953630
Maybe it helps

pravarth said:
use this fix: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=953630
Maybe it helps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Already tried.. even tested various value in gps.conf. No good..
Thanks.

bobo9900 said:
Is there anyone who use defy GPS daily? Can you share which rom or any GPS tweak to make defy more accurate and responsive for navigation?
I have been testing defy GPS, it seems like its rather not accurate to pinpoint location. Accuracy show 4-9m, but often real position is off by 30-200m. For navigation, it's response time rather slow plus the inaccuracy makes it not reliable. My old windows mobile P3600 gives precise position when put beside defy while navigating.
For info, I have disable wifi in location setting. I know I have successfully download supl data. With data enabled, I can lock under 10 sec.
This inaccuracy had been a problem for CM7. I have tested stock froyo and gingerbread, and problem still there.
So, can anyone help here? Do you have the same problem, if not please share your rom version or tweak..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
MIUI rom allows you to enter your preferred satellite under ph settings ^^
Then use gps status app to manage a-gps state - I get anywhere from 10 - 30m accuracy

You are not alone
GPS accuracy on my Defy has been a concern since I bought it. Just like yours, it locks to 4-6 satellites and claims that it's accurate to 4 meters, but my real position is usually a block away. Other symthoms are:
- Accuracy improves with speed and becomes very good when traveling by car, very poor when still or just walking. The correlation between accuracy and speed should be the other way around...
- If there are more than 6 satellites in view, it locks to a maximum of six and then starts "jumping" from one set of satellites to another each two seconds or so. It does so even if the telephone is completely still. I think It should stay with the same satellites while not moving.
As you, I also tried all and every GPS fix script under the sun to no good, even filled a bug report for CM7 back in the day with no luck. It seems that a lot of people out there have perfectly working GPS (o so it seems).
This issue is quite strange though. I have a green lens Defy, and my wife has a Red lens one. We bought them several months apart and they both have the same accuracy issue, so it doesn't seem to be related to a bad production batch. I wonder if its related to geographic position (maybe it works worse in some countries, somehow)
Hopefully its a software issue and can be fixed.

I dont have this issue. Ive actually been sort of surprised at the accuracy of the GPS with CM7... it locks on within seconds (vs the minutes with Froyo). Almost instantaneous with WIFI and GPS on. And it is always accurate. Sorry to hear about your GPS troubles. It could be a hardware problem also?