Develop Bugs

GPS Location, can it be improved to perfection?

I'm very happy with my HTC Desire (running on Miui) except for one thing, GPS location: It is always wrong by about 30 - 50 meters. That may seem insignificant, but I were to use it to drive me around with my car, I would take the risk to miss a turn, a radar, or worse hit a tree or someone else's car!
By comparison, my TomTom is much more precise.
I see a lot of pple using their Android phone as a GPS Copilot in their car, so I guess the GPS in their phone must be more precise than mine.
I there anything I can do to optimize GPS location on my HTC Desire?
Thank you for your help
Surfinette

GPS is kind of hit and miss. The only way to improve it is to flash the newest radio if you haven't for it. My GPS works just fine and when it locks on it locks on. It could also be your rom as well. But ultimately all phones are not the same. My phone wont be the same as your phone. So something which I can do you might not be able to do and vice versa. But 30-50 metres is nothing really. Is it just lagging behind?
Sent from RCMixS

The maximum precision of GPS you can get on ANY non-military device is +-20 meters, so I'd say it's more about how good your software it at predicting where you are, calculating that from your speed etc.

kszaq said:
The maximum precision of GPS you can get on ANY non-military device is +-20 meters, so I'd say it's more about how good your software it at predicting where you are, calculating that from your speed etc.
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Click to collapse
OK, I have my answer: my GPS on my HTC Desire is just pretty good then.
I use it mainly when walking around in the city to help me find my way in areas I don't know. But it troubles me when it doesn't show exactly where I'm standing (not exactly the right street or the right intersection). I just had the feeling that my TomTom in the car was more spot-on to the right location (and it is also non-military ...)
Thanks

GPS?

How is the GPS? I grabbed the Droid RAZR during the extended return period and I must say, the GPS is amazing! I use GPS a lot so that's very important to me.
Sent from my DROID RAZR using XDA App

GPS is fantastic. By far the best i have seen on a smartphone to date (I'm making a comparison between the Desire HD, SGS2, Desire & iPhone)
GPS connects in between 2 & 5 seconds and i have not had a dropped signal using Navigator.
My 2 cents worth....

I agree. No issues with GPS. locked to within 40 meters from inside a restaurant and once out side got a much closer lock right away. Tested using GPS Status and Google Maps.

Does the nexus use the glonass satellites like the galaxy note? Could someone please run GPS test or something similar and see if it uses sats in the 70's range, as well as the regular 1 - 24.

Not that I can tell:

Great to hear, I was concerned because the gs2 has a very lame GPS connection
Sent from my GT-I9100 using xda premium

My Nexus has a much better GPS than my N900 or HTC Kaiser, although it seems to have difficulty indoors AND you have to enable the wifi to get a better signal putting further strain on the battery.
It also adds almost an extra km to my 13.7 (now 14.5) daily commute. Is this like the 'measuring the coastline of Britain' fractal paradox?

Any stand alone GPS navigation app works?
I am not talking about Google Maps, because that is obvious.
But, apps like Sygic 11.2.x, CoPilot, etc.

Sygic doesnt seem to. Please update my app compatibilty thread with others you find not working!

Want to hear more..
I am using Vibrant and it is very frustrating...
And I heard SGSII is not good either...
I don't know if I trust Samsung anymore

I read somewhere it uses the barometer(not thermometer ) to add another dimension to the localisation process.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Mine connects twice as fast as the Nexus S. GPS Status work well with it.

cosimoss said:
Mine connects twice as fast as the Nexus S. GPS Status work well with it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Is that using just pure GPS or A-GPS?
This alone would get me to upgrade from Nexus S.
How's the GPS inside a partially obstructed view like a bus or something? My Nexus S takes like 2-5 mins.
NOTE: I don't have a data plan, so not using A-GPS but pure GPS

Hopefully this isn't a pain for anyone, but could one of you fine European gentlemen with Nexus' do me a favor?
Go outside, download GPS STATUS & Toolbox (I want to see accuracy of Meters, not feet) and post a screenshot.
Outside of my house, my Samsung Droid Charge will NEVER lock below 5 meters, while my Thunderbolt and Incredible with lock to 1 or 2.
You may ask, what's the big deal?
Well, it's the difference between Google Maps knowing I'm at my house, or my neighbors.
Thanks!

Can anyone please test if the GPS is usable when data network(HSPA) is disabled, like in Flight Mode with GPS enabled?
Thanks!

Samsuck said:
Hopefully this isn't a pain for anyone, but could one of you fine European gentlemen with Nexus' do me a favor?
Go outside, download GPS STATUS & Toolbox (I want to see accuracy of Meters, not feet) and post a screenshot.
Outside of my house, my Samsung Droid Charge will NEVER lock below 5 meters, while my Thunderbolt and Incredible with lock to 1 or 2.
You may ask, what's the big deal?
Well, it's the difference between Google Maps knowing I'm at my house, or my neighbors.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I can only get it to 5meters

mezzyg said:
I can only get it to 5meters
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Click to collapse
Swear to god? Sigh.
I've never seen a Samsung phone lock it's GPS under 5 meters. Then again i've never had a GS2.
That is disappointing.
Accuracy is a big thing to me.

Samsuck said:
Swear to god? Sigh.
I've never seen a Samsung phone lock it's GPS under 5 meters. Then again i've never had a GS2.
That is disappointing.
Accuracy is a big thing to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'll try again tomorrow for u dude, it locks super quick which is pretty good for me

I guess if it locks really quickly I can be satisfied with that. I honestly feel that there is something wrong with Samsung's GPS chips and rather than trying to fix it, they added a barometer to help

chill8 said:
Can anyone please test if the GPS is usable when data network(HSPA) is disabled, like in Flight Mode with GPS enabled?
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second this.
And if you have a Nexus S, can you please compare your results.
I'm curious if new gps chip and/or barometer speeds it up.

How is the GPS on this beast?

Can you lucky bastards with one of these in hand post some GPS test screen shots please? And overall GPS performance ....I'm an owner of a vibrant and need a working navigation phone ...also does vzw let u use Google maps or is there some fee for using GPS?
Thanks
Sent from my T959 using XDA App

My GPS locked immediately and tracked accurately. I haven't been able to do any further tests yet but I'm very happy so far
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

It's pretty legit. Best Samsung GPS ever. It's not quite the iPhone's GPS on speed but it's close.

Syn Ack said:
It's not quite the iPhone's GPS on speed but it's close.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
but that's probably got a lot to do with that at apple, big brother is always watching.

Conduitz said:
but that's probably got a lot to do with that at apple, big brother is always watching.
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Click to collapse
Yeah the GPS on the iPhone probably ALWAYS on or something.

GPS is really important to me but so far I've been able to get a strong quick lock indoors. Haven't tested the navigation yet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

kangxi said:
GPS is really important to me but so far I've been able to get a strong quick lock indoors. Haven't tested the navigation yet.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Navigation is great. It takes about 30-45 seconds initially to figure out its compass direction and then it's perfect from there.

Syn Ack said:
It's pretty legit. Best Samsung GPS ever. It's not quite the iPhone's GPS on speed but it's close.
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Click to collapse
Apple hand picked their hardware for a reason. Android devices have to follow in line with "But are there drivers for Android yet? If so, we'll just go with this GPS module."
Plus, ICS should be a lot quicker polling for GPS anyways. It's probably mostly OS related.

Went out to my backyard to attempt my first GPS lock on the phone. Took about 5 sec for a full lock with multiple sat. (Not complaining, since my g2x would take like 40 sec.)

Check out: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1360278

It has a barometer, which helps with super-fast GPS lock. Even indoors (google indoor maps for malls, etc, is useful finally).

Just installed GPS Status, instantly locked and went from about 15m to 10m in a second.
It's overcast/rain and that's from my screened in porch. It got 9/9 sats right away.
The best from the same location/clear day with a charge or bionic is 5m.... but that's waiting for a while and holding it still.

i´m impressed
get my phone last week and atm sit down in my rom, playing with google maps and after 5 or 6 seconds wtf o0 ?!?! what is going on?!?! i got a gps signal in my rom?!?!?!
it´s my 5th android phone and bevor that i got 3 nokia phones with gps and non of this was able to get a signal in my room.
it´s funtastic

Coming from a moto phone that takes 2 minutes on a good day, it's solid.
Have only driven maybe 100 miles with navigation, but it's been stable so far regardless of where it is in the car.

wonshikee said:
Coming from a moto phone that takes 2 minutes on a good day, it's solid.
Have only driven maybe 100 miles with navigation, but it's been stable so far regardless of where it is in the car.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
2 minutes? be glad
my last phone was the optimus 2x and i´m glad to be rid this piece of ****.no more words for lg software developing.nice hardware but fail software.
2 weeks ago i was in spain (Teneriffa) for one week and it needs between 5 and 10 minutes to get a signal and lost it every 10 or 15 minutes...
In germany the same.itßs nice to have a phone with gps and you can not use it
i´m glad that i can drive now with my gn and my holidays are safe

Excellent GPS specially when coming from Captivate with a busted chip.
sitting here in my room ... I got 9/9 in around 10 - 15 seconds.

No faults whatsoever!!!

Hello everyone I havent posted for quite a while.
I recently bought a HTC ONE X white serial number HT23SW.
simfree. network O2
When I first turned it on it immediately powered down since there was only 3 % battery charge. I plugged it into a power source then powered it back on.
Connected it to my wifi n router 5 GHz (I've renamed both my 802.11n SSID channels with the suffix 2.4 and 5.0 GHz respectively)
It then prompted me again that a 33MB software update was available.software 1.28.161.9
I charged from 3 percent to 60 percent then applied update.
Inital impressions ..... I had my phone plugged in for the majority of the day even though it had 85 percent charge I do beleive there is an eeprom which contains battery calibration data. Now my battery life is stellar.
No problems whatsoever after the 8th day. This phone is a beauty! ( I hope I am not speaking to soon)

If you have the time please post some screenshots of especially screentime. But also the total hours and other details would be cool. I would love to see a 4 to 5 hours screentime.
Cheers

Have you tested the GPS's ability to make an accurate track with an app like RunKeeper or My Tracks?
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

ikeabuchi said:
Hello everyone I havent posted for quite a while.
I recently bought a HTC ONE X white serial number HT23SW.
simfree.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is grey one x also serial HT23SW which i got on uk launch day 5 april, apart from initial poor battery which seems to be steadily improving with use and ota updates, none of the major issues others are complaining about. Maybe this is a particularly good build batch?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA

I also have a flawless grey HT23SW HTC One X

I thought mine is flawless as well until I saw how ridiculous GPS behavior is. On Google maps my position is just floating all over the screen...

Had no problems with mine everything working great battery life took a while to pick up but seems to be going quite well at the moment very happy with my device

I hAve a white one which so far has no issues.great gps,screen, sound and Bluetooth.battery life seems on the up as well.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Yes I will post the battery statistics. If I remember correctly I had over 5 hour screen time and 33 percent battery left.
What was quite strange is that I left my phone at 89 perecent a couple of nights ago and woke up the next morning and stranglely It was still at 89 percent. This must be where the companian core comes into play with negligible quietscent current drain.
I have used the stock maps programs to check the gps hardware and it locked onto the satellites in under 20 seconds maybe earlier, The program mentioned that the accuracy is within 20 meters but what I could tell it was accurate within a meter (I checked the accuracy at each junction/intersection I came to)
so yes it working flawlessly. I played teeter (level 21) and checked the gyro no problem there. I am really impressed with the wifi n 5GHz browsing speed (unsure whether it is dual band) but it like its on steroid faster than my i7!! laptop in some instances. no over heating when playing soul craft THD.

monkeytennis said:
I hAve a white one which so far has no issues.great gps,screen, sound and Bluetooth.battery life seems on the up as well.
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ikeabuchi said:
I have used the stock maps programs to check the gps hardware and it locked onto the satellites in under 20 seconds maybe earlier, The program mentioned that the accuracy is within 20 meters but what I could tell it was accurate within a meter (I checked the accuracy at each junction/intersection I came to)
so yes it working flawlessly.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not sure your testing method is sufficient to declare the GPS as flawless. You just sort of spot checked.
Would you mind downloading the free app called Run Keeper and using it to record yourself walking around the block or something similar?
Check out the consistent results I get doing that. For any kind of tracking app, the GPS in my HOX is just about useless. A half mile walk records as three miles with a walking speed of 2 minutes per mile. Not even olympic athletes can walk that fast! LOL
For perspective, I walked a straight line down the sidewalk from where the pin to where the 2 mile flag is. Everything else is just BAD data.

in relationship to the testing of the gps I didn't do a spot check. I did a dynamic test at full zoom and the result that the arrow was moving smoothly at the correct speed. . I will down load this program today and post a screen shot

distortedloop said:
I'm not sure your testing method is sufficient to declare the GPS as flawless. You just sort of spot checked.
Would you mind downloading the free app called Run Keeper and using it to record yourself walking around the block or something similar?
Check out the consistent results I get doing that. For any kind of tracking app, the GPS in my HOX is just about useless. A half mile walk records as three miles with a walking speed of 2 minutes per mile. Not even olympic athletes can walk that fast! LOL
For perspective, I walked a straight line down the sidewalk from where the pin to where the 2 mile flag is. Everything else is just BAD data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use Endomondo to track my runs and it is prettty much perfect. Have also used the sat nav for around an hour and found it to be spot on.

Had no problems after 1 week but then started noticing a screen flex and back light bleeding. Gl for now guys
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA

No screen flex.light leakage or flickering, Bluetooth A2DP works fine with my SONY DR-BT216.
tested the Near field communication and that works. oh I forgot the compass works perfectly it didnt on my htc desire.
Btw my phone is unrooted. My friend at work also has the same model with same serial prefix. he had it 6 weeks. and he also has no problems also. I just cant understand why people have so many problems.

I haven't found the plethora of "GPS Sucks" threads that we used to see on early Samsung phones like the SGS and Fascinate, but there are enough random comments in the forms about GPS flakiness to show it's not just me. Someone else mentioned issues in this very thread. Perhaps we're just a few unlucky folks with bad hardware.
ikeabuchi said:
in relationship to the testing of the gps I didn't do a spot check. I did a dynamic test at full zoom and the result that the arrow was moving smoothly at the correct speed. . I will down load this program today and post a screen shot
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sorry, I misunderstood how you tested. Read it as you just checked your location when you reached intersections.
I'll appreciate your efforts to post a track!
monkeytennis said:
I use Endomondo to track my runs and it is prettty much perfect. Have also used the sat nav for around an hour and found it to be spot on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also tested with Endomondo Pro. Actually, it was Endomondo that made me first notice the error; Runkeeper was the "second opinion."
Here's a track made with the HOX of the same walk going the other way.

c4llum said:
Mine is grey one x also serial HT23SW which i got on uk launch day 5 april, apart from initial poor battery which seems to be steadily improving with use and ota updates, none of the major issues others are complaining about. Maybe this is a particularly good build batch?
Sent from my HTC One X using XDA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same for me. The phones f'ing brilliant

I find AGPS is pretty bad and floats (even after clearing agps etc in gps test) but GPS only is awesome.

animaleyes76 said:
I find AGPS is pretty bad and floats (even after clearing agps etc in gps test) but GPS only is awesome.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Don't really understand what you mean. Do you mean turning off all location service setting except standalone GPS?
Sent from my HTC One X using Tapatalk 2

Even my GPS seems to accurate
Sent from my HTC One X using xda premium

I bought a HOX (grey, HT23RW, made in Taiwan) from Polish Orange a few days ago and I have no issues too. It looks like this is a perfect build batch.

How's the quality of the GPS?

I've been using a G2 for a few days and today I returned it due to very poor GPS performance. It wouldn't find me using GPS only or it would take a lot of time.
How's the GPS on the G3? Is it better or the same as the G2?
Try using it in Google Maps to find you using only GPS and not the network or Wi-Fi and please let me know how it works this way.
Thanks!

I find the GPS very snappy. Used it to average me 30miles without a glitch with Google maps.

using it in hk and the GPS is working like a charm. used the share location function on whatsapp and it pinpointed me much better than my previous phone the Xperia Z.

Related question: how's the battery drain while navigating? Is it possible to use gps for an hour or two and still have battery left for other things? Or do you have to keep it plugged in with the car charger?
Sent from my RM-821_eu_france_267 using Tapatalk

Pheno.menon said:
Related question: how's the battery drain while navigating? Is it possible to use gps for an hour or two and still have battery left for other things? Or do you have to keep it plugged in with the car charger?
Sent from my RM-821_eu_france_267 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I found it drains quite quickly but if you dim the screen to about 40% it's fine no more than any other phone

Sensamic said:
I've been using a G2 for a few days and today I returned it due to very poor GPS performance. It wouldn't find me using GPS only or it would take a lot of time.
How's the GPS on the G3? Is it better or the same as the G2?
Try using it in Google Maps to find you using only GPS and not the network or Wi-Fi and please let me know how it works this way.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the G2 and the GPS was DREADFUL. Wouldn't lock if it's life depended on it. Glad to hear the LG G3 is much improved.