Develop Bugs

Bluetooth GPS

hey can anyone recomend a cheap GPS bluetooth unit for use with a Magician and Tomtom.
cheap and nasty will do,

Look on ebay, there are loads to choose from

Yes check eBay but try to get the TomTom one as it works out of the box. TomTom can be a real pain to get working with other receivers.

ta yeah i was watchin a few on ebay,
was hopefull someone might have suggested a place to get them from cheap or something lmao

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230047740000
ive just got one of these. if you get one go to the web site on the instructions. there is a little gps test program which when you run will find which com port the gps is on (close the prog fully).
When i tried to get it to work on tomtom i couldnt. so after a search on the tomtom site they say to set tomtom gps settings as 'another nmea wired gps with 4800 speed' use the com port found in the test prog for the gps
Works fine so far. only had it 5 days.

thanks yeah i got one last nite, similar to that (16 channels and such)
yep already seen some threads about special patches and stuff.
cant wait to try the Yoda voice that i picked up for tom tom.
"Turn left you must"

i just bought the qstars btq815 from ebay32 channel with solar panel.....got tom tom 6 on the spvm3100, only had phone a week so am real novice but i managed to get it up and running fairly easily only made a short journey to test but all seemed ok

32 Channel? Why?
There's only 24 GPS Satellites and only 12 can be visible at any one time.
Do you know if the receiver will also work with Gallileo when that comes on line? Then 32 channels might make sense....

need bluetooth GPS reciever
can anyone help to find a bluetooth gps reciever that works with XDA ATOM
thank you

well ive been playing with the qstarz bt-q800 for 3 days solid... gps on the window ledge in the house, xda 2i has run flat so many times that it on the psu now im still waiting for the gps to go flat... im really impressed with the battery usage on the gps.
I took the pair of them out for a walk round town yesterday. had tomtom running, walked down to the bus, go on into town. realised i was killing the battery on the xda so left tomtom running, turned the xda off with the pwr button on top. the gps went into standby mode. 30mins later turned on the xda, tomtom reported no gps, the gps then woke up within 20 seconds, and with in a further 40seconds had found my new location. quite impressed.
the bt-q800 also has an external aerial connector too. might think about getting one to fit on the landrover. GPS always has a bit of a problem in it because the front window is almost vertical so the roof covers the dash.

TheBrit said:
32 Channel? Why?
There's only 24 GPS Satellites and only 12 can be visible at any one time.
Do you know if the receiver will also work with Gallileo when that comes on line? Then 32 channels might make sense....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yeah tomtom standards are about 20, i got a 16.
even the navman will only have 3 active at any one time.

well i finaly got the qstarz to go flat... it was connected and tracking for 18hrs solid on top of being switched on for 4 days and doing several hours a day of tracking in that time,
. Im impressed just at the battery..

Only 3? - that's not good for accuracy and calculating your heading etc - you should connect to 4 at least to get the best accuracy.

yay 2 more days and i git it,
got the phone ready to go,
TOMTOM with aussie maps
including all POI's (speed cameras etc)
6 celeb voices (go yoda and john Cleese)

Quick review of Holux 1000 gps...

Took the dive for a bluetooth gps this week...
Picked up a Holux 1000 from eBay for $24.99 Shipping was $19.99 priority.
Ordered on Aug-7, arrived Aug-10. from ebayseller gpsevyone.
Turned it on. Did a bluetooth discovery on my Wizard w/ WM5. Set it up on com6.
Live Search worked great. Google maps worked great.
BeelineGPS is a really cool tool.
The Holux 1000 seems to be so sensitive it picks up 8-10 sats sitting in my home plugged into a charger. Dont know about battery life yet. Its getting its first overnight charge.
Had it in my pocket walking around inside local market and could see location on my Wizard as I walked.
Anyway, thats my .02$ if anyone is interested.

Holux 1000
Hey,
I got the same unit and I can't believe how sensitive it is. Inside my house 18 feet from the nearest window (which had the metal blinds closed tight) it was locked in a few seconds and was picking up 8 sats. I had expected to need to keep this on the dash of my truck but there is no need I get great signals even with it locked in my console.
I use it with iGO mapping and it is Great! I'll never get lost again.
I'm gonna look into other software to use the GPS for, I'll try the ones you mentioned.
I got mine from buygpsnow.com.
Joe

Holux 1000 sensitivity...
Its very impressive for $25.
My Garmin eTrex Vista could never do that and you are right the warm up time is very quick. Its going to be interesting to see how long the battery lasts.

Good GPS-BT for Hermes WM6.1?

I was wondering if anyone knew a good GPS-BT thingy for the Hermes, one which has good battery and is somewhat portible to carry around..and connects nicely with say CRCs stable ROMs..
Any experience, tips&tricks out there? found nothing in the hermes forum for WM6.1..

I'm not running WM6.1, but I am running WM6 (K's rom). And I am using a G-sat BT-359. I'm assuming to would pair just the same, and work with google maps or MS live search just like it does on WM6.
It is small and stylish, fits nicely in a pocket. It makes it through a day of work for me, no problems (they claim it will get 11 hours on a charge, and it seems it will, but I haven't tried it on a long trip yet). It also paired nicely with my laptop and Street Atlas '05 played quite nice with it.
And the sensitivity is nice, much better than my old usb gps from my laptop, the BT-359 will receive satellites while inside my house, and have my location correct. It also works while in a pocket.
Hope this helps!
http://www.globalsat.com.tw/eng/product_detail_00000076.htm

I just picked up the Garmin 10x. It was 120 bucks, but came with the map software for both my phone and my laptop. Works great, pairs easy. I'm using Pays v3(6.1) and no problems. The reciever gets about 22 hours on a charge.

emugpp said:
I was wondering if anyone knew a good GPS-BT thingy for the Hermes, one which has good battery and is somewhat portible to carry around..and connects nicely with say CRCs stable ROMs..
Any experience, tips&tricks out there? found nothing in the hermes forum for WM6.1..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use the Garmin GPS 10x. It's small, rechargeable using the same cable / plug as the Hermes, has excellent battery life, and great satellite reception. I've had it for a little over a year and used it with Google Maps, MS Live, Garmin map software for Windows Mobile, and iNav software. Works well with any of them.

ebay
I got a gtop gps off of ebay 6 months ago for less than 40.00 and i am very happy with it. I have never run out of the battery on the gps. Navizon has paid it off and then some.

I have used a Deluo GPS unit that I picked up for $80 (USD).
It's nice that it uses a Nokia BLS-5 battery, so I don't have to rip the unit apart when the battery craps out.

GlobalSat BT-359
gets a fix in 20 seconds, SirfSTAR III chipset, replacable battery, $60
cant go wrong with this one, it got 5/5 in most reviews

I'm using the GlobalSAT BT-338
About 17 hours runtime on a full battery. Great signal recieving.
You can't go wrong with this one.

I've bought my second GPS receiver for it's size:
www.keychaingps.com
Link is for info only not price- I forget where I bought mine from but was £37 (GBP) inc delivery. Cold sat fix is excellent; always get a good signal. And best of all, put it on your keyring so it's always with you!
I'm using it with TomTom 6 on Hermes Schaps ROM and works great.

thanks for the many options, the hermes seems to work good with an external GPS-module, it's safe to buy one
I might get the keychain one, I only hope that it has a long standby time, I'm sure to forget to charge it and then suddenly need it..

emugpp said:
thanks for the many options, the hermes seems to work good with an external GPS-module, it's safe to buy one
I might get the keychain one, I only hope that it has a long standby time, I'm sure to forget to charge it and then suddenly need it..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
My one seems to last weeks on standby- i tend to just 'top-up' the charge every now again just to make sure.

I also just bought the keychain, very good reception in Japan which is known to be a difficult area for gps, very fast, very small, and use time is 9 hour, very good time if you compare with the size.
Bought on ebay for 35£ + 10£ shipping. Best price possible.
And it's not sirf chipset but mtk 51 channels, compatible with 5 Hz information refreshing rate (still to be implemented in softwares...).
Nothing more to say... Enjoy!
(and perfect compatibility with Hermes+Schaps)

keychain seems the way to go for me too
so does it work when walking around with the chain in your pocket or rucksack? when you go tracking for example, or strawling through city streets..I've heard from a friend that his Orbit 2 (touch-cruise) GPS-function is useless for walking around..

I keep it in my pocket or in the backpack, so the bluetooth has a very good range I think. The only thing I noticed was that it needs to be in a very well-spaced area (sorry I don't know how to say it better, I mean you need to see the sky...) to get the primary signal, so I keep it in my hand during the 20 first seconds of switch on. But I think it's the same for every gps receiver.
Besides this, it this perfect. By the way I use it with Garmin Mobile XT.
Toni

Yep, agree with tonidekohlanta, you need to have it out for the initial signal then it can indeed be in your pocket or where ever (within reason of course!) and the signal is still strong.

Auto Powering on GPS
I do like the idea of a keychain for general usage but I would love that I could wire one into my car and as soon as it gets power it would switch on. I have BT3341 which is awesome but I cant mount it on my parcel shelf or anything as I have to switch it on whenever I want to use it. Anyone know of one that will power up as soon as it gets power?

angrypeanut said:
I do like the idea of a keychain for general usage but I would love that I could wire one into my car and as soon as it gets power it would switch on. I have BT3341 which is awesome but I cant mount it on my parcel shelf or anything as I have to switch it on whenever I want to use it. Anyone know of one that will power up as soon as it gets power?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
aren't there devices which stay on standby bluetooth-on until the battery drains out? if so, just connect it to your cig-lighter in your car and let it run, forever!

The keychain as a energy save system : it goes on stand by when there is no bluetooth signal (generally when you close the gps software on your device). I didn't really tested the battery life in this case but one time I forgot to switch it off, anf when I realized it three days after, it was still working (but not for long maybe...). Also I heard that when the battery is low, the reception gets weaker.
By the way, keychain is delivered with cig lighter adapter (and the seller on ebay added a normal adapter which works also to charge the phone - very convenient!).
And also I heard somewhere that the holux gps receptor was nice, but I choose the keychain so I cannot say more.

I bought Holux M1200 for me and my wife. Works perfectly with TyTN and Touch. I keep it attached to the sun visor and it has great reception.

emugpp said:
thanks for the many options, the hermes seems to work good with an external GPS-module, it's safe to buy one
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you can run into ports detection problems (in software like iGo) in some roms with htc home plugin. But it works fine if U reset software and turn off htc home from todays screen.

[Q] desire just let me down big time - gps?

was trying to walk to the shops and record the walk (my tracks) and listen to some music on the way. was about a 15 min walk all in al. during this time i lost 14% battery life.
gps wouldn't lock on, which means it's constantly searching., i was waiting for a lock whiich means the screens all the whole time. the sun comes out which means i turn the screen brightness on max.
this sucks. i've had probs with the desires gps in the past but nowhere this bad.
now, is there a site that will review the gps aspect of smartphones? i mean, i presume a lot of us have android phones for the free satnav, google maps etc? without a great gps system in the phone then all of those things are useless. this is why i will never get a samsung phone.
i think next time, the gps of the phone will be the deciding factor. i'm using this far more than i thought i ever would.

I also had problems with gps.
Try to pull out battery, left phone without it for about 5 minutes. Next go out and get lock via using maps (and don't move, stay in place after turning on gps). It may take some time (some people reported that it took about 20min, I was waiting about 5). Now gps works like charm.
Sent from my HTC Desire

What ROM and radio are you using? I have noticed that any radio older than the latest one with HD ROMs tend to give bad GPS performance. In the past I've let My Tracks run for over 3 hours and it tracked my movements fine, in those 3 hours I was in a building for about 30 minutes and it lost its battery fastest in those 30 minutes presumably trying to find a fix. Honestly Desire is the best GPS unit I've ever had, it is better than one of the older dedicated navigation unit I had.

I agree re GPS. I drove for 2hours using my GPS without a car charger and I lost 80% of my battery in that time. I realise now that any trip using navigation has to be plugged to car charger or very selective use of GPS.

KaidM said:
I agree re GPS. I drove for 2hours using my GPS without a car charger and I lost 80% of my battery in that time. I realise now that any trip using navigation has to be plugged to car charger or very selective use of GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So your phone can navigate you on a full charge more than your car can drive on a full tank and you complain about the phone??? WTF! People really have strange / unrealistic expectations...

pascanu said:
So your phone can navigate you on a full charge more than your car can drive on a full tank and you complain about the phone??? WTF! People really have strange / unrealistic expectations...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should stop driving like a mental. it is realistic for a tank of gas to last more than two hours.

KaidM said:
I agree re GPS. I drove for 2hours using my GPS without a car charger and I lost 80% of my battery in that time. I realise now that any trip using navigation has to be plugged to car charger or very selective use of GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Were you using Google Locations + Screen on? If so I'm not surprised.

Any GPS navigation I came across was always using the CPU a lot hence the fast battery drain.
If GPS does not want to lock it needs a cold restart- using GPS Tools. Alternatively restarting the phone will do the same. I found that the GPS tends not to lock in urban areas but restarting the phone always helped- for the day.

pascanu said:
So your phone can navigate you on a full charge more than your car can drive on a full tank and you complain about the phone??? WTF! People really have strange / unrealistic expectations...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you drive? a space shuttle?!
@op : the battery drain is not only normal, its actually good..my sister's ip3gs can't even get her through 1 hour of naigation..my revious hd2 gave me low battery warning around an hour and 20 minutes (but that had the huge screen to blame for that)..you can very cheaply get a car charger and even get free screen protectors as gift from amazon or ebay..

'normal' is as far as HTC / android phones are concern.. it seems that in car charger is a must.
in contrast, the nokia E52 i have, lasted at least 5 to 6 hours navigation at the very least, with screen on always..

Using your phone as a gps in the car will drain the battery but not because of the gps but because you have a 3.7 inch screen on all the time, and if during the day, at full brightness. I think a couple of hours in those conditions for any phone with a large quality screen is more than reasonable!!
I use "cardio trainer" to track my runs when i go out, i tracks me all the way without a hickup and i am listening to musing all the time as well and in 1h it will only go down 10% so gps doesn't drain battery it's the screen.
Sometimes when i go out i also have problems getting a fix but it's just a question of closing "cardio trainer" turning gps off then on again, wait 5 seconds and then turn "cardio trainer" back on; works every time!!!!! Desire has a really good gps!!
PS: i'm on stock unbranded froyo

SimpleNick said:
'normal' is as far as HTC / android phones are concern.. it seems that in car charger is a must.
in contrast, the nokia E52 i have, lasted at least 5 to 6 hours navigation at the very least, with screen on always..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
u comparing oranges to uhmm..water mellon powered nuclear reactors lol...nokia e52 has a lousy 2.4 inch display..so right off the bat desire has +50% + larger screen surface...plus navigating by watching a screen THAT small is truly dangerous as well..

I've had different experiences with the GPS in my Desire. It was able to lock my position when travelling in a train going 180km/h, on a rainy day (no visible sky at all) in Google Maps (that dot was moving FAST! ).
But sometimes it fails completely to lock my position, and this has happened on both days with completely clear sky and cloudy days. But it usually works. Restarting the device helps.

zlayaa said:
I've had different experiences with the GPS in my Desire. It was able to lock my position when travelling in a train going 180km/h, on a rainy day (no visible sky at all) in Google Maps (that dot was moving FAST! ).
But sometimes it fails completely to lock my position, and this has happened on both days with completely clear sky and cloudy days. But it usually works. Restarting the device helps.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
maybe there were solar flares

I had similar GPS issues with my Desire, couldn't get a fix at all / waited around 30 mins on couple of occasions. Then I tried this gps assist app, works similar to the one I had on my touch HD / winmo.
Now I get a fix with iGo in a 2-3 seconds
The app name is GPS status and toolbox
Code:
http://www.appbrain.com/app/gps-status-toolbox/com.eclipsim.gpsstatus2

chris2busy said:
What do you drive? a space shuttle?!.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jup i lol'ed
sent mobile

I use gps status (free from market) if not moving I get a fix in about 2-7 seconds even at home.
Sent from my HTC Desire using XDA App

Frustrated with the gps! Any solution?

First of all, my GNex gps works.
But, my experience so far were bad and got into my big frustration.
I went to France by car, about 1200 km.
During this trip I used three devices:
- HTC Desire, stock Android 2.2, no sim card
- Nexus S, stock Android 4.0.4
- Galaxy Nexus, stock Android 4.0.4
All used the same navigation software, Sygic 11.2.6.
Weather was very good, bright and clear.
The navigation performance, HTC Desire is the most solid and stable. No jumpy routing. It was almost flawless.
The Nexus S was also stable, no jumpy routing and again almost flawless. Sometimes between high buildings area, it could lost the gps signal.
The GNex was terrible! Very often the routing was jumpy, especially when my car stop. The navigation think my car was in other road! That caused the routing to spin and I must drive further to stabilize the routing. It was frustrated and I lost confidence with using it as car navigation, period.
The HTC is my main device for car navigation, because its so stable, no jumpy no spinny routing, solid performance. But one day the battery run flat for no reason. Thats why I must use my supposed to be the best device, the GNex to replace it to continue. But alas, as I explained above, it was terrible experience. I was lucky that I brought my Nexus S, to save the day.
This GNex bad car navigation is my biggest frustration.
I cannot fault the weather brcause it was clear sunny and I could get sat fix.
I cannot fault the Sygix either because the other two devices were fine, no problem.
But why is this jumpy and spinny routing on GNex?
Ok, I cannot test Google Navigation, because I cannot afford data connection during this trip, roaming.
So, my question, have you ever got the same experience? Terrible, jumpy, spinny routing with GNex car navigation?
Is there any way to improve? Or makebthe gps work much better?
Is there any ROM specialized to improve the gps for navigation?
Thanks

I believe the GPS unit in the GN is weak compared to my old iPhone 4. Though, I was able to get decent, more accurate performance by disabling "Google's location service". I use the GPS for directions in Google Maps as well as RunKeeper and it's really made a difference for me.
Side note, my iPhone locked in my GPS location while I was at work (5-story building, 3rd floor) without a hitch. The GN tries to lock, but it's 50/50...
I hope this helps... Good luck!

Doubt it'll help...
But it WILL help get a faster lock in the case of a GPS drop.
Mine locks in in like 3-5 seconds after using Faster GPS.
I, however, very rarely use GPS for actual navigation.
In fact...I haven't had to yet with my GNex. So I can't say if I do/don't have a problem.

Before Navigating, i usually open GPS test Plus to lock-in my location...then it's smooth sailing after that. Btw, i use CoPilot Live Premium.
PS. It takes the phone around 10 secs to get an accurate lock in.

babymatteo said:
Before Navigating, i usually open GPS test Plus to lock-in my location...then it's smooth sailing after that. Btw, i use CoPilot Live Premium.
PS. It takes the phone around 10 secs to get an accurate lock in.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is this CoPilot?
Does it run smooth?
When the car stop at traffic light for quite long periode, does it jump or spin to other road?
PS: I turned off Google Location Service already, never used it.

My first nexus also had a very bad GPS unit.
I got new one and it was much better but after installing 4.0.4 it is worse again.
If this will not be fixed with the next update I will sell my Nexus and maybe buy a HTC one x.
By the way, this is a short video that shows the problem with my first device. If this is the problem you have you should change your device to a new one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ueTSHyZHyw
Gesendet von meinem Galaxy Nexus mit Tapatalk 2

FWIW, I've had little to no issue using the stock GPS and built-in Navigation.

I get weird GPS navigation sometime where it thinks I'm off the rode to the right and driving through houses basically. Or i get turned around for no reason. The kicker is that I check GPS test and my accuracy is spot on with a healthy number of satellites so I'm not sure just a weak signal problem.