Database Info

XDA2 TomTom

Hi....new user
Just got XDA2 set in post as a company phone...great.
Acouple of things:
Can I use TomTom3 via the Bluetooth link...Ive been told its "iffY"?
Im using a Motorola BT car kit at the moment, will the XDA pair with it. Reason I ask is that my brother is a SKY engineer and they all have the above but they refuse to pair automatically.
Finally, is there a cradle especially for the XDA2 with a wired charger?
Ta
Graham

Hello Graham
I'm a newbie myself but trying to learn fast, I don't think the xda will pair-up with the motorola. Have a look at this website, I think its a great website they really help me when I first had my xda. The address is www.eXpansys.com. You will fine everything you need for your xda II
Thx
M8.

As long as you're XDAII is running the v1.60 ROM or later it'll work fine with a BT GPS. If it's running an older ROM you can d/l the update from www.my-xda.com and flash it to improve the BT Stack.
The best cradle IMHO is the Carcomm CDAII Cradle, see here. They're available in the UK from TotalPDA.

TT3 and XDA2 work faultlessley for me

Xda II & gps kit
can someone reccommend some mapping software which offers some decent & relatively detailed coverage of Northern Ireland.
Nothing I have looked at so far, inc "pocket streets" has even A class roads included outside Belfast city centre.
not a lot of use to me and many other people like me.
Thats what is holding my gps purchase back. well that and finding a good reason to justify my buying one.

TOMTOM works fine for me too. The only problem is that it doesnt show the names of the streets you are driving past. A car navigatin system does do that.

tomtom bluetooth
I've had my xdaII and tomtom 3 with Blue tooth reciever for 6months.. NO problems. works fine.

TomTom & GPS
Just thought I would add my thoughts as I have been a user of GPS and PDA's for sometime now.
I currently use a Garmin Etrex Vista connected via a cable to an Ipaq (This will be changing to my new XDA2 as soon as the lead arrives).
I have no real problems using Tom Tom software (but it does require a soft reset occasionally). You can view streetnames whilst driving if you go to the map view (not the navigator view).
This setup option is the most expensive using a PDA but gives the most versatility if you want to use your GPS to do other activities using the equipment ie boating, biking, or walking, when talking the PDA may not be suitable.
Consider the kits available on Ebay for around £125 that include a suction mount (vent mounts break your car) the power and connection cable and the software.
I also use Memory Map Navigator which is very detailed Mapping Software using Ordnance Survey Maps. The software is expensive, but if you really do have a use for it (or just love digital maps) it is very good.

Recommendation for GPS Receiver for a complete noob

Hi, first post here, though I have lurked for a bit.
I must confess that I'm a complete noob at this, I've had an XDA IIi for over 6 months and done absolutely nothing to it, it's as virgin as the day it came out of the box. Also, I've never had a GPS Receiver before, nor SatNav.
Anyway, I've ordered TomTom software and need a GPS Receiver, but I have no idea on what basis to compare the miriad of different GPS Receivers out there, so am humbly asking for your recommendation. If you could also point me at a noobie guide on all terms regarding GPS, or explain what they mean, that would be great.
99% of usage will be in the car with my XDA in a cradle, though I'm guessing I will have to swap over the 2 charger cables, however occassionally I'd like to roam on foot with Sat Nav (usually in London). So I'm guessing I would like a BlueTooth GPS Receiver that comes with a car charger and main charger.
I have no idea what Cold Start, Warm Start, or Hot Start mean, nor what Update time is for or what's good or bad for these values. Why is Baud rate or NMEA output protocol important? What are the pro's / cons of internal or external Antenna's and wtf does an external Antenna look like and how does it work, hang out the window?? How many "channels" should I have, and what difference does it make anyway?
Sorry for all the questions, but none of the purchase sites seem to do a noobie guide aimed at my level, they all assume you know what they're talking about! :roll:
Thanks in advance.

Can no one even point me at a decent online guide that explains what all these things mean?

GuiltyCol said:
Hi, first post here, though I have lurked for a bit.
I must confess that I'm a complete noob at this, I've had an XDA IIi for over 6 months and done absolutely nothing to it, it's as virgin as the day it came out of the box. Also, I've never had a GPS Receiver before, nor SatNav.
Anyway, I've ordered TomTom software and need a GPS Receiver, but I have no idea on what basis to compare the miriad of different GPS Receivers out there, so am humbly asking for your recommendation. If you could also point me at a noobie guide on all terms regarding GPS, or explain what they mean, that would be great.
99% of usage will be in the car with my XDA in a cradle, though I'm guessing I will have to swap over the 2 charger cables, however occassionally I'd like to roam on foot with Sat Nav (usually in London). So I'm guessing I would like a BlueTooth GPS Receiver that comes with a car charger and main charger.
I have no idea what Cold Start, Warm Start, or Hot Start mean, nor what Update time is for or what's good or bad for these values. Why is Baud rate or NMEA output protocol important? What are the pro's / cons of internal or external Antenna's and wtf does an external Antenna look like and how does it work, hang out the window?? How many "channels" should I have, and what difference does it make anyway?
Sorry for all the questions, but none of the purchase sites seem to do a noobie guide aimed at my level, they all assume you know what they're talking about! :roll:
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
OK basic reccomendation. Get a Globalsat BT-338. A popular and well liked high performing device at a reasonable cost.
What you need to look for in a receiver is the chipset. You want one with a SIRF III chipset because it will provide the best reception in heavily built up areas. You want to avoid X-TRAC because it's laggy.
With regards to charging, you probably won't need to be continuously charging, (look for battery life on the device specs. You want around 20 hours per charge). However you could get a cradle which charges both, or a Y-Cable which will also charge both the xda and the receiver if need be.
Cold start refers to how long the receiver takes to get a fix from the very first time it is used, or after it has had no battery, it needs to work out where you are on the planet and can take up to 5 mins. After this you will be more likely to just do warm starts, by which the receiver uses your last known location to get a rough guide of where you are, this should take less than a minute. A Hot start means you havent moved from your last know location, theis should take 30 seconds to get a fix. These times are measured as TTF- Time to Fix, ands should also be on the device specs.
The Protocol is the format that the data is passed onto the xda software. Most software expects NMEA data, as this is the most commonly used. The baud rate is just how fast the device can communicate with the xda and dosn't make a lot of difference the BT-338 has a baud rate of 38400, but I've used a device with a baud rate of 9600 and can't say I noticed a difference. A SIRF III device is unlikely to need an external arial, unless you have heat reflective windows all round your car, and even then unlikely. A good SIRF III receiver will work from inside a closed glove box. An older SIRF II chipset may need an external antenna. These are usually little magnetic squares that you stick to the roof of the car, with a cable that connects to the receiver inside. Buy a SIRF III and forget about those.
Channels, most SIRF III receivers are 16- 20 channels, this is how many simultaneous satellites the device can track at once. Anything over 16 is pure bonus as you are probably unlikely to get more than 12 satellites in your line of sight anyway.
That seems to cover everything except cost. Expect to pay between £50 and £80.
and check out www.pocketgps.co.uk

Thanks Gajet, that was everything I wanted in an answer. Much obliged.

My Globalsat BT-338 arrived yesterday. Had a few problems working out which serial port it was using but got there in the end. Also the middle LED seems to flash or hold solid with a mind of it's own. But apart from that, works like a treat, and as the review said, works fine in my glovebox too, which is nice.
Thanks again.

The middle LED just tells you if you are getting a good satellite lock. If it stays steady then you are not getting enough satellite signal for a lock. There is a program on the CD that can tell you the satellite signal strength. Most nav programs have that feature as well.
I've been playing with mine for a few days and I am amazed by how fast it can lock onto satellite signal. If you compare with other non-SirfIII chipped GPS the difference is almost night and day.
I did have some BT/COM port issue if I run an alternate nav program. It wouldn't connect BT anymore until I rediscover it. But staying with one program (iGuidance) it works perfectly.

> I did have some BT/COM port issue if I run an alternate nav program.
I had this problem too. If I ran up the GPSInfo program, then TomTom would fail to find the GPS Receiver.

Who brought a 2006 thread back to life...Thread closed, Thank you.

New Orbit tt can't find gps receiver

I have a registered tt6 which I bought for £70 odd. It worked fine in my old orbit. Then that one broke, what happens is it doesn't respond to screen touch, fortunately as I have the rollerball set as a pointer I can actually use it though slow. The reason for saying this is that I haven't yet sent it back because tt works on it, whereas the new phone using the exact same memory card and set exactly the same as the other phone, tt doesn't find the gps device.
I am using 9600 baud com 9.
Phoning 02 results in lots of baming i.e. ring tom tom, or ring the number on your bill, or go into an o2 shop.
I have spent much money on these premium rate options (except going into a store as yet) but non of them want to own the problem suggesting I phone (at premium rate) yet another number.
The reason I haven't yet gone into an 02 shop is mainly because last time I went in to ask an orbit question I knew about four times as much about the darned thing than the spotty herbert who is wanting to be the next millionaire by selling phones for company's who don't know how to provide an after sales service.
I note that the operating system for the latest orbit is most certainly better than the old one, and it occurs to me the problem might be a hardware one.
Is there a cluster of this problem or am I just unlucky?

Took it into o2 shop this morning, forst he tried to say it was tomtom then I showed it working on the other orbit I have, then he tried to say we have had a lot of trouble with tomtom that is why we use palm pilot, so I said, have you got a demo copy? Yes, right put it in here. Sure enough it didn't find the gps receiver either.
So reluctantly he agreed to send my new phone for repair.

Hmm, you spoke to a muppet, the config is Com 4 at 9600 Baud, or if you have TT 6,020 or 6,030 installed (which you should have) just select the inbuilt GPS receiver option when configuring the GPS within the TomTom application - DO NOT mess around with the GPS applet on the device as this can screw things up unless you know what you want from it - it is best left alone for this very reason - Mike

gps signal is not htc fault?

hello i have a touch pro and i think the poor gps fix is not an issue from htc, i guess it's a tomtom thing. when i use tomtom with the touch pro it has usualy around the 2-5 minutes to get a fix, with sygic mcguider installed on my touch pro it's always less then a minute
on both software i download the latest quickgpsfix before starting the programs
someone else tried it with sygic mcguider?

It 's definetely HTC 's fault. I never had issues in GPS fix. But with all tips and teeks installed GPS lag is allways present. I tried most of GPS software floating arround with no luck. Also tweeks are working in some raphaels and some not with same rom installed.

I absolutely agree. I tested several navigation and gps test software. all of them hat the gps issue of the touch pro
freco said:
It 's definetely HTC 's fault. I never had issues in GPS fix. But with all tips and teeks installed GPS lag is allways present. I tried most of GPS software floating arround with no luck. Also tweeks are working in some raphaels and some not with same rom installed.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

Actually my TP gets a GPS fix with 6 to 8 sats very fast. The problem is the GPS lag (i.e. If you drive fast you get the directions late), that is a common problem and HTC is actually making a fix for it.
I am using .28 radio and ROMeOS 1.21...

For TomTom, i saw a small fix/tweak that helps (thread is somewhere not to far:
In tom tom: Change Preferences
Show GPS status -> configure
Choose Other NMEA GPS Receiver -> Baud Rate: 38400 on COM4
Maybe its just me but it seems to speed up acquisition time and reduce lag.
I also removed the logging with Avanced Configuration which probably helps some

Matthes42 said:
I absolutely agree. I tested several navigation and gps test software. all of them hat the gps issue of the touch pro
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you try the latest Sygic Mcguider v 7.60
within a minute i got every time a fix (my touch pro is one of the first in holland (early august)

No prpblem with TomTom and internal GPS.
Well i just took an hour's trip (30 mins both way) to a friend's place and i had no trouble running TomTom with my Touch Pro's gps. Coming from a phone with a BT external gps it works just fine and dandy. Initial signal fix was less than 4 mins. No more carrying around an external receiver.

Your results are far from beeing decent my friend.
With my P3300 (Artemis) fix was very fast and I never had lag problem.
My TP has same fix time but lag never go away. There is a fix for TomTom (not working in all TP) but it 's not a solution because not everybody uses TomTom. I prefer iGO8.

freco said:
Your results are far from beeing decent my friend.
With my P3300 (Artemis) fix was very fast and I never had lag problem.
My TP has same fix time but lag never go away. There is a fix for TomTom (not working in all TP) but it 's not a solution because not everybody uses TomTom. I prefer iGO8.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What do you mean by TomTom not working in all TP?? Since i got my TouchPro on Sunay, i've been using TomTom almost every day without issue. GPS locks on fast (<3 mins), no lags whatsoever at least for me. TomTom definitely works well on mine.

Well, I dont know. Im really confused by this issue. For every suggested fix there are some who report progress and others not. I am in that probably small group where nothing much has made a big difference (radio, ROM, settings and registry changes). I am using Copilot 7 Diamond edition. My TP still staggers about like a drunk in a nightclub -usually behind my position and bizarrely sometimes ahead. It cant manage corners, and it still comes to an intermittent stop whilst I am bowling along at 70mph. I have noticed that it seems car sensitive though - presumably windscreen type. In my wife's car it is much better than in mine. That might account for some of the variation in reports with the TP. I truly hope that HTC are working on a cab fix otherwise I too will be driving like a drunk for the foreseeable future!

It is confusing. That's true.
Until now I don't have any problems whatsoever with my TomTom 7.450 (Dutch ROM right from the factory, unbranded). I only had 1 or 2 times where my fix took long (> 2min). But most of the time I have a fix within 30 sec with > 6 satelites. I'm still trying everyday to verify that my device behaves at it should. Therefore, I have not tweaked my device until now. I also don't use quickgps.
My lag is small, while walking it is only 10 meters, I think. It very nicely shows I'm walking at 6 km/h, without any problems. Next will be trials in the car when I have my new car mount available.

Hi, I have a TP too, I´m very happy with the gps signal. but not at the begin. The gps signal was better when I change to .31 radio.
I need to deactivate A-Gps feature to get a good gps fix.

LordLugard said:
What do you mean by TomTom not working in all TP??
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I mean that the tweek is working on some devices. Also there are people that use iGO8 or Navigon. Problem is not solved if some devices works fine with TomTom.
LordLugard said:
Since i got my TouchPro on Sunay, i've been using TomTom almost every day without issue. GPS locks on fast (<3 mins), no lags whatsoever at least for me. TomTom definitely works well on mine.
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Click to collapse
GPS lock on <3 mins is not acceptable time. Let 's say you get in your car, start TomTom and wait 2-3 minutes to get a fix?
Mine locks < 1 minute. It was never more than 1 minute even out of the box. But GPS lag is a pain in the @ss.

freco said:
I mean that the tweek is working on some devices. Also there are people that use iGO8 or Navigon. Problem is not solved if some devices works fine with TomTom.
GPS lock on <3 mins is not acceptable time. Let 's say you get in your car, start TomTom and wait 2-3 minutes to get a fix?
Mine locks < 1 minute. It was never more than 1 minute even out of the box. But GPS lag is a pain in the @ss.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So...i'm perfectly fine chilling for a coupla minutes for a gps lock. 2 minutes, i wouldn't split my knickers over. Besides i' usually fiddling with something and adjusting the radio so by the time i'm ready to pull out, John Cleese is also ready for me. I'm okay with it, very satisfied.

Class action suit regarding GPS

So there are more than enough problems with internal GPS for several devices. The Fuze obviously, im sure the Diamond, and my friend and his Tilt. Basically we have to go through all these steps just to get it to work properly. So i was thinking a suit may get them to fix the problem with it.
I am absolutely certain it is regarding the internal GPS and not the anything else in the phone, because if it takes too long to find a fix i just use my BT Holux 236 Slim instead of waiting and it finds it well lets just say IMMEDIATELY lol.

I had an old toshiba WM device with pharos add on gps. It took like 5-6 mins to lock.
I can do a morning gps fix with my fuze in about 30 seconds. No AGPS, but I do download the quickgps info. It's good enough for me.

does AGPs actually slow it down? i thought that would make it faster

lbhocky19 said:
does AGPs actually slow it down? i thought that would make it faster
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
AGPS + IPHONE + 3G = FAIL.
It's not just Raphael here. If you google that, there's lots of suggestions to switch to Edge, then use the GPS, then get back on 3G.

I have a Fuze and my GPS is working fine. I initially had issues getting a lock and I had to use HTC GPS Tool... only once. After that I get a lock within 1 minute if that much when using TomTom.
I am also using 3G/HSUPA. I do have AGPS turned off and I have QuickGPS configured to download updates automatically. Once other change I made was to the "External GPS" in the System settings - I changed the COM port to 1 and speed to 38400. I tested both with COM 1 and COM 4 and it didn't made much of a difference.
I have also flashed a few different ROMs and GPS works on all of them, including AT&T stock ROM.

I don't think HTC cares about Class Action Suits.

No they don't care about class action lawsuits, because we keep buying their phones I get consistent 30 second GPS locks on my fuze.

I dunno, maybe i'm just lucky but even when the Blackjack 2 came out and people were having GPS issues (and needing the Modaco GPS unlocker Cab) i never needed such things. Maybe i'm more technical and can find root of problems easily that i don't even notice i'm doing it. I don't think that's the case though, i downloaded WLS and Google Maps and configure them both properly. I knew about the intermediate driver but the current version of Google Maps didn't have support for that yet but it came out a week later and that's when it finally started working right.
I noticed there was a note about GPS concerning the Fuze so i dug into it and knew i had to use COM4 for GPS instead of the standard intermediate driver (Garmin Mobile auto configed itself to the right COM). I don't get any lag or issues, it also uses aGPS if it's enabled, my phone automatically logs on when i open it.

I have alltel TOuch Pro and my gps locks in in like 4 seconds never more than 10

GREGHARKINS said:
I have alltel TOuch Pro and my gps locks in in like 4 seconds never more than 10
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have the Touch Pro as well but on Sprint, I've experienced the same.

hey guys,
what do u think about appear and disappear problem?
i mean that, my tp finds alot of satellites but two of them appears the others disappears, then they appear the others disappear.
And finaly poor reception and i.e.my car speed like "100" km but tp "0" km speed and too much lag.
I ve tried everything at this forum except roms.I couldnt have any solution.
I send 3-4 e-mail to htc support team and they turned me back with silly answers without solution.
Now i cant use my internal gps that i paid like 900$ tp.I think this will be my last htc.

The GPS issues I was having with my Fuze ultimately led to it's return.
The GPS performance was just too volatile and I need to be able to depend on it when I need it.
GL

Before you fight the power, might want to research the issue better. I believe all the people who say there are problems with their GPS, but it has to be related to particular batch/devices.
I have no issues with GPS. I run iGO8 on my Fuze, it connects very quickly, AGPS enabled. Accuracy is awesome, better than on Tilt it'd seem. So no complaints here.
So before we sue someone, somebody should compare the devices and find what is it that makes the GPS work on some and not work on others.
Just my opinion.

My GPS works great. I get a fix in around 30 seconds, and when I do, I can leave it in front of the gear stick on my car, because I still didn't buy a windshield holder, and it works just fine.
It works much better than a dedicated Bluetooth GPS I used in the past.

DarkDvr said:
Before you fight the power, might want to research the issue better. I believe all the people who say there are problems with their GPS, but it has to be related to particular batch/devices.
I have no issues with GPS. I run iGO8 on my Fuze, it connects very quickly, AGPS enabled. Accuracy is awesome, better than on Tilt it'd seem. So no complaints here.
So before we sue someone, somebody should compare the devices and find what is it that makes the GPS work on some and not work on others.
Just my opinion.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Interesting...I never usa AGPS, it always seems to mess my phone up. I do the automatic GPS download and I get a lock within 30 sec.

Obviously the people posting think since theres work than its not an issue. There are plenty of threads in the diamond, raphael, and tilt forums regarding GPS issues.
The only reason i brought the suit idea in was because it has done before and HTC then provided the drivers. I dont want any money from them, i just want my GPS to work well. I am pretty sure nobody else wants to return their phone they just a WELL working GPS.

I have no problems with GPS lock on my Fuze. I had initial issues, but after I ran the GPS Test and got a fix - one time - I was all set.
Besides, whom do you sue? HTC or the operators who are motivated to cripple GPS or tie it exclusively to their fee-for-service plan?

xboxhaxorz said:
Obviously the people posting think since theres work than its not an issue. There are plenty of threads in the diamond, raphael, and tilt forums regarding GPS issues.
The only reason i brought the suit idea in was because it has done before and HTC then provided the drivers. I dont want any money from them, i just want my GPS to work well. I am pretty sure nobody else wants to return their phone they just a WELL working GPS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Drivers are one thing.
A class action suit is something else.
I'm all for speedier, but I just did a test here.
HARD RESET
Bloat remove
Install a few apps, sync phone to restore contacts.
Disable AGPS, download QuickGPS.
Launched google maps for the first time. It took about 40 seconds to lock on 8 satellites inside my house. I don't get this good with my other dedicated gps devices, they usually take 2-5 mins to lock on to 5.
--------------------
Again,
I'm all for speedier! But I rather like how fast the GPS set works in this phone, even after a hard reset. Maybe it's ATT software that does something on the configurator load on a hard reset?

The new rom from Da_G uses gps drivers from the blackstone and for the first time since i bought the phone (since day 1) i get consistent, fast gps locks. With these drivers i consider the problem solved. Now..to get other cooks to include them as they have to be cooked in.

I have only had mine for about a week now and not really any issues with GPS. I would load up tom tom and configure it before i leave, and before i make it off my porch i have at least 3 sats locked, and by the time im in my car its ready to roll. I have only used it for short trips so far (15-30 minutes) and have not experienced the heat up issues i have read about, or the GPS lag. Time will tell i guess.