[Q] Understanding GPS - Verizon Droid Charge

I have seen a lot of discussion about the Charge being very slow to get a GPS fix and I am experiencing similar issues. My previous phone, the HTC Eris, was running GSB by workshed and was extremely fast getting a GPS fix. I am currently running HUMBLECOMB 4.0 Gingerbread on my Charge. I have tried the following apps from Market, FasterFix, GPS Status & Toolbox, GPS Essentials, etc.
I feel like I have done considerable reading on the forums but still don't have a clear understanding of what effects GPS. The only thing I have done that seems to improve the time it takes to get a GPS fix is to select all three GPS services in settings but getting a quick GPS fix is still inconsistent.
What does a quick GPS fix depend on?
Is a GPS fix affected by the radio being used?
Is a GPS fix affected by the ROM being used?
Seems like the stock image of the Charge was more consistent with getting a quick GPS fix but I was anxious to try out rooted ROMs so didn't stay stock for very long.
Is there a thread that I might have missed that provides a more thorough and better understanding about GPS other than just suggesting market apps?
Thanks in advance.

GPS is NOT affected by radio or ROM, however it might differ from Froyo to Gingerbread. The GPS locks all depend on its configuration (and it's hardware, but we can't change that). All the market apps are doing is attempting to switch the assisted GPS (AGPS) servers in the hopes that you will get a faster lock. I have a thread that will change the Froyo configuration (original poster was piperat) so you can try that in the off chance that you want to try Froyo. I could start a new thread explaining how to do this on Gingerbread, but I don't use GPS very much so it's not a huge deal for me (e.g. too lazy to find out how to modify on GB).
Sent from my Droid Charge running Infinity Beta

Please use the Q&A Forum for questions Thanks
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Related

Observation on GPS Problems - 4800BPS

Hi All,
Like many i've had numerous problems with my GPS. I came from a Tytn II so I know how fast the unit should lock and work. In fact I've done side by side comparisons with my wife's TyTn II and am fairly disappointed thus far.
For the longest time I couldn't even lock in less than 30 mins, after trying several ROMS and radios. I used TomTom, Garmin, and Igo 8 (which I love) and issues all around.
Finally I solved my locking problem by doing the simplest of things, set the baud rate in the settings of the 3rd party GPS apps (Igo in this case) to 4800bps. Now I reliably get a lock within 60-90 seconds. I still however have lag, but at least it's somewhat usable.
Anyways hope this helps others with my issue.
Are you using Quick GPS and updating it's data when it expires, are you getting a lock with a third party app (GPS Test or HTC GPS Tool or others) before running your nav software? In IGO, when changing from 4800 from say have you tried the highest (100k+ whatever not sure of the number) baud are you seeing much of a difference in your position on screen versus your actual position?
Everyone seems to have a different story when you ask them about their experiences with their GPS on their Raphael. >_>
Btw what ROM are you using? Have you tried Sleuths GPS cab? I'm not 100% positive I have the latest cab or I would post it but there are some settings in the registry that you can change that deliver somewhat of a better experience (in my case and many others) as far as position lag is concerned. I also use the highest baud settings as Sleuth recommended.
Many thanks to everyone who is going out of their way to do some working towards a fix for Raphael's flakey GPS.
im using the highest baud on my raphael as mentioned above by X2D. there are tweaks that can be done in the registry or just find a tweak cab that has compiled those tweaks.. remember to update quick gps when it expires.. with quick gps updated i get a fix in about 20-30 seconds.. and this also depends on what radio rom you have.. i have Radio version: 1.08.25.20.. i think it's the lates. well read the radio thread on raphael section and you'll find one suitable for you , i guess i've heard somemany say that some of the older versions works better and so forth.. if you have your phone security / cid unlocked you can try the latest radio rom from blackstone on your raphael which is to be the best so far at this date... well correct me if im wrong though.. well there are another option, hot start on gps but that might consume little more battery and so forth.. read more about it on this forum

GPS fix confirmed and then some!

I know we are all hit and miss with the GPS, but after following a couple of tips out there GPS locks on Google Maps in 10-15 seconds, finally! And it tracks beautifully as well. These are older tips, but it is this combo that seems to work wonders!
I followed this...
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=427888
(but change dPollInterval to 500 and MAxBufferSize at 256)
and...
GPS hardware settings:
Prgram port is COM4, no hardware port, and baud rate is 4800. I could not find the website that I got this info from so forgive me for not crediting you!
Google Maps is configured to let Windows manage my GPS.
After the GPS is "warm" it tracks in what relatively feels like an instant now! And it might just be me but it seems to find more satellites. I have a Fuze on ATT.
theres a bajillion fixes on here for gps. its just gonna have different results. easy thing to do is update radio to 1.12. though if you do that, dont change the poll interval from 1000 to 500. i found thats a bad thing in combination with it.
download the at&t test rom......fixed my GPS issues. Now I get a lock within 10 seconds.
the link above method works best when deltete gps log files and disable agps and using gps test software
p51d007 said:
download the at&t test rom......fixed my GPS issues. Now I get a lock within 10 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have to agree here.
Where may I find this ROM?
hmm
I must say . The updated rom from htc for the fuze pretty much fixed my gps (and made performance of the phone much better).
Fourstarzzzz said:
Where may I find this ROM?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can find it on blownfuze.org, but most of the newer roms have the aGPS fixed, so it is a lot easier to get GPS fixes

Suitability of Fuze ROM upgrade for Tilt?

Hi,
HTC has released a new ROM for the Fuze.
Among other things, it contains an "A-GPS Update: Speeds up the time it takes the GPS to get a fix on your location", and "Quick GPS is still recommended for the optimal operation of GPS based applications and services".
Does anyone know whether it's feasible to implement only this part of the ROM in a Tilt?
My GPS reception is variable (using the internal GPS), no matter which ROM or radio I use (some are better, my current combination works best for me). The only way I obtai an extremely fast GPS fix is by using an external BT GPS (I purchased an GlobalTop G66 Plus, and I now obtain a fix within 10-15 seconds).
I have AGPS turned OFF because it doesn't work with IGO8 (had no problems at all with AGPS and IGO6).
I've tried every solution in the book and have carefully read all related threads here. None have worked for me.
So my question *only* refers to the suitability of implementing that portion of the Fuze new ROM.
Thanks.
I would think that you would be restricted by the hardware of the phone and not the software
Well, if you're referring to the incompatibility of IGO8 and AGPS, it's a given.

gps testing, puzzling results

i went on a few drives today to test out my gps, the odd thing is i couldnt get it to misbehave in a significant way. i am using eugenes ginger clone and da_g's update.zip using his own jupiter.xml. i chose his control plane version. i also used some files from jj4 not because i thought they were better but because i was experimenting with the jm9 "FIX" files but wanted to revert back and grabbed the wrong ones from my computer.
my lbs test settings were:
Sesssion Type: tracking
Test Mode: s/w Test
Operation mode: Standalone
Start mode: Hot start
GPS Plus: OFF
Dynamic accuracy: OFF
accuracy: 50
Logging: OFF
supl settings:
server: supl.google.com
port: 7276
secure socket: off
agps mode: control plane
"use wireless networks" in setting>location and security, was not selected
i ran several my tracks trying to recreate the situation described by Da_g where the gps position jumps around and locks are lost when mytracks is in the foreground and lbs in the background but is accurate in the opposite situation. i wanted to see if any "fix" would help this situation, be it a modem file or gps library from other rom but could not create the unstable situation observed by others. this bugged me because i have had serious trouble with google maps acting erratically while all my stationary tests come out fine. the problem is i never used the gps on this rom and did not know if it suffers from this problem in the first place.
it appears this rom does not have that particular problem or the problem is not predictable or can not be caused at will.
i ran a few my tracks with jm9 files. the results were mediocre at best, did it help? nope
did it hurt? maybe, not sure but probably not.
then i ran the test with jj4 files. did it help? maybe but probably not, tests did appear slightly better but were not free of imperfections
did it hurt? nope
on each test i ran one my tracks with mytracks in the forground and lbs in the background then another with lbs in the foreground and my tracks in the background.
observation: phone did not lose gps signal upon starting any app or switching to any app like others reported. tracking results were too close to call. i used similar routes with clear skys and the accuracy was similar when compared on the same road. with lbs up front i could watch the reported accuracy, it mostly jumped from 10 to 30m occasionally hitting 5, and spending more time at 10. average was about 15meter accuracy.
then for s's and g's i ran my tracks behind maps navigation to see if navigation would aggravate the bad behavior. well it didn't. perfect results! this is both reassuring and disapointing. while i can be a little more confident in my gps which in the past has been good except when using google navigation it also make me wonder if maybe the gps is just plain unstable and cant be predicted.
did samsung get it right in the base rom that eugene worked from? did using control plane fix it? did i just get lucky today with different results tomorrow? does touchwiz somehow cause the problems(not likely but who knows)? eugene did a pretty good job of removing touchwiz from samsung sources, not true aosp but it would fool most.
did i stumble on a unique combination thus fixing my gps? im sure the answer is no. it is either in the control plane settings with da_g's mods or in the rom itself.
the jl3 modem seems to get a slightly better signal but is certainly not a "fix"
will you have similar results? dont know, try it. but be warned that the rom is giving me some funny battery reporting and the standard recalibration isnt really working. i also had some random shutdowns when i used juice defender(maybe a bad install on the app) it also is not likely to work with samsung widgets and the video player wont play those weird media hub files.
i do believe that axura was built off the same base rom (im really not sure about this, just a hunch) but i had no luck with gps on that rom, i didnt use axura long enough to try fixing it but others report it as being very good.
i wonder if anyone has looked into available ram as a cause? eugenes rom seems to have a small memory footprint and i often have over 200mb free! could minfree be killing a service when ram runs low? could a setting in other roms be killing a service when exiting some gps apps for the sake of ram/battery usage?
im not a dev and would have no idea where to start on this. i also know that much files that control gps are proprietary and cant be fixed by the community, we can only hope to identify the problem and employ a workaround to prevent problematic situations assuming that the proprietary files are infact more or less functional. will samsung employ a fix? well i think with the number of identified problems with the gps that the galaxy s was released prematurely. samsung likely rushed the release to get a bunch of ooohs and ahhhhs without doing enough testing. it appears that they are incrementally improving gps performance over several builds and it may continue to get better, maybe over several updates. untill then ill use eugenes rom. i also think that if froyo builds did not help you then you may have an antenna issue!
ill attach the my tracks file when i have time.
i would like to thank clshortfuse and especially Da_G for there efforts. Da_G i hope you find a solution that we can all use regardless of rom, or maybe you can cook up a rom yourself, people would definately use it..

newb questions about GPS on my phone

Hi everyone,
Running a galaxy sII lte, rooted on official 4.0.4 and my carrier is Rogers. I believe this is the same phone a the skyrocket so I hope I'm in the right forum.
I have a problem with the GPS on my device, or maybe the option is not available on my device I don't know. I did some research about it but still couldn't address this problem. I turn on my GPS signal and it tries to locate me for hours never actually pinning me anywhere on the map. Now I don't have a data connection, but the maps are all cached to my phone, it's the pinning that doesn't work for me. My question is, is my phone capable of doing this without a data connection? If not, what makes an iPhone different that it can do this? Why even have a GPS toggle if I'm getting limited through data?
Thanks in advance!
First off, let me say welcome to xda! Also yes u are in the right section.
Secondly, look for the "agps fix.". It will address the issue with non-locking. With it, I went from 20 seconds to 3.
If that doesn't work look for the galaxy nexus GPS fix, its pretty much the same as agps, which I recommend u try first.
Lastly, caching of Google maps is frankly, [email protected] U need a data connection to use them. For offline GPS, theres really only one app capable, sygic. Look for it in the play store. I have no experience with it so I can't comment on its effectiveness.
If I helped hit the thanks button
Hi!
I totally agree with Icenight89. I also have the Rogers' Skyrocket (the model number is SGH-i727R; you can verify this under the battery inside the phone), and I got problem with GPS position locking. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to lock my position; after I applied the fix, locking takes seconds.
Google Maps needs an active data connection -- be it WiFi or a data plan from Rogers -- in order to guide you through the maps. Caching just takes an instant of the map/area you want, and allows you to view it while you are offline. Without a data connection, though, you won't be able to, say, search for a specific address, look for restaurant/gas station/touristic attraction or get directions. If that is what you are looking for, you might be interested in another GPS navigation app.
icenight89 said:
First off, let me say welcome to xda! Also yes u are in the right section.
Secondly, look for the "agps fix.". It will address the issue with non-locking. With it, I went from 20 seconds to 3.
If that doesn't work look for the galaxy nexus GPS fix, its pretty much the same as agps, which I recommend u try first.
Lastly, caching of Google maps is frankly, [email protected] U need a data connection to use them. For offline GPS, theres really only one app capable, sygic. Look for it in the play store. I have no experience with it so I can't comment on its effectiveness.
If I helped hit the thanks button
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Alexandre-P said:
Hi!
I totally agree with Icenight89. I also have the Rogers' Skyrocket (the model number is SGH-i727R; you can verify this under the battery inside the phone), and I got problem with GPS position locking. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to lock my position; after I applied the fix, locking takes seconds.
Google Maps needs an active data connection -- be it WiFi or a data plan from Rogers -- in order to guide you through the maps. Caching just takes an instant of the map/area you want, and allows you to view it while you are offline. Without a data connection, though, you won't be able to, say, search for a specific address, look for restaurant/gas station/touristic attraction or get directions. If that is what you are looking for, you might be interested in another GPS navigation app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks guys, the patch worked wonders!
I wonder if there is a fix for those that don't root, because doesn't that take away one of the key functionalities of the phone? Was this addressed in jelly bean?
It looks like the GPS is working wonderfully for some people, but awfully for others. I had no problem with the GPS when I was on stock Gingerbread. I did not stay long enough on stock ICS to tell if the problem started when I upgraded, I went pretty quick to CM9 nightly, and I had the GPS to work not so good. Applying this patch was like night and day, now the GPS is working great.
So no, I'm not sure that this patch will make its way into a stable ROM -- in your case, Rogers' stock ROM. You may want to take a look at Rogers Community Forum and ask if someone had problem with the GPS. If a lot of people report GPS malfunction to Rogers, Rogers might consider patching its ROM.
And about your other question: I don't think there is a way to patch the GPS on an unrooted phone. This patch write/replace a system file, which means you have to have root access to apply the modifications.
Alexandre-P said:
It looks like the GPS is working wonderfully for some people, but awfully for others. I had no problem with the GPS when I was on stock Gingerbread. I did not stay long enough on stock ICS to tell if the problem started when I upgraded, I went pretty quick to CM9 nightly, and I had the GPS to work not so good. Applying this patch was like night and day, now the GPS is working great.
So no, I'm not sure that this patch will make its way into a stable ROM -- in your case, Rogers' stock ROM. You may want to take a look at Rogers Community Forum and ask if someone had problem with the GPS. If a lot of people report GPS malfunction to Rogers, Rogers might consider patching its ROM.
And about your other question: I don't think there is a way to patch the GPS on an unrooted phone. This patch write/replace a system file, which means you have to have root access to apply the modifications.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Technically u don't need a rooted phone, merely a custom recovery on Samsung based devices, which u can flash via Odin, and reflash stock after but yes, in principle u are correct. U cannot use it with a non-stock phone
Thanks everyone that helps a lot!
fornoggg said:
Thanks guys, the patch worked wonders!
I wonder if there is a fix for those that don't root, because doesn't that take away one of the key functionalities of the phone? Was this addressed in jelly bean?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Why wouldn't you want to root? I feel so naked without it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727R running SKY-ICS 4.2F6-2.7
mymusicathome said:
Why wouldn't you want to root? I feel so naked without it
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727R running SKY-ICS 4.2F6-2.7
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Everything I have bookmarked about GPS:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1726565
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1239713
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1438129&highlight=gps+lock
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/21453-optimal-gps-settings-for-galaxy-nexus/
They all work with everything from GB up to JB on multiple models...
Most of them require root permissions or a custom recovery (CWMR) to install.
Hope this benefits SOMEBODY, I spent a great deal of time researching this...
I had similar issues with my galaxy s2.
There is a free app in the play store called "gps status".
Tools/manage a state/reset
Fixed it.
~Samsung Galaxy SIII (SPH-L710) - Blazer ROM v1.6 - TWRP~

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