Has anyone noticed the GPS signal strength is rather poor compared to other phones.
I have my 6yr old HTC incredible and it can keep a lock better.
As a hobby, I like to record GPS tracks when on an airplane as I travel alot. That is a good test environment as the signal is typically poor. When I have both phones on side by side, I will see that the satellite signal levels are about the same from both eventhough the Z5 is capable of seeing more satellites. However, the HTC is capable of holding a lock for nearly the entire flight whereas the Z5 will often lose a lock randomly.
Sometimes, I will notice the Z5 not getting a GPS lock even in my car (although this is rare)
I asked Sony support about this. They claim GPS wont work in a plane eventhough I've recorded hundreds of tracks. Then they said they'd forward this concern to the engineers to perhaps get improved in a future firmware.
eng3 said:
Has anyone noticed the GPS signal strength is rather poor compared to other phones.
I have my 6yr old HTC incredible and it can keep a lock better.
As a hobby, I like to record GPS tracks when on an airplane as I travel alot. That is a good test environment as the signal is typically poor. When I have both phones on side by side, I will see that the satellite signal levels are about the same from both eventhough the Z5 is capable of seeing more satellites. However, the HTC is capable of holding a lock for nearly the entire flight whereas the Z5 will often lose a lock randomly.
Sometimes, I will notice the Z5 not getting a GPS lock even in my car (although this is rare)
I asked Sony support about this. They claim GPS wont work in a plane eventhough I've recorded hundreds of tracks. Then they said they'd forward this concern to the engineers to perhaps get improved in a future firmware.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't got any issues with GPS lock outdoor, but you might need be on the window side on your next flight to get a better reception. =)
The thing that i noticed mostly with Z5, is they have quite weak receiver antenna's wherein even cellular signal is very weak compared to 1 year old phone.
redjge said:
Haven't got any issues with GPS lock outdoor, but you might need be on the window side on your next flight to get a better reception. =)
The thing that i noticed mostly with Z5, is they have quite weak receiver antenna's wherein even cellular signal is very weak compared to 1 year old phone.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I always sit on the window side and it doesnt matter since I stated that I in comparison to another phone side by side by side, the Z5 is much worse. Unless you normally look at the signal levels you probably would notice just driving around outside.
Like you, I also noticed the cell antenna is worse too.
Made a quick research for the Z5 teardown, based on it only has a small antenna at the lower back of the unit.
Seems this might be the reason for very weak receptions we are experiencing with this unit.
Hope their engineers can make an improvement via software or radio drivers and release it sooner.
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The small "L" looking bar on the center, together with the board is the GPS antenna (most likely)
Related
Does anyone know of a (inexpensive) method of boosting the cellular reception in a fixed structure? I live in an area where the cell signal is rather weak, and fades in and out depending on where I happen to be in my house, yet is pretty good on my deck. Fine by me... except when it rains.
I was hoping there might be a device that would either boost the normal cell signal, or perhaps overcome the building materials to give me better signal inside the house. It would need to be wireless, rather than connected physically to the phone, though.
Would something like this work? CLICKY Couldn't one of those old-fashioned 'passive' mobile antennas work?
I have no idea if these things really work, and if they're worth the price.
Thanks!
I would also like to know of a good solution.
Re: Cell Reception
The signal reception,sound quality, GPS etc..is related to the Radio ROM on your phone. You could try playing around with a couple of different radios and see which one works better for you.
Here's a thread that helps you determine which radio is the best for you..ummm yeah ...its called the ultimate radio thread
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=393182
I think this is the best (inexpensive) method that boosts reception IMHO..
The Reaper said:
The signal reception,sound quality, GPS etc..is related to the Radio ROM on your phone. You could try playing around with a couple of different radios and see which one works better for you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I understand, but a lack of signal is something that won't be significantly helped by any differences in flashed radios.
I'm presently on 1.65.16.25 and have been experiencing the same signal issues that I've had on every other cellphone I've owned, so I have to believe it's a signal issue more so than a radio issue. It's got to be a combination of location/terrain/building materials that are the problem. That's why I was asking about boosters or passive antennas - you know - something like this:
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Thanks!
solder the antenna wire to the cell radio lol
When I was using my phone as a modem in my flat (with very very poor reception) I found the only way to boost my signol was to line my bin with tin foil, plonk in the phone and point the bin in a direction. Worked for me lol
Is anyone else getting weird leaps in GPS? Mostly it's very reliable, but last week I was in South Kensington (London) but GoogleMaps, TrackMe and TomTom all placed me mid-English Channel. Looking at my trackme trips, I found that I spent a few moments in Tunisia the week before, and you will be very impressed by my 15 minute cycle this morning ....
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Anyone else getting this?
joan
If you search this forum on GPS, you'll find some stuff, like here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2509292&postcount=3
benjimen said:
If you search this forum on GPS, you'll find some stuff, like here: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=2509292&postcount=3
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm not talking about a few metres or a couple of hundred metres - I'm getting anomalous gps readings that are hundreds or even thousands of kilometres from my actual location.
These seem to be happening more and more frequently ....
I have had something similar - on Saturday (and also in the London area), for a few minutes TomTom told me that I was travelling at over 300mph. Now I know that the white van that I had hired for the day is much faster than my 911, but not that much faster!
I have also had a much weaker signal than usual recently - normally TomTom shows 4 or 5 bars, but over the last few weeks it has often been at 1 or 2 bars.
I had assumed that there were some atmospheric causes at play, but would be interested in any other explanations.
I've noticed the GPS in my Cruise acts up when 3rd party media players are running, mainly Resco Radio (when it's streaming, I frequently drop all GPS connections--when I press the top button to blank the screen, Resco's audio mutes when the amber GPS LED blinks, then comes on when it goes out... on--off--on--off, I have to leave the screen on to make it work) and Conduits Pocket Player (the device spontaneously reboots when the Player & GPS are both active). Both the players work without issue if GPS isn't being used.
When WMP or the HTC media player are running with GPS active, everything seems to 'get along' better.
I'm hoping this, and other little annoyances with the device clear up when 6.1 is released -- probably a good idea, and less frustrating, to hold off on doing to much troubleshooting until then...
I experienced something similar. I had the phone with me on a boat to check the top speed of the boat. I showed the boat to be traveling at nearly 200 km/h which is far to fast. So I loaded google maps and it placed me in a whole different country. A soft reset solved the problem.
This has not happened before, but I have experienced TomTom getting a hiccup when driving a few times. Suddenly the whole map turns upside down and it starts screaming about me having to do a u-turn as soon as possible. But after a few seconds it resolves again. This does not happen when in a town and the signal is bad. It can just as well happen with good line of sight and a good signal.
Perhaps the US is tampering with the GPS signals because of the problems in Georgia?
pananza said:
Perhaps the US is tampering with the GPS signals because of the problems in Georgia?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Now that I call a conspiracy theory...
My GPS has acted strangely, but in far smaller proportions... some 100 m or about so. Mind you, I'm using iGO...
My colleague's Polaris has shown the same behaviour, sudden displacements. Most of the time between 10 and 100 km.
Mine does that too. I'm normally doing 250 mph in the irish sea!! Soft reset fixes it though.
I'm looking for an app that will show the direction in relation to where you are of nearby Wifi connections. Something like a radar circle that shows which direction to walk in to get a stronger signal. At my work, I'm frequently in areas where I get very weak signals, and something like this would be absolutely indispensable.
I've tried looking on the Market, but haven't seen one that does this. Does anyone know if such an app exists, possibly one that is not on the Market?
Wifi Analyzer is the closest thing that exist. It'll only tell you how strong the signals are not the direction but it may serve your purpose.
This is impossible to do. Your wifi chip can only measure signal strength.
To show the location of the accesspoints in relation to you you would need: a) insanely accurate gps reception and b) either a hightly accurate database with gps locations of all wifi accesspoints or to move around a lot and store/analyse all the data.
Which is infeasible at the very least.
The Samsung Behold II has an app that does this. You can walk around and it tells you where the wifi access points are and the broad casted names.
martijnve said:
This is impossible to do. Your wifi chip can only measure signal strength.
To show the location of the accesspoints in relation to you you would need: a) insanely accurate gps reception and b) either a hightly accurate database with gps locations of all wifi accesspoints or to move around a lot and store/analyse all the data.
Which is infeasible at the very least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh... Impossible eh?
Here's the app I used on my Windows Mobile phone 6 years ago:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-wififofum-v2-2-8.html
http://www.pocketpcfreeware.com/en/index.php?soft=1020
It's even on the iPhone
http://www.aspecto-software.com/wififofum/
Paul22000 said:
Oh... Impossible eh?
Here's the app I used on my Windows Mobile phone 6 years ago:
http://www.freewarepocketpc.net/ppc-download-wififofum-v2-2-8.html
http://www.pocketpcfreeware.com/en/index.php?soft=1020
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That is for wardriving and highly innacurate (it will place the network within, say , 30 meters of its actual location, and requires you to move a lot to produce usefull data.
If it suits your purpose then who am i to argue but i figured you wanted something practical while indoors and or on foot.
Paul22000 said:
I'm looking for an app that will show the direction in relation to where you are of nearby Wifi connections. Something like a radar circle that shows which direction to walk in to get a stronger signal. At my work, I'm frequently in areas where I get very weak signals, and something like this would be absolutely indispensable.
I've tried looking on the Market, but haven't seen one that does this. Does anyone know if such an app exists, possibly one that is not on the Market?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It *is* possible. using your body as a signal blocker and spinning around like an idiot
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=girsas.wifiradar
if you need a heatmap
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.slowchop.wifiheat.paid
Wifi locater
Paul22000 said:
I'm looking for an app that will show the direction in relation to where you are of nearby Wifi connections. Something like a radar circle that shows which direction to walk in to get a stronger signal. At my work, I'm frequently in areas where I get very weak signals, and something like this would be absolutely indispensable.
I've tried looking on the Market, but haven't seen one that does this. Does anyone know if such an app exists, possibly one that is not on the Market?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
http://www.appsapk.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Wifi-Radar-1.jpg
(Thers the image from internet)
YW...; ]
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I was about to pull the trigger on the XZ Premium but Notebookcheck's review mentioned that the GPS is slow, unable to lock indoors, inaccurate and falls behind a number of devices:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sony-Xperia-XZ-Premium-Smartphone-Review.234822.0.html
As GPS performance is very important to me, I wanted to ask users how their GPS has been and if it exhibits any of the issues mentioned in the review.
Thanks.
omersak said:
I was about to pull the trigger on the XZ Premium but Notebookcheck's review mentioned that the GPS is slow, unable to lock indoors, inaccurate and falls behind a number of devices:
https://www.notebookcheck.net/Sony-Xperia-XZ-Premium-Smartphone-Review.234822.0.html
As GPS performance is very important to me, I wanted to ask users how their GPS has been and if it exhibits any of the issues mentioned in the review.
Thanks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Haven't experienced any GPS issues. Lock is within seconds. Distance with XZP as navigation - 2600 km (EU). Screenshot has been taken on my terrace, in car accuracy is even better.
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Can't complain about GPS. Most he time I have an accuracy of ~7m which is fine to me.
denkem said:
Haven't experienced any GPS issues. Lock is within seconds. Distance with XZP as navigation - 2600 km (EU). Screenshot has been taken on my terrace, in car accuracy is even better.
View attachment 4217912
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
St.Jimmy90 said:
Can't complain about GPS. Most he time I have an accuracy of ~7m which is fine to me.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the heads up guys. As I suspected, it seems like there were some issues with Notebookchecks review unit.
Are you able to get a stable lock indoors within a reasonable time?
Well, when I use GPS Test app it is able to "see" 24 satellites, but only 2-7 are used (I live in duplex apt). But when I open Google Maps it shows exact position tho (Locations set to High Accuracy).
Had mine around a week, lots of Waze use and no issues at all, and I would say its faster than my old S6
Here is a screenshot - sofa, close to window (and there is 2 meters wide balcony above me).
I've had intermittent issue with the GPS on my XZP. 90% of the time it's fine but every now and then it won't lock and Google maps doesn't work which makes navigation terrible.
loofmodnar said:
I've had intermittent issue with the GPS on my XZP. 90% of the time it's fine but every now and then it won't lock and Google maps doesn't work which makes navigation terrible.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Same issues here. Generally GPS is fine, however, sometimes when the phone has been running for a while, the GPS fails miserably, it's simply not working. Rebooting the phone fixes the issue, but still, something wrong with the software.
Had this GPS issue 3 times now in 6 weeks of usage.
That's weird. I have never experienced such an issue (the longest distance was about 850 km in 9 hours and it never stopped working). Could it be because I excluded sygic, waze, gps status & toolbox and Location services from battery optimization?
denkem said:
That's weird. I have never experienced such an issue (the longest distance was about 850 km in 9 hours and it never stopped working). Could it be because I excluded sygic, waze, gps status & toolbox and Location services from battery optimization?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That may be the reason. I have been concerned about battery optimization as well as automatic clearing of the cache. I just am not convinced that letting the OS do such things automatically is the best thing to do. I have had no issues with GPS on this phone at all... so far.
I have stamina mode always on (I do not play often) and didn't had any problems with the gps. I didn't tried indoors. Regards!
The last couple of months I've been having cell reception issues. The phone shows that there is a network, but the data doesn't work. I cannot send or receive texts. The only thing that fixes the issue is a restart or turning airplane mode on and off. This works maybe 60% of the time. I have the Snapdragon version (on ATT...I know that doesn't help....)
Has anyone else had issues with cell reception? If so any fixes or could my unit be going bad?
Also, this usually happens after entering low reception areas. It's like the phone "forgets" how to do data.
Hey there, I wanted to let you know that it's definitely not Hardware, but a software problem. I've had this for a long time, usually at work I have little to no signal and after a while of connecting and disconnecting from the operator network, when I get out of work, it does exactly the same, so I usually disable the sim and re-enable it. So far you're the first person other than myself that I've seen talking about it.
crispy1805 said:
The last couple of months I've been having cell reception issues. The phone shows that there is a network, but the data doesn't work. I cannot send or receive texts. The only thing that fixes the issue is a restart or turning airplane mode on and off. This works maybe 60% of the time. I have the Snapdragon version (on ATT...I know that doesn't help....)
Has anyone else had issues with cell reception? If so any fixes or could my unit be going bad?
Also, this usually happens after entering low reception areas. It's like the phone "forgets" how to do data.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Sounds like an issue with data roaming - do you have it turned on under Settings-Connections-Mobile networks? My S22u SD (T-Mobile) transitions very well in low reception areas.
Rubby1025 said:
Sounds like an issue with data roaming - do you have it turned on under Settings-Connections-Mobile networks? My S22u SD (T-Mobile) transitions very well in low reception areas.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I did not have it on. I will turn it on and see if this solves the issue. Thanks!
I tried it and it didn't change one thing :/
erik2041999 said:
I tried it and it didn't change one thing :/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I would recommend a reboot after changing the setting for data roaming just to ensure it is fully working.
crispy1805 said:
Has anyone else had issues with cell reception?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Airport, military base, high power station, train station near you?
malikin said:
Airport, military base, high power station, train station near you?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nope. Once I step outside I immediately get reception again.
Rubby1025 said:
I would recommend a reboot after changing the setting for data roaming just to ensure it is fully working.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It fixed the texting issue (I now get all texts in low signal locations), not the data issue. It shows bars, but I have to switch to airplane mode and back for it to get data.
Reception on my S21U and S22U have never been as great as other phones. Even the Free $0 TCL phone T-Mobile gives out will get signal in a fringe area while S22U no service.
I've noticed this too. My S20 did not have this issue.
This is what it looks like
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Same here with a S908B.
Coming from a S21 Ultra, without mobile data problems, have it with the S22 and the same sim card.
It happens only when I move around as a pedestrian but I've never experienced it during car driving.
Locking mobile data to G3 never shows a problem (but I payed for G4+ and a functional device)
It happens at all places where my S21 and my spare OnePlus 7T was/is working flawlessy.
I have no idea how the repair shop could emulate the behavior and be convinced to replace the correct part