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Ok people. By now everybody knows that the gps antenna sucks on touch pro or fuze. We have tried almost everything and I have done all the reading and I am so surprised that no one has really solved this but me.
I can get a gps lock in about 3 to 6 seconds all day long. All you have to do is to either disable the manila and have a regular today screen or get the program called second today from xda site (If you like to have the manila 3d stuff on your phone which I do) and once you are done, then install gps today ( get that from geoterrestrial.com).
Once you install the program (ITS FREE PEOPLE) then just set it to auto by clicking on the red rectangle thing on the left side to turn the gps on. The first time will take about a minute or two to lock and once its done, you will be able to get a lock in about 3 to 6 seconds. It is very fast and accurate. It is a good idea to go to its setting and set up everything the first time to make the lock as fast as possible.
By the way you will need to get the plugin version not the full version ( it means that it will be a little plug in on your today screen about 4 icons).
I use this method to get a quick lock and then i turn google map or tomtom on and they work like a charm. If you do a soft reset, it will take longer to get a lock because it doesn't keep any memory.
I have used xda for a long time and thought that I should give something back to my dudes and dudets. Thank you for all your hard work. Ben
If you have it on manual mode, it will not USE ANY BATTERY AT ALL SO DON'T WORRY.
Here is new information for my people. For faster cold fix before using gps today update your quickgps. that will get gps today working in a cold start really fast. thanks
ben1do1 said:
Ok people. By now everybody knows that the gps antenna sucks on touch pro or fuze. We have tried almost everything and I have done all the reading and I am so surprised that no one has really solved this but me.
I can get a gps lock in about 3 to 6 seconds all day long. All you have to do is to either disable the manila and have a regular today screen or get the program called second today from xda site (If you like to have the manila 3d stuff on your phone which I do) and once you are done, then install gps today ( get that from geoterrestrial.com).
Once you install the program (ITS FREE PEOPLE) then just set it to auto by clicking on the red rectangle thing on the left side to turn the gps on. The first time will take about a minute or two to lock and once its done, you will be able to get a lock in about 3 to 6 seconds. It is very fast and accurate. It is a good idea to go to its setting and set up everything the first time to make the lock as fast as possible.
By the way you will need to get the plugin version not the full version ( it means that it will be a little plug in on your today screen about 4 icons).
I use this method to get a quick lock and then i turn google map or tomtom on and they work like a charm. If you do a soft reset, it will take longer to get a lock because it doesn't keep any memory.
I have used xda for a long time and thought that I should give something back to my dudes and dudets. Thank you for all your hard work. Ben
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Click to collapse
I should probably start by saying that I've only had my Touch Pro since Christmas, and am still getting to grips with it, but I've not seen the GPS issues that other people have reported.
Your solution to the problem simply keeps the GPS switched on all the time, and I think this may have a negative impact on battery performance. My wife has a Samsung Omnia i900 which has GPS issues in TomTom which can be fixed by installing GPSGate - however, unless you make it idle while nothing is using GPS, then it will keep the GPS active constantly (like your solution) and she noticed an increase in battery drain.
Cheers,
Steve.
I was concerned about that but even if you do automation off and turn it on manually (this way it will not affect your battery) it will still work flawlessly. I have tried it at least a hundred times over the last 2 months and this is the only way to get the lock fast.
All touch pros have this gps issue and if you try to get a lock with google map or tomtom alone it sometimes take over 5 minutes to get a lock. With my method it only takes a few seconds every time. this is important for people who use their gps all the time to find addresses or sales people on the road who don't want to prey for minutes to get a fast lock. thanks
ben1do1 said:
I was concerned about that but even if you do automation off and turn it on manually (this way it will not affect your battery) it will still work flawlessly. I have tried it at least a hundred times over the last 2 months and this is the only way to get the lock fast.
All touch pros have this gps issue and if you try to get a lock with google map or tomtom alone it sometimes take over 5 minutes to get a lock. With my method it only takes a few seconds every time. this is important for people who use their gps all the time to find addresses or sales people on the road who don't want to prey for minutes to get a fast lock. thanks
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Click to collapse
ok sooooo im not trying to burst your bubble as i would love to have a 3 to 6 sec connect time but if use google maps or tomtom to connect for the first time then close out and open it right back up you will get about the same 3 to 6 second connect time when is what the app does..... sorry
not really, even if you have gotten a lock with google maps or tomtom and you try turning it on a few hours later, sometimes it takes 5 minutes or more to get a lock. There was a time that I had to stand in the street with my phone facing the sky and praying to get a lock and that was embarassing.
In some cases I didn't get a lock at all even after a few minutes since there were some tall buildings around me (downtown los angeles) trust me I have gone through all that and I was going crazy over this issue. I have tried it all because I need the gps lock all day long for my job. The gps today program uses a different method to get a lock. I don't know what it does but whatever it does, it works. thanks
try it ITS FREE. what have you got to loose? you will thank me.
by the way Steve, it does not keep the gps on all the time. It only turns on for a few seconds, gets a lock and turns off (on the auto). thanks
Fair enough - I'm not sure how it would manage to get a lock indoors. I guess I must be lucky though, as I've never had to wait anything like 5 minutes for a lock. I do use QuickGPS, but not AssistedGPS, and don't seem to have to wait very long for a lock at all (if I'm outside).
do you realize what kind of "solution" you give?
you keep GPS always open (you can do that without second today and a GPS today program - you can use GPSGate or keep any GPS program on at all times)
this is dramatic for the battery
this is not a solution, just a bad trick - sorry
I usually get locked in around 15 seconds without turning off anything- I'm using "Automapa 5"- Polish map for mobile devices, works quite fine and locks 10x faster then my hiking GPS (but it's old.. ;p)
Thanks Ben1do1. I just now installed both SecondToday and GPSToday. Your solution works great on my FUZE. Now I can unsubscribe to AT&T Navigator. The only way I used to be able to get TomTom Navigator 6 to get a fix was to run AT&T Navigator (telenav) first.
GPSToday is very configurable and doesn't drain the battery as badly as StevePritchard fears. You can simply disable auto-fix and only do occasional manual quick-fixes just to keep your gps "primed".
below is from the FAQ. http://geoterrestrial.com/faq/
"What does it do to my device's battery life?
In the default configuration, GPSToday will typically reduce your battery life by 10-15% over the course of a day. This much is usually not an issue for the vast majority of users. To have full control over battery consumption, you can disable the automatic periodic quick-fix functionality via Map>Settings. The more frequently you update your fix or run the GPS in persistent mode, the more it will affect battery life."
There you go guys now we are cooking. just turn off the auto and you will not loose any battery. I had sooooo much fun with my gps today and got locks in some cases in 2 seconds. I could not believe my own eyes. Please keep in mind that you need to be outside or close to a big window so that the gps can lock. Enjoy.
I personally think that this thread should be on the wiki and also for the new fuze or diamond owners with the same gps problem. thanks everyone
There's only one way to get a 6 second lock: GPS Hot start. That means that 80% of the birds from the last lock must still be in the sky.
Shephild said:
Thanks Ben1do1. I just now installed both SecondToday and GPSToday. Your solution works great on my FUZE. Now I can unsubscribe to AT&T Navigator. The only way I used to be able to get TomTom Navigator 6 to get a fix was to run AT&T Navigator (telenav) first.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you disable the agps as it would be enabled if you were using at&t navigator... disable it and try tomtom im sure it will work
FYI
FYI - the current version of GPSToday can be installed as *either* a today plugin or standalone app.
i must say that i was sceptic about it but it definitively works for me.
I used to have fixes between 5-10 minuts but with GPStoday i have them nearly instantly, 10-15 sec. Thanks Ben1Do1
Not to cut in but maybe FusionGPSFix can help a little in the same way too.
i cant seem to find the stand alone app... both are today plugs and that's useless in touchflo 3d
I'm beginning to think TouchFlo3D is the problem. I somewhat used what was recommended above. I turned off TF3D and just made a normal today screen in Windows Mobile. I loaded Visual GPS and within less than 10 seconds, I had GPS coordinates. I then turned on TF3D, rebooted (just to make sure everything was cleared out), loaded VisualGPS, it took around 3 1/2 minutes to get a lock. I have repeated these steps several times and every time I do, I almost immediately get VisualGPS to work when TF3D is disable. Someone that knows more about the "internals" of TF3D may can answer this better, but in my testing and troubleshooting that I've done that seems to be the only thing that is making it now work...
erm you are wrong
the first one has a stand alone mode and the second is ONLY in stand alone mode (you don't SEE something happening - it just runs)
After some days trying this the GPSToday Trick i must say it fantastic, really!
before:
first day fix in 5-10 mintutes (AGPS OFF / QGPS ON)
subsequent fixes 3-5 minutes (AGPS OFF / QGPS ON)
with GPS today
first day fix in 20-30 sec (AGPS OFF / QGPS ON)
subsequent fixes 6 seconds (AGPS OFF / QGPS ON)
I don't have the tool always on, i manually turn GPS with this tool whenever i need the GPS.
Try it!
Proven ROM 1.07 + Raphael_Radio_1.08.25.20M1 + GPS Tweaks.cab + GPSTODAY (manual)
As we all know, the GPS is very spotty on our Captivate and very often we have problems getting a good satellite lock. However, after work one day I
opened up Google Nav to route myself back home. As usual, Google Nav gave me the usual "Searching for GPS" and it stayed there for at least 5-10 minutes.
Frustrated, I hit the power button and turned off the display. 20 seconds later, the female voice started shouting out directions?? I turned on the display and sure enough I had a lock. Also interestingly, 5 seconds after I switched on the display, the blue circle appeared over my position and I also lost my lock. I turn off the display, lock again. I do get a good lock once and a while with the display on, but if I'm having trouble I'll switch off the display and without fail I'll get one and I'll use the voice prompts to guide me. Anyone else notice this?
I'm running a completely stock GPS settings.
Complete coincidence, would kind of suck for Samsung if this was true.
That's odd. For me, whenever the screen turns off and locks for my Captivate, the GPS shuts down, losing whatever lock it previously fixed if it had one. I always get mad when my screen turns off when I'm using Google Maps as a result...
soloDOTcom1185 said:
That's odd. For me, whenever the screen turns off and locks for my Captivate, the GPS shuts down, losing whatever lock it previously fixed if it had one. I always get mad when my screen turns off when I'm using Google Maps as a result...
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Click to collapse
When you use google maps, yes, the gps shuts down when you turn off the screen. But if you were to use google navigation, the gps stays on even when the screen is off.
I don't remember where it was, but I remember some ceo or engineer claiming that the large screens on most new cell phones were likely to cause major gps issues because of interference. I think it was someone who worked within the GPS industry themself (think: Garmin).
Now I don't know if this person was just speculating or not but it's something to keep in mind.
Well I don't know about anyone else but DAMN! It's true! For me anyway. Screen off, navigate works. Turn the screen on and it immediately stops working and starts searching for gps.
Sent from my GT-I9000M using XDA App
Could be why they replaced the antenna in the Nexus S. A better/different antenna may be more resistant to interference.
TL;DR version:
1)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start driving. Result: Sporatic or no lock and definitely no turn by turn working.
2)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start GPSTest, start driving. Result: Almost constant lock and turn by turn works astonishingly well.
What gives?
Alright, please read this whole post, try it out, then comment on whether there is something to this or maybe I'm just crazy (a very definitely possibility). I was playing around with the GPS today and tried the Vibrant GPS hardware fix (pulling up the contact so that the GPS antenna is making better contact with the metal back). There wasn't much of a difference, so I decided to take the back off and run the GPS without the metal backing. I found that interestingly enough I was getting a better SNR with the back off than with the back on it was 8/8 at about 25-30 with the back on (using GPSTest) while with the back off it was 8/8 with 30-35.
Now comes the really interesting bit. On my drive home today I decided to see how well I could hold a moving lock. I turned on Google Navigation, pointed to my house, and started driving. Needless to say I was not able to hold a lock for very long. However, if I left the navigation app running and started GPSTest, all of a sudden I was getting the turn by turn voice pretty accurately. I then exited GPSTest and probably 10 seconds later lost my lock again. Open GPSTest, BOOM lock back on and turn by turn working again. Am I just hitting a really lucky coincidence or is GPSTest doing something we're not aware of? Please post here if you can either a) replicate what I'm seeing or b)think I'm blowing smoke cuz you aren't seeing a lick of difference.
smoking blow/10
anyways I'll try it out
comdei said:
smoking blow/10
anyways I'll try it out
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Click to collapse
BTW... this is GPS Test by Chartcross Limited, NOT the one by Mike Lockwood. You're welcome to try both however.
Previous GPS threads have repeatedly documented the positive effect of moving your nav app to the background. Theories on it center around backlight, temperature, or CPU/GPU. My own myTracks tests seem to point towards CPU/GPU. Or, at least, they seemed to rule out temperature or backlight as a factor.
So did you have GPS Test in the foreground during this test? This will pretty consistently give you improved performance over having Navigation up. If you turn the screen OFF altogether, it almost works as well as a real GPS! Check out the difference by recording a few drives in MyTracks -- it's night and day, on my phone at least.
My personal, uninformed theory (guess) is that the CPU/GPU and screen during Navigation are starving the GPS subsystem of power, causing either reception issues or causing the clock to desync and lose the position of the satellites it's tracking.
Ah well, such is life.
Perception 10.2 | SpeedMod K13D | I9000XXJQ1
I noticed this as well with my old setup (phone bought in August 2010 running Cognition & JK4 radio firmware). I got one of the refurbs from the random power off fiasco and GPS seemed to be just as unreliable. I've recently flashed the JL2 radio firmware, and GPS locks on within seconds and stays locked around town - as it should. I think a lot of people's issue would be completely resolved if they played around with radio firmwares...
Ikonomi said:
So did you have GPS Test in the foreground during this test? This will pretty consistently give you improved performance over having Navigation up. If you turn the screen OFF altogether, it almost works as well as a real GPS! Check out the difference by recording a few drives in MyTracks -- it's night and day, on my phone at least.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yeah, GPS Test was in the foreground, navigation in the background. I get the feeling however its more to do with the application than the hardware. I say this because having other apps in the foreground doesn't quite have the same effect for me. Is that the case for everyone else as well?
knyghtryda said:
TL;DR version:
1)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start driving. Result: Sporatic or no lock and definitely no turn by turn working.
2)Start Google Navigation, pick destination, start GPSTest, start driving. Result: Almost constant lock and turn by turn works astonishingly well.
What gives?
Alright, please read this whole post, try it out, then comment on whether there is something to this or maybe I'm just crazy (a very definitely possibility). I was playing around with the GPS today and tried the Vibrant GPS hardware fix (pulling up the contact so that the GPS antenna is making better contact with the metal back). There wasn't much of a difference, so I decided to take the back off and run the GPS without the metal backing. I found that interestingly enough I was getting a better SNR with the back off than with the back on it was 8/8 at about 25-30 with the back on (using GPSTest) while with the back off it was 8/8 with 30-35.
Now comes the really interesting bit. On my drive home today I decided to see how well I could hold a moving lock. I turned on Google Navigation, pointed to my house, and started driving. Needless to say I was not able to hold a lock for very long. However, if I left the navigation app running and started GPSTest, all of a sudden I was getting the turn by turn voice pretty accurately. I then exited GPSTest and probably 10 seconds later lost my lock again. Open GPSTest, BOOM lock back on and turn by turn working again. Am I just hitting a really lucky coincidence or is GPSTest doing something we're not aware of? Please post here if you can either a) replicate what I'm seeing or b)think I'm blowing smoke cuz you aren't seeing a lick of difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
this worked really well for me. am on andromeda 3. but was getting on locks without staying on continuously. with the approach. gps was spot on.!! a BIG Thanks
I've noticed this for some time when running the GPS Application Test in lbstestmode. Run the GPS test first and then move it to the background and launch your normal GPS program and you'll usually be better off. Needless to say, I'm doing another warranty exchange in hopes of getting one with better GPS hardware soon.
Try this:
Get a mobile hotspot (or someone who has wifi tethering enabled on their phone). Put your phone into flight mode, then turn WIFI on and connect to that mobile hotspot. Fire up navigation, and go for a drive. You'll be amazed at how accurate your GPS is.
That leads me to believe that there is an interference issue in the GSM/GPS antennas. Part of the reason why putting navigation in the background helps improve the GPS performance is because it stops refreshing the map, which means it's not trying to use the GSM radio. But if you fire up Pandora, even with Navigation in the background, the GPS will start going nuts again.
I'm pretty sure AT&T is aware of this, and I even think they have a... well, not a fix, but a way to mitigate the problem.
A friend of mine did a warranty exchange on his Captivate last Monday for a problem with his USB port. The Captivate he got in exchange has been getting much better performance with it's GPS. And since his worked just fine all week, I exchanged mine yesterday. Now, quite often after flashing a new ROM, the GPS will work fine for a day or three. So I'm not going to be convinced mine is working as well just yet. But there are some notable differences from what I've seen before... When I'm tracking my position on Google Maps, my actual position now stays within what the GPS reports as it's error, even when I'm driving around. Previously, my phone might report a 10m error, but my actual position might be 200m or more from where it thought I was. In addition to that, I'm seeing that my phone is locking into more satellites, and holding that lock even as the SNRs drop due to obstructions. And finally, my GPS works just as good while it's in the car dock, whereas before it would only intermittently get enough signal to fix a position. Overall, while my GPS still isn't as good as other phones I've had in the past, it is now actually good enough to use and trust.
I think that AT&T isn't advertising this because it's not something that they can push out over the air or through a Kies update. I'm guessing that either they modified the antennas slightly, or that they installed a new firmware to the GPS chip (at a lower level than the driver)... or maybe both.
Either way, my friend's GPS has been working great all week long, and mine appears to be doing so as well. I'll not say that it's permanently fixed yet, but I'm cautiously optimistic. We'll see how it's doing after another few days go by.
UPDATE 3/28:
Two more days of testing have passed. So far, the GPS is holding up nicely. The only issues are with the car dock. When the phone is in the car dock, the GPS will occasionally drift 5~10 meters off of my position. This doesn't really surprise me, as the electronics in the car dock are right up against the GPS antenna, and simply putting the phone in the dock will drop the reported SNRs by more than 25% - usually a lot more.
Still, even with the car dock, the GPS is perfectly usable. And without the car dock, the GPS is now exactly what it should have been from the get-go.
I've also found that if I run either gps status or gps test to get the fix, then start whatever app I need to use, the performance is much better. Recently I just use lbs test to get the fix, then proceed with whatever app i need to use. Seems to work better, as lbs test continues to work in the background
i have seen this in the past but trying to prove that it is not random has been a problem as i cant repeat the results.
also i dont thing i have ever observed the phenomenon while using control plane mode.
maybe another coincidence, i cant tell but i have been using the control plane version of da_g's fix for a couple months now in combination with the jl3 modem and have gps that many smart phones would envy. i find jl3 to have the most stable positioning and tracking, less blue circles ect. i also find agps settings to hinder tracking. i only set agps mode to standalone. not sure how supl works or if controlplane supl setting is actually doing anything because i was under the impression that supl was part of agps but it is a combination that started working for me and i am sticking to it.
On more than one occasion, my NS4G has not given me a voice direction when it was supposed to. I noticed that my screen was off in all these cases, so I tried a simple test:
1) Navigate to a destination that I know how to get to on my own
2) Turn off the screen
3) Most turns ARE given as voice directions, but if I am getting very close to a turn (less than 50ft) and never got the 1/2 mile alert, etc... turn on the screen
4) As SOON as I turn on the screen, the voice immediately says "turn right" (I am now like 10ft from the turn... whereas if the screen had been on all along it would have given me a much earlier warning... proving that the screen being off was delaying/suppressing it)
Has anyone else noticed this? I rarely have my screen on when navigating, and I never once had this bug happen on my old POS phone (Moment). This phone is awesome, and the maps/nav app is available for all phones, so I'm not sure why I'm only getting the bug now?
ESPN and Uber in particular. They sit at the loading splash page on the watch for several minutes when I open them. Also, often ESPN tells me I need the manager app even though it's already installed and logged in. Anyone else having these problems?
I've seen this with several apps that need to access the network to retrieve data before they display. ESPN would make sense -- it could be very confusing to have last weeks scores show up when it starts if you haven't opened it in a while.
So, depending on how good the network connection is (if you're connected via BT, that can often be a performance issue for network over BT), and the responsiveness of the servers the app is contacting, it can take a long time.
The real issue is poor app design handling the busy condition. It should be telling you what it's doing and giving you some sort of progress bar. If the G2 is a successful platform, these sorts of "polish" improvements will become more prevalent, especially if there are competing apps for the same functionality. However, this silent "what the hell's going on" operation was really common on Windows for years too, until the platform got more mainstream.
I also think that, like many apps, it ought to give you the option to update automatically in the background every few hours or so. Uber is useless because I could literally have gotten out my phone, hailed a driver, and been in the car before the watch app even opens. ESPN takes even longer. I feel real cool showing off my new watch by saying, "hold on... no wait hold on... oops the screen turned off, hold on..."