Static Navigation on Kaiser: How to switch off! - Tilt, TyTN II, MDA Vario III General

Hi,
after searching some time, I found this post here very helpful to switch off static navigation for the internal Qualcomm GPS chip:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=1747266#post1747266
Open your favourite registry editor, and search for
HKLM\Software\HTC\SUPL AGPS\GPSMode
Mine was set to "2", and I got the bad behaviour when slowly walking or geocaching.
Switching it to "1" led the GPSr to send each position without modifications or smoothing directly to the internal com port: Perfect!
Now my Kaiser can really replace the old Wizard with external SirfIII-GPS!
Hope someone searching for i.e. Geocaching, Walking and Jumping Locations happily find this thread.
Cheers, Horst

It doesn't work for me. I set it to 1 and nothing could connect to the gps device. resetting it back to 2 corrected this problem.

Hi,
just tried the registry modification and it seems to work! I had a short walk and tried TT6 and GPSDash2. I haven't tried GPSDash while walking before this modification, but it really works fine even at slow walking. TT also updates the current location very good, but has some trouble in viewing the right walking direction. I will have a further look at TT tomorrow while driving, maybe if there are any differences in the behaviour or something. Feedback will follow...
HansOlo
EDIT: FYI, I'm using an unbranded Kaiser with german stock rom 1.56.407.3, radio 1.27.12.11

Umh, I'm not so positive about this anymore - I will have to do more test to see if it really is now _pure_ Raw NMEA.
Do you have also a constant offset of about +100m in altitude compared to sirf3?
Horst

This is what the GPSMode does:
http://www.sprintusers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1735285&postcount=347It's actually sets up how AGPS works, so it's not static navigation.

I found my "no connect" problem. If you set GPSMode to 1 and AGPS to 1, device connection fails. I turned off AGPS and the connection works again.

I have tried this and it does exactly as the OP said in my case. I get a constant GPS feed, so can now use my Kaiser for geocaching at last!
For the record, I'm using Memory Map Pro V5.05 Build 662, with GPS on COM4 & 115200 Baud. I also use AE Buttonplus to map a key to keep the device from turning off whilst using MM.

I tried setting both GPSMode and AGPS to various values and each time it behaves exactly the same

I agree. no differences for me either.

Do a soft reset and try again. It's only a subtle difference though, so if Static Nav is not a problem for you before, you will hardly notice the change.

This is awesome news, I can't wait to try it out! Last time I tried to geocache with my Tilt I never could get it to settle down on any one spot. It kept sending me 30 feet in random directions. I switched to my bluetooth unit and it sent me right to the spot.

Report back here afterwards then, most people seem to think I'm talking crap

I launched GPSTest today while waiting for someone in my car and noticed that the reading stayed constant for the entire time I was there, only started changing after I started moving.
I'm going to double-check my registry entry and also try disabling AGPS to see if that makes a difference.

Today I was walking in areas with limited visibility to satellites. I set GPSMode to 1, but still got alternating freeze and jumping of the positions. Too bad, this does not (or only partially?) solve the problem. Are there other devices with the same GPS chip built in? If they have static navigation switched off, there should be a way to do it for the Kaiser, too...

khaytsus said:
I launched GPSTest today while waiting for someone in my car and noticed that the reading stayed constant for the entire time I was there, only started changing after I started moving.
I'm going to double-check my registry entry and also try disabling AGPS to see if that makes a difference.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
But what's interesting is that BeeLineGPS the reading updates constantly.. Not sure if it did before or not, honestly.. I'll have to change the value back to 2 and see out of curiousity.
GPSTest still stays at a static value... Interesting.

Some applications add static nav on their own by ignoring random small differences in position. Maybe that's what you're seeing here?

Just an idea: There are different data streams, $GPRMC, $GPGGA, etc. Maybe not every program uses the same, and at least one holds the raw positions, whilst another contains the computed points? Have to check this afterwards.

khaytsus said:
But what's interesting is that BeeLineGPS the reading updates constantly.. Not sure if it did before or not, honestly.. I'll have to change the value back to 2 and see out of curiousity.
GPSTest still stays at a static value... Interesting.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tested with BeeLine GPS and that's how I knew nothing had changed from before.
It looks like it's continually updating, but it's continually updating with the incorrect values. Walk in a square and look at the raw latitude and longitude and you'll see what I mean.

I checked whether the different data streams hold different positions: they don't.

If Kaiser continues like this, I don't have any more wishes for geocaching. Horst, this really helped me. I set HKLM\Software\HTC\SUPL AGPS\GPSMode to 1 (was 2) and restarted.
I don't know if it actually switched off static navigation, but the device now behaves like it did. It is MUCH BETTER.
I love this gpsVP software for geocaching and also for simple navigation (it uses Google maps). Today I tried to navigate a few times to randomly selected points and it was great: the distance was slowly decreasing as I was slowly (1 km/h or less) approaching the waypoint. I haven't experienced this before and I'm really sensitive about what my Kaiser does.
Finally I don't have to walk fast for a few seconds for the GPS "to catch" the speed and to start updating coordinates. Perfect!

Related

Kaiser GPS Problem workaround

Some people might experience with certain GPS software.
If you look at the log of the NMEA log, you might realize that it burst out every 6-10 seconds. After that you might wait for another 6-10 sec, which is unusable for real-time navigation. If you happen to meet this trouble.
I have a way which could allow normal update intervals.
Install GPSGATE, it create virtual GPS COM PORT and re-route the NMEA data.
Install GPSGATE, just use the default settings, it create the virtual GPS port as COM 1.
Just use GPS software on COM 1 .
software url: http://franson.com/gpsgate/
Can anyone confirm this works? Ive noticed my GPS works the same way. Im using the Kaiser / TyTn II with Mapking and i notice that i also get my signbal ins bursts and NOT a smooth stream. Anyone know if this will resolve the problem?
What is the update intervals with GPSGATE ?
Do you mean GPSGATE must be run concurrently with the other software TomTom 6 for example ?
It would be a good workaround for people who encounter this GPS issue.
could this be some delicious spam?
How exactly does the OP propose that a user space application can make the hardware produce data in a smoother stream?
I call BS.
seems like BS to me too...Probably some spam Can anyone who has tried it out verify if it really works or not?..
THKS
You don't need to use other GPS software concurrently,
just use the GPSGATE and mapking will do.
Remember you have to modify the settings in mapking to use the virtual com port ( com1 default)
Not SPAM
I am not sure, this is BS.
If I am not mistaken the GPSGATE will act like a "router" (middle man) between the GPS hardware (Internal GPS of Kaiser) and the application (TomTom).
If the GPS hardware is faulty (having problem) with bursting data every 10 seconds, then the GPSGATE will also receive bursting data every 10 seconds.
So, that's useless as long as the problem is in the GPS hardware.
Gpsproxy should be able to do the same thing and its free.
GPSGate is a splitter, allowing using more than one application with the same NMEA stream. It creates another virtual GPS COM port, that's it.
GPS on the Kaiser works great and I'm on SatNav business. Aquisition time is fast, reception is great and update ratio is every 1 sec, just like any other civilian GPS receiver. GPS is NOT evaluated by the refresh rate you see on the screen, other software will give you other rate, try OZI Explorer for instance. I used Kaiser with TomTom, Destinator & Ozi, all works really great even comparing to Sirf III GPS chipset embedded devices such as Eten X500, HTC Artemis and Asus 535.
Last, Microsoft has included the same functionality of GPS Gate in WM5 and WM6 under settings. You do not need to install any additional SW, you can send "trueman 12345" (the guy who opened this thread with 2 posts history) your money directly.
Thanks RonenB for this very usefull precision !
Thanks as well RonenB, However, it does not solve the odd occasional pause in the data that we're seeing. Is this hardware or software that needs help in the Kaiser?
Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.
mikechannon said:
Actually I'm not so sure we have defined the problem accurately here.
Examining the signal from the GPS shows some interesting info.
1
A satellite is locked onto for perhaps only one or two seconds at a time.
2
Several satellites can achieve a lock but out of these a few will be lost every few seconds
3
New satellites are also acquired every few seconds.
The Result
If you are in the presence of many satellites then there is a constant dropping of some and locking onto others. This leads to no problems as there are always a few satellites locked on and data flow is smooth.
BUT
If you are in the presence of only say 2 or 3 satellites it is possible to drop these two or three (as indicated above), but no new ones are acquired. In this situation there will be a few seconds before the first 2 or 3 lock in again. Result a gap in data flow to your GPS software.
Meaning
The Internal GPS is not polling data in bursts. In other words you cannot turn up the frequency of data polling (possible baud rate adjustment maybe). The data is continuous but if there are too few satellites then there can be gaps where it drops some satellites and does not lock others.
There are various applications that can show this behaviour graphically but tomtom shows it well on the satellite view screen.
Compared to external GPS satellite locks this works in a strangely different way. You will see the bars jumping around from a lock on this one to that one continuously. Only a problem as I say when there are only a few satellites in sight.
Mike
PS - I cannot see the advantage of GPSGate in this particular situation as it is due to momentary periods when no satellite is detected.
Having said all of the above, I find the GPS perfectly adequate for general use. Perhaps if I need spot on plotting data then it might be weak. However if I need that unusual level of accuracy I would not use my phone to do it. I regularly use mine in place of my car's tomtom and the results are on a par with the full tomtom device.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Ok, I believe that it is time to explain a little bit how GPS works.
The GPS satellites are transmitting their position rapidly. However, due to homeland security issues (US did not want to allow anyone to place a receiver in a jet fighter or a missile) civilian GPS receivers are limited to aquire position every 1 second only. This is not a problem for a normal user even for civilian aviation. Thus, when you look at the NMEA stream, you will see it coming in bursts and not as rapid as normal data. Since GPS strings are quite short, it is good enough for any navigation system.
Number of satellites aquired is not an indicator to anything. Like any RF system, the engineers can tweak the noise level so that it will look to you that you are receiving X amount of satellites, the signal is on the air anyway.
What is important though is the position of the satellites. the closer to the horizon, the less useable that satellite is to calulate the position. Therefore receivers are taking the best located satellites into account and ignoring others even of they are recieved. Valid fix (position) is aquired by at least 3 satellites for 2D (X,Y) and 4 or more for 3D (with elevation).
Result is that as a user, you should not bother too much looking into the stream or number of sattelite in use as long as you can get a valid fix. The important and effective elements are hidden from the user: number of transsistors in the GPS chipset, quality of antenna etc. User can just evaluate the overall preformance.
As I wrote above, the Kaiser integrated GPS surprised me for superb preformance. I just arrived this week from Israel to Germany and could get a fix as soon as I left the underground garage. I did not loose GPS signal even once since I started using the device. That includes forests and dence city centers. Real good job by HTC here.
This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?
phame said:
This is the problem i am facing:
Im using MapKing with Hong Kong 2007 maps. Getting a fix is no problem. I can normally get a fix in about 10-15 secs. When i check the status page I will normally have a connection to 5-7 satelites.
The problem is that the icon does not move smoothly when i travel. In map king your position on the map is represented by a small car icon. It jumps from location to location every 3-5 secs but does not smoothly move along. Can someone please tell me if this is the case with tomtom as well? Maybe it a problem with mapking?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It is a Mapking problem and you should contact their support. Does not happen to me with Destinator, TomTOm and Ozi.
Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)
trueman12345 said:
Ok, there is no point to argue, if you really find yourself having problem with GPS update lag, then give it a try. No harm indeed...
In HK, there are people the validity of the work around. GPS proxy might also work as well( i think it is the same principal) just i wasn't aware of this good free software before hand..
http://www11.discuss.com.hk/viewthread.php?tid=5329804&extra=page=2
(u need an account and some chinese word knowledge)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Quite agree it's worth trying, and the application has other uses too.
Mike
FYI: I got GPS to work easily by installing GPSViewer, opening COM4/4800baud and getting located. After that, using Google Maps was a breeze; total "trick" took me about 1 minute to figure out which is way quicker than some other workarounds on the internet.
I was driving with iGuidance for about 1 hour this morning and I'm seeing different behavoir for this bug. iGuidance also has an excellent GPS signal viewer, mine was showing 8 out of 8 sattellites, all green, all the time (they turn red when not receiving signal from a sat). My map was moving about once per second or slightly faster. The program only paused once after about 30 minutes into the trip, for about 20-30 seconds. The iGuidance program's moving arrow's color also changes color based on signal quality of the combined sattelite lock, Green for good 3D mapping, Yellow for 2D when there are minimal sats for navigating, and Red for no signal data. During this pause the arrow went Red to indicate no data.
This seems like a bug to me.

Turning Static Navigation off in Diamond?

Hi there,
It's indeed confirmed now that the gps chipset in diamond is Static navigation enabled, i.e. it won't refresh your location and speed if you are walking, it'll just lock your last gps location instead of updating it continuously while you walk. So it's nearly makes it impossible to walk to your destination i.e. you can't geocache at all.
I hope anybody has some clue about turning it off.
Have you tried something like SirfTech - if you can get it to connect to the internal GPS device (and assuming it is a SirfStar chipset, which I still don't know for sure?) then you should be able to toggle the static navigation setting. There are instructions right at the very bottom of that page on how to adjust the static navigation setting.
The other remaining question is how long this change will persist - hopefully it should persist until the battery is removed, but it depends how the power to the GPS receiver is switched - it's possible that switching off the PDA, or even putting it into standby, could cause the GPS receiver state to reset to default.
Its not a sirf chipset and those tools wont work on it
someone1234 said:
Its not a sirf chipset and those tools wont work on it
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I second that. I guess we people will have to live with it. There's a HTC GPS utility from HTC which works on this qualcomm chip but I am no expert if there's any setting which can turn static navigation off. For someone wanna give a try to the HTC tool, download the attached file.
i just did a quick test with Diamond running TomTom walking along the street. It works fine in pedestrian mode. My actual postion was accurate at all times during the test. Diamond GPS is suitable for navigation in pedestrian mode.
Probably you have not tryed with some device with really good SirfStar III GPS, like ETEN X500.
@panosha
my point is: walking navigation mode is indeed available with Diamond running TomTom. I am not to compare GPS performance of Diamond directly with Sirf III equipped devices.
That said, if you take a look at my signature, you would certainly notice that I have also few HTC Sirf III equipped phones presently and not to mention TomTom GO 510. I am quite certain that Diamond is quite usable for walking routes..
Is usable for walking routes, but it has mediocre behavior for this use, concerning the good GPS devices.
@panosha.
mediocre behavior indeed.
I was referring to the very first post in this thread:
.. it won't refresh your location and speed if you are walking, it'll just lock your last gps location instead of updating it continuously while you walk. So it's nearly makes it impossible to walk to your destination i.e. you can't geocache at all...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, it will refresh GPS location as you walk.
yes, it will update GPS position fairly constantly.
yes, it is possible to walk to a destination and geocache.
Sorry but I have to disagree.
While the Diamond keeps up with a standalone device while driving, I took them both out walking today and the Diamond is terrible while walking. In fact I did the route three times and it was always approximately 30 feet out of synch which is no good at all in a city environment.
If anyone has any idea how to improve this I'd certainly be happy to hear it.
I have a P1i and external receiver and at this rate I may have to return the Diamond and go back to it, which is a shame.
Yeah. That's the point. It indeed keeps up while driving but crap while walking.
Folks, I think it would be really important to find a solution for this problem.
It seems that it has definitely to do with static navigation and
is no problem of any kind of application.
Since I have my diamond I used a lot of different gps software,
but the lag is always the same.
This is indeed very bad, thus the reception quality is superb!
My last HTC was a trinity which had also a Qualcom chipset,
but with this device I never noticed such a behavior.
Somehow it must be possible to turn the static navigation of...
Are there any news so far?
I guess nobody could figure it out yet. WE have to keep our fingers crossed
Is there any other news?
Disabling static navigation would be greate!!
Does anyone know the brand/model of the gps chip?
And there's always a lag between your actual position and the position shown in the GPS software....
Sometimes this lag is more than 50m...
HastaSSSS
I am trying to see if the Qualcomm ONEgps - GPS can have its programming changed with QPST, but unfortunately I havent found any information on getting it to run with Diamond. I think that would be the only way to turn off static nav, as the system is not Sifir or what ever its called, so non of the current "static nav" off solutions will work. I have OziExplorer running and I get the issue. I also noticed that there is a lot of unecessary activiting on decent/assend info, its as though it has quite a unstable 3d lock.
Can anyone else using TomTom pedestrian mode could confirm if there is no delay (more then 10-30 seconds) between starting walking and position beginning to update?
Thanks!
D.
does tt has special option for pedestrian? maybe the problem is tt and NOT the hardware (gps-diamond)??
i am using igo and it has special options for pedestrian, for car, bicycle, public transportation and even emergency vehicle. seeing this made me think that the program will react different at different speeds.
i did not tried the pedestrian option but i promise to do it and come back with the results.
Sorry about the dumb question, bust how can I switch to pedestrian mode in TomTom???
It's the same s*ht
The GPS on this receiver, for the time being, really sucks...
I'm hopping that someone will figure out a solution, or with a release of a new radio ROM.
Even when I'm driving, the gps lags so much.... Drives me crazy!
When I stop on a red light, the gps still indicates speed for 15s more or less, until it actually stops on the place where my car actually is...
I wonder if the gou acceleration driver is actually installed...it could happen that this delay is due to the fact that the CPU has to do all the work, and since the resolution is VGA, it means extra work, which the CPU can't handle 100%...
HastaSSSS

No GPS reception

Can someone please help me?
I have tried these programs:
Tomtom 6
Tomtom 7
GPSdash
BeeLineGPS
WMMiniGPS
GPS tuner
Google maps
I'm using the latest TLR ROM. My GPS setting are default. Com4 Baud rate: 4800.
Here's the problem. The programs seem to find the receiver and seem to find the satellites. (10-15). But I can get absolutely no signal at all. Indoors or outdoors.
I'm getting quite desperate
Have you used any of the tweaks for GPS? I ask as I did but my signal kept dropping - so I turned the tweak off and now it is fine.
I would also suggest using the QuickGPS application to get the Satellite information quicker
I've tried disabling agps. Didn't help. And yes I have used QuickGPS... but no luck.
Any suggestions? : [
slicker said:
Any suggestions? : [
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Was it the first try? When I tried first it was 6-8 minutes. Where do you try? In the outdoor?
Have you ever used it?
TB
Do you have correct setting "GPS is managed automatically" ?
When I set to GPS is managed manually, I could not found any way to power on builtin GPS. You have to check box "GPS is managed automatically". I think, it may be point of your problem
I had the exact same issue dude... TomTom 6 didn't work so I installed TomTOm 7... still no signal... even with QuickGPS ran...
Google Maps didn't work either....
I'm not sure what I did in the end... took out the battery, set GPS to 'let windows manage automatically' and ran Quick GPS again.. then run TomTOm 7, go to the 'GPS Status' screen which shows the sat signal charts and stand in a wide open area for 5 mins.. ever since then it has worked fine
all the best.
btw you have to make sure your system date and time are accurate coz otherwise it'll be searching for Sats with a wrong reference to the Sat almanac..
Yes, it's set to manage automatically. I've been trying to get a signal by the window, I left the device just sitting there for more than a half hour and still nothing. I guess I'll have to try longer while being outdoors. Hope it helps... but thanks for your help.
I did that too and it didn't work for me. You have to be outside for the 1st time GPS fix and make sure you run QuickGPS before that. Ohh yeah use TomTom 7 to detect the signal... I find that the most reliable somehow... and be sure it's configured to use the built-in GPS receiver...
I know it feels odd... I nearly sent my unit back for warranty because I was very convinced that the patch antenna was somehow disconnected from the chip. lol.
I had the same issue at one point, due to my fiddling and inadequate hacking attempts!
see if you can track down the HTC GPS tool (it's here on XDA somewhere, but i can't find a link at the mo) and run that.
Chipset should be set to Q7200 (yes i know its actually a 7201A but it works the same) and com port to com 4.
Tap the open port button and you should see the GOS info scrolling through the grey window in the program.
If you see nothing, check the external GPS settings
program tab should be com 4
hardware tab should be non and 4800
last tab should be ticked.
if you still get no GPS info scrolling through the gps tool, then it seems you have the same problem i did. Sadly, i had to hard reset it to get it working again, but it has been perfect ever since.
FYI, this started happening once i had turned aGPS on, and even turning it off did not work for me, so if you have to hard reset, i wouldn't bother ever turning the aGPS on again.
where's the option to turn aGPS on/off?
I just remembered how I resolved my issue... I put a SIM card in I had previously been trying to use it with WiFi (to update QuickGPS) but once I had a SIM in there, the GPS worked. Could it be because I'm now using aGPS? hmm...
you need to install schaps advanced config tool to get to the setting to turn aGPS on and off again.
it seems to be off by default btw.
rhedgehog said:
you need to install schaps advanced config tool to get to the setting to turn aGPS on and off again.
it seems to be off by default btw.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also kept lossing the GPS signal with this on every few seconds. So I turned it off for good
did you maybe install voip on your diamond? If so that's your problem there. Hard reset you diamond don't install voip en there you go.
It worked! Thank you all.... I had to sit for half an hour in direct sunlight but it was well worth it... I'm new to gps... do you have to do this with every new gps receiver or is this just another great feature from HTC?
I'm, having the same probelm here.
I'm on my second diamond as the first one (a HK version) had a fault with the internal speeker. On the First phone the internal GPS worked fine with both TOMTOM 6 and Google maps. The initial setup only took about 30 secs.
With the new phone (UK spec) I have tried TT7, TT6 and Google maps. I have also run quiick GPS, hard reset and enabling and disabling assisted GPS using the advanced config tool.
Is there anything else I should try or is this likely to be another hardware issue?
Solution To Gps Problem
if you installed VOIP you should hard reset...gps dead...:-( no other solution.
Help! My Diamond GPS reception is MUCH worse than on my Touch Cruise
Hi,
I've just got a Touch Diamond, and the GPS reception is absolutely appalling. I have hard-reset twice, after which I've done nothing except download a QuickGPS update, but still the signal strength and its ability to connect to satellites is completely inconsistent and unreliable, even outdoors. I CAN get a good signal occasionally, but it's very rare. Most often I get no GPS signals whatsoever, or else I get just a couple of weak greyed-out signal bars in TomTom.
I can lay my Diamond down next to my Touch Cruise (both have identical TomTom 6 software loaded from the same CAB), and the Cruise always launches the app faster, finds the GPS device faster, AND finds adequate satellites faster. The Touch Cruise has a lot of problems, but the one thing it has always been very good at is GPS, and it has NEVER failed to find adequate satellites in TomTom 6, even indoors. It always takes well under a minute to do so, too. It's surely not unreasonable to expect at least the same level of performance from the next generation of device. Why should the Diamond's GPS performance be demonstrably so much worse?!!
Nine times out of ten, my Touch Diamond will simply sit there for an hour or more with the TomTom status bar reading 'Waiting for valid GPS signal...". Quite often when I open the GPS configuration option in TT6, it shows absolutely NO SHRED of a GPS signal whatsoever, even outdoors. (My Diamond and my Cruise have identical GPS settings in both Windows and TomTom, by the way).
The annoying thing is that the Diamond's GPS HAS worked on a couple of rare occasions, and the signal strength has been at least as good as on my Touch Cruise. The Diamond is much worse at holding the signal however, and is totally and utterly unreliable for navigation. It certainly isn't the 'Ultra-sensitive GPS' that HTC's marketing promised - it's nowhere near as good as the GPS on the Cruise, which is the previous generation! The Diamond's GPS DOES work well on very rare occasions - it's just that 95 times out of 100, I'm not getting anything at all. This makes me wonder if it isn't a WM 6.1 compatibility problem or a conflict of some kind. It's almost as if Windows is having difficulty activating/waking the GPS fully. When (and if) it finally gets going, reception is actually very good.
I have also downloaded the HTC GPS Tool as someone here suggested, and it reveals the same results as TomTom - I usually get either no satellites at all, or I get two or three red satellite status bars and a message saying 'Fix not available'. It ALWAYS shows a data stream coming from COM4 though, so there doesn't seem to be any problem actually finding the GPS device. On the rare occasions when I have got a usable GPS signal, the HTC Tool then shows two or three red status bars and three or four green ones as well. During those rare periods, Google Maps can also find anything from three to ten satellites, even indoors. However, the next few times I try the Diamond's GPS, nothing will happen at all - it's suddenly as if all the satellites have fallen out of the sky.
By the way, would QuickGPS make ANY difference on the Diamond? As other have pointed out, aGPS is disabled on the Diamond by default. Aren't QuickGPS and aGPS the same thing? I don't know. But if so, surely the QuickGPS data is useless on the Diamond?
Does anyone have ANY idea how to make GPS on the Diamond work as well as it does on the Touch Cruise? Does anyone know why it doesn't already? Has anyone else done a direct comparison between the Diamond and another HTC device using the same GPS software?
I really like the Diamond, but it's incredibly frustrating that the GPS is unreliable to the point of being unusable. At the moment, I'm having to carry the Cruise for GPS navigation and the Diamond for everything else! Certainly not what I paid for. It should do this stuff straight out of the box. Since it doesn't, I can only assume my device is faulty so if I can't get it fixed by the weekend, I'm returning it for a replacement.
Thanks,
Rob.
P.S. Sorry for such a long post, but I needed to vent.
Hi there, I'm having the same problem as RH Photography.
All the programs are trying to communicate, but no fix at all. Once I got a fix, but only 4 sattelites, when in my car GPS BT had fixed to 9!
Will try hard reset and install HTC GPS tool an try to fix

GPS won't fix after moving

Hi,
I used my Touch Diamond and Touch Cruise in US w/ GPS for a while, then I came back to Istanbul for a trip. Now, both of my HTC phones won't have a fix to a coordinate, even if the GPS receiver is detected, and actually showing satellites in programs (say, iGO).
Does anybody know what I should do?
Have you tried updating the coordinates through the program quickgps?
wontcachme said:
Have you tried updating the coordinates through the program quickgps?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
yes, I've ran quickgps, didn't work out. Then I hard-resetted the diamond, and tried again. Nothing got me a result.
Can you actually suggest a GPS software, to check if it is the software or hardware, acting weird.
Google maps?
Both of these units by HTC has the static navigation thing enabled. For more information, have a look at this link http://www.etenblog.com/2007/11/20/static-navigation-explained/
If the GPS has been turned off while having travelled over a long distance (like you did from the USA to Istanbul), your GPS needs much more time to get a new fix. This is something you can't do anything about. QuickGPS should help, however since I have QuickGPS (just a cpl of weeks) I haven't travelled yet to the other side of the world With my older BT GPS it took me a very long time as well the first time when I turned it on after I exited the airplane.
How long have you been waiting to get a fix while standing still outside in the open air?
akito said:
If the GPS has been turned off while having travelled over a long distance (like you did from the USA to Istanbul), your GPS needs much more time to get a new fix. This is something you can't do anything about. QuickGPS should help, however since I have QuickGPS (just a cpl of weeks) I haven't travelled yet to the other side of the world With my older BT GPS it took me a very long time as well the first time when I turned it on after I exited the airplane.
How long have you been waiting to get a fix while standing still outside in the open air?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Actually, I've used beelinegps (http://www.visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/default.htm). I've put a chair in the middle of backyard and kept the phone there for ~2hrs, in the night (so that it wouldn't overheat) w/ open sky.
The satellites are shown, but it simply won't fix.
After hard reset I haven't updated quickgps again, suspecting that it was deviating the calculation to the other side of the world .
In the worst case, I'll update quickgps and put the phone in charge and leave it to open sky for a night, and see what happens.
Is there any other solutions, btw?
Thanks
s_kates81 said:
Both of these units by HTC has the static navigation thing enabled. For more information, have a look at this link http://www.etenblog.com/2007/11/20/static-navigation-explained/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
I've actually tried to figure out how to disable static navigation.
Neither sirfdemo nor sirftech.exe worked just the way they are.
I believe the problem was the intermediate driver/port of windows. So I disabled that, and let the programs scan thru the ports. But that way, they can't figure out actual hardware port number and baud rate.
Does anyone know how I can access gps chip directly?
Thanks
Solved!
I finally solved the issue.
I got HTC GPS Tool from http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=360477 and installed it. After that choose clear memory and cold start. That was it, nothing much about static nav.
Thanks

GPS on the Today Screen

HI There
Trying to find a program that displays GPS signal and connection on the Today screen, I've done a bit of searching like, and came back with [<b>GPSToday0.9.9.1</b>] but it seems to act erratically, when you switch it on it doesn't do anything, I used GPSTest to ensure I was recieving GPS, and I got 3D lock in under a minute, however GPS on GPSToday still claimed no lock, it eventually showed a couple of satellites in use but only a few minutes after actual lock, plus the mapping bit is only US enabled, which although a bonus is still a bummer. (im in the UK)
Then I found [<b>GPS Sentry</b>] which cost me a little to purchase, is supposed to be a good solution but again it doesn't seem to work with Kaiser/TytnII any other solutions?
In an Ideal world a little program like GPSToday is perfect, logs on every hour or so, grabs the GPS location of the phone and logs out. Compliments other GPS programs with NMEA data in a similar fashion as QuickGPS. But essentially needs to actually work.
Anyone know of anything else I can try?
Hi Sideburnt,
GPSToday should work perfectly on the Kaiser/tytnII. That is the "reference" device on which GPSToday was most tested. In fact GPSToday is also used as a "GPS primer" by many folks because it significantly speeds up GPS locking for other programs.
When started up for the very first time, it does a bunch of initial setup things like processing your address book contacts etc which can take up time.
After the first few locks, you will notice that it locks must faster, and any other GPS programs will also get a signal quickly.
Also, there are only two features that are US only: the street address display, and the weather display. Everything else like the geotagger, the geologger, the mapping of contacts on the map, the wake-up device for fix feature, the co-ordinate display, the maps, that is all available.
Also, you must make sure that your WM GPS port settings in StartMenu->Settings->ExternalGPS are correct.
We urge you to give it one more try.
Thanks.
Sideburnt said:
HI There
Trying to find a program that displays GPS signal and connection on the Today screen, I've done a bit of searching like, and came back with [<b>GPSToday0.9.9.1</b>] but it seems to act erratically, when you switch it on it doesn't do anything, I used GPSTest to ensure I was recieving GPS, and I got 3D lock in under a minute, however GPS on GPSToday still claimed no lock, it eventually showed a couple of satellites in use but only a few minutes after actual lock, plus the mapping bit is only US enabled, which although a bonus is still a bummer. (im in the UK)
Then I found [<b>GPS Sentry</b>] which cost me a little to purchase, is supposed to be a good solution but again it doesn't seem to work with Kaiser/TytnII any other solutions?
In an Ideal world a little program like GPSToday is perfect, logs on every hour or so, grabs the GPS location of the phone and logs out. Compliments other GPS programs with NMEA data in a similar fashion as QuickGPS. But essentially needs to actually work.
Anyone know of anything else I can try?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You might also try baf GPSToggle very small footprint and works perfect on my tilt

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