Database Develop

GPS - AT&T Tilt

I am looking for some feedback on the GPS built into the new AT&T Tilt.
What is the accuracy of the GPS?
What is the sensitivity of the radio? (does it loose signal when you get in your car? in heavily wooded areas?)
How long does it take to obtain GPS Satellite Signal? (15 seconds? 30 seconds? 2 minutes?)
How much battery does it suck down?
Can it work with multiple programs at the same time? (Windows Live and another program at the same time?)

Can't really comment on accuracy, but it has me plotted on the correct roads on Google Maps and MS Live Search.
GPS reception is fine in the car, although initial satellite lockings seems faster when I put the phone on the dash. After that, I can pretty much put the phone anywhere near the drivers seat.
Takes a minute to a couple minutes for me to get a fix.
Its sucks batteries fast. Slightly faster then the trickle charger is charging the phone. So on a long drive, I imagine you will kill the battery on the Tilt using the GPS.
Don't know about the last question.

Braingears said:
I am looking for some feedback on the GPS built into the new AT&T Tilt.
What is the accuracy of the GPS? :iterally its pinpointed me w/in 5 ft
What is the sensitivity of the radio? (does it loose signal when you get in your car? in heavily wooded areas?) In the car its fine, dont have woods here in miami, but in the everglades it works just fine.
How long does it take to obtain GPS Satellite Signal? (15 seconds? 30 seconds? 2 minutes?) approx 10-15 s
How much battery does it suck down? Dont know, I dont have it on for a long time
Can it work with multiple programs at the same time? (Windows Live and another program at the same time?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Havent tried that yet, meaning using google maps & windows live?

I've only had it working for a short time, but based on what i've read its fairly accurate (someone got it within 15', mine was within 30' but that was google maps and i dont think it does off-road)
I established the connection on my porch (so i could use my wifi) and it followed me inside the house. 9 satellites outside, 6 in my chair. its a small house, but still nearly completely obstructed due to rain clouds and being indoors
If you use a program like GPSTest or GPSViewer to establish the connection first, they go very quickly. otherwise it may run into some problems connecting due to the timeout settings.
battery power no idea...
As mentioned earlier, i try a light weight program to establish the initial connection and the actual program to use it. from what i've seen you can see two but not sure how well it'll work n the end.

hey i got my tilt, I really don't know how things works, I mean I installed live search on it, but you know I can't get the current GPS postion, how does this thing work? anyone? can you guys tell us the steps for those of who are new to this whole GPS thing, thanks

redpoint73 said:
Its sucks batteries fast. Slightly faster then the trickle charger is charging the phone. So on a long drive, I imagine you will kill the battery on the Tilt using the GPS.
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Click to collapse
I noticed this too.
Is there a way to fix this?
It is very annoying.
With a car charger I should be able to at least keep the battery at the same level.
(PS: I am using a car-to-USB adapter and the USB/Sync cable that came with the tilt)

Back when I was using the att flash, I'd need to use a program to jumpstart gps. It'd take about 2 minutes. Afterwards, I could use google maps without issue. But if I drove around, I'd constantly be losing the gps and need to hit retry.
Then I flashed to htc. Google maps always picked up the lock in about 10 seconds. I'd still lose it if I drove around.
But then a few days ago, google maps stopped picking up gps. Even using other programs, I'd run it for over 10 minutes without getting a lock. Haven't gotten gps working at all in the past few days. Not sure what's going on. Hopefulyl a future firmware will fix this. Not going to bother with it for the time being. Being able to use google maps is really enough. gps is pretty silly to me.

Braingears said:
I am looking for some feedback on the GPS built into the new AT&T Tilt.
What is the accuracy of the GPS?
What is the sensitivity of the radio? (does it loose signal when you get in your car? in heavily wooded areas?)
How long does it take to obtain GPS Satellite Signal? (15 seconds? 30 seconds? 2 minutes?)
How much battery does it suck down?
Can it work with multiple programs at the same time? (Windows Live and another program at the same time?)
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Accuracy -- I can't speak as to "within x meters", but I can tell you that when using it with mapping software, the location fix is right on the money as to where it shows me being in the car.
Length of time to obtain a signal -- after the initial "fix", I can open my mapping software and in the length of time it takes to select my destination, it has already paired with the GPS chip.
Battery Life -- I keep my Tilt on the car charger when using GPS -- at least, I did until a few days ago. I forgot to plug it in to the cigarette lighter and the battery was dead running the GPS constantly in 5 hours.
Multiple apps at once -- Can't comment on that one.

When I use telenav , most of the time it is accurate close to about 15 feet.

My tilt battery is amazing...

i am not seeing what everyones problem with theire battery is? i havent charged my phone in days. last on the weekend, sunday to be exact. i've been browsing the web, specifically posting on these very forums, downloading programs, texting and talking on the phone as i have no house phone, and just getting to know my phone. using the action screen, ultimatelaunch, etc.
now i do notice i go from 100% to 70% in an instant but once i get under 70%, the phone is a champ. im just not seeing the issue. im getting 2 days easy. no car charger. only time i charge is at home, when im headed for bed. maybe its just me
Specs:
HTC rom (2/15/08)
stock radio
Quick menu
home plugin
action screen
home customizer
google maps
pocketcm

Interesting!
Can you provide more details on the ROM version you are using?
Go to Start/Settings/System/Device Information to get that info.
Or if you can post a screenshot of such screen, the better....
However, you failed to mention if you have used the internal GPS at all.... That's when we start seeing poor battery performance... Just after some GPS use and sometimes not even then, but at random GPS uses.
Cheers!
RayanMX

a screen shot of it would be nice

havent used the internal GPS yet.
ROM: 1.62.502.0
ROM date: 1/17/08
radio: 1.27.14.09
protocol: 22.45.88.07h

i get nearly 50hrs with my tilt.. no gps but push is active and bout 200 txts a day maybe 2h of phone calling now.. i drained it down to 0% twice b4 doing full recharges now battery seems to be good. also my screen brightness is set to the 3rd notch.. 30%.

i think the old battery (the one that had plastic on its back) had better life than the new one (the one with a solid aluminium plate) this is my second tilt, and i liked my frist one a lot more..
on my old tilt my GPS worked indoors, and the batterylife was a lot like yours due to the battery.. i get down to about 60% now at the end of the day instead of the previous 70%
the newer tilt just improved the USB plug, the battery (now it doenst get hot), and the keyboard.

I really am starting to wonder about this. I have a TyTN2 and I installed the new Google Search bar for the home screen. I saw a huge difference in how quickly the battery would die. I'm convinced this GOogle search bar was the culprit.
Now I'm wondering if I disable the really awesome HTC interface if the battery will go up accordingly. Worth a shot.

htc home is a battery sucker.. try PDC project digital clock its very easy on batt

well mine does drain a bit, mainly w/ gps.
I wonder what your doing with it? just leaving the phone on? ive got 2 days without using it. Usually mine is streaming stereo music at least and logged into irc all day, ive just been bringing my plug everywhere with me.
Do the new 6.1 roms do anything to fix this?
Also working in the cellular world, (im sure you guys know this already) if your phone is searching for signal where you are most of the day your battery will drain really fast also. When i get somewhere w/ no signal for the phone i shut that part off.

What makes a big difference is the setting of backlight. Just to see the difference, try navigating with TomTom with brightness level 0, and test it with the maximum amount. Same goes for browsing the web. The backlight consumes a lot of power. A lot of people aren't mentioning the backlight setting, so it's really hard to compare these devices with each other. So closet410, what backlight setting do you use? And maybe you should be more specific about the phone call durations, time you browse with it, etc. Some people are calling 2 hours a day or more with it, and some not even 10min in 2 days. So it's a big difference.

u guys r forgetting the most important factor, are u in a 3G area? i have tmobile usa, and only have edge, and easily get 2 days with moderate/heavy use. ive put my wifes atnt sim into my tilt, and honestly was not impressed with the increased surfing speeds. tethering is night and day difference, but not worth the insane battery drain if ur not gonna be tethering..
omar

try using WIFI on full performance... that shu kill it in about 4 hrs...

this is all basic stuff people if you dont use 3G, wifi, GPS it will last for ever! As soon as you use any of those or all at the same time your screwed. also phone calls are the worst second is wifi then GPS and the 3G

i dont use wifi/gps or 3g

I think worse is 3g.
I can listen streaming radio thru WiFi and wireless bluetooth headset for 10 hours
and just 3 hours over 3g connection

3g connection would kill the batt fast but then again if you think about it. if you are going to pay for it everymonth you might as well use it. or else the money is just going to waste. sometimes i am hesitant when turning off my 3g becuase when i start surfing again i always forget to turn it back on

no phone calls since i made the thread. just playing around with the cube for about an hour and a half. backlight setting at 15 seconds. still no internal GPS usage. had a few probelms with the cube last night so i played with it a lot. got it right now. did not charge it last night. today no texts sent and no calls. just checked the time every now and then. sitting at 25%. still havent charged it since sunday. obviously its now thursday. and others are reporting even if they dont use the phone the battery gets drained alot. did i luck up and just get a great phone? i'll keep a running log of what i do starting now. granted it wont be a scientific test but i will just keep track of what i do with th phone.

ChInEsE ChIcKeN said:
3g connection would kill the batt fast but then again if you think about it. if you are going to pay for it everymonth you might as well use it. or else the money is just going to waste. sometimes i am hesitant when turning off my 3g becuase when i start surfing again i always forget to turn it back on
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Click to collapse
used kaiser tweaks to set it at HSDPA

closet410 said:
used kaiser tweaks to set it at HSDPA
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HSDPA is amazing, get around 500-750 Kbps connection !
It's "3G" plus some.

Problem with the GPS speedometer in igo v8.3.2.64873

Hello guys
I'm using the igo v8.3.2.64873 with the stock rom on my TP. Somehow the gps speedometer in the igo shows a speed which is about 7 km/h lower than the actual speed of my car.
is there any option to fix this ?
Thank you

IGO
And what are you waiting for m8 ?
The speedometer is reliying to the satellites and the gps system is not error proof. Your position is not correct to the centimeter hence your speed is no one hundred percent accurate either.
Beside, the speedometer on your car is not a precision tool either so it may be not very accurate itself.
7 kph seems very few.

eurorpeen said:
And what are you waiting for m8 ?
The speedometer is reliying to the satellites and the gps system is not error proof. Your position is not correct to the centimeter hence your speed is no one hundred percent accurate either.
Beside, the speedometer on your car is not a precision tool either so it may be not very accurate itself.
7 kph seems very few.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok thanks anyway

krot84 said:
ok thanks anyway
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just FYI-
The speedometer on a car is usually ~5-10% optimistic, if we are talking at 7k"m/h from a 100km/h speed than that is quite within reason.

ok, man, but it sucks to see the difference between them both

Anyone using USA maps notice the ETA can be way off? Its not as noticable for shorter trips, but it is very noticeable for long trips.
I'm using the Q2 2008 NAVTEQ maps.
I did a 330mi trip which should take about 5 hours (according to Garmin, Google Maps, etc), but this version of iG0 says it'll take 6+ hours. As I drive the time will keep getting more accurate and by the time I'm 4 hours into the drive it'll be within about 20 minutes accurate while Garmin would be accurate the whole trip.
Do you think this is a map issue or an iGo issue? I had 8.0 and 8.3.1 and they exhibit the same behavior, but they all used the same maps.

Track real time speed?

hi everyone ,would like to know if any one knows of a app. that would track your real time speed in your car,motorcycle,ect for none rooted phone .been looking on here and around havent seen any but hope someone has .thanks for your time!!!!!!

There was an app on the market called speedo or something like that. Used gps to tell how fast you are going. Didnt keep track of an average though if thats what your looking for.

"My Tracks", app from Google records a trip. After you start tracking a trip, you go to the second screen and it has all kinds of statistics (current speed, average speed, time traveled, time stopped, and more). Very cool
http://mytracks.appspot.com/

hey thanks for the info .i seen the my tracks but wasnt sure if it track stats in real time .so im goimg to go down load it know .thankyou for the info everyone !!

Speedo
GPS Status
AndNav
Any of those can tell you your current speed in real time.

I would recommend Velox,
It is designed for bike riders but works perfect in the car
Current Speed
Daily Distance Total Distance
Location
And if you click on speed it will give you
Altitude, Max speed, Average over the last 1 5 and 10 minutes
Sounds like what your after
Great app

There are loads of apps that does this. Even WiFi Scan will display your current speed.

GPS for Hiking

I'm hoping some Diamond users can help me with some questions I have.
I use memory-map os software and have been usinng it on an ipaq ppc. The ipaq has just died on me so I need a new device and rather than carry two gadgets around with me it seems to make sense to buy a smart phone. This has to be a windows device to run memory-map and the Diamond 2 seems to be the best such device in my price bracket.
The questions I haven't so far found an answer for :-
1)How long does the battery last for while using gps? Most users seem to use their gps for road naviagation in the car so don't have a problem with this but I will be using it for hiking.
2)Can the display be turned off while using the display to extend battery life?
3)How quickly does the gps obtain a fix?
TIA
Alan

Hi Alan,
I have been using GPS software with my Diamond for the last year and have mixed feelings about it.
TomTom Navigator 7 - works great - almost immediate fix - highly recommended. Works as well as a dedicated car GPS except screen is smaller.
PathAway GPS 5 with SoftMaps maps. Works fine - sometimes slow to get a fix - track log to .GPX file unreliable, you never know if it works or not and cannot rely on it because of that. Nice Pocket Mode where the unit is in sleep mode with GPS on.
GPSCycleComputer - great freeware application - live track upload to crossingways.com - I use it a lot to measure distance, speed, and build .GPX track logs to geocode my photos. I have not used it with maps.
The Diamond/GPS system has 2 problems IMO:
Problem 1: reliability. When in the field, you have to rely to your GPS and, IMO, this is not possible with my Diamond. It is too easy to hit a button accidently and disable the software. I tried different lock applications to no avail - I cannot be 100% sure, like with my Garmin GPSMap 60 CSx. Switching to another application - like phone, voice recorder or camera - and coming back is also often a problem.
Problem 2: battery life. It is possible to turn off the screen to improve battery life but you can never be sure it will resume back on - unreliable.
My Diamond is the North American unlocked version and has a 1340mah battery. Here are 2 examples of battery life:
GPSCycleComputer
Set to read GPS every minute
Set to send track to crossingways.com every minute
Set to register a .GPX track file
Phone and internet ON
Screen off
Battery life: about 4 hours
PathAway GPS 5
Screen ON 25% Pocket mode 75%
Set to register a .GPX track file
Phone and internet ON
Battery life: 2 to 3 hours
Conclusion:
In car use with TomTom: fine
Field use: as a gadget and a toy: yes - as a reliable tool to find your way back if you get lost: definitely NO. However, it is fun to use.
Regards
Jules

Jgobeil said:
Hi Alan,
I have been using GPS software with my Diamond for the last year and have mixed feelings about it.
TomTom Navigator 7 - works great - almost immediate fix - highly recommended. Works as well as a dedicated car GPS except screen is smaller.
PathAway GPS 5 with SoftMaps maps. Works fine - sometimes slow to get a fix - track log to .GPX file unreliable, you never know if it works or not and cannot rely on it because of that. Nice Pocket Mode where the unit is in sleep mode with GPS on.
GPSCycleComputer - great freeware application - live track upload to crossingways.com - I use it a lot to measure distance, speed, and build .GPX track logs to geocode my photos. I have not used it with maps.
The Diamond/GPS system has 2 problems IMO:
Problem 1: reliability. When in the field, you have to rely to your GPS and, IMO, this is not possible with my Diamond. It is too easy to hit a button accidently and disable the software. I tried different lock applications to no avail - I cannot be 100% sure, like with my Garmin GPSMap 60 CSx. Switching to another application - like phone, voice recorder or camera - and coming back is also often a problem.
Problem 2: battery life. It is possible to turn off the screen to improve battery life but you can never be sure it will resume back on - unreliable.
My Diamond is the North American unlocked version and has a 1340mah battery. Here are 2 examples of battery life:
GPSCycleComputer
Set to read GPS every minute
Set to send track to crossingways.com every minute
Set to register a .GPX track file
Phone and internet ON
Screen off
Battery life: about 4 hours
PathAway GPS 5
Screen ON 25% Pocket mode 75%
Set to register a .GPX track file
Phone and internet ON
Battery life: 2 to 3 hours
Conclusion:
In car use with TomTom: fine
Field use: as a gadget and a toy: yes - as a reliable tool to find your way back if you get lost: definitely NO. However, it is fun to use.
Regards
Jules
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply Jules. That is very helpful. It sounds like the Diamond will not do the main job I want it for then.

Memory Map with hTC diamond
Works very well on Diamond. Quick GPS fix. Battery life not great as in most GPS phones. I just have the map loaded & use as necessary. I would not be without it. Also works very well with tom Tom & Garmin XT.

Like you, i used MM on an ipaq and now use it on the HTC. The big adavantage over the HTC over the ipaq is that you can switch it to standby to conserve battery power and it will immediatly come back to life with gps signal.

ahardie said:
Thanks for your reply Jules. That is very helpful. It sounds like the Diamond will not do the main job I want it for then.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You should know that there are extened batteries for diamond that take the battery life to really high values. I posted a review of a 3000 mah Mugen battery here http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=3447797#post3451845 (read the posts after that as well, for instance this one) ... it is a huge battery but well worth if you are looking for something for "in the field". There is also a Mugen 2000 mah version and an official HTC 1350 mah version. The Mugen ones are *very* high quality, don't confuse them with the cheap chinese/asian crap that are all over ebay or the internet.
I've never had the problem with the screen coming back on when I don't want it and I use GPS Cycle Computer all the time. You switch off the screen from the GPSCC interface and it stays that way (unless someone calls you or you power it on from the power button, of course).

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful.

Last but not least - in my hikes i don't look constantly at GPS - I prefer the views, so only sometimes I check my position on track crossing, or when I'm not sure of my position.
GPS fix - flash better radio, and you will have instant fix (outdoors), try 1.15
Switching off - just use the sleep button. It will switch the gps off.
Good luck!