Database Develop

TILT Geocaching

I havent had my tilt very long, but I have noticed that with Tom Tom 6 using thr built in GPS it doesnt trak unless im moving faster than 5mph. Has this issue been addressed? (the search tool isnt working for me) I have a bluetooth GPS and it so far is way more acurate than the built in GPS. I would like not to have to carry the bluetooth GPS for Geocaching.

I use my Tilt for geocaching all the time. I use visual GPS Beeline software. it shows me moving at walking speeds. I think Tom Tom being designed for use while driving filters the movement so that the display is stable.
http://visualgps.net/BeeLineGPS/default.htm

I think you'll really want to stick with the bluetooth GPS for geocaching. I use a GlobalSat BT-338, which in itself seems to be more accurate than the built-in GPS on the tilt, which would be better for caching. Also, there is no way (as far as I know) to turn static navigation on and off on the built-in receiver, which is going to contribute to your unit not tracking when going less than a certain speed. Thirdly, when the phone goes into standby, the GPS receiver shuts off, so you would need to keep the phone active, and just turn the screen backlight off to save battery life. There are programs to do this, but the battery is going to drain pretty quickly regardless. With an external receiver this isn't an issue, as it isn't affected by whether the phone is in standby or not, and it has it's own battery so the amount of time you can use both obviously increases.

static navigation
I have tried both a Gtop gps and the built in gps for geocaching on my tilt and neither are really good. Both seem to be affected by static navigation and/or are just very slow to reflect my position. I have tried beeline gps and others and they are afflicted by the same problem. Has anyone found a good way to turn off the static navigation on the tilt or some way to geocache effectively with it?

birdheh said:
I have tried both a Gtop gps and the built in gps for geocaching on my tilt and neither are really good. Both seem to be affected by static navigation and/or are just very slow to reflect my position. I have tried beeline gps and others and they are afflicted by the same problem. Has anyone found a good way to turn off the static navigation on the tilt or some way to geocache effectively with it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
As said here, and many threads. Do not use the built-in GPS. There are several reasons:
It's very slow to power up
In some apps it dumps a bunch of data every 3-4 seconds, making things very jumpy
It sometimes doesn't power off and continues to use power
It uses lots of power running (100ma+, combined with the screen, that's just 3-4 hours of power)
It wanders all over the place at walking speeds, or doesn't 'move' at all.
It'll zero out in a huge radius in real use (100 feet away from the cache for me once)
I'm sure there are more, but I was getting bored listing them.... buy a bluetooth GPS. You can get 'em for $60. The built-in GPS is okay for car navigation, and nice to have built-in, but IMO is not usable for geocaching. I've tried several times. When I first got the Tilt I hunted one cache in a huge radius and it kept going 150 feet one direction, then zeroing out, then 100 feet the other direction. Plus the data stream seems to dump every 2-3 seconds, making it very annoying to track with.
A bluetooth GPS uses no phone power, so you'd easily be able to geocache for 10+ hours in a day if you needed to. I carry mine in my pocket, it just disappears into my cargo pants.
If you're curious about software, I've tried several but I thought they all stunk, PARTICULARLY BeeLine. The interface is god awful. I never found one that I liked at all, and wound up buying StyleTap and using GeoNiche like I did on my previous Palm Treo. Works great.

static navigation
for those with static navigation problems try this. I have a PPC with Igo and same issue when you don't walk fast enough it does not register. If you use this it will fix your problem while goecaching as it has for me.
Install MMSirfSetup, available free, direct from Memory Map :
http://www.memory-map.com/MMSirfSetup.exe
Obviously you will need to install it on your PC then whap it over to your PDA.
On your PDA, run MMSirfSetup before you run your mapping software, and turn Static Navigation off.
If you use TomTom, or go above a certain speed, your unit will default to turn Static Navigation back on again.

Sorry, that won't work. the Tilt does not use a SIRF GPS chip.

Best lock/unlock app

Hello
wanted to get everyone's opinion to whats the best lock app for our phones. i have tried several and i have problems with a lot of them.
i really like phone buddy, but i find it uses too much memory and power.
pocketshield is good too but i had problems with it. the phone wouldnt stay locked and i think i had a memory problem as well.
s2u2 is what i have used before and i do like it. but i had a problem with the volume on calls.
not sure if its something else im running.. im running the diamond2 g sensor and that may be it. or something else... not sure
help and suggesting would be great. i would like to find something i can use on my phone.
thanks

Mayonesa said:
pocketshield is good too but i had problems with it. the phone wouldnt stay locked and i think i had a memory problem as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
pocketshield. best i've found, no impact on battery life and answering the phone is great. download the latest (they've been updating it alot) and turn off the shake wake up (gestures), light wakeup, center button, and stylus (so the only thing is slide down). i haven't had it wake up unexpectedly with those settings.
i tried s2u2 along time ago, but have heard from multiple sources that it negatively influenced battery life. anyone know if this is still true?

i liked pocketshield a lot but like i said, i turned the phone off so it would lock, as soon as i turned the phone on it would unlock without me fliping it or anything else.
the answer thing is nice but i like the slide to answer i already have. if it didnt disable that when i used the pocketshield one i would use it.
like i said, im not sure if something else if causing my issues.... i think i may uninstall the dimond2 g sensor.

still cant find any lock app that will work well.... sensorlock and glocker dont work at all. and pocketshield works for a short time but stops. not sure if its cause you have to pay for it. i would pay for it if it worked for a while with no problems. dont wanna pay for it and have the same problems.
any ideas?

S2U2
try using S2U2 fully configurable and if done right does not use up battery.
http://www.ac-s2.com/

I use S2U2. Doesn't affect my battery life

using S2U2 with tPro skin... nice

jcylcruzin said:
try using S2U2 fully configurable and if done right does not use up battery.
http://www.ac-s2.com/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
S2U2 is my favorite.
On a fast ROM (Like most of the ROM's on our forums), the program runs smoothly and nice.
I also like being able to pick pictures of my dog, or my bike, for the screens.
But my best practice for locking the phone is simply lock it out of habit when you put it away. Have "Slide to wake" disabled unless you really use it.

pocketshield for me, i had a few issues in the earlier releases but the newest is absolutely perfect, and pretty much everything is configurable to how i like it! seriously try the new one out and play in the settings to tweak it

Just use the new vertion of S2u2 together with the new skin
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=467435
Works without problem. and looks good.

Mayonesa said:
...
pocketshield is good too but i had problems with it. the phone wouldnt stay locked...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Maybe you have "light unlock" enabled and it is unlocking before you even notice it? (actually its the way it should be if you enable that feature)

has anyone tried throttle lock ? it has a slide to answer when you recieve calls while locked and it unlocks by drawing a pattern on a 3X3 grid of dots . Its a real nice app and has at least 35 different skins and is customizable. (customizing is rather arduous and takes awhile to do when it comes to making a new skin)

can anybody help me find Phone Buddy? i was trying to search it and i am not getting an conclusive results. The only thread that cmae up with anything is this thread....

S2U works just fine on my TP with stock rom, no negative battery impact noticable.

It seems all locking programs seem to have their own 'locked screen' that goes over the today screen. I have customized my today screen to have all the information i need at a glance and don't need another one.
I think Touchlock Pro is the only recent one that does not have this but I have other issues with it. Are there others I have missed?

Sunra said:
It seems all locking programs seem to have their own 'locked screen' that goes over the today screen. I have customized my today screen to have all the information i need at a glance and don't need another one.
I think Touchlock Pro is the only recent one that does not have this but I have other issues with it. Are there others I have missed?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm using AnswerkeysDisabler which locks the touch screen completely when a call comes in. Answering is only with the hardware keys. It's simple - no home screens, no swinging the phone around in circles to answer or anything Just plain works (as touch pro has those HW keys).
I found it from here somewhere - try it.

I use sensor lock. It's great! You can use phone gestures with the accelerometer to unlock your phone. For example, you can rotate your phone 360º to lock/unlock it.
Here is the app. http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=422871

Inaccuracy of GPS

Well i have a question.
When i use TomTom or IGO the position on the screen is always about 50 meters off to where I actually am.
So since IGO & TomTom Both have the same behaviour i guess i should look at the GPS module.
My old S730 was always spot on... when i looked at the screen and saw a turn on the left, there actually was a turn to the left.
Anybody knows how this can be solved ?

My TD2 does not have this problem, perhaps there is an issue with your particular phone?

I thoght about it before and found out that it was not inaccuracy but the delay GPS chip needs to calculate your position. Do one test. Some time when you stop at a red light and you know you've waited for about 5 secs, check your position then. I believe it will be accurate then.
I noticed that some GPS's try to calculate your current position based on direction and speed you had few seconds ago. I found out about it one time when I waited at the red light in a long tunnel. Obviously there was no signal there, but when I stopped, GPS kept on showing that I was moving about 40MPH for several seconds before it finally showed lost signal message.
Some GPS's do calculate your position ahead of time and some don't.

Maybe it was because i had assisted GPS turned on...
If you do a search on AGPS LAG (ANY HTCPRODUCT WITH AGPS) then you will see enough posts that speciffically deals with this problem...
My old phone is SPOT ON with TT and my new 2 times faster phone is less accurate, and in a street with lots of turns, take a-lefts etc it's quite important to rely on the machine. And when the machine says turn left on the next corner, is that left the one i am currently at or the one 20 meters ahead from where i am now....
It should be just as with my old phone spot on

Well disabeling AGPS definitely works...
I am now about 20 meters behind all the time. This seems acceptable although I keep finding it strange that my older phone was way more accurate.....

you mean disable QuickGPS or disable AGPS in Advanced Config??

It is definitely a lag issue, not a precision issue: my TD2 internal GPS is at least as accurate as my Qstarz bluetooth GPS logger, and this one has a dedicated large antenna and good GPS chipset. TD2 sensitivity is also comparable, maybe even better inside building, and the time before locking a signal from coldstart is also comparable or better...
BUT there is a lag of maybe 30 m around 50 km/h in my car, and it is is indeed quite noticeable for driving directions...No big deal for me, as I do not rely on voice instruction but always have a quick peak at the screen (I was bitten by ambiguous instruction often enough in the past with other GPS system to have developped this quick peak habit ;-) )..but this lag is indeed anoying...
I'd like to try the TD2 using the external GPS through bluetooth, if I find time to do it this WE I will post my conclusions...

well0549 said:
Well i have a question.
When i use TomTom or IGO the position on the screen is always about 50 meters off to where I actually am.
So since IGO & TomTom Both have the same behaviour i guess i should look at the GPS module.
My old S730 was always spot on... when i looked at the screen and saw a turn on the left, there actually was a turn to the left.
Anybody knows how this can be solved ?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I use to have the same problem as you, so, I've tried the tweak referred in this post http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=514912 and it did the trick for me.
I use iGo8 and NDrive and the accuracy improved a lot, it's almost spot on, no matter what speed I'm driving.
Regards,

I was in my mates Audi TT the other day. He has the built in GPS in the dash board. I noticed there was as much lag as you see on an HTC device.
Also was in a car a few months asgo with someone who had a stand alone TomTom device and that too had lag.
Unless you're paying thousands of Dollars for millitary grade navigation equipment, i wouldn't spare the lag issue another thought.

Not long now ...
There's a bigger lag comming if the media are to be believed (and based on everything that comes from the tele, radio and newspapers these days - there're probably not - they can't even get the weather right)
http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Technology/GPS-Network-Could-Fail-Next-Year-Leaving-Sat-Nav-Useless-US-Government-Accountability-Office-Warns/Article/200905315284843?lpos=Technology_Carousel_Region_4&lid=ARTICLE_15284843_GPS_Network_Could_Fail_Next_Year_Leaving_Sat_Nav_Useless%2C_US_Government_Accountability_Office_Warns

"
Unless you're paying thousands of Dollars for millitary grade navigation equipment, i wouldn't spare the lag issue another thought."
Diamond1 paid £150 was spot on. No Lag. The speed indicator on tomtom was very accurate, not like on the diamond2 where it takes over 2 seconds to show a speed change. I am surprised that not many people have noticed the slow and inaccurate GPS performance of the D2.

GPS error caused by compass?

Hi! I hope to be usefull.
When I see the arrow in the google maps the position is always the same. Its possible that the compass can be the cause of gps error?? Its possible turn off the compass to try the gps alone??
Best regards and sorry my english.

ive also wondered about this. the arrow in mytracks spins around like crazy while moving. if gps programs use the compass to help tell the direction then thats gonna be a problem.

Does anyone know if we can test this in some way? I would gladly try any solution or help with alpha testing.

gps - compass or ...sensors?
hello I have noticed a strange behavior of the gps too..
I have done many tests with the program "GPS Test" (available free on Android Market) and I noticed that after the fix if the galaxy is moved, especially if changes from portrait to landscape ( or vice versa), the program loses the fix with the satellites (all indices of satellites in use turn gray), it never happens if i disables the landscape mode in the galaxy's settings or in the gps-test 's menu...
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the GPS is less sensitive for satellites but too sensitive to the position variations of the smartphone (horizontal / vertical during use) .. I do not know if it happens with all programs that use GPS, but I do not think this should happen.
Federico

charlicillo said:
Hi! I hope to be usefull.
When I see the arrow in the google maps the position is always the same. Its possible that the compass can be the cause of gps error?? Its possible turn off the compass to try the gps alone??
Best regards and sorry my english.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like earlier Garmin or Magellan gps, the compass should be used up to the point that the gps shows 5km/h (adjustable in some devices) because the signal of the gps is unstable and is not reliable for direction under that speed. Also...
reziel73 said:
hello I have noticed a strange behavior of the gps too..
I have done many tests with the program "GPS Test" (available free on Android Market) and I noticed that after the fix if the galaxy is moved, especially if changes from portrait to landscape ( or vice versa), the program loses the fix with the satellites (all indices of satellites in use turn gray), it never happens if i disables the landscape mode in the galaxy's settings or in the gps-test 's menu...
Maybe I'm wrong, but I think the GPS is less sensitive for satellites but too sensitive to the position variations of the smartphone (horizontal / vertical during use) .. I do not know if it happens with all programs that use GPS, but I do not think this should happen.
Federico
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
... like in some sirfstarIII gps, the receiver (gps) was adjusted so that it didn't show any movement (and speed) within a circle of 15m or 30m (also adjustable) to avoid showing movement (and direction) while you were stopped.
Another fact in this category of gps devices (single frequency, autonomous etc) is that they are much more accurate about speed (0.1km/h) than position (typically usually 5m, sometimes 2m-15m or more)
So if we don't know what the default settings for the SGS's gps are, we don't know what could really be the problem. Or do we?
Anyone who knows more about the gps hardware used in SGS could help...

It would indeed be interesting to try to disable the compass altogether and see what the effect on GPS is.
Perhaps I'll look at this. I'm not a big GPS user myself so proper testing would definitely not be me.

I am using "Maverick" from the market and it seems to be working properly....

thnks about all. Im sure that someday we'll have a operative gps. Keep investigating.
Regards.

[Q] GPS Issue

Anyone else have issues with their GPS?
Mine seems to get confused about where I am even though I have high accuracy enabled for location.
If I just go by the voice prompts it would get me lost.
It tells me to keep going on a street I've already turned off of.
The map seems right but is as if the gps needs to be calibrated or something.

Will Rickards said:
Anyone else have issues with their GPS?
Mine seems to get confused about where I am even though I have high accuracy enabled for location.
If I just go by the voice prompts it would get me lost.
It tells me to keep going on a street I've already turned off of.
The map seems right but is as if the gps needs to be calibrated or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine did this for like 5 minutes and then locked on and was perfect every time since.

Will Rickards said:
Anyone else have issues with their GPS?
Mine seems to get confused about where I am even though I have high accuracy enabled for location.
If I just go by the voice prompts it would get me lost.
It tells me to keep going on a street I've already turned off of.
The map seems right but is as if the gps needs to be calibrated or something.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Mine is finnicky as well for GPS games like Ingress. It's a noticeable lock on lag difference compared to the HTC One M8 which was pretty much spot on every time without much drift. I hope it'll get patched in the future :]

Sometimes the solid circle inside my GPS icon flashes rapidly and other times the whole icon appears and disappears several times a second. Any idea what's going on with that?

When using Waze to navigate, I often lose GPS lock if the phone is resting on my leg. Returns when I lift the phone.

I downloaded GPS status and did the compass calibration thing.
We'll see if that makes any difference next time I use it.