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Question: I was looking through the market, and stumbled on an app called GPS Booster. Tried it for kicks, and got an instant navigation lock first try, each after three reboots.
Anyone have any insight into this app? Is it just a fluke, placebo, legit, what?
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
I did some looking and it appears they're applying changes to the GPS server settings as per this thread:
http://forum.samdroid.net/f38/gps-speedup-1262/
I'm tempted to try the FasterFix app, which should be the same thing as GPS Booster:
http://forum.samdroid.net/f10/fasterfix-1747/
so are you saying this works? LOL
I tried it. When I opened it said GPS booster failed. But locked in 10 seconds. Then uninstalled and did many reboots and it locks in 10 seconds consistently. Going to keep an eye on this. Did installing this alter something for the better?
good day. From my Fascinate using the XDA app.
chopper the dog said:
I tried it. When I opened it said GPS booster failed. But locked in 10 seconds. Then uninstalled and did many reboots and it locks in 10 seconds consistently. Going to keep an eye on this. Did installing this alter something for the better?
good day. From my Fascinate using the XDA app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I believe it's the same as the Fasterfix app. It changes some of the config settings for the GPS. Once changed, there's no need for the app after that.
This is my understanding at least.
Locked fast for me too...even after uninstall, but I'll wait a while to retest it. I ran both apps (fasterfix and gps booster lite).
Lock after reboot was always just a little painful. But 7 sats in under 10 seconds after 6 reboots this is getting me gitty with the consistency.
good day.
I'm tempted to try the FasterFix app, which should be the same thing...
Just tried faster fix and couldn't get it to open, constant fc's after following the instructions on the link. Gps booster did load, run & give a fail msg but it seemed to work...
Sent from my SCH-I500 using XDA App
Tested mine after waiting an hour and a couple reboots, locks on almost within 10 seconds.
durakbane said:
Tested mine after waiting an hour and a couple reboots, locks on almost within 10 seconds.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Frickin' strange isn't it?
good day.
Will be keeping an eye on this Definitely try it tomorrow after letting it idle overnight.
Yea, this sounds about right. My school does research in gps acquisition. A good algorithm will help with quickly aquiring satellites. Not sure about all of how it works, but I guess it would be pretty cool to learn.
I installed this on my fascinate and it almost immediately i was connected to several satellites. On my wifes it sat there trying to search not finding any after a few minutes. Turned it back off, then she installed the app on her phone and within secs on her phone she had 5 satellites. I will test again tomorrow but so far definitely improved connection time.
GPS booster or fasterfix?
NOsquid said:
GPS booster or fasterfix?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I used both.
Are you doing this test in the same location every time? Only real way to tell if this is working is how fast of a lock it gets in completely different areas so the GPS is not looking in the same spot for locks.
blazingwolf said:
Are you doing this test in the same location every time? Only real way to tell if this is working is how fast of a lock it gets in completely different areas so the GPS is not looking in the same spot for locks.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Tests were done traveling throughout the city in a work truck. About 6 fixes after reboots with an average of 30 mile intervals and all locks were fast.
good day.
chopper the dog said:
Tests were done traveling throughout the city in a work truck. About 6 fixes after reboots with an average of 30 mile intervals and all locks were fast.
good day.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Nice. Sounds like this might be a good thing to have then. Thanks for the info.
Thanks to the OP for bringing it up even if it is in the wrong forum.
My tests were with 2 of the same phones. 1 rooted and one stock both using gps booster. Both at the same spot. tomorrow i will try within my travels with just my phone as well with a power cycle in between trials.
Are you guys using the full version or the lite version?
Hi all,
just wanted to know whether you experienced any GPS improvements after the update?
Mine seems to be functioning a a lot better, however, it turns off by itself after like 10-15min of use. The little satellite dish disappears and I lose GPS tracking even though the GPS is turned on in the notification bar. I have to turn it off then on and it starts working again but it's annoying as hell.
Anyone else experiencing this?
GPS test
I used it today for about 1,5 hour, while driving.
It took a few minutes to start up. It was pretty precise in nav mode.
I lost the GPS signal one time, where I also lost the data connection. (At the time i was also playing with the phone.
Over all a good experience.
Tried yesterday, found satellites instantly, can keep gps lock, but still have some accuracy issue.
i used it on the way to work today with track booster and it seemed much better
however i tried again on the way home to test and lost data connection
once you loosed connection you dont seem to be able to get it back you have to restart the phone which is annoying
i will not say its fixed untill i have used it more and got consistant result
Just as bad as ever here, not locking many sats and still keeps losing them.
I can def use the phone for turn by turn navigation now, which is a massive plus.
But after working flawlessly for a couple min, it loses the GPS connection and doesn't even attempt to reconnect.
I then switch GPS off, then back on and it's working again.
This has got to be a software glitch.
still very bad. sometimes it simply cannot get a lock at all. this happens away from buildings and under clear sky. sometimes it gets a lock instantly but loses it quite quickly.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
I have the feeling that my gps is now with froyo better. Now i have more sattelits but works good enough with eclair.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
Better, but still unacceptable.
Sent from my GT-I9000 using XDA App
66 secs first sat fix.
Locked on 7 sats.
For me, waaaay much better with Froyo.
used mine on the way home from work and was a little better but still jumped around when stationary
As the title states, im having problems with the timer function after the update.
Before i could set the timer and let it run in the background while the screen is off.
But now, as soon as i press the power-button and the screen goes blank, the timer stoppes! This is really bugging me since its a function a use alot.
Anybody has any ideas as to why this happens? Can you test and report back to me if you are noticing the same?
Thx!
*Edit*
The timer actually resets when i hit the home button and the screen is turned off using the power-button. It resumes from start again when i re-enter the timer. Is this how it should be?
Sounds like a VT_ALARM signal
Sent from my LG-P990 using XDA App
@mh1337
Im sorry.
I dont quite understand what you mean?
Once again my timer got reset.
I had the timer going, and i recieved a call. When i returned to check the timer, it had reset to start, but was counting down.
The button under the time said start, even though the timer was running. So this seems like a bug to me. Any thoughts?
I get the same issue on mine. I'm running GB as well. 2.2 was fine.
Thank you for reporting in. "Glad" to hear im not the only one with the problem.
This is the the third thing the GB updage has damaged for me. 1 is the battery time (lost about 10 hours) 2 is gps issu, and 3 is the timer problem..
Not that it's any help to you, but this is not happening with v20G (UK open).
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
Okei.
Have you had any other problems? Gps problems, battery problems after GB update?
Im trying to figure out if there is a connection between the bugs im now facing after the GB update. Cause everything worket fine before.
The battery seems slightly better if anything, but I can't be sure on that as I only updated yesterday.
Will try the GPS out and let you know, as I'm out and about a bit later on today.
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
GPS took around 30 seconds to get a lock while outside, which is slower than it was on 2.2, but when it did get a lock it was accurate and remained so as I walked into my local town.
Sent from my LG-P990 using Tapatalk
Okey. Thank you for sharing!
I'm having a strange bug where when I use the gps and bluetooth for prolonged periods, the radio seems to shut off. This only happens when i'm driving from Oregon to California and I use the phone for music/audiobook and as a gps for time remaining in the trip.
I'm using Navigation for the gps and the standard play music for bluetooth music. I'm driving a Subaru and have never had this issue before. By the way, the phone gets 7 hours + for gps if the screen isn't kept on the entire time, much less if it is but still over 4 hours.
My xt890 is is not unlocked and is still completely stock. It also randomly shows a G where normally theres an edge symbol since I restrict my phone to edge because the Tmobile roll out hasn't happened in my area yet I don't think (Phone doesn't get 3g ever).
When the bug occurs the only method I've found that fixes it is to reboot the phone, airplane mode and back does not fix it. Though after the bug occurs once, it seems to happen more frequently. Could I be overheating something?
I experienced problems turning on gps on my RAZR-i twice in the last 2 weeks. I am using CoPilot live for navigation. In each case turning the phone completely off and waiting a few minutes solved the problem. In both cases I had the phone on (T mobile) and was using wifi for an extended period of time. I believe something is overheating. Don't think a HW problem, rather firmware reducing power to stay within the power budget (not enough for gps), but I am not 100% sure...
Sent from my NOOK using xda premium
Ok- yesterday the gps stopped working completely.
After doing a hard reset all problems are gone now.... clearly something got corrupted. Question is what app caused all my problems. Anyway, I am glad it was not an HW issue (imported it from GB to US)....
Sent from my XT890 using xda premium
As a previous owner of Samsung's Captivate, and Infuse I have had plenty of experience of how bad GPS can get.
Also having owned the Note 1 and Note 2 I was able to realize just how AWESOME GPS/GLONASS can be! My S2 was somewhere in between.
With EACH of the previous 5 AT&T devices I always left WI-FI assistance OFF for better accuracy with at times down to single digits of feet using a purchased app called GPS TEST PLUS.
Enter my two day old Note 3. It sees more than twenty satellites like my earlier Notes, but doesn't use nearly as many. GPS on Note 3 also seems to go to sleep in less than a couple minutes whereas all 5 earlier Galaxies didn't.
Google Maps starts to hone in and gets within several yards and then jumps a mile or so away before coming close again.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled gps app. Cleared/renewed agps data.
Full factory reset also without any improvement.
Accurate GPS is critical to me for marine navigation using Navionics app a couple of weeks each year on rental boats in FL Keys. Last spring we broke down and I sent owner an edited screen shot for him to come tow us.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
bluetoothless said:
As a previous owner of Samsung's Captivate, and Infuse I have had plenty of experience of how bad GPS can get.
Also having owned the Note 1 and Note 2 I was able to realize just how AWESOME GPS/GLONASS can be! My S2 was somewhere in between.
With EACH of the previous 5 AT&T devices I always left WI-FI assistance OFF for better accuracy with at times down to single digits of feet using a purchased app called GPS TEST PLUS.
Enter my two day old Note 3. It sees more than twenty satellites like my earlier Notes, but doesn't use nearly as many. GPS on Note 3 also seems to go to sleep in less than a couple minutes whereas all 5 earlier Galaxies didn't.
Google Maps starts to hone in and gets within several yards and then jumps a mile or so away before coming close again.
I have uninstalled/reinstalled gps app. Cleared/renewed agps data.
Full factory reset also without any improvement.
Accurate GPS is critical to me for marine navigation using Navionics app a couple of weeks each year on rental boats in FL Keys. Last spring we broke down and I sent owner an edited screen shot for him to come tow us.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes, I have noticed the same thing. Not sure what do about. I have also noticed that my signal quality is really lower than it used to be on Galaxy Note 2, as well.
Garrett
Considering return within 14 days. Not acceptable for me especially if custom ROMs won't be available to improve upon.
Have not compared GN 1,2,& 3 FCC diagrams to see if GPS antenna was moved.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I also have the same issue. I explained this to an att store that the gps is half as good as it was on my s4 or note 2. Lock on in maps kept going in and out and when i drove, my arrow would be driving over houses. All they said was they can't do anything because they can see anything wrong. While maps is open it locks on but accuracy keeps fading in and out. Again i said well it's more noticeable when driving. He said that i should take a photo of it happening... and that Gps accuracy is normal within 100 feet. I looked at him in disgust and repeated "normal within 100 feet?". I basically lost my sh*t immediately after that grabbed my phone out of his hand and walked out. I have no idea what to do.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Same issue with my Note 3. Very inaccurate GPS. I have sent mine for repairs and if they can't solve it I will not keep it.
/ j
YEAP .mine does the same thing. Hear we go again with a galaxy and a gps ! Note 2 was flawless and this issue makes me miss that phone
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk 4
This seems like a widespread issue and exchanging for another seems pointless. Right?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
I exchanged my pre ordered unit. It is stronger/better, but still not up to note 1 and 2 standards.
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
jajoj said:
Same issue with my Note 3. Very inaccurate GPS. I have sent mine for repairs and if they can't solve it I will not keep it.
/ j
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
did you get yours back? i'm thinking of sending mine in to samsung for repair. I don't want to send it in if their repair dept doesn't do anything.
cmjkxa said:
This seems like a widespread issue and exchanging for another seems pointless. Right?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using XDA Premium 4 mobile app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's exactly what I would like to know, because I have a similar issue. For me, using google maps works great until it suddenly says "GPS Signal Lost" and stops working. If I turn off GPS and turn it back on, it gets a fix again pretty quickly, but this shouldn't happen so often. It happens at least once every time I use maps, and often it will happen multiple times.
I have the "GPS Essentials" app so I ran it alongside google maps and checked it when the signal got lost. The satellites basically went from a count of about 17 down to 0 and then started adding themselves back.
I was going to exchange my phone for an exact replacement tomorrow. But if this is a software issue or an issue effecting the hardware on all phones, then it doesn't make sense to exchange it. I'd really like to pinpoint the issue exactly. Has anyone managed to get rid of this issue completely?
Someone should try exctracting a old version of maps from a note 2 or note 1 rom, uncheck auto update in the play store and see if the older version of maps is any better or if it will even work. I'll give it a try.
I just exchanged my phone today for a new one because of the GPS issues I was having. I used google maps navigation twice since and didn't hear "GPS signal lost" once. Seems like my new one doesn't have the GPS problem, but it may be too soon to tell. It could just be that a significant portion of the Note 3's out there have buggy GPS chips and my new one has a good one.
Another thought I had was maybe it has something to do with software we all have installed. Did everyone who had this problem root their phones? My old phone was rooted with Root De La Vega. I also froze AT&T navigation. I'm hoping the problem doesn't return when I root the new phone and install all my apps, but we shall see.
Having mobile data "on" helped me improve the GPS signal on my Note 3
Thanks for posting your experiences.
My phone has been on repairs twice with no improvement. I will go back to the store tomorrow and give them one more chance to solve the issues before returning it permanently.
I love the phone in every possible way except for the poor gps. It looses the fix constantly even in places where the sky is clear and reception should be perfect.
Below is an example of note 3 vs S4 running the "GPS Status & Toolbox" app. Worth noting is that the Note 3 had been searching for a fix for 20 minutes while the S4 was booted up just seconds prior to the photo:
i43.tinypic.com/2a7781g.jpg (copy paste in browser)
Both phones having the same settings enabled (wifi, gps) and swapping their positions did nothing to improve the situation. 1 minute after the photo was taken the S4 was down to 3m accuracy. Note 3 never goes below 10.
/ j
xfive420 said:
That's exactly what I would like to know, because I have a similar issue. For me, using google maps works great until it suddenly says "GPS Signal Lost" and stops working. If I turn off GPS and turn it back on, it gets a fix again pretty quickly, but this shouldn't happen so often. It happens at least once every time I use maps, and often it will happen multiple times.
I have the "GPS Essentials" app so I ran it alongside google maps and checked it when the signal got lost. The satellites basically went from a count of about 17 down to 0 and then started adding themselves back.
I was going to exchange my phone for an exact replacement tomorrow. But if this is a software issue or an issue effecting the hardware on all phones, then it doesn't make sense to exchange it. I'd really like to pinpoint the issue exactly. Has anyone managed to get rid of this issue completely?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same issue, except I would lose the GPS signal every time I plugged the phone in. I would have a good signal then plug it in and it would drop the GPS. Even the GPS icon would disappear. I took it to the ATT store and they exchanged it. I don't have that issue anymore, although my compass app seems way and useless.
tinpusher said:
I had the same issue, except I would lose the GPS signal every time I plugged the phone in. I would have a good signal then plug it in and it would drop the GPS. Even the GPS icon would disappear. I took it to the ATT store and they exchanged it. I don't have that issue anymore, although my compass app seems way and useless.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
So that's more evidence that the hardware may be to blame... unless you had a profile manager or something that launched conflicting software when the phone was plugged in. Seems like poor QA on the GPS chips to me.
About your compass issue, I think you have to rotate the phone at least twice around each axis to get that to calibrate. Although that may be just with certain apps.
So I installed maps apk from a note 1 rom so I'll give it a try and report back if it is any better. Its a long shot but worth a try.
xfive420 said:
I just exchanged my phone today for a new one because of the GPS issues I was having. I used google maps navigation twice since and didn't hear "GPS signal lost" once. Seems like my new one doesn't have the GPS problem, but it may be too soon to tell. It could just be that a significant portion of the Note 3's out there have buggy GPS chips and my new one has a good one.
Another thought I had was maybe it has something to do with software we all have installed. Did everyone who had this problem root their phones? My old phone was rooted with Root De La Vega. I also froze AT&T navigation. I'm hoping the problem doesn't return when I root the new phone and install all my apps, but we shall see.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just an update...
I rooted my phone again and installed all my apps, and my GPS still works perfectly. So basically my software stack is the exact same as it was when I had issues, but now the hardware is all new. This tells me the software is not to blame, and the GPS issue is most likely caused by a crappy GPS chip with poor quality control.
A word of advice: If you have GPS issues in your Note 3 and you're still within the 2 week window AT&T gives you for returning the phone, exchange it for a new one. It seems to have fixed my problem.
xfive420 said:
Just an update...
I rooted my phone again and installed all my apps, and my GPS still works perfectly. So basically my software stack is the exact same as it was when I had issues, but now the hardware is all new. This tells me the software is not to blame, and the GPS issue is most likely caused by a crappy GPS chip with poor quality control.
A word of advice: If you have GPS issues in your Note 3 and you're still within the 2 week window AT&T gives you for returning the phone, exchange it for a new one. It seems to have fixed my problem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I was a pre-order (received it on the 4th) so I'm well past the 2 week window. I didn't really use the GPS until after I rooted with the initial Root De La Vega (MI1 FW). Then I noticed just terrible GPS performance (jumping around, poor refresh, losing lock, etc.) I re-rooted using the MI9 FW, and my GPS performance improved dramatically. My compass is still terrible. But I can navigate with Gmaps without always jumping to different streets. Just my experience.
dtm1087 said:
I was a pre-order (received it on the 4th) so I'm well past the 2 week window. I didn't really use the GPS until after I rooted with the initial Root De La Vega (MI1 FW). Then I noticed just terrible GPS performance (jumping around, poor refresh, losing lock, etc.) I re-rooted using the MI9 FW, and my GPS performance improved dramatically. My compass is still terrible. But I can navigate with Gmaps without always jumping to different streets. Just my experience.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
For what it's worth, I rooted with MI9 on both phones. The first one had the GPS issues and the 2nd works perfectly.