Moved: A-GPS on Sony Ericsson Xperia X1i

[travelbug]

Travelbug, using cooked ROMs won't unlock the Qualcomm processor's video acceleration capabilities. This licensing problem has been there since the HTC Tytn II (the Dopod 838Pro is equivalent to the Tytn I, so video/3D acceleration was present). The HTC Touch HD also has this "problem", so the people at xda-developers (projection and tnyynt spearheaded this) made a small encoder program to convert videos to Touch HD and Xperia optimized mp4's. The Xperia plays great under this format (using Media Player). If I try playing this same video file with Coreplayer, the frame rate would be 1 frame per 5 seconds, but the sound is okay.

I'm into really technical stuffs that's why the xda-developers forum is the way to go for me I learned a lot reading the threads there By the way, the Xperia was built by HTC for Sony Ericsson, so technically it is also an HTC device. It has a separate section dedicated to it in the xda-developer's forum.

ok goin back to gps are you familiar with the static gps issue of htc products. aoparentky its also present in the omnia. wna try geocaching but this issue may be a problem with geocaching. just wanna know your thoughts...

[yaozer]

ok goin back to gps are you familiar with the static gps issue of htc products. aoparentky its also present in the omnia. wna try geocaching but this issue may be a problem with geocaching. just wanna know your thoughts...

Hmmm I haven't really tried using the Xperia's GPS on foot, only via car. Have you tried turning off static navigation via registry edit? There's supposed to be a "GPSMODE" value somewhere, not sure if it is the same value name in the Omnia registry. I remembered it accepting a DWORD value of 1 or 2, "2" being the Xperia's default, "1" will supposedly turn off static navigation. I will try to find the exact registry path if time permits, or you can try to do a FIND in your registry editor on "GPSMODE".

To me, HTC might have concluded that most of the people who will be buying their phone products will be using the GPS function exclusively for driving (like me, so in my opinion I don't consider this an issue), so they've turned on static navigation by default. I'm not sure how good/accurate the GPS will be if this is turned off though. There might be better hiking GPS units out there that you can make use of.

[yaozer]

Travelbug, I decided to go outside my store and tried walking around, the Xperia GPS can actually detect small speeds (e.g. 2m/s). Now I don't know if it can do this consistently hehe..

[amf]

Guys, does your winmobile phones show the GPS accuracy (in meters or feet)? If so, what is the best accuracy you can achieve?

I asked this because my BB 8900 is able to achieve a 0.80 meter accuracy with a re-radiating antenna. My Nuvi's best is 2m and my iPhone 9m.

Thanks!

[travelbug]

Guys, does your winmobile phones show the GPS accuracy (in meters or feet)? If so, what is the best accuracy you can achieve?

I asked this because my BB 8900 is able to achieve a 0.80 meter accuracy with a re-radiating antenna. My Nuvi's best is 2m and my iPhone 9m.

Thanks!

with our version of garmin mobile xt i dont think so but i saw another program that provides such information- i dont have it though...

i can also track myself at walking speed (1m/sec) but my phone has a locked 'static' feature that can rarely give wierd reading for like a second when im not moving...

so im guessing the accuracy could be closer to your nuvis 2m

[travelbug]

Hmmm I haven't really tried using the Xperia's GPS on foot, only via car. Have you tried turning off static navigation via registry edit? There's supposed to be a "GPSMODE" value somewhere, not sure if it is the same value name in the Omnia registry. I remembered it accepting a DWORD value of 1 or 2, "2" being the Xperia's default, "1" will supposedly turn off static navigation. I will try to find the exact registry path if time permits, or you can try to do a FIND in your registry editor on "GPSMODE".

To me, HTC might have concluded that most of the people who will be buying their phone products will be using the GPS function exclusively for driving (like me, so in my opinion I don't consider this an issue), so they've turned on static navigation by default. I'm not sure how good/accurate the GPS will be if this is turned off though. There might be better hiking GPS units out there that you can make use of.

i have read on this gpsmode reg value and it can be changed thru the omnia's keypad thrugh service codes actually.
the site i read though does not recommend setting this value at it could inadvertently damage the gps.
our phone uses a qualcomm chip as opposed to the normally used sirf gps chip. iwonder what your experia has....

[yaozer]

i have read on this gpsmode reg value and it can be changed thru the omnia's keypad thrugh service codes actually.
the site i read though does not recommend setting this value at it could inadvertently damage the gps.
our phone uses a qualcomm chip as opposed to the normally used sirf gps chip. iwonder what your experia has....

Travelbug, I believe the Xperia has a Qualcomm GPS chip too, not sure if it is integrated in the main Qualcomm processor. And yes it is not sirf haha When you mentioned "Service Codes", did you mean directly tweaking the GPS hardware? I think it is safer (for me at least) to edit the registry instead. By the way, I found the GPSMode reg key path in my phone:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\HTC\SUPL_AGPS\GPSMode

Hmm maybe this really is just for HTC units...

amf, how's your re-radiating antenna? After a few weeks of use, is it durable? I still haven't ordered one, but will be soon

[amf]

i can also track myself at walking speed (1m/sec) but my phone has a locked 'static' feature that can rarely give wierd reading for like a second when im not moving...

so im guessing the accuracy could be closer to your nuvis 2m

Thanks! 2 meters with or without an external antenna?

I believe it's normal for a GPS device without a magnetic compass to have that weird reading when you're moving very slowly or at a standstill. The device cannot accurately establish your heading when at a standstill or when you're moving very slowly thus your tracks are not smooth (scattered). The most accurate reading is when you're moving at least 4-5 meters/sec.

yaozer: About the re-rad-- It's working great! I suggest you one get if you're really serious about mapping and/or having accurate tracks.

[travelbug]

Thanks! 2 meters with or without an external antenna?

I believe it's normal for a GPS device without a magnetic compass to have that weird reading when you're moving very slowly or at a standstill. The device cannot accurately establish your heading when at a standstill or when you're moving very slowly thus your tracks are not smooth (scattered). The most accurate reading is when you're moving at least 4-5 meters/sec.

yaozer: About the re-rad-- It's working great! I suggest you one get if you're really serious about mapping and/or having accurate tracks.

i dont use an external antenna. i could be dead wrong in this though....
it just got it from the fact that it follows me quite accurately when moving around my compound in google maps-