Samsung Galaxy S2 Discussions

[travelbug]

What the? My gps.conf has a modified date of 1-16-70!

LOL must have something to do with your custom rom.
mine is aug-20-08. looks like original eclair settings to me

[travelbug]

There is definitely something else at play here. Either that, or the S2's GPS radio is inferior to it.

this is what i thought at first but many people and many youtube videos are showing the sgs2 locking in seconds and even indoors sometimes.

i think your theory is sound in that we just dont have accurate time data with the default time servers.

[Monkeyking]

OK, after a few tests, it seems that faster fix does change the values in the gps.confg file (The modified date does not change though, weird), I used faster fix to set it to asia.pool,ntp.org and the changes are reflected there when I open it to view it. I changed it to cn.pool.ntp.org and the changes are reflected as well.

[travelbug]

OK, after a few tests, it seems that faster fix does change the values in the gps.confg file (The modified date does not change though, weird), I used faster fix to set it to asia.pool,ntp.org and the changes are reflected there when I open it to view it. I changed it to cn.pool.ntp.org and the changes are reflected as well.

can you post your gps.config contents? i want to do a manual edit instead of d/ling fasterfix and busybox

tia

[Monkeyking]

Sure.

NTP_SERVER=asia.pool.ntp.org
XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtra1.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtra2.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin

SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com
SUPL_PORT=7276

[travelbug]

Sure.

NTP_SERVER=asia.pool.ntp.org
XTRA_SERVER_1=http://xtra1.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_2=http://xtra2.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin
XTRA_SERVER_3=http://xtra3.gpsonextra.net/xtra.bin

SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com
SUPL_PORT=7276

Thanks, I'll edit them when I get home tonight and see how it goes with gps this week

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk

[yaozer]

I had a chance to try out different NTP servers yesterday (In Binondo, where GPS locking is a bit of a nightmare, with all the crowded buildings). I've got mixed results. Using ph.pool.ntp.org or asia.pool.ntp.org (they are similar in terms of performance) improved my lock speed (But not the speed I was expecting. Cold start lock speed went down from around 3mins (using the default north-america.pool.ntp.org and GPS Status) to 55secs (with GPS Status also). With the Galaxy Tab (not rooted, so using north-america.pool.ntp.org), cold start still took only 20secs. Hot start after turning off GPS for 5 seconds yielded instantaneous locks for both my S2 and the Galaxy Tab. Hot start after turning off both units' GPS for 10minutes: my S2 locked in 32secs, the Galaxy Tab still instantaneous.

One thing I noticed with my S2 is that it could see lots of satellites pretty quickly. Once turned on, it can automatically see 4 satellites, at around 15-20 seconds, it can see 10-12 satellites (I believe the GPS Status app gets the most credit here). The thing I'm wondering is WHY it doesn't want to lock into them earlier, it's as if its algorithm is to delay the lock until a set time. Also, I've noticed what other forums have mentioned too, it would only lock into at most 8 satellites, even if it can see all 12. This is also the case with the first Galaxy S. It seems the GPS driver must also be updated/improved.

[travelbug]

45-55 secs is about the same time i got when i tried the darkyrom fix.
however the lock was poor with only 4 satelittes and 2d 45mts.

you could be right in that the hc baseband gps drivers are just more efficient. or an app like angry gps is aiding gps.

have you posted this on xda developers? if there is a group that can solve this im sure its them.

[yaozer]

Ah yes the Darky ROM fix uses asia.pool.ntp.org, as well as the 0,1,2, and 3 "mirrors" (e.g. 0.asia.pool.ntp.org). So maybe that is a fast as it goes using the asia NTP server. I have since reverted back to my original gps.conf, then just used FasterFix to change the NTP server to Asia. I currently have the same configuration as Monkeyking's.

The one in the Darky ROM fix also contains lots of other commands. I don't really know what the Wiper command is for, but when I researched, it seems to be connected with HTC. I don't know if it can be used with non-HTC phones. The Accuracy command is also a mystery to me. A thread was talking about the Skipton problem (referring to a place in the UK) and that this Accuracy command helps alleviate it. Sooooo, I didn't want commands in my gps.conf that I don't understand clearly hehe.

With regards to the 8 out of 12 satellites thingy, the Galaxy S forums still have this problem, no new GPS drivers were released yet.

[travelbug]

ok could one of you download your gps.conf file? easier than typing hehe.

also what baseband are you guys using? afaik it controls all system antennas like data, gsm, wifi, gps, etc?

im on kg6. cant really compare to stock kf1 as i wasnt using the gps when i had my stock config. nevertheless i encourage you to update your baseband/modems to newer versions for better data, wifi etc.

[travelbug]

just a quick tip.

it is NOT recommended to continuously kill tasks/apps/services in the android o/s as doing so will actually use up more battery.

[Monkeyking]

At last, found a solution for navitel taking over the sms. You'll need a rooted phone though.

1. Search the market for Gemini app manager, it's free.

2. Go to menu, then expert mode.

3. Scroll down and look for navitel, tap on it.

4. A menu will pop up, choose "config autorun root"

5. Look for "on sms received", there is a switch set to on, switch it to off.

Why upgrade to newer versions when the older ones work? Well because the newer versions have a real qwerty portrait keyboard, going to the find menu, there is a search button beside every category, so easier to search categories rather than just searching everything.

Also this might account for loss of battery life? (not sure) Even on lower versions where the navitel icon does not appear on the notification bar, that setting is still present in Gemini, so even if you can't see the icon, it still intercepts all sms.

[travelbug]

With regards to the 8 out of 12 satellites thingy, the Galaxy S forums still have this problem, no new GPS drivers were released yet.

after updating to the kh3 modem i can get 10-11 satellite locks.

[yaozer]

Whoa that is indeed good news Travelbug! Do you know which region KH3 is really for? I am tempted to upgrade. How about lock speed, did it improve somewhat?

By the way, I've tested GPS Status and Navitel separately. It seems I cannot replicate the previous battery draining problem I had, weird. Based on Betterbatterstats, the GPS Status test run yielded 103 counts of GPSLocationProvider Wakelocks (1 day run). For the Navitel test run, it yielded 253 Wakelock counts of the same process (1 day run also). But the thing is, my battery seems to be normal, in fact, it actually seems stronger now (decreases juice far less). I hope the problem was just a fluke and will never happen again hehe..

[travelbug]

Whoa that is indeed good news Travelbug! Do you know which region KH3 is really for? I am tempted to upgrade. How about lock speed, did it improve somewhat?

By the way, I've tested GPS Status and Navitel separately. It seems I cannot replicate the previous battery draining problem I had, weird. Based on Betterbatterstats, the GPS Status test run yielded 103 counts of GPSLocationProvider Wakelocks (1 day run). For the Navitel test run, it yielded 253 Wakelock counts of the same process (1 day run also). But the thing is, my battery seems to be normal, in fact, it actually seems stronger now (decreases juice far less). I hope the problem was just a fluke and will never happen again hehe..

i believe it is from china. it also seems that locks are faster but its too early to tell since i just updated 2 days ago.

basically for wakelocks if the time is greater than the time youve used the app, then it is indeed keeping your sgs2 awake. i do hope it was a fluke, ive never had issues with gps status.

btw how do you input detours in navitel like the way we did in garmin?