HELP: GPS in Pre 3: standalone or assisted only?

shmd.bd · 12/11/2011, 08:37 PM

Hi,

I'm thinking to buy one palm pre 3. But I'm not sure about it's GPS. Can it's GPS work standalone, unlike my iPhone 4? How good is the reception & how much time is needed for a fix?

Anyone here to help me?

Garfonso · 12/12/2011, 04:24 AM

The GPS can work standalone, I tested that on my last trips to france and sweden. It did not need to have a data connection to get a fix. But the fix takes some time... it's somewhere in the region of a few minutes. There is a trick to force the phone to a faster fix, dialing #*477# (on GSM phones, other were a bit different). But it still takes some minutes.

The reception usually is very good. It even works in most buildings if you are close to a window. Never had problems in a car.

Of course you have to take the nature of GPS into account... if you travel a long distance without gps reception or haven't got gps reception for like two weeks, it will need to download the complete almanac. If there is no data connection available it needs to get this from the GPS satelites, which takes a long time, like 30-45min. This will happen with every GPS device, because it's the way how GPS works.

A short google search told me, that iPhone 4 should be able to get a GPS fix without data connection, too... maybe you only ran into that almanac issue?

12/11/2011, 08:37 PM	#1 (permalink)
shmd.bd Member Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 1 Likes Received: 0 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	HELP: GPS in Pre 3: standalone or assisted only? Hi, I'm thinking to buy one palm pre 3. But I'm not sure about it's GPS. Can it's GPS work standalone, unlike my iPhone 4? How good is the reception & how much time is needed for a fix? Anyone here to help me?
	Liked by

12/12/2011, 04:24 AM	#2 (permalink)
Garfonso Homebrew Developer Join Date: Jun 2010 Posts: 279 Likes Received: 14 Thanks: 38 Thanked 49 Times in 35 Posts	The GPS can work standalone, I tested that on my last trips to france and sweden. It did not need to have a data connection to get a fix. But the fix takes some time... it's somewhere in the region of a few minutes. There is a trick to force the phone to a faster fix, dialing #*477# (on GSM phones, other were a bit different). But it still takes some minutes. The reception usually is very good. It even works in most buildings if you are close to a window. Never had problems in a car. Of course you have to take the nature of GPS into account... if you travel a long distance without gps reception or haven't got gps reception for like two weeks, it will need to download the complete almanac. If there is no data connection available it needs to get this from the GPS satelites, which takes a long time, like 30-45min. This will happen with every GPS device, because it's the way how GPS works. A short google search told me, that iPhone 4 should be able to get a GPS fix without data connection, too... maybe you only ran into that almanac issue?
	Liked by

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