Sprint Nav - Is it just me?

[arhoolie]

OK, I'll admit up front that I'm a total newbie when it comes to GPS devices and applications. Sprint Navigation on the Pre is my first exposure to these tools so some of my basic assumptions may be wrong.

That said, here's my experience so far with Sprint Nav. First, as of right now, it hasn't a clue as to where I am. If I tell it to create a route to my work address, it stall on "Getting route...". And I've waited for several minutes for it to do so. Google Maps, by the way, figured out my current location in a heartbeat. And I was standing outside my home when I tried this just now. I was in the middle of a large open area, near a large shade tree but not directly underneath it.

Secondly, yesterday, I got back from an overnight trip. On the way out Friday, Sprint Nav was VERY helpful in giving me turn by turn directions, particularly through one small NE Ohio town. But coming back Saturday, it was a waste of time. It couldn't get a location on me despite seven or eight attempts, many of which were while I was standing outside my car in the parking lot of a Burger King. Later on, it seemed to have some idea where I was (while I was on the Ohio Turnpike) but kept repeating messages about a "weak GPS signal". Now, I don't even get those.

But overall, I'm really disappointed with Sprint Nav app. It's just not performing well at all. Is anyone else having similar issues. Is there a reason why Sprint Nav would fall over and yet Google Maps can figure out where I am? Because Google Maps seems to be working OK, I wouldn't think it's a hardware issue with my Pre, would it?

What are other folks experiences with Sprint Nav?

webOS 1.0.2, Sprint Nav 2.1.0.8

[Hook_em]

I had this same problem yesterday as well. I had a message that kept popping up telling me my gps was not on...so, of course I turn it on. I think all is well, and then that message again kept popping up telling me to turn on gps. Maybe its a bug?

After a soft reset (orange + sym + r) it started working normally. Anyone else have these problems?

Originally Posted by arhoolie

OK, I'll admit up front that I'm a total newbie when it comes to GPS devices and applications. Sprint Navigation on the Pre is my first exposure to these tools so some of my basic assumptions may be wrong.

That said, here's my experience so far with Sprint Nav. First, as of right now, it hasn't a clue as to where I am. If I tell it to create a route to my work address, it stall on "Getting route...". And I've waited for several minutes for it to do so. Google Maps, by the way, figured out my current location in a heartbeat. And I was standing outside my home when I tried this just now. I was in the middle of a large open area, near a large shade tree but not directly underneath it.

Secondly, yesterday, I got back from an overnight trip. On the way out Friday, Sprint Nav was VERY helpful in giving me turn by turn directions, particularly through one small NE Ohio town. But coming back Saturday, it was a waste of time. It couldn't get a location on me despite seven or eight attempts, many of which were while I was standing outside my car in the parking lot of a Burger King. Later on, it seemed to have some idea where I was (while I was on the Ohio Turnpike) but kept repeating messages about a "weak GPS signal". Now, I don't even get those.

But overall, I'm really disappointed with Sprint Nav app. It's just not performing well at all. Is anyone else having similar issues. Is there a reason why Sprint Nav would fall over and yet Google Maps can figure out where I am? Because Google Maps seems to be working OK, I wouldn't think it's a hardware issue with my Pre, would it?

What are other folks experiences with Sprint Nav?

webOS 1.0.2, Sprint Nav 2.1.0.8

[arhoolie]

Originally Posted by Hook_em

I had this same problem yesterday as well. I had a message that kept popping up telling me my gps was not on...so, of course I turn it on. I think all is well, and then that message again kept popping up telling me to turn on gps. Maybe its a bug?

After a soft reset (orange + sym + r) it started working normally. Anyone else have these problems?

In my case, it was "Cannot get current location" or something very close to that.

I just tried the soft reset, and that didn't help, either. Now it's "were unable to map a route". The address I gave it was my work address. Geez.

[hchavarria]

I have been using it and thus far haven't had any problems. I also used it when I was with at&t and didn't have any issues. Did you have good signal where you were? Nav not only uses GPS but also data to route and load maps.

[Hook_em]

Seems like the OP got it to work the other day from where he was. I wonder as well what type of reception he/she is getting? So far I have not come across anything saying that Nav works only in EV-DO areas or if 1x will work as well. Perhaps OP is roaming? I'm not sure if Nav works if the phone roams...but then again, I would assume it should if it hasn't been stated that roaming precludes Nav use thus far.

OP -- I would recommend contacting Palm tech support (either via their forums or via telephone). I have read other posts and it seems like they are VERY helpful for Pre related usability issues

Originally Posted by hchavarria

I have been using it and thus far haven't had any problems. I also used it when I was with at&t and didn't have any issues. Did you have good signal where you were? Nav not only uses GPS but also data to route and load maps.

[arhoolie]

Thanks for the responses. I don't believe I was roaming as I took the same route down on Friday as I took on the way back home Saturday. It seemed to work fine on Friday, but not Saturday. The town where it couldn't get my location at the Burger King parking lot on Saturday was the same town it had guided me through flawlessly on Friday. Go figure, eh.

Today, it's not working at all despite several outdoor attempts. This is from my home where I don't see the roaming symbol.

I've tried a soft reset (Orange + sum+R) and a Partial restore, neither have worked. So it's off to tech support land.

I'll post here what happens. Thanks again.

[arhoolie]

OK, I've just gotten off the phone with Sprint's tech support. We did a hard reset, ie., basically, wiped the device and restored from backup. That fixed the problem and Nav now seems to get a lock on where I am and plot a route very quickly.

The support person I dealt with was courteous and helpful. He also mentioned to me that they have seen this kind of a problem with the Pre and Sprint Nav and it should be addressed in a forthcoming update.

[patchs]

Originally Posted by arhoolie

OK, I've just gotten off the phone with Sprint's tech support. We did a hard reset, ie., basically, wiped the device and restored from backup. That fixed the problem and Nav now seems to get a lock on where I am and plot a route very quickly.

The support person I dealt with was courteous and helpful. He also mentioned to me that they have seen this kind of a problem with the Pre and Sprint Nav and it should be addressed in a forthcoming update.

I've had the same issues (which I've posted on in other GPS threads) so you're not the only one.
I'm glad Sprint knows and will do an update.

[arhoolie]

I may have spoken a bit too soon about the effects of the reset. It fixed it alright: once. On the second try, it failed just as it had prior to the reset.

Since I don't really need Sprint Nav for the foreseeable future, I won't bother with calling them again; I'll just wait for the update.

[vapostol]

It seems to have to do with warm start vs cold start. If you keep GPS off while your not using it and you turn it on you might have to wait a while for it to get a signal from the satellites .. but if you always keep the GPS ON..and you walk out of your house.. it gets a location within a minute, probably less. Having said that, when you turn it ON when its been off for a while, it seems to not turn ON properly and it hangs looking for signals, in which case you have to reset the device .. but i think its a software issue that will be solved soon

[RickNY]

I will say, coming from the Curve with Sprint Navigation -- which uses the same software by TeleNav -- the software itself is usually excellent. It sounds like you are experiencing either a) a hardware issue with the GPS receiver in the phone or b) a signal issue (it uses A-GPS, which also relies on being able to triangulate with cell towers) If you are in an area of weak or non-existent cell service, you'll lose the GPS fix. Also, this is another shortcoming of nav software on the phone -- if you plan on a long trip, you'll lose turn by turn directions if you go out of a reception area.

[arhoolie]

Originally Posted by vapostol

It seems to have to do with warm start vs cold start. If you keep GPS off while your not using it and you turn it on you might have to wait a while for it to get a signal from the satellites .. but if you always keep the GPS ON..and you walk out of your house.. it gets a location within a minute, probably less. Having said that, when you turn it ON when its been off for a while, it seems to not turn ON properly and it hangs looking for signals, in which case you have to reset the device .. but i think its a software issue that will be solved soon

Ok, now this makes some sense as I have been turning the GPS off and on to save the drain on the battery.

[WhoAmI]

This a little off-topic, but is anyone else a little upset that (as far as I can tell) you can't use Sprint Nav with addresses in your appointments or contacts? I would have though that with how "connected: the Pre was supposed to be that they would have at least made the Sprint Nav software able to lookup addresses from my contacts!

Looks like I'm stuck with cut & paste for now :-/

[Klownicle]

Yeah, google's rope has reached a little too far on this one. Sprint Nav should open up automatically for address's. I don't want to SEE where it is. I want instructions. The instinct would ask bring you to a menu that would give you all the information it could about a address and ask you if you wanted point to point, or gps instructions.

[RickNY]

Originally Posted by WhoAmI

This a little off-topic, but is anyone else a little upset that (as far as I can tell) you can't use Sprint Nav with addresses in your appointments or contacts?

You can use Sprint Nav with addresses in your contacts -- you need to work backwards. Start Sprint Navigation.. Drive To.. Contacts. Any contacts that you have with a properly formatted address should show up in the list.

[jdale]

I also had a problem with Sprint Nav where the maps are out of date. They recently moved one particular highway exit from the left to the right side of the highway here, and the map is now wrong. Which is fine, that happens and eventually it will get updated. But after making a number of attempts to guess where I was as I drove on this new offramp, Sprint Nav simply gave up and aborted the session. So I had to completely restart, while driving. This continued to happen several times even after I got onto normal roads (which had not changed). That doesn't seem like optimal behavior.

[ucsbleo]

I had this happened to me today. The weird part is if I turn off the phone and turn it back on, the GPS works great! The only bummer is that the phone takes about 5 minutes to reboot... I can't wait for that update!

[leipsic83]

Originally Posted by RickNY

You can use Sprint Nav with addresses in your contacts -- you need to work backwards. Start Sprint Navigation.. Drive To.. Contacts. Any contacts that you have with a properly formatted address should show up in the list.

what is the format for the address to be properly formatted? I am not seeing any contacts and would like to reformat their addressses so i can do this.

Thanks.

[xcomputerman]

My biggest problem with Sprint Nav has been that it seems to have a memory leak. On short trips you don't notice, but twice now I've used it on a trip from Houston to Dallas and towards the end of the trip the phone started to run out of memory and would continue to complain of memory even if I dismissed every other card.

They've got to fix the memory leak. Seriously.

[KnightZero77]

Mine has been accurate and precise, however it has given me errant directions on at least one occasion. Still better than Mapquest any day.