Gps

[jjen]

Has anyone done anything with the GPS on the A500? I did a test run with it this morning and it worked well. Other times I have messed with it the program would crash when selecting various choices on the limited menus. I have been looking for a way to delete recent destinations, but can't find anything on it in the help.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[kenji57]

It would helpful if you said what program you were talking about when you say "the program would crash".

'GPS' has many layers from the hardware through to the application (program). Many applications use GPS
Some apps seem to work with the GPS API better than others, Speedview is very quick in my experience, Google maps can take a while to get a location.

 

[jjen]

It would helpful if you said what program you were talking about when you say "the program would crash".

'GPS' has many layers from the hardware through to the application (program). Many applications use GPS
Some apps seem to work with the GPS API better than others, Speedview is very quick in my experience, Google maps can take a while to get a location.

I was fishing for information and hoped to get others experience. I was using the applications installed on the A500. Namely, Google Maps and Navigation. I don't consider a speedometer or compass supplied by Speedview as important information. The HUD is a joke. The map display is most important to me. Speedview links to Google Maps where the crashes apparently come from. The update to Google Maps is even worse for causing crashes. Most of the applications appear to built for multifunction phones and are of little value to me. I am still looking for an application that will make the GPS usable.

 

[Zoandroid]

GPS Status is a free utility that I find handy to make sure the GPS is working properly on my Android devices. On my old LG Ally I could open GPS Status to get the GPS to lock more quickly, then close it and switch to Navigation. If I did not do that, Navigation migth take several minutes for its GPS to lock and sometimes never lock at all. GPS status is in itself a GPS app in that you get a display similar to a hand held GPS unit, but only the real time data, no waypoints or mapping or anything like that.

Is your A500 by any chance rooted? If so there is much more you can do to help the stock GPS in the tablet. The folks over on XDA Developers have an app that fixes a lot of the shortcomings of the stock GPS software to make it lock in extremely fast and be more stable. They also have a post explaining the gist of what they had to do and why. It seems Acer used some very generic and imprecise software in the tablet's GPS feature. Their utility corrects these issues. It made quite a difference on my A500, even indoors.

Read this thread if you are interested:

androidforums.com/iconia-tab-a500-all-things-root/475551-gps-fix.html

 

[jjen]

GPS Status is a free utility that I find handy to make sure the GPS is working properly on my Android devices. On my old LG Ally I could open GPS Status to get the GPS to lock more quickly, then close it and switch to Navigation. If I did not do that, Navigation migth take several minutes for its GPS to lock and sometimes never lock at all. GPS status is in itself a GPS app in that you get a display similar to a hand held GPS unit, but only the real time data, no waypoints or mapping or anything like that.

Is your A500 by any chance rooted? If so there is much more you can do to help the stock GPS in the tablet. The folks over on XDA Developers have an app that fixes a lot of the shortcomings of the stock GPS software to make it lock in extremely fast and be more stable. They also have a post explaining the gist of what they had to do and why. It seems Acer used some very generic and imprecise software in the tablet's GPS feature. Their utility corrects these issues. It made quite a difference on my A500, even indoors.

Read this thread if you are interested:

androidforums.com/iconia-tab-a500-all-things-root/475551-gps-fix.html

I've only had my A500 about a month. I'm not ready to trash it yet. It is not rooted. The explanation of the patch is definitely written by a software creator. Reminds me of the DOS manuals of thirty years ago. You are assumed to know everything about what they are writing about before you read it. I guess I will stick with my PNDs.

 

[Zoandroid]

I've only had my A500 about a month. I'm not ready to trash it yet. It is not rooted. The explanation of the patch is definitely written by a software creator. Reminds me of the DOS manuals of thirty years ago. You are assumed to know everything about what they are writing about before you read it. I guess I will stick with my PNDs.

Well, I have to agree their description of the patch is pretty heady. But the only thing to really come away with when looking it over is that they devised a way to make the GPS a lot more accurate by having it talk to a more precise database when in operation. I can attest to the increase in performance.

Rooting is definitely an optional route, and I can't blame you if you don't want to go there. But I wouldn't call it 'trashing'. It's really no different than being an "administrator" on a Windows PC. And anyone with experience in Windows, especially Windows Vista and 7, will quickly see that if your user account is NOT an administrator, you are so limited in what you can do that the PC becomes a "dumb box".

Gaining administrator access in Android opens up such a huge assortment of options that to me it's like getting a whole new completely better device. However, it is definitely considered a warranty voiding act by most of the mind control, er, I mean product vendors. So I don't blame anyone who doesn't want to root a device. To each his own.

Even without applying the patch, did you notice the part in the thread I pointed to about standing the tablet up from the horizontal position? That made a HUGE difference when I tried it (and that was before I applied the patch), so it would likely help your GPS performance. It locks in much faster when not lying down (seems odd to me, but it works).

 

[dbldipp]

I bought my Tablet the first day they were released, so I've been using the GPS since day 1. I am an over the road truck driver so GPS is sort of essential to me. I use ALK Co Pilot. You are using a program that has to be connected to the internet for it to work. Co Pilot works independant of the internet, the maps are self contained. Te connection to the gps can be a pain some days and fantastic other days. When it's cloudy I have noticed that it takes longer to lock in. But it is dependable and precise.

 

[RMinMN]

I bought my Tablet the first day they were released, so I've been using the GPS since day 1. I am an over the road truck driver so GPS is sort of essential to me. I use ALK Co Pilot. You are using a program that has to be connected to the internet for it to work. Co Pilot works independant of the internet, the maps are self contained. Te connection to the gps can be a pain some days and fantastic other days. When it's cloudy I have noticed that it takes longer to lock in. But it is dependable and precise.

I've also bought the Copilot app, just the basic USA Live and downloaded the North America maps. It seems to be pretty accurate in routing me at least locally where I know all the roads and doesn't want to take me down a forest trail like my newer Magellan. I find it to be best to get the GPS to lock before I get into my vehicle and start moving as at least once it refused to lock at all. There is a learning curve on Copilot but it isn't too steep if you have used other GPS devices. I found that there is a way to get alternate routes even in the basic app that I bought and it chooses quite intelligently, giving me the easiest route (probably fastest) first and then the shorter route that I can choose. If I deviate from that route it sets a new route almost instantly and that route is a decent one too. The app does have in-app options to upgrade and it suggests you do it every time you click on one of the buttons that aren't supported in the basic app.

 

[jjen]

Sygic looks good. I think I will give it a try.