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Help GPS issues. Power related?

F

felineprime

Lurker
I've taken several hours and numerous solutions. Some have made things "better", several have made things worse. (ex: something has made it so my AGPS doesn't work very well at all. I have used "GPS status" to clear cache and download data)

My problem is my GPS is a lot weaker than it used to be. Getting into a bus, between buildings, just about anything will make me lose my signal. Sometimes even in an open field.

I know, you've all heard this one before.

GPSFix by androidlabs helps speed up a reconnection, but only that, speeds up. What really fixes it is.. turning off the screen. I got "GPS Status and toolbox" which I found allows me to see signal strength. Now I can see the signal get stronger when my phone is asleep or locked. But when I turn it on, signal strenght goes down pretty fast, till 0, then disconnect.

Other information:
Sometimes it is ok, usually shortly after I've done a full charge plugged in. Also, at work I used to plug in my phone to USB, but I suspect that was messing up my battery. My phone seems to last longer without plugging it in.

Turning the wifi on or off doesn't seem to affect the signal strength, which is surprising to me (and possibly indicating my hypothesis is wrong, as wifi takes a lot of battery) and it doesn't seem like turning down the brightness of the screen affects it either.

Phone information:
Model: GT-9100M (bell)
Android 4.1.2
I am using an extended battery (x-longer Model: CS-SMI9100DL)

Any help on this? I've looked all over and found nothing :(
 
1) Plugging in to USB doesn't harm the battery.

2) The GPS receiver takes a lot more power than the Wifi receiver.

3) It sounds as if it could be a power issue. If you get a strong signal when the charger is plugged in, that would just about nail it.
 
@jackthomas251 - I don't think you understand quite. I never found it drained too much power, it was that I'd get an awful signal as soon as I woke up my phone.

Anyway. I found my solution. My provider is bell and one suggested a possible solution. I removed my SIM card and battery for about 1 minute (I do it 2 just to be sure) then put them back in after charging. Fixes it every time.

My personal guess is some capacitor or something is faulty, but since i'm past the 1 year mark, they won't fix it (for free). At least I have this workaround in the meantime so I can play ingress again :)

I could also be some sort of energy build up... I may try just removing the battery sometime.

Hope this helps someone else! (as I haven't seen this solution posted anywhere before)
 
jackthomas251 said:
The reason behind is actually quite simple, GPS keeps receiving and sending data
Click to expand...
GPS receivers don't send any data, they're just receivers. (The things that send the data are transmitters on the satellites.) On most cellphones, the GPS receiver is only working when some app asks it for location; it sleeps the rest of the time. But when it does wake up it consumes a lot of power.
 
Another follow up. It may also be in relation to the power source/cable. I changed my charger to a 0.5A source and tried using a different cable. No sign of the problem thus far. Here's to hoping.

I noticed a few times when charging that my touchscreens responsiveness would become impared on occasion when charging (touch would not register in the places I touched). This only occured when charging.

My phone is just weirdness incarnate.
 
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