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Help Help with Location on Android

T

TheAnister

Lurker
So, I need help with my offline GPS.
Once upon a time, I needed an offline map. So I went on Google Play Store, installed the one with the best review and now I have it. I downloaded England on the map so, I was good to go.
But when I started my journey, my GPS didn't move. Hmm... that was strange. Luckily I was or motesting it and went to another house. But when I got there, the location suddenly moved to that house. Then it hit me. The location was where the internet was. But why? So I began to investigate...
I went to settings, I searched Location, I clicked Mode and I found this:

Battery Saving
Use WLAN, Bluetooth or mobile networks to determine location

That was the ONLY option and that was selected.
So I need help :|

My Device is a Lenovo Tab E7.

Please help me so I can use offline maps :D

Also I had a phone before and it worked so... I think there is something wrong with the device. Can anybody help me?
 
You don't need mobile data for GPS. However you will need a data connection to download aGPS data (helps GPS get a faster fix) or for a map app that doesn't pre-download the maps.

What you need to do is turn that "battery saving" mode off. In that mode it only uses wireless networks for location and doesn't use GPS at all.

Android devices traditionally have 3 location modes: battery saving/low power (wireless network only), device only (just GPS, no wireless location) and high accuracy (both). As I rarely tire of pointing out, "high accuracy" is misnamed as it isn't more accurate (wireless network location is so much less accurate that it makes no difference to precision of you have a decent GPS fix); what it does do is give you location in places where there is no GPS reception. Android 10 and 11 only have the last 2 ("battery saving" is gone, and "high accuracy" is renamed "Google location accuracy" - which is pretty meaningless).

I've not heard of a device which only has "battery saving", but as that mode doesn't use GPS the logical thing to try is turning it off if you want GPS.

(I have used "device only" for 10 years now. I also question the name "battery saving": as that runs constantly, while GPS is only used when you are actively using location, I am not convinced that it will actually save battery for many people's location usage).
 
Hadron said:
You don't need mobile data for GPS. However you will need a data connection to download aGPS data (helps GPS get a faster fix) or for a map app that doesn't pre-download the maps.

What you need to do is turn that "battery saving" mode off. In that mode it only uses wireless networks for location and doesn't use GPS at all.

Android devices traditionally have 3 location modes: battery saving/low power (wireless network only), device only (just GPS, no wireless location) and high accuracy (both). As I rarely tire of pointing out, "high accuracy" is misnamed as it isn't more accurate (wireless network location is so much less accurate that it makes no difference to precision of you have a decent GPS fix); what it does do is give you location in places where there is no GPS reception. Android 10 and 11 only have the last 2 ("battery saving" is gone, and "high accuracy" is renamed "Google location accuracy" - which is pretty meaningless).

I've not heard of a device which only has "battery saving", but as that mode doesn't use GPS the logical thing to try is turning it off if you want GPS.

(I have used "device only" for 10 years now. I also question the name "battery saving": as that runs constantly, while GPS is only used when you are actively using location, I am not convinced that it will actually save battery for many people's location usage).
Click to expand...

Hmm... maybe the problem is that it is running Android Oreo (GO EDITION)?
 
Oreo is 8, right? Funny thing is that that did have all 3 options (it's what my current phone originally came with, albeit Pixel rather than Go edition), so I don't understand why you only have the one. But try clicking on it anyway: maybe that will either de-select it or present you with other choices.
 
Hadron said:
Oreo is 8, right? Funny thing is that that did have all 3 options (it's what my current phone originally came with, albeit Pixel rather than Go edition), so I don't understand why you only have the one. But try clicking on it anyway: maybe that will either de-select it or present you with other choices.
Click to expand...

I tried that... nothing happened.
 
Actually are you certain this tablet has GPS? I've found various sources that say it has, but the one link I found from Lenovo themselves say it has not.

It is of course possible that there is more than one model called "Lenovo Tab E7" - Lenovo would hardly be unique in doing that. But if it doesn't have a GPS receiver then the low power (wireless network) location would be the only option.
 
Hadron said:
Actually are you certain this tablet has GPS? I've found various sources that say it has, but the one link I found from Lenovo themselves say it has not.

It is of course possible that there is more than one model called "Lenovo Tab E7" - Lenovo would hardly be unique in doing that. But if it doesn't have a GPS receiver then the low power (wireless network) location would be the only option.
Click to expand...
upload_2020-8-31_11-21-28.png
 
So the question is, who do you trust: that site or Lenovo themselves?

Lenovo have another site for looking up the details of particular models, e.g. national variants. You can find it here: https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/Lenovo Tablets/Tab_E7. I looked up a couple of UK E7 models there and found no mention of GPS in their specs.

Of course the real test would be if you have a manual or spec sheet that came with the device.
 
I think there's at least two variants of the Tab E7. A WiFi only one that doesn't have GPS, and one with cellular data using a SIM that may have GPS. And it sounds very much like you have the former, without GPS, which would certainly go with what you've been describing.
 
Hadron said:
So the question is, who do you trust: that site or Lenovo themselves?

Lenovo have another site for looking up the details of particular models, e.g. national variants. You can find it here: https://psref.lenovo.com/Product/Lenovo Tablets/Tab_E7. I looked up a couple of UK E7 models there and found no mention of GPS in their specs.

Of course the real test would be if you have a manual or spec sheet that came with the device.
Click to expand...

yup true my model is https://psref.lenovo.com/Detail/Lenovo Tablets/Tab_E7?M=ZA400010GB and it seems like there is no mention in GPS
 
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