Update: its the UPDATE! Today while working I decided to install the newest update of v5.3. Immediately I startes encountering all of the issues people above are describing. Namingly, like clockwork I would lose gps signal less than 2 minutes in every single time. Tried restarting, tried hard reset, nothing changed, kept losing signal never to get it back on its own. Also would take severeal minutes to achieve signal at the start each time.
So I uninstalled the updates and went back to the factory installed oem version (4.5 I think?), then restarted the phone, and immediately everything was perfect again. Never lost signal, rerouted quickly, achieved initial signal quickly, you name it it was flawless.
At the end of the day I decided to try again. Restarted phone, installed updates, restarted phone again, and gave it a shot. Immediately it was severely problematic in every imaginable way.
So that does it for me, factory installed version it is, for good. Until an update works equally or better.