Hello everyone,
It's been two weeks since I was here last. What a fast two weeks it has been also! A new baby Grand daughter has taken some extra time, which I have loved!
Today I am going to talk about GPS usage, on my New & Wonderful Samsung Galaxy S II from U.S. Cellular. This Super Fast dual core phone is their latest offering. It was first available on March 1st, and my local store was able to have it on hand that day too. They called me as soon as the UPS truck showed up. (because I called in at 9am that day, and the truck hadn't been there yet;) You can find more information about this Great phone here > http://bit.ly/yA5BvH
I am use to long hard days, and my phone works hard for me too. I depend on it for so much. So much in fact, it takes a few days of my spare time to get this tool all set up the way it needs to be, to be able to carry it's fair share of the load. I did some testing of several of this phones systems, during the ten days I took to set it up. I had not yet activated it, as I kept using my tried and true U.S. Cellular Samsung Galaxy S Mesmerize (Samsung Galaxy S I)
I thought I was having some GPS issues during this testing and setting up phase, the week following the launch of this phone. But now I have to at least in part, blame it on the Major Solar flares we had been having. Which had been some of the largest in recorded history that week.
Having said that, After getting this tool all set up, I activated it on day ten. I then soon ran my GPS for over three hours one day while traveling. Without 'checking' the 'Use wireless networks' option, or the 'Use sensor aiding' option. Now these options do help in the aiding of the accuracy of this GPS antenna in this handheld. But I feel at least for testing purposes, this would be a bit of a cheat. What if I was out in the middle of a REAL nowhere? I would then have to depend on the GPS as a stand alone aid. I do travel out West fairly often. Western Nebraska, Western Kansas, and much of Colorado.
I had gotten this Great App earlier for my U.S. Cellular Samsung Mesmerize, and quickly downloaded it to my new SGSII the first chance I had. In the Google Play store (formally the 'Android Market'), you will find it listed as: 'GPS Test' by Chartcross Limited. ( http://bit.ly/zmtvFM ) In the description of this App, it reads: "All your GPS information in one App. Large colorful and easy to read screens. The GPS Test App for Android is a utility that shows GPS information read from your phones internal GPS. This App has several color schemes, which could be used to match other instrumentation, or used along side the App. It has a "Night Mode" color scheme as well."
I used it on my phone again today, in a dash mounted fashion. Keeping a close eye on it, during most of my travels. 99% of the time I was in view of 12 satellite's. Getting a lock on between 7 - 10 most of the time, averaging 9 locks during this entire round trip. My average signal strength was 39% of a 99% scale, but also saw some Highs of 46%. I also saw a drop in signal strength, if I held the phone with my full hand. Though it it was only a few %. The pinpoint of accuracy in feet, ran on an average of 16'. While staying in a 12' - 18' range on average, while traveling East or West (seeing a worst of 24'). Then showing me a 6' - 9' average accuracy while traveling North and South (Maybe this difference has something to do with my 'A' pillar mounting?)
The MPH feature was within 1 MPH the entire trip too, that was nice. As I said earlier, I also had a GPS concern. Since USCC has a nice return/exchange policy, I wanted to make sure of this final question I had about this phone, concerning the GPS feature. Before making an exchange. Everything else checked out quickly & beautifully! Better in fact, than even I expected. It's all good now I see, and I am very happy with today's, and the past few days of GPS performance.
A few others I have spoken too, have expressed some concern about their GPS working correctly as well. It may be necessary I tell them, from within this 'GPS Test' App to go to menu > Settings > then Clear - AGPS, then hit the > Update AGPS This is giving it a fresh start. Those who may have had issues, soon had it taken care of, and were well on their way to turn by turn navigation goodness!
Thanks for stopping by and reading my Blog. If you ever have any questions or concerns, please feel free to send me a message anytime in Facebook. I'm always around, and always Happy to Help.
We also have a Fantastic "Ask the Crew" Customer Crew question page here (http://bit.ly/ws8vun) We would Love to see you stop by! : - )
Steve Kluver / Chicken Droid - And a Happy member of the U.S. Cellular Customer Crew® - 3.18.2012
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