[stuffed]

Have a Nokia 5230 with GPS.

Am currently in Australia (live in New Zealand) for a couple of weeks and am just a little concerned now that the GPS may be getting some assistance from the local cellular network and don’t want to get home and find a Vodafone bill that equals the current deficit of Great Britain!

When turn on Maps a warning comes up ”Connection to network may be more costly when out of home network”.

In “Position methods” have turned off “Network based” but there is still an option called “Assisted GPS” – it won’t work with this turned off – what is it does anyone know?  Still have “Integrated GPS” selected but still needs that “Assisted GPS” for the GPS to work.

[chanchan05]

A-GPS will indeed cost data charges. Also the phone WILL work with Integrated GPS alone. However It will take longer. For example, the first ever fix without A-GPS could take as long as an hour. Subsequent fixes should be faster but it is also dependent on a variety of things. For example, on Integrated GPS mode, the farther you are from where you last closed it would also mean the longer it takes to get a fix.

I would suggest you download Ovi Maps 3.04, the newest version, and use that. Dont forget to turn of the WiFi/Network option in Positioning Methods once you have it.

[Ilian]

HI,

can you explain when the GPS need "first ever fix" and when "Subsequent fixes".

Also isn`t there a more automated way? As far as I know normal GPS devices doesn`t have this problem. And I`m pretty sure that everyone who buys a phone with GPS expect it to acts (almost)like a real GPS device.

P.S. On my 5230 with "integrated gps" ony switched on it find some satelites (I see them in satelite status) but still show blinking yellow marker on the map. Is this from this "first ever fix" also?

[cjlim]

I think the explanation you are looking for is contained in this link.

[Ilian]

Thanks, but this still doesn`t explain why I have to wait "one hour" or so for first start. Also can`t I just say to the GPS "I`m here" and it to start navigation from this point

[cjlim]

The first fix always  takes longer as the wiki link explained. The phones takes even longer because it has a low powered gps receiver. That's why having Assisted gps enabled speeds things up because by helping the phone find its approximate location faster.

[Ilian]

So this is not a real gps, and I`ve wasted my money? Or I`ll have to waste more for GRPS data? I`m pretty sure that this is not mentioned in my manual.

[cjlim]

You don't have to use gprs if you are willing to put up with a longer TTFF. Bear in mind that subsequent position fixes will be much quicker once you have the first fix. Personally I never use assisted gps. My phones normally take a minute or two without it.

Bear in mind that what you have is a phone with gps capabilities. It will never be as good as a dedicated gps. Another option is to get a bluetooth gps receiver to use with your phone. I have a few of these and use them regularly as well.

[Ilian]

Does the GPS devices in different models vary? Cause with my (5230) I was unable to connect for more than 10 minutes. I must confess that I haven`t waite more than this.

As I said above, the phone founde 6-7 satelites but still unable to calculate data, is it possible to have some problem with the GPS (it`s working ok with assisted GPS)

[cjlim]

As far as I know, they all use the same chip but have different antenna locations and configurations. As you can imagine, with phones getting ever smaller and expected to do more and more, everthing has to be squashed in. As an example, I've noticed that the N97 mini has much better gps reception than the N97 and I believe it is all down to the antenna arrangement.

[Ilian]

Thanks a lto for the info, I`ll give it a try.

[Ilian]

It was able to complete positioning in less than 5 minutes, for more info check here Nokia 5230 Express Music - GPS Navigation

[cjlim]

Glad your trial worked well, although you should be prepared to wait longer than 5 minutes occasionally for no apparent reason.

[chanchan05]

Actually, the main apparent reason is that the GPS receiver on your phone is around 5 times smaller and runs on about half or less the power of an actul GPS receiver.

One option is to simply buy a separate bluetooth GPS receiver to pair with your phone.

[slash67]

In my experience, I've noticed that sometimes the Nokia GPS finds the satelite even faster than the TomTom I previously used....

Please consider that a vehicle's structure does everything but help get a signal inside, this is why radios have external antennas. Other times it's the buildings outside who are not cooperating, by blocking the signal from the satelite from being received by the phone (e.g. getting a signal in downtown Manhattan was not so easy, while here in Rome with not-so-tall building it's faster...!).

I've found many fault's in Nokia's navi system, some extremely annoying, but the signal reception has not  been a negative, so far.

Just remember NOT to use A-GPS or the new WiFi/Network in 3.04, unless you want to incur in high extra charges. (I've alredy been hit hard and now these options are definitely off).

[stuffed]

Hey thanks everyone for this information – very informative. Just out of interest how does A-GPS work - as how is it different from “Network Based”?

[chanchan05]

AGPS - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-GPS

For network based, its kinda like google maps. It uses the cellphone mast location to triangulate your location, or something like that.