Root GPS Toggle for ICS

[spew101]

Whats with the 5 different GPS options on ICS? On GB, it was easy to use a toggle to turn GPS on or off. Now, the toggle widget brings you to a list in the locations services section of Settings.

There is:
E911 only
Google Location Services
Standalone GPS Services
VZW location services
Share Picture Location
Location & Google search.

I used to shut GPS off to conserve batter in the past because it was nice and easy, now its a pain to pick and choose which ones to keep on or turn off.

I dont care about the picture one and assuming the E911 is required to stay on.

What's the difference between the 2 different Google ones? Are they constantly searching for a GPS location?

Which one is needed or required to be on to use navigation through google maps?

Is there any new toggle that will simply turn one of the options on or off for me like it used to do?

 

[Groid]

If you are rooted and install 'Notification Toggle' (Play store) you can install it as a system app and have an actual on/off toggle in the notification pulldown. One-touch on or off. Another app that supposedly does the same thing is 'Power Toggles', but I haven't used it. In Settings > Location services I leave off the standalone gps and shared picture checkboxes and use the toggle to turn gps on/off as needed for navigation, etc.

 

[doogald]

Whats with the 5 different GPS options on ICS? On GB, it was easy to use a toggle to turn GPS on or off. Now, the toggle widget brings you to a list in the locations services section of Settings.

There is:
E911 only
Google Location Services
Standalone GPS Services
VZW location services
Share Picture Location
Location & Google search.

What's the difference between the 2 different Google ones? Are they constantly searching for a GPS location?

To answer this question, "Google Location Services" toggles using WiFi locations when an app asks for location (Google uses their street view camera vehicles to also map coordinate locations of WiFi hotspots as it travels.) Turn that off and the app will not be able to use that data. It does not use the GPS radios, but obviously is drawing some power (less) from WiFi as it looks at and triangulates any WiFi hotspots that it can find.

Answering "does it constantly search GPS location" depends on what you mean by that. If you mean does it use the GPS radio in the Bionic - no, it does not. But it is returning location if it can determine location from nearby WiFi hotspots when an app is looking for location (not always).

"Location & Google search" I believe is merely a toggle that allows the Google search on the phone to improve its results based on your location (as provided from those other choices.) So, search in Google search box for "restaurants" with that setting on and it should tell you nearby restaurants; with it off, it should give a more generic search reply. (This is the Google search from the Google search app, pressing the search button from a home screen, or using a Google search widget from a home screen - the browser has its own location controls.)

 

[spew101]

So for battery saving purposes and not losing too much performance for Google purposes (which i use a lot), i should:

Leave the 2 Google switches on (Google Locations Services and Location & Google search) ON. - These drain little battery since they are using Wifi hotspots instead of the GPS radio.

leave the VZW location services OFF

And then Toggle the standalone GPS services ON and OFF when I need to use the navigation apps on my phone.

Did I get that correct?

I did see some of those apps that have the toggle in the notification bar. Not sure I like having the notification always there, but i will try to find a widget that lets me choose which of these GPS options i want it to toggle on and off.

 

[SNeitzel]

If you are rooted and install 'Notification Toggle' (Play store) you can install it as a system app and have an actual on/off toggle in the notification pulldown. One-touch on or off. Another app that supposedly does the same thing is 'Power Toggles', but I haven't used it. In Settings > Location services I leave off the standalone gps and shared picture checkboxes and use the toggle to turn gps on/off as needed for navigation, etc.

Checking out notification Toggle, I like it. If for no other reasons, because installing it as system allows GPS to be turned on and off with one click and the 4G toggle takes you directly into the special menu if you need or want to force your phone to 3G.
EDIT: Liking it even more, the battery icon it shows gives 1% charge

 

[doogald]

GPS is only used when an app asks for location information. Some third party apps, such as Weatherbug Elite, can be set to query only non-GPS location sources.

I'd leave the VZW navigation service turned on, as it gets data from cell towers, which I believe will be more accurate than WiFi sources in almost every case. (It's possible that Google also uses cell tower locations, but I cannot tell for sure. Everything I see written about it says that it uses WiFi location derived from Streetview, but people writing that can be just guessing themselves.)

 

[spew101]

Which of the notification toggle apps did you use? maybe i will give it another shot and mess with some settings. i just didnt like always having a notification on the screen, but maybe an option is to not show it on the top of the screen, but have it show up when you pull down the notification bar.

 

[SNeitzel]

Which of the notification toggle apps did you use? maybe i will give it another shot and mess with some settings. i just didnt like always having a notification on the screen, but maybe an option is to not show it on the top of the screen, but have it show up when you pull down the notification bar.

You can change what the notification is. Since I like the battery percentage, I changed the notification to that and nothing else shows at the top of the screen. There is a "Transparent" option that causes it to just shows up as a black space in the notification area. Here are the options:

 

[spew101]

The app is pretty cool, but it doesn't solve my initial issue. I use beautiful apps toggle widget which does the exact same this the notification toggle does other than having the toggles in the notification bar.

What my original "issue" was, I was looking for a toggle that will just turn on/off one of the specific GPS options(Standalone GPS Services) and not a toggle or widget that brings me to the GPS settings page.

On GB, the GPS toggle simply turned GPS on/off, but because ICS now has all the different GPS options, all the toggles/widgets simply bring you to the settings page.

I was hoping for the same type of the thing for 4G/3G toggle. On ICS, the toggle I use brings me to the Settings page, then I have to manually pick the Network Type I want to use. I just want a widget that will do it for me.

 

[Groid]

You don't need to mess with the other gps options typically. Just turn it on or off. Here is a screenshot of my 'Notification Toggles'. They all sit in the notification bar until you pull it down. Because I installed it as a system app, I pull down the notification bar, touch a toggle, bar closes and item has been toggled. Works for wifi, bluetooth, gps, data, and airplane mode. The 4g toggle just takes you to the screen where you can choose between 4g and 3g, but I don't know of any actual on/off toggle for that. I also have a reboot icon that just restarts the phone. Also, love the single digit battery digits in upper left. There are lots of other options, including putting shortcuts for apps, brightness, sync, tethering, etc.

 

[SNeitzel]

What my original "issue" was, I was looking for a toggle that will just turn on/off one of the specific GPS options(Standalone GPS Services) and not a toggle or widget that brings me to the GPS settings page.

As Groid notes, that app will do what you are seeking for GPS. One touch toggles standalone GPS services on and off. But, you have to be rooted and you must install it as a system app. I did that by installing the app then going into TiBackup and converting it to a system app.

I was hoping for the same type of the thing for 4G/3G toggle. On ICS, the toggle I use brings me to the Settings page, then I have to manually pick the Network Type I want to use. I just want a widget that will do it for me.

As far as I know there is not an app that does this. After the ICS update it was one of the first things I looked for. The best thing so far are apps that take you into the screen so you can change 3G/4G etc.

 

[un1ocked]

i think the "real" gps on ics don't actually worked
try this
dial ##7764726, input six zeroes, tap "next" three times

EDIT:
just like attached