GPS Problems

[fincaman]

Hello all, I have two apps that use GPS, Tom Tom GO and Viewranger my phone is a THL 5000 which I use because it has the best battery life (to the best of my knowledge) of any phone on the market. It finds satellites very quickly but when using GPS it jumps around all over the place, you will be following GPS instructions down a road and it will suddenly jump position showing that you are in the middle of a field. any ideas ? Viewranger is a walking app and does the same I have done a full reset and used a GPS Fix app

 

[AZgl1500]

Not knowing exactly what the circumstances were, the satellites were probably obscurred from being visible to the phone.

if you will install this app: * GPS Status & Toolbox - Android Apps on Google Play

and just watch it as you walk/drive around thru the same exact areas that are bothering you now.

What is important, is for you to observe the "Accuracy" of the location.

I have seen it as low as 3 meters.
I have seen it as far off as a 1/4 mile.

Just that one example could suddenly displace your "position report" by several hundred yards from where you actually are.

GPS is a great tool, but you must be aware of its' limits....

• on a blue sky day, and you no where near a tree or tall building, accuracy will be 3-9 meters easily.
• on a cloudy/rainy day, or you are walking/driving among some very tall buildings, the accuracy degrades rapidly and jumps around.

 

[mikedt]

I believe this is a China phone, although I've never heard of it.
http://www.androidauthority.com/review-of-thl-5000-410058/
This review seemed to indicate the GPS might be problematic and flaky. Apparently better after an update, but still not perfect.

See if there's any firmware updates for it, sounds like it might be buggy.

 

[fincaman]

Hello and thanks for your help I will do some tests and get back to you. How do I do an OTA update ? I have read the review and find that the battery life comments are way off I have two friends with this phone and we all get 7-10 days on a charge, the dark days of charging my Galaxy every day are a thing of the past. I also find that I get a gps lock within 10 seconds and in a car up to 30 seconds, my Galaxy used to take minutes.

 

[mikedt]

OTA updates are often done from settings > about device > check for updates. Or you go to the manufacturer's website and download an update file from there. How you apply it all depends on the actual device, sometimes it's done from recovery or you might have to use a PC to do it.
Unfortunately THL doesn't have update details listed for the 5000.
http://en.thl.com.cn/SupportDetails.aspx?id=425
Contact details are here.
http://en.thl.com.cn/Contact.aspx

As I said, I've never heard of this phone or THL, but then there's a heck of lot of phone and tablet manufacturers in Shenzhen, China. But frankly I stick to the more major manufacturers, my last two phones have been Oppo.

As for battery life, YMMV! ...that can often depend on usage habits.

 

[AZgl1500]

As for battery life, YMMV! ...that can often depend on usage habits.

^^^^^ Precisely,

@fincaman you saying you get 7 to 10 days on battery... uh huh, and I own the Chase National Bank too.
no way, you can get that kind of battery life and actually use the phone in what anyone would consider to be "normal use".

My Samsung Note 4 can give me two days or more between battery charges, but that is only if I never unlock the screen, never use a GPS app, never look at Facebook, never read any of the online newspapers....

Battery Life claims are just garbage, simply because no two of us will use a cellphone in the same manner.