How do I improve GPS signal on my MotoX?

[WP_290]

How to improve GPS signal in my MotoX

Hello folks, I recently acquired a moto x (2013) and I usually run with my phones and an app, Nike+ in this case, unfortunately I am having weak gps signal in my phone. I am not sure if its because the winter is coming or something to do with the weather, my old WP also had some small issues recently with GPS, maybe just a coincidence. On the other hand I always run with a group and there are iphones, some other androids and all of them run without issues. We all try to use the same app.

My phone have Andorid 4.4.2 and is new. Do you think maybe I should try another app? Runtastic? Is there something I can tweak ?

Thanks!

 

[Rukbat]

Re: How to improve GPS signal in my MotoX

GPS doesn't depend on the weather for strength (unless it's raining so hard that Noah's ark wouldn't survive). Accuracy will suffer from bad atmospheric conditions - instead of the usual 10 meters, it can get as bad as 50 meters or so. (Thicker air slows the signal down - only by a tiny amount, but GPS works on billionths of a second differences in times between signals.)

Has the roof on your house been replaced? Has new insulation been put in the attic? (I'd ask if aluminum siding has been placed on the house, but no one uses that any more.) Any metal (foil-backed insulation, metallic gravel on roof shingles) between the GPS and the sky can cause a problem. So can a new large steel building erected very close by. So can any radiator (a new radio station, TV station, RADAR, etc.) So can a new large metal object right above you on the second floor if you're on the first floor. (If moving to another room fixes it, look at what was done above the room it doesn't work in.)

If none of the above, take the phone to your carrier's repair spot (some do repairs in most stores, some have 1 repair spot in a city) and see if they'll open the phone and make sure the GPS antenna springs are bent up tight enough to make good contact. (A difference of half an ounce of pressure is the difference between working perfectly and not working.) One post (I think it was here, it might have been on XDA) recommended tightening all the screws inside the phone, holding the phone to the front of the case. That tightens the springs, but if you strip a screw hole thread there won't be enough pressure (on the GPS springs and maybe on the phone radio springs too), and warranties don't cover your breaking the phone.

Also, install GPS Status & Toolbox so you can see exactly what the GPS receiver is seeing - which satellites and how strong they are - and whether it's receiving them long enough to get the data it needs from them.

The app - Runtastic, Nike+, Maps - uses the information the GPS receiver gives it - that's what matters, the data, not the app using it. Changing apps won't make the GPS receiver receive a better signal.

And no, DON'T make any "adjustments" yourself. The only adjustment is the springs, and bending them wrong can break them or rip them off the board. If that happens, let it be a technician from the carrier who does it - then they have to repair or replace the phone. (The GPS receiver itself is a "black box" - if you give it enough signal it will give you data on where it is. There's nothing to adjust.)