GPS?

[Gatorman]

Can someone help me regarding the use of the GPS functionality? I don't use it for driving, I have a Garmin for that. Other than for the app "Find My Droid", what purpose does this serve? I never have it enabled. Am I missing out on something? Does it just burn through your battery?

 

[Orion72]

I mainly use mine for the weather apps. Some other apps Redbox,Google Earth .

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

I leave mine off. I used to have it on all the time on my hero for apps like google sky map... but since our compass doesn't work, that app is completely useless and I haven't used it in forever. If you have use wireless network to determine location enabled, that allows most apps to at least know your general vacinity, so weather apps will give you weather for your general location (right now mine is giving me the correct city without GPS being enabled). Since its almost impossible for me to get a GPS lock indoors, and I'm practically indoors always, i don't have much use for it. There are some jogging apps that will track your runs for you, but I never tried it out on my Epic, only my hero. I have Nike+ for my runs.

 

[Gatorman]

Okay thanks for the replies. Sounds pretty worthless to me.

 

[rando991]

You can calibrate the compass with GPS Status and Toolbox. But yes I've used GPS in the local state park with Google Maps on Satellite and I was spot on (btw I was roaming off the network).

 

[Andrew Ruffolo]

You can calibrate the compass with GPS Status and Toolbox. But yes I've used GPS in the local state park with Google Maps on Satellite and I was spot on (btw I was roaming off the network).

did it say you were facing the correct direction? my bet is that you were about 30 degrees off. The compass doesn't work unless you're moving (like in a car), and thats because google maps corrects it.

 

[rando991]

did it say you were facing the correct direction? my bet is that you were about 30 degrees off. The compass doesn't work unless you're moving (like in a car), and thats because google maps corrects it.

After reboot it is usually off about that much, but not after calibration. In fact I just compared my compass reading with a friend's Fascinate and they matched.

 

[Jinded]

My compass works fine... I use GPS primarily for navigation, but also for finding places nearby with Google Maps, Yelp, and Layar; letting my family know how far away I am with Glympse; pinpointing where I parked my car with Parkdroid; finding out the next bus arrival of the nearest bus stop with my university's GPS bus app. Lots of uses really.

 

[Skunkape60]

did it say you were facing the correct direction? my bet is that you were about 30 degrees off. The compass doesn't work unless you're moving (like in a car), and thats because google maps corrects it.

Dude... That's the way it's supposed to work. It only works when moving. My $250 Garman works the same way. It doesn't know what direction my car is facing until the car moves. You can trick it and put the car in reverse and the whole map spins around telling me I'm facing the opposite direction that I am.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

 

[Stearmandriver]

Dude... That's the way it's supposed to work. It only works when moving. My $250 Garman works the same way. It doesn't know what direction my car is facing until the car moves. You can trick it and put the car in reverse and the whole map spins around telling me I'm facing the opposite direction that I am.

Sent from my SPH-D700 using Tapatalk

No... that's not the way a compass is supposed to work. What you're describing is the behavior of a device that does not have a built-in magnetic compass, and therefore can only derive heading information from movement. Your $250 Garmin is designed to be used while driving, so therefore doesn't need a magnetic compass. The hiking Garmins in that price range generally do include a compass.

The whole POINT of including a magnetic compass in these devices is so they can sense heading without movement. That goes for phones, gps's, anything.

That being said, while I've only had the Epic for like 10 days, my compass seems to work pretty well. It's accurate to magnetic north. East and west show some variation (15 degrees maybe) and south is close. I wouldn't want to use it for long-distance backcountry navigation (hell, who wants to use ANY compass for that in the days of GPS ) but it's sure good enough to make Sky Maps and the like usable. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to "wake up" when an app that uses it is opened, but once it orients itself it does all right.

Joe

 

[Jinded]

No... that's not the way a compass is supposed to work. What you're describing is the behavior of a device that does not have a built-in magnetic compass, and therefore can only derive heading information from movement. Your $250 Garmin is designed to be used while driving, so therefore doesn't need a magnetic compass. The hiking Garmins in that price range generally do include a compass.

The whole POINT of including a magnetic compass in these devices is so they can sense heading without movement. That goes for phones, gps's, anything.

That being said, while I've only had the Epic for like 10 days, my compass seems to work pretty well. It's accurate to magnetic north. East and west show some variation (15 degrees maybe) and south is close. I wouldn't want to use it for long-distance backcountry navigation (hell, who wants to use ANY compass for that in the days of GPS ) but it's sure good enough to make Sky Maps and the like usable. Sometimes it takes a few seconds to "wake up" when an app that uses it is opened, but once it orients itself it does all right.

Joe

Agreed, my Epic's compass works perfectly while standing still.

 

[rando991]

same here