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Hi
I want to use my XDA2i as a handheld Satnav device. The obvious GPS receiver to buy would be the GlobalSat SD-502 SDIO GPS Receiver. However there seems to be issues around using them together.
What are the issues and can they be overcome?
Another option is to use a CF GPS Receiver connected by a backpack (which I have) The only trouble being that the CF slot comes out of the bottom of the device.
What is it that the SD-502 doen't like about the XDA2i. I assume it is something to do with the phone??? Is it possible to disable the phone ( I don't use the phaone as I have an XDA mini S
Help....
Simon
Why not BT?
I wouldn't bother with a plug-in GPS unit. They increase the battery drain and the XDA2i doesn't have a great battery life to start with.
I use a BT GPS unit (TomTom GPSII) and it works very well. I also use it with other devices (an AXIM X51v and Nokia 6620).
BT GPS units are small, battery life is very good - I get 8 hours out of the TTGPSII.
Regarding the phone- that 's another issue. You need to disable 'flight mode' to enable BT. This turns the 'phone on - but if you don't have a SIM in nothing much happens. To disable the 'phone - turn on 'flight mode'
Phil
I've used Tom Tom 5 v5.21 and a BT338 Bluetooth GPS unit just fine
HANDHELD Satnav
Thanks for both your replies
However both the products you talk about are really designed to sit on the dash of your car. The reason I want to use the SD-502 is that it makes the PDA into a standalone Satnav device. I want to use this out of the car, whilst walking, biking etc.
It seems mad that I could use the SD-502 with a PDA running the same OS as the XDA2i but can't because of the phone part of the XDA2i. (I don't use the XDA2i as a phone as I have a XDA mini S) I can't believe that simply disabling the phone (flight mode) would work. But would it be possible to reload the OS without the phone part.
Anyone have experience of this??
Simon
HANDHELD Satnav
Thanks for both your replies
However both the products you talk about are really designed to sit on the dash of your car. The reason I want to use the SD-502 is that it makes the PDA into a standalone Satnav device. I want to use this out of the car, whilst walking, biking etc.
It seems mad that I could use the SD-502 with a PDA running the same OS as the XDA2i but can't because of the phone part of the XDA2i. (I don't use the XDA2i as a phone as I have a XDA mini S) I can't believe that simply disabling the phone (flight mode) would work. But would it be possible to reload the OS without the phone part.
Anyone have experience of this??
Simon
Hi,
As far as I am aware it is not possible to get rid of the phone stuff off the phone, but I may be mistaken, however what several of my colleagues do who want to use a hand held sat nav like you describe is get a bluetooth GPS receiver with the SirfIII chipset and either wear it around their neck using the cord they get with their work ID or just stick it in their pocket and forget about it.
One of them is off this weekend on a camping and hiking trip and plans to use his XDA IIi and Holux BT231 to find his way around. I can't remember the exact Sat Nav software he is using though.
G
Thanks gquipster
"get a bluetooth GPS receiver with the SirfIII chipset and either wear it around their neck using the cord they get with their work ID or just stick it in their pocket and forget about it"
I thought that the receiver needed direct sight of satelites to work, hang round the neck or stuck in a pocket is idea. Phil talks about getting 8 hours battery life out of his TTGPS11.
Thanks for your help
Re: HANDHELD Satnav
SimonJB said:
Thanks for both your replies
However both the products you talk about are really designed to sit on the dash of your car. The reason I want to use the SD-502 is that it makes the PDA into a standalone Satnav device. I want to use this out of the car, whilst walking, biking etc.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I also use OziExplorer and Pocket Anquet on my XDA2i. Still use the BT GPS for the same reasons as stated previously - improved battery life of the PDA (it needs all the help it can). I wear my TomTomII BT GPS around my neck on a lanyard - it works very well. Watch it on a bike - if you fall you could ruin your XDA :wink:
Phil
I have a QStarz 32-channel Bluetooth receiver, it's pretty small and easily fits in my pocket. Its model number is BT-Q880, and it lasts for ages on a single charge.
There's a registry hack you can perform to stop the error dialog coming up if you attempt to turn the Bluetooth on with the phone in Flight Mode, I tried it out and it seemed to work out, it let me run the Bluetooth without the phone part of the PDA turned on, so that could be useful if you're after usage as just a SatNav-enabled PDA.
Have you considered that running the phone in regular mode would allow you to make emergency 999 calls, though? That could be useful if you're out on your own hiking or geocaching or whatever, if you got into a pickle whilst out you wouldn't have to mess about with the registry to turn the phone back on, you could just hit the green key and dial the number, job done.
have you tried this?
http://www.johnsreviews.com/howtos/o2xda2itomtomworkaround.html[/url]
have you tried this?
http://www.johnsreviews.com/howtos/o2xda2itomtomworkaround.html[/url]
This has been previously discussed.
Following reports elsewhere of high temperatures being generated when the built in GPS was operative, I wondered if the battery life could be extended by using my Globalsat BT-338 GPS receiver instead of the Kaisers' built in GPS receiver. To find out, I first put the internal GPS to the test.
After fully charging my standard 1350mAh battery, I soft reset the phone, set the screen brightness to minimum, disabled phone, Bluetooth and Wifi. I started Memory Map (GPS setting set to COM4) and the stopwatch on SPB Time. When the phone eventually ran out of power and switched off I fully charged it again and ran the same test, with all the same settings except this time I enabled Bluetooth and configured Memory Map to accept GPS input from my bluetooth GPS receiver.
The results were interesting. When utilizing the internal GPS, the phone ran out of power after 5hrs 16mins. When using the external GPS it switched off after 5hrs 32mins.
I must admit I expected the battery to last much longer when using the external GPS receiver. I guess the extra power required to maintain a BT link offset the power saved not running the internal GPS receiver almost exactly.
I really need to get out more.
For what it's worth - I'm just like you! I do the same types of tests and wonderings. I think your findings are actually pretty interesting as since I've had my TYTN I haven't used my holux BT receiver, and have been wondering about power drain.
One thing you may not have considered - you tested with the phone off. With the phone on, the TYTN uses cell-towers for assisted GPS - which may actually cause more battery drain.
That's an interesting observation. I don't really know that much about the inner workings of assisted GPS. I was under the impression that assisted GPS helps the GPS receiver to get a quick fix but I wasn't aware that it continued to "help out" following this. Would assisted GPS still be operative, and draining the battery, if I had a perfectly good GPS signal I wonder? You see, I mainly use GPS whilst I am out walking (hence Memory Map). I always have a good view of the sky so I'm supposing assisted GPS would not be called upon under these conditions?
Yes, the Athena has built-in GPS. But compared to other phones and stand-alone units, the GPS receiver is weak (and not sirf star). My old Palm with a wired external sirf star GPS receiver is way better - locks on in seconds from the middle of the first floor of my house.
So, has anyone here tried a bluetooth or USB GPS receiver?
Yes, I tried Holox Bluetooth GPS receiver, it works just fine and as this is 44 channels it is more powerful (It connects faster and better quality reception), I don't think you will have any problems with that, you just have to make sure that you change settings in you navigation software so that it connects the bluetooth one rather than the built in GPS receiver.
Thanks, I'm thinking of getting the Holux. That's what my wired GPS is. Then again, I might just get the 4-in-1 cable and try to use my wired Holux that I already have.
The built-in GPS failed me twice this past weekend when I really needed it, which is why I'm thinking of using an external receiver for road trips from now on.
I have the Dell BT332 (Globalsat) paired with the 7501 and it works
as well as it did with my Axim51v.
techntrek said:
Yes, the Athena has built-in GPS. But compared to other phones and stand-alone units, the GPS receiver is weak (and not sirf star). My old Palm with a wired external sirf star GPS receiver is way better - locks on in seconds from the middle of the first floor of my house.
So, has anyone here tried a bluetooth or USB GPS receiver?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Another device to bring with you? Let's pray that when thief steals the phone, they take both devices with them so that your WIMP could still tell you where your phone is
A BT GPS receiver would stay in the car - plug it in, pair the BT, and forget it. When I'm in the car it would automatically connect. I would still use the built-in GPS (when it works) when walking.
I could still set WIMP to use the internal GPS...
techntrek said:
A BT GPS receiver would stay in the car - plug it in, pair the BT, and forget it. When I'm in the car it would automatically connect. I would still use the built-in GPS (when it works) when walking.
I could still set WIMP to use the internal GPS...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're right. I did'nt think of that.
eaglesteve said:
so that your WIMP could still tell you where your phone is
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
What is WIMP?
...
cktlcmd said:
What is WIMP?
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Where Is My Phone. http://www.wimp-software.co.uk/
techntrek said:
Where Is My Phone. http://www.wimp-software.co.uk/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. WOW. that's one piece of software.
...
cktlcmd said:
thanks. WOW. that's one piece of software.
...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
There are also other similar products, such as the Phone Theft Alarm by Carty Studio.
An even better alternative, doing a bit more than WIMP, is spb sprite terminator. Easy to google this. I like this the most.
eaglesteve said:
There are also other similar products, such as the Phone Theft Alarm by Carty Studio.
An even better alternative, doing a bit more than WIMP, is spb sprite terminator. Easy to google this. I like this the most.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
thanks. I'll look them up.
Err,
Sorry, it's Ultimate Theft Alert, not Phone theft alarm.
http://www.xperiadepot.com/freedom-keychain-gps-2000/10A95A2869.htm
There are no good description for this product. Does anyone know what they do?
I think this is an ordinary gps modul and description made by someone who does not know there is already a gps receiver built-in in X1.
maybe you use it to help find your keys?
Feezer said:
maybe you use it to help find your keys?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Right but the description confuses me and it does sound exactly like what jabe said. But I would so buy this if it was key finder.
It just a bluetooth GPS module that fits on a key chain. You don't need it as the X1 already has a built in GPS chip. If you had a smartphone without a GPS chip, then there's be some benefit to it.
Or if you wanted to use GPS stuff on a laptop or something with BT etc.
Suppose your X1 is positioned in your car that way that the GPS reception is bad but you cannot relocate it. You can set it up to receive GPS signals from this external module. The module itself can be put anywhere like near a window or on the car's roof or so.
WTF? Did you even read? "The Freedom Keychain GPS 2000 is the world’s lightest and most compact pocket GPS receiver."
It's an external GPS receiver.
gps is receiving only!
you pick up a signal from several satellites and the device calc your position
this keythingy have gps and bluetooth
bluetooth have a range of 10m so even if it could transmit
it's cords to your phone then you would have to be pretty close to the lost keys
an external gps, my brother has one but of a different brand. his loads really quick and there's no need to wait on finding satellites. i'm not sure how this performs though, but for a keychain it seems promising for other phones without a built-in gps
I actually have one of those. Well, mine is a white Vodafone branded one, but it's the same chip, hardware, box, everything. It's actually still vaguely useful - it's DGPS capable (WAAS/EGNOS), which the X1's GPS chip is not (augmented accuracy within certain systems, WAAS for North America/Canada and out to sea within several hundred miles, EGNOS for Europe etc), and it has apparently far better reception - my X1i couldn't pick up a GPS signal to save its life inside a BA Boeing 777 flight. The bluetooth'd external reciever picked up and held a strong signal for the entire 3500 mile flight at 40k ft. And inside a plane fuselage, that's got to be borderline faraday cage.
Hi,
Does anybody know about a working bluetooth TMC-receiver for Leo? I need only TMC but I'm not really sure what I should buy. Maybe anybody of you has a working one - please tell me which one.
Big THX in advance!
de Wolfe said:
Hi,
Does anybody know about a working bluetooth TMC-receiver for Leo? I need only TMC but I'm not really sure what I should buy. Maybe anybody of you has a working one - please tell me which one.
Big THX in advance!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
HI, it´s possible to use the inside radio to recive tmc signal. But only with the cableheadset.
Is it already possible also with HD2? Last time I tried (3 days ago) hyperGPS was not suitable for HD2.
No, it is not yet possible to do so... I am waiting for this too...
De Wolfe: check gns-gmbh.com/index.php?id=80
GNS TrafficBox Plus FM9BT-C or its identical clone Navilock NL-324BTR (comes a little cheaper). Tested with HD2 + Navigon 7.3.6 and 7.4.0 PDA.
No HyperGPS/proprietary TMC yet.
I've tried Hypergps with my HD2 with no success
The starnge think is that Igo8 discovered TMC when Hypergps was set to port com 7 and GNS protocol. Unfortunately there was no way for me to set the correct FM frequency for RDS
TMC working with external BT GPS/TMC receivers
I got my new HTC HD2 a week ago. Igo8 runs exceptionally fast. I wanted to still use TMC data as well as I have paid for it (naviextras) and am used to it on my Pocket PC's (ipaq 3970, 5450, 5550 and 4700). I tried the HyperGPS route with the headset lead (you definitely need to plug a lead in to act as FM aerial). The only way I get TMC information working is to use either the GNS BT GPS/TMC receiver (GNS5843) or the Royaltek (RTG1001). I can either use internal GPS of HD2 (port 4 baud rate 57600) and get TMC from the BT GPS on port 2 at baud rate 57600. Port 2 seems to be the only option you get when you add (pair) the BT GPS devices and pick an external GPS port. I intend to generally use the internal GPS, but when in the car and going some distance or in bad weather if necessary will switch on the GNS 5843 go to igo8 setting/TMC pick GNS (protocol) port 2 and baud rate of 57600 (even though the manual says 38400). I get the message TMC Hardware detected and off It goes searching for RDS signals of the FM transmissions and extracts the TMC codes to integrate with your map and route. I have my GPS/TMC device semi permanently in the car (using velcro pads) by the windscreen or sun roof to get a better view of the sky for the satellites and the aerial suckered to the top of the windscreen so as not to have the FM signal blocked by the metal of the car's metal frame. Be aware that if you have a car with the 'athermic' windscreens that this will weaken all radio signals to your device (satellite, mobile & FM/RDS).
I better mention that I am in Northamptonshire in England in UK. You need to be in area that is covered by TMC carrying radio stations (non BBC), example are Classic FM and leicester sound, Heart FM, etc. etc..
Dear Mr de Wolfe
I use the "GNS TrafficBox FM9BT-C - Bluetooth TMC / TMCPro Empfänger mit KFZ zu USB Adapter" wich is a bloetooth tmc-module built in a car-charger.
It works pretty good, signal is ok with the short antenna and is very good with the cable-antenna. The charger is strong enough for the HD2 (wich is mentioned as problem in the comments of the website)
I got it from here: "http://www.pdamax.de/?art_nr=gn-003"
Greetings from Bavaria
esociarius
I can confirm the gns 5843 working. but i do have, after activating bluetooth, to connect the com2 manually. only activating bluetooth does not do the trick. the gns unit is paired but com2 does not connect. so igo does not find the tmc signal.
after manually connecting com 2 it works like a charm.
little annoyance and would like to find solution for it. if anyone knows.
example of sys.txt tmc setting for HTC HD2
I think you can get around this by adding some text to the sys.txt file under title of TMC and you state com port. Port 2 in our case.
[tmc]
port="" - comma separated port name and port number pairs for ex. "COM,1,COM,2,COM,3"
source="" - if it is not specified then the program tries to autodetect or the possible strings are
gns
royaltek
amaryllo
samsung
opentmc1
opentmc2
ngalik
eten
harman
gps_source= - 0 if the GPS and TMC receivers communicate on different ports, 1 if they share one port (for ex. GNS 5843 or Royaltek RTG1001)
But then it will always look for the BT GPS unit. Personally I prefer to switch the TMC section on only if I think I need to when in the car on a longer journey. So I use HD2's internal GPS (port 4) and external TMC (port 2 from GNS5843) Like I went to London on Friday (100miles away). Only in the centre of Canary wharf did the signal become confused. This would be because of the tall, close, glass and steel buildings making multipath GPS signals and only a small and narrow view of the sky immediately above. That is the situation when you put your BT GPS receiver at the sunroof glass looking straight up at sky instead of forward at the buildings blocking the signals from orbit.
Were you using your GNS GPS/TMC device for both signals or just the TMC? The above should cure your problem if you only use the GPS/TMC BT device on port 2.
I am using the internal GPS and bluetooth only for TMC. never had a prolem with lack of sattelite signal of the internal GPS in my car, so have no reason to use it other way.
I agree that the internal GPS receiver in the HD2 is very very powerful (sensitive). I get all 12 windows full of GPS signal even in the middle of my house and accuracy listed as 'high'. But I was just giving an insight to the worse case scenario I had the other day was in the middle of Canary Wharf because of the tall buildings . it would be the only place in the UK with the worst conditions for satellite reception.
The ideal and cheapest solution, for everyone, will be the solution for HyperGPS to work on HD2 with the 3.5mm aerial/headset lead plugged in. I even get a good FM signal through the 3.5mm to 3.5mm lead to connect HD2 to the audio input to the car system. If someone gets or sees the HyperGPS working on the HD2 for igo8 do please let us know. Thanks! in advance.
P.S. by the way ....where is this web site based? I just put this on at 1856 yet it displays at 0656. This site would therefore be ½ way around the world...... Ah! I just noticed there is the pm after it.
Just got my Navilock NL-324BTR. Paid just over £50 from Amazon.de. All is working well. The only niggle I have is that when iGO8 opens, it asks me to confirm the port that I want to use. If I do not select the port then hit "select" in time, the option screen disappears and it does not start.
Anyone any solutions?
To get that screen back you either just tap the BT button to get to that screen again or minimize Igo8 and tap start then Bluetooth then select your device. (I have moved the BT icon to the top (tap and hold) of the HD2 screen.
tomtom
Does anyone know whether there are any workarounds to use any of these tmc receivers with tomtom on the hd2. If not, can someone who used both tomtom and recent Igo give a short pros and cons of the two? I used Igo about 3-4 years ago and I did not like it plus I became used to tomtom.
what is reception quality of gns trafficbox tmc receiver?
Hi,
i am topaz (HTC touch diamond 2) owner and can use hypergps, however i find fm reception of topaz builtin tuner quite poor for tmc needs. In my citroen c5 (worst car for all sort of signals due to its athermic windscreen), tmc reception is poor. I have experimented with various antennas connected to extusb connector, however no real success.
I tried to get magnetic mount fm antena for car roof, but there isnt any available?!
Out of desperation i am now conisdering GNS traffic box (to many $$$...). As i understand there are two versions: lighter plug and external antenna version (both BT). I would buy one of these, and lighter plug seems practical, however i am afraid, that it would have poor recepetion due to athermic windscreen.
tomi
Hi tomi,
I have the GNS for the lighter-plug. The reception in my car (Ford Mondeo) is excellent with the long antenna and not bad with the short antenna - but in your case: I would buy the internal module, which is connected to the antenna of the car-radio, though you cannot take it out of your car.
Best regards
esociarius
Hi mihaid,
I have Tomtom on my second device, but I think there is no possibility to connect a tmc-module to tomtom - they want to sell their own tmc over internet-connection. This was one of the reasons, why I went back to Navigon, which works great on the hd2 (though the Navigon-support is poor).
Best regards
esociarius
For those with athermic front windscreens, place your BT GPS or TMC devices on the rear parcel shelf or attach to a sun/moon roof if you have one. An alternative position if you are a bit DIY is to place under the plastic in the aquarium between the bonnet and windscreen (usually has the windscreen wiper parts there too, needs power and insulation/ water proofing provided) tuck aerial along windscreen rubber).