A great smartphone App

[captain paranoia]

Lyle, I think boogyman was asking when the app will need to access the internet to get data, I guess to understand connectivity requirements for a smartphone.

Some obvious possible come to mind:

- A-GPS data (GPS Status does this)
- sunrise/set (if it doesn't calculate them)
- local magnetic declination

One way to find out 'when': turn off all comms, and see if the app complains and says you need to change Settings...

[boogyman]

Chris if I have understood your question correctly, the app is available now.

PS Did you also receive my email 27042014?

Oops Lyle, my question was not clear... No, I was curious to know when (for which functionalities) the app would need a data-connection. Looking at the screenshots that you posted, I see two screens where there is actual (data)communication, but that could of course be caused by another software running on the device.

To your PS: indeed, I received your email (thanks!) -- I haven't answered it yet: reflecting about your remarks on the situation in eastern Europe

Best regards,
Chris.

[boogyman]

Lyle, I think boogyman was asking when the app will need to access the internet to get data, I guess to understand connectivity requirements for a smartphone.
[ ... ]
One way to find out 'when': turn off all comms, and see if the app complains and says you need to change Settings...

That was indeed the question CP. Good suggestion to try it out that way -- will do 

Cheers,
Chris.

[Lyle Brotherton]

Reading this morning:



Anyone know how many satellites my Galaxy S3 can actually track and use?

Just checking safe receipt of email Chris, no hurry to reply:)

[captain paranoia]

It was easy enough to find that the S3 uses a Broadcom BCM47511 chip, but a harder matter to track down how many channels that device supports; Broadcomm seem very reluctant to publish details of the device without some IPR agreement.  Even in the press release in GPSWorld, there's no mention of the number of channels.

I finally found this document, that describes the chip as being able to support 18 channels.

A different perspective may be gained here, (where GPS Test is used), and I note the display shows '20 satellites in view'.  It's possible that GPS Test is determining the in-view status from the ephemeris (i.e. what should be in view), rather than satellites it is actively tracking.  It also discusses the possibility that the S3 uses a GNSS receiver integrated into an RF system chip.

[Lyle Brotherton]

Thx CP I drew the same blank but had not found the document you refer to, interesting reading.

[Pete McK]

Hi Captain, you stated "It also discusses the possibility that the S3 uses a GNSS receiver integrated into an RF system chip" what does this mean please?

[Callum]

Last night we had a night trip across the fells and in the Settings mode, under Colour scheme, you can change the display to Night Colours.

By checking this, the display is all red and whilst very clear to read in the dark it also, importantly, preserves night vision. To ensure the entire screen is night vision check the 'Hide the status bar' too. 

[captain paranoia]

Pete,

Sorry, I missed your question.

The discussion about which GPS receiver was used in US models of the S3 was around the issue of whether the chipset handling the radio frequency subsystem of the phone includes a GPS receiver function. Depending on the level of integration, and the frequencies concerned, this might well be possible.  The alternative is that the GNSS function is provided by an entirely standalone GNSS chip set, which might be more capable; maybe having better performance, or more correlator channels, or the ability to use GLONASS or BDS as well as GPS.

Having the GNSS receiver integrated into the RF subsystem might explain why some phones' GNSS receivers won't work in 'flight mode'; if the entire RF subsystem is disabled, it will disable the GNSS receiver too. I think this affects some of the iPhones.

[Pete McK]

Thank you Captain, simple explanation. Your flight mode idea makes sense too

[boogyman]

Since this thread appeared on the forum, I have been trying this app from time to time. I've installed it on an Asus Fonepad as well as on a Motorola Moto G. Following their specs, both have receivers that are capable of GPS and GLONASS.

However, on both these devices, the GLONASS satellites sometimes show up on the GPS status screen, but they always show as gray bars, and never get a color that is explained in the S/N legend (while at the same moment, my eTrex 20 often shows that its actually using a mix of GPS and GLONASS satellites).

Anyone any idea how I should interprete this?

[Pete McK]

My interpretation is that these colours are used to differentiate between the two systems Boogyman.

[Lyle Brotherton]

That's my interpretation too Chris.