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Just to give you a lowdown: I've been following this forum for a while as well as the former satioworld and several n97 forums. Somehow, I find my Satio having a similar problem many n97 users are facing. A search on this forum reveals several earlier threads of people having problem with their GPS but not sure this has been resolved now that there are no new threads on it or possible solutions that fix it.

Coming back to Satio's GPS, the main problem I have is not that I can't connect using only Satio's internal/inbuilt GPS chipset (AGPS off), although initial connection or cold start is usually slow (around 10-20mins), but rather, more of a problem with the inaccuracy and ineffectiveness of the internal GPS chipset.

I had Garmin 5.00.60, Ovi Maps 3.01 09w44 and Ovi Maps 3.01 09w36. So far, the Garmin which I tested is the most accurate only with occasional recalculations during a navigation. Ovi Maps 3.01 09w44 and Ovi Maps 3.01 09w36 both had serious "recalculating problem" whether in suburb or urban areas, although the problem is more severe with 09w44, 09w36 has a higher tolerance of inaccuracy but if it does recalculates, all hell will break loose and it never regains control of the actual position. With Ovi 09w44 and 09w36, sometimes my reception can drop from almost full bar to 1/3 bar after passing under an overhead bridge, causing the app to recalculate like crazy. On several occasion with a full bar signal, it would drop signal strength severely when I reach a built up area or even loose connection totally, causing loads of recalculations, pointing me to wrong places. On other occasions, with a full bar connection and driving on a straight highway, it would recalculate when there are roads nearby even if the roads are not connected to the highway; the map would think that I somehow went over to the adjacent roads and thus recalculate like crazy trying to bring me back onto the highway. This key issue is, the GPS isn't accurate whether on a 1/3 bar reception or a full bar one. If use the walk to feature, I can see that the position is way off and showing me on the wrong road, etc.

As I've said above, Garmin isn't spared either, although it's somewhat better. On Garmin it's more like Ovi 09w36, with a higher tolerance and hell breaks loose if it does recalculate. A check on the built in satellite widget showed several satellites connecting and disconnecting at high frequencies. Even when there are more than 6 satellite locks, the connection isn't stable with such frequent connections/disconnections. All these said, I'm always under a clear blue sky for the benchmark. In the morning when it's slightly foggy, I can't even get a connection after 30mins of trying.

Possible Solutions?
I've read on some n97 forums that n97 users are experiencing a similar problem. The only difference is that Nokia Service Center has acknowledged the problem and willing to fix their handsets for free. Before that happened and when the problem was first discovered on early n97 handsets, some users attempted a self-fix by lengthening the GPS antenna with a thin piece of copper wire: http://www.a site.com/tunning/n97gpsfix/nokia_n97_gps_antenna_hack.htm . Another way was to apply a firm preasure on the camera module as they had thought that the sticker holding the antenna was loose. Both methods had reportedly worked but of course the best way was bring their handsets down to Nokia Service Center for a free fix, along side with the lens scratching camera cover.

Now with Satio, I had brought my handset to Sony Ericsson Service Center asking for a fix and they rejected the problem. All they did was format my phone with the latest firmware and shrug off all problems blaming it on third-party applications. They even told me Wisepilot and Google map works so there's no problem with the GPS. What they don't understand is that Wisepilot and Google map use data services hence are able to function as if AGPS is turned on. They also don't understand that GPS is supposed to function properly without the added support from AGPS. Why pay your telco hefty subscription/usage fees when you can have your map data loaded onto the phone memory? From my experience with N82, 5800, HTC snap and several other handsets, GPS always worked accurately with just the inbuilt GPS chipset.

I'm not sure how many of you here are experiencing the same problem or have gotten numb to it. One questions I have is with the latest firmware that most of you have installed (which HelloOX2 fails to hack), are you still getting this problem, and prior to that, were you having this problem? Anyway, it's highly unlikely that a firmware upgrade would solve this problem. I feel the underlying problem is still the GPS antenna.

Best Regards,
PMET

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Posted: 2010-03-12 07:24:56
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there is definetly an issue with the GPS receiver on the Satio, I periodically check it to see if it will pick up signal and it doesn't, only way I have found to fix this is to do a complete factory reset, I have done this 2 times and it seems to work for a while after that, haven't tried since the last FW update, I don't really use GPS so not a biggy for me but if I ever have occasion to use it I's like to be able too, I don't use any 3rd party sw to test it, I simply use the location app already on the phone and when it isn't working it does not pick up any satalite, the gps icon comes on indicating that it is supposed to be working but no signal, so yes there does seem to be a problem and it seems to be software rather than hardware.
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Posted: 2010-03-12 07:51:14
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truncated url below:
www
dot
symbian dash freak
dot
com
/tunning/n97gpsfix/nokia_n97_gps_antenna_hack.htm

or just google n97 gps antenna

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Posted: 2010-03-12 08:27:26
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As I've said above, the problem is not being unable to get a lock or satellite connection. At least for me, there's a lock but the unstable connection brings you all over the place. I believe the problem you had was different from mine. What had happened for you was an incomplete update so the pointer file wasn't written onto your memory card, or the pointer file simply got corrupted. The pointer file is required for saving satellite data and the internal GPS doesn't work without it. A hard reset as you said (reinstalling the firmware) helps fix the pointer file thus resolves this problem.

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Posted: 2010-03-12 08:35:52
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I have three GPS on my Satio

Nokia map (3.03)is worst of the three but with the new update it actually pickup much faster. Sygic Mobile is very nice a little simple but it pick up signal equally fast as Garmin, i like Garmin XT best, it has better UI and much better in term of searching--by the way i live near moutain top
One trick.. if you turn on Wifi it pick up much quicker Ovi sometimes keep recalcuating which really annoying

Drew
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Posted: 2010-03-12 08:47:21
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In the service menu there is an option to clear gps help data (or something like that). That helped for me when i couldn't keep my gps signal stable. It might help
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Posted: 2010-03-12 08:48:00
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@volkii

Thank u very much, my Sygic stopped working after beeing on Bali.... now I cleared the data an everything works fine again!

cheers

marcel
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Posted: 2010-03-12 11:24:52
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If anyone want to know where's the service menu here it is

on your phone hardware key press

Red-Green-Red-Red-Green-Red it will bring up all the services there's a GPS service menu

Drew

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Posted: 2010-03-12 13:36:13
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R G RR G R
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Posted: 2010-03-12 16:38:39
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Oops missed one haha
Thanks ill edit my post

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Posted: 2010-03-12 16:45:44
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