At a recent search-and-rescue boot camp I attended, it was clear during unscientific tests I performed that a standalone, dedicated Global Positioning System device was more accurate navigating to waypoints than a smartphone with GPS chip — but it was only by a few feet. A dedicated GPS device that a buddy operated was spot-on when predeployed marker UTM co-ordinates were plugged in to both devices — the Android smartphone and GPS — and both were used to navigate to a flag marker. The smartphone was off by up to 15 feet. But does it matter?
I found this interesting as you've done most of the same things I have done with my Droid-X. One issue I ran into after an update is that GPS no longer functions in "airplane" mode.
I can still get a fix even though it is no longer on a cell network and its always worked for me in places where there isn't cell service.
But turn on airplane mode and it appears to disable the GPS chip as well. So this is a heads up for others testing their devices. GPS may not function in airplane mode.
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Souping Up Your Smartphone's GPS
Posted by: Patrick Nelson October 25, 2012 05:00 AMAt a recent search-and-rescue boot camp I attended, it was clear during unscientific tests I performed that a standalone, dedicated Global Positioning System device was more accurate navigating to waypoints than a smartphone with GPS chip — but it was only by a few feet. A dedicated GPS device that a buddy operated was spot-on when predeployed marker UTM co-ordinates were plugged in to both devices — the Android smartphone and GPS — and both were used to navigate to a flag marker. The smartphone was off by up to 15 feet. But does it matter?
I can still get a fix even though it is no longer on a cell network and its always worked for me in places where there isn't cell service.
But turn on airplane mode and it appears to disable the GPS chip as well. So this is a heads up for others testing their devices. GPS may not function in airplane mode.