iPhone GPS is not perfect

[Rottie]

iPhone 3GS GPS with Google map is not so perfect. I use GPS alot and not sure if the iPhone is defect or GPS. When I ride the bus the GPS is out of place or at the point where I am at. And sometime GPS takes so much time figure out where is he location I am standing at.

 

[DivideBYZero]

Google maps on iPhone is the least feature rich version out of the top tier Smartphones. This is then combined with the less than stella GPS chipset in the iPhone.

 

[rudeguy]

Isn't there a really good paid nav program for the iPhone? Or is this mostly for dinking around with?

 

[zerocool84]

Isn't there a really good paid nav program for the iPhone? Or is this mostly for dinking around with?

There are tons of paid nav apps for the iPhone but the only decent ones are expensive as hell.

 

[TheWart]

These might be a starting point:
www.pocketgpsworld.com/iphone-navigation-app-comparison-xr5133.php

http://gizmodo.com/5367026/iphone-navigation-app-battlemodo-part-ii-the-best-cheap-gps-app (you can get to part I through that link)

When you say it isn't accurate, are you talking like in terms of feet, blocks, or miles? I use mine quite often for navigation and it has never been 'wrong' for more than like a block, although it has had a delay in finding my spot if I have a poor signal.

I have found it to be more than accurate enough for driving...would I use it to find my way around a mall or shopping center? prolly not...

 

[Tristicus]

No GPS is perfect.

 

[pm]

When I look at the accuracy of the GPS on my iPhone, it's usually about 50ft.

Like this example from Motion X GPS running on my iPhone 3GS

50ft isn't particularly good for a GPS. My Garmin with WAAS says that it's usually within 12ft. And I even built a GPS myself (for the fun of it, from a GPS IC and a bunch of pieces that I got from Sparkfun) and the accuracy was within 16ft. But 50ft is good enough for navigation in a car and that's good enough for me.

It is slow to acquire though... unless you are near a WiFi point and then it will snap to that.

 

[gorcorps]

It's not great, but double check that 3G is enabled as well as the GPS. At least with the iphone 3G, if I don't have 3G enabled it won't find me even when connected to wifi.

 

[MJinZ]

My Droid............ is about as accurate as my Garvin Nuvi. A couple feet.

 

[QueBert]

My Droid............ is about as accurate as my Garvin Nuvi. A couple feet.

You must have a phenomenal Garmin, mine's always about 30 feet off. For their units 16-33 feet is normal, this according to their web site and the tech person who emailed me back.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

My Droid............ is about as accurate as my Garvin Nuvi. A couple feet.

The Droid's GPS receiver is nothing fantastic either. My SIMless N1 locks faster than my Droid which has a SIM indoors. My SIM-less N82 locks faster too. In essence, even with aGPS, my two other phones lock faster using pure GPS antenna. The N82 is definitely a cold lock as I haven't even touched the phone for months.

And the N97 which is about equivalent to my N82 gets completely slaughtered by the Samsung Omnia HD i8910. So yeah, there's plenty of phones that do GPS just fine. Hard to judge the iPhone one as it is almost always combined with aGPS unless you buy the Tom Tom app or something.

 

[QueBert]

The Droid's GPS receiver is nothing fantastic either. My SIMless N1 locks faster than my Droid which has a SIM indoors. My SIM-less N82 locks faster too. In essence, even with aGPS, my two other phones lock faster using pure GPS antenna. The N82 is definitely a cold lock as I haven't even touched the phone for months.

And the N97 which is about equivalent to my N82 gets completely slaughtered by the Samsung Omnia HD i8910. So yeah, there's plenty of phones that do GPS just fine. Hard to judge the iPhone one as it is almost always combined with aGPS unless you buy the Tom Tom app or something.

The Droids GPS must be really fantastic, if I go by what he said in his post his PHONE is 25+ feet more accurate than my full blown GPS unit, I'd say that's impressive as hell.

 

[MJinZ]

The Droid's GPS receiver is nothing fantastic either. My SIMless N1 locks faster than my Droid which has a SIM indoors. My SIM-less N82 locks faster too. In essence, even with aGPS, my two other phones lock faster using pure GPS antenna. The N82 is definitely a cold lock as I haven't even touched the phone for months.

And the N97 which is about equivalent to my N82 gets completely slaughtered by the Samsung Omnia HD i8910. So yeah, there's plenty of phones that do GPS just fine. Hard to judge the iPhone one as it is almost always combined with aGPS unless you buy the Tom Tom app or something.

Well, I used my Garmin Nuvi 350 for turn by turn directions. And I use the Droid for the same thing.

And they show my position roughly equally and the actual turns are about the same as well.

 

[Phynaz]

The accuracy numbers for your GPS are meaningless.

Who cares that your GPS claims it's accurate to 12ft when your maps aren't accurate to 50ft?.

 

[pm]

The accuracy numbers for your GPS are meaningless.

Who cares that your GPS claims it's accurate to 12ft when your maps aren't accurate to 50ft?.

Agreed. For driving.

For geocaching (www.geocaching.com), using a GPS in the middle of a forest looking for a thing that's about 1cm square in size... a GPS with <12ft. accuracy comes in handy. Searching an area 100ft. in diameter is a lot harder than searching in an area 24ft. in diameter. And, sure, geocaching is a waste of time as a hobby... but it's a heck of a lot cheaper than golf and gets the kids and I out of the house and off in pretty locations hunting for small hidden objects.

 

[Suspicious-Teach8788]

Well, I used my Garmin Nuvi 350 for turn by turn directions. And I use the Droid for the same thing.

And they show my position roughly equally and the actual turns are about the same as well.

Well they should be accurate down to the road. You may be 50 feet off but the GPS uses some common sense I suppose and assumes you're driving down the road, rather than flying through buildings with no clip mode

I assume Google Maps should do the same on an iPhone, but if not most of the software will too. It's just like how you can miss an exit ramp and a GPS will show you on the ramp for a good 5 seconds even though you're still driving on the highway...

 

[Rottie]

I depend on iPhone GPS alot whileriding on the metro bus in LA area the GPS does not move any directions the metro bus is traveling it takes about 60 seconds or so then it starts moving but it stopped moving I missed getting off at the bus stop point and took me 5 miles awayfrom the point. *sigh* iPhone GPS sucks or is it defective?

 

[pm]

I would have to say that the iPhone GPS is likely to blame, but also maybe the bus is blocking the signal, and you are probably surrounded by tall buildings that also block some of the satellites. But on the antenna is small, and the GPS is optimized around low-power. I don't get a great signal with my iPhone's GPS - and never have. It's "good enough" but just barely.

You can check the accuracy with the motionX GPS app - I think there's a few version, although I'm using the paid version.

 

[Rottie]

PM you are probably right when I got out of bus GPS seem to find where I am standing at.

 

[foghorn67]

My Droid's GPS is at about a 12 ft. accuracy. And it locks in pretty fast.
Delerium - Some apps "hang on" to the GPS process, causing maps to fight for it. Weatherbug did this to me when I had it installed. Took too long for Google Maps to lock a position.

 

[TheWart]

Just thought it might be interesting to note that per Gizmodo's test and anecdotal reports on some forums, the iPad GPS - while slower to initially lock in - is both more accurate and updates more quickly than the iPhone gps:

With the iPhone navigon would jump me around and tell me to get on the freeway when I was already on the freeway. With the iPad 3G ... It updated my position in real time while I was pulling out of my driveway ... 40 ft.

per ifixit teardown:

iFixit's teardown shows the iPad uses a different GPS chip (Broadcom BCM4750UBG Single-Chip AGPS Solution) compared to the iPhone 3GS, explaining the improvement.

 

[zerocool84]

Cellphone GPS's aren't perfect as they are all in one devices and never do one thing perfectly but for getting turn by turn directions they are perfect.

 

[deputc26]

I thought everyone already knew the iPhone gps sucked, one of the main reasons I got a droid. It usually accurate to within 6-12 feet though as mentioned it takes too long to lock without assist.

 

[Rottie]

When I look at the accuracy of the GPS on my iPhone, it's usually about 50ft.

Like this example from Motion X GPS running on my iPhone 3GS

50ft isn't particularly good for a GPS. My Garmin with WAAS says that it's usually within 12ft. And I even built a GPS myself (for the fun of it, from a GPS IC and a bunch of pieces that I got from Sparkfun) and the accuracy was within 16ft. But 50ft is good enough for navigation in a car and that's good enough for me.

It is slow to acquire though... unless you are near a WiFi point and then it will snap to that.

I was toting with Motion X GPS lite last night but theinterface is little confusing for me and it seems it can't find me. It tells me the GPS signal is weak

 

[Rottie]

I purchased Motion X GPS Drive for 99 cent few months ago it is very good app better than built in map app but it lacks bus route so I use Map app instead.