I bought this device (Nokia N97 at C$750) as a replacement for my Nokia N85. When I had my N85, I knew that turning A-GPS off would lengthen the time for the GPS unit inside the phone to get a signal fix (TTTF). Sometimes, it would take 10 minutes, lately, it has only been requiring 5 minutes.
In Positioning Methods, I have both Network Based and Integrated GPS ticked off, and Bluetooth and Assited GPS left unticked. When I received my Nokia N97, I have had problems with it including 5 times where it just sat there in the boot logo screen, hence a hard reset was called 5 times. Everything including data and applications had to be re-installed 5 times.
For a phone which I paid a hefty sum for, I would not expect this to happen. I have been using a Nokia since 1997 and have bought 2-3 handsets a year. Is this where is is leading to? A decline in performance and quality?
I spent two weeks trying to make sense of this phone and make it work the way I want it to. Then, 3 days ago, I decided to test the GPS out. I never use Nokia Maps, nor Ovi Maps for this matter. I use Garmin Mobile XT since it has way more map data than Nokia or Google for countries that are not so popular.
I live in Canada, by the way, in Vancouver, an urban sprawl.
Day 1 of GPS Experience
3 days ago, it was a cloudy day, and it did rain a lot. I drove from my place to our office in Surrey. The elevation where I live is higher than Surrey. Does this affect GPS performance, in particular TTTF (Getting a Signal Fix) and maintaining that fix?
I turned Garmin on, it was 'Waiting for Better GPS Accuracy'. Lucky, the traffic that day was heavy. After 20-30 minutes, it finally acquired a good enough signal and I happily drove off to work.
I have the N97 plugged into the DC-6 Charger.
On my way home, I started the GPS (Garmin Mobile XT) and it was not able to get a Satellite Fix at all. I got home, got frustrated and turned it off.
I then researched N97 GPS problems and was made aware that Nokia has announced that some N97units have faulty GPS. I started wondering if mine was. There was one article that mentioned to use cotton swabs and press the stickers where the antenna is located at the left & right of the camera down, specially the contact points.
I tried searching for signal inside and outside my apartment that night but still could not get a fix for hours. I got so frustrated I decided to leave it for another day. The whole day and night, we had cloudy/rainy weather.
Day 2 of GPS Experience
Is it my lucky day today? I drove to work, started Garmin Mobile XT, searched for Satellite Signals and within 5 minutes, it obtained a fix and was able to maintain the signal level until I got to work. It even told me to turn right at the correct entrance to my work's parking lot. Crazy!
So, I decided maybe that weather was a factor in GPS performance since today is a relatively clear and sunny day.
On my way home though, I did not get any signal from the GPS, no fix, no nothing. =(
Day 3 of GPS Experience
Today, I was even luckier. I got a Satellite fix and 3-4 signal bars with bright green on Garmin Mobile XT. But after 3-4 minutes of driving. It lost satellite reception? Why is that? For the rest of the trip, it was not able to re-obtain a Satellite fix??? I did not use the DC-6 Car charger this time. Got too lazy... and wanted to try using the N97 GPS without external power.
This afternoon, I left work 30 minutes later than normal. Instead of going straight home, I decide to run a few errands. I turn the GPS on at the parking lot and started to drive out. Within a few minutes, Garmin Mobile XT reports that it has obtained satellite signal. I see three green bars. On top, it says 2D Satellite View??? Never noticed this before. In the morning, I noticed this too. I figure it was the image...
But within 2 minutes of driving further, it lost Satellite Reception. After about 5 minutes. I get 2D Sattelite view again with 3 bars but soon after lost it. After about 10 minutes, I arrived at Costco. I did not turn off Garmin Mobile XT. I put it the N97 in my pocket and when I checked again after putting my groceries in the car, I get 3D Satellite View... now I am astounded! Wow! This is different, I see 4 bars, full green signals. This is in Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver on a major thoroughfare. I continually monitor the GPS Info while driving to another grocery store.
As I enter the grocery store, I still see 4 bars but as soon as I got deeper into the store, I hear a voice telling me "Lost Satellite Reception". I was now wondering if I will get immediate Satellite Reception when I get out of the store. After my chores in that store, I get out and then checked the N97. Still no signal.
Within a minute, I see that I have 3D Satellite View again. I drive home and monitor the N97 mounted on my windshield. For the whole trip, I get 4 bars mostly, sometimes,, dropping to 3 bars but I still had 4 bars when I get home.
From the time I left Costco to Home, it is about 45 minutes. So for 45 minutes, I get a good signal... only after 20~30 minute wait cold start to TTTF?
A Few Conclusions & Questions
After reading through the discussions in the Nokia forums on the N97 GPS, I can say that I am experiencing an extremely SLOW cold start to TTTF. 20~30 minutes is not acceptable in real life. I am not certain if others have A-GPS turned on or turned off when they report that they get a fix after 11 seconds, and if this fix is 2D (3 bars - lat + long) or 3D (4 bars or more - lat + long + alt).
A-GPS uses network packet data (3G or GPRS), so it would be an extra cost. Plus A-GPS will not work in areas where there is no Cell Signal, i.e., no 3G, no GSM.... no network at all.
The N97 GPS can get quite a good signal, only after it has been on for 20 minutes or more... ????
If this were a real life situation... where you are extremely lost, in a panic, somewhere in the woods, in the outback, out in the boonies... or maybe on an iceberg... you take your N97 out and say... damn... I need to know where I am.... and then you panic.... you wait, and wait, and wait...
In that 20~30 minutes you were waiting for the GPS module to finally get a good enough fix and signal, you could have either died from hypothermia, killed yourself in panic, fell off a cliff, stabbed by an ice floe, attacked by a grizzly, ravaged by a hyena, fattened by sudden volcanic eruption, buried in quick sand...
In your dying moments, you ask Nokia... I paid how much? It is US$630, C$750, €650... No? For this device that says to have a great GPS and I rely on it... damn Nokia!
I have been an avid Nokia fan since 1997. I've used HTC, iMate, Sony Ericsson, Motorola... etc., and I have finally decided that Nokia has a better handle on technology than their competitors. I even compare the iPhone 3GS to the N97 and laugh at the iPhone. Maybe I should stop laughing.
It is really no comparison. iPhone 3GS has one single option to either turn on/off its A-GPS. Where as Nokia gives you 4 options, BT, Integrated, A-GPS and Cell Tower Network Based. So, if iPhone or Palm or Crackberry had these options available to their users, will they still boast a good enough in-phone GPS?
I remember my N85-NAM having the same problem. However, I remember that at most, it took 15 minutes and the TTTF improved over time. I only had my N85 for 6 months before giving it up for the N97 but I have used the GPS 'on the fly', with 5 minutes TTTF to navigate to some place I have never been before. I have the same settings. A-GPS and BT GPS is off. Only Integrated and Cell Tower Network Based.
Can the N97 do this?
My N97's firmware has been upgraded to 12.2.024 by the way and Nokia Maps has been replace by OVI Maps 3.1. But I still don't use OVI Maps. With Garmin Mobile XT, you can use open source maps instead of the Garmin Maps. These open source maps are extremely useful if you are going to some country that has no map coverage from Nokia, Garmin, TomTom, Navigon, Sygic, Amaze...
Honestly... aside from going to "popular" places. Don't you want to use your GPS to show you where you are when exploring a country you have never visited, not popular with the rest of the populace?
Anyway... back to the topic.
Nokia has a Positioning API/Location API over the GPS module. Any map/location-based software talking to the GPS goes through this API. Instead of direct access to the GPS module, it talks via a middle man (the API layer) to talk to the GPS module. I want to ask Nokia's software engineerings and hardware engineerings some of these questions.
1) Is the GPS module's power consumption managed by the hardware, or is it managed by the API or the phone's kernel itself? Notice that normal GPS units, specially Bluetooth Units have an on/off button to turn GPS on & off. Where as mobile phones have none. I am led to assume that the on/off switch is controlled by the software/API.
2) If it is true then that the software manages power consumption. Does Nokia have code in there that denies the GPS module of juice (that would significantly drain the battery) to boost its signal acquisition strength? If you notice a regular transmitter radio, if the battery is close to running out of juice, transmission is full of static and erratic.
3) Does Nokia turn the GPS unit on/off intermittently while searching for signal to save battery power? I notice that the N97 has a better battery life than the N85. Uhmmm...
4) Why does it take 20-30 minutes for a cold start TTTF? The iPhone takes less than a minute where there is no 3G signal. Any other units do not take that long. Is there something Nokia did wrong?
5) Is Nokia's N97 GPS weather dependent? Cloudy day = expect no signal? How could you expect people to rely on this device then?
6) Is it really the hardware that has the problem? Maybe the software? What did you do different in this phone that makes its GPS Performance so poor.
7) If I buy a Bluetooth unit and check off, Bluetooth, Integrated and Network based, will that improve the signal acquisition time? Will other software still use the Integrated GPS but also use the Bluetooth that might or might not be boosting the signal acquisition strength?
8) So many questions... my last question. Will Nokia offer a fix? It is said v12.x.024 Firmware should fix it... but clearly, it has not.
Well... hope you offer a fix... and let us know what is really wrong because I feel not only cheated, I feel let down by the mobile phone company that I trusted for so long.
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