Comment by magneticnorth
2 days ago
A slightly related question, if anyone knows - has phone GPS gotten worse in recent generations? More reliance on local wifi networks or something like that?
I ask because I do a lot of backcountry hiking, camping, and foraging and rely on true GPS-only navigation. My most recent two phones (iphone and pixel) have noticeably worse GPS performance than previous phones, and I even changed OS ecosystems mostly hoping for better GPS, but it didn't help. Maybe I've had bad luck, but two noticeably bad phones in a row seems like it may be a pattern.
And is there any way to find phones with very good GPS performance?
I've noticed very similar degradations in performance moving from a Pixel 3XL to a 7A.
When disabling "Android intelligence" (iirc this is what runs WiFi location scanning in the background) from running in the background, the 7A would take much, MUCH longer to get a GPS lock on a window sill, vs the 3XL right next to it... as well as lower SNRs and fewer satellites seen and used.
I don't get it.
I don't know, but I have noticed that the GPS in my watch (Garmin) seems to be better than the one in my phone.
Because Garmin tools are good
Garmin is a GPS company first, a watch company second. It shows.
Aggressive battery saving, thinner phones, competition between multiple radio transceivers in a small device - these can affect GPS performance.
Try disabling battery saving measures as much as possible and see if it helps.