Attention Verizon / Samsung KITKAT Users, who wish to observe privacy about their location.
The location "GPS Only" feature, is a lie - straight up - on Verizon / Samsung's implementation of kitkat. It is the identical implementation found in android version 4.3, which reads "GPS and Verizon Services" -
"GPS Only", which implies hardware / satellite "ONLY", is not the case in kitkat 4.4.2 (ala Verizon / Samsung)
In the "com.android.providers.settings" secure table, there is a row entry called "location_providers_allowed", which when no location option has been selected, the value is blank; yet when GPS Only (in 4.4.2) or GPS and Verizon Location Services (in 4.3) are toggled, the value of the row becomes "GPS,vzw_lbs" - which is an indication that both GPS and Verizon Location Services are running...
If you use a play store application called Power Toggles, which is programmed to toggle the hardware GPS only (rooted feature), that is a truth. the vzw_lbs provider is not listed as toggled.
btw - using an application from the play store called "GPS Test (Plus - paid version)" which displays the accuracy of the hardware GPS, has always reported a very high rate of accuracy for Samsung (and Motorola too) devices - down to as little as 6ft, but usually 10ft of accuracy using the GPS only hardware - and I highly doubt that A-GPS, or google / Verizon location services could help that number any better, claiming better precision...
Not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch, but I like my privacy just fine without letting Verizon, Samsung, or google know my position on the planet - not their business.
The location "GPS Only" feature, is a lie - straight up - on Verizon / Samsung's implementation of kitkat. It is the identical implementation found in android version 4.3, which reads "GPS and Verizon Services" -
"GPS Only", which implies hardware / satellite "ONLY", is not the case in kitkat 4.4.2 (ala Verizon / Samsung)
In the "com.android.providers.settings" secure table, there is a row entry called "location_providers_allowed", which when no location option has been selected, the value is blank; yet when GPS Only (in 4.4.2) or GPS and Verizon Location Services (in 4.3) are toggled, the value of the row becomes "GPS,vzw_lbs" - which is an indication that both GPS and Verizon Location Services are running...
If you use a play store application called Power Toggles, which is programmed to toggle the hardware GPS only (rooted feature), that is a truth. the vzw_lbs provider is not listed as toggled.
btw - using an application from the play store called "GPS Test (Plus - paid version)" which displays the accuracy of the hardware GPS, has always reported a very high rate of accuracy for Samsung (and Motorola too) devices - down to as little as 6ft, but usually 10ft of accuracy using the GPS only hardware - and I highly doubt that A-GPS, or google / Verizon location services could help that number any better, claiming better precision...
Not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch, but I like my privacy just fine without letting Verizon, Samsung, or google know my position on the planet - not their business.
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