I'm in the same boat as many of you and I've tried the various fixes with mixed results. I remember back when I was struggling with my TP2 running Windows, GPS was always pretty solid, even indoors, while my GS3 doesn't get anything without there being direct line-of-sight to the satellites.
This only led me to believe that the phones operate in different GPS modes since I'd lose GPS lock without data on the TP2 and I could turn off data and still acquire satellites with my GS3.
I began tinkering with the gps.conf file to see if that helped things, but it ultimately only made a moderate improvement. This did however lead me in a better direction. The AGPS fix (
http://xdaforums.com/showthread.php?t=1880411) for GS3 has two device-specific fixes. There is only a minor difference between the two and everything else was identical:
INTERMEDIATE_POS= (either 1 or 0)
ACCURACY_THRES=3000
DEFAULT_AGPS_ENABLE=TRUE
DEFAULT_USER_PLANE=TRUE
DEFAULT_SSL_ENABLE=FALSE
AssistMethodType=1
AgpsUse=1
AgpsServerType=1
AgpsServerIp=3232235555
AgpsMtConf=0
AgpsMtResponseType=1
SUPL_HOST=supl.google.com
SUPL_PORT=7276
SUPL_NO_SECURE_PORT=3425
I found that this fix worked more or less the same as the gps.conf that's standard, so I figured that AGPS wasn't enabled although the configuration file says to use it. There was something in the notes of the AGPS fix that seemed directly related and it's a line in the build.prop file. The notes specifically state "You need to change "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 2" or "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 0" to be "ro.ril.def.agps.mode = 1" in order for aGPS to properly function."
Well I tried it and it didn't seem to do anything. AT ALL. I had absolutely no clue what the 0,1, and 2 modes were, so I searched a little more. I figured there had to place in the secret menu or an app that accessed it to change gps modes in plain English, and I stumbled upon AngryGPS in the Galaxy Nexus thread (
http://rootzwiki.com/topic/21453-optimal-gps-settings-for-galaxy-nexus/). It took me installing LauncherPro in order open the program, but when I did, there were four GPS modes listed in the settings:
- STANDALONE (which was my setting)
- MSBASED
- MSASSISTED
- NETWORK PROVIDER
I thought this made sense and went on to try the other ones. I've been on MSASSITED since this morning and was able to acquire satellites inside my place where I wasn't able to before. Now it wasn't lightning fast or anything, but it was a promising sign. I navigated to work this morning without any of the annoying jumps to hundreds of feet away or hearing "GPS Signal Lost".
That's where I am. I didn't want to come to the discussion empty-handed, so if this helps someone, great. If someone can add on, even better!
Peace.
