GPS when on your wrist

FINOW Products X series, Plus series, Atenea & LEM5 General Chat
#1

Hi

Do any full android 5 watches’ GPS work well when worn on the wrist normally? I’ve seen demonstration of GPS signal being acquired with watch not worn, then dropping out as soon as it’s put on user’s wrist.

Sorry if answered elsewhere (I did search)
Thanks for any assistance

#2

I have an answer to my own question: it depends

The person who originally showed GPS drop out when on wrist did a good follow up, showing the GPS holding steady:

My conclusion is that it depends on your GPS coverage at the time, though other factors may be important too like firmware differences.

Appreciate hearing others’ experiences though

#3

I am not getting any GPS lock on my X3 Plus. Don’t think it would be much useful realistically in my case since the battery will be draining really quick

#4

I have yet to find any of the watches in this community fail to get a lock when outside and with a working data connection. Not one. The only time I’ve had a lock fail is in large metal frame buildings, metal buildings, or when on the lower floor of taller buildings with no access to an area near windows.

#5

I tried with Wifi connection on and did not get a lock. I’ll try with SIM/3G on and report back. May be i have to do a full reset and try.

Success after resetting the watch. GPS Status shows 12 in the sky and got a lock outside.

#6

Thankyou both. I’ve made my selection on specs & style, so have ordered an x3+.
Looking forward to having a new toy to tinker with!
Cheers

#7

I confirm what you have noticed : i can’t get a gps fix when the watch is worn on the wrist !!!

The only way to catch the satellites is put put the watch on a table, not worn…

crappy hardware (or rom problem)…

#8

Are you guys having these issues while inside or outside?

#9

I tried the GPS on my new X3+ outside both yesterday and today and couldn’t get a lock.

The only app I tried it with was Strava but it couldn’t get a lock. Sports tracking was one of the main reasons I bought this watch so to say that I was disappointed is an understatement. I have a SIM card installed and am using 3G on it.

I’m a complete noob to these watches. Why would one have to reset a brand new watch to get something to work, and wouldn’t that remove all the apps and various set ups I’ve made?

#10
Oct 9, 2016 17:05:12 GMT 1 RASC Moderators said:
Are you guys having these issues while inside or outside?

outside. I did new tests tonight outside my house with a clear sky above me . I used a very good app called "GPS DATA" downloaded on the playstore . I can be used very easily with our watch and see the satellites live on a map.

results :

  • watch worn on wrist  -> no fix , only 3 orange satellites the 8 others remain red on the map
  • watch not worn on wrist , hold y the bracelet upper side aim the sky -> quick fix for 3 satellittes that turn green in 10s
  • watch not worn on wrist , hold upside down , metal bottom aiming the sky -> extremely quick fix 7 satellites turn green in 5 s

my conclusion : the satellite receiver is under the watch … too

 bad

            

#11

The receiver location is irrelevant, the antenna location is, which in the bands.

#12

Do you mean any obstacles on bands would damage the signal?

#13

Thanks again for everyone’s contributions.
Smartwatch Ticks has a new GPS video which I found interesting. Hopefully I can get GPS to work outside

#14
Oct 10, 2016 2:20:33 GMT 1 RASC Moderators said:
The receiver location is irrelevant, the antenna location is, which in the bands.

ok but it works better when the watch is upside down....
#15

Oct 8, 2016 18:48:18 GMT 1 george said:

I tried with Wifi connection on and did not get a lock. I’ll try with SIM/3G on and report back. May be i have to do a full reset and try.

Success after resetting the watch. GPS Status shows 12 in the sky and got a lock outside.
I still don’t understand why you have to reset a new watch, and how that helps GPS?

I’ve installed lots of apps and set the watch up the way I like it, but without working GPS it’s pretty useless to me. Guess I’ll try to do a reset then. You just do it from the meny, or is there some “harder” reset that needs to be done?

#16

Just regular reset. Resetting jut just worked in my case. You may have a another issue causing the problem. Some location settings or something.

Use GPS Data App and see if you can see the satellites, lock and stuff. You may want to do that first before resetting .

Others may have better ideas.

#17

Oct 12, 2016 19:02:58 GMT 1 krevlornswath said:
Oct 8, 2016 18:48:18 GMT 1 george said:
I tried with Wifi connection on and did not get a lock. I’ll try with SIM/3G on and report back. May be i have to do a full reset and try.

Success after resetting the watch. GPS Status shows 12 in the sky and got a lock outside.
I still don’t understand why you have to reset a new watch, and how that helps GPS?

I’ve installed lots of apps and set the watch up the way I like it, but without working GPS it’s pretty useless to me. Guess I’ll try to do a reset then. You just do it from the meny, or is there some “harder” reset that needs to be done?

All MTK based devices download a region/time/satellite data file. If this file is not up to date, or for the wrong region, it can take a very long time to get a lock. The reset deletes the file and forces an update.

#18

I think that,in watch band is only one end of antenna. Second is on the motherboard. From both ends of the specific orientation of the
antenna relative to each other depends on the signal quality. Here at No.1 D6, but the principle is the same. The film shows
what’s going on.
www.dropbox.com/s/lrmqco109excbav/GPS%20work%20strange.mp4?dl=0

Here you can see that the band is just a piece of cable (1:30)

#19

Here’s how it works; antenna > cable > PCB. The cable between the antenna and the PCB is shielded and has little to no bearing on reception.

#20

OK. That’s where this antenna?
Because the film from youtube it is not.