Samsung S6, true GPS or not?

[Loose rivets]

The simplest of questions, but I have not got a clear idea after two sessions of searching.

I'm on Android 7.0 Knox version, whatever that means. 2.7.1

I go into MAPs hoping to GPS my way around as my Garmin has got a bit long in the tooth. I follow instructions on the S6 which are wrong within about two lines. Apps, Yep. Settings, Yep. Privacy and Safety - it's all over, I'm now a stranger in a strange land.

They clearly say one can "GPS only" and things like that. I have no such command on my phone.

It's been a good phone, and a fabulous camera, plopping it straight onto my Watson Scientific microscope, I'm getting breathtaking images of watch circuitry at X90. Anyway, as a GPS it seems a dead loss. It doesn't even offer, 'Make this location, HOME'. and easy steps like that.

Do I need to download a better GPS App? Is my Android software abandoned by Samsung? I just don't understand how I can be sure that I'm not just navigating via terrestrial data though I have not used any of my 1GB allowance.

The thing is, if it is 'GPSing' it's not very accurate. It sees me as being one house down the road. The Garmin knows what room I'm in. Just things like that, that make me suspicious.

[Asturias56]

Google is your friend - maybe - apparently its been an issue fro a while

https://www.technobezz.com/how-to-fix-galaxy-s6-gps-problems/

[Loose rivets]

Thanks for that. However, while I've Bookmarked it as very handy, the command sequence: Settings > Personal tab > Privacy and Safety > Location is still simply not available to me. I see I've left my phone to update when it wants but it's as though I'm using a slightly different phone. I've looked at S6 Edge, and that's not the answer. However, I can go straight to Location.

While trying and trying again, this time in the suggested Safe Mode, I pressed the drop down Location for much longer than usual. It offered Location on off switch, and the quality of the accuracy. I see it does pull data off the terrestrial network, and that's perhaps why I've used 200 minutes in the last couple of days! I'm keeping a strict eye on that. But AT LAST there was mention of the GPS. I've selected that alone and learned a bit about the clumsy setting of routes and HOME. Weird. I know age is a factor, but I managed the clunky iDrive in a BMW five minuets after leaving the dealer, and to my surprise found my way home.

The phone Blue-tooth's well to a Sony radio in my old hatchback, giving me volume control on the steering wheel.

Thanks again.

[G0ULI]

As you have discovered, mobile phone GPS locations are arrived at by two methods. The first quick method uses triangulation between the known location of cell phone towers. This gives a position that is probably good enough to help when you are lost. The system is quick and generally gives results accurate to within a couple of hundred metres in areas of good cell phone coverage. Accuracy is greatly diminished if all the cell phone towers are off to one side of the phone, such as on a coastline.

The internal GPS module in the phone relies on a small patch antenna that looks for GPS satellite signals. The signals are so faint as to be below the ambient background radio noise levels. The receiver repeatedly layers any signals received over and over until useful information can be recovered. This is then used to derive an approximate location and an accurate time and date. Once that has been achieved the receiver can then look for specific satellites based upon an almanac that is downloaded along with the time and position data. Eventually enough data is recovered to provide an accurate position.

A GPS cold start with no position data, outdoors with a clear view of the sky, can take ten minutes to establish a location. A warm start where an approximate position and accurate time signals are available from the cellular network or recent GPS use may only take twenty seconds. Trying to get a decent GPS signal inside a building without assistance from cellular ground signals may be impossible.

The latest modules are orders of magnitude more sensitive than previous generations of GPS devices and may get a solid position lock from switch on within 30 seconds. Also the latest GPS modules allow position data to be received and decoded from more than one constellation of satellites, so the US, Russian, Chinese and EU systems may all be used. My experiments with a uBlox module give positions accurate to with 10 Cm and a circle of uncertainty of 60 Cm. Good enough to locate the desk in my office next to a window.

[Prop swinger]

Older versions of Android had the option to fine tune how your phone derived its location, more recent versions allow location on/off & accuracy on/off.
https://support.google.com/android/answer/3467281?hl=en-GB#location_accuracy
Leave location on & Google will learn where you live soon enough, along with where you shop, who you visit and everything else.

Plenty of GPS monitoring apps in the Play store:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.chartcross.gpstest

[Loose rivets]

Really interesting answers. Thanks.

However, I decided to use the old Garmin to free up my phone despite a rare outing with the Rivetess as co-pilot. (Mostly in command) Anyway, I footled for ages trying to get the Blue Tooth sound into the Sony radio. Failed totally. Then I tried my phone back with the radio. Suffice it to say, I spent the next hour footling about again with no success at all despite it having worked for in that little car for over 4 years.

Delving into the mystery will have to wait - being taken to Bletchley Park for my 80th Birthday present. I've just looked at it on G-Earth. Ewwwwwwww, is there any space that humans haven't built up?