The iPhone 5 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi, Brian Klug & Vivek Gowri on October 16, 2012 11:33 AM EST- Posted in
- Smartphones
- Apple
- Mobile
- iPhone 5
GNSS: Subtle Improvements
Section by Brian Klug
Like the iPhone 4S and the iPhone 4 CDMA before it, Apple has gone with the GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) leveraging both GPS and Russian GLONASS which lives entirely on the Qualcomm baseband. In the case of the iPhone 4S and 4 CDMA, that was onboard MDM6610 and MDM6600 respectively, both of which implemented Qualcomm’s gpsOneGen 8 with GLONASS tier. Going to on-baseband GNSS is really the way of the future, and partially the reason why so many of the WLAN, BT, and FM combos don’t include any GNSS themselves (those partners know it as well). In this scheme GNSS simply uses a dedicated port on the transceiver for downconversion, additional filtering (on RTR8600), and then processing on the baseband. The advantage of doing it all here is that often it eliminates the need for another dedicated antenna for GNSS, and also all of the assist and seed information traditionally needed to speed up getting a GPS fix already exists basically for free on the baseband. We’re talking about both a basic location seed, precision clock data, in addition to ephemeris. In effect with all this already existing on the baseband, every GPS start is like a hot start.
There was a considerable bump in both tracking accuracy and time to an assisted GPS fix from the iPhone 4 which used a monolithic GPS receiver to the 4 CDMA and 4S MDM66x0 solution. I made a video last time showing just how dramatic that difference is even in filtered applications like Maps.app. GLONASS isn’t used all the time, but rather when GPS SNR is either low or the accuracy of the resulting fix is poor, or during initial lock.
With MDM9615 now being the baseband inside iPhone 5, not a whole lot changes when it comes to GNSS. MDM9615 implements gpsOneGen 8A instead of just 8, and I dug around to figure out what all has changed in this version. In version 8A Qualcomm has lowered power consumption and increased LTE coexistence with GPS and GLONASS, but otherwise functionality remains the same. MDM9x25 will bring about gpsOneGen 8B with GLONASS, but there aren’t any details about what changes in that particular bump.
I spent a lot of time playing with the iPhone 5 GNSS to make sure there aren’t any issues, and although iOS doesn’t expose direct NMEA data, things look to be implemented perfectly. Getting good location data is now even more important given Apple’s first party turn by turn maps solution. Thankfully fix times are fast, and getting a good fix even indoors with just a roof between you and clear sky is still totally possible.
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avner - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Are you sure the HTC One S has a removable battery? Last time I checked, it was internally sealed because of the phone's unibody design....tipoo - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
I'll be curious to know if the paint holds up well after a few months, but I have no idea how long you get to keep this for testing. The easily scratchable back is already rustling some jimmies on the internet, but I don't know if that's something that's overstated again or if it is a real problem.The softness of aluminum they can't get around, I know that much (the front of the iPod Classic and any Macbook Pro are quite dent prone), but the paint chipping is a separate issue.
dagamer34 - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Not paint, anodization. You should watch the video on page 1.Alucard291 - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Yeah and in this instance its holding even worse than paint. So your point is?doobydoo - Friday, October 19, 2012 - link
Depends how thick the paint is, and what the paint consists of. And his point was to improve the accuracy of the original post, not necessarily to disagree with its conclusion.tipoo - Saturday, October 20, 2012 - link
Does a name make it more durable? :PI'd still like a follow up in a few months if that is possible.
extide - Thursday, December 6, 2012 - link
It ISN'T paint. That's the point. Anodized aluminum is actually quite a bit harder than regular aluminum so the anodization process makes it more durable. All they really need to do is make the anodization layer a bit thicker.KPOM - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
I was wondering what was taking so long. Now I know. Thanks for all the great information.dyc4ha - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
Hi,I can't help but wonder why the price aspects are omitted in the review. As per the famous AT saying: "there are no bad products, only bad prices". So what about the iPhone 5 value proposition for $650+tax? Contract pricing? i.e. is it worth signing on for a contract?
I'm asking because, well it is a widely accepted 'fact' that Apple overprice its products, but I would love to hear perhaps justifications from reputable sources such as yourselves. Most of my friends already jumped the ship from 4/4s to a GS3. I paid for a number of apps over the years, not sure if I want to repurchase all of them if I end up switching.
Cheers
darwinosx - Tuesday, October 16, 2012 - link
iPhone 5 starts at $599 not $650. Go check retail on a Galaxy S3.it is not widely accepted that Apple "overprices" Compare iPad and iPhone prices to current Android. Prices are same and sometimes cheaper.
Compare Mac prices to equivalent build level PC's.
People sho say Apple overprices don't know Apples or their competitors prices. They just want to whine about Apple.