Holo GPS Test

This is the new look for GPS Test. It conforms to the Android ICS Holo look and feel. The app is being re written at the moment and should be available in the coming weeks.

GPS Test Plus HUD mode

This video show how the "Heads Up Display" mode of GPS Test Plus works.

GPS Test battery usage

GPS Test only uses the GPS when the app is in foreground. If you run GPS Test and then press the home screen button on your phone GPS Test will go to sleep and disconnect from the GPS. When the GPS is in use, it can drain the battery quite quickly.

Before putting your phone on standby, with GPS Test in the foreground, press the home screen button to force GPS Test to disconnect from the GPS and hence save your battery.

If you restart your phone and then look at the battery usage it may show several hours on battery and show GPS Test as having used a percentage of the battery even when it has not been run. This is a feature of the battery monitor on some phones, the app does not run at startup.

How to calibrate the electronic compass in your phone

Make sure you are not near any large metal objects or magnetic fields. Run GPSTest and switch to the satellite screen. Hold the phone flat i.e. the screen of the phone should face the sky, now move the phone in a figure of eight, while keeping the screen facing the sky. Do this several times and then several more times in the opposite direction. The electronic compass in your phone should now be calibrated.