Micromax A110 Canvas 2 GPS Issue and how to fix it

Quite a good bargain

One of the few complains lodged against Micromax A110 Superfone Canvas 2 is that the GPS is not working well on it. Before I head on to the solution directly, let me share a few pieces of into about the device. 

First of all, folks, don't get your hopes very high, because this is not a dedicated GPS device, it's just a phone with GPS functions.


Secondly, after switching to MMX A110 from my previous phone, a LG Optimus Pro c660, I saw a sharp decrease in the GPS abilities. This is because Micromax has compromised a bit on the number of quality of sensors in the device. And they can't be blamed for that. For under Rs. 10,000, you're really getting much.


Thirdly and lastly, this phone is not exactly a phone, but a phablet to be more precise, with around 5 inches screen. While this gives you more 'real state' on your screen, the lack of gyro sensor and magnetic sensor or compass prevents your device from detecting your direction automatically.

GPS Test app

After much research on the topic, I have found similar conditions in HTC One V. So in our phablet we see that there is no navigation arrow, but just a blue dot when we're static. So is navigation much harder without the navigation arrow? Not much, hopefully. You see, whenever you start moving, you're actually making some 'displacement', which is a vector. :) Simple physics, displacement has a direction, so using your movement the system determines (albeit a bit slowly, especially when walking) your direction and thus presents you with your navigation arrow.


Now on to the problem. Many people, including me, did not get a GPS lock after buying the device. That is, the satellites take a crazy lot of time to determine your global position. Even if you enable A-GPS support, nothing helps. The main problem is caused by two factors, a badly written configuration file, and secondly lack of calibration. Follow the solution step-by-step to fix the issue:


1. First of all, you need a rooted phone. Don't panic if you haven't rooted it already. Compared to many other devices I've used, rooting this device is a piece of cake. Just follow the instructions in this link (thanks to Gaurav) and you'll get it rooted in no time. http://www.droidiser.com/2012/11/micromax-a110-rooted-how-to-guide.html

We simply love them!

2. Now that you have a rooted phone, all you need is root explorer. Install it from the market. If you don't want to pay, just google for an older version of the apk, download the apk to your SD card. Now, go to Settings->Security and tick the 'Unknown sources'. Now open the apk file with your file manager and install.


3. Now you need to download a very small .conf file, from here http://www.mediafire.com/?wa9yws606y4u18i and shift it to your SD card.


4. Open root explorer, cut the file and go to root level, then open System folder and then etc folder. You'll see a file there titled 'gps.conf'. Now mount the /system/etc/ folder with R/W (read and write) permissions (the option is provided on the screen). Rename the gps.conf file to gps.conf.bak (don't delete it, just create backup) and then paste our file as gps.conf therein.


5. Close root explorer and then reboot the phone. Download the GPS Test free app from Play Store and go outside, preferably to some open space with no trees or large buildings around. Remember that you MUST BE OUTDOORS! I tried this method indoors and it DID NOT WORK.


6. Enable Wifi and GPS, now start the GPS Test. Allow it to test and fix your GPS and it will be able to do so within 10 minutes or so. This fixes your issue.