Garmin Pilot for Android -- Tech Support, Tips, Tricks

LDJones said:
Wouldn't they just use the same boot override and add an option to "restore previous image"?

It's been three days and still no sign of the update. I have a support case number and sent them a note on it asking about the delayed rollout, but no response yet. You'd think when they have a database of people who've reported an issue, they could figure out how to include those user's devices in the earliest rollout before sending it to devices that never encountered the problems.

Overall, I'm not impressed with Google's support.
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Here ya go:

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2013/07/25/how-to-get-the-nexus-7-android-4-3-update-right-now/
 
My non-2013 N7 upgraded the other day. I haven't looked at the release notes yet to see if I should see any differences. But I'm seeing one that I don't like.

Right now, it's not doing it, but about 25% of the time I use the pop-up keyboard, the text area where I am trying to type ( like the message box in this forum), starts to flash in areas like the graphics processor is doing something strange. It's intermittent, but it's not something I ever saw prior to the upgrade. As soon as I close the keyboard, the flashing stops. Only the text area flashes, not the keyboard.

Can someone recommend a good N7 forum? I'd like to see if anyone else has seen this.
 
Matthew said:
My non-2013 N7 upgraded the other day. I haven't looked at the release notes yet to see if I should see any differences. But I'm seeing one that I don't like.

Right now, it's not doing it, but about 25% of the time I use the pop-up keyboard, the text area where I am trying to type ( like the message box in this forum), starts to flash in areas like the graphics processor is doing something strange. It's intermittent, but it's not something I ever saw prior to the upgrade. As soon as I close the keyboard, the flashing stops. Only the text area flashes, not the keyboard.

Can someone recommend a good N7 forum? I'd like to see if anyone else has seen this.
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Android Central has a big Nexus 7 forum area.
 
Well, based on GPS Test....the Nexus I originally fell in love with is baaaaack! She latched onto those satellites like a dog on a bone and wouldn't give them up!

Yesssss!!
 
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LDJones said:
Well, based on GPS Test....the Nexus I originally fell in love with is baaaaack! She latched onto those satellites like dog on a bone and wouldn't give them up!

Yesssss!!
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Woot! Glad to hear it.

Mine, too. :D
 
Jay Honeck said:
Woot! Glad to hear it.

Mine, too. :D
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Yeah, I feel like I can once again recommend the Nexus to my students. When my GPS went flakey on me after one of their updates I had reservations. Glad they fixed it.
 
FYI, before finding Jay's solution to trigger the update, I had sent a message expressing my frustration, once again, to Google's technical support script monkeys. Here is the most recent reply:

I can definitely understand where you're coming from. I've been in the same situation myself, and had to wait some time after the system update came available, as well.


Devices purchased on Google Play are among the first to receive the latest system updates from Google and we will continue to provide the latest updates to these devices going forward.

For Nexus devices purchased on Google Play, you can expect system updates to be pushed out as quickly as possible and these updates come directly from Google.

For Google Play edition devices purchased on Google Play, we work very closely with the manufacturers to provide system updates shortly after a new version is released.

Please keep in mind that because there are hundreds of millions of active devices in the world, not every device will get the update at the same time. I'd definitely suggest to manually check for system updates toward the latter part of the day by going to Settings > System > About phone > System updates. When the update comes available, it will be listed here.
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I told them I was sure Best Buy will be thrilled to know customers of Google products purchased through them will be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to updates.

Idiots.
 
LDJones said:
FYI, before finding Jay's solution to trigger the update, I had sent a message expressing my frustration, once again, to Google's technical support script monkeys. Here is the most recent reply:



I told them I was sure Best Buy will be thrilled to know customers of Google products purchased through them will be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to updates.

Idiots.
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And...I bought my Nexus 7 locally. And got the update first. :D
 
Jay Honeck said:
And...I bought my Nexus 7 locally. And got the update first. :D
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That fact wasn't lost on me! Where'd you buy yours?

FYI, flew with the update twice today, first in a Cherokee, the in a 150. Had it in my lap the whole time and it had solid GPS lock the whole time. Heck, it locks on when I'm in the middle of my house, now.....just the way I remember it working when I first got it. I'm a happy camper....finally!
 
LDJones said:
That fact wasn't lost on me! Where'd you buy yours?

FYI, flew with the update twice today, first in a Cherokee, the in a 150. Had it in my lap the whole time and it had solid GPS lock the whole time. Heck, it locks on when I'm in the middle of my house, now.....just the way I remember it working when I first got it. I'm a happy camper....finally!
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Yup, mine, too.

I got mine at at Sam's Club.
 
Ok - my pre-2013 N7 has occasional hiccups with 4.3. Slows noticeably for no apparent reason then goes back to normal. Also, will get a bad screen graphics flicker (various sizes and shapes of rectangles will flash on the text area of the screen when typing. The keyboard area is not affected, just the window where the text appears. This behavior is intermittent.

I'm ready to do a full factory reset, but want to know how to recover afterward.

What happens to my apps? Icons? Other settings? I'm already backing it up to the google cloud world.
 
Matthew said:
Ok - my pre-2013 N7 has occasional hiccups with 4.3. Slows noticeably for no apparent reason then goes back to normal. Also, will get a bad screen graphics flicker (various sizes and shapes of rectangles will flash on the text area of the screen when typing. The keyboard area is not affected, just the window where the text appears. This behavior is intermittent.

I'm ready to do a full factory reset, but want to know how to recover afterward.

What happens to my apps? Icons? Other settings? I'm already backing it up to the google cloud world.
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When you do the reset, your apps will all be reinstalled, but your icons and pages won't.

I actually found that to be refreshing, allowing me to pare down the number of apps on my home screen. I also eliminated my multiple home screen set up, and went with folders on one home screen instead.

Sometimes a little creative destruction is necessary. You'll be amazed how much better everything will work after resetting. :D
 
come on Garmin...give us an update! Something with meat. My FF subscription ran out a few months ago and I'm plugging along with GP for a few more months. But in October I'll have a decision to make.
I have an iPad1 - so I'd really like to stay Android, but it's a tough choice.


end of vent
 
Well, I just spent a lot of time cleaning up the homepage layouts.:mad2:

So it goes.

I also just got a notice and update for Google keyboard. 'Bug fixes' and some other bells and whistles. I think I'll sit on resetting for a day or two and see if the new keyboard fixes the graphics problems I've seen when typing.
 
Badger said:
come on Garmin...give us an update! Something with meat. My FF subscription ran out a few months ago and I'm plugging along with GP for a few more months. But in October I'll have a decision to make.
I have an iPad1 - so I'd really like to stay Android, but it's a tough choice.


end of vent
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I know! It's driving me nuts as well since I have it on my iPad. At this point, if the new iPad comes out, bye bye Nexus 7...
 
Marauder said:
I know! It's driving me nuts as well since I have it on my iPad. At this point, if the new iPad comes out, bye bye Nexus 7...
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What's funny is I can honestly say that Garmin Pilot was FINALLY firing on all cylinders on our flight to Houston today.

1. GPS? Rock solid.
2. Bluetooth? Perfect, seamless, effortless.
3. Traffic display? Perfect.
4. Button mashing? No lag, logical.
5. New Nexus 7 (2013)? Perfect. HD screen, sunlight readable!

Just in time for y'all to give up on it?
 
Badger said:
come on Garmin...give us an update! Something with meat.
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Sometimes I wonder if they're going to let themselves get passed by Avare...

Back when I last evaluated all the Android navigation apps in the spring Avare really didn't do much more than display a moving plane on a sectional. It still isn't really comparable to the major players yet, but it actually has features like runway extensions and some charts that even Pilot lacks now, just added flight plan support, and the claim is that weather is on its way. Oh - it is free and open-source and the free includes georeferenced just-about-everything.

I was shocked to learn on their mailing lists that the FAA actually includes the geo-reference data on most of their free digital charts on their website, so I'm amazed that most companies charge money to enable it. I always thought that the FAA just issued plain images of the charts and the companies were doing a value-add by going in and working out the coordinates, for which an extra charge would be perfectly fair.

At this point Avare isn't really a substitute for Pilot, but they're moving right along. Quite impressive for donation-ware and if nothing else it will continue to raise the bar for anybody who wants to create commercial software...
 
Avare doesn't have a weather overlay yet, but they just added a WX pane. They seem to be ever-improving.
 
I factory reset the N7 a little while ago.

I was backing up everything to G-wherever, so all my apps reloaded. I did lose whatever pictures I had in the Gallery, though. Most of those images are stored up on Picassa anyway, but I did have some local downloads that I'll have to recover. I didn't have any music stored locally, so nothing lost there.

Now I have to go through each app, one at a time, and re-login or whatever. Garmin Pilot is busy right now downloading all the sectionals and other info that I used to have. And it took me a few extra tries to remember my username/password so I could log back into it.
 
Matthew said:
I factory reset the N7 a little while ago.

I was backing up everything to G-wherever, so all my apps reloaded. I did lose whatever pictures I had in the Gallery, though. Most of those images are stored up on Picassa anyway, but I did have some local downloads that I'll have to recover. I didn't have any music stored locally, so nothing lost there.

Now I have to go through each app, one at a time, and re-login or whatever. Garmin Pilot is busy right now downloading all the sectionals and other info that I used to have. And it took me a few extra tries to remember my username/password so I could log back into it.
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Getting a into a good backup routine is helpful for these cases. I root my device and use Titanium Backup, but for those who don't want to bother with root access, you can use an app called Helium Backup to backup your settings, accounts, apps, data.
 
Matthew said:
I factory reset the N7 a little while ago.

I was backing up everything to G-wherever, so all my apps reloaded. I did lose whatever pictures I had in the Gallery, though. Most of those images are stored up on Picassa anyway, but I did have some local downloads that I'll have to recover. I didn't have any music stored locally, so nothing lost there.

Now I have to go through each app, one at a time, and re-login or whatever. Garmin Pilot is busy right now downloading all the sectionals and other info that I used to have. And it took me a few extra tries to remember my username/password so I could log back into it.
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Ugh, I hate that. Software companies have developed a fetish for military-grade passwords that makes me SO angry. I mean, is it anyone's business but yours if you want to use a 6 (not 8) letter password for something you bought and own?

I just set up a Microsoft account (which makes doing set up on our new Win 8 machines easier) and they wanted an 8-character minimum, with upper/lower case AND a number. WTF?

By 4 AM, after spending hours transferring files and installing software, I was longing for my Android tablet, where everything just WORKS.
 
Jay Honeck said:
Ugh, I hate that. Software companies have developed a fetish for military-grade passwords that makes me SO angry. I mean, is it anyone's business but yours if you want to use a 6 (not 8) letter password for something you bought and own?

I just set up a Microsoft account (which makes doing set up on our new Win 8 machines easier) and they wanted an 8-character minimum, with upper/lower case AND a number. WTF?
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Oh, also, Roboform is a great multi-platform tool for storing usernames/passwords (and other stuff) securely. With all of the accounts I have with unique passwords, I couldn't live without it.
 
roddie said:
Oh, also, Roboform is a great multi-platform tool for storing usernames/passwords (and other stuff) securely. With all of the accounts I have with unique passwords, I couldn't live without it.
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you don't just use 1234 as your password? :wink2:
 
Avare is interesting but I hate to rely on anything that's dependent on one guy not getting hit by a bus.
 
As much as I hate i-anything, guys, I have posted & been following your posts for a long while. My past convert to the iPad Mini & Wing X has been seamless & easy. No need to discuss the small stuff, cause there isn't any. The updates are good & upgrades stable. What else do we want in the air...Stability.
I used a iLevil ADS-B receiver 1x & it was a dream. No connect issues or glitches. I love my Galaxy SIII, but for a tablet for aviation? the I-krap wins...
Just my $10. worth...
 
capg2000 said:
As much as I hate i-anything, guys, I have posted & been following your posts for a long while. My past convert to the iPad Mini & Wing X has been seamless & easy. No need to discuss the small stuff, cause there isn't any. The updates are good & upgrades stable. What else do we want in the air...Stability.
I used a iLevil ADS-B receiver 1x & it was a dream. No connect issues or glitches. I love my Galaxy SIII, but for a tablet for aviation? the I-krap wins...
Just my $10. worth...
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Oh, I've had my share of iGlitches, too. I finally had to go to a static IP address because of inconsistency in the dynamic IP addressing in both my iPads. People dealing with that issue have created one of the longest threads on the Apple support forum.

This is a technical forum and this particular thread is dedicated to the discussion of Android issues, so you'll find a concentration of such here. They've had there glitches like any other computer product, but they're maturing quickly while offering more bang for the buck than the iDevices.
 
LDJones said:
Oh, I've had my share of iGlitches, too. I finally had to go to a static IP address because of inconsistency in the dynamic IP addressing in both my iPads. People dealing with that issue have created one of the longest threads on the Apple support forum.

This is a technical forum and this particular thread is dedicated to the discussion of Android issues, so you'll find a concentration of such here. They've had there glitches like any other computer product, but they're maturing quickly while offering more bang for the buck than the iDevices.
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For me the issue is not the iPad versus Nexus thing, it's Garmin's inability to get both Pilot versions to have the same features. I want to be able to move between platforms and not be concerned about how one looks and is different than the other.
 
Marauder said:
For me the issue is not the iPad versus Nexus thing, it's Garmin's inability to get both Pilot versions to have the same features. I want to be able to move between platforms and not be concerned about how one looks and is different than the other.
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Well, it's all about perspective.

Here we are, holding a Star Trek thingy that cost just 0.235 AMU's, that does things we never even DREAMED of just three years ago -- and we are complaining bitterly when the Bluetooth doesn't automatically connect!

That, my friends, is progress. Talk about a First World problem!

And, dammit, when are they gonna release Google Glass? I can't wait much longer! :D
 
Jay Honeck said:
And, dammit, when are they gonna release Google Glass? I can't wait much longer!
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Not that it will be there anytime soon, but just imagine the aviation possibilities there. A HUD like most PFDs present would be the simplest application, but if it were responsive/accurate enough you could have all the advantages of a collimated HUD like velocity vector, traffic overlays (ie draw a box around other aircraft visually), intended flight-path data, synthetic vision, etc.

Granted, you wouldn't actually get those from Glass in its present incarnation because Glass gives you a display just above your vision - it doesn't actually completely overlay your vision (that is my understanding). If it were a true augmented-reality system it would be very powerful indeed.

Of course, if we think some airline pilots have trouble with being over-reliant on their PFDs, just imagine when pilots are used to having HUD glidepath, angle-of-attack, and velocity vector superimposed.
 
Aloha fellow Android aviators!

Couple questions about GP. I am coming to GP from Avilution's AviationMaps App and must say the feature set and UI on GP are amazing. I have tried Naviator, Avare, and AnyWhere Map Freedom but AviationMaps was my choice, until I checked out the latest version of GP - once I downloaded GP it was all over.

I am currently on the 30-day trial of the base app, but have already subscribed to SafeTaxi so I could test it out in my FSX sim setup (not current for real-world flight) and while the basic GP app runs flawlessly on my trusty Acer Iconia A500 (1 GHz Dual-Core Tegra 2, 16GB RAM + 32GB SD, running ICS 4.0.3) using the onboard GPS, tethered to my RAZR HD phone's GPS or when fed mock GPS data from my FSX setup I have noticed two things:

First is I routinely get a 'No SafeTaxi Data' error message when trying to access SafeTaxi charts - usually all I have to do is tap the Update button, hit Update All which validates there is no new data, then the chart is there - I did see the chart pull up automatically upon landing and slowing below 40KIAS, the issue is displaying charts for the first time and usually, but not always, when I am not at the airport with the SafeTaxi chart (e.g., during planning and/or enroute). No big deal when playing around at my desk or flying FSX, but not acceptable when aviating for real.

Second issue occurred while running a test flight from Brown Field San Diego (KSDM) to Sacramento Executive (KSAC) in FSX, the moving map data goes checkerboard during what appears to be redraw (about 3 or 4 times per minute in some cases) - I was running Track Up and cruising about 250 KTS GS if that matters. No real issue here, just annoying - I don't recall issues with AviationMaps redrawing maps even at jet speeds.

I am curious if either or both might be artifacts of running the demo version or any other thoughts you guys with more experience with the App might have?

Glad I found this site - lots of info.

Thanks

'Gimp
 
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SafeTaxi requires an additional subscription. I don't have it, so I can't help there.

But - the checkerboard issue normally means GP is trying to display a chart you haven't downloaded. It is possible to 'fly off the edge of the earth' when you transition from one sectional to another that you haven't downloaded. Or, you could be zooming from a WAC to a sectional to a TAC and you are missing one of those. If you have a wireless connection, I think the charts will be displayed, but if you are flying then you have to have those charts stored locally.
 
Thanks Matthew, - to be clear, the checkerboard only shows for a second, as the display appears to be filling in or redrawing, then it displays the correct Sectional data again - but it does this several times per minute.

I just double-checked and I have both applicable Sectionals for that flight (LA and SF), but I had not downloaded the current WAC (I don't typically use WAC Charts, I prefer Sectionals and IFR Low) - I am downloading the WAC's to see if that clears it up.

All in all though, other than a couple things I'd like to be able to put up split-screen (like airport/waypoint data and flight plan nav-log data) and the need to launch an external PDF viewer for procedures and such - I am really looking forward to flying with GP - Garmin have done a tremendous job - I took a pass last year when they introduced the Android version since it was so lacking compared to Avilution or the I-Pad apps but they have come on strong.

'Gimp
 
Another question about SafeTaxi for those with it - is there a way to center on the A/C or auto-zoom?

I find it a bit distracting to taxi off the displayed area of the chart and really don't want to need to be heads-down long enough to pinch zoom or pan the SafeTaxi display. I would think it would center on the aircraft.

'Gimp
 
Again, I don't know for sure about ST, but on the main map there's an icon that lets you center on your airplane. That locks the plane symbol and scrolls the chart. Otherwise, the chart is locked and the plane can scroll off the screen. Is there something similar on the ST screen?

I think a double-tap will auto-zoom. I'll try it in a minute.

Edit: on the main map a double-tap will zoom in a little bit each time.
 
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Matthew said:
Again, I don't know for sure about ST, but on the main map there's an icon that lets you center on your airplane. That locks the plane symbol and scrolls the chart. Otherwise, the chart is locked and the plane can scroll off the screen. Is there something similar on the ST screen?

I think a double-tap will auto-zoom. I'll try it in a minute.

Edit: on the main map a double-tap will zoom in a little bit each time.
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Thanks again Matthew. I was aware of the center-on button for the main map page and thought that might also center-on for the ST chart but it doesn't. I haven't checked yet to see if it is related to Track-Up vs North-Up.

I didn't know about the double-tap zoom, that might be nice when I don't have time to search for the Zoom-In/Zoom-Out buttons on a quick glance down.

'Gimp
 
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