* Ephemeris and almanac data updated via the internet so the receiver doesn't have to wait for either and can immediately know what satellites to listen for and acquire.
* Precise clock via NTP so the receiver has a smaller solve space for its internal clock
* AGPS gives a very good position fix to further help with the initial clock and position solving
L5 support has been available in a number of devices for a couple of years now. Garmin was one of the first to use L5 in commercial devices, with their Fenix watches a while back.
The phone I'm currently using, the Pixel 6 Pro uses the L5 band. It's nice and I can definitely tell a difference, but it still struggles due to antenna size.
In my experience, for people doing significant outdoor stuff like backpacking, endurance running, etc, a positioning device from a solid company like Garmin is going to be a good bit better than an apple, Samsung, Google, etc device.
I had an LG phone that was one of the first in 4G (at least on my carrier) and the thing ran so hot it was often painful to touch.
My HTC thunderbolt was one of the first “4G” phones, but was barely useable more than a few hours.
Yes, Apple has made some insane design constraints in the past (butterfly keyboards, the whole thin-ness thing), but their chip choices are usually pretty sound and grounded in reality.
*edit: I wanted to throw in how frustrating the lack of push email was for so long (and still kind of is), but I get it. From their standpoint, they control APNS & can use that for energy efficiency benefits to make a grandma-friendly device
From my memory Apple is just often late to the party. Especially for 4G and LTE.
Qualcomm has had it since the Snapdragon 855 though, so basically every flagship Android phone since 2019.
https://support.garmin.com/en-IE/marine/faq/9NWiPDU4gM0JWMfd...
I noticed a huge difference when I switched from my older phone to my current with dual frequency, and I usually log runs, walks, and bike rides so it's easy to compare the tracks. But maybe my old phone was just bad, my Garmin watch uses single frequency and it's usually quite good anyway. I've seen a few reviews of new Garmin watches and there dual frequency seems to make a small and not always noticeable difference.
Long fix times are still an issue today with cameras that lack connectivity.
This great (short and funny) internal video from Microsoft was supposed to be a wake up call, but nothing really changed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUXnJraKM3k
The fact that Apple doesn't really play that game seems to drive some people wild.
As I once heard it described, Nintendo is fine to laugh about being a second-rate console all the way to the bank, because while MS and Sony fight out expensive battles to be people’s first consoles, the second console is usually Nintendo.
Yeah, good advertising can make even those sentences a valid statement.
Apple is ahead in the amount of money they fleeced from US market, core fanbase satisfaction and CPU speeds.
That's not nothing.
A random example is Apple TV vs any Smart TV.
I just bought a flagship Sony A95K smart television. It has everything, it ticks every checkbox, but the software is basically trash. Low effort garbage that should have failed QA the second you see any part of it.
It is 1080p upscaled to 4K, so it’s blurry!!! Even with my worsening vision I can see the fuzzy edges and it makes my eyes hurt.
It’s too dark so that in a bright room it is borderline invisible.
It isn’t color managed, which means the better the TV panel, the more garish it looks. On this QD-OLED panel it looks stupid bad.
The second you switch to the Apple TV you instantly realise why they’re the biggest company on earth. It’s beautiful! It’s crisp, fluid 4K with correct colors and brightness. Such simple things to get right.
Google (Android TV) and Sony just… couldn’t be bothered to any of that properly.
They threw some features in the and called it a day.
There is no excuse for Google & Sony being so obviously inferior.
The difference between the two is night and day, not some "fanboyism". Switch inputs to the Apple TV and you instantly think "wow!" unless legally blind. Switch back and it's instant disappointment.
Dark oversaturated 1080p upscaled and blurry versus razor sharp native 4K with subtle hues is something anyone can recognise as a clear difference.
The downvotes on my original comment and your response is very telling.
Let me ask you: Have you actually sat down and compared the two? As in, plugged in an Apple TV 4K into an Android TV and switched back and forth?
Or are you just assuming I'm a "fanboy" and have a preference based on nothing more than tribalism?
Garmin has recently released several watches with it as well, both their high end models and some more affordable ones. They also have an auto mode that switches it on or off depending on if the current environment needs it, to save power when you can have the same accuracy without it.
Personally, I find the accuracy and sensitivity of modern GNSS devices amazing. I remember when you had to wait maybe 10 minutes to acquire a fix, the accuracy was poor and maybe within 10 meters, and if you covered the receiver with clothing you would lose satellite fix. Now my phone gets a good position in a few seconds, I can see which side of the road I ran on, and even with my phone in my pocket I can often get a reasonably accurate track indoors.
https://www.androidauthority.com/dual-frequency-gps-878169/
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.android.gp...