The Kyocera Digno Keitai 3 and Kyocera DIGNO Keitai 4 both have GPS built in, however due to the lack of Google Play Services most typical apps will either not provide a location or will not function. There also seems to be issues with the GPS working altogether, although the cause of this has yet to be determined.

Modern Android apps usually rely on FLP (Fused Location Provider), which provides location based on GPS, cellular network, WiFi and Bluetooth. However, this feature is part of Google play services and as a consequence these apps cannot access your location.

However, FOSS map apps such as OSMand~ and CoMaps do not rely on FLP and can use the GPS for location.

Additionally, FOSS browsers such as Fennec can be used to access Google maps or Uber. Browsers that take advantage of the GPS can pass it through to the website and give you a location.

On a rooted device, microG has the capability to fully replace FLP and to introduce location providers to supplement GPS. This can heavily improve location services in some circumstances.

It is also possible to get certain apps such as Transit to work to an extent.

Within the settings app navigate to Location settings.

More settings>Location

Make sure that Location is checkmarked, and set Location mode to “High accuracy”. WiFi and Bluetooth are not useful, but mobile networks can assist with GPS accuracy.

With GPS you may only successfully get a signal when outside, or in smaller buildings.

This section will help with setting up BeaconDB as a back end location provider for the phone. BeaconDB is a public domain wireless geolocation database, which can take advantage of cell tower locations, WiFi networks, and Bluetooth beacons to provide a location for your phone.

Using BeaconDB you can get incredibly accurate location data if it has data on wireless sources near you. However due to BeaconDB being a smaller database compared to Google, it may not have much location data for your area. In order to check if it will provide good coverage you can check your area on their website https://beacondb.net/.

If your local area does not have much coverage you can also contribute to it easily and privately. Using NeoStumbler on your phone you can contribute from your phone and map signals in your area that will then be permanently accessible and useful to you and anyone else using the database. The database updates every 5 minutes so the uploaded data can also be used on the go if you have cellular data.

1. In microG enable all available options in “Self-Check”. In “Location” enable all available option, additionally tap the top right menu icon change the Online location service from Position to BeaconDB. In the default “Large” display mode the drop down may be cut off, you can use the D-pad to navigate to the option below “Position” and press the Center D-pad button to select it (make sure to select “OK” to confirm).
   
   
2. In the phone settings navigate to More Settings>Location. Make sure that “Location” is enabled, set “Mode” to “High Accuracy”, and in “Scanning” enable “WiFi Scanning” and “Bluetooth Scanning”.

Consider downloading NeoStumbler and submitting local wireless sources to BeaconDB through it to to improve the accuracy of your location data.

It may be the case that these phones can take advantage of Japanese specific location providers while in Japan through built in software, but this has not been confirmed.