How to Check Your Smartphone is NavIC-supported?

I have a brand new Mi 11x Pro and yes it supports dual band GPS - that means it comes with NavIC or Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS) support. 

For the uninitiated, GPS - the American satnav (satellite navigation) system was de facto in many devices, and initially it connects over L1 band (single band SatNav) - as a result most Satnav support L1 Band only. Later L2 band was also introduced. L1 band means signals are transmitted over 1575.42 MHz band, while L2 band uses 1227.60 MHz. L2 band was exclusively for the Army. 

Later L5 band (1176.45 MHz) came into consideration to use it as a Satnav carrier. The L5 band has a high bandwidth and transmission capability, which results in greatly improved anti-interference capabilities and noise management. GPS can take you within 20 meters of your target, while NaVIC is more precise — it will take you within five meters of the target.

Detailed NavIC story was covered earlier - you can check it here. Presently NavIC is backed by 8 satellites (IRNSS-1x series), and second phase of NavIC will have NVS series of satellites. 

How to check NavIC is supported on your device?

Download GPSTest (PlayStore Link) or GNSSTest (PlayStore Link) 

Screenshot from my OnePlus 6 

Pretty old device - and you can see only single band detected (as L1, E1, B1).

Now check the screenshot from Mi 11x Pro.

Now using GNSSTest on Mi 11x Pro:

This one taken from my rooftop - 93 Satnav satellites by can seen by my device and 79 being/already connected to my device. From here you can also see there are 4 NavIC satellites are connected to my device. The list also tells that Chinese satnav Baidu has maximum no. of satellites - 33 on L1 band and 10 in L5 band. 

Is Navic worth of my excitement? Yes it is, for not only an Indian product. In early 2022 I went to a remote place of West Bengal where Jio/Airtel/Vi all went dumb. But my navigation worked smooth, no audio message like 'GPS signal lost' during the hill/jungle travel. You only need to download offline maps before visiting such areas, so that offline maps will work smooth with NavIC location service.