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Thread ID: 117867	2011-05-08 08:37:00	Newer phones - GPS func.	Nomad (952)	PC World Chat

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
1200324	2011-05-08 08:37:00	I need an answer in black and white. Situation. Without A-GPS. I won't be paying the roaming $30NZ per MB nor the $20 odd prepaid simcard for "some" countries for just 2 nights. I have a older phone that is still current - Nokia E75. The GPS chip is not that fast. It takes 5-10mins outside not moving to get a location fix. If I am in a moving car on a short trip, I was in the passengers seat. I held the phone next to the window for the entire 10-15mins until I walked back into the house, it was still trying..... Question. I don't know how good are the newer phones. How fast do they work? If I get out of a train or a bus do I need to stand somewhere outside for 5 - 20mins depending on the terrain to get a location before I do anything? Or is it pretty much just having to pay A-GPS or get a dedicated GPS unit or using a paper map and compass? Aside. The phone supports external Bluetooth GPS device (clipped to jacket or bag) which has a Sirf chip but that is more hassle, plus costs. I like Nokia maps, maybe not so much of the phones, but I like their maps b/c I can juts download OEM maps and it has all the POIs for every city of that country on the cellphone. But happy to use other phones if they are convenient and meets the objective.	Nomad (952)
1200325	2011-05-08 08:54:00	I have CoPilot Live on my android phone and it works quite good. About 40 seconds to find location. We have a Navman and it works great.	sahilcc7 (15483)
1200326	2011-05-08 09:22:00	A-GPS simply means "Assisted GPS". You can have both A-GPS and non-A-GPS GPS's that use pre-downloaded maps, which is where the cost is incurred, through 3G data. A-GPS means it's going to get "help" in pinpointing GPS from things like nearby WiFi networks or 3G Cell Towers. It's pretty much *always* a good thing, and will speed up pinpointing you drastically. Some of the Samsung phones like my i9000T Galaxy S are relatively mediocre with their GPS accuracy, takes its time to get my precise location (Up to a minute), but my Nexus One would only take 5 -> 10 seconds at most.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1200327	2011-05-09 00:26:00	Are those times in the relatively close areas? I'm talking about cold boots if you are say in Wellington when you were last used in Auckland . My times are like now . . . 3mins if I am in the CBD and now in the suburbs . If I was outside the house and now inside it is like 5sec . Might look into a bluetooth device if others fail . . . it has a SIRF chip .	Nomad (952)
1200328	2011-05-09 01:16:00	First time I fired up my GPS on my new Galaxy S was up in Orewa, somewhere my N1 had never been near before. Took around 60 seconds. It's all very well and good to say "I'll just get a bluetooth device" but you've then got to ensure that your phone will work and play nice with bluetooth GPS devices, and the particular model you're looking to purchase as well. Just bite the bullet, go for it, tell the store rep what you want it for and see if they have suggestions on one device more than another. Confirm you can bring it back if it's not accurate enough, then go use it. If it works, then great. If not, take it back and try something else.	Chilling_Silence (9)
1200329	2011-05-09 01:34:00	I've just done some testing for you with my Nexus One. Tests were performed on my driveway in a hilly area of Karori (a Wellington suburb), in a moderately dense resedential area. Cloud cover was complete, of medium thickness, and accompanied by very light drizzle. I was not moving during the test. Test preparation: Put phone into airplane mode (this completely disables both the WiFi and cellular radios, and means that the phone can't use WiFi or cell tower data to assist with location) Deleted all cached A-GPS data, and reset the internal state of the GPS Rebooted the phone The first fix took 39 seconds, with an error of ~5m. This error reduced to 2m a few seconds later. Six satellites were used, and all six were locked within ~5 seconds of seconds of turning on the GPS. I assume the remaining time before a fix was obtained was spent waiting for almanac data from the satellites. I also tried disabling & re-enabling the GPS several times after this without clearing the state - all subsequent location fixes took between two and four seconds for the initial fix, and were accurate to within 2m in less than 10 seconds. This accuracy was confirmed by checking the obtained coordinates against Google Maps after the testing was complete. Note that all GPS fixes for these tests were completely unassisted - if GPS assistance data was used, then that initial 39 second fix would generally take less than 5-10 seconds. Assistance data is generally valid for several days. Edit: Note that the Nexus One's GPS is quite a good one as phones go - don't expect to get results this good with something from Samsung.	Erayd (23)
1200330	2011-05-09 02:08:00	With the Nexus One - how easy is it to download foreign map and have all the POIs on the handset with minimal fuss (pref by not using 3rd party software)? My Nokia supports it. europe.nokia.com	Nomad (952)
1200331	2011-05-09 02:21:00	With the Nexus One - how easy is it to download foreign map and have all the POIs on the handset with minimal fuss (pref by not using 3rd party software)?Can you please explain what you mean by "no 3rd party software"? Note that even Google Maps would normally be considered third-party-software on an Android phone. Do you want to limit yourself to only the apps that ship with the phone, or only Google's apps, or only apps in the Android market, or something else?	Erayd (23)
1200332	2011-05-09 02:37:00	Yeah pref - software that is shipped with the phone. May consider 3rd party s/w thou. But it must be easy to use and quick. I don't want to sit there adding POIs myself and then manually sync it to the handset. Ideally - fire up the s/w choose country X, download and the phone has the map and all the POIs. On location if I decide to want to see location X or Y or Z, I can search for the POIs on the handset and select go to.... (or set the arrow of the destination so I can find my own way there). Like a TomTom.	Nomad (952)
1200333	2011-05-09 02:49:00	Yeah pref - software that is shipped with the phone. May consider 3rd party s/w thou.Android phones usually ship either with Google Maps, or nothing. If you want something else, you'll need to install it. There are plenty of GPS apps available on the market - I've heard good things about CoPilot in particular, although I've never used it.	Erayd (23)
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