January 28th, 2010

Apple iPad: Does it have 'real' GPS? (updated: yes and no)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:51 pm

Categories: Apple, GPS, iPad

Tags: Apple iPad, Apple Inc., GPS, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

There’s a debate that’s raging over the “Assisted GPS” (A-GPS) features that’s included in the iPad. It’s unclear as to whether the iPad includes a dedicated GPS chip or whether it’s using Assisted GPS to simulate “real” GPS. Or something else completely

Here’s how Wikipedia describes A-GPS, for context:

Conventional or “standalone” GPS operation uses radio signals from satellites. In very poor signal conditions, for example in a city, these signals may suffer multipath where signals bounce confusingly off buildings, or be weakened by passing through walls or tree cover… An A-GPS system can address these problems in several ways, using an assistance server or other data from a network.

The iPad tech specs clearly list (under Location):

Assisted GPS (Wi-Fi + 3G model)

Update: Looking closer at the “Wireless and cellular” category in Apple’s iPad tech specs. “Wi-Fi model” is one configuration and “Wi-Fi + 3G model” is the other. From the Location section it could be interpreted that Assisted GPS is included in the Wi-Fi and 3G models (meaning both) but Apple actually uses the plus-sign in “Wi-Fi + 3G model” to mean the high-end, 3G model). Apple’s marketing took some liberties with the plus-sign. So, to clarify, the 3G model has GPS and the Wi-Fi model doesn’t have GPS.

So… is it a dedicated GPS chip, a combined chip (i.e. part of Apple’s A4 or 3G chips) or is it using A-GPS as pseudo-GPS?

Interestingly enough, the tech specs for the iPhone 3GS (first column, also under Location) also list it as having “Assisted GPS.”

Put another way: does the iPad ship with the same GPS functionality as the the iPhone 3GS?

The iPad tech specs clearly states that A-GPS is available on both the Wi-Fi and the 3G iPads, pretty much nullifying the argument that GPS is somehow included in the 3G chip. Although its conceivable that Apple could add extra GPS-specific silicon to the WiFi model, but it seems unlikely.

Post your take in the TalkBack.

December 17th, 2009

Google Maps for Android trumps iPhone, again

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:14 pm

Categories: Android, GPS, Google

Tags: Apple iPhone, Google Inc., Google Maps, Google Maps Navigation 3.3.1, Smart Phones, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Jason D. O'Grady

Tonight I received the Android 2.0.1 update (over-the-air, mind you) on my Droid and was pleasantly surprised to notice that an update for the Google Maps app was waiting for me in the Android Market.

Release about a week ago, the latest version of Google Maps for Android (v.3.3.1) includes much more than the version number lets on.

Google Maps for Android leapfrogged the iPhone version in October 2009 with the release of Android 2.0 for the Verizon/Motorola Droid. The new version, Google Maps Navigation, includes free turn-by-turn GPS navigation with voice guidance. Plus all the benefits of being connected to the Internet, including live traffic layers and up-to-date local business data.

Google Maps Navigation 3.3.1 takes another leap forward with more new and experimental Labs features that “aren’t ready for prime time,” including:

• A compass arrow which turns the blue My Location dot into a compass arrow pointing the direction you’re facing
• A scale bar on the map, showing approximate distances
  
• Layer button (with layers for Traffic, Satellite, Latitude, and Transit)
• A terrain layer
• Popular Categories, which displays a browsable list of category searches
  

If you’re not convinced, check out this video of Google Maps Navigation in action and see how far it’s come. It really makes Maps for iPhone looking kind of anemic by comparison.

Screenshot: These Are The Droids

June 22nd, 2009

First voice-guided GPS apps arrive for iPhone

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 12:25 am

Categories: GPS, iPhone, iPhone 3.0, iPhone 3GS

Tags: Apple iPhone, Gokivo, GPS, Handhelds, 3G, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Cellular Phones, Jason D. O'Grady

The first voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation apps are starting to appear in the App Store.

Networks in Motion, Inc.’s Gokivo + Yahoo! Local Search (pictured) is one of the first to have been approved for sale in the App Store. Gokivo sells for $.99 but requires an in-app purchase of $9.99 per month to get voice-guided navigation. It is compatible with iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S models.

Not to be outdone Navigon’s MobileNavigator Europe app (iTunes link) is now listed on the App Store for a one-time price of $94.99 but a note in the description claims that the “special introduction price is valid only until June 30th.”

MobileNavigator features 2D and 3D displays, most recent NAVTEQ maps with 2.1M+ European POIs, Real Sign Post display, Take Me Home function, Speed Assistant, portrait and landscape support, among many other features. The complete feature set can be found here.

The big question is when will Garmin, TomTom and Magellan release their iPhone apps?

TomTom demo’d an iPhone GPS accessory at WWDC due out this summer that attaches to the dock connector to provide enhanced GPS reception, power, speaker, handsfree calling, and audio output

Tip: Stuart Pomerantz

February 12th, 2009

Garmin nuvifone G60 details trickle out

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:50 am

Categories: GPS, Mobile phone, Smartphone, iPhone Killer

Tags: Garmin Ltd., Garmin Nuvifone, GPS, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

Engadget reports that it has been a year since Garmin announced the nuvifone and that we still don’t have a price or ETA on the highly-anticipated device.

What we do have is a few more nuggets on what the nuvifone G60 will pack:

• 3.55-inch display
• HSDPA
• the same Ciao! buddy-finding software found in the Asus M20
• 3 megapixel autofocus camera with geotagging
• WiFi
• preloaded maps for either North American or Eastern and Western Europe
• “Where am I?” feature from the current nuvi automotive GPS receivers

Whether or not the nuvifone will be an “iPhone killer” remains to be seen, but one thing’s for sure: Garmin’s GPS software and UI is the one to beat.

Hopefully the nuvifone will light a fire under Apple to release/allow true turn-by-turn GPS navigation for the iPhone.

Read more.

January 21st, 2009

Inside the GPS Revolution: Top 10 GPS apps

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:00 am

Categories: Android, Android Market, App Store, Blackberry, Blackberry Storefront, GPS, Google, iPhone, iPod touch

Tags: Google Inc., Wired Inc., Apple iTunes, GPS, Handhelds, Digital Music, Digital Media, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware

In the 17.02 print issue of Wired magazine the venerable tech monthly picks some of its favorite GPS apps for a story called 10 Applications That Make the Most of Location.

Surprisingly only five are for the iPhone:

1. Trapster (Wired, iTunes, Free) – “a program that pulls together crowdsourced info about the location of police traps. Drivers report red-light cameras, speed cameras, or cops hiding in wait, which all get added to a map of law enforcement hot spots…”
2. iNap: Arrival Alert (Wired, iTunes, $1) – “a travel alarm that keeps you from dozing past your destination on public transit. Just use the Google map embedded in the app to indicate where you’ll be getting off, then hit the hay.”
3. Google Earth (Wired, iTunes, free) – “includes satellite views of the streets and buildings in every direction as well as Wikipedia entries of interesting spots…”
4. GoSkyWatch Planetarium (Wired, iTunes, $10) – “pinpoints where you are, then checks the current date and time to figure out what stars are above you. To get the name of a given cluster, just point the back of your phone toward it.”
5. SitOrSquat (Wired, iTunes, free) – “find public bathrooms in your vicinity, complete with user ratings. Facilities are shown in order of closest location. Once you spot a near-enough john with a decent-enough rating, the application connects to Google Maps directions so you can start the cross-legged shuffle…”

The GPS apps that Wired picked for Google’s Android platform include: JOYIty (a digitally enhanced game of tag), Cab4Me (taxi finder), ShopSavvy (scan UPC codes and compare prices), Locale (location-based ringer settings), SafetyNet (shake the handset to send your location to friends and dial 911).

Only two of the apps (Trapster and SitOrSquat) are also available on the Blackberry platform.

My takeaway from the article: I need to get an Android phone! Especially for Locale and ShopSaavy which have the potential to be truly killer apps.

What’s your favorite GPS application?

December 10th, 2008

Apple cripples GPS in Egyptian iPhones

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 8:49 am

Categories: GPS, International, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, Apple Inc., Apple iPhone 3G, Egypt, GPS, 3G, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Cellular Phones

A report in The New York Times claims that Apple has disabled the GPS functionality of the iPhone 3G at the request of the Egyptian government due to concerns over possible anti-military/anti-Egyptian applications.

What on earth in an “anti-Egyptian application” anyway? Would Apple ever let such a thing through the iTunes approval process?

The real concern appears to be that the GPS feature in the iPhone 3G could be used by terrorists to acquire hyper-accurate latitude and longitude coordinates on specific targets, like the pyramids, “so that they could execute attacks.”

The iPhone 3G went on sale in Egypt (sans GPS) on 22 August via Orange and Vodafone. The easiest way to get a GPS-capable iPhone in Egypt? Import it. The GPS chip in iPhones purchased elsewhere still work when in Egypt and there’s not much that the Egyptian government can do about it.

The real question is that if Apple is willing to concede the GPS feature to Egypt, what will it do for China?

Tip: ArsTechnica

December 8th, 2008

GPS tracking with iPhone

Posted by David Morgenstern @ 2:40 pm

Categories: GPS, Software, iPhone

Tags: Apple iPhone, GPS, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology, Hardware, David Morgenstern

The Trails application for iPhone makes GPX tracking and mapping super-easy and at a very very low cost.

This full-featured GPS application by German programmer Felix Lamouroux does many things that turnkey GPS hardware will do but at a super-bargain price of $1.99. It lets uses record their tracks (including support for stopping and starting) and then export the GPX file to a Mac or PC. In addition, Trails can import an existing file for you to use in the field or for reference.

Of course, it displays the track and your position on the Google road, satellite or topographical maps.

The author provides instructions on how to geotag photos using Trails.

Trails user Dirk Osada offers an interesting post: he tested the iPhone app against the $235 Garmin Edge 305, which was mounted on his bike. He said (in German) that depending on the route the devices were on par. However, at times, the iPhone provided better accuracy than the dedicated hardware.

For example, if you look where the green arrow is pointing in the first image in the article, the Edge futzes by 15 meters the positions when the bike was parked.  Same difference with the second photo showing the part of the trip in the forest.

In the second picture one can see both devices with clear view to the sky providing possibly equal results. As soon as it goes, however, into the woods, the exactness of the Edge strongly decreases. [My editing of a machine translation (advised by my high school German classes).]

September 8th, 2008

Garmin releases RoadTrip Mac client software

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 12:50 pm

Categories: GPS, Software

Tags: Software, Apple Macintosh, Garmin Ltd., Client Software, RoadTrip Mac, Desktops, Hardware, Jason D. O'Grady

nüvi users, listen up.

Garmin has taken the training wheels off their OS X application for the nüvi. Previously called Project Bobcat while it was in beta, it’s now released as RoadTrip. The 63MB download is available on their Mac software page and has the following features:

• RoadTrip allows you to transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between your Mac and Garmin device and manage your data using your Garmin maps.
• RoadTrip provides the ability to search for points of interest from the convenience of your Mac and then send the locations to your Garmin GPS.
• MapManager copies maps and unlock codes into the right place to be accessible by RoadTrip and MapInstall. To migrate the maps from your Windows PC, download MapConverter onto your PC and follow the instructions.
• Download and install MapConverter for Windows to convert your unlocked PC maps for use on your Mac.

August 24th, 2008

4G iPod nano rumored to have GPS (updated)

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 9:27 pm

Categories: Firmware, GPS, Rumor, iPhone, iPod, iTunes

Tags: 4G, Apple iPod, Apple iPod Nano, Digital Music, Digital Media, Personal Technology, Consumer Electronics, Jason D. O'Grady

Is this the much-rumored fourth-generation iPod nano?

On Friday Digg’s Kevin Rose posted a rumor about a “revamp of the entire iPod” coming in the next 2-3 weeks. In addition to iTunes 8 and iPhone firmware 2.1 Rose predicts that the entire iPod family will receive “fairly large” price cuts, the iPod touch will receive cosmetic changes and the nano will receive a significant redesign.

Rose doesn’t reveal the source of the above photo of the alleged nano, but it’s interesting in that reflects a change to a larger screen and a return to a taller form-factor reminiscent of nanos of yore.According to TUAW Chinese accessory maker Beelan has already whipped up a silicone-type case for the mythical 4th generation iPod nano that matches its sleek curved face and long, franken-pod looking shape.

Does Beelan also know something about this as-yet-unannounced iPod nano or did they simply mock up a case based on the rumor pic that Kevin Rose posted on his blog? If so, damn! that was fast. Update: Rose’s rumor track record: 3 right, 2 wrong, 1 part right.

Apple has held media events at its Cupertino campus in September for the past two years and is rumored to do so again next month, so new nanos are certainly possible. But then again so is iTunes Unlimited, The Beatles iPod and the tooth fairy.

What do you think? Fact or fantasy?

Update: MacRumors quotes iDealsChina as saying that the updated nano is rumored to have GPS. Ok, that’s a bit of a stretch, but then again, it does have a suspiciously larger screen… Hmm.

August 18th, 2008

Garmin Project Bobcat beta software hits version 2.0.0.8

Posted by Jason D. O'Grady @ 10:17 am

Categories: Accessory, GPS, Gadget, Mac OS, Software

Tags: Software, Apple Macintosh, Garmin Ltd., GPS Receiver, Project Bobcat, GPS, Desktops, Handhelds, Consumer Electronics, Personal Technology

I’m pretty partial to my nüvi GPS receiver from Garmin because I’ve always preferred the nüvi’s maps and user interface design to that of their competition. One thing that’s a boon for Mac owners is Garmin’s beta Project Bobcat software for Mac OS X that was announced in January and was recently updated to version 2.0.0.8 in July.

Typically, GPS receivers require that you peck out your destination address on the built-in touchscreen on the device. While fine for occasional use the touchscreen isn’t exactly efficient when it comes to entering long addresses or multiple waypoints. A much faster way to get waypoints into your nüvi is to use their Project Bobcat software for Mac OS X.

Bobcat makes your life much easier by allowing you to transfer waypoints, tracks, and routes between your Mac and your Garmin device, manage your data using your Garmin maps, search for points of interest from the convenience of your Mac then sync them to your GPS receiver. Bobcat is also excellent for removing erroneous and duplicate entries in your Favorites list and for fixing waypoint typos that you never get around to.

Bobcat is another great reason for Mac owners to love the nüvi.

What’s your preferred automotive GPS receiver these days? Why?