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iPhone/Galaxy SII with external GPS

 
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nitrogen
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Joined: Jun 01, 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 10:29 am    Post subject: iPhone/Galaxy SII with external GPS Reply with quote

I have been running the following for over 4 years:
TT Navigator 6 on
Axim X51V with a
GSat receiver with Bluetooth connection
Windows Mobile Op Sys 5.1.195
Maps of Western World v 652.1181

I have put off updating as it has done what I wanted. However, I am now changing my phone and it seems like smartphones give a reasonable performance for the simple tasks I need (ie getting around UK and Western Europe and running CameraAlert). I am looking at iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy SII. My questions are:
1. Am I correct in my assumption that a smartphone will do the job

2. I understand that the iPhone (not sure about Samsung) uses triangulation to calculate position and that this means data use. As I suspect this will be very expensive in Europe, is it possible to use my GSat device via Bluetooth with these phones? Chap in the Apple shop said iPhone only has limited Bluetooth functionality.

3. Are there any recommendations from experienced users for apps that will run on these phones please.

4. Is there much to choose between the two phones for sat nav use.

Thanks
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 11:49 am    Post subject: Re: iPhone/Galaxy SII with external GPS Reply with quote

nitrogen wrote:
I am looking at iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy SII. My questions are:
1. Am I correct in my assumption that a smartphone will do the job

Yes

nitrogen wrote:
2. I understand that the iPhone (not sure about Samsung) uses triangulation to calculate position and that this means data use.

Yes and no. It uses triangulation to give the appearance of speeding up the GPS fix (as do most smartphones) but this doesn't use any data. Even if it did (which it doesn't), the default iphone setting is for data roaming to be turned off so once it couldn't get the data it would rely solely on pure gps.

in general your location is found and shown as follows:
1) location services turned on on the smartphone
2) gps starts to look for satellites
3) at the same time as 2 a rough approximation of location is given based on cell-triangulation
4) if wifi is on then a slightly more accurate (around 100m accuracy) will be given based on local wifi hotspots
5) while 3 and 4 have been happening and the user has a rough idea of where they are the GPS will likely have picked up enough satellites to give a good, accurate location. If 3 and 4 don't happen then GPS will still be used but from the user-point of view it will appear to take longer as the 'rough' locations are not shown in the interim.


nitrogen wrote:
is it possible to use my GSat device via Bluetooth with these phones? Chap in the Apple shop said iPhone only has limited Bluetooth functionality.

The GPS in the iPhone 4 is very good anyway. There are no official bluetooth GPS for the iPhone. You could jailbreak and use one that way. Darren recently reviewed an iOS GPS Dongle here: http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/bad-elf-ios-gps-dongle-1000.php but I've not had any issues with GPS reception on an iPhone 4.

nitrogen wrote:
3. Are there any recommendations from experienced users for apps that will run on these phones please.

My personal favourite on both iPhone and Android is Navigon. Followed by Sygic and CoPilot. I'm not keen on TomTom for some reason but that is only available on the iPhone at the moment.

nitrogen wrote:
4. Is there much to choose between the two phones for sat nav use.

No, not really... Android devices tend to have more issues with navigation apps though but this is mainly because some certain handsets do things in sill ways, like we (and many other developers) had an issue with the Samsung Spica / Galaxy Portal as the standard method of getting the GPS location from Android simply didn't work...! When these things happen on new (and updated) devices they do get resolved but as there are so many different Android handsets it may take a while for bug finding etc.

MaFt
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nitrogen
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Joined: Jun 01, 2010
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for your swift and full reply. Just an additional question:
1. Should the GPS in the Samsung Galaxy SII be as good as the iPhone 4



Thanks
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alanparrott
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Joined: 06/11/2002 18:05:15
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Location: Windsor, UK

PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 3:17 pm    Post subject: Re: iPhone/Galaxy SII with external GPS Reply with quote

MaFt wrote:
... It uses triangulation to give the appearance of speeding up the GPS fix (as do most smartphones) but this doesn't use any data. Even if it did (which it doesn't), the default iphone setting is for data roaming to be turned off so once it couldn't get the data it would rely solely on pure gps....

MaFt


Hi hope it's OK to jump in here as I found your post helpful in researching info re my thread http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=88601.

In not using any data does that mean it just uses the cells transmits to assist GPS? I would probably turn data roaming off in the US but leave phone roaming on, would that be OK.

When using WiFi, do you have to be connected or like the above would it just use the signal. My quick play here with NavFree doesn't seem to.

Cheers

Alan
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 4:03 pm    Post subject: Re: iPhone/Galaxy SII with external GPS Reply with quote

alanparrott wrote:
In not using any data does that mean it just uses the cells transmits to assist GPS? I would probably turn data roaming off in the US but leave phone roaming on, would that be OK.

Correct, as far as I am aware. Although I'm beginning to have doubts myself... The data for the location of the cell towers must be somewhere - either on an online server or in the device itself. If it's online then it may need data. Having said that, GPS satellites transmit the time/date in their signals and that doesn't require a data signal as such so maybe the phone masts do similar?

alanparrott wrote:
When using WiFi, do you have to be connected or like the above would it just use the signal. My quick play here with NavFree doesn't seem to.

From what I understand you do not need to be connected, just for the iphone to have 'seen' the wifi network. Remember the big hoo-ha recently about iPhone 'tracking your every move'? This was actually a database of the wifi networks you had been near and it stored the locations in the database on your device for faster retrieval should you be near them again.

So, to partially go against what I said initially, now I think about it more I think that triangulation and wifi location would need data. BUT even without data it would succesfully use GPS anyway, it may just appear to take longer to connect.

MaFt
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alanparrott
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks for that MaFt, I think your first impressions are correct.

I have just tested the iPhone 4 with NavFree and have to say it worked pretty flawlesly! Following the route was spot on, rerouting fast etc. On my return journey I disabled 'Enable 3G' & 'Mobile Data' on the iPhone and once again flawless, so I guess the triangulation is fine with just the phone enabled for voice calls etc. Have to admit I was pretty impressed with the iPhone performance and functionality of NavFree!

I don't think the wi-fi helps much other than first fix. On the iPhone test trip I also used an iPad NON 3G, as soon as we were a few yards from start it just lost it and never recovered. I am assuming the actual GPS element of iPhone & iPad are the same.

If its not OK to post a link to another forum I will remove it but you might be interested in this from a MAC forum http://macosx.com/forums/iphone/318382-does-iphone-4-replace-gps-device.html.

Thanks again

Alan
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peterc10
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Nitrogen, can I just give you another alternative? The HTC Sensation Android phone, which is what I have got. This has a very good User Interface put onto Android by HTC, called Sense. It is very intuitive and gives you lots of apps and widgets to play with out of the box.

And it works well with both Sygic, which I have for Europe, and Copilot, which I have for the USA. And I can run CamerAlert in the background as well with either of these.

You will find a huge improvement on the usability, the amount of good software and the number of things that can be done with modern smartphones, compared with your old set up. In fact I keep finding more and more useful apps.

As to the difference between iphone and Android? Well let us just say wars have been fought over less. Personally I prefer the adaptability and user control of Android, and the ability to load onto it what I want. The iphone is very good in that it works out of the box, but it works the way Apple want it to work, and you can only load onto it things Apple want you to (only via their app store), and it is difficult (but not impossible) to change that.

I am sure an iphone user will come along and give you a different opinion.
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Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount
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Darren
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 9:33 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That'll be me then. I have an iPhone 4, a Galaxy S2 and an HTC Desire S.

None of the Android phones are a replacement for my iPhone 4 and believe me I've tried!

But, both OS's are capable. It's just that, like TomTom or Garmin, ultimately you'll favour one over the other.
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've forced myself to use a Motorola Atrix which, with regards to hardware specs, is a very capable phone. But Android just doesn't quite cut it... Too many things that should be simple and straight forward are that little bit too fiddly to make it user friendly. Yes, it's more 'open' than iOS is but hat comes with a price - you are likely to have more issues with apps or different uses of the GPS hardware etc etc...

It's a nice phone, but not one I could use full time, even after 6 weeks it's still not feeling like *my* phone! I shall be going back to iPhone 4 in a couple of weeks as I promised myself I'd use Android for 2 months.

I don't feel I can warrant having a valid opinion on a phone / OS without having used it for a decent length of time.

MaFt
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nitrogen
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Thanks, all, for your comments and helpful advice. I guess it's 'off topic' but I'm struggling to find a simple solution for either iPhone or Android which will synch with my Outlook calendar - they seem to require apps when you'd think it would be standard. At least my trusty Nokia 86 handles that OK! The trouble is that the latest Nokias seem pretty naff at everything else...!

TimB
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MaFt
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:25 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

iTunes with iPhone can sync with your Outlook Calendar. This is 'manual' though so it wouldn't show on your computer until you used iTunes to sync the iPhone. You could also use Google Calendar to sync with the iPhone and this would be synced 'over the air' although you may need an app to then sync your Outlook Calendar with Google Calendar as I'm not sure if Outlook can use the google calendar directly.

With Android you can also use Google Calendar but I'm not sure of anyway to directly sync with Outlook.

MaFt
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Darren
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 12:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Outlook will sync with Google Calendar so that may be the easiest solution:

http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=89955

You can then set up the iPhone calendar to use Google.

But this is way OT for a GPS forum Very Happy
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peterc10
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PostPosted: Wed Oct 05, 2011 3:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The HTC Sensation (as all HTCs) comes with HTCSync which enables you to Sync with Outlook calendar and contacts - worked out of the box for me (as it did with my previous two HTC phones). All done via direct connection USB cable between phone and PC.
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Bury CC9060 bluetooth car kit & Brodit mount
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