Mobile phone GPS

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rayonline

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#64161 9-Jul-2010 08:06

Hi, are there any mobile phones out there that has a sensitive receiver - that I can use it without mobile data. I recall that I tested a Nokia E75 and it was v slow to pick up my location in my backyard with open space. Maybe 5mins.

Secondly, Nokia as I understand now have waived fees for navigation guidance, do you need mobile data to use this or does it work without it?

I have a Garmin but then again the free maps for other countries are generally not that "developed" while the device has a good receiver. A lot of th free ones don't even allow you to search for landmarks or addresses and select go to. Of course there are paid for maps but they are a few hundred bucks for a holiday I may go now for a week and don't know when I will return.

Cheers

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BDFL - Memuneh
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#349344 9-Jul-2010 08:13

First time you use a GPS it make take a few minutes to get a good fix, and subsequent times will be faster.

Most new handsets have GPS - iPhone, Android, Nokia N series, Windows Mobile devices. They all have programs that will store maps locally - Sygic, TomTom, NDrive, CoPilot Live and more.

Once you installed the Nokia maps you won't need mobile data.

Google Maps still uses mobile data.

Handsomedan

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#349346 9-Jul-2010 08:25

Nokia's free OVI maps service is excellent.

It allows you to load as many of the world's maps as you can fit on your SD card and from there, it's all free.

I have used it extensivley and you're right - it does take a while for the first fix. After that, you're away laughing.

If you do need to use A-GPS, the likelihood of making it to a whole MB of data in an entire day's driving (with the maps already loaded and stored) is slim to none, so it's never going to cost you much.

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minigopher17

281 posts

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#349350 9-Jul-2010 08:33

Yeah, new Nokias have free navigation in their GPS using Ovi Maps and you load all the maps you want onto your phone so no data is ever used. I have a Nokia N95, and since now that's considered an old phone, I'm having to use Garmin XT for my navigation needs. That too loads all the maps onto your phone's Micro SD card. But you have to go and buy Garmin.

I find the free maps at the NZ Open GPS Project (http://nzopengps.org/) are updated very regularly, are much more accurate than the Garmin maps you have to buy, and with their link with Zenbu, POIs are quite up to date too.

Loved it how a couple of months ago a roundabout down the road was turned into traffic lights and the map was updated the day after the lights were officially turned on!

More to your point, yes first time GPS lock-on takes a few minutes. However if you have a phone with A-GPS, using that tiny bit of data (a few KB) makes the GPS lock-on in seconds.

marmel

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#349356 9-Jul-2010 08:49

I've used a Nokia 5800, Nokia N95, Sony-Ericsson W715 and an Iphone 3GS. All of them were pretty good getting a GPS fix, definately within a minute.

If you are having problems it might pay to turn the phone off and back on, activate the GPS and leave it outside facing upwards for a good 20 minutes to allow it to rebuild the database of the satellites.

I'm not 100% sure if a-gps uses data or not but it also helps.

Cell phones whilst not as good as dedicated auto GPS units are still pretty good these days and should easily get you from A to B.

oxnsox

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#349414 9-Jul-2010 11:25

All GPS devices require an 'Almanac', which is essentially a database of which satellites to get signals from for your approximate location. Knowing whichs sats to use speeds up the time it takes to fix your posdition.

Problem is there are over 2 dozen satellites and the ones you need change constantly, again depending upon where you are and the time of day, and even the date.

Soo... if your almanac is out of date (old) or you are to many hundreds of miles away from where the GPS was lasted used, the GPS is looking for the wrong satellites. And as marmel says, it can take 20minutes or so as the GPS reciever scans thru all the satellite frequencies trying to first find 'visible' satellites and secondly download a more up to date almanac.

A way to speed up the initial fix can be to turn A-GPS on, as this will use a cell tower derived position to help seed the almanac (it doesn't update almanac data). But remember to turn A-GPS off once you have a valid GPS position to minimise data charges.

langers1972

1039 posts

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#349420 9-Jul-2010 11:30

I still find that if I turn A-GPS off after getting a location that if I then travel a bit (in my case Paraparaumu to Wellington CBD about 50kms) that when I try to use Maps or look at the GPS data it never seems to get a lock again even after waiting more than 10 minutes.

I have a 5800XM and this is when I'm walking/standing outside, maybe I'm doing something wrong?

marmel

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#349425 9-Jul-2010 11:38

langers1972: I still find that if I turn A-GPS off after getting a location that if I then travel a bit (in my case Paraparaumu to Wellington CBD about 50kms) that when I try to use Maps or look at the GPS data it never seems to get a lock again even after waiting more than 10 minutes.

I have a 5800XM and this is when I'm walking/standing outside, maybe I'm doing something wrong?

This definately doesn't sound right.

I used a Nokia 5800 with Nokia Sports Tracker and the accuracy was excellent. After going for a run I could view it in Google Maps and apart from the track wandering around on the road a bit it almost never deviated more than about 5m from where i had actually run.

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Handsomedan

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#349427 9-Jul-2010 11:38

langers1972: I still find that if I turn A-GPS off after getting a location that if I then travel a bit (in my case Paraparaumu to Wellington CBD about 50kms) that when I try to use Maps or look at the GPS data it never seems to get a lock again even after waiting more than 10 minutes.

I have a 5800XM and this is when I'm walking/standing outside, maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Even with A-GPS turned off, my 5800 never took more than a minute or so to lock on to a decent sattelite signal. Often displaying 5 or more.

Don;t know why yours isn't fixing so quickly.

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langers1972

1039 posts

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#349448 9-Jul-2010 12:37

How do I know if the phone has downloaded it's Almanac as I did buy it from a guy in Auckland so maybe it can only get a fix when using A-GPS?

Should I switch A-GPS on and just stand there waiting for it to do it's thing in the location app?

As soon as I turn A-GPS on it works like I am expecting but as soon as I turn it off it's as if it's 'forgotten' everything again

oxnsox

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#349479 9-Jul-2010 13:50

Every GPS downloads/updates it almanac from the satellites.

Suggest this weekend when you're at home turn on the GPS only and leave the phone sitting outside (where it has an unobstructed view of the sky) for 30min or so. There should be a page where it shows satellite signals so you'll know if it recieves any... but may take a while.

Once it has a sat derived position leave it runing for another 10mins just to ensure it gets new almanac updates and fixes its start position.

If that doesn't work then its handset repair time I'd say. (I'm guessing the device does have an inbuilt GPS and doesn't just use an A-GPS function)

langers1972

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#349481 9-Jul-2010 13:56

Thanks, I get satellites appearing in the "Satellite Status" page but it never gets a position without A-GPS.

So basically I should wait at that stage until it actually finds a position, I see.

I think that it's probably never actually done this unassisted as the guy I bought it off got it from Oz and then realised he couldn't use it on XT so I doubt he'd actually used the GPS/mapping stuff.

Thanks oxnsox for all your help

rayonline

1734 posts

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#349508 9-Jul-2010 14:26

Can someone please advise me if the Nokia E-75 provides free voice guidance?

I have downloaded the Ovi software and I have downloaded the NZ map and the English voice guidance.

I turned on GPS and left it somewhere for a moment, which it found my location, then after a few screens it directs me to some updates and ask me to pay a subsccription.

Are not all Ovi phones come with free guidance? Are they just the newest models since "free guidance" inception?

Cheers.

minigopher17

281 posts

Ultimate Geek

#349511 9-Jul-2010 14:29

http://maps.nokia.com/services-and-apps/ovi-maps has a list of Nokia phones with free navigation.

langers1972

1039 posts

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#349512 9-Jul-2010 14:29

Nope, E71 E66 and E72 but not E75

This is the NZ specific link:

http://www.nokia.co.nz/services-and-apps/ovi-maps/main

Scroll to the bottom and you'll see the range

BrentR

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#349518 9-Jul-2010 14:34

The cost for 1 years navigation on handsets not included as part of the free navigation offering is only NZ$19.95 and also includes navigation for Australia.

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