I have a Samsung Omnia that is about 5 years old that has the ability to navigate without being on the network. I was able to get a Garmin micro SD card for the maps and essentially had a stand alone GPS. Both the maps and the phone are getting a little old and I was wondering if there is anything like that out there these days. Everything I am seeing relies on the cellular network in order to navigate. I have thought about a Bluetooth GPS receiver but I would really like to have a one stop package. Thanks.
GPS that is a cell phone?
- Thread starter JDaPP
- Start date
UK4X4
Expedition Leader
from another site explains it simply enough
Virtually every phone on the market today which advertises it has a GPS or navigation capabilities has a "true" GPS chip in it. However so as not to totally kill the battery life of the phone they use low power chips, and those chips will also use available information from towers to get your location faster than a stand-alone chip
ie if your in cell range they use the towers, when theres no coverage they use the dedicated sat chip
Virtually every phone on the market today which advertises it has a GPS or navigation capabilities has a "true" GPS chip in it. However so as not to totally kill the battery life of the phone they use low power chips, and those chips will also use available information from towers to get your location faster than a stand-alone chip
ie if your in cell range they use the towers, when theres no coverage they use the dedicated sat chip
Almost all modern Cell phones use Assisted GPS. The "Assisted" part uses the cell towers to help get a fix quicker, but the towers cant provide as accurate location, so the GPS still gets you down to the last few meters. As I understand it (not an expert by any means) the towers help in two ways--first, the towers know their location which is fed to the phone so it starts with an approximate location, making narrowing easier. Second, my understanding it the GPS needs to know the position and status of the satellites. This is normally received from the GPS signal, but if you have a cell with functional data, that status info can be more easily and quickly received using your data plan than the satellite broadcasts.
Really all you need is is the ability to download offline map sets. I'm not an android expert (in the iOS camp), but there should be plenty of apps that can provide that.
Really all you need is is the ability to download offline map sets. I'm not an android expert (in the iOS camp), but there should be plenty of apps that can provide that.
Yuccahead
Adventurer
There are free apps out there that will just show you your GPS status and simple position info. That should tell you if you phone is using GPS or towers. Beyond that, I think you just have to find an app you like that will let you store the maps on the phone and use the GPS without being connected to the network. Names escape me right now but I believe there are a few out there.
David
David
robgendreau
Explorer
Make sure you distinguish the GPS feature, which simply tells your position in lat/long, UTM or whatever, and the MAPS that might be used with it. Many apps require a data connection in order to download maps, but NOT for the GPS position info itself.
Maverick1701
Adventurer
On my old droid (the original droid) I could download maps for the area I was visiting and run dedicated GPS without having network connection. If you have an andriod based phone there are many many apps that allow you to run GPS features without a network (if you download the maps before you leave).
+1. This is a very common point of confusion. Search google play store for "offline maps" and see what comes up. (I don't have an android, but I hear people talking about 'Backcountry Navigator' so it might be worth lookin to see if that has offline maps, and the features you want.)
Garmin used to sell a phone named the Garminfone. Nice piece of equipment for travel as the maps are onboard the device and do not need to be downloaded via cellular connection.
http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/garminfone/
Cheers,
Sail
http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/garminfone/
Cheers,
Sail