Stand Along GPS on cell

[+iH8vols]

I'm looking for a cell phone that has a stand alone GPS and not assisted GPS. Does anyone have one? I need a phone that just tells me my gps coords. I don't need Google maps or anything. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Brandon

[NordicMan]

Most smartphones made today have standalone GPS receivers in them, as well as being A-GPS capable.

[+t4e]

Most smartphones made today have standalone GPS receivers in them, as well as being A-GPS capable.

 

i doubt it there is such thing, i would really like to see proof of that

[+user13371]

T4E, which part do you doubt?

 

I have a hard time with wording "standalone GPS receivers in them" because you might take it to mean there's a separate GPS component that can be pulled out and used standalone. But I originally read NordicMans's remark only to mean there IS a GPS receiver (not just cell-tower locator) IN most smart phones. Then we could quibble about "most" and where to draw the 50% line -- most individual models available, most units actually in use, and so on...

 

Ah, wordplay.

Edited November 24, 2010 by lee_rimar

[John E Cache]

Most smartphones made today have standalone GPS receivers in them, as well as being A-GPS capable.

 

i doubt it there is such thing, i would really like to see proof of that

Proof of what? The "A" means "assisted" which is simply an additional help for the GPS. You can turn off the assist if you want and wait for the almanacs if they out off date.

[NordicMan]

Most smartphones made today have standalone GPS receivers in them, as well as being A-GPS capable.

 

i doubt it there is such thing, i would really like to see proof of that

What do you mean? Any Smartphone that is capable of showing your location on a map with relative decent precision IS using true satellite GPS. A-GPS only uses cell tower triangulation and can only give vague accuracy, within a few blocks of your true location.

 

So, any of those smartphones can give you your current coordinate. On my Palm Pre I can type ##GPS# on the phone dialer and it'll give me my coordinate. No data plan needed. That's what the OP was asking for.

[+t4e]

i'm doubting the existence of a standalone GPS in a smartphone, they do however have the A-GPS

[+Chrysalides]

i'm doubting the existence of a standalone GPS in a smartphone, they do however have the A-GPS

Reading the wikipedia article on what A-GPS is might help, if you still insist on exercising your right to disagree.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assisted_GPS

[+julianh]

I recently upgraded from a Windows Mobile 6.5 smartphone to an Android 2.1 (HTC Wildfire). I'm not an expert on the precise location technology used, but what I can confirm is that it is remarkably fast and remarkably accurate.

 

As I understand it, on Androids which are equipped with WiFi and GPS (which seems to be most of them), the hierarchy of getting a location fix is something like this:

 

1. If there is a current mobile phone connection, use mobile cell tower triangulation to get a rough fix - this is basically instantaneous, if you are in mobile range.

2. If there is a WiFi connection in range, use this to get a more accurate fix, if the location of the WiFi transmitter is known. As far as I can tell, you don't need to be connected to the WiFi network, it just has to have the WiFi ID.

3. If GPS satellites are detectable, use GPS for a high precision fix.

 

I'm not sure how all of this works - I just know that it DOES work, and it is all pretty transparent as far as the user is concerned (but you can turn off WiFi and / or GPS and / or aGPS if you want to save battery power, for example.)

 

It automatically switches to the highest accuracy location available, as soon as a better fix is made. For example, if you drive into a tunnel or basement with no GPS reception and no WiFi, but still have a phone signal, it will give you a coarse estimate of your location, presumably based on cell phone triangulation. Step outside, and the GPS precision instantly kicks back in.

 

For example, if I activate Google Maps on my phone while sitting in my office, within about 2 seconds, it pin-points my location to about 20 metres actual precision or better (although it draws an "error circle" with about 40 metres radius), even though I am indoors, and it can't get a GPS fix, and I am not connected to any WiFi networks (although I do have WiFi turned on, and my phone can "see" them). This is better precision than I would have thought possible using cell phone triangulation alone. I assume this is because Google has mapped all the WiFi network signal strengths by driving along the street in their WiFi-slurping Google Street View cars, and it must use the relative signal strengths to work out which side of the building I am on. (Or something like that... )

 

As soon as I step outside, it will get a true GPS fix within a few seconds (a LOT faster than my Summit HC, which I always thought was pretty snappy to reacquire a warm fix), and I will know my actual position down to a couple of metres.

 

Out of urban areas, there is often no WiFi in range, and presumably cell phone triangulation is of lower accuracy (with fewer base stations in range), but the aGPS still gets an outdoor fix remarkably quickly.

 

Like I said - I am very impressed with how well it works. The only reason I can think of to turn aGPS off would be to save power / extend battery life, or else if you are doing some app development, and you need to get access to the unassisted raw GPS signal. (I have just started scratching the surface of Android app development, but I believe you can access the various "location components" independently, if you want.)

 

This is my experience with Android - I suspect the latest generation iPhones and WinMo7 phones do something similar, but I have no first-hand experience.

 

Hope this helps!

Edited November 24, 2010 by julianh

[+EScout]

looking at the menu on my Droid X, there are 4 items under Location:

"E911" (which cannot be turned off.)

the next 3 items can be toggled on or off:

"Use the Wireless Networks"

"Use the GPS satellites"

"Enable Assisted GPS"

 

It has a GPS receiver in it, verified by using the Apps: "GPS Status", GPS Test." It is a fast and sensitive receiver. I tried it today between some high rise buildings and worked well.

[+SeekerOfTheWay]

I use stand-alone GPS on my BlackBerry Tour with Blackstar. This way I can turn off the radio and save battery.

 

BlackBerry Maps also uses the GPS (not A-GPS). All you need to do is turn off the Network Connection and you'll be using GPS and not A.

[+baloo&bd]

I'm looking for a cell phone that has a stand alone GPS and not assisted GPS. Does anyone have one? I need a phone that just tells me my gps coords. I don't need Google maps or anything. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Thanks

 

Brandon

 

I would look at any of the Droid models, however in particular, the Droid 2.

[+baloo&bd]

I found this comparison. A little older but all the phones shown have internal GPS's.

[NordicMan]

i'm doubting the existence of a standalone GPS in a smartphone, they do however have the A-GPS

Sorry if my use of the term "standalone" was confusing.. By it I mean to say that there is a receiver circuit in the smartphone that is dedicated to receiving GPS signals.

But like I said in my first post, most smartphones made today have a GPS receiver that can be used without the need for a Google Maps style interface, or requires you to pay for a monthly data plan. Many notebooks/netbooks today also have GPS receivers too. Heck some digital cameras as well have GPS receivers in order to geotag photos!

[+splashy]

I've an Android Samsung Galaxy S

It HAS a standalone Gps, you can select GPS on, network off as Wifi off.

This is a really neat Gps , also the programs I use with it are lightyears ahead of Garmin.

App's are cheap/free and maps often free and downloadable on SD, therefore you don't need any network.

If you don't like a Gps app just delete and try another, there are many.

 

Using my Oregon now makes it look old fashioned.

[Andronicus]

I think some people have a miss conseption of what A-GPS is. A-GPS is a way to assist the GPS receiver.

 

My HTC Vogue has A-GPS. My GPS works in the back country where there is no cell coverage, or when I turn off my phone's radio. However, the fix is crap.

 

Some A-GPS just uses the cell phone network to speed up time to fix. They are still full functional when out of cell coverage.

 

If you are wanting to use a smartphone outside of cell coverage, check out the link in my signature. It has lots of tips on smartphone usage.