Droid gps- real or fake?

[wsbsteven]

This setting CAN be changed, but then you pay data roaming charges.

Dear blahblah,

Thank you for your email. My name is Ebony and I welcome the opportunity to assist you with your data roaming inquiry.

If data services are available to you while traveling in an Extended Network in the United States, then there are no additional charges for data usage, as it is covered under your existing data plan. The same also applies with voice calls made in the Extended Network. No additional charges will apply based on your current Nationwide calling plan.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to assist you today. I hope you continue to find the “Contact Us” section of verizonwireless.com a helpful option to resolve any issue you may experience the first time you email us. We appreciate your business and thank you for being a valued Verizon Wireless customer.

Sincerely,

Ebony
Verizon Wireless
Customer Service


Roaming charges only apply if you are outside the US.

[Big Cam]

BTW, GPS is only actually in use and consuming battery when the GPS icon is visible in the right group of status icons at the top of the screen. There is no real need to shut off and turn on GPS all the time unless you have certain apps that will activate the GPS on their own regardless of whether you're actively using the app, such as Locale. I use WeatherBug, and when I unlock, its widget checks where I am if it's been a few hours since it last checked my location. It doesn't activate the GPS every time I unlock. If I use a GPS-capable app, the icon appears when I start it, then disappears when I switch to another app. For a day or so, there was some buzz about the new Dolphin browser turning on GPS and leaving it on, but that seems to have been pinned down to using Google as the start page. The fact that people reacted strongly to any app that left GPS on says that we've become accustomed to apps making sparing use of the GPS ability.

Certainly, anyone who wants to shut off their GPS for any reason can do so, my comments are only to reassure the OP that this is not a requirement.

That sounds like great news, but I thought there were cases where people left it on and aftera few hours the phone said the GPS was using the majority of the battery?

I'm going to turn mine on and try today.

[JhankG]

I"ve been doing research and i can't seem to get a definitive answer.

Does the droid use a real satilite gps or a cell signal like VZ nav?

I know that google maps nav is enhanced by the internet for searches but is it dependent on the internet?

I'm guessing you didn't check the Droid's technical specs page first?
DROID by Motorola - Android phone - Motorola USA

sGPS is what you're asking about and it's listed under the Connectivity section. Keep in mind that the sGPS receiver and Google Maps are 2 separate things. The sGPS receiver does not need data. Google Maps does need data.

If you want to navigate without data coverage then you need to use a suitable GPS nav app.

No, you just need to cache your maps and you won't need data.

[CBLJazz]

I'm guessing you didn't check the Droid's technical specs page first?

I do check the Droid specs. the problem is cell company's frequently want to sell theIr "fake gps" cell/ internet product as a true alternative to STANDALONE gps units.

VZ Nav and software like it are great until you're not in cell range

True story- i took a trip to the Great Lakes with VZ nav on a voyager and lost my cell/ gps signal for 2 hours near lake Michigan- NO FUN!!!!!

[mikes]

I'm guessing you didn't check the Droid's technical specs page first?
DROID by Motorola - Android phone - Motorola USA

sGPS is what you're asking about and it's listed under the Connectivity section.

I'm guessing you haven't checked on what sGPS really is, because it's not what you think it is.

sGPS is just basically sharing one antenna between the phone and the GPS, which improves the operation of both. sGPS is not the method by which location is determined.

More here.

[brochaos]

vznav requires data and cell coverage, but it wasn't a "fake" gps. it still provided the same accuracy in the location as any other gps unit or the droid. it was not just using the aGPS, otherwise, others have said, you would only be within miles of your location, not just a few meters.

[CBLJazz]

you would only be within miles of your location, not just a few meters.

not true- vz nav actually stopped working when i had no cell signal.

[RW-1]

One of the first google maps updates were to correct it NOT turning off the GPS after you closed the program, since then it has always turned on GPS in the notification area when I start it (or nav), and it turns it off afterwards.

So I can see where there were reports of the GPS staying on, but it was not inherant, but an app coding issue, not with 2.0, or 2.0.1 ...

I leave it enabled in the power widget all the time, no battery impact.

[Backnblack]

you would only be within miles of your location, not just a few meters.

not true- vz nav actually stopped working when i had no cell signal.

It quit working due to no access to maps....they had to be downloaded over cell...

[mikes]

vznav requires data and cell coverage, but it wasn't a "fake" gps. it still provided the same accuracy in the location as any other gps unit or the droid. it was not just using the aGPS, otherwise, others have said, you would only be within miles of your location, not just a few meters.

It depends upon the phone. But, for the vast majority of Verizon phones, aGPS is all there is.

"The FCC Phase II location accuracy standard for network-based technologies is 100 meters for 67 percent of calls and 300 meters for 95 percent of the calls." - that's aGPS, and referring to that as "within miles of your location," while correct, is very misleading.

That's not even close to what standalone GPS can do, which is more on the order of 15 meters, or 6x better.

I just fired up Google maps, with GPS turned off. It claims to know my location "Accurate to 70 meters," but it's probably 200 meters off. When I turn GPS on, it says "Accurate to 20 meters," and it's off by about 5.

VzNav no doubt works as most current auto navigation GPSs (e.g. Garmin, Tom Tom, etc.) do, by locking you onto a road, and assuming that you're on the roads which it is giving you instructions to follow. I suspect that it's much worse than those, however, at really knowing whether you're driving on the freeway or on a parallel access road.