Using the GPS Features on Cell Phones? 41
Rylor asks: "A couple of years ago I bought the Samsung 300NP cell phone, which has a GPS feature that I can turn on or off. The primary purpose is to meet the Emergency 911 calling requirements laid out by the FCC. I've checked the manual several times and it only says that I can use the GPS feature for anything service I want, but that's it. Sprint doesn't offer anything else about it. So my question to Slashdot: if you have a cellphone with this feature, what cool ways are you using it?"
Hiking (Score:1)
Driving
Geocaching
Spying
Re:Hiking (Score:4, Funny)
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Shopping
Yeah, just to amplify on the parent post, it's really useful when driving. Yesterday, for instance, I got turned around as I was driving, and the GPS on my cell phone really came in handy for figuring out which direction I was going, without even pulling over. See, with my left hand I used the cell phone to get a GPS fix, while with the right hand I sketched a latitude-longitude grid on the inside of the windshield using a red grease pencil. I marked my location on the grid, and then after traveling another couple of blocks, I repeated the process and marked my new location on the grid. Voila, that told me I was driving west! The only real problem was that the grease-pencil diagram was a little hard to read, because the setting sun was in my eyes.Driving
Geocaching
Spying
There are none. (Score:3, Informative)
Keep in mind that it really isn't "GPS" in your phone, but a hybrid using the cell tower for help.
Re:There are none. (Score:1)
--
lds
Re:There are none. (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:There are none. (Score:2)
the fake 'gps' function however would work with any gsm phone anyways and the services offered for it are mainly for tracking(if the phone leaves a certain area & etc..).
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there's pretty cool app for series60 phones though, that will change the sound profile according to which gsm cell you are in(so that you can have it turn on or off everytime you go to work/
Mainly, I use it for stalking my girlfriend. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Mainly, I use it for stalking my girlfriend. (Score:2, Funny)
You really think he has a girlfriend?
He only *thinks* he has one...
Re:Mainly, I use it for stalking my girlfriend. (Score:4, Funny)
*Stroking his Xena collectible*
because... (Score:2)
Re:Mainly, I use it for stalking my girlfriend. (Score:1)
Killer app for cell phones (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Killer app for cell phones (Score:2)
Well... (Score:1)
Taco... steer clear of Graceland for chrissakes!
You Could Test It Out (Score:3, Funny)
"Do you know where I am now?... GOOD!"
Of course you might get in trouble but oh well ;)
PS: For the humor impared... DON'T DO THIS
GPS + Bluetooth + PocketPC = neat (Score:2)
Couple of Series 60 apps (Score:2)
Re:Couple of Series 60 apps (Score:2)
GPS is about knowing where you are, not knowing that you're not where you were.
The Nokia Series 60 phones are not GPS capable.
Re:Couple of Series 60 apps (Score:2)
GPS applications are coming soon (Score:3, Interesting)
All Qualcomm CDMA chipsets now have GPS functionality. You should be seeing traffic, POI, mapping and all sorts of geo-games this year.
Sprint would rather you didn't (Score:5, Interesting)
A year later and still nothing. I've stopped bothering with it myself, and keep the locator feature turned off.... it will still tell 911 where you are regardless. Maybe someday one of the other carriers will open up this feature and someone will develop a killer app so that Sprint has no choice but to follow, but their handling of independent developers leaves a lot to be desired thus far.
Re:Sprint would rather you didn't (Score:1)
Nextel is very protective of their network, so you do have to jump through hoops to get permission to load apps onto phones "connected" to their network.
Re:Sprint would rather you didn't (Score:2)
AFAIK None (Score:1)
The LG phones are supposed to programmable via qualcomm BREW [qualcomm.com], but I don't know first thing about it - perhaps there is some API to read GPS, and may be another to initiate an IP connection and send it somewhere?
BREW (Score:1)
Overview of how it works... (Score:4, Informative)
To use the phone as a GPS unit, one would have to write an app that used airtime to connect to the tower and get the coordinates to display on the phone itself.
I suspect that for the next few years we will barely see more than location based spam and perhaps a few games that will ultimately fail in which location plays a role in gameplay.
In short, the only cool use so far is calling 911 and knowing that in two years they should be able to locate you...if the GPS signal is good enough.
-Adam
Re:Overview of how it works... (Score:1)
This isn't necessarily true. Some of the newer phones, such as the Motorola i730 do have ful
Re:Overview of how it works... (Score:1)
SnapTrack [snaptrack.com] is licensing hardware to select phones [snaptrack.com] that does include satellite reception a
Re:Overview of how it works... (Score:2)
However... that is about all it does... The only way to see the data on the phone is by asking it for your position... after an eternity (or a short time if you leave the engine on all the time and toast your battery life) you get your lat and lon....
That's it... no waypoints..
there are gps phones on nextel! (Score:1)
Re:there are gps phones on nextel! (Score:2)
Just switched from Nextel (tired of a year of misbilling each and every month) to Tmobile. Going to ebay the I88s and go by a dedicated GPS unit I suppose.
Localized Info (Score:1)
Like another poster stated, it isn't really a GPS unit but more of a relative position finder to the nearest tower.
I have sprint service as well and just upgraded my phone to one with this service. I turned the locator on and checked the weather using the wireless web option and it gave me the correct local weather (no zipcode needed). When I went to a neighboring community about 20 miles away I check the weather again and it gave me the new city's weather forecast.
There could potentially be plenty of s
Track your children... or your employees... (Score:1)
Most mainstream phones do not use "real" GPS. (Score:1)