Posts tagged gps
Garmin Announces nuvifone A50 Ahead of Mobile World Congress
Feb 11th
After more than a year of waiting, Garmin is set to show off their newly announced nuvifone A50 next week at Mobile World Congress. As it turns out, the device is more GPS than phone. Surprise!
The Android-powered A50 features a 3.5-inch, HVGA capacitive touch screen, 4GB of built-in storage, Microsoft Exchange support, full GPS, and other navigation services built-in. The touch only device also comes with an accelerometer, 3 megapixel camera, and the Android Market. With a heavy dose of Garmin, it includes an e-compass and their own cityXplorer maps, as well as real-time, location-relevant information like weather, traffic, fuel prices, safety cameras, and flight status. Look for the A50 to arrive in Europe sometime in the first half of 2010. Pricing and carriers have yet to be announced.
Might We Suggest…
AT&T Navigator for iPhone Updated to v1.5i
Feb 10th
Yesterday Navigon MobileNavigator received a pretty nice update, today Telenav released a update of their own for AT&T Navigator that includes some very nice new features. They are as follows:
- Shake-to-Go(tm): Users can now shake their iPhone at any time while in an AT&T Navigator menu screen and it will automatically initiate a route to a pre-designated “home” address the user has set.
- Speed Limit Display & Alerts: Navigation screen includes speed limit information and provides visual alerts if the limit is exceeded.
- Last Trip Origin: Once a trip is completed, users can easily return to the origin of their last trip by accessing the “Recent Places” menu.
- Nighttime Maps: The brightness levels of map screens are adjusted for nighttime driving for easier viewing.
- Improved Route Avoidance Options: Drivers may now choose to avoid routes that make use of high occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes or choose to avoid routes that include toll roads.
- Improved Pedestrian Mode: Users will be able to clearly identify when they are navigating in pedestrian mode with the introduction of a new pedestrian icon on the map screen.
AT&T Navigator version 1.5i is now available to download within the App Store. The app is free to download with a subscription cost of $9.99 per month, or $69 for a year.
Check out this latest version in action after the break!
AT&T Navigator for iPhone Updated to v1.5i is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
Apple: No Location-based Ads for Non Location-based Apps — Controversy de Jour?
Feb 5th
Apple’s iPhone Developer News feed has posted a note saying developers should enhance their App Store apps with Core Location… but not if they just want to use it to serve up location-based ads. Of course, this has set off yet another round of conspiracy theories and Apple accusations. Here’s what Apple had to say:
The Core Location framework allows you to build applications which know where your users are and can deliver information based on their location, such as local weather, nearby restaurants, ATMs, and other location-based information.
If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.
Since Apple bought mobile advertiser Quattro Wireless and said they were going to provide a seamless way for developers to earn advertising revenue, especially for free apps, chatter on the web has it the above is Apple’s way of locking out the competition in general, and Google-owned AdMob in specific.
And why not? Just a few days ago there was rampant speculation Apple was forcing Stanza to remove USB sharing to punish owner Amazon and get all anti-competitive due to their upcoming iBooks app. Turns out, however, Stanza was using a private API and misusing the camera roll to store eBooks instead of the image files it’s meant for.
Okay sure, maybe Apple is getting ready to be anti-competitive about advertising, and risk a ton of negative developer reaction and potential investigation, or maybe Quattro Wireless-powered apps will likewise have to make sure advertising isn’t the primary purpose of location-aware apps either. Maybe our location information is a fairly important piece of data and using it because we want to find a restaurant or friend is preferable to it being used because someone else wants to serve us an ad.
So yes, this could be a nefarious plot for unfair competition or it could just be Apple’s policy on all location-based advertising going forward — if you want to use GPS and CoreLocation, make sure the primary reason is for the user, not for the ads.
TiPb will keep an eye on this as it develops, but let us know your thoughts!
[Thanks to Fassy for the tip!]
Apple: No Location-based Ads for Non Location-based Apps — Controversy de Jour? is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.
TiPb – The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog
WHERE Update Encourages User-Generated Content
Jan 25th
WHERE, a popular location-based app that helps users find cheap gas prices, movie showtimes, and more, has been recently updated. Now, rather than simply giving you relevant information, they have made it possible to add your own content. For instance, if you arrive at a gas station and find the price to be different than expected, you can submit your own finding. Show up at an address expecting some good Mexican food only to find they’ve moved? Let WHERE know!
WHERE V1.8.6 is available (for free) today in the Android Market. According to their blog, there are four changes/improvements that are meant to foster a community spirit.
- WHERE reviews button – You can now easily rate or read reviews about local restaurants and businesses with the click of a button.
- “Flag Venue Incorrect” option – A convenient link now lets you easily flag a venue if you notice any incorrect information, enhancing the quality of our real time information.
- “Report a Price” gas feature – Spot a change in price at your local gas station? Share your findings with other users.
- Expanding avatars – Take a better look at the people in your area. WHEREwall users can now zoom in on other users’ avatar pictures.
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Unconfirmed Rumor: Garmin to Debut Android Device at MWC
Jan 21st
As we near the Mobile World Congress next month, the rumored handsets and announcements are likely to start pouring in. DigiTimes is reporting today that Garmin plans to unveil a handful of smartphones in Barcelona, one of which will be running Android.
The Garmin-Asustek team plans to unveil its first Android-powered smartphone at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) trade fair, according to Benson Lin, president of Asustek’s handheld device business unit.
We’ll just have to wait and see if this proves to be true. There are no specs, pricing, or carrier details to report as of yet. For comparison, they plan to debut a Windows Mobile phone with a 600MHz processor, a 3.5-inch WVGA resistive touch screen, 5-megapixel camera, and GPS of course.
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Canadians, Your Free Magic Won’t Dial 911 As Well
Jan 21st
So after my last post, I wish to update Canadian Android’ers that the HTC Magic is experiencing the same GPS/911 problems currently affecting the HTC Dream. Rogers is letting customers know via text message that 911 emergency calls will not complete due to a bug when GPS is enabled. Rogers asks that all Magic owners (and Dream) that you disable your phone’s GPS until further notice. You can do this via the following instructions:
- Click on your settings icon
- Click on “Wireless Controls”
- Uncheck “Enable GPS Satellites”
I write out these almost unnecessary instructions to impress upon all Canadian Dream and Magic owners that you should actually turn off your GPS for the time being because emergencies can happen instantly. So play it safe until Rogers sends out an update.
(via @IWMOPS)
@MatthewPatience
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Google Maps Navigation Reviewed by GPS Blogger
Jan 19th
We’re huge fans of the built-in Google Maps Navigation that comes with Android 1.6 and later. The free GPS service has come along and found itself replacing applications and services from bigger, more established players. Naturally, we tend to show a little bias around here being that we’re all Android lovey-dovey. How does the service stack up in the eyes of GPS bloggers though? We were interested to read the perspective of a writer for a site called GPSTrackLog and find out how they view Google Maps Navigation.
One of the biggest features in Google’s service is that the navigation is tied to the cloud. This means that the data should be always updated, constantly changing and improving. Does that help? We’ll save the meat and potatoes for the full review, but here’s some of the takeaway. Rich Owings, the writer says it’s “Promising, but not ready for prime time. Google has a great start here, but it still needs a lot of work.”
Thanks Rich!
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