iPhone gps again...
Submitted: Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:17
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mikehzz
There's been a lot of rubbish about whether the gps in the iPhone uses
phone towers or satellites. The new vms application on iTunes is quite clear in stating 'no data plans,
phone reception or cell towers are required as the maps are stored on the
phone and the
phone communicates with the satellites'. It can't be any clearer. This bears out my experience with the device as I have used it way out of
phone service area.
Unfortunately what it doesn't say is how poorly the iPhone performs due to it's inadequate
antenna. I went for another drive today in areas with no reception and the iPhone regularly lost it's fix and took ages to find it again. It gets a fix immediately if there is
phone reception though so the a in agps is very effective. The iPad was brilliant all day. Mike
Reply By: fisho64 - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:25
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:25
hey Mike,
Ive been looking at getting an Ipad with the Navionics chart program to use as a plotter for my boat.
just needs a water proof cover and mount it with stickon velcro and foam blocks to isolate the jarring.
what do you reckon?
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:27
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:27
Not sure about the program but the ipad works good in the car. Beware that some programs on the ipad allow the screen to go black (to save power) if the thing isn't charging which is not much chop on a gps program. Memory Map does that. The other thing is that some iphone chargers don't put out enough juice to charge the ipad so even if it is on the charger the screen goes black after the time out period. A few little niggles to deal with. Cheers
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Follow Up By: TerraFirma - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:36
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:36
The Ipad with navionics is brilliant, I just finished delivering a boat from
Sydney to
Cairns and took the Ipad as a back up and weather station, the High Res version of the app is full of detail and beautiful on the eyes, for the money it is a steal. There are plenty of car chargers to suit the Ipad and the battery is brilliant. No niggles at all.
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Follow Up By: fisho64 - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:53
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:53
thanks Terra, so no probs with the GPS keeping up inside a wheelhouse etc? My boat is just a large runabout with soft bimini so I wouldnt anticipate a problem with gps sat receival, its just getting a good waterproof cover thats usable and isolating from vibration/jarring.
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Follow Up By: fisho64 - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:54
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:54
Terra do you have the full Navionics suite or INavx with Navionics charts?
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Follow Up By: TerraFirma - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:57
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:57
No problem whatsover. You can get rubber covers or leather like stands to suit. I didn't need waterproof.
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Follow Up By: TerraFirma - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:57
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:57
Navionics Ipad and Iphone Apps.
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:58
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:58
Yes the battery on the ipad is great, I get about 10 hours on
mine. But Memory Map still turns the screen off if not charging and that gets annoying. There is no setting to stop it either. I've tried 3 chargers now and 2 of them come up not charging on the ipad. They do charge it if you leave it off though. Mike
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Follow Up By: Nutta - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 21:22
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 21:22
I bought a good 12 v belkin charger for an iPhone to charge with and it charges the iPad fine when its turned on.
Just
check the amps output, I think my belkin charger is 1 or 1 1/2 amps.
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Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:29
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:29
I have one and have Cellular Data turned off. It wont use the maps app in the
phone at all unless I turn it on
Telstra told me it does have an inbuilt GPS so I guess I will have to load Tom Tom or similar to try it.
The Iphone has much poorer reception in fringe areas than my wifes 6120.
We live in a black spot and hers has 2-3 bars and the Iphone none.
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:32
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:32
Graham, the Maps app uses Google Maps and the maps aren't on the device. They are downloaded from the net as you go. Its in the licence from Google so not much you can do about it. You need an app from the app store that transfers the maps onto the device as part of the setup. Then you have no trouble and can turn the cellular data off. Yep, the iphone has really poor reception as a
phone and a gps. Cheers
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:47
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:47
Also just to make it clearer as some people seem confused, the satellite tells the
phone where it is via the gps chip. Then the
phone uses the cellular data to ask Google for the correct map for that location and Google transfers it back to the
phone, again via the cellular data. With the cellular data turned off, the
phone knows where it is but can't ask for any maps. If the maps are already on the
phone then problem solved. Cheers
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Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:54
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:54
Yep realise that but as the
phone wont connect for a
phone call inside my house and yet I have about 15 WAP calls each month including several in the middle of the night .
I never knowingly connect to the net and cant make a call from where the
phone was sitting so decided to get the net facility removed.
Telstra kindly credited the cost of these calls after I demonstrated I could not talk to them from inside my house.
Some talk about it doing auto updates but I do
mine with a USB connection to my computer.
Seem to have fixed it anyway and have a nav so dont really need it.
The compass however still works when outside.
I only have it cos I got it free.
Cheers
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 22:00
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 22:00
The data charges can add up especially if you go overseas...don't fall into that trap. Also they are pretty much hidden from you so you are right to be paranoid about it. I use more data than voice usually so my plan is geared that way.
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Reply By: Member - Richard C (ACT) - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:44
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 19:44
Have a look at the MUDMAPS app for IPAD/IPHONE.
It is free along with a couple of basic maps.
Maps can be downloaded from the MUDMAPS site for a few dollars.
It is may be not the best in town but I think it is early days yet for this device.
I am waiting for when OZI goes to IPAD/IPOD.
RIchard
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:37
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:37
I think that VMS is using mud maps as its program to run their maps. On the app store mud maps is mentioned on the VMS blurb I think. Looks like some sort of deal has been struck. I agree, Ozi on the ipad as long as I can use my existing maps...can't wait. Mike
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Follow Up By: V8 Patrol - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 09:13
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 09:13
OziExplorer is available on the iPhone - sort of.
The app is actually called Bit Map.
It uses the Ozi CE style maps & works brilliantly - so long as you don't want all the fancy stuff in Ozi.
It will do tracks, wayponts etc. Any picture that you have made a map out of in Ozi, will work in Bit Map.
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:50
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:50
I don't think that bit map uses the ecw or ozf maps. I think it only uses jpg or bmp maps calibrated in Ozi. Is that right? Mike
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Follow Up By: V8 Patrol - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 11:46
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 11:46
The old version used jpg's, but the current one uses ozf & ecw.
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 12:41
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 12:41
Excellent news thanks
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Reply By: Member - Chris & Debbie (QLD) - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:47
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:47
I have just got the new Motorola Defy, similar to the iphone but runs on the Android platform. Ozi has just release a beta version for the Android which I have loaded and so far has worked
well. So if you have a smart
phone running Android give it a go.
Wonder if David is working on trackme for Android.
Chris
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:50
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 21:50
I'm trying to get my wife onto an Android
phone. You can't have enough gizmos I reckon :-)
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Follow Up By: Member - Chris & Debbie (QLD) - Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 22:01
Sunday, Dec 19, 2010 at 22:01
Yep gotta love the gadgets, I can recommend the Motorola Defy, has Telstra's blue tick for reception, and is dust and water resistant to 1m, so they say anyway.
Chris
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Follow Up By: bgreeni - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 00:15
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 00:15
I have a HTC Legend and am running the OziE
Alpha test version for Android.
Works
well and is as accurate as my other GPS. Acquires quickly. I don't have a data plan so it is only using GPS.
Phone its self is in a solid aluminium case so is very strong.
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Follow Up By: matske - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 08:37
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 08:37
Got an I pad and use motion x gps maps it is fantastic
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Follow Up By: mikehzz - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:49
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:49
I've got Motion X but it wants an internet connection to download as you go. I tried it out of service and just had a
grey screen.
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Reply By: TerraFirma - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:40
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 10:40
I use an Iphone 4 with Tom Tom, Navionics, Motion X GPS and Memory Map, in my opinion the GPS is the best I have used in a
Phone based device. Assisted GPS works better than standard GPS in terms of accuracy and speed of signal. For the assisted part, you need reception off course, I agree with Mikezz's comments and yes the Ipad was better.
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Reply By: Member - Richard C (ACT) - Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 15:38
Monday, Dec 20, 2010 at 15:38
For 4 bucks I thought I would try it on my IPOD TOUCH - no GPS but gives you a feel of what it would look like.
I imported the Hema SE nsw maps.
Well I reckon it was bit to much for it and it.
I did get to see the map for awhile before it blanked out but does seem to look OK with the basics there which would be enough for me.
It is a bit slow refreshing the screen but as my IPOD is only n 8GB one I would expect it to run better on the larger IPOD/IPADS.
The good thing about this is that you should be able to use your existing OZI maps
I did not see in the notes it supported ECW maps just OZF2.
Even though my IPOD TOUCH does not have a GPS it would still be useful if it worked better as a compliment to my other GPS as it would allow me better viewing of the maps while th GPS shows current position - hope this makes sense.
Well worth keeping an eye on.
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