Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
- BigVeeGrin
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Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
without a SIM?? Not clear on this. Any views?
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
Depends what phone, iPhones do it.
So what phone is it?
So what phone is it?
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- BigVeeGrin
- Posts: 2516
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- Location: Glasgow
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
shitty old HTC Wildfire.
Bit of a tale here - but short version, daughter has to have an iPhone (no rational reason) so is getting a 4 on he Tesco contract I believe, I get her sh1t old Samsung when I want a Google Nexus 4 (at £150 it is the phone bargain of the century). So thought I could dedicate the HTC as a cycling GPS to save buying a cycling GPS with no maps as without all the phone nonsense the battery might last longer. Clear!
Bit of a tale here - but short version, daughter has to have an iPhone (no rational reason) so is getting a 4 on he Tesco contract I believe, I get her sh1t old Samsung when I want a Google Nexus 4 (at £150 it is the phone bargain of the century). So thought I could dedicate the HTC as a cycling GPS to save buying a cycling GPS with no maps as without all the phone nonsense the battery might last longer. Clear!
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
Well, I think the Wildfire is a relatively new-ish phone? If that's the case it should be able to use GPS without a SIM card. Don't hold me to it though
Best way is to just try and see. If it doesn't then there are plenty of free sat-nav's for Android phones. You can always lower brightness, activate power saving, limit processor power etc to lengthen battery anyway. Unless you're going out for a good 7-8 hours it's unlikely you'll run out of battery. Even if it is you can get small chargers that you just stick a battery in and connect to your phone, use that while cycling?
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Slowly approaching the more bikes than birthdays achievement
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
Download navfree app. Works ok on iphone. Never tried without a sim. Let us know if it works.
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- BigVeeGrin
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Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
thanks Virt. Can't be carrying any excess weight, all about power to weight in the cycling world. I take all data functions off the phone and turn everything down and get about 5.5 hours out of this three year old battery which is pretty good.
Just been outside to try the phone - GPS works it seems, however, the app didn't locate a satellite. Maybe because it's a bit cloudy. Hey ho. Might just have to use the daughter's old Samsung and flog the HTC for a tenner or so
Just been outside to try the phone - GPS works it seems, however, the app didn't locate a satellite. Maybe because it's a bit cloudy. Hey ho. Might just have to use the daughter's old Samsung and flog the HTC for a tenner or so
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
Make sure to uninstall everything else then, those electrons sure add upBigVeeGrin wrote:thanks Virt. Can't be carrying any excess weight, all about power to weight in the cycling world. I take all data functions off the phone and turn everything down and get about 5.5 hours out of this three year old battery which is pretty good.
Just been outside to try the phone - GPS works it seems, however, the app didn't locate a satellite. Maybe because it's a bit cloudy. Hey ho. Might just have to use the daughter's old Samsung and flog the HTC for a tenner or so
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Worst case scenario find a cheapy iPhone (3G or higher, preferably a 4). You can get some pretty cheap nowadays with a bit of damage (which doesn't matter. They are surprisingly sturdy, mine fell out my pocket at 35mph. Not a scratch
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You could also steal your daughters iPhone and make her keep the old one. Don't let her become a statistic and a slave to capitalism.. or something..
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Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
phones tend to just take a little longer when finding your start location without a network signal, as they often use that to triangulate your position first ![Thumbup :thumbup:](./images/smilies/icon_thumbup.gif)
![Thumbup :thumbup:](./images/smilies/icon_thumbup.gif)
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- BigVeeGrin
- Posts: 2516
- Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2010 1:41 pm
- Location: Glasgow
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
callam_nffc wrote:phones tend to just take a little longer when finding your start location without a network signal, as they often use that to triangulate your position first
![Thumbup :thumbup:](./images/smilies/icon_thumbup.gif)
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Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
Wait, rain? In England?BigVeeGrin wrote:![]()
that would be why I stood in the rain for ten minutes and thought wombles this now
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I'd have just left it on a table near a window or something and went to make lunch or something before coming back to it and checking it's progress.
Slowly approaching the more bikes than birthdays achievement
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
surely a phone needs a sim to activate 3g which is what they pick up the data link from ![wtf :wtf:](./images/smilies/wtf.gif)
![wtf :wtf:](./images/smilies/wtf.gif)
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
3G is a seperate entity to GPS on newer phones. The gps is built in to modern smartphones and will work without an internet connection or anything, as it isn't necessary. Everything is stored on the phone ![Thumbup :thumbup:](./images/smilies/icon_thumbup.gif)
I rode to Wales and back last weekend using TomTom on an iPhone 4 with no SIM card, for example![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
![Thumbup :thumbup:](./images/smilies/icon_thumbup.gif)
I rode to Wales and back last weekend using TomTom on an iPhone 4 with no SIM card, for example
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
Slowly approaching the more bikes than birthdays achievement
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
maybe you passed lots of maccy deez
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Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
I didn't see one actually
Was quite gutted. I do love me a good McDonalds, nothing quite has the excitement of filling my body with Hydrogenated fats
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Slowly approaching the more bikes than birthdays achievement
Re: Can a mobile phone work as a GPS
so why is it then that if I dont have a phone signal I dont have maps ![Confused :confused](./images/smilies/confused.gif)
![Confused :confused](./images/smilies/confused.gif)