A Great 7" Display with No REAL GPS?

[F2]

Originally Posted by JeffyPooh

F2 wrote: "Poynt just took about a minute 7:55 to 7:56 to find my location providing the nearest weather. I am sitting upstairs in my wood frame home."

The Newbie Tip and Tricks thread (top sticky) contains the following advice:
Originally Posted by F2 - "...GPS tip: It generally will not work indoors. ... Go to an open area without buildings, if possible, give it a good 15-20 minutes. Move it away from your body..."

Same F2? What changed?

Same F2, maybe a bit older and the wiser is up for debate. You will notice I did say GENERALLY. It will not work on the first floor of my house.

And software might make a difference. After that I fired up Georender (spelled differently for the app's name) and it took about the same 1 minute maybe a tad longer.

My newest hiking garmin which is now older, is much better as getting a signal and keeping it, even in deeper forest and on steep hillsides than its predecessor(s).

I have no idea if these things latch onto the wifi or not. Where would a dsl signal indicate I was located? At the switch or on my block or where the ell the isp is located?

[peter9477]

Originally Posted by F2

I have no idea if these things latch onto the wifi or not. Where would a dsl signal indicate I was located? At the switch or on my block or where the ell the isp is located?

That's not the use of WiFi that I was talking about a bit above though. The way it was described to me makes it sound like it basically keeps track of "recognized" hotspots which it has seen in the past while the GPS was functioning. From their presence, it estimates an approximate location, which I guess can assist with getting a fix more quickly.

For all I know it even manages to triangulate a bit based on detected signal strength when there are multiple hotspots, but I have no idea if it's that fancy. Heck, I don't even know for sure it does anything with WiFi, though what I reported earlier really suggests something like that may be the case. I can't otherwise explain a 10s fix on a unit that wasn't used for over a month.

Testing that theory would require some repeated tests, both with the WiFi enabled but disconnected from any hotspot, and with the WiFi disabled, to compare. I'll leave that till after 2.0 as well, since it may all change...

[kbz1960]

I just wiped mine last night. As I said earlier I opened bing maps and it found me spot on in seconds sitting in my living room and I'm not right by a window.

[tinker2000]

Viewranger works a treat when you convert it from apk to bar

[Angus_CB]

Originally Posted by F2

While the Garmin app for the phones is pretty good, I will not pay that much for a pb app, unless it includes offline maps and a reasonable update inclusion.

I linked to the wrong App.
The iPhone Garmin app is $59.99 with all of North America maps and $49.99 for just the US maps.

[Marty_LK]

Originally Posted by Jonathank

What's with these GREAT tablets with no REAL GOOD GPS Apps?. Why are they so hard to get? Where is Blackberry Traffic on the PlayBook? These are easy fix's with GREAT selling points. COME ON RIM

According to what I understand, the WiFi only Playbook doesn't have a GPS chip installed in it. That would make sense, too, because a WiFi only model, unless the GPS chip were as strong as stand-alone GPS units, wouldn't provide any data signal for navigational assistance on the road.

[DAnklaud]

Can people PLEASE stop saying the PLAYBOOK has no GPS , when it DOES

[Marty_LK]

Originally Posted by DAnklaud

Can people PLEASE stop saying the PLAYBOOK has no GPS , when it DOES

It makes sense to me that the WiFi only Playbook doesn't have GPS because mine has yet to find any kind of location...even with WiFi on as an aid.

[EricB1968]

Originally Posted by Marty_LK

It makes sense to me that the WiFi only Playbook doesn't have GPS because mine has yet to find any kind of location...even with WiFi on as an aid.

The Bing Maps GPS on my playbook has no problem finding my location when I'm connected via wifi. If I'm outdoors and I find a wifi signal and use it, I then click on the bing maps icon which takes about a minute for it to find my location. No problems here. GPS locator works just fine. Don't know what to tell ya.

[Marty_LK]

Originally Posted by EricB1968

The Bing Maps GPS on my playbook has no problem finding my location when I'm connected via wifi. If I'm outdoors and I find a wifi signal and use it, I then click on the bing maps icon which takes about a minute for it to find my location. No problems here. GPS locator works just fine. Don't know what to tell ya.

I remember reading someone saying the Playbook might use hotspot triangulation for locational services. That's probably what is happening. I don't know how well that would work going down a stretch of highway where there weren't any hotspots.

[BuzzStarField]

Originally Posted by Marty_LK

I remember reading someone saying the Playbook might use hotspot triangulation for locational services. That's probably what is happening. I don't know how well that would work going down a stretch of highway where there weren't any hotspots.

This is outright nonsense. Please stop posting this stuff - your PlayBook has a working GPS chip and it works well. Thousands of people have downloaded my app and absolutely no one complains that the GPS fails to obtain a location in a reasonable amount of time.

[Scrapegoat]

@Marty_LK are you trolling?

You just posted 3 times denouncing the existence of a GPS chip when numerous people have said that it does and even provided links to confirm that info.

I can assure you, I live in Indonesia and I use my PB as a GPS device bridged to my 9700 and 9900 and there are NO WIFI hotspots for MILES!!!

I use the 2 free apps available on App world:MapAPP and GMap LT

Both of these are able to pinpoint my position with the inbuilt GPS chip. The radio signal simply serves to download maps to my device so my position is not simply a dot on a white background!!

[Marty_LK]

Originally Posted by BuzzStarField

This is outright nonsense. Please stop posting this stuff - your PlayBook has a working GPS chip and it works well. Thousands of people have downloaded my app and absolutely no one complains that the GPS fails to obtain a location in a reasonable amount of time.

Whoa! Wait a minute. I'm not claiming it doesn't have GPS. I've read in several places where people have contacted RIM and RIM has told them the WiFi only model doesn't have a GPS chip. That's all I'm saying. And me not being able to get a location lock kinda makes me believe they are right.

Here is a link to a hotly debated thread about whether the Playbook has GPS or not. The 7th post down speaks of RIM confirmation of no GPS

http://goo.gl/7yV3G

[Scrapegoat]

Originally Posted by Marty_LK

Whoa! Wait a minute. I'm not claiming it doesn't have GPS. I've read in several places where people have contacted RIM and RIM has told them the WiFi only model doesn't have a GPS chip. That's all I'm saying. And me not being able to get a location lock kinda makes me believe they are right.

It must be just your device that missed out on the GPS chip then, becoz everyone else seems to be doing ok

[EricB1968]

Originally Posted by Marty_LK

Whoa! Wait a minute. I'm not claiming it doesn't have GPS. I've read in several places where people have contacted RIM and RIM has told them the WiFi only model doesn't have a GPS chip. That's all I'm saying. And me not being able to get a location lock kinda makes me believe they are right.

Those people who have "contacted" RIM do not understand how bing maps gps works or they are trolls pulling your leg. The BM GPS works fine for all of our wifi only playbooks.

I use it when I'm stationary so I can find places I may be interested in seeing near my location.