no bionic stand alone gps?!?!?!!?!

[m.vasquez009]

according to motodev.com the bionic does not have a stand alone gps when compared to the droid 3 and photon.....i dont really know what this means but i have heard some ppl making a big deal of it...what exactly is stand alone gps and is it really that big of a deal if the other phones have it and not the bionic......heres the site so you guys can have a look....scroll all the way to the bottom http://www.droid-life.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/droid-bionic-specs.jpg

 

[tehsusenoh]

Interesting.

For those of you who don't like to scroll:

 

[HanSolo]

Interesting.

For those of you who don't like to scroll:

I think it means that the Bionic will need the assistance of cell phone towers nearby if you want it to have accurate (within a few feet) GPS.

The other phones, it appears, don't need to ping off the towers, they are true GPS (satellite tracking).

But I could be wrong. Perhaps Yoda can crap out some nice brown wisdom on us and enlighten the masses?

Yoda?

 

[YodaDroid]

I think it means that the Bionic will need the assistance of cell phone towers nearby if you want it to have accurate (within a few feet) GPS.

The other phones, it appears, don't need to ping off the towers, they are true GPS (satellite tracking).

But I could be wrong. Perhaps Yoda can crap out some nice brown wisdom on us and enlighten the masses?

Yoda?

You can GPS signal without having a data signal.

If you use google maps, you'll need the data connection to actually see the maps.

One trick that works on google maps is if your maps load into cache and you turn data off (or lose data connectivity), then the GPS will still tell you where you are (and allow you to navigate) while you're moving.

I've confirmed this on the bionic via experience.

This is very helpful if you're driving and you have temporary data loss.

 

[tehsusenoh]

You can GPS signal without having a data signal.

If you use google maps, you'll need the data connection to actually see the maps.

One trick that works on google maps is if your maps load into cache and you turn data off (or lose data connectivity), then the GPS will still tell you where you are (and allow you to navigate) while you're moving.

I've confirmed this on the bionic via experience.

This is very helpful if you're driving and you have temporary data loss.

I can't believe you actually responded.

It was alright until you said "I've confirmed this on the bionic via experience."

And, once again, your statements become void.

 

[Sportster]

One of the biggest pains is going to Chicago and trying to navigate and losing signal and the map telling me turn here,NO wait turn right three roads up,NO wait....turn around,yea that's it you already missed your turn,uh..wait a second...you're HERE now! Thing just loses its mind without a gps signal. Would be nice to resolve that for sure....

 

[AntimonyER]

a-GPS is a protocol which uses the cell tower positioning to better initialize your location, allowing a quicker lock for GPS. This still requires a GPS radio, and as such will still find GPS satellites on its own if you have no cell service.

 

[bigbabys]

You can GPS signal without having a data signal.

If you use google maps, you'll need the data connection to actually see the maps.

One trick that works on google maps is if your maps load into cache and you turn data off (or lose data connectivity), then the GPS will still tell you where you are (and allow you to navigate) while you're moving.

I've confirmed this on the bionic via experience.

This is very helpful if you're driving and you have temporary data loss.

While some of this statement is true, it's not even remotely close to what the OP asked...

I've confirmed this with my eyes via common sense.

 

[m.vasquez009]

ok so is it necessarily a bad thing that the bionic does not have stand alone gps or does it not really matter???????????????????? lol thats all i need to know

 

[bigbabys]

ok so is it necessarily a bad thing that the bionic does not have stand alone gps or does it not really matter???????????????????? lol thats all i need to know

I'm pretty sure it's just an error. As Antimony explained, even a GPS that uses cell towers isn't giving you your directions from the towers. It is simply pinging the towers to narrow down the search so the phone can lock onto GPS faster. If this phone truely did not have a GPS radio it would be the most ridiculous thing ever seen. Even dumb phones have GPS radios in them.

 

[ORD84]

One of the biggest pains is going to Chicago and trying to navigate and losing signal and the map telling me turn here,NO wait turn right three roads up,NO wait....turn around,yea that's it you already missed your turn,uh..wait a second...you're HERE now! Thing just loses its mind without a gps signal. Would be nice to resolve that for sure....

No worse than that is being in NYC, having compared the two on both on my droid devices, I can safely say NYC is garbage for ANY cell reception, for cost of living, and there's just plain garbage everywhere...much moreso than on chicago, though I may be slightly biased as I'm originally from Chicago lol...

 

[Lars]

You can turn on your wifi in areas where gps is weak and your location will be augmented. In fact google maps can do pretty good location on wifi triangulation alone.

Anyone else notice that the picture at the bottom of the screen looks like an HTC phone and not the Bionic? vvvvvvvvvvv

 

[tehsusenoh]

Anyone else notice that the picture at the bottom of the screen looks like an HTC phone and not the Bionic? vvvvvvvvvvv

That's the Etna, shown at CES2011.