whats the point of the gps app

[mrcheap]

can somebody shed some light on why this tab has gps when it needs wifi to get some sort of signal.

whats the point???

I was excited that I could use it for gps, but once I was in the car, cant get signal.

though I oculdve used it like a garmin....is the nexus 7 capable of this?

 

[HurrycaneJohn]

GPS has nothing to do with Wifi. Turn on the GPS function and tap on your Google Map App. It may take a few seconds to get the GPS coordinates to map your location, but it should find your location. Then try walking up the street and GPS locator should be following you.

 

[brosko]

It works independent of wifi. All you need wifi is for turn by turn navigation, even then you only need it to initialize the route. It downloads all info so you dont need wifi in route. Quite cool I think.

 

[mrcheap]

Umm ok thats what I want turn by turn nav.

Basically punching in an address and get turn by turn directions

R u saying I need to load the info with wifi and then go to my car and go?

 

[brosko]

Umm ok thats what I want turn by turn nav.

Basically punching in an address and get turn by turn directions

R u saying I need to load the info with wifi and then go to my car and go?

Exactly. As long as you have wifi when you select your destination and click navigate you are good to go. The app caches all the info for the turn by turn navigation and you no longer need wi fi.

 

[Harry2]

If you haven't a data connection available while navigation you'd choose a navigation app which can navigate completely offline, meaning the app has all its maps on the device's storage.

Navigations like Google Maps can cache one limited area of a map and calculate the navigation route while on WiFi and would later navigate without the need of a mobile data connection or WiFi ...
BUT ... Maps would need a data connection for any changes of this route or when the navigation route leaves the cached area.

An offline turn-by-turn navigation app for free is NavFree.
The best of this kind of offline navigation are the paid apps Navigon and CoPilot

Harry

 

[mrcheap]

Eh not impressed. What if I need to make a change during my route?

Guess ill have to keep the tab tethered to my phone

 

[mrcheap]

Thanks Harry

 

[Harry2]

Eh not impressed. What if I need to make a change during my route?

Guess ill have to keep the tab tethered to my phone

Yes, with Google Maps ... but not with these offline navigation apps.

Harry

 

[brosko]

You can download maps and save them to devic. At least on the maps version in gingerbread.

 

[Harry2]

You can download maps and save them to devic. At least on the maps version in gingerbread.

Yes, with the old version 6 of Maps you could downlad bigger areas, but for re-calculating a navigation route you would also need a data connection, same disanvantage as with the new version 7

Harry

 

[brosko]

I miss that feature on the new maps

 

[Harry2]

I miss that feature on the new maps

You could uninstall the Maps update (Settings, Apps, All, Maps ...), you would get the 6.x version.

Harry

 

[brosko]

You could uninstall the Maps update (Settings, Apps, All, Maps ...), you would get the 6.x version.

Harry

I never even thought of that. thanks. I noticed overall the maps,navigation and local apps seem to have less options, features etc. than they were in gingerbread in a lot of ways.