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a-gps posts

Dell's Mini 10 getting GPS / WiFi tracking upgrade next week

by Ross Miller posted Jun 30th 2009 at 8:19PM

Dell's Mini 10 already offers GPS with an integrated 3G chip, but if you're not interested in mobile broadband, starting next week you can opt instead for a wireless 700 location solution, a hybrid of Broadcom's assisted GPS and Skyhook's WiFi positioning technologies. We had a chance to sit down with a few of the product managers working on the device, and even within a brick-laden office building it did a pretty fine job of finding us within 30 meters and integrating with Flickr, Loopt, and Yelp using the Loki plug-in for Internet Explorer / FireFox. Impact on battery life was said to be "immaterial" although a ballpark estimate was about a five percent hit when in use. For $70, it'll come bundled with CoPilot turn by turn navigation software. It requires the $30 HD display upgrade, but even then, an extra Benjamin total for a large-screen navigation device is hard to pass up if you're looking to get a netbook anyway. If you're still not sold, Dell promises it'll be available for other Mini options, with and without the HD upgrade, in the near future. Now how about a few words on the Mini 11, eh Dell?

Epson's tiny GPS receiver will make everything location aware

by Thomas Ricker posted Feb 12th 2009 at 6:58AM

Small, right? That's Epson's Infineon XPOSYS chip, its next generation Assisted-GPS device set for mass production in late 2009. The chip measures just 2.8 x 2.9-mm making it 25% smaller than other A-GPS chips on the market, according to Epson, while consuming half the power. The sensitivity has also been improved for a more accurate location fix while indoors. Between this, Google Latitude, and the ever expanding lineup of Skyhook positioning devices, you can kiss your location anonymity goodbye.

Motorola Alexander gets pictured: WinMo 6.1, NVIDIA graphics, Q4 release

by Darren Murph posted Aug 5th 2008 at 11:50AM

Surely that "last stand" Motorola handset is still burned into your memory, right? No? Anywho, said mobile was just given a face courtesy of Boy Genius, and it's an, um, interesting face at that. We'll let you be the judge on its unsightliness (or beauty, depending on inebriation level), but aside from design, we're expecting this one to include Windows Mobile 6.1, NVIDIA graphics, a 5- to 8-megapixel camera, A-GPS and a Q4 release date. As always, we'll be keeping an ear to the ground for more.

Nokia's $560 N78 now available in US

by Darren Murph posted Jun 24th 2008 at 9:50AM

You've piddled around in our unboxing shots and replayed that hands-on video countless times. Now, the time has finally come to bust open the piggy bank and secure your very own Nokia N78. Dramatics aside, the HSDPA-packin' handset that also musters a 3.2-megapixel camera and A-GPS can now be purchased at Nokia flagship stores in Chicago and New York, numerous online retailers and the occasional mom 'n pop shop for around $560. So, who's getting one?

Nokia E66 S60 slider goes official

by Paul Miller posted Jun 16th 2008 at 8:01AM

Nokia's bringing some new, unsurprising, E series hotness to the States in the form of the new E66 slider. Featuring GSM, EDGE, WCDMA and HSDPA bands galore, the phone is slated for a Q3 release this year. Features include a 3.2 megapixel auto-focus camera, along with a front-facing cam for video calls, WiFi, A-GPS, 3.6mbps web browsing and a 2.4-inch QVGA screen. What really sets it apart from its E series forebears is the 13.6mm thickness, and some rather sexy new styling. Nokia's also worked in a sort of business / pleasure switch to change profile from your work email and documents to your personal accounts and such -- you can also swap to landscape mode by turning the device. Battery life is certainly no slouch, with 14 days of standby, and 7.5 hours of talk on GSM, or 3.5 hours of talk on 3G. There's only 110MB of internal memory, but you can supplement that with an 8GB microSD card. The phone comes in "grey steel" or "white steel" (what, no blue steel?), but brace yourself for the pricepoint: Nokia's quoting this at "under $500," and probably won't have any carriers Stateside subsidizing it in the short term. Quite a hefty price for a QVGA phone with little built-in storage, but some Nokia fanboy is certainly going to get a kick out of it.

Gallery: Nokia E66 S60 slider goes official

Nokia E71 confirmed and oh-so-slim

by Paul Miller posted Jun 16th 2008 at 8:01AM

Nokia's finally fessing up to its latest E series QWERTY phone, but took this one in a seriously surprising direction... for Nokia, anyway: thin. The E71 is one of the thinnest phones we've ever seen exit the doors of the Finnish giant, at 10mm thick, but there's still plenty of room for everything you'd expect out of an E series phone like WiFi, HSDPA, A-GPS and even a 3.2 megapixel camera and a front facing camera for video chat -- the main place the E71 differs on specs from its new E66 sibling is the 2.36-inch QVGA screen, just a fraction of an inch smaller. The E71 even manages to squeeze in extra battery, with 20 days of standby, 10.5 hours of GSM talk or 4.5 hours of 3G talk. There's 110MB of built-in storage and a microSD slot if you grow out of that, and the same business / personal switcher of the E66. Folks accustomed to previous Nokia QWERTY phones in the form factor like the E62 will find the screen noticeably smaller, but with the same number of pixels and an incredibly pocketable form factor there's plenty to love about this new entry. Unfortunately, the $500-ish pricetag isn't quite alluring, and like the E66, Nokia doesn't have any carrier subsidies lined up just yet. The E71 should arrive in the States -- and yes, with full 3G US bands -- sometime Q3 of this year, and will be available in grey steel and white steel.

Gallery: Nokia E71 confirmed and oh-so-slim

CSR shows off eGPS, says it's superior to A-GPS

by Darren Murph posted Feb 10th 2008 at 5:58PM

There's not too many deets on this just yet, but apparently, UK's CSR is getting set to showcase a technology known as eGPS (enhanced Global Positioning System, if you couldn't guess) at Mobile World Congress 2008. According to the firm, it delivers a "universal positioning capability that will not only work reliably indoors and in zero GPS signal conditions, but greatly speed time to fix in poor GPS reception areas where most handsets are used." More specifically, it can "exploit data available from the cellular network to speed GPS fixes and provide complementary, fast, and reliable location sensing when GPS signals are weak or unavailable." Best of all, the firm is hoping to add eGPS capabilities to handsets for under $1 per unit, and it's also using the stage in Barcelona to trumpet a single-chip GPS receiver with embedded Bluetooth and FM radio. Unfortunately, mum's the word on when this stuff will actually find its way into mobiles.

[Via NaviGadget]

Zoombak's pet, automobile locators officially launch

by Darren Murph posted Dec 20th 2007 at 9:05AM

It's been a tick since Zoombak's pet locator snuck into the FCC's database, but the time has finally come for the unit to go commercial. The outfit has at long last launched its A-GPS-based locator that can be used in both automotive and pet applications to find your favorite critter anytime of the day or locate your rebellious youngin' who decided to take the family minivan for an extended Sunday drive. Owners of the device can create "safety zones" around particular locations and can be alerted via e-mail / SMS whenever something goes awry. As for pricing, you'll be looking at $199 to keep an extra close eye on Fido or $249 for your vehicle, but don't forget to factor in the $9.99 monthly service fee for "unlimited locating."

SiRF toots its own horn, readies location-enabling features for Android

by Darren Murph posted Dec 17th 2007 at 8:59PM

It's not like we weren't already aware of SiRF's participation in the Open Handset Alliance, but nevertheless, the company is sounding pretty ecstatic about the software developer kit it "just received." Reportedly, the outfit is already hard at work on "end-to-end location-enabling features" for Android, and in case you couldn't guess, it's also providing Android platform support for a plethora of products based on its famed SiRFstarIII architecture. Essentially, the firm is hoping to take advantage of having location as a "native feature" within Android, and it makes the obvious sound a whole lot more intriguing by teasing us with visions of "out-of-the-box locative experiences" involving geo-tagging, geo-searching and social networking. Still, we'll tip our hat to any form of tight integration, but this here's probably nothing to get riled up over.

HP's iPAQ 610 gets demonstrated on video

by Darren Murph posted Sep 6th 2007 at 5:31AM

Those hoping to get to know HP's iPAQ 600 series a bit better can start celebrating, as the folks over at Notebooks were able to sit down with Raj Bhavani, an iPAQ product manager, and record a brief demonstration describing its features. Notably, the built-in WiFi, Bluetooth, HSDPA, click-wheel, three-megapixel camera, integrated GPS, and Windows Mobile 6 operating system were all highly praised, but the lackluster 320 x 240 resolution display looked to be a (critical) weak point. Nevertheless, the device does look pretty sharp (or maybe we're just suckers for all that connectivity), so be sure and click through for a look at the interview.

Continue reading HP's iPAQ 610 gets demonstrated on video

BlueSky Positioning brings GPS down to SIM size

by Donald Melanson posted Apr 26th 2007 at 3:45PM

BlueSky Positioning looks to have taken advantage of the altogether too cleverly-named SIMposium conference to trot out what is surely its biggest product to date: a complete GPS system embedded on a SIM card, The Register reports. Partly responsible for that shrinkage is the use of Assisted GPS (or A-GPS) instead of standard GPS, although they still had to contend with some serious power consumption challenges and the small matter of actually getting a signal. That was apparently accomplished by using the cellphone itself as a makeshift antenna, which supposedly provides just enough of a signal when the SIM card comes into contact with it. While its seems to have gotten the size right, BlueSky's SIM card does currently fall short in a few fey areas, failing to pass ISO tests for flexibility and robustness. That doesn't seem to be holding 'em back, however, with the first production samples reportedly on track for June.

Novatel's Merlin EX720 launches on Sprint's Rev A network

by Darren Murph posted Feb 9th 2007 at 10:46AM

Hot on the heels of Novatel giving a bit of Rev A love to Verizon with the USB720 comes the company's tailored-for-Sprint version of the adapter, the Merlin EX720 ExpressCard. Nothing too special here, aside from its ability to hit up Sprint's Rev A EV-DO network for average upload speeds of 300 to 500Kbps and download rates topping out around 1.4Mbps. Interestingly, it does tout Assisted GPS (A-GPS) location-based capabilities, which should allow users to locate nearby "restaurants, gas stations, banks, etc." without having to input their current address. The card itself will play nice with Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, and even Mac OS X users won't have a problem utilizing the Merlin on their shiny MacBook Pro, and if all goes as planned, you should see these cards popping up in Sprint retail channels in just a few weeks.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Epson cranks out "world's smallest" GPS module

by Darren Murph posted Dec 18th 2006 at 5:19PM

Apparently Epson is hoping that small is in, as the firm is pumping out yet another "world's smallest" object, and this time it's a wee-sized GPS module. Crafted specifically for tiny applications like mobile handsets, the S4E19863 measures just 7- x 6- x 1.28-millimeters and purportedly holds the title for "world's smallest GPS chip." Already available in NTT DoCoMo's FOMA 903i series, Epson has begun shipping these things in bulk, hoping to add GPS functionality to other miniscule handsets as well. Built to receive even the faintest signals indoors and out, the chip also boasts "3GPP-compliant positioning modes (MS-Based, MS-Assisted and Autonomous)" to offer greater compatibility across the board. Plus, we bet it's just a matter of time before these tiny positioning modules are up and running in some streamlined dog collar for the "anxious pet owner" crowd.

[Via Far East Gizmos]