iPhone/Smartphone stuff
Bill McGonigle
bill at bfccomputing.com
Tue Aug 5 09:25:54 EDT 2008
On Aug 4, 2008, at 19:32, Ben Scott wrote:
> Exactly. The device has a GPS receiver, which is required to be
> working for Mobile Enhanced 911 location purposes.
Note that 'GPS' is a term used loosely in cell phone world. It
ordinarily means 'tower triangulation'. Since we're on the topic, as
an example, the first iPhone lacked a GPS chip, the new one has one.
Both can do E911. Cheap GPS chips are crummy. My Nokia n810 can
take close to three minutes to get a satellite lock. The wife's Tom
Tom never takes more than a minute. Both are linux devices, one with
a quality GPS part.
Paradoxically, the denser the cell phone deployment, sometimes the
worse the precision. Apparently, this is due to cells getting full
and handing off to nearby towers. I have a friend who has crews in
the NY metro area, and their GPS phone tracking will often put them
in lower Manhattan when the crews are in Brooklyn. I don't know
enough about cell registration to understand the mechanics of why
this happens.
> Jerks.
Ya. With coverage. >:| Surprisingly, Verizon has selected LTE for
its next deployment, which is compatible with the other 3GPP
providers. So, it'll be possible to be on most carriers and roam to
most carriers. Perhaps more market forces will emerge when this
happens.
I'm gonna try out the Android image on the n810, probably next week.
I'll post something if it's worth posting about.
-Bill
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