Motorola: New chip will bring GPS to all

[arn]

http://news.com.com/2100-1040-959085.html?tag=fd_top

Motorola is unveiling a global positioning system chip it says is the first GPS satellite sensor small enough and cheap enough for practical use in consumer-electronics devices such as cell phones and notebook computers.

 

[SilvorX]

hmm if your stuck in the middle of nowhere and u dont know where u are, it'dd be a great tool...unless your ibook or whatever goes dead lol...
but hopefully it wont be used for the US gov to track your every move

 

[Soma_Addict]

GPS cant track you

a GPS chip doesnt broadcast your location. a GPS device triangulates your position using satilites broadcasts. the devices themselves dont transmit, they only receive.

and furthermore, GPS on your cellphone would be pretty cool. check out http://www.geocaching.com to see one of the cool recreational uses for GPS.

 

[irmongoose]

GPS phones have been out here in Japan for a long time...

by April over 1 million users of the AU phones had GPS... Press Release 1

and in July of this year, more features were added to the GPS service... Press Release 2


Just thought you guys would like to know...



irmongoose

 

[idkew]

Originally posted by irmongoose
GPS phones have been out here in Japan for a long time...

You guys always get the cool gadgets first! Damn you!

 

[Gelfin]

My new Sprint PCS phone contains a tiny GPS receiver. Qualcomm makes it. It uses an interesting (but obvious) technique where the phone receives the GPS signals, but also uses signals from the cell sites to refine the measurement similarly to the way Differential GPS works. The towers are at fixed, well-established geographic locations, so the chip can use signals from the towers to refine its calculation of your position.

Unfortunately, there are currently no apps I can use to access this GPS data myself on the phone. It's just used to tell 911 where I am should I ever have to call them.

 

[Mr. Anderson]

I have a hand held GPS that I take with me on trips, whether its camping or not. Its great to have but mostly just a toy in the city.

But one thing this article doesn't mention is the friggin antenna! Its still receiving data from satellites, so it has to see them - which means outdoors. Having a GPS card on your computer is fine, but doesn't really serve much purpose unless you use if for accurate time keeping...

D

 

[dongmin]

Did you guys read the last bit about how Motorola is outsourcing the production to IBM? Dang, why didn't they do that for the G4??? We'd be at 2 ghz by now, at least.