Keep on being awesome, Ric.

That said, the GPS on m particular phone is crap. My wife and I both of the Samsung Epic 4G, and the thing constantly places us in completely random states and/or can't find us at all, even in relatively built-up areas. Our iPhone 3Ss were better than that, at least.

Android is kind of all round better than an iPhone if you want things like "functionality" and "price point". Really, if you don't care about how aerodynamic your top-tier electronic consumer good is it's just a much more intelligent decision.

Really? How? They're all using the same chipsets and satellite network.

OH MY GOD HE'S A REAL PERSON?

//am I being trolled?

My phone (HTC Inspire/DesireHD) has numerous, documented problems with the GPS antenna, so I'm getting a kick.

Having read TFA, his point is that Android phones come with great free software (Google navigation) while something comparable on the iPhone will cost you $60.

That being said, I drove from NYC to the Berkshires recently with a friend who used his Android phone for navigation. I thought the performance was really poor. It had us doing all kinds of convoluted shortcuts in Massachusetts to try and shave .1 miles off the trip here and there with total disregard for the fact that it was increasing the number of traffic lights we'd hit, and thus, increase total travel time. Bottom line: my three year-old Garmin that I bought refurbished for $100 does a far superior job.

jake_lex: Every Android phone I've even seen that's halfway decent -- or that has the same functionality as an iPhone -- is as expensive on contract as an iPhone, and weds you to the same assraping data plan. So i don't think they compete on price.

Pretty much this. The cost of the phone itself is irreverent. Its the service providers gouging you with the service plan.

/even when you buy an unlocked phone

Kar98: Really? How? They're all using the same chipsets and satellite network.

I see.

If you own an Android phone you're in luck. It comes with free Google navigation built right in. And it has turn-by-turn directions, just like you'd find on a regular GPS.

But if you're an iPhone user, you need to download an app to get GPS-style navigation.



Or use the free built in google maps app.

But expect to pay up to $60 for a quality, name-brand app. And know that the download can eat up a chunk of your iPhone's memory.

TomTom USA and Navigon both cost $40. And yes, the maps will eat up about two GB of storage if you want to be able to navigate without data connection.

The guy was just trying to live up to his own meme, isn't he?

Also, being Android users and preferring one over iPhone, let me just say GPS on Android is a piece of shiat. Most of the time, it's slow, it's not accurate, It's just barely adequate, but dedicated GPS is much much better. Don't know about iphone, never used one, never see anyone use one.

The GPS on my HTC EVO is awesome. It blows the GPS on my wife's iPhone 4 right out of the water. No contest.

Masso: The guy was just trying to live up to his own meme, isn't he?

Also, being Android users and preferring one over iPhone, let me just say GPS on Android is a piece of shiat. Most of the time, it's slow, it's not accurate, It's just barely adequate, but dedicated GPS is much much better. Don't know about iphone, never used one, never see anyone use one.

Same goes for the iPhone. Sat nav on it is a novelty at best, and my ancient TomTom Go 930 kicks the shiat out of it.

Ed Finnerty: Other than Verizon's shiatty network...

Verizon has a shiatty network? Compared to what?

I don't generally defend cell phone companies, but if you had to list out the positives and negatives of all the major providers, probably the only positive would be Verizon's network.

Google Navigate is da bomb on my htc evo 4g - better than the built in gps in my car. Android is also way better than ios for the navionics chartplotting app (real marine charts). Iphone uses cell tower triangulation instead of gps in this app. That doesn't work very well 10 miles out where there is no cell reception. I wonder how many other apps do this.

No issues with the GPS on my HTC G2. It locks on in seconds, every time.

Oh, wait... it hates rain. If there is so much as a drizzle out, I get no GPS. I suppose that's an issue.

Kar98: Or use the free built in google maps app.

Huh? There's just no comparison.

The iOS devices only have Google Maps included, so when you use it to navigate you get a top down view of a map, with a little blue dot which looks a lot like the map view you get when you use Google Maps in your browser. It's very difficult to use when you're driving. I used it on my old iPhone back when I had to, and it was freakin' painful to use like that to navigate around DC. I had to pay $35 to get a car GPS navigation app off of the app store, and it suuuuuuucked. It was slow as hell, ate up a bunch of memory, crashed constantly, etc.

Compare that to the built in Google Navigation app on Android... An actual, honest-to-god, automotive GPS view with turn by turn prompts - both voice and visual - included for free as one of the basic apps. Not only that, but the Google Navigation app has layers you can toggle (like satellite and traffic views) and automagically will display a Google Streetview image of your destination when you get close. It has selectable views, access to my saved Google Maps locations, routes me around traffic automatically (best it can here in DC where we have traffic backed up everywhere at rush hour) and is even one of the best looking GPS's I've ever seen. And on the HTC EVO's hardware it runs very, very well.

I guess what I'd really like is something like my Garmin 60CSx with a data module so I could use Google Maps with it. I swear that Garmin could acquire satellites from a mile underground, but the high-detail maps are just too damned expensive.

Google Navigation app on Android... An actual, honest-to-god, automotive GPS view with turn by turn prompts

Who knew. I assumed it was the same Google Maps app as on iOS. Who knew Google would provide their own OS with a better version ;)

Having had a Samsung Android phone in the past, I can say without a doubt that their GPS sensor sucks hardcore. Motorola's phones perform the best overall, and saw this when I put my Charge next to my Bionic. The Charge took 5 minutes to lock in the signal on 5 sats, while the Bionic took about 30 seconds to locate and lock in 12, and this was in the Verizon store.

Point being, it isn't the OS, it's the hardware.

I always thought it meant Go Pound Sand.

Kar98: Google Navigation app on Android... An actual, honest-to-god, automotive GPS view with turn by turn prompts

Who knew. I assumed it was the same Google Maps app as on iOS. Who knew Google would provide their own OS with a better version ;)


Apple could do the same thing in iOS if they wanted to, since they're both pulling from the same publicly available Google Maps data, but they won't.


RoxtarRyan: Having had a Samsung Android phone in the past, I can say without a doubt that their GPS sensor sucks hardcore. Motorola's phones perform the best overall, and saw this when I put my Charge next to my Bionic. The Charge took 5 minutes to lock in the signal on 5 sats, while the Bionic took about 30 seconds to locate and lock in 12, and this was in the Verizon store.

Point being, it isn't the OS, it's the hardware.


It's a combination of both. As far as getting a fix and the performance tracking, the hardware does have a lot to do with that in many cases... but the user functionality, which is so much better in Android, is all about the OS. I'm glad to have a phone whose hardware is really good (the HTC EVO 4G), so GPS performance is top notch.

mongbiohazard: Kar98: Google Navigation app on Android... An actual, honest-to-god, automotive GPS view with turn by turn prompts

Who knew. I assumed it was the same Google Maps app as on iOS. Who knew Google would provide their own OS with a better version ;)


Apple could do the same thing in iOS if they wanted to, since they're both pulling from the same publicly available Google Maps data, but they won't.


RoxtarRyan: Having had a Samsung Android phone in the past, I can say without a doubt that their GPS sensor sucks hardcore. Motorola's phones perform the best overall, and saw this when I put my Charge next to my Bionic. The Charge took 5 minutes to lock in the signal on 5 sats, while the Bionic took about 30 seconds to locate and lock in 12, and this was in the Verizon store.

Point being, it isn't the OS, it's the hardware.


It's a combination of both. As far as getting a fix and the performance tracking, the hardware does have a lot to do with that in many cases... but the user functionality, which is so much better in Android, is all about the OS. I'm glad to have a phone whose hardware is really good (the HTC EVO 4G), so GPS performance is top notch.

It doesn't require top notch hardware to get a good GPS signal... my Droid 1 and Droid 2 got great signals.... both from Motorola. It was the Samsung, with far superior hardware, that sucked. That phone also had serious issues with the Bluetooth constantly dropping as well. For months, Samsung knew about it, but did nothing, so I ditched it. Sucks... the phone had a beautiful screen.

I miss my Nexus One on AT&T, mainly because I miss CM7. My employer put me on Verizon with and Incredible 2 and CM7 doesn't do international roaming properly on that device.

That said, GPS on the device gets a fix rapidly and my voice/data coverage is much better in my area. Certainly, my unlimited everything with international voice/data roaming bill is now about half as much as it was with AT&T.

"Some sport features are reality view to show major intersections, or celebrity voices that you can download for some laughs."

Mr. Romero needs to learn to type.

However, I've never used the GPS on the iPhone, so can't say anything good or bad, aside from the fact that there isn't a built in program like Google maps. Love how everything ties itself in (example: I have an appointment for something, my phone reminds me, gives me directions, offers different routes to avoid traffic, and do multitudes of other things, and they're all linked together quite well).

WAZE free on iphone or on android. works great. Just wish you could tell it to avoid toll roads.
as for built in. i never had a problem with "maps" Just waze dose turn by turn voice navigation.

Skail: Keep on being awesome, Ric.

That said, the GPS on m particular phone is crap. My wife and I both of the Samsung Epic 4G, and the thing constantly places us in completely random states and/or can't find us at all, even in relatively built-up areas. Our iPhone 3Ss were better than that, at least.

I have the same phone. Samsung famously has faulty GPS hardware on the Galaxy S phone line, of which the Epic4g is one. Even with the best efforts over at xda the issue has never been solved. Though it's fixed in the galaxyS2

mongbiohazard: The GPS on my HTC EVO is awesome. It blows the GPS on my wife's iPhone 4 right out of the water. No contest.

I agree. Same situation here. I got EVO, wife has iPhone4s. My EVO gps is just as good as my Garmin Nuvi.

Oh... and let me say that, as someone who has been using GPS since 1994 with a Garmin GPS 45 and waypoints loaded from maps scanned into the earliest versions of Fugawi...

Google Navigation absolutely rocks. Real-time traffic data and routing is a marvelous thing when traveling on holidays and vacations.

Samsung Galaxy 4G here. Supposed to be one of the better Android phones, from what I understand.

It's pretty shiatty, especially the GPS, which tends to bounce me around on the map within a 1/2 mile radius of where I actually am and takes about five minutes to get a fix at all, if it ever does.

/ Yes, I'm sure I've got the GPS on and I'm not using the cell tower triangulation stuff.
// Wish I'd just bought a farking iPhone.

RoxtarRyan: However, I've never used the GPS on the iPhone, so can't say anything good or bad, aside from the fact that there isn't a built in program like Google maps.

Google maps is built in to the iPhone.

RedPhoenix122: Ed Finnerty: Other than Verizon's shiatty network, I've had zero problems with my Droid RAZR.

And it's darn side sexier than any iPhone I've ever seen.

[www.xda-developers.com image 550x346]

And last I checked, Apple didn't sell any phones like the one I have:



Love my phone, keeps me from being bored while out and about.

Yup, I love my xperia play. Will never give it up for an i device, that's for sure.

Skail: Keep on being awesome, Ric.

That said, the GPS on m particular phone is crap. My wife and I both of the Samsung Epic 4G, and the thing constantly places us in completely random states and/or can't find us at all, even in relatively built-up areas. Our iPhone 3Ss were better than that, at least.

My droid 2 will lose GPS signal, and the only way to get it back is to reboot the phone. Other than that it works great.

Haven't tried it on an iThing.

And people must have really bad GPS hardware to have all these issues. My xperia play locks on in a few seconds every time. I use it for turn by turn at least once a week, too.

If you ever have a problem with your GPS on an android phone, download an app called GPS Status. It has all kinds of cool little tools and allows you to calibrate your device to the satellites. Works great.

In my experience, which is all Sprint. I had the Palm Pre, and the HTC Evo 4G, The Telenav app and service was included for free on both of those phones, and it worked quite well. Actually, it worked very well everywhere, except for Brandon, FL. for some reason it would flake out on both phones, but only while I was in Brandon. I would stop at a red light and the GPS would continue, as if I never stopped. Then when I would continue on, I was actually a few blocks behind the GPS, then it would tell me to turn, and I wasnt even at that intersection yet. It was sometimes a real pain in the ass. I've had the Sprint iPhone 4S now for about 2 months, and when I got the phone, noticed that for the first time, Telenav was not included with the phone, but as a paid app, and a monthly fee. Which is fine, that didnt matter, I know Apple wouldn't load any carrier specific apps on their phone. I now use the Telenav GPS Plus app, I paid for a year of service up front ($9.99 on some promotion) and I have to say it works flawlessly (even in Brandon) I do not know enough about what phone uses what technology, as far as the GPS goes (i.e. satellite, or cell tower triangulation) but I do know the Telenav app on the iPhone, runs circles around the same app running on the Pre, or HTC Evo 4G.

Ric Romero = Ted Baxter

RedPhoenix122: daskleft: RedPhoenix122: Ed Finnerty: Other than Verizon's shiatty network, I've had zero problems with my Droid RAZR.

And it's darn side sexier than any iPhone I've ever seen.

[www.xda-developers.com image 550x346]

And last I checked, Apple didn't sell any phones like the one I have:



Love my phone, keeps me from being bored while out and about.

Yup, I love my xperia play. Will never give it up for an i device, that's for sure.

I just hope they continue this line, so when it's time for me to upgrade, I can get another one.
Only issue I have with it is the inability to uninstall the included software, which leaves a large footprint on the unit storage.

Yeah, SE seemed to cheap out on the internal memory. You'll have to root and then use Titanium Backup Pro to get rid of bloatware, integrate updates into shell, and move the dalvik cache to the system partition. After doing so, internal memory issues are a thing of the past.

Ed Finnerty: Other than Verizon's shiatty network, I've had zero problems with my Droid RAZR.

And it's darn side sexier than any iPhone I've ever seen.

[www.xda-developers.com image 550x346]

The RAZR looks and feels like a cheap drink coaster. There are a number of Android phones that feature superior design (including, but not limited to, the Galaxy SII). An iPhone with the same form factor but with a 4" screen would be the best in the market.