Question about the Droids GPS feature.

KAL-EL · March 4th, 2010, 10:32 PM

I keep my GPS turned off to conserve battery power. I assumed that in order to use the maps feature on this phone, the GPS would have to be turned on. Found out it didn't have to be. Still am able to obtain "my location" (even though it actually has me located a few blocks away from where I am actually at) Still am able to obtain directions to places etc etc etc. I am assuming my location is found through the phone network? Ok so here comes to NoOb question. What features/programs actually require the GPS have to be turned on in order to work? Thanks!

Inphosys · March 4th, 2010, 11:28 PM

Yupp ... it's using the towers in your area to figure out approximately where it is. The only thing that I've ever needed the GPS for is when using the Navigation feature in Google Maps. Anything that needs pinpoint location, use your GPS. Even Google Search will come up with the right city even though you don't have your GPS on.

KAL-EL · March 4th, 2010, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inphosys

Yupp ... it's using the towers in your area to figure out approximately where it is. The only thing that I've ever needed the GPS for is when using the Navigation feature in Google Maps. Anything that needs pinpoint location, use your GPS. Even Google Search will come up with the right city even though you don't have your GPS on.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. So if I am understanding you correctly, I would have to have the GPS turned on to hear turn by turn voice directions? is that the navigation feature in google maps you were refering to?

KAL-EL · March 4th, 2010, 11:37 PM

Nevermind, I understand now, Thanks!

FrayAdjacent · March 4th, 2010, 11:51 PM

Yeah, I don't think you need GPS on to get turn by turn directions, but the non-GPS positioning is not as accurate as GPS, so you might miss a turn, or it might think you're quite a distance from where you actually are.

If you're navigating in a car, use GPS. A car dock and a car charger are awesome things to have when you want/need to navigate.

Inphosys · March 5th, 2010, 12:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by KAL-EL

Thanks for taking the time to respond. So if I am understanding you correctly, I would have to have the GPS turned on to hear turn by turn voice directions? is that the navigation feature in google maps you were refering to?

Yupp ... you need the GPS on to get turn by turn. The Turn by Turn navigation feature will work, but it just says "Follow the route".

BigRedGonzo · March 5th, 2010, 07:49 AM

If I understand correctly, unless the little GPS Icon is in the status bar, the GPS is actually off. Even though you may have it turned on in the settings, unless something actually requests a fix, it stays off. I have a couple of programs that are location based that never use the GPS, because "close" is good enough for them. For example, Beautiful Widgets Home uses cell tower location to update where it gets the weather. I guess where I'm going is, even though the GPS is "on" in the settings doesn't mean it uses any power.

BigRedGonzo