Google Navigation now works in UK (Official)

[SurfXombie]

I had a HTC TYTNII also with a Brodit holder with integrated power. It struggled to keep up with the power usage (using TomTom).

I now have the HTC Desire and a Brodit holder with integrated power and it charges great while navigating (google navigator).

There is another thread about usb supplied power and the presence of a "signal" line that tells the phone if it is AC charging (fast) or USB charging (slow). Some car power adaptors are not setting this and the phone does not get enough juce to charge while under heavy load.

 

[jabtas]

Just carried a little experiment, with interesting results

Last week I bought a car holder and charger from eBay (item no 170467443547)
The holder is a little plasticy but fully adjustable, but what do you want for less than 7 quid delivered

The interesting thing is, that the supplied charger say output 600 - 750ma

I just did a 35min journey, Google Navigation + GPS + Auto screen brightness
According to the battery graph produced by Battery Snap, the charge state rose from 64% to 69% in that 35mins

It would appear that the Desire is able to pull more charge than 500ma, as long as the charger is able to supply it
Maybe the bottle neck is caused by the supplied USB lead from HTC

 

[NineToTheSky]

jabtas - I bought the same one as you, and have had the same results.

 

[iynCognito]

Have a Madcatz twin USB car charger rated at 500mA. Plugged it in to my Desire with the supplied HTC micro USB cable while using navigation with Google. Charge dropped from 93% to 89% in 30mins. So will be looking for a better car charger!

 

[sandozer]

Regarding car USB chargers, there is an easy check that can be done but requires an Ohmeter.

Just do a resistance check on the two data pins on the car USB connector. These pins are the two on the inside, the outer ones are the 5V ouput.

This should be a short or less than approx 200 ohms. This enables the battery to go to the hi-charge mode, which I measured at 800ma. (so a 1Amp USB charger is required)
If these pins are open circuit, then the max charge will be only 400ma. I discovered this by measuring the mains charger which also has these pins shorted.

Hope this is of help.

 

[simon1]

I'm still trying to find a suitable way of storing favourite destinations. If I know the postcode or actual address, then creating a destination shortcut works a treat and I now have a folder on the home screen full of favourites.

BUT: I have a few places I want to store that have no actual address, they are simply places like specific turnings off a country road where no FULL postcode exists. Once I find them on the map, there seems to be no way of storing that point, however I can simply tell it to navigate to there.

I tried using the 'star' method which works, BUT I can't change the name of the starred location so I end up with a list of random names. Ideally, I want to have one place for all my favourites. I don't really want to use Contacts because the random places just fill up the Contacts page with garbage.

Anyone know how I can store random places or change the names of starred places - or another solution altogether??

 

[jabtas]

As a comparison, I just did the same 35min journey
This time the Desire was locked and screen off

The charge went from 24% to 46% in the same time period

 

[Deleted User]

Regarding car USB chargers, there is an easy check that can be done but requires an Ohmeter.

Er you can't check the current handling of a power supply by the resistance across it's pins. The current rating is inversely proportional to the voltage you want it to supply.

EDIT: By the way guys the length of the cable has a massive bearing on the charge rate, the shorter the better.

 

[sandozer]

Er you can't check the current handling of a power supply by the resistance across it's pins. The current rating is inversely proportional to the voltage you want it to supply.

EDIT: By the way guys the length of the cable has a massive bearing on the charge rate, the shorter the better.

Try reading the whole post again..!

 

[Deleted User]

Try reading the whole post again..!

But every charger is different and they're not all set to a specific current rating.

 

[heingericke]

I have a few places I want to store that have no actual address, they are simply places like specific turnings off a country road

Dogging much?

I joke of course!

 

[riverboat2001]

Very good!

Is there any way to dowload the maps at home, so when driving you don't have to reply on a good data connection to load the map as you drive?

Yep i agree, this is severly missing.
I would have thought it is something that could be implemented in a firmware update.
It's helpful for those on limited data allowances and for those of us that don't have a great signal in the area where we live.

 

[sandozer]

But every charger is different and they're not all set to a specific current rating.

I take your point Staz, 12 Volt USB chargers are quite different.

The real problem is that the Desire charges at two different rates.

These are 400ma when typically on a laptop. The other rate is 800ma, on a dedicated 1 Amp charger or on the supplied AC one. This is one where the data lines are shorted. My previous post tells you how to identify the type.

Some USB chargers are not delivering the max 800ma, they may be called 1Amp, but are obviously not.

The answer certainly is not to tie these lines yourself as there is a risk of the charger overloading trying to supply the 800ma. This potentially could feed 12 Volts straight into your phone with catastrophic results. I have a 12V, Belkin USB1Amp on order, will post the results when it arrives.

 

[jabtas]

I take your point Staz, 12 Volt USB chargers are quite different.

The real problem is that the Desire charges at two different rates.

These are 400ma when typically on a laptop. The other rate is 800ma, on a dedicated 1 Amp charger or on the supplied AC one. This is one where the data lines are shorted. My previous post tells you how to identify the type.

Some USB chargers are not delivering the max 800ma, they may be called 1Amp, but are obviously not.

The answer certainly is not to tie these lines yourself as there is a risk of the charger overloading trying to supply the 800ma. This potentially could feed 12 Volts straight into your phone with catastrophic results. I have a 12V, Belkin USB1Amp on order, will post the results when it arrives.

Sandozer, going on this
What do you think is going on with my car chargwr rated 600-750 in the above post (the one with the pic in it)

 

[Deleted User]

I take your point Staz, 12 Volt USB chargers are quite different.

The real problem is that the Desire charges at two different rates.

These are 400ma when typically on a laptop. The other rate is 800ma, on a dedicated 1 Amp charger or on the supplied AC one. This is one where the data lines are shorted. My previous post tells you how to identify the type.

Some USB chargers are not delivering the max 800ma, they may be called 1Amp, but are obviously not.

The answer certainly is not to tie these lines yourself as there is a risk of the charger overloading trying to supply the 800ma. This potentially could feed 12 Volts straight into your phone with catastrophic results. I have a 12V, Belkin USB1Amp on order, will post the results when it arrives.

What I'm saying is that most off the shelf chargers just give a 5V output at whatever current rating they can handle. No trickery involved, they just use a basic voltage regulator biased to output 5V.

 

[kiezel]

Thank you. You live and learn. (Well, at least I do.)

In that case I hope you live a long life. Just kidding!

Does anybody have an idea when this will be released in Belgium/other European countries?

 

[simon1]

Dogging much?

I joke of course!

Err, no. I enjoy the tranquility of the country.

 

[hamacting]

I bought the official HTC car charger from Amazon - it wasn't unreasonably pricey at around

 

[ifb-online]

Trapster does indeed work in the UK, but unless I can use it at the same time as Google Maps Navigation, it's not that useful to me.

Has anyone managed to get it to run concurrently with Navigation? An audible speed camera alert while using Navigation is better than nothing.

Ian

Sorry if this should be in another thread, but it seems relevant here.

Does anyone know if the Trapster app works in the UK? For those who don't know, it seems to be a user updated app so the community can add speed camera locations etc. Some of the reviews aren't too great, but it's a good idea. Maybe something Google can look at integrating?

Another point on Google navigation. I know it's still in beta and I'd be glad to help out if I can with details of things like when it tells you to turn right at a "no right turn" or do a U-turn on a dual carriageway. Is there a facility to notify the developers of local "mistakes" such as that. Again, would be a great community aspect to a fantastic (almost unbelievably) free service.

 

[jason-567]

mines been working atleast 3 weeks

 

[Adebisi]

how does this compare to copilot?

 

[gav28uk]

Guys, check out this thread on car chargers... all will become clear!! http://androidforums.com/htc-desire/75062-charging-usb-ac-differences.html

 

[hot-fuzz]

how does this compare to copilot?

Copilot is good (ish) in that it has all the maps stored locally and the interface is a bit easier to use as you can easily get to favourites, Home, Work etc, but thats about it.
The routing profile is shocking and rarely takes you the correct way to a destination.
I ahve binned Copilot in favour of GoogleNav simply due to the routing being better.
TomTom was superior to both in that every route i took was the best possible (ie no single track roads, dodgy roads) and that is essentailly what is required of a Nav App.

Use Google Nav as its free, but you do use data and the routing is much better than the woeful Copilot.

 

[NineToTheSky]

I know it's all in the eye of the beholder, but I couldn't stand the look of CoPilot. Garish colours and crowded screens.

 

[AndyK_UK]

I used this the other day and I was well impressed, esp as its a beta.

I wonder if the ability to do the whole route through street view will come along.