IPod Touch and Wifi Triangulation

Hi. I am considering buying an IPod Touch but I wish it had GPS, both
for driving directions and to find restaurants and attractions wherever
I happen to be.

I know it uses wifi for triangulation but wondering how well that
works, especially when driving in a car.

I'm also wondering if there are any rumors of Apple adding GPS to the Touch.

Thanks

In article <is6n65$4g6$(E-Mail Removed)>, Skylamar
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Hi. I am considering buying an IPod Touch but I wish it had GPS, both
> for driving directions and to find restaurants and attractions wherever
> I happen to be.
>
> I know it uses wifi for triangulation but wondering how well that
> works, especially when driving in a car.

wifi locating works quite well if you aren't moving.

for driving it won't work too well unless you're driving slow enough to
identify the networks you drive past (assuming you're driving where
there are some).

there are third party gps docks, which might be an option.

> I'm also wondering if there are any rumors of Apple adding GPS to the Touch.

there are rumours of apple doing all sorts of things.

personally, i'd like to see an ipod touch with a sim slot for
no-contract data only, like with the ipad, and also with a camera like
what's in the iphone 4, not the crappy piece of **** they have in there
now.

Skylamar wrote:
> Hi. I am considering buying an IPod Touch but I wish it had GPS, both
> for driving directions and to find restaurants and attractions
> wherever I happen to be.
>
> I know it uses wifi for triangulation but wondering how well that
> works, especially when driving in a car.
>
That depends on where you are. Some places have fairly good wifi coverage
throughout the community, and if you are in a place like that, you don't
need GPS for updating your position. However, many if not most places don't
have good coverage, so what we do is pre-load the map to where we want to
go, and then follow the directions to get there, even zooming in to get
street names, etc. when necessary. It isn't quite like GPS, but it's more
than good enough, since we haven't gotten lost yet!

--
best regards,

Neil

Per Skylamar:
>I know it uses wifi for triangulation but wondering how well that
>works, especially when driving in a car.

I don't have a WiFi service - just my own router.

Having said that, when I tell my iTouch to locate itself on a
map, it usually drops the pin several blocks from where it
actually is.

Bottom line, I wouldn't be hopeful.

Personally, even though I'm Jonesing for a 5" screen and true GPS
(can anybody spell A-N-D-R-O-I-D..?) I'm going to wait awhile to
see if Apple releases a 5" iTouch sometime this year - and hope
it also has a GPS chip in it.
--
PeteCresswell

In article <(E-Mail Removed)>, PeteCresswell
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> >I know it uses wifi for triangulation but wondering how well that
> >works, especially when driving in a car.
>
> I don't have a WiFi service - just my own router.
>
> Having said that, when I tell my iTouch to locate itself on a
> map, it usually drops the pin several blocks from where it
> actually is.

that's close enough to locate a restaurant or whatever, but not for gps
navigation. in any event, my wifi router locates very accurately.
apparently it's been logged into the database.

> Bottom line, I wouldn't be hopeful.
>
> Personally, even though I'm Jonesing for a 5" screen and true GPS
> (can anybody spell A-N-D-R-O-I-D..?) I'm going to wait awhile to
> see if Apple releases a 5" iTouch sometime this year

a 5" ipod is not at all likely.

one rumour is the iphone display might get a little larger by removing
the dead space around the edges and keeping the device itself about the
same size. that may also happen on the ipod touch, but neither device
is going to be 5". that's just too big for a phone or a portable music
player.

> - and hope it also has a GPS chip in it.

that is more likely but probably not high on the list.

Per nospam:
>a 5" ipod is not at all likely.
>
>one rumour is the iphone display might get a little larger by removing
>the dead space around the edges and keeping the device itself about the
>same size. that may also happen on the ipod touch, but neither device
>is going to be 5". that's just too big for a phone or a portable music
>player.

I read somewhere a very negative quote by Jobs about 5" screens -
basically he said they were going nowhere.

But I wonder how many people have pockets big enough to hold a 5"
screen, would like to be able to read a web page without
scrolling back-and-forth, and/or find it difficult to use a map
on a 3.5" screen. I'm definitely one of them.....
--
PeteCresswell

(PeteCresswell) <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> Per nospam:
> >a 5" ipod is not at all likely.
> >
> >one rumour is the iphone display might get a little larger by removing
> >the dead space around the edges and keeping the device itself about the
> >same size. that may also happen on the ipod touch, but neither device
> >is going to be 5". that's just too big for a phone or a portable music
> >player.
>
> I read somewhere a very negative quote by Jobs about 5" screens -
> basically he said they were going nowhere.
>
> But I wonder how many people have pockets big enough to hold a 5"
> screen, would like to be able to read a web page without
> scrolling back-and-forth, and/or find it difficult to use a map
> on a 3.5" screen. I'm definitely one of them.....

Cargo pants :-)
--
During times of universal deceit, telling the truth
becomes a revolutionary act.
George Orwell

Per Paul Fuchs:
>> But I wonder how many people have pockets big enough to hold a 5"
>> screen, would like to be able to read a web page without
>> scrolling back-and-forth, and/or find it difficult to use a map
>> on a 3.5" screen. I'm definitely one of them.....
>
>Cargo pants :-)

That's me....

At first, I was telling myself I wanted the biggest screen that
would fit into a cargo pants pocket.

But after fooling around with a couple of 7-inchers in stores, it
seemed like they were just too big to deploy conveniently.

To tell the truth, I haven't actually tried any 5-inchers.... I'm
must assuming one would work. But maybe I'll find out that Jobs
is right.
--
PeteCresswell

"Skylamar" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:is6n65$4g6$(E-Mail Removed)...
Hi. I am considering buying an IPod Touch but I wish it had GPS, both
for driving directions and to find restaurants and attractions wherever
I happen to be.
=============

I have both a Touch and and a Android LG Optimus V. I was suprise that I
didnt need to activate the phone service on the Android to use it. IOW it
was like having a Touch but with GPS. Google Navigate actually worked
without the phone service as long as I pre-loaded the driving directions,
while I stilll had WiFi.

Per " Terri Smith" <ts8 at soalex.us>:
>I have both a Touch and and a Android LG Optimus V.

If you had to live with just one of those, which would you
choose?

Would it be by a small or large margin?
--
PeteCresswell