Smartphone GPS woes

[Waffle Stomper]

And as WS said, you do have to be more careful with batteries. Put the phone in "Airplane Mode" when on the trail, and this concern just about disappears, though! I keep mine running, because there are all sorts of useful apps for on the trail. (But I also charge it right up to the trailhead, and plug it back in when I get back to the jeep!)

So the GPS works in "Airplane Mode", that's good.
BTW, a side note about the SIII DO NOT UPDATE IF YOU ARE PROMPTED TO! This update is a mess. My phone has not been the same since.

[Pnw.hiker]

... For example, the Nokia Lumia 521 is supposed to have GPS and Glonass, but when I asked someone at the Microsoft retail store about it, they insisted that the GPS doesn't work outside of cell range. What the heck? Nokia advertises "Offline maps" in the specifications...

Well, I got a Nokia Lumia 521 for $68 and it works great. Just tested it today ... powered it off, drove an hour to a place I was sure had no cell reception and turned it on. GPS kicked in in less than a minute, and everything worked great with the off-line maps I downloaded earlier.

I have all of Washington and Oregon road maps downloaded for the Nokia driving app.

Also tested the free version of Outdoor Navigator and that worked good too. Pre-downloaded OpenHikingMaps-- free but not very detailed. Supposedly you can download topos from google and bing, but didn't see the option, maybe because it is the trial version.

Still looking for WindowsPhone apps for off-line maps+GPS. Not a big selection yet.

[RobFromRedland]

Still looking for WindowsPhone apps for off-line maps+GPS. Not a big selection yet.

Unfortunately, I think you will be waiting quite a while. Windows phones just haven't taken off at all. Android and iPhones have something like 97% of the market. I think I even read that windows phone market share had decreased. Small market share means it is tough to get companies to create windows specific apps. I know at one point in the past, Microsoft was paying companies to write software for windows phones, but I think that effort is gone now.

[Pnw.hiker]

Still looking for WindowsPhone apps for off-line maps+GPS. Not a big selection yet.

Unfortunately, I think you will be waiting quite a while. Windows phones just haven't taken off at all. Android and iPhones have something like 97% of the market. I think I even read that windows phone market share had decreased. Small market share means it is tough to get companies to create windows specific apps. I know at one point in the past, Microsoft was paying companies to write software for windows phones, but I think that effort is gone now.

Yeah, I'd heard there aren't a lot of WindowsPhone apps, relatively speaking, prior to buying the phone. However, it does everything I want and it was cheap and works well. Couldn't buy a dedicated gps unit at this price that even comes close.

[Lumpy]

Yeah, I'd heard there aren't a lot of WindowsPhone apps, relatively speaking, prior to buying the phone. However, it does everything I want and it was cheap and works well. Couldn't buy a dedicated gps unit at this price that even comes close.

It's a trade off. You got a great smartphone at a low price, and all the really good apps for backcountry navigation are on Android and iPhone. In the long run, I hope you still believe you got a great deal if no one makes an app that does what you want.

[Pnw.hiker]

Yeah, I'd heard there aren't a lot of WindowsPhone apps, relatively speaking, prior to buying the phone. However, it does everything I want and it was cheap and works well. Couldn't buy a dedicated gps unit at this price that even comes close.

It's a trade off. You got a great smartphone at a low price, and all the really good apps for backcountry navigation are on Android and iPhone. In the long run, I hope you still believe you got a great deal if no one makes an app that does what you want.

Well, it already does everything I want, and more. I don't record tracks or anything like that, even though the phone can do it. I would never rely solely on a phone for maps, I'll always carry paper. It can lead me directly to old abandoned trailheads and features I want to explore, as well as pull up a map if I'm lost and out of cell range. In fact, I'm not sure I even want to buy the $4 full version of 'OutdoorNavigator', which delivers free USGS topos via google and bing in a really simple way (draw a rectangle on the screen and 'download'). As I mentioned earlier, my experience with a cheap android tablet and its propensity for cross-connected privacy invasion soured my opinion of that operating system. I simply wanted a reliable phone, and GPS was a plus so long as it worked as advertised. This phone does, while several android phones with GPS mentioned in this thread apparently don't, simply because of trees. Oh yeah, forgot to mention, tested the phone on a trail, in a river valley under thick tree cover and GPS worked fine.

[Lumpy]

As I mentioned earlier, my experience with a cheap android tablet and its propensity for cross-connected privacy invasion soured my opinion of that operating system.

An issue easily worked around with a spoof account.

Like I said, I hope you are as happy with your decision a year from now as you are today.

[Koda]

As I mentioned earlier, my experience with a cheap android tablet and its propensity for cross-connected privacy invasion soured my opinion of that operating system.

so you dont trust Google but you do trust Microsoft?

In fact, I'm not sure I even want to buy the $4 full version of 'OutdoorNavigator', which delivers free USGS topos via google and bing in a really simple way (draw a rectangle on the screen and 'download').

IMO I would buy the app. People pay hundreds of dollars for a dedicated GPS device that still doesnt come with maps. I've heard nothing bad about the Outdoor Navigator application but you have to get the pro version to be able to save the map tiles on your phone for offline use... very important.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store ... 237de2db9e

[Pnw.hiker]

As I mentioned earlier, my experience with a cheap android tablet and its propensity for cross-connected privacy invasion soured my opinion of that operating system.

An issue easily worked around with a spoof account.

How do you pay for an app with a 'spoof account'?

Like I said, I hope you are as happy with your decision a year from now as you are today.

Hey, let's not get ahead of yourself high up on your Schadenfreude horse.

As I mentioned earlier, my experience with a cheap android tablet and its propensity for cross-connected privacy invasion soured my opinion of that operating system.

so you dont trust Google but you do trust Microsoft?

Ha, good point. Though WindowsPhone operating system didn't seem nearly as evil, which kinda makes sense since Windows doesn't make it's living the same way as Google.

In fact, I'm not sure I even want to buy the $4 full version of 'OutdoorNavigator', which delivers free USGS topos via google and bing in a really simple way (draw a rectangle on the screen and 'download').

IMO I would buy the app. People pay hundreds of dollars for a dedicated GPS device that still doesnt come with maps. I've heard nothing bad about the Outdoor Navigator application but you have to get the pro version to be able to save the map tiles on your phone for offline use... very important.

http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store ... 237de2db9e

Yeah, small price to pay.

[Lumpy]

How do you pay for an app with a 'spoof account'?

Pre-paid visa gift card and a Google account only used for the market and the device. "Spoof" may not be the right term.