GPS
I have a Samsung s5 and us atauto with it. The question is does the GPS work on its own or does it require a phone connection?
Forum Discussion
babock wrote:
GPS works fine without a cell signal. Every cell phone has a GPS receiver in it. The problem is you won't have a map unless you load it for offline use. You can do that with Google. I do it all the time in Europe and all I am using is Wi-Fi at hotels to always make sure I have the area I am going to be in downloaded.
Babcock,
I hate to disappoint you, but there are many "smartphones" that do not actually have a real GPS built in. They fake it by using a thing called "E-location" service. This is simple and it is what the cell phone system has used all along to locate a user that is traveling so the system can know which cell to hand you off to. It was later in cell handset history that the towers have made this available to the handset to use for its own purposes.
This is something I learned all about when the handset I had been using failed its charging port and I had to pick up a replacement on the fly and what I got was as cheap as could get my by. When we ran out of cell coverage, it also stopped being a GPS. Fortunately, the real GPS knew where we were.
Matt
