Using a stand alone smart phone as a GPS
I still have a dumb phone but have been reading threads on here about how folks are using their smart phones(I phones and Androids) and downloading the Co Pilot APP for $10 and using it for a GPS. Fro...
Forum Discussion
mileshuff wrote:8iron wrote:
A smartphone does not need cell service for the GPS to work. It has a dedicated GPS chip for this.
What phones have such a chip? Every smart phone I've owned including my current Samsung S4 rely on cell towers for position, not GPS satellites. Without phone signal the GPS stops working.
With all due respect this is not correct. Try loading an app such as Satellite Check-GPS status and you will find that your phone can track and display all the available GPS satellites. The phone can lose its ability to provide map routing if you haven't downloaded to it local maps for your area. In that case it is navigating using map data provided via the phone link and interruption of that will cause it to stop navigating. BTW, there's no way that use of phone towers would enable the phone to provide the precise position data displayed in Google maps which can often locate you to within ~100 feet or less.
