Which NEXTEL phones do GPS?

I need a phone that displays lat and long only...no navigation functions or
anything like that. I see on the Nextel.com website that some phones say
"supports GPS enabled applications and services". Does that mean that the
phone will display your current position, or do you need something like
Telenav for that? Also, is there a subscription for just the ability to
display location or does the subscription just cover the programs like
Telenav that do whatever it is that they do?

One more thing....from some of the comments that other people have made on
various forums, I have heard that these Nextel phones w/ built-in GPS
receivers are not very accurate. Any truth to these rumors?

Many thanks!

northd01 wrote:
> I need a phone that displays lat and long only...no navigation functions or
> anything like that. I see on the Nextel.com website that some phones say
> "supports GPS enabled applications and services". Does that mean that the
> phone will display your current position, or do you need something like
> Telenav for that? Also, is there a subscription for just the ability to
> display location or does the subscription just cover the programs like
> Telenav that do whatever it is that they do?
>
> One more thing....from some of the comments that other people have made on
> various forums, I have heard that these Nextel phones w/ built-in GPS
> receivers are not very accurate. Any truth to these rumors?
>
> Many thanks!
>
>
My i58sr gives me Latitude and Longitude without special navigation
software. It also states its estimated accuracy. I compared the accuracy
with an IPAQ running Pharos navigational software and it compares
favorably. My last location computation said 15ft for estimated accuracy.

"stanmc" <stanmcn0spam@ameritech.net> wrote in message
news:cCxdd.13904$nP2.9648@newssvr15.news.prodigy.c om...
> northd01 wrote:
> > I need a phone that displays lat and long only...no navigation functions
or
> > anything like that. I see on the Nextel.com website that some phones
say
> > "supports GPS enabled applications and services". Does that mean that
the
> > phone will display your current position, or do you need something like
> > Telenav for that? Also, is there a subscription for just the ability to
> > display location or does the subscription just cover the programs like
> > Telenav that do whatever it is that they do?
> >
> > One more thing....from some of the comments that other people have made
on
> > various forums, I have heard that these Nextel phones w/ built-in GPS
> > receivers are not very accurate. Any truth to these rumors?
> >
> > Many thanks!
> >
> >
> My i58sr gives me Latitude and Longitude without special navigation
> software. It also states its estimated accuracy. I compared the accuracy
> with an IPAQ running Pharos navigational software and it compares
> favorably. My last location computation said 15ft for estimated accuracy.

In addition I believe all the 3-digit models support GPS functions as you
stated

The Motorola i730 displays GPS latitude and longitude in degrees and
decimal minutes, to .001 minute. The coordinate system and datum
cannot be changed.

Unlike a conventional GPS receiver, the display won't show a real time
position. To take a fix, you select Refresh. After about 30 seconds a
beep sounds. At that time the screen shows your coordinates (not
altitude though), the time of the fix, and estimated accuracy in feet.
That screen can be viewed again at any time; all the data are retained
(even after a power off) until you do another Refresh. Other than
that, there's no provision for storing fixes.

These GPS fixes don't cost anything.

I don't know if the GPS portion of the phone continues to work when
the Nextel network is not in range.

For a quick accuracy check I took 4 fixes at random times in front
of my porch, at a place where the satellite view is good but not
great. Obstructions are a 1-story building and a couple trees still in
leaf. However, the view is practically clear above 30 degrees. I know
the coordinates of the spot to better than 1 meter accuracy. With the
i730 I got fix errors of 4 to 8 meters. The estimated accuracy
reported by the phone was sometimes better than the true accuracy,
sometimes worse.

The GPS also worked indoors under a rain-soaked wood roof. The one fix
I tried was 4 meters different from what a Magellan 315 receiver said.

That indoor fix was the only one I ever timed with a stopwatch. It
took 40 seconds from pressing Refresh to fix completion.

I can't offer anything on Telenav, since the Java app isn't on my
phone.

Paul Hirose wrote:
> The Motorola i730 displays GPS latitude and longitude in degrees and
> decimal minutes, to .001 minute. The coordinate system and datum
> cannot be changed.
>
> Unlike a conventional GPS receiver, the display won't show a real time
> position. To take a fix, you select Refresh. After about 30 seconds a
> beep sounds. At that time the screen shows your coordinates (not
> altitude though), the time of the fix, and estimated accuracy in feet.
> That screen can be viewed again at any time; all the data are retained
> (even after a power off) until you do another Refresh. Other than
> that, there's no provision for storing fixes.
>
> These GPS fixes don't cost anything.
>
> I don't know if the GPS portion of the phone continues to work when
> the Nextel network is not in range.
>
> For a quick accuracy check I took 4 fixes at random times in front
> of my porch, at a place where the satellite view is good but not
> great. Obstructions are a 1-story building and a couple trees still in
> leaf. However, the view is practically clear above 30 degrees. I know
> the coordinates of the spot to better than 1 meter accuracy. With the
> i730 I got fix errors of 4 to 8 meters. The estimated accuracy
> reported by the phone was sometimes better than the true accuracy,
> sometimes worse.
>
> The GPS also worked indoors under a rain-soaked wood roof. The one fix
> I tried was 4 meters different from what a Magellan 315 receiver said.
>
> That indoor fix was the only one I ever timed with a stopwatch. It
> took 40 seconds from pressing Refresh to fix completion.
>
> I can't offer anything on Telenav, since the Java app isn't on my
> phone.

Thanks for the information Paul. Living in Europe, we depend on this
kind of practical information, as we cannot test it ourselves.

--
Andreas van Hooijdonk
http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com

I wrote:
>
> At that time the screen shows your coordinates (not
> altitude though), the time of the fix, and estimated accuracy in feet.

I should have also said the time and date are labeled "GMT". The page
shows the number of satellites used for the fix too. You have to
scroll down to see that, so I didn't notice it at first.

Much more is available if you put the phone in Trace Mode. This is not
in the manual, but the Motorola iDEN site explains how to activate
Trace Mode to check your software version.

http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/..._utility.html#

Press the #, *, Menu, and Right Arrow keys quickly in that order. In
the Trace Mode menu, select GPS. That brings up a sub-menu:

Location
Time Info
Assist
Navigation
Summary
GPS Version


In Location I see:

Sat: 5 (number of sats in last fix?)
C lat: Nxx.01454
C lon: Wxxx.66167
SU lat: Nxx.00121
SU lon: Wxxx.70134
SU alt: 731 m
H acc: 6.1 m
V acc: 5.9 m

To conceal the exact location of my home, I used x for the integer
degrees in lat/lon. The SU coordinates are identical (+ or - 1 in
the last decimal place) to the fix displayed on the main GPS screen.
The "alt" is within a meter or two of my height above the geoid. But a
later fix said 693 m, which is much closer to my height above the
WGS84 *ellipsoid*.

When I put the "C lat" and "C lon" into a topo map program, it
indicated a hill about 3 miles from my home. There's a cell phone
tower on that hill! As well as I can judge by eye, the tower is
precisely at those coordinates.


In Time Info I see:

Epoch: 3754
Epoch 1/2: 0
Tz: -8.00 (standard time here is 8 hours behind UTC)
DST: 1 (Daylight Time is still in effect here)
Leap Sec: 13
Frame: 65
Slot: 13185
Accur: 32.25000
Gwk: 1293
Gtow: 580575.191660

I copied those numbers several hours ago; they update each time you
enter the page.


In SU Assist I see:

Data Valid: 0
SU lat: 0.00000
SU lon: 0.00000
H acc: 0.0 m


In Navigation I see:

Heading: 0
Velocity:0 kph
Vel Err:0 kph


In Summary I see:

11:09 am 10/23 (time and date)
Nxx 0.073 (lat/lon of last fix)
Wxxx 42.080


In GPS Version I see:

SiRF Cust SW
Version
v3.3.2.0
Falcon_2m


> i730 I got fix errors of 4 to 8 meters. The estimated accuracy
> reported by the phone was sometimes better than the true accuracy,
> sometimes worse.

Did another fix this morning. Actual error was 14 meters. The phone
said "Est Accur: 25 ft" and "Sats Used: 5". My Magellan 315 got 6 sats
at the same place.

At a better location the i730 used 7 sats and the Magellan 9 sats.
Couldn't test accuracy there, because I haven't done an accurate
postprocessed survey at that spot.

The 30 to 60 second delay I reported in my previous post was for the
first fix after power up. If you take a fix, then immediately take
another, it requires less than 5 seconds.

When the phone is taking a fix, it says "searching for satellites" but
there's no other feedback. All you can do is stand there and wait for
the beep. If it takes too long, press Cancel, move to a better
location.

According to the phone's instructions, "If possible, stand still until
your phone is finished determining your location. Moving your phone at
a walking pace while your phone is calculating your approximate
location may substantially decrease GPS performance. NOTE: Although
moving your phone at a walking pace decreases GPS performance, moving
it at the speed of a moving car does not."

"Your phone sends location information to your laptop or other device
using the standard National Marine Electronics Association (NMEA)
format. Your phone supports output messages in NMEA-0183 format and
supports the following NMEA-0183 sentences: GGA, GLL, GSA, GSV, RMC,
and VTG. The map software running on your laptop or other device must
support NMEA 3.0."

Paul Hirose wrote:
> I wrote:
>>
>> At that time the screen shows your coordinates (not
>> altitude though), the time of the fix, and estimated accuracy in
>> feet.
>
> I should have also said the time and date are labeled "GMT". The page
> shows the number of satellites used for the fix too. You have to
> scroll down to see that, so I didn't notice it at first.
>
> Much more is available if you put the phone in Trace Mode. This is not
> in the manual, but the Motorola iDEN site explains how to activate
> Trace Mode to check your software version.
>
>
http://idenphones.motorola.com/iden/..._utility.html#
>
> Press the #, *, Menu, and Right Arrow keys quickly in that order. In
> the Trace Mode menu, select GPS. That brings up a sub-menu:
>
> Location
> Time Info
> Assist
> Navigation
> Summary
> GPS Version
>
>

Thank you Paul. I really appreciate this information. Other readers too,
I hope.

--
Andreas van Hooijdonk
http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com