Quote:
Originally Posted by Malatesta
And that is the big question here: Do any Sprint devices currently have a built in GPS antenna? The answer is evidently (definitely for the Mogul) no.
|
Basically good info, but I would like to add a couple of things:
There have been reports that the Qualcomm chip can multi-plex the cellular antenna thereby elimiating the need for a dedicated one for satelite based GPS.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Malatesta
It would seem extremely odd for Sprint to have devices released like the Touch with an internal GPS antenna, but not have it activated and AFAIK, no one has found such an antenna.
|
The same argument can be made about releasing a device without triangulation/cellular based GPS being enabled as that's a function of the cellular service inherintly present in the device!
Also, I'd like to remind you of the HTC Trinity (P3600) that came out a year or two ago. It also was originally advertised as having GPS, but once shipped, any mention of GPS was completely removed from the marketing materials. At that time, there was the same type of speculation over the GPS capabilities in the Trinity as there are now over the Vogue. Plenty of people chimed in stating unequivically that there would never be a GPS enabled ROM. Then, about a year later, the ROMs began to surface. First Dopod shipped a radio update that was quickly ported over/made available, and then HTC released the official update that enabled standalone GPS. I never did understand why the delay, but heard that there were problems with the GPS/cellular radios interfering with each other that had to be worked out. Being that the 7500 is a newer chipset, I imagine that the same type of issues could be present thereby delaying the GPS release?
Now I don't know for sure that there will ever be a standalone GPS update for the Touch or the Mogul, but I have not seen any evidence that there won't! Meanwhile, contrary to some of the naysayers of yesterday, Sprint HAS confirmed that there will be SOME sort of GPS enabled. And the only reason I can think of that TelNav does not work with those devices at the time of their release (as it is a revenue source), is that Sprint/HTC is trying to work out the bugs in the interface between the assisted and the satelite based GPS...