Hasta La Gadget!

Following a navigation system’s instructions without driving into a ravine is hard enough as it is — can you even imagine how hard it’d be if you kept losing GPS reception every time you drove within range of an LTE tower? There have been a few anecdotal concerns raised over the last several weeks that LightSquared’s proposed LTE network — which would repurpose L-band spectrum formerly used for satellite — is too close to the spectrum used by the Global Positioning System, leading to unintentional jamming when the towers overpower the much weaker GPS signals. Things have gotten a little more interesting, though, now that the US Air Force Space Command has officially piped in. General William Shelton has gone on record saying that “a leading GPS receiver manufacturer just … has concluded that within 3 to 5 miles on the ground and within about 12 miles in the air GPS is jammed by those towers,” calling the situation “unbelievable” and saying he’s “hopeful the FCC does the right thing.”

Presumably, the USAF thinks that “the right thing” would involve pulling LightSquared’s license, but for its part, the company says it believes Shelton is referring to a test conducted by Garmin (possibly explaining that recent outage in the Southeastern US?) using simulated interference filters — not the actual filters that it has spent several million dollars developing and perfecting. Regardless of how effective the filters might be, the idea that the only thing standing between a functional GPS system and a constellation of space-borne paperweights is a private company’s privately-developed, privately-operated filtering equipment… but then again, we love LTE. Decisions!

[Thanks, Brian]

US Air Force raises concerns over LightSquared’s LTE network messing with GPS originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 19 Feb 2011 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s been a good four years since we reported anything on Route 66, but with a new collaboration with TomTom on the horizon, these bearers of PNDs have once again sparked our interest. At the heart of the partnership is a new Android app, appropriately titled Route 66 Maps + Navigation, that brings augmented reality to GPS navigation — specifically, a feature called Follow Me that allows real drivers to follow virtual cars turn for turn. Follow Me uses your smartphone or tablet’s camera to display real-time video of the road ahead, and places a virtual 3D car directly in front of you on your route — the car’s rear lights indicate when to turn right or left. Maps + Navigation also includes simultaneous voice directions in 57 languages, up-to-date TomTom maps of 100 countries with 3D graphics, and multitouch gesture control. You can get your hands on the app via Android Market soon, or check out the rather cheesy demo video after the jump.

Continue reading Route 66 Maps + Navigation brings AR to the road, keeps drivers’ eyes on their phones (video)

Route 66 Maps + Navigation brings AR to the road, keeps drivers’ eyes on their phones (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 16:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What’s the difference between a WiFi-only Xoom tablet and one equipped with EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA bands? Just $200 and the radio chip within. Motorola just released the full spec sheets for its full lineup of Android Honeycomb tablets, and they’re otherwise exactly the same inside. That goes for the Tegra 2 SOC, of course, but also surprisingly the GPS, which is often baked right into the cellular radio in mobile devices like these. Good on Motorola for keeping the functionality in!

[Thanks, David W.]

Motorola posts specs for GSM and WiFi-only Xoom, indentical to original save the radios originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 Feb 2011 09:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The folks at Callaway just announced the Upro mx, a followup to the device they so humbly referred to as the “iPhone of golf GPS technology.” PNDs for golfers aren’t exactly rare, but the new Upro claims to be the only one packing “hi-resolution actual aerial photography” of 25,000 different courses. It also boasts a multi-gesture touchscreen and optical finger navigation, as well a slew of viewing modes: Virtual Green offers exact putting distances, Smart View displays the best angle for each shot, and ProMode features video flyovers. Who knows, if they could land a Bill Murray tie-in we might actually be enticed to pick up a club and … Oh, who are we kidding? The Upro mx hits stores in May at $199, and you can check out a video of the device in action after the jump — that is, if you swing that way.

Continue reading Callaway Upro mx offers touchscreen GPS to golfers, we long for a Caddyshack edition (video)

Callaway Upro mx offers touchscreen GPS to golfers, we long for a Caddyshack edition (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Jan 2011 04:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Paying a monthly fee — or any fee, for that matter — for turn-by-turn navigation on Android devices has felt pretty unpalatable ever since Google Maps Navigation happened, but Verizon’s still trying to make things interesting with the latest version of its VZ Navigator product. A quick feature rundown of its new “Version X” is up on YouTube right now, and we’ll admit, we’re a little intrigued by some of this stuff: realistic 3D buildings in major cities (unlike the nondescript boxes in Google Maps, we imagine), some form of dead reckoning capability for those times that you don’t have GPS reception, satellite maps, overhead street signs, social integration for letting folks know where you are, and a whole bunch of views for customizing the experience. We’re assuming service is the same $9.99 a month that Big Red charges currently, but there’ll also be a free version — VZ Navigator Maps — that dispenses of some of the crazier features. We’re hearing this might be officially announced in a few hours, so more details will presumably be in tow; in the meantime, follow the break for the teaser video.

[Thanks, Misty]

Update: It’s official. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading VZ Navigator Version X breaks cover, adds ‘virtual city’ maps, social features, and more

VZ Navigator Version X breaks cover, adds ‘virtual city’ maps, social features, and more originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Jan 2011 00:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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