gps

Summer's finally gone, but we're not done with the giveaways just yet. In conjunction with TeleNav, two lucky readers will win one-year subscriptions to TeleNav GPS Navigator. That's one year of turn-by-turn directions with voice support and on-screen instructions. Route previews. Moving maps in 2D and 3D. Automatic rerouting if you miss a turn. Business finder. Fuel finder. WiFi finder. In the city? There are walking directions. Need more? Check it out here.

Read on after the break for details on how to win.

Waze is a free turn-by-turn GPS application that uses crowd sourcing to detect real time traffic conditions and has been available for the iPhone and in Beta form for Android phones. We have learn that a Windows Mobile version of this application is entering the Alpha stage.

In looking at the Guided Tour of the application, it does look promising. Waze is a social network of sorts for motorists, relying on users to report traffic conditions.  Most information is reported passively by the user's driving habits. But users also have the option to report conditions, upload photos of the conditions and report mapping errors.

To expand the potential of this application, a live map can be found at Waze's site to allow anyone to check out the reported conditions nation wide. The live map gives you a decent feel for what the application is capable of.

If you're interested in registering to be an Alpha tester, just head on over to the Waze download page. Once released for public use, we'll take it for a test drive and give you a full review.

So after a bit of a false start yesterday, the ROM update that will unlock the GPS on the Verizon Samsung Omnia is finally live. Head on over and get it, and let us know in the comments how it works. (And if any of you brave Windows 7 users want to try out the Vista version of the update tool and let us know how it works, that would be cool, too.)

Thanks again, cplush!

Dear Verizon,

So here we are, halfway through the year and many moons removed from our open letter imploring you to unlock the GPS on your Windows Mobile phones. And in December 2008, you promised to do so in the first half of the year for the Samsung Omnia and Saga, and the HTC Touch Pro. And we rejoiced.

We're now a little past the midpoint of 2009, and indeed the Saga and Touch Pro have had their GPS chips released from the shackles of VZ Navigator, free to get turn-by-turn directions from the likes of Google Maps and Bing, among others. And for that, you have our thanks. While we're not quite ready to overlook you locking customers into (and having to pay for) VZ Navigator in the first place, it still means a lot in this crazy smartphone game when a company promises to do something and then follows through. So, thanks.

But while two out of three ain't bad, the job's not done. We can talk all night, but that ain't getting us nowhere. It's time to get the Omnia unlocked.  No more hacks. No more unofficial ROMs. Let's get that done so we can all turn our focus to some of the great new phones you have coming down the pike and go back to being one big, happy smartphone family.

We're still watching.

Love,

The WMExperts Team

A ROM update has been released for the Samsung Saga on Verizon, and it might just have a little gem in it for which we've been waiting quite a while. First, the fine points of the upgrade:

• The Latest Microsoft AKU Update 1.5.1.
• Enhanced zoom for Internet Explorer
• Slight UI Modifications.
• Various additional improvements to improve handset function.
• Open Standalone LBS Supported & Performance Enhanced. (This may Support 3rd Party Applications)
• MMS Over GPRS Supported. (GSM Mode)
• Softswitch For GSM (Allows handset to select correct network overseas)
• Multiple Qualcomm Patches Applied To Improve Phone Performance.
• VZ Access Manager Supports Bluetooth Connection (SPP).

Notice the fifth item there? LBS, of course, is location-based services. That could be cell-tower triangulation, or, GPS! So, that'd unlock two of the three phones that Verizon promised to unshackle in the first half of the year, with the other being the HTC Touch Pro. We've got a week left. Will we see the Omnia get an official update soon?

Go here to get the upgrade, and make sure you follow Samsung's overly complicated upgrade process.

Thanks, again, to cplush for the tip!

We've been pushing and pushing for Verizon to unlock the GPS on its smartphones, and it looks like they're finally starting to get the job done.

A new ROM has been released for the HTC Touch Pro, says PhoneNews. [via] Version 1.08 opens up GPS for use in Google Maps as well as Live Search for Mobile. A commenter also notes that the GPS even works in airplane mode. The update also gives visual voicemail and a new voice codec.

For now, PhoneNews has the only link to the update, but keep an eye out for one from Verizon itself. UPDATE: That previous ROM had a bug, apparently. New link here.

Now, about unlocking GPS on your other phones, Verizon ...

There are a few true killer apps on Windows Mobile and GeoTerrestrial's GPSToday is certainly a contender (Live Search is the other).

What is GPSToday?

As far as I can tell, it fills in the gaps that other GPS programs leave open. From my experience, its main function is to simply tell you where you are in the world. But unlike Google Maps/Live Search, which just shows your physical location on a map, GPSToday goes one step further by getting your coordinates, translating that into a real street address and displaying it directly on your Today screen (via the plugin).

All of this happens within about 15 seconds and a simple touch of an icon.

There is also the ability to attach your GPS coordinates automatically to photos, see your location of your contacts automatically and get directions to and from places. Plus the new feature: GPS weather, where it will show your weather directly based on your GPS coordinates. All wrapped up in a nice, simple (and currently free) program.

Read on for the feature breakdown and brief review!

Breakdown

There are two main parts to the program: the Today plugin and the Maps application. There is also a useful configuration screen for setting up and modifying the settings.

Plugin: This is the main interface for the app and it’s pretty simple, it’s also “touch friendly” so your stylus need not apply. To the left is the Red icon with a little satellite icon—it turns green when trying to pull your GPS signal and displays the number of satellites found. In the middle is the “display” section which shows your street address (or optionally coordinates).

The little person/icon is “Save to Contacts” which allows you to directly copy the current info to a current or new contact.

The “stopwatch” icon is the option to automatically lookup your current location at timed intervals (1 minutes, 5, 10, 30, 1 hour, Auto or Off) so in theory you could have your current location updated every 30 minutes automatically, all you have to do is glance down at your screen and you’ll know your street address.

Finally the Map icon brings up the mapping portion. Tapping the Map will download mapping data of your current location and will optionally show points of interest (POI) and/or Contacts, which is very cool.

For those concerned with battery life, GPSToday can do a one-time Quick Fix: it will turn on, do the lookup, display the street address and then turn off the GPS system meaning you only have GPS/data activated for about 20-30 seconds—all the work is done for you! This is probably my favorite part as nothing beats finding our current street address. What good is there in knowing your visual location on a map or your coordinates when trying to meet up with some friends? It’s much easier to tell someone “Yeah, I’m at…435 Motts Street right now”. (Note: due to GPS sensitive, the exact location lookup is sometimes off by a few houses, so YMMV. But for the most part, this will get your address within a few stops.)

Maps: the Map is accessed via the Today plugin and has your usual assortment of options: display POI, contacts, zoom in/out, refresh, weather and geocaching/geotagging of pictures options.

Weather: the weather option was just added to the latest version and is pretty simple but very neat. Basically it pulls down your current temperature and basic weather based on your GPS location. It can display this on the today plugin as the temperature or on the maps:

Geotagging of photos: here’s another very useful feature. Simply enable it via the add on freeware program (it’ll prompt you to download) and whenever you snap a photo, the GPS coordinates will be tagged to the picture. This of course can then be used for stuff like Flickr, where built in mapping of your photos can add a cool twist to your collection.

Conclusion and the future

GPSToday is just a fantastic application. It was quickly updated by the developers for 320x320 resolution devices (Samsung i780, Treo 800w/Pro), has new features being added all the time (e.g. GPS Weather) and I’ve heard we can expect some more features in later versions (think “friend finder/social networking” abilities).

If you have GPS built in, this is one of the most useful programs available as knowing your current street address, seeing your contacts in relation to you, being aware of the current weather, geotagging your photos, etc. are all things we can use in our daily lives.

In short, programs like GPSToday are what make “smarpthones” truly smarpthones—they do the work for you, seamlessly and provide really useful information in an instant.

Any downsides? Probably just these two major limitations:

• Only WM Pro devices (WM Standard is not currently supported)
• Mapping data is U.S. based only

Hopefully some of that will be addressed in later versions.

Download Here and read their FAQ with some tips and tricks right here.

Ratings (out of 5)

• Function: 5
• Ease of use: 5
• Cost (none): 5
• Features: 5

Overall:

Pros

• Unique GPS app
• Currently freeware
• Very useful
• Easy to use
• Great features with more to come

Cons

• Not for WM Standard (non-touchscreen)
• U.S. mapping data only