if it has a downloaded copy of the maps (google maps can do that, and others) it can navigate from that, it won't use live traffic data to avoid jams though, and probably won't be able to navigate by postcode or to the nearest B&Q.
gps works by the satellites broadcasting a signal, the device never has to talk to the satellite, just listen (unless you believe Mr Fry).
Is that Android Auto ?
Okay, I assumed all sat nav equipment would be purchased from an outside supplier in China and 'rebadged'.
The killer Linux app - which would make something like Mint a shoe-in for a good 50% of windows "users" would be a credible replacement for Outlook.
Guess what the one thing *nobody* in Linux Land is working on - in fact the reverse given the state of Thunderbird.
I got a TomTom model 5200 (I think) a couple of years ago. It has exactly the same defects as yours. Its internal battery has a tiny capacity. If you leave it in the car on standby (its default when you switch off the power) it runs the battery down overnight and then has to start charging and then reboot the next day, which takes maybe 5 minutes. If you remember to switch it "off" rather then "sleep" then its battery lasts but it still takes maybe 3 minutes to reload everything next day.
In my experience the software in the TomTom is slightly better than anything I have yet found for a mobile phone but still far from perfect. It gets updates on jams from the mobile phone network in several countries (but hard to find out which except by actually driving there). But the two alternatives for using that information are both unsatisfactory. If you choose the automatic re-routing option it suddenly tells you to turn off an obvious route for no stated reason when there is a jam ahead; if you choose to merely get the information about jams you have to pay very close attention to the screen to see when there is a possible alternative route because of a problem ahead, and then it takes a huge number of screen presses to actually select that route. This is only safe if you have a passenger to operate the TomTom, it couldn't possibly be done while you are driving, unless actually stopped in a jam.
Here is a GPS family photo!
Sorry to be so ignorant, but does it receive satellite data from the satellites or using the mobile phone network to receive the data? If the former, is a mobile phone as powerful as a dedicated satellite navigation unit?
I'm still thinking I would prefer a satnav but the one I have (Start
52) is pretty c**p.
position information from the satellites
phones can receive "rough" position info from the phone network (or from nearby wifi) but neither are much use for satnav purposes.
Many people think so ...
yes.
Awww, nice lineup. ;-)
Cheers, T i m
Check.
How?
Cheers, T i m
Same here?
Ah, so you won't be one of those advocating Linux over any other OS then?
See above.
Many of my laptops dual boot Windows with (typically) Mint.
Ok?
Can't say the same thing here. Windows has been very durable against such abuse and if it did upset something *I* would be better placed to fix it than if it were Linux or OSX.
Ok, so does my MacBook but that's dual booting Windows and Linux with OSX on an external drive.
<snip>
No, I bought 'a keyboard', I wouldn't expect ANY OS not to play with it? Just in the same way if I bought 'a car' I wouldn't expect to have to put 'special' fuel in it.
Cheers, T i m
And because I don't leave it in the car it's less likely to be pinched. Why have a phone that is perfectly cable of being a satnav and then use another device?
Perhaps I should consider one phone to make calls and a tablet to connect to the 'net and a satnav, or I could just have a smart phone?
Press the "connect" button under the device (actually my mice support three profiles either of which can be bluetooth or unifying, so you can easily swap them between machines)
If you don't need live traffic updates - for example you don't tend to drive at busy times - then you can buy a Lumia (Windows) phone on ebay for under a score if you go for one with a broken SIM slot, which is quite common.
Worldwide maps are free as is the Drive app. I've used it in UK/Eire/Norway/USA/Greece/Italy with no problems, even the small lanes in Greece are there. Postcodes work fine.
If you get a Lumia 920, for example, they have 32 gigs of flash, so essentially unlimited maps and a very large music collection. Or with a smaller phone, just add an SD card. A camera's always handy in a car too, sometimes a compass is useful. There are dash-cam apps too, but I haven't used them.
And on your flight, get a window seat so you can follow your progress and get speed limit warnings as you cross roads 30,000 feet below.
Cheers
Not all of us have mobile phones though. I have never owned one in my life.
I these instead = proper tools for the job.
My Tom Tom does all that.
Bill
I guess it's time for my annual "how s*it is Android Auto ?" outing.
If it's still as intertwined with Google Maps (still no way to display the current speed limit) then I needn't bother.
It's a shame, as it's a great idea and the way cars should be going - let the consumer choose their own ICE.
May well have been - I really don't use it enough to care. The only time it ever gets used is "go home" ...
The only reason we got it was it's in the trim level that also gets the adaptive cruise control, which I did want.
I've heard reports that google maps is starting to display speed limits
but waze already displays them
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