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Updated September 22nd, 2012 A busy week for Apple aficionados with the arrival of the much anticipated iPhone 5 but also with the immediate availability of the iOS 6 upgrade for existing iPhones and iPads. The highlight of iOS 6 being the new Apple Maps app that replaces the much liked and trusted "Google Maps" app.
While users were looking forward to some features like full 3D "turn by turn" navigation with visual and vocal guidance, what wasn't expected are the many problems spotted in the field : transit guidance gone, simplistic traffic information, odd search results, reversed compass...quite perplexing. You can use the [TOPIC] Apple Maps GPS on iOS 6 with TomTom data in the "GPS on the Apple iPhone and iPad - smartphoneGPS.com" forums to discuss.
Updated June 12th, 2012 - Apple used the WWDC 2012 conference that takes place in San Francisco from June 11th to June 16th to introduce iOS 6. We'll have to wait until the fall to experience it for ourselves but there are some interesting GPS news. Apple had been using Google Maps since the launch of the first iPhone in 2007 and little had changed since, great map browsing and static guidance. With iOS 6 we'll be getting...
Updated June 24th, 2012 After being a late starter in the GPS on Smartphones market for obvious reasons (full line of GPS systems and nuviFone project with Asus), Garmin played catchup at a steady pace with the StreetPilot software for iOS and the purchase of Navigon last year, a Smartphone GPS leader. Their latest offer is the Designer Car Kit for the iPhone 4 and 4S.
Offering a car kit is certainly a good idea because this is a required piece of kit if you want to navigate with your iPhone, both to see it properly and to keep it charged. The TomTom Car Kit released in late 2009 certainly did very well for them. Garmin's version was designed by the Platinumdesign studio and certainly looks smart. It's a kit so you get access to Garmin's StreetPilot software for full "on-board" (maps and routes handled locally) guidance. You can use the [TOPIC] Garmin iPhone Designer Car Kit in the iPhone www.SmatphoneGPS.com forums to discuss.
Updated January 11th, 2011 - When Garmin announced they were leaving the Android smartphone device market at the end of October (see below) there was hope that it would clear the way for their navigation software to be made available on other smartphones running Apple's iOS and Android. This is what happened at CES last week with the launch of StreetPilot for iPhone for $39.99 for North America. StreetPilot for iPhone is an...
Updated May 4th, 2012 Slightly ahead of schedule (previous maps were available February 7th, 2012), Garmin have now released the fourteenth Map update installment under the nuMaps Lifetime program, the CityNavigator NT 2013.10. These new maps are likely based on the Navteq Q1/2012 release.
Updated February 7th, 2012 - Slightly ahead of schedule (previous maps were available November 10th, 2011), Garmin have now released the thirteenth Map update installment under the nuMaps Lifetime program, the CityNavigator NT 2012.40. These new maps are...
Updated February 15th, 2012 Almost exactly a year (01/26/2011) after granting LightSquared a conditional waiver for their terrestrial network in spite of the quantified warnings of the GPS industry, the FCC reversed course today following a report by the NTIA that "there is no practical way to mitigate potential interference at this time"...
So was all this fuss necessary ? Well possibly, because the FCC explains that the fault lies with the GPS receivers currently on the market that do not filter the LightSquared frequencies properly but that it would be too costly to the economy to replace them...You can use the Lightsquared - GPS Jamming - FCC Pulls the Plug topic in the "GPS and Mobile News" forums to discuss.
Updated December 14th, 2011 - The battle rages on between Lightsquared and the GPS industry around the impact of LightSquared's proposed 4G/LTE network using frequencies adjacent to the GPS frequencies, with renewed testing and a potential launch in late 2012.
Developments since May include the finding that GPS receivers were not designed as well as they could have been in terms of...
Updated September 22nd, 2012
Updated June 24th, 2012
Updated May 4th, 2012
Updated February 15th, 2012
