Pre-Order Cancelled. No GPS. Again!

[hopmedic]

Yes but lets also not forget that Microsoft was on par with Android/Apple on this upto WinMo6.5

Ummm... What??? Microsoft was on-par with two systems that didn't exist???

 

[hopmedic]

Hate to be the one to bring this up but the iPad has gps. I agree it's not necessary but it would be nice to have if only for navigating a car from the passenger seat. GPS chips are tiny and cheap, I'm not sure why MS won't put them in their tablets.

The OP was talking about cancelling his Surface Book order so it's not really fair to compare to an iPad. No MacBook has GPS.

Additionally, while I don't have an iPad so I could be wrong, I was under the impression that only the ones with LTE had GPS, and not all of them have LTE. Is this no longer correct?

 

[worwig]

Hate to be the one to bring this up but the iPad has gps. I agree it's not necessary but it would be nice to have if only for navigating a car from the passenger seat. GPS chips are tiny and cheap, I'm not sure why MS won't put them in their tablets.

I hate to tell you, but not all iPads have a GPS (newer models may though). It used to be that the GPS chip set in an iPads was only included IF you got the 3G/4G/LTE chip set too.

 

[worwig]

Which is Your phone ?
I am looking for some phone with good GPS that can start and work well offline.
Many new Lumias have useless GPS that can start online only and can't start in a mountains. Most of the people think that have a good GPS because use map applications online only.

I am currently using a Note 4. It has a GPS as well as a Glonass chip set in it. Pretty bright even in sunlight. It is not uncommon to see as many as 19 satellites even INDOORS. Very good. Cell towers never needed if you put the maps in memory.
I believe in the last two years or so ALL smartphones have the GPS and Glonass sets in them. Position lock is fast and accurate.

On the original subject, and as I believe someone else mentioned, it is fairly easy to set about any smartphone to pick up the GPS and forward the location to a PC/laptop over Bluetooth. It tried it with my Surface Pro once. It worked. But then you have two devices needing charged.

 

[Greywolf1967]

Ummm... What??? Microsoft was on-par with two systems that didn't exist???

I may be fuzzy on dates...but I am very sure as I was playing with MinMo5 , 6 on my SMT 5600 and on my HTC HD2 WinMo 6.5 - 6.5.3, Both Android and iPhone were out in the wild.
All 3 had the ability to pair with other mobile devices via BT and transfer GPS data from phone to device.......all 3 were on par that way.

So what is your issue?

 

[hopmedic]

I may be fuzzy on dates...but I am very sure as I was playing with MinMo5 , 6 on my SMT 5600 and on my HTC HD2 WinMo 6.5 - 6.5.3, Both Android and iPhone were out in the wild.
All 3 had the ability to pair with other mobile devices via BT and transfer GPS data from phone to device.......all 3 were on par that way.

So what is your issue?

iPhone was announced in 1/2007. Android started in 2003, bought by Google in 2005, launched by Google in 11/2007, but didn't catch on until well after iPhone was on the road. Windows Mobile started as Windows CE in 1996, was renamed PocketPC in 2000, and Windows Mobile in 2003, and by 2007 was the most popular smartphone OS. Obviously that didn't last.

Issue? That Microsoft wasn't on-par. They were ahead. By a decade.

 

[Greywolf1967]

iPhone was announced in 1/2007. Android started in 2003, bought by Google in 2005, launched by Google in 11/2007, but didn't catch on until well after iPhone was on the road. Windows Mobile started as Windows CE in 1996, was renamed PocketPC in 2000, and Windows Mobile in 2003, and by 2007 was the most popular smartphone OS. Obviously that didn't last.

Issue? That Microsoft wasn't on-par. They were ahead. By a decade.

And here is the issue......you took only 1 part of the statement and assumed I was referring to the whole eco system. I was saying all 3 platforms were on par for ability to link via bluetooth and provide GPS to another mobile device. As of Windows Phone 7 for us the ability was lost.

However thanks for being a fan of Windows. I understand your passion as I have it myself. Just next time take in full context before you bunch up your nickers.

Any way I have been doing things With Windows CE/Mobile/Phone a very long time and used to always push the edges as far as I could !!!


My sig is not just a statement it's a truth......I was Windows Phone before Microsoft !!!!!!

 

[Dogec]

I finally sold my Lumia 640 LTE with useless GPS and bought Motorola Moto G3.
The differrence is incredible:
The magnetic sensor (GPS+Glonass + Beidou) is super sensitive, takes for first offline fix 2-3 sec in open and for 7-10 sec in forest, the compass works very precise.
My best recommendations about Moto G3 for all kinds of activities in open.

 

[Dogec]

Ups !
I wrote "magnetic" instead of "location" sensor. "Magnetic sensor" serves for compass applications.

 

[etc6849]

Only for the overpriced LTE version (and that has aGPS)... Regular iPad's don't have aGPS or GPS! Kind of sucks for drone flying so I use a much cheaper Samsung TabS 8.4".

Hate to be the one to bring this up but the iPad has gps. I agree it's not necessary but it would be nice to have if only for navigating a car from the passenger seat. GPS chips are tiny and cheap, I'm not sure why MS won't put them in their tablets.

 

[datashepherd]

So you're navigating the streets with a 13" monster tablet? C'mon dude... Pick the right tool for the job

Oh snap...you've figured out every possible use for GPS and schooled us good.

+1 for GPS chip in all modern mobile devices...I'll pay the extra few bucks.

 

[dirtyvu]

Seriously you were using $400 Asus machines and you preordered the 1 TB Surface Book? Makes me wonder if this thread is real...

 

[Patrick Raimondi Taylor]

Fred S is right.
The surface is marketed as "the TABLET" that can replace your laptop, not the other way round.
I think we all agree if any of us bought a tablet that didn't have GPS, we'd all feel a little cheated.

I can think of a million reasons to have GPS in a surface. Using them on sailing boats / fishing to replace very specialised and expensive navigational equipment, for example. Or say, anybody in the oil industry, where both location and serious computing power are needed in one package.

It seems strange to me that microsoft don't put in GPS. What tablets and phones are good for are for creative solutions that you can come to with a large range of applications combined with the full spectrum of sensors that normally come as part of the package. The surface should be bridging that super flexible platform with the ease of use of a desktop / laptop

 

[astondg]

I think we all agree if any of us bought a tablet that didn't have GPS, we'd all feel a little cheated.

A big difference between the Surface device and, for example, an iPad or Android tablet, is that the Surface is running Windows and can be connected to a multitude of external GPS devices. Devices that could also range from a low quality consumer device to a high-end, specialised, device (like in your boating/fishing/mining example).

I'd like an internal GPS in the Surface too, and it would be nice if the next generation has one, but I also don't feel cheated by not having one and it's something I can easily add myself. E.g. the Bluetooth QSTARZ 818XT which has better resolution than most inbuilt GPS solutions and seems to work 'out of the box' with Windows 10 on the SP3.

Also

The surface is marketed as "the TABLET" that can replace your laptop, not the other way round.

Reminds me of Fabio collecting his 'slashie' in Zoolander

 

[hopmedic]

I think we all agree if any of us bought a tablet that didn't have GPS, we'd all feel a little cheated.

Not me. I've got two other tablets besides my SP3, including an iPad, and not one of them has GPS. There have been times I wish that one of them had it, but those times are not common. Additionally, what astondg says is right - I still have the USB GPS unit that came with one of my 2005 mapping applications for WinXP, and it works, and I have a Bluetooth GPS unit that I bought around 2006 (to use with the same mapping app), and it works. Can't use them with the iPad, but I sure can with my SP3.

 

[Michael Alan Goff]

Originally posted by Patrick Raimondi Taylor
Fred S is right.
The surface is marketed as "the TABLET" that can replace your laptop, not the other way round.
I think we all agree if any of us bought a tablet that didn't have GPS, we'd all feel a little cheated.

I can think of a million reasons to have GPS in a surface. Using them on sailing boats / fishing to replace very specialised and expensive navigational equipment, for example. Or say, anybody in the oil industry, where both location and serious computing power are needed in one package.

It seems strange to me that microsoft don't put in GPS. What tablets and phones are good for are for creative solutions that you can come to with a large range of applications combined with the full spectrum of sensors that normally come as part of the package. The surface should be bridging that super flexible platform with the ease of use of a desktop / laptop

Nope, they didn't market the Surface Book as a tablet that can replace your laptop. They called it the ultimate laptop.