This is the last iPhone rumor for today. I promise. It’s quite obvious that people have way too much time on their hands, but that works in my favor because I don’t have enough time on my hands. If you’re the type to watch ads over and over again then you’ll appreciate the effort put forth on this one. The ‘calamari’ ad shows a glimpse of the phrase “Directions To Here”, which implies that the iPhone will have GPS. Don’t think that’s enough reason?
Loop Rumors has word that an AT&T salesmen pitched a local trucking company on the iPhone’s GPS functionality. WTF? He said that the company could track their trucks no matter where they were throughout the country. Will the madness never end? I know, I know. Rumors will be abundant until June 29th.
iPhones with GPS? [Loop Rumors]
There are a lot of ways to interpret “Directions to Here”:
- First of all, directions to here could meant in a way where Here = 2027 Chestnut St, the address shown above. And then once you click on it the second screen would ask you for the starting point, no GPS required.
- If Here actually means where you are, maybe they offer some kind of location mode. Most people are either at “Home”, “Office”, etc. so you could tell your phone where you are in a set of preconfigured addresses which are then used to create a route. Not necessarily suitable for all situations, but would definitely work in many cases.
- Several cell phone providers have researched into cell-info-based location tracking before, Sprint even offered that as an additional service for quite some time. Instead of using GPS it uses information triangulating your position based on the signal strength to surrounding cell towers, which isn’t as good as GPS, but good enough in dense areas.
The power consumption of GPS receivers would drain the battery too much, and to integrate it into the phone without a visible antenna would usually make it much thicker. I’m not saying it’s impossible, but it seems unlikely. Just my 2 cents.
Google maps on my desktop also says “Get directions To Here”. And when I click it, it asks me to enter my starting address. No GPS implied, folks.
You had me at hello. With all this talk about the Iphone on Crunch; I’m getting in the mood. Just whisper it one more time again for me. Please god, I feel I know this phone intimately.
The iPhone page on apple.com has stated the google maps app will allow for directions since Macworld: “With Google Maps and iPhone’s amazing Maps application, you can view maps and satellite images, or get directions and traffic information, all from iPhone’s remarkable, easy-to-use touch interface.”
Also, in the same commercial, it automatically popped up with the “closest” seafood place. If it’s not GPS, then how would the phone know where the “closest” seafood place is? It wouldn’t make sense for a user to plug in a single address because of the nature of mobile phones. They are mobile, and won’t be at the same address all the time.
My money is on GPS.
Yea,
I always trust the sales reps at the corporate stores for my information (not). I think the device will just ask for or remember your usual zip code like Google maps does right now.
I’m willing to put money on the iPhone packing more features than what Steve Jobs has let on.
The iPhone has a lot more features then any of us know about, it is going to be great device but I still don’t know if I am going to buy one. GPS would help a lot, I would love to get directions to where I’m going. I’m just afraid that them putting all this wonderful functionality into this device will make it too bloated and maybe a little unstable. I know it has OS X in it but my MacBook has kernel panics all the time.
Unless they’ve secretly added 3G and they’ve amazingly kept it quiet then it’s pointless really. The only things it has better than my N95 is the awesome interface/OS and the 8gig of internal memory.
My N95 can do everything else the iPhone can and better in some cases.
Shame, I really like the look of the iPhone and I’d love to have one. Still have it separate to my iPod mind. I like having 40gigs of music to hand. 8gig for my TV shows though. Nice.
Ah well, maybe the iPhone² will have 3G….