Life Without Data: qGPS

Straight up GPS is slow. It reaches out to four satellites to grab all the information it needs to give you a fix on your position, and that takes time. aGPS was designed to give you a fix more quickly by grabbing some of the information you need over your phone's data connection instead of using the GPS radio alone. If you're trying to get by without an expensive data plan, aGPS could be running per-kb charges, or it might be completely unavailable to you.

Fear not, because there's another way to speed up GPS fixes: Quick GPS. Instead of requiring 4 satellites to get a fix, qGPS makes it possible to get a fix with just three. To wit, it does so by downloading a week's worth of data in advance—making it possible for you to get away with only using WiFi to speed up GPS fixes rather than having to use cellular data.

How do you get it? Although aGPS is more pervasive, HTC includes the Qualcomm designed system on some devices, and Palm put it on their Treo Pro. And hackers are adding it to yet more devices.

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