iPhone 4 with Improved GPS Accuracy and Speed over 3GS

[Krevnik]

The car kits also only provide 500mA to the phone itself, meaning you could get into a situation where your battery slowly drains in the car kit if you have too much wireless junk on, or the screen brightness up too high. The Magellan kit is also seemingly not recognized by TomTom, which is not so good.

I'm much happier with the generic cradle, an iPad friendly car plug which provides a full 1A to the iPhone, and using Bluetooth in the car for hands free.

It's improved enough, that I trust it to replace my standalone PND, and the lock is faster to the point where I can navigate from the car rather than planning it out inside and hoping the GPS gets a lock by the time I get somewhere important.

 

[Krevnik]

I've done some more extensive testing of the iPhone 4 with and without the cradle. My verdict is that anyone with an iPhone 4 should not use the GPS car kits with it.

In the driveway test (with a carport), I sat and compared reception between the phone and the car kit. GPS lock is very fast on the phone, but took 4-5 minutes on the car kit. The reported accuracy was the same for both. I then attacked driving in an area with tall buildings, something that has always made the car kit lose signal for a few seconds. The iPhone 4 handled it with ease. There were still a couple sub-second dropouts, but nothing long enough to affect routing. It literally only flickered the screen and was gone. Routing only crapped out once I got into a parking garage, and came back the moment I was out of the garage. Highway underpasses were no sweat either, something that would make GPS twitch on the 3G without the kit.

Overall, the accuracy is the same, the lock faster, and the signal more reliable. There is nothing this car kit adds to the iPhone 4. I'll be selling mine off soon.

 

[GreenRomeo]

Overall, the accuracy is the same, the lock faster, and the signal more reliable. There is nothing this car kit adds to the iPhone 4. I'll be selling mine off soon.

Thanks for confirming again. I'm now sold on the iPhone 4 with a generic cradle. Maybe that explains why until now Tomtom still keeps silent about if they will ever release a car kit compatible with the iPhone 4, let alone when.

 

[Becordial]

I also wanted to say thanks too. Krevnik your real-world testing testing in and around the city areas sounds very conclusive and makes clear how good the new phone is without need the full kit with the extra GPS module. Thanks.

 

[Krevnik]

Well, I wasn't able to test in a major metro city, but in an edge city. That said, I have no reason to believe the car kit would beat out the iPhone 4's GPS chip in a place like NYC, SF or Seattle.

 

[VinegarTasters]

iPhone 4 GPS compared to iPhone 3GS GPS

Hello. I was wondering if the instant lock on to the satellite GPS is not instant lock on to cell towers. I think many are confused which they are using. If you really want to test out if the iPhone 4 has better GPS than the iPhone 3GS, I suggest you read this:

http://www.edepot.com/iphone.html

Look in the A-GPS section. There is a way to test whether you are using the false GPS (getting from cell towers) or real GPS (from the satellites)

 

[Krevnik]

Hello. I was wondering if the instant lock on to the satellite GPS is not instant lock on to cell towers. I think many are confused which they are using. If you really want to test out if the iPhone 4 has better GPS than the iPhone 3GS, I suggest you read this:

http://www.edepot.com/iphone.html

Look in the A-GPS section. There is a way to test whether you are using the false GPS (getting from cell towers) or real GPS (from the satellites)

Apps like TomTom don't treat a "fake" lock as a GPS lock (not enough accuracy without the satellites), which is how I did my testing.