Pocket PC instead of GPS

Hello. I was just reading about Pocket PCs. I'm thinking if I should get one.

I hear some of them have GPS. I was thinking about getting a GPS. If a Pocket PC has GPS, wouldn't I be better off just getting a Pocket PC then since it should have GPS and more?

Also, there are no fees to use the GPS, are there? And the internet- its WiFi, right? So there shouldn't be any charges.

Yes, this is my first post here on BC.

Edited by TheEgg, 14 October 2009 - 10:10 PM.

Wifi is a term used to describe a way if receiving and transmitting data of some sort. The Internet is not wifi. The Internet is a network of computers that send and receive data. The Internet itself is not wifi, but data from the Internet can be transmitted via a wifi signal. This doesn't necessarily mean it is free though. Some airports have free wifi, and some cities, so there are cases where, in certain areas, the Internet can be accessed for free. However, there are also many places that have wifi where one has to pay to access the Internet also. And wifi is not accessible everywhere.

Whether or not there are fees to use the GPS probably depends on the device, and the manufacturer. There are inexpensive GPS devices that do not require a fee to use GPS since all they are doing is capturing satellite signals and processing them. As far as why one would prefer to use a GPS vs a mobile computing device that happened to have GPS capabilities, that would sort of depend on one's budget. Organizations like the Boyscouts use inexpensive GPS devices for treasure hunts, path finding, etc. They would have no need for anything else.

To the best of my knowledge, there aren't any fees to use a GPS system. (I have a Magellan & a Garmin) **However, you will need to buy/download map updates almost yearly to accomodate to new roads/routes in this ever changing world... And these updates are usually about 80$.

-Chris

To the best of my knowledge, there aren't any fees to use a GPS system. (I have a Magellan & a Garmin) **However, you will need to buy/download map updates almost yearly to accomodate to new roads/routes in this ever changing world... And these updates are usually about 80$.

-Chris

Regarding the fees for GPS use,, It is a system of satellites that was put in place by I believe the US government to help with army and naval troops, but then the regular populous got a hold of the technology for it so the govt allows free access to it any I believe they said it will stay free forever.(could be wrong so don't quote me but that is how I was told) As for map update I hate them since the cost money but it is better than getting lost.

The U.S. is actually in the middle of upgrading our old and failing GPS system installing new sats. replacing military ones with better ones and using said replaced military ones as new general populous versions. So what does that mean while the government has been able to us gps to trak things withing inches we have been left with a few feet of accuracey, not for much longer they may actually take out the built in interfernce and let us track right down to within inches. No more being asked to drive off that cliff by your Garmin Maybe?

As far as map updates. I buy refurbed GPSs so when the map gets outdated I just get a new unit. Just got a refurb Magellan for $40 from Wallyworld with the most current map. Most I've ever spent on a refurb is $60. Anyways, roads don't really change all that much from year to year. What does change is business locations. Businesses come and go constantly and your maps don't show them - or lead you to closed businesses.

Wifi is a term used to describe a way if receiving and transmitting data of some sort. The Internet is not wifi. The Internet is a network of computers that send and receive data. The Internet itself is not wifi, but data from the Internet can be transmitted via a wifi signal. This doesn't necessarily mean it is free though. Some airports have free wifi, and some cities, so there are cases where, in certain areas, the Internet can be accessed for free. However, there are also many places that have wifi where one has to pay to access the Internet also. And wifi is not accessible everywhere.

Whether or not there are fees to use the GPS probably depends on the device, and the manufacturer. There are inexpensive GPS devices that do not require a fee to use GPS since all they are doing is capturing satellite signals and processing them. As far as why one would prefer to use a GPS vs a mobile computing device that happened to have GPS capabilities, that would sort of depend on one's budget. Organizations like the Boyscouts use inexpensive GPS devices for treasure hunts, path finding, etc. They would have no need for anything else.

Thanks for the amazing information.

In the world there are a bunch of computers and software interconnected by wires (some copper, some glass with a bit of translation from photons to electrons and back) so the computers can talk to each other. And at various fewer points on the globe, those internet, wire-transferred signals get broadcast locally (in coffee shops and in big houses or business buildings, relayed into the cabins of airplanes in flight, or what have you) so that computers that are equipped to receive the locally broadcast signals and broadcast back to them (like laptops and tablets) can access the world wide network of wires and computers via radio wave (well, whatever the bandwidth) signals. The signals traveling in the air as radio (or whatever) waves get translated into electron signals for computers.

Then there's landline and cell phone telephones. Once upon a time all the telephones talked to each other along a world wide web of wires (mostly) using switch stations in between. Now those same wires can be used to transfer internet signals for computers, but note here also that along came a world wide (-ish) network of cell phone towers. Those towers are connected to the telephone wires of course, but in any case each tower broadcasts and receives radio wave (or whatever bandwidth) signals within a certain radius (beyond which the signal becomes too weak, like the radio in your car after a certain distance, depending on broadcast strength/energy). In high population density areas, there are a lot of these towers with overlapping broadcast radii (radius-es) are sophisticated ways of transferring one's phone call from one tower to the next as one drives so that the calls are not (hopefully) interrupted.

Nowadays and increasingly, cell phone towers are used to broadcast and receive signals to and from smart phones that are set up to connect to the computer-based internet. Yup. Via cell phone towers, smart cell phones connect to the world wide web--for email, Facebook, Youtube, or whatever. Same with tablets (iPad, etc.) of various sizes. Could some of the latter be pocket PCs? Or smart phones?

Then there's the set of 24 or so GPS satellites that the US Airforce sent into orbit in various trajectories thanks to US taxpayers and US military interests. The whole world then uses these satellites for landing aircraft or tracking the migration of animals with tracking devices attached or for finding where to drive when they have GPS devices installed. And no, the weak GPS signals, so far as I know, are not relayed via the internet or cell phone towers. They are separate. So I assume the smart phone-cell phones that use the GPS signals do so in the same way that GPS devices do.

Cell phones with GPS capability are pocket sized. So are many GPS devices. Some have screens for travelers, some do not or have only modest screens, such as for cyclists or runners rather than for those looking for the right lane to be in to enter the highway.

Hope this helps.

We don't pay a dime for GPS service here in Michigan, plus my daughter just used it to drive down to South Carolina and back with no problem. It's free using for standard GPS systems, unless you want traffic reports which has a monthly fee attached to it. If I were to get a new cell phone with GPS service, it does cost extra there, but for my Garmin 550, there is no monthly fee. I assume that's all figured into the initial cost for the device, although it does surprise me that they don't charge for it, too!