GPS Android Apps?

[JPH]

Anyone use their phone as a GPS while hunting? Does anyone have a suggestion for an app that will let you mark locations on a map and store them?

[ranwin33]

My nephew uses Google Maps on his Windows phone to mark locations, but I cannot get it to do that on my Android phone. When I see him next, I will ask him to show me how he marks his spots on it.

[ranwin33]

Just downloaded GPS Essentials. Seems to work OK, but have only tried it for a few minutes. Easy to add waypoints, or mark your location.

[kellory]

My company just upgraded me to a smart phone, and it has google maps allready on it, and it works fine for roads around town, and seems very accurate. The problem with any phone based GPS is tower strenth and coverage. Real GPS receivers work off the sattilites and have a much better full time/real time signal. And as such, they are much more reliable when in broken terrain. Always have a backup system.

[Woods Walker]

I have a dumb phone, so I leave it in my truck. That works out best for everyone!

[JPH]

That GPS Essentials looks pretty cool. Still figuring it out but I think that may be the way to go.

I hepled a buddy on a blood trail this year and i was trying to show off my woodsmanship and locate the blood he had left two hours ago. he just whipped out his phone and went right to it. I need to find out wat he was using!

[jdbell91]

I have not found one that is as good as a stand alone gps. The best one I have use so far is the Cabela's Recon Hunt app. It is easy to mark waypoints and has a lot of other features that are helpful to hunters.

Good luck. Let me know if you find one that meets all your needs.

[ranwin33]

My company just upgraded me to a smart phone, and it has google maps allready on it, and it works fine for roads around town, and seems very accurate. The problem with any phone based GPS is tower strenth and coverage. Real GPS receivers work off the sattilites and have a much better full time/real time signal. And as such, they are much more reliable when in broken terrain. Always have a backup system.

I think your phone GPS is using satellites - at least my Sprint phone says it is looking for them when I turn the GPS on and it requires a view of the sky. It also will track location through w-fi settings, but that is not the GPS.

Using GPS on the phone is different from the GPS Sprint uses to determine location based upon cell tower triangulation. But using it uses the battery up pretty quickly. At least that is how it works with my HTC Shift, I think.

[kellory]

My company just upgraded me to a smart phone, and it has google maps allready on it, and it works fine for roads around town, and seems very accurate. The problem with any phone based GPS is tower strenth and coverage. Real GPS receivers work off the sattilites and have a much better full time/real time signal. And as such, they are much more reliable when in broken terrain. Always have a backup system.

I think your phone GPS is using satellites - at least my Sprint phone says it is looking for them when I turn the GPS on and it requires a view of the sky. It also will track location through w-fi settings, but that is not the GPS.

Using GPS on the phone is different from the GPS Sprint uses to determine location based upon cell tower triangulation. But using it uses the battery up pretty quickly. At least that is how it works with my HTC Shift, I think.

I don't think there is enough room in a phone for a true GPS reciever. If there was, GPS receivers would be much smaller than they currently are. If they could be smaller, they would be. Best test I would recomend would be to try the GPS function when you have no signal. Battery useage is no indicator of what it is really doing. Roaming burns through battery because it is doing more work. Any kind of signal booster will burn the battery fast.

[ranwin33]

I checked with sprint, yes they use satellites for their GPS services, unless the unit is inside. If the phone is inside a building and cannot "see" sky they use cell towers to triangulate location.

The GPS portion is just a microchip. GPS reciever size probably has more to do with battery, screen, keypad than the GPS chip itself.