Been looking at android phones on Yahoo Auctions. Some phones have “Navigation” and some phones have what translates as “Electronic Compass”. I thought they were one in the same.
Then I found phones with both. I also found a GPS device with an electronic compass. So… what is it?
How would it be useful in Taiwan?
[quote=“Taiwan_Student”]Been looking at android phones on Yahoo Auctions. Some phones have “Navigation” and some phones have what translates as “Electronic Compass”. I thought they were one in the same.
Then I found phones with both. I also found a GPS device with an electronic compass. So… what is it?
How would it be useful in Taiwan?[/quote]
GPS: uses satellites to tell you your exact latitude and longitude at that moment, but that information gives nothing about the direction you’re facing. The “navigation” you’re seeing may be this kind of GPS, although it may also just make use of cell phone towers for a more rudimentary and less accurate form of location-finding (one that does however work underground, or in city “canyons”). Getting clear information from cell phone providers about what exact kind of navigation system is used can be difficult, because often the salespeople don’t know.
Compass: tells you where north is, but gives no information about where you actually are.
A true compass is going to operate by finding magnetic north and pointing you in that direction. If I recall correctly, some GPS/ Navigation units don’t actually “know” where north is, but they deduce the direction of north from plotting the changes in your position, and obviously this is much less accurate if you’re not moving. (I remember years ago paying significantly extra for a GPS that did have a “real” compass as well as just the “deduced” direction of north.)
But is an electronic compass a “true” one or a fake one? Sorry - I don’t know. (I doubt most of the vendors know either.)
How useful in Taiwan? A compass, probably not very: of course it can be useful if you’re hiking, but if you’re in the mountains, bring a real compass and not one with such a limited battery life. The navigation - which these days usually lets you see a map, with a dot where you are, and probably a dot showing your destination - can be very useful.
True GPS works everywhere: this can be very useful when you’re away from the cell phone grid. For example, I’ve got Canadian topographical maps on my iPhone, and I can use the GPS on the iPhone to plot my position on those maps, when I’m far away from any signal. The “GPS-lite” will only work when you’re in range of a cell tower. This isn’t much of an issue in Taiwan, because it’s kind of hard to get out of range of a cell tower.
I lived with a Muslim chap during my first year in Taiwan, and it vexed him that he wasn’t sure of the exact direction of Mecca when he said his prayers. I bought him a compass at the $10 shop and showed him how to use it. I thought he was going to kiss this infidel! 
So there are some practical uses for compasses in Taiwan, after all.
All compasses are electric.
It’s a true compass. It works if you’re not moving.
[quote=“lostinasia”]The “navigation” you’re seeing may be this kind of GPS, although it may also just make use of cell phone towers for a more rudimentary and less accurate form of location-finding (one that does however work underground, or in city “canyons”). Getting clear information from cell phone providers about what exact kind of navigation system is used can be difficult, because often the salespeople don’t know.
[/quote]
Really, I never heard of that one before. I’ve used a real compass of course and use my GPS all he time.
Here is one of the phones in question. The data is in Chinese and I relied on Google Translate to get the English.
The feature summary chart is located about two thirds down: http://tw.page.bid.yahoo.com/tw/auction/e47865943
Edit… I changed the link to acer a more reasonable price.
Really, I never heard of that one before. I’ve used a real compass of course and use my GPS all he time.
Here is one of the phones in question. The data is in Chinese and I relied on Google Translate to get the English.[/quote]
OK, near the bottom where it’s got GPS + AGPS: “AGPS”, or assisted GPS, is the system that uses cell phone towers. Since the phone also has a GPS, the AGPS helps speed up the location fix. That works well. (The one phone I’ve used with AGPS only was pretty useless for navigation.)
Can’t speak to the “electronic compass” / 電子羅盤, but since it’s listed alongside GPS and AGPS, it sounds promising. However, I think I’ve used the compass on my iPhone for perhaps 5-6 minutes total over the past two years, so it’s certainly not particularly important for my purposes. The compass will probably let you “twist” the map on the phone so it matches the direction you’re facing, but when I use that setting I just get dizzy. I suppose the compass could be useful when you’re in a new town that you don’t know.
The compass is necessary to run a good turn-by-turn navigation app on the phone. It is also necessary for augmented reality scenarios, which may or may not be useful depending on how you use the phone.