Originally Posted by
Spld cyclist
I may have misunderstood about the meaning of assisted gps, but there seem to be some phones that *need* cell data to work. See the bolded part of this article:
Assisted GPS - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I'm clearly no expert, but I'll do a little more reading to make sure I get something that does what I want it to. One phone users manual I looked at seemed to indicate that cell data was needed to make it work. The manuals seem to say as little as possible about the technology in the phones and how it works, though....
I'm not going to end up with a current smartphone offering. The thought of spending even $100 on this (not to mention the HR monitor and speed/cadence sensors for at least two bikes - and then there's some kind of phone mount...) is already making me feel a little woozy. You're looking at a blackbelt cheapskate here.
What that text in your referenced link is referring to is a system where fixed access points by ISPs are tied to a lat/lon coordinate. So if you are from that IP, your location is known. A lot of that is how when you're browsing certain websites that offer information by you location, they determine that from your IP address. This also can be used to decrease the "time to first fix" as described earlier in that article.
So, to reiterate - if the phone has GPS capability, it is able to receive from the GPS satellite constellation.
As for your veer off of your current plan and your subsequent return to that as stated above, most phones out there from the advent of the current style of smartphone (original iPhone) have GPS. However, if you want bluetooth LE sensors it's going to start with the iPhone 4s and then later (as you noted, Android 4.3 I think + hardware support) for Android phones. I do believe that some earlier Samsung Galaxy phones have ANT+ support but I'd have to defer to someone more knowledgeable on Android.
So unless you can get an iPhone 4s or later (on the iPhone side, that would be the oldest BT LE version) you won't be able to use BT sensors. You will either need to pay more for phone or forgo the whole project if those are the constraints.
Now, for me, I have my iPhone with me continuously. I use it as a SIP phone even for our VOIP service at home. I read books on it. I depend on it for email and other things for work. It's my only phone and I use it for my bike computer. And it's a better bike computer (I think) than I can get even standalone using BT sensors are Cyclemeter. The marginal cost for me is pretty much zero since I'd have the phone anyhow and I'd have to buy the sensors no matter what.
J.