lgmayka
11-28-2005, 07:25 PM
Although these forums have seen much discussion about Garmin Mobile and TeleNav, both of which cost $10/mo, I have seen little-to-nothing about what claims to be a wonderful inexpensive alternative for EV-DO phones: On Demand's Maps capability.
As you all know, EV-DO phones come with On Demand. Five of its capabilities come free with the phone (or rather, with Vision on the phone): News, Sports, Weather, Money, and Movies. The other four capabilities require subscription: Directory, Maps, TV Guide, and Dictionary. On the Web site of Handmark (programmer of On Demand), the only subscription price listed is for the entire program with all capabilities, for $7/mo. But on our EV-DO phones, each of the four missing capabilities can be purchased separately. Amazingly, the Maps capability currently costs only $1.50/mo. This would be a truly wonderful price if Maps could actually do what it claims to.
Maps claims to be able to map your Current Location, automatically, without any further input from the user. Knowing that all MIDP2.0 phones have both GPS capability and a J2ME programming interface for accessing GPS location, any reasonable person would assume that On Demand's Maps would therefore show you your current location accurately via GPS. Right?
Wrong. While at home, Maps consistently comes up with a location several miles from my house--the same location, no randomness. I can only assume that Maps is merely showing me the location of my cell site. Interesting, but almost totally useless.
By the way, the map itself is atrociously designed. Neighborhoods are an extremely light pastel blue. All streets, from the smallest to the largest (except actual expressways), are white, making them indistinguishable from each other and almost indistinguishable from neighborhoods.
In short, it would be a wonderful application, if it weren't so worthless.
Does anyone have any better experience with this? Does it actually find your location correctly? Note that Garmin Mobile does find me correctly on my Sanyo MM-9000, though TeleNav does not.
As you all know, EV-DO phones come with On Demand. Five of its capabilities come free with the phone (or rather, with Vision on the phone): News, Sports, Weather, Money, and Movies. The other four capabilities require subscription: Directory, Maps, TV Guide, and Dictionary. On the Web site of Handmark (programmer of On Demand), the only subscription price listed is for the entire program with all capabilities, for $7/mo. But on our EV-DO phones, each of the four missing capabilities can be purchased separately. Amazingly, the Maps capability currently costs only $1.50/mo. This would be a truly wonderful price if Maps could actually do what it claims to.
Maps claims to be able to map your Current Location, automatically, without any further input from the user. Knowing that all MIDP2.0 phones have both GPS capability and a J2ME programming interface for accessing GPS location, any reasonable person would assume that On Demand's Maps would therefore show you your current location accurately via GPS. Right?
Wrong. While at home, Maps consistently comes up with a location several miles from my house--the same location, no randomness. I can only assume that Maps is merely showing me the location of my cell site. Interesting, but almost totally useless.
By the way, the map itself is atrociously designed. Neighborhoods are an extremely light pastel blue. All streets, from the smallest to the largest (except actual expressways), are white, making them indistinguishable from each other and almost indistinguishable from neighborhoods.
In short, it would be a wonderful application, if it weren't so worthless.
Does anyone have any better experience with this? Does it actually find your location correctly? Note that Garmin Mobile does find me correctly on my Sanyo MM-9000, though TeleNav does not.