Keep in mind the antenna issue doesn’t seem to be present on all phones, but it certainly does appear on a lot of them.  I was using my friend’s iPhone 4 last night and despite my finest efforts of deliberately trying to put my fingers in the correct places to get the reception to drop, I got nothin’… not even a measily 1 bar drop.

However, if you are expereiencing these problems, here are some solutions you could try.

Scotch Tape

This is the simplest and  cheapest of the solutions and many have said it works so if you don’t mind putting a little bit of clear Scotch Tape on your phone, this could fix you up for less than a penny.   Just put a small strip of tape over the little black strip on the bottom left hand corner of the phone.  The theory is that it will stop your skin from shorting out the antenna.

Get A Bumper

The standard Apple response has been to either get an iPhone case (the $30 bumper) or that there is no problem.  While

Vapor4

The Vapor4 is an aluminum case that can solve not only the antenna issue, but will also make it a lot tougher to shatter your phone if you opt for the carbon fiber back plate ($100).

Magellan Toughcase

If you want to make your iPhone 4 nie invulnerable and waterproof to boot, then Magellan has the solution for you – the Magellan Toughcase.  Though it costs as much as the phone ($199), and is targeted towards those who want to use their iPhone like they would a rugged outdoor GPS unit, it will certainly fix those pesky little screen shattering and antenna issues.   It also improves GPS accuracy and gives you even more battery life (has a built in 1840mAh battery built in) so you do get quite a bit for all that cash.

If none of these solutions satisfy you, you could join the class action lawsuit, or take advantage of the 30 day return policy offered by Apple and AT&T and return the damn phone.

Yeah, GPS is for the dogs.

Seriously.

Garmin just released the latest version of it’s Astro Dog Tracking System.

Geared towards hunters, it allows you to keep track of your dog from miles away so he can do his job of tracking and flushing out game and you’ll still be able to find him and up to nine friends.

List price is $599 but if you should be able to pick it up for $500 of less online (Amazon had it for $488 last I checked) .

The latest one, the DC-40 now allows you to track up to 10 dogs on the same receiver.

Garmin Astro DC-40 Dog Tracking System - GPS

Looks really cool, but haven’t actually used one of these systems myself since I don’t actually hunt or even own a dog for that matter – anybody care to chime in with their thoughts?  I’ve noticed the old system, the DC-30 is pretty well rated on Amazon and people seem to really like it.

When will it become socially acceptable to put these things on our kids too?

I love GPS – I have almost no sense of direction, and even when given clear directions, frequently follow them incorrectly.

However, I was reading this article in the Washington Post and it got me to thinking about the dark side of GPS.  Namely, that we assume the GPS device is smarter than we are and we throw common sense aside and blindly follow the route calculating algorithms built into our phones of PNDs.

When I’m driving in towns I’m familiar with, I frequently power up my GPS because I like to know how far I am from destination and the ETA seems pretty accurate when in town (when on the Interstate, it’s crap, but that’s another story).  However, I almost never follow the directions to the letter.

Heck, just last week I was driving up to Omaha for a concert just to get the exit number I needed.  It wanted me to take the wrong one.  Then when we took the correct exit, it wanted us to take the longer way.  All in all I turned the GPS on because I needed three turns, all three were wrong.  Had we blindly followed the GPS, out trip would have certainly taken longer.

When using GPS, the best tool in your arsenal is common sense.   If it seems wrong, don’t do it.  Of course, it’s easy to override the GPS when you’re in an area you know.  However, when you’re traveling I recommend having paper maps handy just in case or that you use a service like Mapquest to map out your planned route ahead of time just so you can see if something is really wrong ahead of time.  Mapquest certainly isn’t infallible either, but it tends to give pretty good directions, in my opinion.

Bad Directions

When following a GPS, it’s critical to make sure you pay attention to street signs… especially one way streets.  Most GPS devices know which streets are one ways, but they’re not 100% accurate so you always need to make sure that street signs match up with directions.

Keep in mind that there can be errors on maps as well.  I remember my first GPS was a TomTom and it had an error on Interstate 76 when heading to Denver.  It always wanted me to get off the interstate and take a couple highways to go around.  I never followed those directions because I knew it was wrong.  I finally figured out that the map in the system didn’t have Interstate 76 going straight through so it always wanted me to go around.

Of course, the experience I had that really takes the cake and constantly reminds me that I can’t be 100% dependent on GPS is an experience I had in Northern Colorado when driving to Steamboat Springs to go snowboarding.  It was my first time taking the trip my GPS was a shiny new toy to me at the time so I didn’t bother to grab my maps before I left.  I figured the GPS was smart enough to get me where I was going and since the route was pretty straightforward.

All went well through Nebraska and Wyoming until I about 30 miles from my destination.  For some reason, the GPS thought that a snowmobile trail was a road and it took me down a gravel road that then turned into a dirt road that then turned into a mud pit.  I nearly got myself stuck 15 miles from the closest town in winter in an area with no cell phone service.  Fortunately, I got out of the mud, backtracked to the previous town and got directions from a real human being.   While a major incident was avoided, I’ve always tried to be cautious with my GPS even though I love it so.

Do you have any GPS experiences you’d like to share?  Whether it’s a case where it got you in trouble or saved your bacon, chime in with your experiences in the comments section.

Have a great day!

Sure, some of the suggested uses like waiters using it to take orders and uses it for interactive textbooks for students seemed cool, but pretty nichey.

I did eventually conclude that it’d be useful in my business when making presentations to clients, but again, that’s a pretty specialized use.

I’m not at all convinced it could replace my trusty laptop on a trip.

However, since this is a GPS site (or we used to be, once upon a time), I quickly concluded the iPad could easily be used as the ultimate GPS navigation device in your car.  With it’s gigantic 9.7 inch screen, it makes even the large displays found in Mercedes and Infiniti navigation systems look small.

I know that I sometimes strain to see the screen on my Droid for directions, but with an iPad that’s a thing of the past – you can see everything clearly.

Gear Required

To make this all work nicely, you’ll need a little gear.

• iPad 3G (no wi-fi only devices)
• CoPilot Live HD (built specifically for iPad’s huge screen $29.99)
• An iPad Car Mount (and don’t even think about putting this thing on your windshield, dashboard or cup holder mounts only, please)

At that point, you’re ready to navigate in style, and you’ll get incredible bang for your buck considering that a built in system with a screen that size runs about $2500.

However, if you’ve been reading my posts lately you’ve probably seen more stuff written about phones than dedicated GPS units… a sign that the times they are a changin’.  Dedicated handheld units are being phased out and fancified smartphones with AGPS chips in them are taking over.

So if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.

And I’ll be honest, smartphones (like my Motorola Droid) can do a lot of really cool stuff that regular old GPS units can’t.

Here are my 10 favorite Android Apps (or Droid Apps) that use GPS (all are free or at least offer free versions):

1. Google Maps Navigation Beta – Free GPS Navigation software that doesn’t suck.  In the three months I’ve been using this software I can tell you it’s getting better… slowly but surely.  Will it completely replace PND units from Garmin and TomTom – not yet.   And it’s not up to Navigon levels either (iPhone app), but for a free app, it sure as heck has a lot going for it… and the always up to date maps sure are great.
2. Carr Matey – Ever parked your car but can’t for the life of you remember where you parked it?  I know I’ve done it several times (especially at airport long term parking) which is why this app is so darn cool.  Just park you car, fire up Carr Matey and “drop anchor.”  It’s a great app and the pirate theme is just fun.  You can load up a map to find your car or use the compass and feel like you’re searching for buried treasure.  It even has a built in timer so if you’re at a parking meter, you can set the timer and make sure you get back to your car before time is up. There are other apps like Car Locator but that one costs money and does the same thing but it does add support for parking garages.
3. WeatherBug – Android 2.1 has it’s own weather app built in but until we’re all on 2.1, Weatherbug is perfect.  The latest version will track weather (require you to install an additional plugin, but it literally takes 15 seconds to do) as you travel so you always know what the temperature is.
4. Google Goggles – In an attempt to get people to use Android, Google has developed some really nifty apps.  Google Goggles is one that will seriously blow your mind.  Take it downtown or any place there are a lot of businesses.  Now fire up Google Goggles.  Point your phone’s camera at any business – Layar will pull up the businesses name, phone number, and reviews (great if you want to eat at a restaurant but don’t know if it’s any good).   You can also fire it up and find all the pizza places, coffee shops, or apartments in a certain area.  Definitely fun to play with and actually useful.
5. Where – This is another great app for finding local businesses.  You can find what’s playing at the movie theater and what the closest one is.  It also will tell you the price of gas, and again, how far away each gas station is… and it does a whole lot more – well worth downloading from the Android Market.
6. My Tracks – If you like to go hiking, biking, or running, you’ll love this app.  You can record the route you took, how long it took you and you can export the data to Google Spreadsheets.  It sounds simple but it’s really cool – try it out!
7. Instamapper / Where’s My Droid – Should you ever lose your phone or, heaven forbid, it gets stolen.  These are apps you’ll want to have installed to find it.  Both allow for remote activation so you can send a text to your phone via your computer or a friend’s cell to figure out where the heck your phone is.  And if you’re like me and keep your phone on vibrate or silent all the time, Where’s my Droid has a feature that will turn the speakers on max so you can hear it no matter what setting it’s on… great if your phone is hiding in your couch cushions.
8. Spectrek Light – I’m pretty sure this is the only game I have on my phone.  This is an augmented reality ghost hunting game.   Basically you use your phone’s GPS and camera to hunt and capture virtual ghosts.  Go find a park, field, or forest and give it a try… lots of fun.  (will keep kids busy for hours too)
9. Locale – Have you ever been in a movie theatre, class, or a meeting, and had your cell phone go off?  Locale is built to fix that problem.  You can set your phone to go to silent at certain times of the day or based on certain locations.  For example, you can tell Locale that any time you’re in or a movie theater to put your phone on silent – that way if you forget to do it, you don’t have to worry about it.  It can also work in reverse, if you’re in a place where you need your ringer on all the time so you can hear it, you can do that as well.
10. Google Sky Map / Celeste Lite - Have you ever wanted to impress your date by telling here where the constellations are in the sky?  Of course you have!  This app will help you do just that.  Take your phone outside at night and point the camera skyward.  Google Sky Map will tell you what you’re looking at.   It also identifies planets and the moon.   I also put Celeste in this list.  It tracks the sun, moon, and planets (the free Lite version only tracks the sun and Saturn).   It can tell you where the sun will be at a certain time and where it currently is in the sky even if you’re inside or it’s cloudy.

Have an app you feel belongs in this list?

Did I make any egregious omissions?

Just want to chime in and add your two cents?

Post a comment and let me hear it.