Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

Over this past weekend I was able to put Captivates GPS and Google Maps and Navigation to real world good use. I took a 2-3 hour trip one way and ran Google Navigation and GPS the entire time both ways. The Google navigation itself worked as we all know it does, great.

That being said I’ll move onto the GPS itself. I know I’ve read on a few sites here and there of some issues and fixes for the GPS on the Captivate. I want to note before I go on that I did not change anything with the default use of the GPS, nor applied any type of fix. The GPS seemed pretty accurate, there was 1 moment when it though I was on an outer road along the highway when I started the navigation up, however it quickly repositioned itself to the highway. There were a couple times through out my trip (there and back) that it had some issues locating satellites, but it seemed every time I noticed this it would find them again fairly quickly. I don’t actually have a car mount for my Captivate just yet, so I used my empty sun visor CD holder. I was able to hear when it gave me directions and could pull it down and take a visual look at what Google was telling me. The first time I pulled it down to do this is when I noticed the heat.

Apparently running the Navigation keeps the screen live therefore the Captivate was getting very hot. Assuming that sliding the phone into my CD holder was also helping to trap the heat it was actually hot enough to make me concerned it would cause some damage. I used the A/C to cool it off then I hit the power button to force the screen off. This seemed to do the trick of keeping it cooler, while the Navigation app ran in the background it would still notify me of turns or anything it needed. I want to also note that when it does give you a new direction and the screen comes on, you will have to hit the power button again to turn off the screen.

The battery life was unbelievable for this, as it barely seem to use anything; I don’t even have a car charger yet, so I never had it plugged in. The entire driving trip, each way, barely used a notch on the old battery meter. I did have the screen off as much as I could, but the GPS and the Navigation app itself was still running in the background. So, I would say an average of 2.5 hours barely touched the batteries juice. I did of course charge the phone completely once I reached my destination.

The view of the Captivates beautiful Super AMOLED screen in the day light was excellent. I had no problems seeing the screen in brightest of sun on my trip. Visibility of the screen didn’t matter if I had sunglasses on or not. This made it very easy to look at the upcoming turns and or highway changes without the need for turning or covering the screen from the sunlight. This was with the power saving and auto brightness adjusting enabled.

Overall I’d say the with the exception of the significant amount of heat the Captivate creates with the screen being on for any extend period of time, which can easily be resolved by forcing the screen off just by hitting the power button, the Captivate GPS and Google Navigation experience a big win. -Greg

The newest Android 2,2 release will come with Wi-Fi Hotspot creation. Its also going to have USB tethering. Android / Google I love you guys, you make it so very easy for me to poke fun at iPhone users. -Greg

Looks like a Google employee has updated status on apps being stored on an SD card to “Future Release“. This is great, now you will be only limited to the number of apps by the size of you SD card. Just another reason that the iPhone will quickly be falling off the mobile device map. Android is the future of mobile devices and that future is here. – Greg

Engadget recently posted some ‘leaked’ info about Dell and their tablets and phones. It looks like the Dell Aero and Mini 5, both Android devices for AT&T, will making their way to the market in June. I’m pretty excited about both of these phones. I know they will more than likely be locked down, lets not expect anything less. However, I don’t care because adding apps from outside Google’s Android Marketis a cakewalk using the Android developer kit as seen with the Backflip. So, the only thing that leaves is the supposedly unremovable bloatware that AT&T may shove down our throats on the phone. I’m pretty excited and with any luck I will only a year later will get to finally join the Android world as an owner and user, not just reader and blogger. – Greg

Cisco announced yesterday that it’s next generation router will revolutionize the internet by dramatically increasing download speeds to the unthinkable. The Cisco CRS-3 router (Carrier Routing System) is designed to be more than 12 times the traffic capacity of its biggest competitors. Cisco made the following  statement: 

“It enables the entire printed collection of the Library of Congress to be downloaded in just over one second; every man, woman and child in China to make a video call, simultaneously; and every motion picture ever created to be streamed in less than four minutes.”

Cisco’s new CRS-3 and Googles new fiber network could be the end of AT&T, well in a better world. Whats more exciting is that this technology isn’t just some dream of Cisco’s, they said this router will actually be available this calendar year.  I’m thinking now would be a great time to buy stock in Cisco! -Greg

Windows Phone 7 is starting to show up and I’d have to say it looks promising. Microsoft has brought and entirely new approach to mobile OS, instead of “Apps” its more about the actual content of those apps. The more tile looking feel that flips in front of you is kinda neat, I’ll admit. The single biggest thing that Windows Phone 7 has to compete or maybe even push them in front of the rest, Xbox Live. They show how you’ll be able to use Xbox live to play games and share the experience with other phones, Xbox, and PC’s. This could really give them the niche they would need to jump into shark water with the likes of the iPhone and the Android OS. I would say they could take the mobile world by storm. However, the “Apps” are going to fail them I can see it already. iPhone has a gazillion apps, Google and the Android OS not only has a gazillion apps, they have a gazillion programmers creating them. I’m going to go out on a limb here and suggest that maybe Microsoft isn’t going to take the same route. I tell you there is no doubt that mobile media is just growing at an insane rate and I’m enjoying it. -Greg

Google is not only complaining that ISP’s have dropped the ball on get high-speed Internet out to homes, but they are willing to prove it. Google has announced plans to launch 1Gbps fiber out to 500,000 households. I hope a the very least this will light some fires out there and get the US on the move towards higher speeds and to reach more rural areas. Google’s bitpipe might be an innovative pipe, how about:

• Integrated shared 802.11n WiFi. Imagine being able to roam authenticated(!) with your laptop or iPad through town hopping on and off people’s WiFi access points. This can be done in a way that is completely secure for the network you’re roaming on
• Integrated picocells: imagine Google integrating picocells and then leasing them out to Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and AT&T or allowing people to configure them to their network of choice. Better 2G, 3G, and 4G coverage for all would be the result

Services like these could make Google stand tall and make the current providers anxious to jump aboard. Imagine AT&T leasing bandwidth from Google, there’s something to ponder. I would love to see AT&T become “just another carrier”, rather than the giant they still are today. Google you will have a lot of work ahead of you to make this reality nationwide, but I think you have every household behind you. -Greg

Want to read more, ars technica has some info to soak up..