Is WiFi GPS Receiver Better Than Bluetooth?

[Chuong Nguyen]

Because the iPhone's Bluetooth implementation is strange in that it doesn't allow external devices, other than a Bluetooth earpiece, to have access to the system, Navigadget is reporting that LocoGPS will be releasing a WiFi implementation of the traditional Bluetooth GPS.

The WiFi GPS receiver will have a microSD slot for maps, and will have its own processor to process data, a WiFi chip, and a GPS receiver.

The device will come with an implementation of iGo 8 pre-loaded for about less than $200.00.

I could see the downside for this being that WiFi draws a lot more power than Bluetooth and the devices may need to be charged more frequently, although I think the iPhone's battery life beats my AT&T Tilt's battery life with WiFi turned on.

Moreover, for people with more than one phone, I am wondering if the LocoGPS WiFi GPS receiver could be used with a Windows Mobile device so that people with a Windows Mobile device and an iPhone wouldn't need to carry around more than one GPS receiver of some sort.

[Pony99CA]

So this is basically just using the iPhone as the display unit. The article says it uses a Web-interface, so I don't see why it couldn't work with another WiFi device.

Steve