It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

Dare I say that children deserve some amount of privacy too?

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

I would disagree that the N810 would be a better device. A child is not going to have a relatively bulky tablet in their pocket at a party, but more likely the ubiquitous cell phone that he/she and all their friends will have. Furthermore, the internet calling option is only good if you are in range of an open wifi access point. Great in a dense city, but out in the burbs or the countryside a wifi point might be harder to come by.

How does Sprint's service work? When on the Family Locator plan, does the GPS in the phone always poll a satellite, or is there a message sent to the phone via the cell network, which then activates the GPS and returns the coordinates? Answering that question would be the key to whether a N810 would be suitable or not.

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

...and that only works when not inside buildings... :rolleyes:

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

FYI, Google maps on the N95 shows your location even without connecting to the satellites.

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

Apparently by the time the N810 gets a lock on a signal the kid will be home. So I hear. ;)

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

More precisely, this service will only show you where the GPS device is...a bit pedantic, I know. But if, for example, a child is abducted (heaven forbid!) the first thing an abductor would do is remove the cell phone from the kid and ditch it.

Same with the kid who wants to go somewhere he/she is not supposed to: Leave the phone at a friend's house.

I'm not trying to be negative, but until the GPS is embedded in the child's skin, it's just a neat idea.

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

I think Sprint does not use GPS for the Family Locator service. I am sure they use the cell id for determine (more or less) where are you.

It's same thing that Google Maps mobile does now on several cellphone with latest J2ME.

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

Oh, look at that, it's ten o'clock and my kids are at:
39 01'17" N
77 22'43" W

Performing lat/long lookups by cell ID only gives you the FCC Registration of the lat/long coordinates of that tower. Danger had the same cell tower ID and coordinates available in their Hiptop SDK for the T-Mobile Sidekick before they removed it from the API for privacy concerns.

I'm *much* happier with my N810. I can usually keep a 5-satellite lock on a bus or near a building window. I can usually keep a 7-satellite lock when driving my Xterra or Forester. Acquisition times when warm/hot (near/at last location) have been 30sec-2min, and 2-6min when "cold" (unknown location)

Re: It's ten o'clock. Do you know the GPS co-ordinates of where your children are?
 

Chances that a child is abducted are marginal - chances that it lends its phone/device to a friend, has it stolen, or places it at a inconspicuous place while going on a romp are high indeed.

That is, short of GPS implants (which is just one step off brain surgery to make children more docile, IMHO - welcome to our brave new world) nothing will enable you to eavesdrop on even marginally smart children, and with the gap in technology competence between teenage children and their parents you should better start to worry when your kids will plant a GPS bug on you rather than vice versa...