dunno about that my g1 can get a lock inside my house instantly the n900 just blinks none stop

Is it a GPS lock or is it just cell phone tower triangulation? I used to have a G1 and was not very fond of the GPS.

To speed up GPS: settings--positioning--posserver change the supl.nokia.com to supl.google.com

That will make the gps lock-on like 10 times faster then standard setting.

Enjoy.

How much are we loosing by not having a compass?

Not a huge amount - it'd help with aligning maps properly, and is critical for most augmented reality applications. I'd rather have one than not, but I'm not overly fussed about missing one.

thats a troll question :P

we a loosing a lot of things because the n900 its not like lot of phones (talking about unsolvable hardware differences)

also, n900 its quite different to any gadget out there (for good)

Hi!

I am also trying to get some sort of digital compass for my N900, and as far as I checked the price and shipping costs for all the parts necessary for simple IC2 -> Bluetooth digital compass, for me it is cheaper, faster and easier to just buy used Android phone (G1/Dream or Tattoo), attach it to the back of N900 with two elastic bands, and create a simple App that transmits compass coordinates from Android phone via Bluetooth/WiFi. I know it sounds completely stupid, but it solves all the battery/circuitry/soldering/etc problems for the same price or cheaper, AND I get an additional phone. Mind if I include this as one of the options in the Digital Compass wiki section?

Edgars

Other solutions:

My questions about digital compass:

1) Is it possible to use a second gps by bluetooth? The n900 could calculate the direction by difference. (I know that gps is not very exact. But perhaps both bluetooth receivers do the same mistake. So the direction could be correct.)

2) Perhaps the same thing is possible with the gps of the n900 only: you fix a location with gps first (by pressing some button) then you move the the n900 to another place and the n900 calculates the direction by difference.

3) Wintec wsg 1000 http://www.wintec-gps.de/wintec_wsg-1000.php
This external bluetooth gps-receiver has also a compass and other features.
There are even linux development tools for cp2101
http://forum.pocketnavigation.de/for...000-usb-linux/

http://forum.pocketnavigation.de/for...x/#post2209994

A bluetooth compass isn't that useful unless physically mounted on the n900 somehow, since you have to make sure it's constantly pointing in the same direction as the n900. The great thing about an internal compass is that as you rotate the phone around, the map or VR view changes.

It's true that a compass on the device is very nice.

But I don't think that a bluetooth compass would be useless.

First of all:
You don't need a compass to follow a map. My old pocketloox t830 has no compass and follows the map by GPS. That is no problem as far as you are moving. Only if you are standig immobile the device loses its orientation. You don't need a compass to follow a map. For this application a compass is more or less useless.

A compass is usefull, if you are standing at a place and want information of what you see in a direction.
In this case there is no difference if you point in that direction by the n900 or by a bluetooth compass.
(I think even that a separated pointer would be more confortable. You can fixe your eyes on an immobile spot.)


The third case are games with a digital compass. You have to play them the bluetooth device fixed to the n900. That is no problem during a little game.




I think that in all those cases a bluetooth compass would be an acceptable solution. And this compass has even additional features:
temperature sensor, altimeter, independent gps logger, movement sensor ....
Perhaps those informations could also be interesting for some applications.