[thelightening]

Guys!! My friend is coming back from US. I am interested to buy IPHONE 3GS or 4GS, but worried about unlocking the same here. Is there any way we can get a unlocked phone from US or how to deal this scenario?

and if someone already bought the iphone from US, please advice me the best place from where I can also buy with the best price.

[kkr2k2]

Originally Posted by Ranjan Sharma

I am getting a phone from US, please suggest which one to get.

The phone should allow me GPS navigation for free like NOKIA 5800 does.....

How about Samsung Jack?? It has 3G, Wifi, A-GPS and almost all the bells and whistles you want from a phone. This is the first time I am hearing that the GPS service is provided by a cell maker rather than the mobile service provider!!

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR

Ranjan, ever thought of androis OS with googlemaps?

Google maps does not provide navigation in India yet , There is a subtle difference between map service and navigation. Using google maps you can see a blue arrow indicating your position on map but you wont get any routing /directions for your destination. While driving it is not always very user friendly untill you have someone on copassanger seat reading the map and guiding you that where you need to take next turn. However if one is OK with this limitation it Googlemaps is good.
In case you are buying Android and need navigation in India , then you can buy mapmyindia app.

Sygic GPS Mobile Navigation Maps For Android Mobile Phones

Also it is not absolutely necessary to use Android for using google maps you can use from other OS as well.

[thelightening]

Guys! Jack, Glaxy, Corby, Jet, Wave every week Samsung is releasing new mobiles. I got a surprise yesterday, I visited one dealer yesterday evening for buying a samsung I5700 android phone. I heard that Samsung stopped it distribution :(

If Samsung is changing the mobile like this.. what will happen to its service support? And I have heard a lot regarding mother board replacement with samsung phones, its almost 70% of the phone cost. I am worried !

[Newpunter]

Originally Posted by thelightening

Guys! Jack, Glaxy, Corby, Jet, Wave every week Samsung is releasing new mobiles. I got a surprise yesterday, I visited one dealer yesterday evening for buying a samsung I5700 android phone. I heard that Samsung stopped it distribution :(

If Samsung is changing the mobile like this.. what will happen to its service support? And I have heard a lot regarding mother board replacement with samsung phones, its almost 70% of the phone cost. I am worried !

Yes, Samsung has stopped production of the I5700 and I7500 . The Galaxy S is probably their only Android phone in indian market right now.
Regarding the mother board problem, the mileage might vary for each one. I have been using Samsung mobiles exclusively for the past 7 years and haven't had any problems so far ( had to replace a display cable once for 250 Rs, but that's it ) . But it probably depends on your luck.

[ph03n!x]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Google maps does not provide navigation in India yet , There is a subtle difference between map service and navigation. Using google maps you can see a blue arrow indicating your position on map but you wont get any routing /directions for your destination. While driving it is not always very user friendly untill you have someone on copassanger seat reading the map and guiding you that where you need to take next turn.

Google Maps actually provides navigation- it does route me between Point A and Point B, shows the route, considers traffic, shows where to turn, et all. But what it lacks is Voice Assisted Navigation - I miss that sorely, and yes I need a co-driver to tell me the way that comes up on the screen.

And it does not use the compass in my phone, so I have to make do with my geographic sense!

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by amitk26

Google maps does not provide navigation in India yet , There is a subtle difference between map service and navigation. Using google maps you can see a blue arrow indicating your position on map but you wont get any routing /directions for your destination. While driving it is not always very user friendly untill you have someone on copassanger seat reading the map and guiding you that where you need to take next turn. However if one is OK with this limitation it Googlemaps is good.
In case you are buying Android and need navigation in India , then you can buy mapmyindia app.

Sygic GPS Mobile Navigation Maps For Android Mobile Phones

Also it is not absolutely necessary to use Android for using google maps you can use from other OS as well.

Exactly, I personally feel google maps is mistaken as a navigation application.

People who think google maps is a good navigation device, try using google maps and navigator at the same time.

[kvish]

Any good place to unlock phones in Bangalore. I have a couple of phones (motorola and nokia) which is locked to t-mobile US. Tried using the unlock codes in various websites, it doesnt seem to work.

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by thelightening

Guys!! My friend is coming back from US. I am interested to buy IPHONE 3GS or 4GS, but worried about unlocking the same here. Is there any way we can get a unlocked phone from US or how to deal this scenario?

and if someone already bought the iphone from US, please advice me the best place from where I can also buy with the best price.

Hi,

Unlocking a phone means nothing but making it compatible to support all networks. Basically in US the service providers provide these phones and you can use it only with their service. There is a time of contract like 90 days, and once the contract period is over, the service providers unlock the phone themselves. So to get it unlocked from US, you got to allow the contract period to be over.

You can also unlock phones in Bangalore with outdated firmware in places like National Market. By doing this, you will loose warranty on the product and get an outdated firmware.

Don't think of getting a 4G, coz our local mechanics won't have the latest firmware here.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Ranjan Sharma

Hi,

Unlocking a phone means nothing but making it compatible to support all networks. Basically in US the service providers provide these phones and you can use it only with their service. There is a time of contract like 90 days, and once the contract period is over, the service providers unlock the phone themselves. So to get it unlocked from US, you got to allow the contract period to be over.

and then there are some like cincinnati bell who don't know how to unlock heir own phones.

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by ph03n!x

Google Maps actually provides navigation- it does route me between Point A and Point B, shows the route, considers traffic, shows where to turn, et all. But what it lacks is Voice Assisted Navigation - I miss that sorely, and yes I need a co-driver to tell me the way that comes up on the screen.

Well that is the static route generation part from point A to B , Navigation is some thing where while on move this route data gets updated , For example if you take one wrong turn a navigation engine ( example Destinator , Route66 , Sygic or Navit) will recalculate and show the new directions from A to B. Voice directions is a service which utilizes this new route generated by the navigation engine.

Google provides this service in US and EU but not covering India yet.

There is one more free alternative if you are technically oriented
Navit's Wiki
Port is available for Linux ( Maemo , Ubuntu) , Android and Windows Mobile

Navit uses Open Steet maps and gives you voice direction , It is open Source and distributed under GNU GPL.

Please download and use it , Actually I met maintainer and brain behind Navit project at CeBit 2010 Show in Hannovar and promised to motivate Indians to join his effort.

[jassi]

^^ if anyone needs google turn by turn voice navigation and is using an android phone, then just google for brut maps and install it. I have google turn bu turn voice navigation in India on my nexus one :-)

[amitk26]

Originally Posted by jassi

^^ if anyone needs google turn by turn voice navigation and is using an android phone, then just google for brut maps and install it. I have google turn bu turn voice navigation in India on my nexus one :-)

That is on option but Google Map in India is itself pretty inaccurate for example in Bangalore NICE road from Mysore road to tumkur does not exists. Similarly I was driving from Nasik to Aurangabad on a very good 4 lane tolled state highway ( SH30 I think ) but as per google I was driving in fields for full 30-40 Kms.
During the same trip I could not find a route from Triambakeshwar to Ellora so I traveled some 90 Km extra , If I would have taken a direct route would have saved around 2-3 hours.

Open Street maps are much better at-least for the places I have been.

[Ranjan Sharma]

Originally Posted by amitk26

That is on option but Google Map in India is itself pretty inaccurate for example in Bangalore NICE road from Mysore road to tumkur does not exists. Similarly I was driving from Nasik to Aurangabad on a very good 4 lane tolled state highway ( SH30 I think ) but as per google I was driving in fields for full 30-40 Kms.
During the same trip I could not find an route from Triambakeshwar near to Ellora so travelled some 90 Km extra , If I would have taken a direct route would have saved around 2-3 hours.

Open Street maps are much better at-least for the places I have been.

That is because it is not connected with the satelite. It shows where you are depending on the nearest GSM tower/network.

Google maps does not work in places where there is no GSM network, so we should stop comparing it with Navigation devices. It is just a map, not a navigator.

[jassi]

^^ agreed Amit - there are a lot of in-accuracies - but some generic ones like showing 1" off on ORR have been fixed :-)
In either case if someones life depends on maps (eg if you are a pizza delivery boy new in town) then you better get mapmyindia for winmo or android or whatever your phone is. But for most regular usecases within the city google is pretty decent.

@Ranjan - if your phone has GPS sensor, google is capable of using the same. It uses the cell tower approximation technique in absence of gps. Yes for India we can't really compare google to mapmyindia - but in general for US, Aussie, a lot if Europe, Singapore, etc google maps loaded on a gps phone can easily replace your general gps device