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google navigation in france

longwalks1
longwalks1 Posts: 3,834 Forumite
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in Techie Stuff
ive been using google navigation on my android phone and love it, but when in france it auto shuts down because when in 'auto roaming' its so expensive (£3 per mb) can i save maps to my phone/on the sd card so when overseas all i connect to is gprs so it doesnt cost me? thanks in advance
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  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
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    I know you can cache or store the maps to the phone/sd card but not sure how you do it, maybe try google, if you make a wrong turn it wont re direct you as there would be no data connection
  • JasX
    JasX Posts: 3,996 Forumite
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    No this isn't possibe and GPRS is HUGELY expensive to use overseas you can easily run up big bills trying to roam on that even if you could separate maps and used it for navigation only (unless you get a local/french sim card with data allowance). What would work better is get a phone with built in GPS reciever which would be free to use overseas and get a satnav program where the maps are stored on your phone itself (eg the mobile version of TomTom)
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
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    JasX wrote: »
    No this isn't possibe and GPRS is HUGELY expensive to use overseas you can easily run up big bills trying to roam on that even if you could separate maps and used it for navigation only (unless you get a local/french sim card with data allowance). What would work better is get a phone with built in GPS reciever which would be free to use overseas and get a satnav program where the maps are stored on your phone itself (eg the mobile version of TomTom)


    would it still cost if using gps as it is on my phone
  • DatabaseError
    DatabaseError Posts: 4,161 Forumite
    DCFC79 wrote: »
    would it still cost if using gps as it is on my phone
    The GPS bit would be free, as it's not using the mobile network. however making use of the data the GPS supplies requires mapping software, much of which downloads mapping on the fly. As Jasx suggests, to economically use the feature abroad a navigation program using local (saved onto the phone/card) maps is necessary.
    Utinam logica falsa tuam philosophiam totam suffodiant.
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,641 Forumite
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    DatabaseError wrote: »
    The GPS bit would be free, as it's not using the mobile network. however making use of the data the GPS supplies requires mapping software, much of which downloads mapping on the fly. As Jasx suggests, to economically use the feature abroad a navigation program using local (saved onto the phone/card) maps is necessary.


    yes i understand that, jax got me confused when she said about gprs was expensive
  • JasX
    JasX Posts: 3,996 Forumite
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    DCFC79 wrote: »
    yes i understand that, jax got me confused when she said about gprs was expensive

    your mobile's GPRS IS expensive, it is something very different to GPS don't confuse the two.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPRS

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS
  • flyingscotno1
    flyingscotno1 Posts: 1,679 Forumite
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    for going abroad I think it is worthwhile to buy a decent TomTom unit. I still worry about roaming bills even if using a sat-nav program without mobile data.
  • thescouselander
    thescouselander Posts: 5,547 Forumite
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    You could buy something like co-pilot which saves the maps to your memory card. Its not that cheap though.

    https://market.android.com/details?id=com.alk.copilot.marketplace.eu.full&feature=search_result
  • longwalks1
    longwalks1 Posts: 3,834 Forumite
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    cheers everyone, managed to get back from paris with a bit of luck and notes on a scrap on paper :o

    My phone is an Orange San Francisco (Think its a ZTE something or other been re-badged), does this have GPS, or GPRS? How would i be able to find out?
  • longwalks1
    longwalks1 Posts: 3,834 Forumite
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    Update, just googled ZTE Blade and it has GPS, so does that mean if I had up to date maps on my phone (google mapsd for example), i could use the google maps and GPS to find my way around for free?

    And would/does GPS work abroad, for free? (obviously I'd need larger EU maps saved on phone Im guessing)
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