Here's a little tip for those of you who use different kind of GPS enabled software development tools. You can use ExtGPS to provide live GPS information for your development purposes.

On Android development kit, there is a special text based protocol over TCP port 5554 which can set the GPS position used for Android applications. ExtGPS (and any other GPS) can easily be setup to feed emulator with live GPS data. Well, at least if you are on a UNIX based system.

On OSX, to use live ExtGPS data with Android emulator, just connect ExtGPS normally (there's instructions link on the right navbar). Start Android emulator and run this command line on shell (single line):

cat /dev/tty.E90-SymarcticExtGPS | sed -e 's/^/geo nmea /g' | telnet localhost 5554

On Windows, it might be possible to get same results by creating a BT serial port and using PuTTY's plink command to read the serial port, but there's no built-in sed command to format the data...

Symarctic ExtGPS is created in somewhat platform independent way. Originally, it was only created in Nokia S60 devices in mind, but it should work on other platforms which provide MIDP 2.0 API, JSR-82 Blueooth API and JSR-179 Location API.

However, there are some differences in some platform implementations. It looks like SonyEricsson has decided that the Location API's NMEA data provides only satellite information, not the actual location info. I mailed to SonyEricsson about this last year, but I never got any response.

Also, Nokia has released also Series 40 6th Edition devices equipped with GPS. At least these "feature phone" models support the required APIs:

Nokia 6700 classic
Nokia 6260 slide
Nokia 3710 fold

If anyone has tested ExtGPS on these new handsets, please post your experiences in comments!

I was looking for information about E90's GPS antenna position, but instead I found this interesting document: N95_GPS_Connection_Guide_en.pdf

It doesn't really tell me any real new information, but I think it can be useful for some of the N95 users. Here's a quote from the document, how to create optimal receiving conditions:

The GPS receiver is located in the bottom of the device. When using the
receiver, slide the numeric keypad open, and hold the device at an angle of
about 45 degrees (as shown in the picture), with an unobstructed view of
the sky. Do not cover the numeric keypad with
your hand.

I wonder how the keyboard is supposed to be used if you cannot cover it with your hands - maybe it's for voice- and mind controlled GPS applications ;)

Several users have asked how the Bluetooth setup process goes for OS X Leopard -here's how!

Make sure ExtGPS is runnning on the phone. Open Bluetooth panel from System Preferences. If you have not yet paired your phone, press the plus (+) button, otherwise you can click on the asterisk (*) and select Edit Serial Ports.



Now the OSX connects to the phone and searches for new services. The serial ports screen typically has DUN service already setup by the Bluetooth wizard, now just click plus button to add new serial port. In my case, the first click adds ExtGPS port and all the settings are correct automatically:



Now ExtGPS is ready to be used, just use the given port name in your application.

In addition to the few screenshots I've posted, at least a couple of tutorial videos are found in the web. These show you how to connect ExtGPS and Nokia N770/N800/N810 devices:

Nokia Users: ExtGPS - Internal GPS Sharing for S60v3

The Mobile Gadgeteer: Use your Nokia N95 as a Bluetooth GPS receiver and modem for your N800

Guys, thanks for posting! I've always thought that the software is famous enough when it gets into Youtube...