GPS on nokia 5800 in Sri Lanka

I've been waiting for a long time to show you guys how to make use of GPS on your mobile phone. Still I didn't have the chance of being driven around with the video camera in hand. Phone camera's find it hard to focus on another mobile phone screens.

Here are some of the attempts I made to get it on tape.

Fixed the video camera on the tripod, kept the phone on the seat and shot this.


These two were shot with a Samsung SGH-780i mobile phone. (Not very good video quality isn't it?)

My phone has GPS, so???

continuation from my last article "Use technology"

GPS stands for Global Positioning System. It is used to know your exact location on the face of earth. I'm sure you have seen this technology being used in Hollywood movies. From a hand held GPS device one can see where he exactly his on a pre-loaded map. And in movies everyone has a GPS device and the whole army knows where their comrades are! To some this seems like high end technology, but it's not. By the end of this article you will know how to assemble your own army with hand held GPS devices without spending a dime.

Lot of Sri Lankans think that GPS is not available in Sri Lanka. Another common belief among Sri Lankans are that GPS is a service that you have to pay monthly to obtain. Let me enlighten you by starting out with the history of GPS.
GPS technology developed and first used by the American military. They launched satellites that orbit above earth which sends necessary signals to calculate positioning information so precise one could measure centimeters with their GPS device. These signals were encoded and only the US military could use it. Now they have let civilians use the technology but with much lower accuracy. That is what people all around the world use as GPS.

The theory is very simple. US military owned satellites emit certain signals every pre-defined interval continuously. GPS devices capture these signals. These signals are encoded with information needed for the GPS device to calculate distance from that particular satellite. After recieving such signals from 3 satellites (distances from 3 known points) the position of the GPS device can be calculated easily by the GPS device. (Intersection of 3 spheres are two points, one point is not on the face of the earth! So other point is where the GPS device is... pretty simple) more...

US satellites provie this service free of charge for civillians because it is not much of a security threat and bases GPS navigation technology which is essential mostly for ships and boats.

Sri Lankans who don't believe in GPS,

Most of the high end mobile phones have GPS devices built in. If your phone has that feature that means you can find your exact location on earth. (Even in Sri Lanka ;)) So find that option on your phone. It will say "searching for satellites", "calculating GPS data" or something equivalent to that. Go out to a place where your phone can see the sky. Wait for about 5 minutes. Then it will show you the latitude and longitude of your current position. This doesn't cost you anything.

And now let me tell you about Google Maps Mobile. I'm sure you all know about google earth. This is the mobile version of that. Since you have your current location from the in-built GPS device now you can see where on earth you are with this software installed on your mobile phone. Google recently introduced a feature called Google Latitude where you can see the position of your friends as well. Make your friends who has GPS enabled mobile phones your comrades and you've got a "high tech" army. ;)

GPS devices on mobile phones are far less accurate than regular GPS devices. To use a regular GPS device in Sri Lanka one needs a permission from the authorities due to security reasons.

In Sri Lanka there's no highly detailed map as yet. So options like routing and voice navigation doesn't work. When you are seriously lost in Colombo and need to find a way out, you will praise Google Maps Mobile for atleast showing you where you are!

Use technology

Now a day mobile phones are just a fashion. People don’t use half of the options available in their mobile phone. One of my friends recently bought a Nokia N95 from its first owner. It was an American edition and because of that the 3G frequency it can operate was different from the networks we have here in Sri Lanka. So now it’s just a phone with a very low speed data connection. The first owner never knew this. He hadn’t bought this while his stay in America; he has never even been to America. All he wanted was a Nokia N95 because it was the trendiest phone of that time. From all the options the phone had, he only used it to make and receive phone calls and text. He never knew that it could make video calls. He never knew it could send and receive e mail through wifi. He never knew he could find his exact place on earth with the built in GPS. He only knew that he had the “Nokia N95”. I don’t know why people waste so much money on technologies they don’t use. For some people fashion comes ahead of everything else in life, it’s all about how you look on the outside.

Await next post on a technology you think is not available in Sri Lanka.

Missin' the beat.

I have only one grandparent; my maternal grandfather. He has been living with us for the past so many years. Many changes were done around the house since he moved in. If I say we had to baby proof the 1^st storey it would describe a lot. It is said when people are old they step into their second childhood. I am telling you, that is exactly what has happened. He has nothing to do during the whole day and whole night. Just to keep himself occupied he taps the arm rest, or the table he is sitting at making a beat of a song he knows.

Finally the renovation work at our house started which has been put off for ages due to prioritization. It was decided and agreed that my grandpa should live with my aunt till the renovation work is over. He was dropped off today.
I was moving around some furniture to make way for the workers. After rearranging downstairs I sat down on the couch for a short rest and I started tapping on the armrest! I smiled to myself. As soon as my mother came back from my aunts place she told she miss him already. I never said anything.

Sometimes his stay made my life hard. I couldn’t go out when only I was at home because I was not to leave him alone all by himself for more than few minutes. When my mother was out I had to prepare and give him tea. (I don’t even make myself a cup of tea) I can’t leave anything unattended downstairs because he messes around with it. He is just like a 3 year old child.

Every time I come home from the university he’s there sitting on ‘his’ chair in the living room. He receives me with a very innocent smile every time I walk in. I ask him how he’s doing and for a 90 year old he replies he’s doing just great. (When asked he says he is either 94 or 95)

My mother surely misses him and she admits it. Don’t I? I really don’t know. When I’m at home I hear my grandpa’s ‘beat’ all day long, non-stop. Today I didn’t. It’s sort of weird. I’m missin’ the beat…