Kindle 3 GPS capabilities?

[jphphotography]

I'm new to the whole Kindle experience so forgive me if this question is a stupid one.

I've been searching the net for various Kindle stuff and found that some of the older verisons allowed for GPS navigation (albeit limited), I was curious if anyone has discovered anything about the K3 yet?

Also does the K3 use GSM or CDMA?

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by jphphotography

I've been searching the net for various Kindle stuff and found that some of the older verisons allowed for GPS navigation (albeit limited)

It wasn't a GPS. It did location based on triangulation from the various cell towers nearby from what I gather. It was only on the original K1 anyway.

Originally Posted by jphphotography

I was curious if anyone has discovered anything about the K3 yet?

There isn't anything stopping somebody from making a cell triangulation system for the K3. There are cell tower databases online now which you can access for free. It just needs somebody to have the KDK and for Amazon to allow access to the GSM modem information which I'm not sure they allow.

Originally Posted by jphphotography

Also does the K3 use GSM or CDMA?

Everything since the K2i uses GSM as Amazon can sell it it internationally unlike CDMA which is mainly restricted to the US.

[jphphotography]

Thanks for clearing that up, I couldn't seem to find any info on the web because any search contain both GPS and Kindle turned up articles on either the K1 or K2 only.

I was pretty sure it was GSM but wasn't entirely sure.

It would be really cool of Amazon if they added a feature like that again, it never hurts to have more features than the competition

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by jphphotography

It would be really cool of Amazon if they added a feature like that again, it never hurts to have more features than the competition

The KDK conditions don't explicitly forbid this from happening. Assuming that people aren't going to hammer it and use it all the time, it should be possible to make it as a free Kindle application that doesn't require purchase. The KDK limits free applications to a small amount of download a month as they need to cover costs.

Doing it via WiFi should also be possible because of services that Google and Skyhook Wireless run to look up a WiFi AP BSSID and give a location.

That said, I've no idea if the KDK actually lets you access this information. If it doesn't then it will have to be a hack or something Amazon does themselves.

[JBPK33]

Considering a Kindle 3. Are there any third party apps for this? Can you add .apx files?

[wesleyer]

Amazon released a beta version of a Kindle Development Kit a while ago.
But so far, only three apps appeared on the Amazon website.

[MuzzaHukka]

Kindle 3 uses EVDO not GSM or GPRS also it has a basic GPS function which by pressing keys shos your location in a browser in Google Maps

[Acorn]

If you can't get the GSM info through the KDK you could get it directly from the log file that the kindle generates.

[janvanmaar]

MuzzaHukka: Which keys do you press to get your (albeit approximate) location on Google Maps using K3G? So far I thought that this feature was dropped off K3 (it was certainly available on K1 and K2)

[Tiersten]

Originally Posted by MuzzaHukka

Kindle 3 uses EVDO not GSM or GPRS also it has a basic GPS function which by pressing keys shos your location in a browser in Google Maps

Not sure what Kindle 3 you have but every other Kindle 3 with 3G on the planet is GSM so no, it doesn't and can't use EVDO as that is CDMA based.