iPhone 4S delivers enhanced GPS with support for Russia's GLONASS
Apple revealed this week that the new iPhone 4S adds support for Russia's proprietary GLONASS satellite location system, which can contribute to faster, more accurate results.
In an update to the handset's published specifications, Apple added GLONASS capability to Assisted GPS and cellular location finding, reports Russian website iPhones.ru. The site noted that the iPhone 4S may be using a new Broadcom chipset to communicate with the satellite location system.
Although Russia's GLONASS is not as accurate as its U.S. counterpart, it can work in concert with established positioning systems to give users extended coverage in the Northern Hemisphere. By combining location data from the two dozen Russian satellites with U.S. GPS's 31, accuracy and speed of determining a user's location are greatly increased.
GLONASS, or Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Global Navigation Satellite System), offers location data to 100% of the Russian Federation with limited worldwide coverage. The radio-based satellite network was launched in 1982 but only achieved global coverage earlier this month, when the last of 24 satellites was launched into orbit.
The news comes on the heels of Tuesday's conference call, where Apple CEO Tim Cook drew attention to the Russian market as "looking promising." The Cupertino, Calif. company's devices are becoming more prevalent in the country, with the iPhone exposing more customers to other Apple products, he said.
GLONAS Class M satellite | source: Vector One
As such, GLONASS offers more accurate location results to a growing Russian user base.
In an update to the handset's published specifications, Apple added GLONASS capability to Assisted GPS and cellular location finding, reports Russian website iPhones.ru. The site noted that the iPhone 4S may be using a new Broadcom chipset to communicate with the satellite location system.
Although Russia's GLONASS is not as accurate as its U.S. counterpart, it can work in concert with established positioning systems to give users extended coverage in the Northern Hemisphere. By combining location data from the two dozen Russian satellites with U.S. GPS's 31, accuracy and speed of determining a user's location are greatly increased.
GLONASS, or Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema (Global Navigation Satellite System), offers location data to 100% of the Russian Federation with limited worldwide coverage. The radio-based satellite network was launched in 1982 but only achieved global coverage earlier this month, when the last of 24 satellites was launched into orbit.
The news comes on the heels of Tuesday's conference call, where Apple CEO Tim Cook drew attention to the Russian market as "looking promising." The Cupertino, Calif. company's devices are becoming more prevalent in the country, with the iPhone exposing more customers to other Apple products, he said.
GLONAS Class M satellite | source: Vector One
As such, GLONASS offers more accurate location results to a growing Russian user base.
Comments
... Although Russia's GLONASS is not as accurate as its U.S. counterpart, ...
This is kind of misleading. The difference is very slight, and in some areas (northern Europe and Russia), GLONASS is *more* accurate than GPS.
It's also not inherently inferior or anything, they just had some budget problems leading to less satellites in orbit.
спасибо. Пусть ваш спутниковое врезаться в землю. Iphones возьмет на себя Россия. Стив Джобс правителем всей России. Яблоко упорно трудился, чтобы получить iPhone в Россию. Но Apple и правительство России не имею отношения, которые компании Apple делает с фарфором. Ее приятно видеть, что у России есть компании Apple продукции. Может быть, когда-нибудь Россия станет экономической дом власти и Apple, прибыль будет всплеск.
Long live the ruler of all Russia.
спасибо. Пусть ваш спутниковое врезаться в землю. Iphones возьмет на себя Россия. Стив Джобс правителем всей России. Яблоко упорно трудился, чтобы получить iPhone в Россию. Но Apple и правительство России не имею отношения, которые компании Apple делает с фарфором. Ее приятно видеть, что у России есть компании Apple продукции. Может быть, когда-нибудь Россия станет экономической дом власти и Apple, прибыль будет всплеск.
rough translation:
Thanks. Let your satellite to cut into the earth. Iphones will take upon itself Russia. Steve Dzhobs by the ruler of entire Russia. Apple persistently it worked in order to obtain iPhone into Russia. But Apple and the government of Russia I do not have a relation, which the companies Of apple make with the porcelain. It it is pleasant to see that Russia has companies Of apple of production. It can be, sometimes Russia will become economic the house of authority and Apple, profit there will be splash.
rough translation:
Thanks. Let your satellite to cut into the earth. Iphones will take upon itself Russia. Steve Dzhobs by the ruler of entire Russia. Apple persistently it worked in order to obtain iPhone into Russia. But Apple and the government of Russia I do not have a relation, which the companies Of apple make with the porcelain. It it is pleasant to see that Russia has companies Of apple of production. It can be, sometimes Russia will become economic the house of authority and Apple, profit there will be splash.
**make huge laughings** I needed that after another session of reading condolence notes on the Apple home page.
rough translation:
Thanks. Let your satellite to cut into the earth. Iphones will take upon itself Russia. Steve Dzhobs by the ruler of entire Russia. Apple persistently it worked in order to obtain iPhone into Russia. But Apple and the government of Russia I do not have a relation, which the companies Of apple make with the porcelain. It it is pleasant to see that Russia has companies Of apple of production. It can be, sometimes Russia will become economic the house of authority and Apple, profit there will be splash.
How did you do that translation? Google translate seems to do a better job of it... including understanding the difference between China and Porcelain.
Thank you. Let your satellite crashing into the ground. Iphones will take on Russia. Steve Jobs is the ruler of all Russia. Apple has worked hard to get the iPhone in Russia. But Apple and the Russian government does not have a relationship that Apple's doing with China. Its nice to see that Russia is an Apple product. Maybe one day Russia will become the economic power house and Apple, profits will surge.
rough translation:
Thanks. Let your satellite to cut into the earth. Iphones will take upon itself Russia...
Fantastic
How did you do that translation? Google translate seems to do a better job of it... including understanding the difference between China and Porcelain.
...
I just used what I had available and it seemed funny so I posted it. I used the OS-X widget which is I think powered by Systran.
My favourite: "Of Apple make with the porcelain ... there will be splash."
I just used what I had available and it seemed funny so I posted it. I used the OS-X widget which is I think powered by Systran.
I thought maybe you had read it to Siri...
I just used what I had available and it seemed funny so I posted it. I used the OS-X widget which is I think powered by Systran.
My favourite: "Of Apple make with the porcelain ... there will be splash."
How did you do that translation? Google translate seems to do a better job of it... including understanding the difference between China and Porcelain.
Thank you. Let your satellite crashing into the ground. Iphones will take on Russia. Steve Jobs is the ruler of all Russia. Apple has worked hard to get the iPhone in Russia. But Apple and the Russian government does not have a relationship that Apple's doing with China. Its nice to see that Russia is an Apple product. Maybe one day Russia will become the economic power house and Apple, profits will surge.
Your translations are pretty close to reality. I am fluent in russian, and this guy also used a translation program to get to russian, because the whole text is grammatically incorrect. See word for word below, I think I got it pretty close in terms of bad grammar.
спасибо. Пусть ваш спутниковое врезаться в землю. Iphones возьмет на себя Россия. Стив Джобс правителем всей России. Яблоко упорно трудился, чтобы получить iPhone в Россию. Но Apple и правительство России не имею отношения, которые компании Apple делает с фарфором. Ее приятно видеть, что у России есть компании Apple продукции. Может быть, когда-нибудь Россия станет экономической дом власти и Apple, прибыль будет всплеск.
Here is the translation as best as I can do it, keep in mind this guy uses terrible grammar and incorrect sentence structure that I preserved, even in russian:
"thanks. Let your steatite-related (blank) collide into the earth. iPhones will take on itself Russia. Steve Jobs rules all Russia. Apple stubbornly worked, in order to get make with porcelain (not china, as in russian china pronounced Kitay). She is nice to see, that Russia has companies Apple products. Perhaps, some day Russia will become an economic house of power and Apple, profit will rise(make wave)."
I thought maybe you had read it to Siri...
Siri doesn't speak Russian. You would have to use Google Translate and in that case the translation would be more intelligible as you indicated.
Siri doesn't speak Russian. You would have to use Google Translate and in that case the translation would be more intelligible as you indicated.
I didn't really think that.
This is kind of misleading. The difference is very slight, and in some areas (northern Europe and Russia), GLONASS is *more* accurate than GPS.
It's also not inherently inferior or anything, they just had some budget problems leading to less satellites in orbit.
Most of the control signals for GPS operate on a lower frequency than GLONASS (L1 being the exception), thus better radio reception, especially in dense foliage and inside buildings.
GLONASS also doesn't have a WAAS equivalent. WAAS provides quicker almanac and ephemeris acquisition, and better elevation resolution.
Source: ehow.com
In Soviet Russia, Satellite Positions you!
You stole my quip.
I will add that in Ukraine and Russia using GPS is often very inaccurate and slow for me. Adding GLONASS to get a first stage rough location to refine with GPS (Or just accept if it is accurate enough) is a good idea.
I am fluent in russian, and this guy also used a translation program to get to russian, because the whole text is grammatically incorrect.
Russian is my first language and I can second that. The original troll who posted in russian should have used a better translation tool. The text is so grammatically incorrect that it's difficult to understand.
GLONASS uses an FDMA broadcast protocol between approximately 1598MHz and 1606MHz. Due to the difference in transmission frequency there is a larger group delay in the receiver which decreases the positional accuracy.
However Russia designed the constellation to perform well in Russia which means it does better at northern latitudes than GPS.
The real benefit of multiconstellation GNSS systems comes in areas of difficult reception. Indoors, urban canyons, natural canyons, etc...rather than 4 or 5 decent GPS satellites you now have an additional 4 or 5 GLONASS satellites. So your combined positional accuracy is better than one constellation alone. Also positional acquisition time is approximately 21% faster with the second constellation.
Until GLONASS-K is complete in a few years, GPS-only will still be better than GLONASS-only systems, but the combined solution is a step forward for everyone regardless of where you are in the world.