I use Google Latitude quite a bit with roughly three to four checkins a day. I remember when you could get free things at Arbys with a checkin – though, I never took advantage of that. Even the manager at our local Arbys had no idea it was available, nor did they have a way to track it in their Point of Sale system. Likewise, our local Walgreens didn’t know how to handle a coupon on a phone that they couldn’t collect, though, did offer to give the discount if we bought the product.<\/p>\n
However, the one thing that is very annoying is the amount of data that must be transferred for a checkin. I run a T-Mobile phone on AT&T’s network which means I’m limited to 2G which maxes at 512kb\/sec. A first checkin after a phone restart will take two or three minutes transferring data.<\/p>\n
When I do a checkin, rather than wait for the fine GPS location, I should be presented with a screen using the coarse lookup with all of the checkins that I have been to. That first screen would usually have the place I’m checking into. Granted I could go to a different store or restaurant, 95% of the time, that first list is going to contain a very short list of the places I’m likely to check in to.<\/p>\n
While that list is being presented and GPS is getting a better position lock, I could opt for the refresh once I see GPS has locked in, or, hit search. Hitting search while it is loading results takes me into Maps rather than searching checking locations, then I have to go to the location, click on it, then click checkin. Cumbersome on 3G speeds, irritating at 2G speeds.<\/p>\n
However, once I have done that, the amount of data for a checkin must be incredible as it will normally take 10-15 seconds to get to the next page that shows the leaderboard. Even at 2G speeds, I can’t imagine how much data needs to be sent that ties up the phone that long. I can upload a 115k image in less time than it takes to get the leaderboard after checking in. I know it isn’t a lookup time problem as both the send\/receive data indicators are solid during the leaderboard download.<\/p>\n
It has made me seriously consider bringing in an unlocked HTC Desire Z from Canada so I could have a keyboard phone on AT&T. I tried TMobile for 47 hours and missed text messages and several phone calls even though I can see their antenna from my backyard.<\/p>\n
Watching several apps, the amount of data transmitted is sometimes quite scary.<\/p>\n
I use Google Latitude quite a bit with roughly three to four checkins a day. I remember when you could get free things at Arbys with a checkin – though, I never took advantage of that. Even the manager at our local Arbys had no idea it was available, nor did they have a way […]<\/p>\n