[Dr Warmoose]

What pisses me off is that if this is a GPS enabled phone, why can't I see my GPS coordinates on the screen but it appears everyone else can from their computer.

[Billthedrill]

I asked that question myself and the saleslady actually called an engineer for me. It's only the software on the phone that's not quite capable of coordinate readout yet, and the upgrade is being coded and tested now. How the GPS receiver companies will enjoy the competition is easy to imagine - not much - but the guy said the feature will be ready to be offered within six months. Whether it will be offered is a marketing, not a technical, decision.

[RS]

"What pisses me off is that if this is a GPS enabled phone, why can't I see my GPS coordinates on the screen but it appears everyone else can from their computer."

The answer is because its not a GPS enabled phone -

E911 is an FCC specification for providing locations, the carrier is reponsible for the selection of the type of system, which does not have to be GPS. An example of a different system is here -

http://www.geometrix911.com/e911.html

The writer of the original article didn't do all his homework.

[NewsJunqui]

The reason why you don't get the the GPS readout is that the phone usually can't figure out all the information it needs to report the location. Most of the GPS type phones are really "Assisted GPS".

Since the cellphone antenna is not optimal for GPS reception (your phone has to be within view of at least 3 GPS satellites), the phone reports measurements on what it can see. The network then uses the information reported by the phone to determine the location. The network know which cell tower you are communicating through, so it can get fairly close, and then use the additional information reported by the phone to get a better location.