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Sagem Orga develops SIM card with A-GPS

Posted by Marc Flores on Nov 20, 2008 7:02 pm 18 comments
Filed in Features, GPS, General, Handsets, Hardware, Press Release, Services

If you don’t have a device already equipped with A-GPS and you don’t want to upgrade or spring for a stand-alone unit from the likes of Garmin or TomTom, what do you do? Well, the only other option was a Thomas Guide, really. Now, Sagem Orga, the large smart card maker, has decided to make a SIM card with integrated A-GPS. While it was originally intended for emergency use, handsets without current GPS technology can enjoy the the same benefits as more modern and capable handsets. Whether it will be as accurate as devices already carrying GPS is yet to be determined. We imagine these new SIMs will be huge among carriers as they allow carrier navigation services in countless handsets that aren’t GPS-equipped from the factory. From the Sagem Orga press release:

Sagem Orga and BlueSky Positioning’s new approach incorporates a highly accurate GPS receiver and a proprietary antenna into the SIM card, enabling mobile operators to deploy both legally-mandated and commercial applications quickly and cost-effectively for all mobile devices.

Judging from the press release, it looks like a win-win situation for everyone. Hopefully these new SIM cards will be making their way to local carriers and into handsets soon. Anyone without a GPS-enabled handset excited about this? Anyone still have a handset without GPS?

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18 comment(s) for this post.

  1. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 7:18 pm, Jeremiah Said:

    “Anyone still have a handset without GPS?”

    Read: Curve 8320.

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  2. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 8:24 pm, eimajuno Said:

    My Curve 8300.

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  3. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 8:41 pm, Chris Said:

    *Raises hand slowly*
    My LX, I know, why the hell do I still have it even though the G1 is out? Contracts not up yet and Im broke so yeah Im screwed.

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  4. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 8:44 pm, BBtrapped Said:

    Yes Pearl 8100

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  5. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 9:25 pm, tmo4life Said:

    Not everyone is cool enough to know you know I know where you’re at.

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  6. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 10:03 pm, QR Said:

    yes. an iPhone .

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  7. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 10:08 pm, fastball Said:

    This is great news! For us blackberry users that don’t have gps, this is a great solution.

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  8. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 10:36 pm, Ervel Flick Said:

    If my Bold didn’t have aGPS built in, I’d probably spring for something like this depending on how accurate it is.

    My concern is two-fold:

    1.) How quickly can it gain a fix? a SIM card slot can’t push a whole lot of current, so I’m assuming the aGPS chip isn’t *that* powerful.

    2.) How will it affect battery life?

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  9. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 11:03 pm, stasguy Said:

    So how do you transfer your number to one of these? Or would this sim card be through carriers only?

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  10. On Nov 20, 2008 @ 11:10 pm, john Said:

    yay. At least I get one thing on my 2.5g iPhone that’s on the 3G. Let’s work on getting 3G capabilites in a SIM now!

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  11. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 12:11 am, Ervel Flick Said:

    @ John: I don’t know if that’s possible - the SIM can affect whether or not a phone gets 3G provisioned, but I don’t think it can change what frequencies the radio in the handset can tune to. The likelihood of someone building a SIM with a radio built in is probably really low due to the power constraints of the SIM slot.

    Although, that would be really cool. :)

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  12. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 4:39 am, chick Said:

    i’m a drug dealer and i don’t want to be tracked by this cheapo trick.

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  13. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 10:41 am, imanartist Said:

    This would be neat if I could buy it without it being attached to a cellular provider, so I could just use my old phone as a gps unit.

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  14. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 11:20 am, chick Said:

    Sagem Orga(sm).

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  15. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 2:09 pm, pheer6224 Said:

    Yes please.

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  16. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 2:10 pm, pheer6224 Said:

    My treo 650 is begging.

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  17. On Nov 21, 2008 @ 3:01 pm, MiSoFine Said:

    LG Vue… I can’t decide on what to upgrade to. I will take that SIM. Please?! I would even pay extra for it–it’s better than $80 per upgrade on my Magellan.

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  18. On Nov 23, 2008 @ 9:06 pm, xdr Said:

    me got an att sync

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