It turns out you can get a location just by scanning nearby wifi and cell tower signals!

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[–] 1 point 3 weeks ago (1 child)
  • [–] 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

    GPS is a passive receiver.

    There's processing going on, but you dramatically decrease energy use by just updating less often.

    It's not like you're sending a signal to space.

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  • [–] 1 point 3 weeks ago (1 child)

    I am aware of that but somehow expected that it still took more energy to receive until there are enough SATs available than to do a BLE scan. Just a gut feeling though and only receiving should have a bigger impact than I thought. Makes sense!

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  • [–] 1 point 2 weeks ago

    what are you talking about? GPS is far from a "passive receiver" in any sense of that vague term. It's running an oscillator at the carrier frequency.

    GPS is probably the most power hungry sensor on your device.

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