Tuesday, January 04, 2011

Spot Connect brings GPS tracking and communication to your Bluetooth phone

Spot Connect brings GPS tracking and communication to your Bluetooth phone

Like it or not, we're stuck in a world fascinated with convergence, and while Spot's Satellite GPS Messenger did its job well, it still required users to tote around a dedicated, non-integrated, standalone device. Unfortunately, we're still no closer to seeing a mainstream smartphone with a legitimate GPS module within, but Spot's edging ever closer with the Spot Connect. This GPS puck is equipped with a Bluetooth transceiver, enabling it to "sync with smartphone operating systems like Android" when you're too deep in the brush to nab a cellular signal. From there, it'll allow your smartphone to determine location via the Globalstar satellite network, and even transmit that information to personal contacts or an international emergency response center. Users can send location-based texts or emails via satellite, update social networks from remote locations, track progress on Google Maps / My Tracks and store up to ten predefined messages for quick referencing and sending. Just imagine the Foursquare check-ins you could manage with this bad boy! The puck itself is waterproof to an IPX7 standard and weighs just 3.7 ounces, and we're told that more mobile operating systems will be supported "later this year." The Connect will go on sale this month for $169.99, though the services described above will run argonauts $99.99 per year. Full release is after the break.

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Spot Connect brings GPS tracking and communication to your Bluetooth phone originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Jan 2011 00:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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