If you’ve got a Wi-Fi-only iPad or iPad 2, you’re generally unable to use GPS to get more accurate location pin-pointing. Unless you also happen to own an iPhone and use its Personal Hotspot feature to tether — which, it turns out, passes along GPS data.
Unlike US customers, Australian customers generally don’t need to pay extra for tethering when using an iPhone 4 as a wireless hotspot. But there’s one plan where you should be cautious: the Infinite plans launched by Vodafone last November don’t allow their included data to be used for tethering.
Wi-Fi tethering is one of the most prominent features for iPhone users in the iOS 4.3 upgrade, and Australians don’t have to pay extra to use it. But if you’ve been using the long-in-place Bluetooth tethering option, is switching to Wi-Fi a better bet? Nick at our sibling title Gizmodo investigated, and concluded “not really”.
Dear Lifehacker, For Xmas I received an brand new iPad (with 3G), but I also have an iPhone 3GS with a data plan. I do not really want to go and get another data plan as I very rarely use all the allowance for the iPhone plan, as I mainly use them both at home or in the office. What I would love to do is ‘share’ the phone’s mobile broadband with the iPad. Any suggestions? Yours, SIM Sage
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Android (with Windows): To unofficially tether and use your Android’s mobile web on your laptop, you previously had three options: rooting, wonky proxies and purchasing PDAnet. Now there’s formerly BlackBerry-only Tether, at about the same price as PDAnet. What’s the difference?
Wish you could snap a picture and it showed up for review directly on your iPad (or other iOS device)? Here’s how to set up a jailbroken iDevice to serve as a direct, wireless, photo-displaying tether for your digital camera.
TechCrunch is reporting that “Froyo”, the next version of the Android smartphone operating system expected to be released next week at Google’s I/O conference, will pack in more than just big compiling speed improvements and fragmentation fixes. It could also include built-in USB tethering and Wi-Fi hotspot sharing, allowing everyone around you to share your mobile data connection.
There are three ways to tether your Android handset and get sweet internet love even where there’s no Wi-Fi in sight: the risky-but-free rooting method, the still-geeky-but-not-as-bad free route, and the $US29 easy way. Here are the pros and cons of each.
Over the weekend, Telstra quietly switched on the tethering function for iPhone users on Telstra contracts. Unlike Optus, there’s no extra charges being suggested, but as Nick at Gizmodo points out, Telstra’s stingy data limits mean this makes less sense than a dedicated dongle if you need frequent connectivity. [Whirlpool via Gizmodo]
Everyone’s prices are out there and the phone is on sale, so what are the best deals for the Apple 3GS? Here’s Lifehacker’s picks.
