News - BBC begins survey of UK mobile networks

[HEXUS]

Android application offered to help measure signal strength across the country.

Read more.

[cheesemp]

Its a good idea although I can't understand why it keeps wanting to use GPS to get an exact location fix. Wouldn't cell phone tower based rough locationing be good enough for a rough map (If you load google maps with GPS off you'll know what I mean). Anyway I've had to turn off my GPS as it was beginning to kill my battery.

[CWH]

It needs the GPS, as that's how in notes your location when the phone cannot contact a tower, this data is then stored and forwarded once a connection is re-established.

[miniyazz]

It needs the GPS, as that's how in notes your location when the phone cannot contact a tower, this data is then stored and forwarded once a connection is re-established.

It can still use A-GPS without the need for actual GPS.

TBH if you have no signal then more often than not you're going to be inside a building where you won't get a GPS fix anyway, so it's almost entirely useless, and reduces uptake because no-one wants to install a battery hog. As evidenced by the top x number of pages of comments on the app, all rating one or two stars with anti-battery-hog reasons.

[Guppy]

While there are a lot of Android phones out there I would have thought they would have made the app for at least a few more types of OS's. iOS, Blackberry OS & Windows phone 7, they do make up a massive proportion of smart phones.

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Android seems to account for 45% of the current smartphone in the UK:

http://www.pcr-online.biz/news/36656...et-share-slide

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscente...ures_show.html

It seems BlackBerry has a higher market share in the UK than Apple!

In many European countries the market share Apple had been reduced too:

http://www.mobileindustryreview.com/...s-to-18-3.html

[BongoJoe]

Splendid (note: sarcasm). The BBC has found yet another way to spend our TV license fees, but not on television or radio. I wish so much that I could opt out of the television tax.