German company Bad Elf offered for sale since 28 October, on Amazon and on eBay, the first external GPS approved by Apple. The Bad Elf GPS is adapted for the Apple devices dock connector, which have no built-in GPS, to provide all navigation applications, sea or land, mobile position.
The Bad Elf is featured with GPS chipset 66 -Channels MT3329 from MediaTek. This Assisted GPS is a high sensitivity (-165Dbm), with an update rate up to 10Hz, and a TTFF (¹) less than 35 seconds. It is SBAS compatible (WAAS/EGNOS/MSAS) (²). Chosen by Garmin to equip its serial GPSMAP 60, it is considered one of the best current GPS chipsets for mobile device.
Very compact, The Bad Elf GPS has a Micro-USB connector allowing the device to be charged and synchronized with the GPS in use. 6ft cable is provided for this purpose. Its small size low-profile makes it compatible with the majority of protective cases, as soon as the Dock connector is accessible.
In addition, Bad Elf has put a free application on the AppStore allowing the update of A-GPS satellite data and possibly the firmware of their accessory.
For approximately 80 euros, Shipping included, from eBay, no doubt that this accessory will meet a big hit with all the Apple mobile owners who had not opted for a model equipped with built-in GPS , and who are reluctant to re-invest in a new model. This fills a real need.
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(¹) Time to first fix = time to first fix position.
(²) See Glossary.