How Your Galaxy Tab Finds Your Location
Google Maps’ usefulness really comes into play when it’s combined with your Galaxy Tab’s ability to find your location. Your Tab finds where you are in two ways:
GPS. Your Tab’s built-in GPS chip works just like the one in a Garmin or TomTom, although it’s not quite as accurate. (Hey, those devices only do GPS, not video chat or 3D games, so cut your tablet some slack.) GPS works best when you have a good view of the sky. If not, your Tab switches to locating you via Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi positioning. The Wi-Fi chip on your Tab can do more than just connect you to a Wi-Fi network—it can also help determine your location. It does this by using information about Wi-Fi networks near you—information contained in a large database. Then, using the information about the Wi-Fi locations and your distance from them, it calculates your location. It’s not as accurate as GPS, but it still works pretty well.
Note
If you’ve got a 3G or 4G Galaxy Tab, it can also use the cellular network to provide location information.
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