Application Name: Bluetooth GPS Output

Description: Transmits GPS position data over Bluetooth from your Android unit to a compatible receiver

Publisher’s website: Bluetooth GPS

Cost: Free 10-minute limited demo version; $1.52 unlimited version

Version/date reviewed: v. 1.05c  /  10-20-10

Phone/OS: Droid X / Android 2.2

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Android Market link (mobile app only)
Android Market link (browser)

This is a pretty basic app; it does the job of transmitting GPS position data over Bluetooth from your Android unit to a Bluetooth receiver (e.g. a laptop with mapping software), and not much else; also not a lot of controls or settings. Setup wasn’t too painful, since the app makes your Android discoverable. The basic steps for setting  it up were outlined in the previous post on this site, but there’s a slightly more detailed set of steps available at the app’s website. Once configured, starting up an application on the laptop that uses the Bluetooth GPS signal initiates a connection.To find the right COM port number, look in your Bluetooth control panel for an “Outgoing” COM port, possibly also labeled as an “SPP slave”.

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Figure 1: Here, the Android app is connected to my touchscreen laptop running a mapping application; you’d see “Not connected” in the upper right-hand corner if no connection was present. Satellite data is displayed, but there are no additional controls available here, or in the app menu.

Other Issues:

A bit of a pain to set up, but that’s often the case with any Bluetooth device setup on Android. Beyond that, seemed to work fine.

Final thoughts:

A pretty stripped-down app; does its job, but that’s pretty much it. Nice that it has a demo mode that lets you check out both the setup and the functionality. But tomorrow’s review covers an app that performs more functions and allows more control, all at the same low price; given that, not sure I can really recommend this app.

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