Today is a pretty big day because we have the lifefone to directions tool. A lot of
people have been waiting for this and honestly, it delivers. So let's take a look into it.
First of all, you have to have version 250, you can not install the lifefone tool or it
will not work very well. If you don't have version 250 and firmware, I believe 83. Once
you have those two, you go to your dashboard. And you do the same as with the podcasts or
music or alarm calculator tools, you just install them, it will prompt you to accept
a privacy policy. And we'll talk about that in just a second. And also to give your address
in order to prime the location. We'll also talk a little bit about that when it comes
to the phone. So once you have the direction tool, you'll be able to use it very seamlessly.
The directions still has a lot of settings. First of all, it has two modes, it has GPS
mode and offline mode. And the offline mode also allows you to say battery. So if you
want it to follow you and you want to see a map view, GPS mode is better. If you want
to use offline mode in order to save battery, then that's actually just better, you can
also activate something that's called location test status. So if you want to make sure that
you get an accurate location first, before you start into your directions, then that's
actually the best way in order to prime the GPS. That's one of the quirks of the system.
And I'll be explaining in just a second, a couple of extra things, voice commands, if
you want it for live navigation, or the Imperial or metric system, I have it on Imperial since
I'm in the United States. But if you're outside of the United States, then of course the metric
system works for you now has three modes, walking, driving, and also the mode for public
transportation. This was not planned to come live, I believe it was going to come later.
But I'm so glad that it's on version one. Now this is going to continue getting refined.
And it's going to give you directions if you're in a city for you know, public transportation,
which I think it's a big big plus now searching for things. So let's say that we're going
to look for Starbucks. And I know that there is a couple Starbucks in my town, right, and
it's going to give me which ones are available. Now, this is only going to give me the ones
that are in my radius. But if I want to expand my search, I just click expand search radius,
and is going to give me extra things like going to Valdosta, Georgia, which is farther
away, Perry, Georgia, et cetera, et cetera. So if you're in a location, and you're trying
to go to a different location, let's say that you're driving from, you know, let's say my
town to Atlanta, and then you want to go to a certain place in Atlanta, then you're going
to have to click a couple of times that expand that radius in order to get better results.
I think this is good, because essentially, it allows you to only limit that data to a
certain location. And it's not just looking everywhere that it can. Google Maps does something
very similar. Of course, like, you know, when you read directly, and you say, search here
instead of here, then you know, I think that that's a good system. And of course, if you
move into a different radios a different area, it will search for that area. So I think it
was pretty smart. And I was able to find most of the locations. Now some of the times it
doesn't show the location. And this is not the light phone team's fault is essentially
the database from here maps. So there are two systems in here, they didn't use Google
Maps because of privacy, and we'll get that into just a second. But here maps is very
good, it's decent, it will showcase all of your necessary locations. So if you're looking
for a specific address, and you're driving there, then you just input it in, and then
you're good to go. But if you need something that is maybe brand new, it probably will
not show up right away. And you may have to just wait a little bit longer than let's say
Google Maps. And that's because Google is farming your data, whereas here maps is not
and the life on team also is not farming that data, which is very good. So let's talk a
little bit about privacy here, when it comes to the phone in this specific tool. So this
is the first tool that can quote unquote, track you, right, but you don't have to opt
in for that you can just use offline mode, which I think it's a great default, it uses
offline mode, just so you know, certain general location in which, where, where you're at.
And that's about it. So it will use that location that data in order to just realize what are
you trying to find. And of course, it's not going to track you right away. So that's great,
you can turn off the GPS module, which is also very good, which, you know, I'm personal.
I personally like that. They don't track anything, they don't collect any data, unless you have
issues and you want help. So let's say you want help. And they you know, you have issues
where your GPS, let's say the the tool is buggy, they have an option that says logs,
and you can share those logs in order to solve your issue faster. Let's say that you're trying
to go to a certain place and it makes it turn into a different direction. Then you contact
the light support team, you know and work it out with them, but you can always turn
it off. And that's something that I really appreciate about this phone. It's always been
very privacy respecting is not sharing your data with anybody. It's always encrypted.
And you know, there's of course like more terms and condition
On the tool if you want to check them out. Now, there is a couple of things to note,
of course, the main thing is that this will drain your battery. So yesterday I said I
was in Alabama, you know, I was looking for certain things, and I was coming back home,
that's about a two and a half hour trip about three hours, you know, from, from gunnery
to where I live. And essentially, you know, the phone got really warm, about an hour and
a half in. So it dropped maybe about 25% of the battery, which is a lot. Yeah, it's using
the GPS and tracking me, I just wanted to make sure that everything was working, you
know, correctly, and it worked. But it got warm, so I wouldn't use it for long trips,
honestly, I was just testing it, I actually don't think it's that great for long, long
trips, like I say, you're driving for three plus hours, six hours, you know, I don't think
this is the best option for that I think a standalone GPS is just better at that point.
But it works, it does work. So about an hour and a half, you know, I just kind of like
exited out, I know where I was. And then I just plugged it back in and kind of regained
that battery because it charges pretty quickly. So you're going to see and notice a little
bit of a drop in battery and a little bit of performance, it will just slow down because
when the phone gets hot, it just the E ink just slows down in order for not to burn right
completely. And it works beautifully besides that, right. So if you're walking or public
transportation, I think those are the best cases. And if you're driving, it's kind of
short, you know, maybe 30 minutes an hour, then I think the phone will do well. Now,
I did notice on my testing more testing today I was driving today again. And whenever you
have the phone and you don't use the map view, it takes way longer to actually warm up. So
if you're using just the directions view, which is an arrow where you're going to turn
next, then it absolutely takes way less time. So it's just easier to use it that way, instead
of use it in a different way, like the map box where you see all of the, you know, it's
following you and you'll see all of the features from the map, just use the regular view, which
is just directions and just the arrow, I think that's just a better mode, in order for to
get like those long trips. Um, besides that, there are a couple of extra, you know, kind
of quirks about the the GPS tool. Again, it doesn't find everything all the time, so you
may need to expand the radius. And sometimes the GPS location takes a little while, I think
this is the last thing that we'll mention for now. And I'll continue doing more testing.
And if you have any questions, of course, you can put it in the comments below. But
whenever you turn off the phone and turn it back on, then the GPS may take a little while
it took about five minutes for it to lock in, in position for me. But whenever you do
that location tests, I think that's the best way it kind of uses data and triangulation
in order to locate where you're at. And then it doesn't doesn't miss you like you know,
when once it's locked in, it's locked in for for a long time, until you maybe shut it off
or stop using the phone for a couple hours. So I think this is a great addition for the
life on to very well to serve props to the team, thank you very much for for bringing
this now. I think the future is bug fixes so that you're going to see more bug fixes
with Bluetooth. And you know, a couple of the extra things that we have noticed podcast
app, you know, jumping or maybe stopping sometimes. So I'm really excited about this phone getting
better and better. It's been two years almost since I've had this phone. And I just love
that they continue to support the phone to continue to build tools. And hopefully the
SDK drops this year or maybe earlier, you know, first half of next year. And then we
can see just an expansion of more tools, more useful things for the iPhone two. And of course
that's going to affect the battery. But it's kind of like a trade off. If you really need
something that you know you are going to be able to use it. I think this phone is just
getting better and better. And now with directions is still something that is useful, not distracting.
And that just allows you to go on with your day. So if you have any questions about this
specific thing on directions tool or anything else, please let me know. I'll be doing a
live stream hopefully in the next couple days to showcase or, you know, kind of like go
over other phones, things like that. So stay tuned for that. And if you have any questions
or comments, make sure to put it in the comment below. I'll be interacting with you guys.
Thanks for watching. I'll see you on the next one.