In today’s connected world, we rely more and more on our mobile devices which allow us to share our thoughts, desserts, and position. Oftentimes, apps like your camera and FourSquare use your GPS coordinates in the background to help you locate a building or geo tag your photo. As more apps continue to rely on the GPS chip found inside of mobile devices, battery life once again becomes front and center as it can be one of the biggest power hogs of the system. That is, unless your mobile device is using the D5600 and D5601 chips.

Developed by Sony and set to ship in June and September, these latest flash-based GPS chips draw no more than 10mW of power for everything they do. In retrospect, most GPS chips draw that much power just to access RF components. Best of all, this latest GPS chip is compatible with most of the major systems, including:

 Global Positioning System (GPS), Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS) and satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), as well as the Indoor Messaging System (IMES). 

One of the tactics Sony will be using to reduce power consumption on their D5600 and D5601 chips will be a combination of using your mobile device’s accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnetometer to get a more reliable position lock.

Discuss:

Should Sony continue to focus on their consumer business or, like Samsung, is it good for them to be in the component business as well?

[Via Sony]