Upcoming Sony smartphones to support the Russian GLONASS

Sony has announced that their newly announced Xperia smartphones, the Xperia S and Xperia Ion, will come equipped with the GLONASS satellite navigation system built-in.

What's more, they have also revealed that some of their previous smartphones on sale right now have had GLONASS support built-in since launch. These other handsets include the Xperia arc, Xperia arc S, Xperia ray, Xperia neo, Xperia pro, Xperia PLAY, Xperia active and Live with Walkman.


In case you weren't aware of it, GLONASS is to Russia what GPS is to America. Most of the phones have just GPS on-board, which restricts them to 31 satellites but having both, GPS as well as GLONASS on-board, you have access to 24 additional satellites, which not only speeds up lock-on time but also ensures you get a lock-on in trickier places, such as when you're surrounded by tall buildings.

Sony is not the only company to have GLONASS along with GPS built-into their phones. Apple, Nokia, Samsung and Motorola too have a few models that include this functionality. Hopefully, more phones will include this feature in future.