Why have support for just one satellite navigation system when you can have two. Qualcomm announced support for GPS and GLONASS for its Snapdragon S2 and S3 SoCs last month and now Sony has just posted on its developers blog that it would enable GLONASS support on a bunch of its current Xperia devices and the upcoming Xperia S and Xperia Ion.

We’ve seen support for GLONASS increasing since the Russian satellite system was completed in October 2011, but here is a quick intro first. GLONASS is a radio-based satellite navigation system and the Russian equivalent to the US developed GPS. The first GLONASS satellites were launched during Soviet times but the system has had a bumpy ride since then. Following a number of upgrades it can now rival GPS – because of the positioning of its satellites, GLONASS is more accurate than GPS in northern latitudes.
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