WeFi is a wireless hotspot finder for Windows and Mac computers as well a Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Android phones. Basically, the service uses crowd-sourcing to identify WiFi hotspots. Because users verify that the internet is working at various locations, you can be pretty sure the data is reliable — and if it’s not, you can help improve it. There are currently more than 56 million verified hotspots in the WeFi database.
This week WeFi pushed out an updated to the Android. When you fire up the new Android app, you can tell at a glance whether you’re currently connected to a WiFi hotspot and whether there are additional wireless connections nearby. The service will let you know if sites are locked, open, or if a login is required. User verified spots have their own icon as well.
WeFi is a wireless hotspot finder for Windows and Mac computers as well a Windows Mobile, Symbian, and Android phones. Basically, the service uses crowd-sourcing to identify WiFi hotspots. Because users verify that the internet is working at various locations, you can be pretty sure the data is reliable — and if it’s not, you can help improve it. There are currently more than 56 million verified hotspots in the WeFi database.
This week WeFi pushed out an updated to the Android. When you fire up the new Android app, you can tell at a glance whether you’re currently connected to a WiFi hotspot and whether there are additional wireless connections nearby. The service will let you know if sites are locked, open, or if a login is required. User verified spots have their own icon as well.
If you hit the “Spots Around Me” button, you’ll see a list of hotspots detected by your phone’s wireless connection manager. But what’s really cool is the “Find WiFi” feature. This will determine your location and then show you a list of nearby hotspots from the WeFi database, even though some are probably out of range.
In other words, the default Android connection manager can’t tell you that if you walk a block north you’ll find a coffee shop that has free WiFi. WeFi can.
WeFi also added the ability this week to enter an address manually. Making a day trip to New York tomorrow and want to know if there are wireless hotspots near your business meeting? You can find them with WeFi. There are also icons next to each location to let you know if you’re looking at a coffee shop, library, restaurant, or other location.
When you tap on a location, WeFi will bring up a Google Map showing you where the spot is and providing additional information including the phone number, user ratings, and the last date a WeFi user connected to the hotspot. You can also pull up the location in Google Maps for even more information.
WeFi for Android is available as a free download from the Android Market (
http://www.androlib.com/android.application.com-wefi-wefi-Czi.aspx). Or you can scan the barcode to the right.
