Originally Posted by
hebsan
Wrong.
On a recent trip to Australia and Thailand, I put my iPhone in Airplane mode to avoid any overseas roaming / data charges. I was still able to turn on Wi-Fi, and use GPS. So you can't say Airplane mode deactivates ALL communications.
I stand corrected.
After further checking on my Samsung Galaxy S2 (AT&T), it seems that Airplane mode turns wi-fi and bluetooth off and leaves GPS on (but no detailed maps available without a data connection), but it seems that you CAN manually turn wi-fi and bluetooth back on while still in Airplane Mode. I assume that current versions of iOS behave similarly, though my retired iPhone 3Gs is at home right now. Sorry for my misinterpretation.
Note that GPS on a smartphone will be much less accurate without the phone/data network, as a smartphone uses location information from the towers to refine its GPS fix. Looking at my Galaxy S2 right now in Airplane mode, I see the blue arrow a good 2 miles due north of my actual position. With Airplane mode off, it snaps to about 350 feet south of of my actual position.