Adafruit 2691 FONA 3G Cellular / GPS Breakout Board

The Adafruit FONA 3G Cellular Breakout Board adds to their impressive 2G phone breakouts with 3G and GPS built in. You can expect better coverage, backwards compatibility with GSM and a fast GPS with a 1s hot start time to first fix (TTFF). On the phone side, it's quad-band and will connect to any GSM network with a 2G SIM, plus dual-band UMTS/HDSPA. It can send and receive SMS messages, and send and receive GPRS data. Plug the module into your PC USB and you can send AT commands at up to 4Mbits/sec, talk GPS NMEA, and a use it as a modem. The GPS module has 16 x acquisition channels, 1s hot start time to first fix and an accuracy of 2.4m; an active GPS antenna is highly recommended to achieve best results.

Adafruit have surrounded this fine module with a host of extras including 500mAh+ LiPo and Li-ion battery charging, a TRRS headphone jack, and breakouts for an 8Ω speaker plus electret mic. Plus 2.8 to 5V power and logic compatibility, LEDs for power, battery charge and network, uFL connectors for phone and GPS antennas and a SIM socket. You will need a few things to complete a working gadget including a 2G or 3G SIM card, a 500mAh or larger battery, a micro USB cable, external uFL antennas for GSM and GPS, and a TRRS headset.

Supplied as a fully assembled and tested 3G breakout board plus a strip of 0.1in. header pins for you to solder on as required. Adafruit provide a free tutorial and library to help get you started. Whatever you build, it won't be an Android or iPhone but it will be yours.

• Mobile phone and GPS in one module
• Accepts 2G and 3G SIMs
• On board GPS, accurate to 2.4m
• Built-in battery charger for 500mA+ LiPo and Li-ion batteries
• Dimensions: 50 x 46 x 7mm (2.0 x 1.8 x 0.3in.)
• Adafruit part no.: 2691

Daunted? This is quite an advanced product and best suited to the experienced. However, Adafruit have a simpler products, the FONA mini cellular breakout and FONA 800 Shield for Arduino, with more mature libraries, instructions and community.

*Customers looking to resell on eBay or Amazon should contact Adafruit directly.