GPS makers battle the iPhone

 

Good item on this coming battle between devices.
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/08/technology/GPS_review.fortun...

I own both devices and for now I will stick with my GPSr for navigation.

totally agree

my phone could never replace a dedicated GPSr. It doesn't have the battery life, the screen size, the storage for maps, routes, waypoints, etc, etc - it wouldn't even work for me hiking, because it would not have a signal to download information.

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___________________ Garmin 2455, 855, Oregon 550t

Re: GPS

rigel wrote:

my phone could never replace a dedicated GPSr. It doesn't have the battery life, the screen size, the storage for maps, routes, waypoints, etc, etc - it wouldn't even work for me hiking, because it would not have a signal to download information.

That may be true for the iPhone and other 'locked' phones, but I have used PocketPC phones for navigation for 2 or 3 years now, and if using a true GPS application, you don't need cell phone reception to navigate.

My current one (AT&T Tilt) supports up to 32GB SDHC MicroSD cards for storage.

Battery life? I have used it on 7-hour flights for in-flight GPS, listen to music, watch videos, play games and open Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Acrobat documents. While on the airport I connected to the Internet via Wi-Fi and read the news, checked the weather report, sent some email, and at the same time downloaded RSS feeds, to have reading material later. After I arrived I placed some phone calls. All in one battery. Had I run out, I could just have swapped my second one in. mrgreen

Do I need a larger screen to do all this? Not really.

It is true, however, that unless Apple, RIM, and some carriers open up their devices to 3rd party applications, including navigation, they will not have a real shot at this. They rather rent you the use of your phone's GPS capability, which is not what most people prefer.

Krieger

Leave an iphone suctioned to

Leave an iphone suctioned to your windshield and see how long before youre out an iphone and a window.

Leave An GPSr Sunctioned To

Same goes for your GPSr, they are second only to cash as the most stolen items in car break-ins.

My wife hates her Tilt says the MS Mobile 6.0 is buggie and crashes often which causes her to miss many calls. When she needs to access the internet she will grab my iPhone when available she grudgingly admits the interface is far superior and now that the 2.0 software allows her to view Word and Power Point attachments has agreed to take my 1st Generation 4GB iPhone and let me upgrade to a 16GB 3G. One issue I hope Apple works on is the lack of the keyboard rotating on the SMS, email and notes functions

I currently have a windows

I currently have a windows mobile device and it is all I use for navigation. When I am talking on the phone with my bluetooth headset the navigation sounds even come out the bluetooth headset (after a quick regedit).

I take it with me when I leave the car obviously, since it is my phone, and is way easier to carry around and not leave in my car than a full gps unit (and almost just as functional).

iPhone is not just a phone

The iPhone has 8Gb or 16Gb of storage, a much better screen than any GPS I've ever seen, and has multiple connections for data, including GPS, GSM, G3, and 802.11g. It also is fully integrated to Google Maps.

Exactly what can it not do? Turn-by-turn navigation is missing, but that is a design decision, not a shortcoming of the hardware.

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If you wanted to play fair, why are you playing with me?

Re: iPhone is not just a phone

syth wrote:

Exactly what can it not do? Turn-by-turn navigation is missing, but that is a design decision, not a shortcoming of the hardware.

That's why I still use a Windows Mobile platform. HSDPA is nice too. smile

Krieger