Location Based Services

Cell phone navigation looses coverage when you are in non network areas. I found myself several times in an area where I needed to change interstate routes and the Verizon unit didn't work. My Garmin works no matter what the type of phone system I have. It also saves $10 per month on verizon rates for the GPS capability on the cell phone.

I'm guessing that is a "bug" of V1.00 that will be worked out as the service matures.

There is really no reason that your navigation can't continue (at least for a short time) when you don't have cell connectivity........that's assuming this is really GPS service.

The fly in your argument is that cell phones don't have enough memory to store maps so the data is refreshed constantly as you move. Your GPS has the map locally, so the only data it needs is the position data from the satellites.

When I had Verizon Navigator on an enV phone, it seemed the maps were on the Verizon server and not in the phone. The maps were then only available when you were on Verizon towers. If you were on what might be considered "Roaming" towers, the maps were not available and the service was not available. This is not a "bug", it simply is the way Verizon has set the service up. Perhaps it could be different, but they have chosen to work this way. As mentioned earlier, the phone memory is not sufficient to hold the maps and other data needed to operate. I live on the edge of Wisconsin in Iowa and any trip into rural WI simply did not have service. Hence I bought a Nuvi 660. Now I'm wondering if things might improve for Verizon with the new Blackberry they are supposedly bringing out in the near future but I don't know what that phone's capabilities are.