Stand Alone GPS Sales Slump
Wed, 12/22/2010 - 10:54pm
 15 years
|
It looks like Smartphones are taking a toll on stand-alone GPS units. "USA Today" offered this update: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/news/2010-12-21-gps21_ST_N.htm
"Unit sales of the gadgets, whose purpose is to keep motorists from getting lost, are down 9% through the first 11 months of the year, compared with the same period last year, according to the NPD Group's retail tracking service. In dollars, NPD says sales have skidded off course by 22%."
"Competition from smartphones may be the biggest factor. As of the third quarter, 86% of mobile phones sold in the U.S. had built-in GPS capabilities, according to NPD. Google added to the market disruption when it offered turn-by-turn directions on Android devices for free."
How about an iPod for your MP3's
Any iPod would be a much better device for storing music and podcasts then a GPS. Most new cars these days also have input for them and many have full integration which makes the experience better. While my GPS has mp3 playback and bluetooth I much prefer it's stand alone counterparts for that and let my GPS do what it does best....GPS.
Nuvi 360, OS X Lion 10.7
It's more generational
I'm not certain of the motivating factors in Garmin's designs and feature sets, but the 3700 series uses a glass screen (which isn't as likely to break as the screen on your iPhone, because it isn't carried about).
However;
My car's navigator is attached to my windshield. I personally prefer to have the nav and my phone separate - I can hand the phone to a passenger to do something while the nav stays put. It also operates as my handsfree device. I personally prefer separates.
Having said that, about the only real advantage separates *can* have is that they are purpose-built and aren't intended to sit in my pocket; But they CAN build snap-in mounts for phones and such and eventually there will be even less reason to buy a dedicated navigator.
Some people will continue to purchase stand-alones, no different than that there is still a huge market for basic phones; However the big players will need to adapt or downsize.
Just one user's opinion.
I personally think the debate over smartphones vs. standalones can pretty much be defined over generational boundaries. While there are those on both sides of the line that don't belong to the general group, the bulk of the smartphone advocates are those in what we would call Gen X and later while the standalone advocates such as myself belong to the Boomer generation. It all comes down to personal preference. My son and daughter are smartphone advocates while my wife and i are more for the separate products because it's what we are comfortable with.
Illiterate? Write for free help.
hehe
... Even then, smartphones are not designed to work as a GPS in a car - screen may be way too small or too reflective, sound too weak, they may overheat in the sun, and so on. ...
Wrong on all accounts, but hey if it makes you feel better continue to believe in that.
I've never said that I'm right on all accounts, did you notice qualifier 'may' by any chance? But anyways, since you insist: provide proof that EVERY SINGLE smartphone in existence is DESIGNED to work the same way as car GPS since that what you imply by saying I'm wrong on ALL accounts.
LOL every single smartphone?
Hell not even every single GPS is designed to work this way.
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/21626 - red light cameras do not work
Yes, yes, and yes.
When on a trip and navigating, can you attach your smart phone to your windshield or dashboard? If so, would you? Can you keep the screen from sleeping?
Yes, yes, and yes. It's no different than a standalone GPS. I've run 3 different Droids and they're no different than my Garmin 780. Stick it in the cradle, stick the cradle to the windshield or beanbag mount and run power if desired. By default, if the Droid is powered and in the cradle, a navigation menu is displayed and the display won't timeout regardless of your master display settings. A big bonus (for me at least) is that Droids also have automatic brightness. So unlike my Garmin 780, I don't have to keep messing with brightness settings under varying light conditions during a long trip.
With a smart phone, can you have it create a track log that you can use to track where it was that you went on your trip?
Example: I like to go off-roading, and some of the trails are not on a map, not even a topo map, or the trails on the topo map are just wrong....
With a smart phone, even if it does do a track log, (maybe it does, I am asking...?) can you see segment mph's and times?
Examples: I ride dirt bikes, and like to see how fast I was going and what sand wash I was going down when I did it.
Also, I have friends that race cars, and a GPS that logs tracks will offer track speeds and how fast one was able to go through a corner. Pull them up in Mapsource and view the track details sometime to see what I mean....
Yes, yes, and yes. On my Droid X, I simply run Google's "My Tracks". It records my GPS track and shows live stats (time, speed, distance, elevation, etc.) I can see them real-time or graph the data and/or segments later. I can plot the data in a spreadsheet, do statistical analysis with graphs, overlay the info on Google Maps and share the info with friends.
Google Maps 5.0
I'll try this again, I lost my first reply somehow. The screen layout on the Droid X does not make for easy viewing. They may be the same size but the layout is different. For another thing, I like the direction of travel to be at the top, the DX puts N at the top. The road view is larger in the 660 and lanes appear more easily. I've used several forms of Verizon Navigation from before I got my 660 and I simply don't think it's as good or as user friendly as my 660. I like to put Points on my route and I don't see how you can lay out a route on the Droid either. I like the DX I simply don't see it as a GPS.
As GadgetGuy2008 wrote, make sure you're running Google Maps 5.0. Just tap on the compass symbol in the upper right-hand corner to switch orientation. You can also change from top-down (birds-eye) view to variable tilt-axis by putting two fingers on the map and pulling down. For that matter, you can do a variable direction of travel view by placing two fingers on your map and twisting the map to rotate the view to any degree you desire. If you get lost in your map, tap the compass icon once to center to your current location. Tap the red/white compass needle on the map to re-orient to North-up.