car navigation: phone GPS vs stand-alone unit

[ArmchairAthlete]

I'm thinking about replacing my crappy Sony Ericsson T610, but I'm also thinking about buying a GPS unit for my car. And I see that some phones have GPS capabilities and even turn-by-turn navigation, so perhaps buying two devices could be avoided if a phone has a decent solution.

How do you guys think phone GPS compares to Garmin/TomTom/etc units that just do GPS for your car? By plugging the phone into the 12V slot I don't think battery life is an issue as seems to be brought up in some threads I was looking at here.

It sounds like with say the iPhone turn-by-turn GPS is "coming" but not here yet (TomTom I think). I know it has Google Maps now, but how well does that work for navigating in your car? Surely not as well as buying a stand-alone car GPS, but is it passable?

What about other phones? Does anyone here regularly use GPS in their car on, say, a blackberry? I suppose there's getting a data plan to look at, but do you always have to?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

My Curve has Sprint Navigation which is Telenav with is turn by turn directions with audio - works awesome. I also have google maps but you constantly press a key for the next turn rather than it being automated and no voice is included. I've never had a navigation unit in my car so I can't really compare to one but if it's anything like Telenav - it rocks.

 

[ArmchairAthlete]

So from Telenav's website it looks like you have to pay them separately $10 a month? If that's true that kinda sucks... no way to just buy the software to have forever?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

With Sprint, it's included in their Everything plans. Unlimited.

 

[Muadib]

One huge knock against car navigation is the cost to get the latest upgrades. I have a TL, and they want $185 for the DVD with the 2008 version.

The cost of the car unit is another negative. The unit is usually thrown into a costly option package. When I got the TL in 2004, the nav was $2000. I thought that was ok back then, because the cost of portable units weren't that far from 2k. However, nav in the 2008 TL is a $2500 option! With good portable units costing less than $500, I won't be getting the car unit next time around.

Phone GPS is not the way to go either, IMO. AT&T wants $10 a month for the service, and they charge you for the data used. I just got the iPhone, so I'm hoping the Tom Tom app will be all everyone thinks it will be. I see the speaker in the iPhone being a big problem. There's no way I can hear it over a car radio.

Unless you have someone riding shotgun, Google Maps is a joke.

Portable GPS units are the way to go, IMO. They have one big negative too, and that is the risk of theft. A co-worker got his stolen out of the parking lot at work. He took it out of the window, but didn't remove the suction cup. Of course, he left it in the car, making him just another smash & grab statistic.

 

[iahk]

There are a few positives with a cell phone with gps that you dont really think about until you run across them. There are all sorts of apps that use gps for reasons other than directions. The iphone has quite a few creative ones, ie random restaurant chooser around your area. You'll also always have it with you.. for example if you were out with some friends and needed to get somewhere new and you weren't the driver.

ATT Navigator and Sprint Navigation are both powered by telenav. I only have experience with Sprint Navigation but as far I can see, ATT Navigator is the same.

Sprint Navigation has 3-4 options. You can pay $2.99 per use and have 24hr access to it. You can pay $9.99 per month for unlimited usage. Or, get a data premier bundle which includes unlimited web (among other things) with unlimited navigation for $25/month. Or like was mentioned above, get the Simply Everything rate plan that includes everything.

ATT Navigator only has $2.99 per use for 24hr access and $9.99 per month unlimited usage.

Just keep in mind that if you wanted an iphone, these solutions are not compatible with it. The current gps apps for the iphone do not have voice navigation.

 

[bassoprofundo]

I use an AT&T Tilt and iGuidance navigation software and love it. If I used the GPS more than a few times a month, I might be more inclined to get a dedicated unit, but it's very handy and cost-effective to have it integrated into my phone and also not have to pay a monthly service fee to keep it active (just a one-time $99 to buy it). If I switch phones, I can keep the software, too, so I don't worry about recouping the purchase expense of the software.

 

[uli2000]

I use iguidance on my ppc6800. I have tomtom 6 on their as well. Iguidance is easier to use, but tomtom lets you have custom poi's. But if you dont want to invest in either, and have a capable phone, google maps (pretty much any platform), Windows live (WM only as far as I know, but it much better than google maps), and ***** (free, has voice guidance, but kinda buggy) are all free options. Just remember, they all use data, so if you dont have unlimited data it could get expensive. Also, since they use data, if you cant get a signal, they wont work.