First, I'd like to point out that I've never owned a stand alone dedicated GPS device up to this point, but I've used them many times and understand their strengths and weaknesses. This isn't a review of dedicated GPS devices, but I will tell you I will probably own a Navigon 2100 Max sooner than later, and the following are some reasons why I'm switching to a dedicated device...
The first GPS experience I "owned" was the Palm GPS kit for the Treo 650. It consisted of a dedicated Bluetooth GPS unit and Tom Tom Navigator software. I have to say that this combination was generally VERY good. The Tom Tom software was literally identical to the standalone units, and the GPS receiver was a REAL chipset being used in regular standalone devices. The feature set was great, and navigation was easily as good as a standalone unit. So you may be asking, what's the problem? Well, all was great until the phone rang and you took the call. During the call, any turns, exits to take, etc, would not be announced because you were on the phone and it basically was put on pause. Another downside was that, because the GPS was Bluetooth, you couldn't use a Bluetooth headset at the same time for calls... And I don't like to hold the phone while driving. The other piece that bugged me was the multiple devices and having to plug both it. The plugging in part was actually pretty ingenious on Palm's part, because they gave you a car adapter with two charging wires for both the phone and GPS. The last piece is that the kit cost about $250, which was cheap for GPS back when I bought it (VERY cheap actually), but map updates through Tom Tom are not cheap and are one off things.
My next GPS experience was through Verizon with their VZNavigator application. Now that I have a Sprint BB and tried their navigation software, I can say that VZNavigator rocks! ... For a *phone* GPS that is. Verizon also updated their software to include traffic updates, but that was less impressive and didn't seem to route you around it... Just showed you when you would slow down (weak). The nice idea about a GPS service like this is that map updates would happen automatically and faster (in theory). However, because of the nature of that service being that the maps/software was NOT on the phone, it 1) took longer to route the trip, and 2) would have to recalculate much more if you went off route, say due to construction or an accident. It certainly would recover, but it seemed it didn't have enough data and couldn't easily pick an alternate route. In fact, it seems you don't get any real choices in choosing routes at all. You have no way to say, "avoid this area because I know it's a mess". Though, not all standalone GPS units have those features either, but the Tom Tom and Navigon I know do. One great thing about the Verizon solution was that my Bluetooth headset worked, and in fact it spoke the directions into my headset, and allowed me to use it during calls (but I would often *not* take a call because the GPS would stop working during that time). So, in closing on the Verizon solution, I'd have to say the it is by far the best *phone-based* GPS solution I've been able to use.
Sprint's solution on the BlackBerry is weak. But I should start off by discussing my reasons for thinking it might be better. 1) The BlackBerry Curve 8330 has a built-in GPS chipset that is autonomous from the cellular transceiver. In theory, this *should* provide better response and ability (in practice, it felt worse than the Verizon solution without a real GPS chipset). 2) Sprint said the GPS was "simultaneous and autonomous", and this made me think that it would work even when I was on a call... It doesn't. I should say that in all cases of phone-based GPS, when you finish the call, the GPS does pick back up where you are, but it's not the speediest thing (in all cases except for the Palm Tom Tom solution which kept the GPS going the entire time), and if you missed a turn while in the call you are in for a lot of rerouting and trying to get back on track. Sprint uses TeleNav for its service, and I think it sucks compared to VZNavigator. I also tried the BlackBerry Maps application, and while it felt more like a traditional GPS centric app, it was one from 1999, and it also became apparent how often the GPS chipset was losing a fix.
I've seen some AT&T phone GPS solutions and wasn't impressed. I also don't think anyone should pick a carrier for a GPS solution, but rather buy a standalone unit.
This is one area where I DON'T believe a multi-use device is capable enough. However, having the feature could come in handy in a pinch, and I don't know that I would be upset because something is better than nothing. Also, I had too many times where I had to take calls while driving (it's part of my job) and got way off track. One time, I was on a conference call that I had to participate in and it was even running long, so it went on for over an hour, and I realized I was no longer on the right path. I actually had to hang up and wait for the GPS to get itself together which took longer than normal and then it had to go through calculating a completely new route. It turns out I went 30 minutes out of my way, so that phone call added an hour to my trip. So, while I was hopeful that the Sprint BB would offer better GPS features, I figured I'd be buying a standalone soon enough.
As it turns out, this post took me two days to complete (I'm busy) and I ordered a standalone GPS to arrive today in time for my week long trip next week. I will be posting my review of my new GPS soon.
Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone with SprintSpeed
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