iPhone+GPS: any experience?

[kenw]

trying to avoid buying Darla a separate GPS and want to get an app for her iPhone instead. Realize it may not be as featured as a separate unit, but she doesn't need a thief magnet to worry about.....or something to remember to hide each time she goes somewhere.

and honestly, I'm not sure how much she'll really use it once the novelty wears off; long trips almost always have me driving or at least co-pilot and we all know husbands don't need no stinkin' directions.

seriously, if it works out I do see buying a unit later once she gets used to using one and decides what features really are useful and which ones are not so useful.

So: have you downloaded a GPS app for your iPhone? (hers is a 3gs) Like it? Love it? Hate it? (let me know which to avoid, too, people..) Free is nice, but willing to pay if it is worthwhile. It's still cheaper than a dedicated $150 unit.

tia

[photonewb]

there are a couple of things you can do, AT&T offers a service for a few bucks a month that will offer turn by turn, there's an app in the store that doesn the same, and TOMTOM is coming out with one in the very near future that will even include an external unit for the iPhone to plug into.

Personally, I don't use any right now, and I'm waiting on the TOMTOM app to come out. However the maps on the 3G have gotten me to where I need to go 95% of the time (if I didn't already know). There's been a few occasions where the directions according to Google maps just weren't right.

[Bella]

ditto what Richard said . . .I'm waiting for the tomtom app . . .the service AT&T offers is an additional $10 a month and there's been no indication (that I've seen) of what the cost of the tomtom app will be, or if there will be a monthly charge to use it.

Cindy

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by Bella

ditto what Richard said . . .I'm waiting for the tomtom app . . .the service AT&T offers is an additional $10 a month and there's been no indication (that I've seen) of what the cost of the tomtom app will be, or if there will be a monthly charge to use it.

Cindy

I thought I heard something like a $50 cost when they announced it a while back. I could be wrong though, it does happen now and then.

[Bella]

$50 one time charge would be fine, it's any recurring monthly fee I'm curious about . ..

Bella added 6 Minutes and 51 Seconds later...Double Post Merged Below

Ugh . . just found this

http://www.pcworld.com/article/16972...ce_leaked.html

not sure I'd pay $100 for it, much less almost $200 for the complete kit. I could go buy a stand-alone unit for less than that.

[Crashoran]

$200 is completely overpriced for a plastic suction-cup mount and some software..
Plus I stream Pandora and use the iPod app while I'm driving...how would that work?

[Bella]

From a review of a GPS app callled Navigon . . . .

It's not all Navigon's fault. The iPhone doesn't let you run third-party apps in the background, so you can't take a call and continue to get directions. The app shuts down when a call comes in, and even though you're taken back to the route in progress when the call ends, you have to wait for Navigon to boot up again. Not a speedy process. If you don't know where you're going, heaven knows how many critical turns you might miss?

You're also out of luck if you simultaneously want to use Navigon and, say, a radio app such as Pandora on the iPhone, again an Apple restriction. You can play music through the iPod while continuing to use Navigon. But the volume of the music doesn't decrease when Navigon's female voice speaks, making directions hard to hear. Navigon says a free software update will address the problem. Of course, you can boost the volume of Navigon's voice by connecting the iPhone to your car's speakers through an auxiliary jack. But then you couldn't use the car stereo for any other purpose.

I assume that due to the third party app restrictions, you'd have the same issues no matter which GPS app you chose to run.

Cindy

[Cajungaltx]

Okay... maybe it's me... but I just use the Map feature that's included with the darn phone - it tells you where to go - and how to get there... and it gives you turn by turn directions... it's easier than using a darn map...

[Bella]

Donna, for me, it's the voice navigation I'm interested in. Was hoping the tomtom app would be a viable alternative to stand-alone gps device, but it's not looking promising =(

Cindy

[TrueLuLu]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

Okay... maybe it's me... but I just use the Map feature that's included with the darn phone - it tells you where to go - and how to get there... and it gives you turn by turn directions... it's easier than using a darn map...

I'm with you, Cajungaltx. The MAP feature on my iPhone is my favorite app. It comes standard for no additional fee. I can look up practically any store, landmark, topic (coffee shop), etc. and my iPhone will return locations in the area for my topic. It provides the phone number, address, web site if applicable, and allows me to map the directions to that location from my currently location. It shows traffic jams and satellite views too. Did I say, the MAP app is my favorite on my iPhone?

[photonewb]

Originally Posted by Cajungaltx

Okay... maybe it's me... but I just use the Map feature that's included with the darn phone - it tells you where to go - and how to get there... and it gives you turn by turn directions... it's easier than using a darn map...

use it constantly!

it has however steered me wrong on more than a few occasions :o

I'm sure Chris Ford can chime in there...lol

[Cajungaltx]

Originally Posted by TrueLuLu

I'm with you, Cajungaltx. The MAP feature on my iPhone is my favorite app. It comes standard for no additional fee. I can look up practically any store, landmark, topic (coffee shop), etc. and my iPhone will return locations in the area for my topic. It provides the phone number, address, web site if applicable, and allows me to map the directions to that location from my currently location. It shows traffic jams and satellite views too. Did I say, the MAP app is my favorite on my iPhone?

You should have seen/heard me the first time I realized it did that.

I was headed to Beaumont - and there was nasty construction on the East side of Houston. They were rerouting us off I-10 to 610... I had JUST got my phone. So I pulled up the map... and it asked: Use current location? I said yes, and this little blue dot came up.

And it FOLLOWED ME!!!

I called my husband - once I'd used my handly little app to take some backrouds to get me out of there... lol... exclaiming how freaking cool it was... - his response: Yeah, I knew it did that.

[mathia]

Not the prevailing wisdom, but I prefer having a separate unit. Fumbling with my phone when I might not quite be sure where I am or how to get to where I am going is just a further annoyance and hazard. I have a Blackberry, and the mapping application on it is more than adequate. I do not subscribe to the service that gives voice directions. I picked up a gps unit in a pawn shop for about $70. One evening last week, I decided to update the maps on it, another $70. I realize that I have paid more for the unit along with the update than the service would have cost me for a year, but I don't have a recurring charge and I have the convenience of being able to change my route and have the unit respond accordingly. The other problem with using the mapping application on a phone occurs when one loses reception on their phone. I know that the mapping app is dependent on a satellite connection, but I have seen it happen in low signal areas that it no longer works if the phone does not have reception.
To me, the convenience of a separate gps unit far outweighs any potential downsides. A function dedicated device always seems to trump a multifunction device.

[kenw]

Originally Posted by mathia

.... A function dedicated device always seems to trump a multifunction device.

And would be my preference as well in this particular situation. The method to my madness here is to use an iPhone application to judge longterm whether or not a separate dedicated unit is justified and what features that dedicated device really needs. No need to buy a $400 unit when the $200 unit does all I need it to do. However if a $700 unit is what it takes, then I'll fork it over.

If the iPhone application remains used once the novelty wears off, then a separate unit is going to be my solution for several reasons.

However, if it becomes an infrequently used application on the iPhone then it would be hard to justify a separate dedicated device at all.

So far, my logic goes something like this:

1) 99% of her drives are local, routes she knows well and can manage re-routes and other issues on her own. She's pretty sharp...

2) The included app (iPhone) is very well suited for trip planning; making your plans ahead of time. When the unexpected does happen, the methodology mentioned by Donna appears to be more than adequate; I need to give this a try soon. Any volunteers to shutdown BW8 at IH10 this afternoon so I can test it?

3) IMHO voice commands are in themselves not worth the cost either as an upgrade $$ feature or as a recurring cost to me or her, app or separate device. Maybe someday, but not now. Free? sure, talk to me.

4) The 3rd party app restriction is a deal-killer for longterm app use imho and is probably the main reason driving me to a separate device as the longterm solution. It for all intents limits any app to a trip planner instead of real-time rolling updates, in which case the included maps app is more than adequate. Neither of us is willing to turn off the phone or music just to have a real-time GPS onscreen. However if we are traveling together, there are 2 iPhones available......

thanx for the inputs and comments. Now I just need a roadtrip to somewhere i actually NEED a GPS to give a trial run. Our trip to Yellowstone would have been a good trial....

thanx again

[CFord]

Originally Posted by photonewb

use it constantly!

it has however steered me wrong on more than a few occasions :o

I'm sure Chris Ford can chime in there...lol

Not as far off the mark as Marc's GPS sent him though. I plan on getting an Iphone in the next couple of days and this is one of the reasons I am getting on. The map will probably be all I need.