Eligiable for new phone and I had a thought...

[wiz1974]

I received notification that I am eligible for a new phone upgrade and on the message was an image of a phone with a gps screen and that got me to wondering...

Has or does anyone use a gps/navigation enabled phone with maybe an intecom for voice directions? I would love to have gps, but do not want a big device mounted on the bike that I have to worry about taking with me everytime I get off the bike.

Any comments, ideas, feedback, phones/blackberry being used...?

 

[wfooshee]

I have GPS in my Windows Mobile 6 phone, I can use it with either Google Maps Mobile or DeLorme Street Atlas, either the built-in GPS which is uite slow to acquire a fix, or with a separate Bluetooth GPS receiver, which is fast but another box to carry around.

Neither is even remotely as useful as the Garmin 2610 on the handlebar mount.

Google Maps Mobile is almost useless for routing, other than a start and end point. DeLorme is actually rather good, as long as you do it on the PC or laptop first, and copy the routes into the phone.

The phone has audio prompts while tracking a route, but it doesn't give them over Bluetooth so I have no way to get them into my helmet. There's a set of wired stereo earbuds that came with the phone, haven't tried them with this.

I've used the DeLorme for years in the car, and it's great. On the bike, the only way I can use it is to stop and take a fix, see where I am if I'm lost. I don't have a mount for the phone, which might help, but the screen's too small to use like that, and no good in bright light, either.

Out in the world, I can't route with just the phone, I need to use the laptop and download the generated route. The phone is just too slow. It might route me from town to town, but it takes forever, and I can't drop waypoints or vias to adjust the route. The 2610 will route whatever I need right in the unit if I come up with a need for an alternate plan from what I had when setting out.

That said, the Garmin PC software sucks royally, but DeLorme will make files it that MapSource can read to get them into the 2610, and there's a method used by others to get from Microsoft Streets and Trips into the Garmin. MS S&T is not available for Windows Mobile any more, by the way.

I'm working on a comparison "test" of Streets and Trips, Street Atlas, and MapSource, applied to both a Garmin GPS and to a mobile device like PocketPC or Windows Mobile. It'll be a while, though, but hopefully that might help somebody in your position in the future.

Bottom line, don't try to use the phone for GPS instead of a real unit. I tried, it was dismal. Much harder to use than in the car.

 

[Philip]

some of the newer PDA style phones do not need another box to work as a GPS, such as the HTC Mogul which I have it comes with the tele nav software, it covers almost all the bases as far as GPS, MP3/Music, phone and so on . The GPS is not very feature rich for sure but I have found it to be sufficiently speedy in acquiring and I cna listen to music take calls and get the gps directions thru the some Body Glove headphones.

I like this route.

 

[kenporider]

Mine has gps. I can get the directions through the bluetooth. It's nice to be able to get directions in a pinch but it's not nearly as convenient as a Garmin. If you're getting a new phone anyway and have a data plan, might as well get one that's gps enabled at least as a backup.

 

[ejworthen]

I may be wrong, but don't most carriers charge extra to use GPS on a phone? Seems to me that in the long run it would be cheaper to buy a dedicated GPS versus paying a monthly fee to use it on a phone.

 

[Geezer]

I understand the advantages of having a single device perform many functions, but I'd rather have dedicated devices because they generally have more function and when one device fails you don't lose everything.

Are any of those gps enabled PDA phones water resistant? Is the screen big enough to see it while you ride without having to take your focus off the road for more than a brief glance? Or do you just keep it in your pocket and rely on voice commands to navigate?

 

[BrunDog]

It is true that the dedicated devices work better.

The PDA phone includes more than one dedicated device function and is infinitely upgradeable. That is why I use it.

It is not waterproof, that is why the aforementioned aquabox, which has a clear lens for access to the touchscreen. The screen is generally NOT bright enough in the sunlight, and I do use the voice command functions for controlling it (voice recognition).

BTW, I recommend iGuidance as the best, easiest to use, touchscreen friendly nav software. It rocks the casbah!

-BD