This will work fine in Europe as long as we stay in our own country. The prohibitive rooming costs make us all turn off data when we cross the border.
Long life to GPS devices over here!
Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#22And yet, standalone GPS systems are still absurdly expensive. I was looking at a handheld system with topological map support for hiking this summer, and the Garmin options basically start at $250 - and don't even include the maps, which are $100 on their own. Motorcycle GPS? $700 please. None of Garmin's standalone GPS products are remotely as capable as a free-on-contract Android smartphone, but they cost as much a…
It may be that they feel they can charge more due to offline capabilities of dedicated GPS devices.
Could be. It's definitely possible to do everything offline with a smartphone, but it isn't easy yet. I ended up buying a couple of topo map apps on my iPhone, and they did everything I needed.
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#23One big reason to keep using a dedicated GPS is offline support—as far as I know, both iOS and Android require an internet connection to calculate a route, so if you don't have cell service, you're out of luck. Since dedicated GPS devices have everything locally, they just do all that work without having to talk to a server.
I use the NDrive app for offline mode (pay-per-country-map). Never had a problem with it in several countries, and I go back to Google Navigation when I'm back where data access is. I couldn't imagine using a second GPS unit now after how well the Android is working for me.
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#24One big reason to keep using a dedicated GPS is offline support—as far as I know, both iOS and Android require an internet connection to calculate a route, so if you don't have cell service, you're out of luck. Since dedicated GPS devices have everything locally, they just do all that work without having to talk to a server.
Buy a dedicated navigation app. The Navigon and TomTom iOS apps are every bit as capable as a dedicated GPS, but cost $50.
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#25And yet, standalone GPS systems are still absurdly expensive. I was looking at a handheld system with topological map support for hiking this summer, and the Garmin options basically start at $250 - and don't even include the maps, which are $100 on their own. Motorcycle GPS? $700 please. None of Garmin's standalone GPS products are remotely as capable as a free-on-contract Android smartphone, but they cost as much a…
I used this topographic map app for iOS while hiking the Appalachain Trail last year: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/topo-maps/id306014271?mt=8
It's currently $7.99, and I felt like it was worth every penny. That $8 gets you unlimited downloads of USGS map squares, which are saved for offline use. Although the support for GPX "routes" is a little lacking, the support for "waypoints" is fine. My use case was mostly putting all of the AT shelters in as waypoints so I could answer the question "Oh my god how much farther do I have to go today?" when I took breaks. But it works very well for actual navigation too.
Also, the developer responded within a few hours when I was having trouble downloading a particular map square. It turned out to have more to do with my crappy Edge connection at the time, but still, he was quick to help, always a plus.
The big drawback to not having a dedicated device is battery life. I had to ration out use of my phone pretty strictly at times. Going 4 or more days between chargings doesn't actually let you do very much with it. If you only care about day hikes and overnights, it's not such a big deal, just remember to turn it off when not in use!
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#261) Offline support
2) Devices, maybe, but companies, no. In iOS 6, in very very small print, it says "data provided by TomTom"
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#27Well... the article focuses on the car nav units. I've started using my phone with Waze for car navigation and it works great. So much better than the Nuvi I used prior. But "Portable GPS Devices" are used for more things than car nav. As much as I love my phone, it is no where near as rugged as my DeLorme GPS. When I'm out in the woods hiking or looking for a geocache, I'm not reaching for my phone.
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#28Android's Navigation app first came out a year or so ago and since them I've used it during travel in regions where a network is available. Odd that this is still considered news.
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#29I've got both an Android phone (Galaxy Nexus) and a Garmin in my car. The Android has a smaller screen and more up to date maps. The Garmin shows the maps better (spatial awareness) and its instructions are better, plus more complete when roads do things like fork. Additionally I can actually read the Garmin in sunshine while wearing sunglasses - something that is considerably harder for the Android.
But another generation or two of displays and they'll no longer be an issue. I don't hold out much hope for the friendliness of Google's map display and instructions, but suspect most people won't care, and certainly won't care enough to fork our for a PND.
It is interesting to see how companies are responding. Garmin are now letting their devices cooperate with your phone with SmartLink: http://gpstracklog.com/2012/06/garmin-smartphone-link-review...
Also interesting is the Parrot Asteroid. The concept is great - a head unit running Android - but the implementation is truly awful. http://www.parrot.com/usa/products/bluetooth-hands-free-car-...
Re: Apple, Google Just Killed Portable GPS Devices
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
The upcoming Maps update for Android will have offline support so you can pre-cache a selected area. http://www.theverge.com/2012/6/6/3068113/google-maps-offline...
Will it support offline navigation? Map caching has been available as an experimental feature for quite a long time.
I can't imagine that navigation will work offline. Currently the directions and rerouting are calculated by Google's servers, not on the client device. Obviously trivial routing can be done on the device, but proper routing would need a lot more data to be present, and cover the whole route.