Things not to buy in 2014

[FIREd]

Someone please correct me if I have this wrong, but as I understand it, your GPS app in your phone needs to access data for turn-by-turn directions and route planning.

If you store the maps on your device, it will use the GPS w/o data to tell you where you are, but that's all (and might be enough for you).

App descriptions are not clear on this, it seems to take some digging to distinguish between "here I am" functions, and" turn-by-turn navigation" functions.

The typical handheld GPS device has the routing/planning and turn-by-turn built in. Phone apps go to the cloud for that stuff, so need a data connection. Pre-loading the maps may be able to help cut down on the amount of data, but that might all be app dependent.

-ERD50

Not with Navigon. As an experiment, I turned off cellular data and wifi on my phone, opened Navigon, entered a random destination, and the app could still find my route and give me turn by turn directions. All you need is a GPS signal, just like for a Garmin device.

 

[NW-Bound]

I use Google Maps on my phone and as long as I remembered to cache the map (roughly 50 x 50 mile squares), it will work in offline mode (except traffic info)
There are some paid apps which have full maps in offline mode.

I tried Google map with caching and as you said, it limits the coverage area although my phone has 32GB, far more than the capacity of the DVD map the MS Street & Trip program provided.

Not with Navigon. As an experiment, I turned off cellular data and wifi on my phone, opened Navigon, entered a random destination, and the app could still find my route and give me turn by turn directions. All you need is a GPS signal, just like for a Garmin device.

A smartphone with GPS has a more powerful CPU with more memory compared to a stand-alone GPS, so conceivably an app would be all one need.

I have seen smartphone apps advertised as low as $2.99, so wonder if these would work as well as Navigon at $59.99. When something is so cheap, it does make you wonder.

 

[ERD50]

Not with Navigon. As an experiment, I turned off cellular data and wifi on my phone, opened Navigon, entered a random destination, and the app could still find my route and give me turn by turn directions. All you need is a GPS signal, just like for a Garmin device.

...

A smartphone with GPS has a more powerful CPU with more memory compared to a stand-alone GPS, so conceivably an app would be all one need.

I have seen smartphone apps advertised as low as $2.99, so wonder if these would work as well as Navigon at $59.99. When something is so cheap, it does make you wonder.

Ahhh, thanks for the feedback. When I was researching this a few years back, I was probably only looking at free/nominal cost (<$5) apps. If it takes something like a $50 app, I probably would have missed it.

Good to know if I ever need to replace my seldom used old GPS.

-ERD50

 

[NW-Bound]

Google Map when offline and with the small cached map still does what you described, i.e. tell you the present position in the cached map but not providing direction.

I have not downloaded and tried any of the cheapo map apps, but a review I read said quite a few of them will download entire countries if not a large region or a big city. I found these by googling "iphone offline map app review". And some use the "openstreetmap" which I guess is open source.

Some apps are even free, I guess because they make money by loading the city map with businesses that pay for advertisements.

 

[travelover]

The snow plow sets my heavy duty 92 F250 down in the front pretty good, but most minivans are front wheel drives, so I guess it wouldn't matter if the back wheels are in the air.

I did say most people.
Most people don't put a snow plow on the front of their vehicle.

 

[travelover]

...........A smartphone with GPS has a more powerful CPU with more memory compared to a stand-alone GPS, so conceivably an app would be all one need..................

I wonder if these apps can be moved from phone to phone. For me, a GPS stand along unit would get replaced less often than a smart phone.

 

[mpeirce]

I wonder if these apps can be moved from phone to phone. For me, a GPS stand along unit would get replaced less often than a smart phone.

At least with iPhones, once you buy an app it's yours forever. When you buy a new phone, it loads all the apps you had before. In fact, if you have multiple devices (say an iPhone, an iPad, and an iPod touch) an app can go on to each device if you want it to.

 

[mpeirce]

Eventually the gps in phone vs built-in will probably be a moot point:

The last and best feature of the car is Honda's GPS solution: it's your phone. You can order the car with navigation for something around $1500, or you can download the HondaLink app from Honda for $59.99 and get something better. With the app, the car will display your phone's GPS on its seven-inch display. That means as you upgrade your phone, you'll be upgrading your GPS, too. I can't think of a better system.

The 2015 Honda Fit Is How To Do A Hatchback Right

 

[FIREd]

I wonder if these apps can be moved from phone to phone. For me, a GPS stand along unit would get replaced less often than a smart phone.

Sure you can. I purchased my Navigon app in 2009 to use on my iPhone 3G. I have since moved it to my iPhone 4, and now to my iPhone 5s - without having to purchase the app again. And I regularly download updated maps for it, for free.

 

[travelover]

Sure you can. I purchased my Navigon app in 2009 to use on my iPhone 3G. I have since moved it to my iPhone 4, and now to my iPhone 5s - without having to purchase the app again. And I regularly download updated maps for it, for free.

Thanks, that would make it much more practical. I have an IPod Touch Gen 3 that is quickly becoming a paperweight, so I'm a little cautious about the long term value of apps.

 

[NW-Bound]

I will still keep the MS Street & Trip running on a netbook perched on the RV big dashboard for my treks. Stand-alone GPS or smartphones can't beat that big display which lets me look at my position on the route with a glance.

For a pocket GPS, as I am a latecomer to smartphones, I find that the small map display of the iPhone is quite pleasing because of its higher resolution than many standalone GPS's. I just do not want to stick my nose to it while I am driving.

And then, I already have the old Garmin 76 for hiking. It has WAAS, though the better accuracy over an iPhone is not really important. It is truly waterproof and will float if dropped in water. I will keep that GPS forever.

 

[SteveNU]

Someone please correct me if I have this wrong, but as I understand it, your GPS app in your phone needs to access data for turn-by-turn directions and route planning.

If you store the maps on your device, it will use the GPS w/o data to tell you where you are, but that's all (and might be enough for you).

App descriptions are not clear on this, it seems to take some digging to distinguish between "here I am" functions, and" turn-by-turn navigation" functions.

The typical handheld GPS device has the routing/planning and turn-by-turn built in. Phone apps go to the cloud for that stuff, so need a data connection. Pre-loading the maps may be able to help cut down on the amount of data, but that might all be app dependent.

-ERD50

Check out copilot, I have it loaded on my tablet. You download the north America map and then you can use it just like a GPS unit. No data connection required. Seems to work good for me.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

 

[ERD50]

Check out copilot, I have it loaded on my tablet. You download the north America map and then you can use it just like a GPS unit. No data connection required. Seems to work good for me.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

Thanks, looks like the $10 version of co-pilot does what I want.

A little searching, and I also found a ref to this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.osmand&hl=en

It's free, uses the open source maps (which seem to get good marks for getting fast updates/corrections), and says all 'main features' are available off-line, and it can store maps to the SD card, which it sounds like Co=Piolt does not support.

I wish there was a standard 'feature list' for comparing these apps, it's really tough to sort it all out. But since OSMAnd is free, I'll give it a try on DW's Samsung Exhibit II.

-ERD50