SatNav on Android phone versus standalone SatNav unit?

waterwatereverywhere

Hi

I've been looking to get my first SatNav unit for ages - have always been considering a standalone SatNav unit for the car, ideally one with traffic updates. I still always look at maps beforehand for long/new journeys but would like the SatNav for when I get lost or there are roadwork diversions etc., on my route.

Went into Three yesterday about my mobile broadband and they showed me that the "Android" phones have SatNav built in.

Please can anyone advice how well this built in Android phone SatNav works compared to a separate SatNav unit? Dois it work in the same sort of way and is it as reliable and up-to-date?

The person in the Three shop said I would need to buy something else to get the phone to speak directions in the way a standalone SatNav unit does. Are there any other considerations?

Many thx for any help on this.

tomd84

I had a tomtom for years, then had a few phones with satnavs, then the phone broke so i had to get my tomtom back out, none of the phones were even a patch on how reliable and fast and pinpointing and clear as the tomtom!

CHR15

I use CoPilot on my Desire (Android)
http://www.alk.eu.com/copilot/android/

The built in Google one is okay but I do prefer CoPilot

Not too expensive at £23 from the market. The only warning I will give is that it chews through the battery at an astounding rate (same for any other Satnav on a Mobile phone).

You will NEED a car kit to keep the phone charged. If you don't, you can expect no more than 4hrs use from fully charged to empty.

Mobiles tend to take much longer to get their first GPS fix than a standalone unit.

Esqui

Main downsides to using a phone:

- It drains the battery a lot: you'll need a car charger
- It doesn't come with a mount: you'll need to get one
- If you have no phone signal, you won't be able to plan your route/reroute if you go the wrong way/see the map

custardy

phone sat nav is fine for occasional use
however they are not a patch on a specific sat nav unit
i run a Garmin and have run phones with Garmin software. thy didnt react as fast/give as uch notice of changes as one example

Esqui wrote: »

Main downsides to using a phone:

- It drains the battery a lot: you'll need a car charger
- It doesn't come with a mount: you'll need to get one
- If you have no phone signal, you won't be able to plan your route/reroute if you go the wrong way/see the map

mnd some handsets now have built in GPS and dont need to use cell based systems

JJ_Egan

GPS on stuff like HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S is adequate for occasional use . Screen tends to be smaller than stand alone .
I use Google Navigation on Galaxy S and Co Pilot live plus about four other free mapping software tools .Does the job for me if needed which is very rare as i dont get lost .Therefore would not really be in the market to buy a standalone unit .

jje

real1314

I use the sat-nav on my galaxy portal - runs from google maps and uses gps. I think you can get the voice commands for free from android marketplace, but I've never seen the need.

I've got an in-car charger (£1.50?) so that's all I've had to lay out, but would have got that anyway

pedrothefish

ive used a sat nav on my phones for about 5 years when i was out on the road as an engineer,I used tom tom and IGO 8 and never had any problems just make sure you use a car charger.
my phone is an Acer f900 {2 years old]and it is very quick at finding satellites so i would imagine the newer phones will be even quicker.

OK_Sauce

An interesting question. I have had a Garmin Satnav for years. Very easy to use, nice screen, however it's maps are now very out of date and the battery cannot hold it's charge. The traffic option also gave up working. I thought a replacement would be needed so I investigated a little to see what was around. In the meantime I purchased a Samsung Wave phone with built-in GPS. There was a free trial with it for 30 days using 'Route66' mapping software. I found this to be better than the Garmin mapping. To obtain full mapping including Europe for lifetime upgrades was 49 Euros. It also downloads over the 3G network up to date traffic information, much better than the Trafficmaster over the FM network which was flakey at best. The major downside is the side of the screen. Apart from that there's been nothing it can't do either equally or better than the Garmin. It's taken me around the UK and parts of Europe flawlessly.

OK_Sauce

Sorry triple post...dodgy internet!

Apples2

Is there an echo echo echo