iphone v. gps system?
 

We are going to be touring through southern France and en route to Barcelona next month. Our plan had been to purchase a GPS but my husband has recently purchased an iphone and he has discovered that it can provide in great detail routes and directions. Can anyone offer up reasons why preferring the iphone to the GPS would NOT be a good idea? Any experiences with both so that we can compare?

The no. 1 reason not to use the iphone overseas is that you will pay international roaming rates for every kilobyte you use accessing the GPS system.

yikes! Never thought about that.

Neither did my colleague who returned from Brazil to a $400 cell phone bill!

Thank you dmlove!!!!

If you purchase a new GPS, be sure it has maps for the area you're traveling to. If you buy it in the U.S., likely you will have a detailed U.S. map and base maps for much of rest of the world. You won't be able to navigate outside of the U.S. with the base maps. I bought the UK/Ireland map on SD Card for our UK trip this last July and brought my Nuvi 360 with us. It was indispensable! I don't think I'll take another trip without it.

John

There is no charge for using the GPS system on an iPhone unless you use the built-in application, a derivative of Google Mobile Maps (which gets its map data in real time from Google's servers).

But there is a lot of third-party development going on in this area. I just googled <b>iphone gps application</b> and found quite a number of aftermarket GPS programs to fill the niche left by Apple for voice directions and off-network navigation (<i>i.e.</i>, onboard data).

I don't care about iPhone enough to research this any further, but the information is there for anyone who is.

In any case, just make sure that your iPhone's data feature is turned off before you fire it up on foreign soil.

bkmk

&quot;There is no charge for using the GPS system on an iPhone unless you use the built-in application&quot; is only true if you happen to be able to use WiFi. If you're not connected to a free WiFi service, then the iPhone will switch to AT&amp;T's roaming network while in Europe, which is very expensive, even with their 20 and 50 mb programs.

If you are using the iPod Touch, which has the same programs as the iPhone, will only work when connected to a WiFi service.

T-Mobile's Blackberry service has an excellent mapping system, as well as a pay-for-use GPS service.

The iPhone solution appearing problematic I would just acquire a dedicated Garmin Nuvi 370 which already has built-in maps of Europe and the US.

We just came back from Italy, Croatia and Germany and (as said above) it proved totally indispensable. We used it to track us on trains, while driving in cars, ferries on the Dalmatian Coast and it even worked in pedestrian mode in VENICE!! If you're familiar with the jumble of streets that make up that city, that is nothing short of miraculous in my mind.

Best of all, the Garmin Nuvi 370 was down to $244 on Amazon a few days ago (11/4/08 time frame).

No matter what you choose, have fun on your trip!!!

<b>Listen to me!</b>

Robert2533 is just flat wrong. You can use the iPhone's GPS without a data connection of <i>any kind</i> (either cell, which IS very expensive in Europe, or WiFi). You just can't use Google Maps.

With a third-party navigation program, you can turn off international roaming and use the iPhone GPS in Europe at a total cost of zilch (well, you'll have to pay for the program and maps). Here's one such application on the horizon: http://www.iphonebuzz.com/turn-by-tu...way-154299.php

But I wouldn't buy an iPhone. The Google G1 is $180 for new customers: t-mobileg1.com

Note to would-be &quot;experts.&quot; If you don't know what you're talking about, your advice is worse than useless.

<i>Note to would-be &quot;experts.&quot; If you don't know what you're talking about, your advice is worse than useless.</i>

Oh please. You are touting vaporware. The article you linked to is the same rumor that has been circulating ever since the 3G launched. It is not clear that the terms of Apple's SDK will allow any 3rd party to even offer a GPS solution for the iPhone.

The fact of the matter is, at this time, there is no program available that will allow you to use the GPS maps without a data connection. And even with a data connection, the iPhone does not offer the most significant functionality of a GPS system - turn by turn directions.

If you are aware of any actual, working full GPS solutions for a regular (not jail-broken) iPhone, then please, please do share it with us. I would be eager to try out any such software.

<i>Oh please. You are touting vaporware.</i>

Hence my reference to the &quot;horizon.&quot;

If caroltis wants a phone that's also a GPS that will work in Europe right out of the box, the iPhone is not a viable choice. But there are some.

Both my Wing and iPAQ 6510 meet the stated criteria. I've used them both in Europe with a $5.99 data plan. Mobile Maps is built into the Google G1 as shipped.If you <u>must</u> have that Apple cachet, go fish.

Wing for $50: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/tmobile1

Freedom GPS fob $70

Robespierre - I do have an iPhone and used it a short time ago in Spain. The WiFi works fine.

Oh, Spain has WiFi coverage from Gibraltar to the Pyrenees? Who knew?

Robert - everyone knows iPhone works on a wireless net. The subject is: what about everywhere else?

If you are not on a wireless network, free or otherwise, the iPhone switches to the AT&amp;T roaming network, whatever that may be and you end up paying for data service while roaming. No matter what the application is, you are either going to be on a wireless network or paying for a phone connection.

There is no such thing as a &quot;free&quot; GPS app on the iPhone (AT&amp;T will not allow such a thing), or the Blackberry for that matter, but the mapping system works very well on both systems.

To summarize:

1. The iPhone as shipped includes a crippled version of Google Mobile Maps. This will work anywhere in the world on WiFi, and in the U.S. on cell data. It doesn't have audible prompts, and it doesn't cache map data.

2. To use iPhone's GPS in Europe, you either have to be close to a WiFi access point or pay exorbitant rates for AT&amp;T roaming. Or unlock it and use another carrier's SIM, which voids the warranty.

3. Third-party GPS applications for iPhone that don't require a data connection are available - but only if you're willing to &quot;jailbreak&quot; your iPhone, which voids the warranty.

4. I don't like Steve Jobs telling customers what they can and can't do. None of my phone/gps/internet handhelds has any of the iPhone's restrictions or limitations.

Note to would-be &quot;experts.&quot; If you don't know what you're talking about, your advice is worse than useless.'

Like a lot of your so-called advice on using mobile in UK?

Are you referring to your stupid idea that the only thing one should buy just to keep in touch in Blighty is the latest quad-band phone?

Or your &quot;expert&quot; opinion that the Siemens A55 sold by telestial.com is obsolete - and therefore useless - just because they stopped making it three years ago?

See if you can find agreement on either of those primitive notions - or user reports stating that the A55 is unsatisfactory in any way - and get back to us.

I just remembered the incorrect advice you spewed all over this thread: fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?tid=35160582