Mobile with built in gps navigation

[JohnP]

I have a Garmin 1490 for the car and love the way it finds my overnight hotel anywhere in Europe. 

I am about to buy a new mobile and might go for a smartphone with 'built in gps navigation' but no idea what it really means.

Are maps onboard?  Can routes be planned?  Is a connection needed to follow maps while riding?  Does it work the same as Garmin/TomTom and not need the phone connection?

Pretty basic questions really.

[Wobbly John]

I have recently got a Nokia 5230, which has GPS. It can work as a sat nav without connection and has maps onboard. It works well as a car sat nav, but the GPS is very battery hungry. It can find hotels, garages, bus shelters, etc. but needs internet connection, as do updated maps, which are free for most parts of the world.

Routes can be planed on Nokia's Ovi maps and downloaded to the phone, but it is not possible to work from other people's .GPX files.

I also have the SportsTracker GPS app downloaded, which turns the phone into a GPS device for logging rides - again it is very battery hungry but works well once it has picked up the satellites (takes a couple of minutes), and can output the route as a .GPX file.

You can get the phone I am using for about £80 on PAYG, but the battery life is going to be the problem if you want to use it to navigate by bike. Some forummites are working towards charging from dymano, but Nokia uses it's own connectors for charging - not mini-usb. 
 

[JohnP]

Thanks John.   I usually switch the car satnav off when not needed so would probably do the same with a mobile so battery life may not be critical.  Currently looking at the HTC Wildfire.

[toontra]

Currently looking at the HTC Wildfire.

I think the Orange San Francisco is about the cheapest and best value for money GPS-enabled smartphone at the moment - under £100.  Worth a look.

[andygates]

Cars have 12v sockets, so battery life is irrelevant: just plug in a 12v-to-USB adaptor.  The current crop of Androids have Google Maps, which has navigation with turn-by-turn routing that talks to you.  You just need enough data in your package, but it's not a huge hog.

[Clandy]

I can use my iPhone as a fully featured satnav, but I had to pay for the TomTom app to do it.

[JohnP]

Cars have 12v sockets, so battery life is irrelevant: just plug in a 12v-to-USB adaptor.  The current crop of Androids have Google Maps, which has navigation with turn-by-turn routing that talks to you.  You just need enough data in your package, but it's not a huge hog.

I was asking about mobile satnav on a bike so 12v-to-USB may not work. 

[toontra]

I was asking about mobile satnav on a bike so 12v-to-USB may not work.  

If you mean mounted on the handlebars, I'm not sure that is practical.  Smartphones are not built to be rattled around, are not waterproof, would need the screen lit to be of any use (VERY heavy on battery use), etc.

[Oaky]

I can use my iPhone as a fully featured satnav, but I had to pay for the TomTom app to do it.

I don't have one, but there is a (free) Navfree iphone app.  This uses OSM mapping (which you download onto the device - probably best to do this on WiFi rather than on your data connection).

chief (of this parish) showed it to me a while back - it looks pretty good.  It needs a data connection for address lookups, but the maps are stored onboard.

[Jaded]

I certainly wouldn't want to use my iphone on the handlebars. For the reasons said above, its a pretty rough environment for an expensive piece of equipment that isn't designed for that purpose. Secondly because I need my phone as a phone and a back-up navigation device. If the battery and back up battery went flat then I'd be stuffed - back to maps and phone boxes.

I do have my Garmin Edge 705 on the handlebars, but that is what it is designed for. I have a battery pack in my saddlebag as backup and run a USB lead along the top tube. I keep the battery out of the elements to avoid windchill on it and the consequent drop in performance in the winter.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Dahon do an iPhone mount that is weatherproof and protects against road shock. With the addition of a rubberband (to stop the mount letting the phone escape on rough roads), it works reasonably well. The Dahon Reecharge keeps the iPhone topped up, though it seems to have a few idiosyncrasies that I still need to investigate.

[frankly frankie]

Yes - useful for backup, and, it has to be said, hard to go back to the dim Garmin screen after playing with one of these shiny things for a while - but battery life is a major problem.

Currently looking at the HTC Wildfire.

We went shopping for a Wildfire for Sheila but eventually walked out with a Desire, and I don't regret it.  It's all about the screen with these things, so a bit pointless not to go the whole hog IMO - and the keyboard is a bit of an issue on the smaller Wildfire screen.

Even the latest Google maps seems only to cache a rather limited amount of map on the SD card, so I put Alpinequest on, this uses maps stored on card (it can download 'live' maps as well, but it isn't the default) and is nice to use in a quirky, androidy sort of way.  Easy to load and display tracks, easy to record current track, probably not up to more advanced navigation tasks.
Sheila's touring in India at the moment so Gmaps isn't really an option - the offline maps are essential - the Garmin is for on-the-bike use, but Alpinequest is very nice for browsing ahead in the evenings.

[andygates]

There were plenty of iphones on handlebars for last year's Dunwich: it was the gadget trend of the year. 

Waterproofness and robustess are why I bought the Motorola Defy. 

Running GPS all the time, most smartphones will give you "some hours" depending on what else you're doing.  2 is bad, 6 is amazing.  Both are well short of the 12+ that a set of batteries in a dedicated GPS will get you, which is why there are several threads on batteries, bike-chargers and solar power here...

[StuAff]

Currently looking at the HTC Wildfire.

I think the Orange San Francisco is about the cheapest and best value for money GPS-enabled smartphone at the moment - under £100.  Worth a look.

+1. Delighted with mine. Screen is excellent, responsive enough. Very easy to unlock FOC, and though it comes with Android 2.1 (and loaded with Orange-branded crud), versions of 2.2, or 2.1 without the crud, are available and easy to install.

[toontra]

Currently looking at the HTC Wildfire.

I think the Orange San Francisco is about the cheapest and best value for money GPS-enabled smartphone at the moment - under £100.  Worth a look.

+1. Delighted with mine. Screen is excellent, responsive enough. Very easy to unlock FOC, and though it comes with Android 2.1 (and loaded with Orange-branded crud), versions of 2.2, or 2.1 without the crud, are available and easy to install.

Yes, this is the one to bring smartphones to the masses for all the reasons you mention.  Apart from the lower processor speed they have everything the iPhones And Desires have (including amazing screens) but for about 25% the price, and as you say they are far more configurable.  A real game-changer IMO.

But there's no way I'll be sticking it on my handlebars 

[JohnP]

There is no way I'm attaching mine to my bars either - in fact I only ever said I wanted to use it while riding. e.g. not while walking, not while driving, not while sitting on a bus.  Pockets or map pocket on bar bag do it for me.

Wildfire bought this morning now just need to see how it works.

Cheers guys.

[AndyH]

I bought a wildfire, very pleased with it. I use Viewranger with a free 1:250000 map of the UK, and copilot for my car satnav (I hardly ever need a satnav).

Viewranger is simply to work out where I am if lost. On the bike my venerable edge 305 does everything I generally need.

[JohnP]

Getting used to the wildfire.  So far does what I expected.  Got me from AL7 to IKEA @ Edmonton even if an A406 problem made the 19 miles take 90 minutes.  Couldn't carry 2x floor lamps weighing 15kg each on the bike and they were not available for delivery so I sat in the mid morning A10 queue.