Wanted – idiot’s guide to smartphone-as-GPS

[nirakaro]

Forgive me if this post’s a bit confused and clueless – I’m still largely at the stage of figuring out what the questions are rather than answering them, but…
I’m working towards upgrading from my trusty but antique Magellan Meridian before next spring’s France/Italy tour; and my budget suggests that a smartphone with GPS is more of an option that a dedicated Garmin or similar. I know there are issues such as –
Battery life: It seems this can be sorted with a mix of spare batteries/dynamo and charger/powermonkey-type external battery pack. How do they compare?
Weatherproofness: that’s OK, I don’t like cycling in the rain, and if I have to, I can just put the phone away!
Screen brightness: Some people seem to think that smartphones are virtually unusable in bright sunlight; some people don’t seem to have a problem. Is there a consensus on this? Is it really a deal-breaker?
What phone/what maps?   I want to be able to download all the mapping I’ll need before setting off, rather than paying roaming charges. Openstreemap/opencyclemap seem great, but I can’t seem to download more than a few square kilometres at a time (am I missing something here?), which is a pain if I’m crossing a couple of countries; Ovimaps doesn’t look as good, but I can download it in huge chunks (I think). Does using Ovimaps limit me to using a Nokia phone, or will an app like Viewranger let me use it on anything?
Screen size: I’d prefer a bigger screen, but presumably it’ll eat even more batteries. What’s the best compromise?
Other issues: I’ve listed my known unknowns; what are the unknown unknowns? What haven’t I thought of?
All advice much appreciated!

[fuaran]

What phone/what maps?   I want to be able to download all the mapping I’ll need before setting off, rather than paying roaming charges. Openstreemap/opencyclemap seem great, but I can’t seem to download more than a few square kilometres at a time (am I missing something here?), which is a pain if I’m crossing a couple of countries; Ovimaps doesn’t look as good, but I can download it in huge chunks (I think). Does using Ovimaps limit me to using a Nokia phone, or will an app like Viewranger let me use it on anything?

For using OpenStreetMap - just downloading an image of the map won't be very useful, and as you have found you are limited in how large an area you can download.

What you want is an app for OpenStreetMap. There are plenty to choose from for most of the popular phone operating systems, though probably the best selection for Android.
You can start with the lists here: http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Software/Mobile
Some of the apps allow you to download maps for using offline.

As for which app is best, I'm not sure. If you're using Android, I would suggest trying MapDroyd, OsmAnd or ZANavi to start with.

[Dinamo]

A  for SportsTracker l use it on my Nokia 5230.
Simple to use ( just as well ) and once uploaded a good website to show routes.

[David Martin]

I use TrekBuddy which can be a bit clunky on zooming but will let you create and download maps of arbitrary areas from arbitrary sources off-line. I ran it on a Sony Ericsson, then on Blackberry and currently on Android (HTC Desire S)

I've just added today's rides to OSM, pootling along some of the rather lumpy farm lanes locally.