SatNav phone recommendations?

Posted by: Willy on 25 January 2008

Most weeks I fly to mainland, rent a car and drive somewhere. Mostly this is straightforward if I pre-plan the route on google. Sometimes if they book me into an obscure hotel it can be a pain to find (especially in the dark/wet/oncoming headlights/lack of readable road signs).
Solution would seem be a phone with sat nav capability. I carry two phones, one for work (no camera allowed) and one personal so not overly concerned about run time or anything like that.
So far have had hands on with a Nokia 6110 Navigator supplied by Vodafone. I installed the UK maps off supplied CD and they show up as locked. Apparently a known problem and I can take it to a Nokia store or post it off to Nokia (turnaround 20 days) to fix it. Told Vodafone to come and collect it and cancel the contract.
Other option I've looked at are Xda Orbit (cocerned about having MS software on board).

Any thoughts, suggestions, recommendations?


Willy.
Posted on: 09 February 2008 by Willy
Since no-one told me not to I went ahead and got the Xda Orbit 2. Lovely bit of kit. Got it all fired up browsing over gprs, then over my wifi, sync'd with outlook. Tried the satnav, copilot 7, and it started "Installing updates" and hung there. Call to support. Back to shop. None in stock to check against so they ordered a new one. On the way home my daughter was surfing via gprs. Network was popping in and out and when I got home IE wouldn't connect via my wifi (the wifi network is connected to the phone but IE ignores this). Now reduced to a white screen of death for IE. Sort of vindicates my concerns over all things MS. This is going back and I'll wait for iPhone to introduce a 3G & GPS model.

Willy.
Posted on: 09 February 2008 by Exiled Highlander
Willy

Why not just buy a SatNav and be done with it?

Cheers

Jim
Posted on: 09 February 2008 by northpole
Willy

I second Jim's suggestion. Mobile phones trying to do too many things tend to trip themselves up at the first hurdle.

Buy yourself a dedicated satnav - I reckon it'll be far and away the most sensible solution.

Best part of a year ago I bought a Mio thingy which is portable enough to carry in a jacket pocket and use on foot - especially useful if you are in a strange town. Came with full Europe maps.

Peter
Posted on: 09 February 2008 by Exiled Highlander
Willy

My job involves a considerable amount of travel and the only way I have been able to hotels. offices etc in many strange cities across the US (oops, are all US cities strange by definition?) is largely down to Hertz NeverLost sat nav system.

I splashed out and bought my own Tom Tom even though my phone (Blackberry Curve) purports to do GPS navigation, in reality it is next to useless.

Cheers

Jim
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by Willy
Already carry two phones with me so a dedicated satnav would be a third bit of kit to lug around (fourth if you count the laptop). Just trying to be lazy.

Willy.
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by Tony Lockhart
Although my SE P990i is a bit of a pain at times as a phone/pda, the Tom Tom I added has turned out to be quite good. And all for £20 from eBay between me and a mate!

Tony

PS. I'm not recommending the P990i!! Just the Tom Tom software.
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by John Channing
One option would be the new Nokia N82.
John
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by Willy
Trouble is that while O2 were playing with my Orbit trying to get it to work I was playing with an iPhone. Going back to Windows Mobile (or even Symbian) after that isn't an option.

Willy.
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by Tony Lockhart
Everyone I know with an iPhone has just unlocked them this weekend. Seems a demon code-breaker has done a proper job. Still, £260 for a phone still makes me wince! And no Bluetoothing (except to a headset), no surfing AND receiving a call (goes to answerphone).... My P990i isn't perfect, but at least they tried!

Tony
Posted on: 10 February 2008 by Jay
Just picked up an iPhone today after owning and selling on an iPod touch. I couldn't see anything else on the the market that does the job it does (I don't need BT).

I would've picked up an N95 except I just don't like the little buttons and the email interface just sucks....it's a stunning piece of equipment but I can understand why it wouldn't suit everyone. I would like it to be smaller. Oh well can't have EVERYTHING!
Posted on: 11 February 2008 by Willy
Size does matter! I can operate the iPhone with my large blunt fingers and without the need to resort to my specs. With the windows mobile interface on the xda orbit (2.8" screen) I need my specs and even then struggled to hit the tiny keyboard correctly with the supplied stylus.
The user interface of the iPhone is in a whole different league to Windows Mobile.


Willy.