[M4NN]

...is it just as good / works well as having a separate hand held GPS sat nav device .
something like tomtom in a mobile phone.

thank you.

[lead]

Assuming you're asking if satnav on mobile phones is any good, then the answer is yes.

I have TomTom Mobile v5 on my Vodafone v1240 with a separate BT GPS receiver and it works fine.

[M4NN]

you stated tom tom v5 on your mobile,..
so is tom tom v4 the latest for in-car or is there even a version 5 for that.

thanks.

[avinitski]

have Tom Tom, Garmin and Nokia Maps on my N95, works a treat. Highly recommended.

[Desmo]

TomTom on a phone performs exactly the same as a standalone TomTom unit
But all SatNav is only as good as the GPS receiver you're using so that's the main thing to look out for.

[lead]

Originally Posted by mat1z

you stated tom tom v5 on your mobile,..
so is tom tom v4 the latest for in-car or is there even a version 5 for that.

thanks.

I've not kept up to date with the latest versions. Probably best to check out their website:

http://www.tomtom.com/index.php?Lid=1&selector=true

[dekoded]

I use TomTom navigator 6 on my touch diamond and it works really well.

The main advantage apart from not needing to buy a seperate sat-nav is that you take your phone with you everywhere so you'll always have sat-nav in your pocket! and if you have a phone with built-in gps, which many do now, you won't have 2 or 3 devices to carry around and keep charged.

The VGA screen on my diamond is great for sat-nav as the display is very crisp, the diamond also has an auto screen brightness option which is also quite useful when using it in the car as a sat-nav, although the diamond battery is a bit poor, I always plug it into my cigarette lighter anyway.

I think the most common gps chipset is the 'sirfstar III' which is very good, I can get a satellite fix indoors and because I can use the 'quick gps' function to download location information the time it takes to get a satellite fix is probably quicker than stand-alone sat-navs.

My previous phone, the o2 XDA Orbit 2, even came with co-pilot 7 and a car mount and charger, it cost me £50 on a contract but alot of people spend £150 just on a sat-nav, so if you're thinking about a new phone anyway then it makes sense to get a smartphone or pocket pc, you could always wait for the garmin nuvi phone, more of a sat-nav with phone features than a phone with sat-nav features!

[Tejstar]

I have used TomTom on a Nokia N73 with external GPS receiver and it worked flawlessly and took it recently to a driving holiday around the South Coast of Portugal. I've since bought a Nokia N82 and that also works just as well as a standalone unit. Thoroughly recommended.

[RobM]

I have a HTC TyTn 2 as a work phone loaded with TomTom
I had a Nokia N82 with Garmin XT
I also have a Garmin Nuvi standalone sat nav before both of those.

Once I got the Tom Tom on the work phone I stopped using my standalone Garmin as there was no point. TomTom on the phone did everything just as well and was still perfectly readable, even though the screen was smaller.

I then got the N82 with Garmin XT and preferred using that over TomTom on my work phone. Despite being a much smaller screen, I really preferred the Garmin XT software to use.

So yes, Sat Nav on phones is very worthwhile and can be just as good as a standalone device, but much more convenient.

[tanmann]

Hi

how long is the battery life with the HTC as below

I use TomTom navigator 6 on my touch diamond and it works really well.

The main advantage apart from not needing to buy a seperate sat-nav is that you take your phone with you everywhere so you'll always have sat-nav in your pocket! and if you have a phone with built-in gps, which many do now, you won't have 2 or 3 devices to carry around and keep charged.

The VGA screen on my diamond is great for sat-nav as the display is very crisp, the diamond also has an auto screen brightness option which is also quite useful when using it in the car as a sat-nav, although the diamond battery is a bit poor, I always plug it into my cigarette lighter anyway.

I think the most common gps chipset is the 'sirfstar III' which is very good, I can get a satellite fix indoors and because I can use the 'quick gps' function to download location information the time it takes to get a satellite fix is probably quicker than stand-alone sat-navs.

My previous phone, the o2 XDA Orbit 2, even came with co-pilot 7 and a car mount and charger, it cost me £50 on a contract but alot of people spend £150 just on a sat-nav, so if you're thinking about a new phone anyway then it makes sense to get a smartphone or pocket pc, you could always wait for the garmin nuvi phone, more of a sat-nav with phone features than a phone with sat-nav features!


Thanx Tan

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by tanmann

The main advantage apart from not needing to buy a seperate sat-nav is that you take your phone with you everywhere so you'll always have sat-nav in your pocket! and if you have a phone with built-in gps, which many do now, you won't have 2 or 3 devices to carry around and keep charged.

Indeed, this is certainly what I've found. Whilst I kept an external GPS receiver in the car, there were still problems if it wasn't charged and I needed to use it in an emergency. The fact that it is now built-in means I can use it whenever and wherever.

[Steven]

I also have interest in this discussion as I need a new phone anyhow. Also I keep getting lost on foot whilst I am on my photography jaunts

Also could external gps receivers be explained as for example the newly announced Nokia N85 touts built-in gps. Is it you still need a gps receiver or something? Thanks

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by LFC_SL

Also could external gps receivers be explained as for example the newly announced Nokia N85 touts built-in gps. Is it you still need a gps receiver or something? Thanks

If the phone supports GPS then you do not need an external GPS receiver. So for the newly announced Nokia N85, you would just need the phone software to take advantage of all of the features of a traditional TomTom/Garmin standalone unit.

[Steven]

Thought so. I will get around to looking at phones with built in GPS, though if they are all as bulky as the N95 series I will bed this idea

[Autopilot]

I'm not sure how people can say any mobile is as good as a standalone device for sat nav, especially with Nokia's.

* Stand alone devices have much bigger screens, and the bigger the screen the more clear, easier and safe it is.
* Stand alone devices have touch screen - Nokia's etc do not, which makes them incredibly difficult and dangerous to use while driving.
* Stand alone devices usually have extra features the cut mobile versions don't have, such as street name reading etc.
* Stand alone devices have better and higher power (more accurate and faster) GPS chipsets so they dont kill your battery, mobiles use lowpower versions. The Nokia's and some HTC's only have 8 channel GPS receivers, while standalone units have 32 (although usually only 12 used at any time) and are more accurate.
* Stand alone units usually have better speakers for directions.
* Stand alone units are usually based on a custom WinCE system and have more processing and graphics grunt - check out the amazing new UI's and proper 3D terrain (based on actual terrain data) map graphics on some of the new Garmins and the forth coming new TomTom (which are well over due an update).
* Standalone units often have a much better screen frame rate (related to above point).
* Stand alone unit's are much more stable, i have lost count of the number of times my N95, 6220c and HTC have crashed during navigation.
* Stand alone units often have built in digital compasses. This really helps directional accuracy - when stationary, GPS cant tell which way you are facing. Also helps on roundabouts.
* Stand alone units often have screens that a better performing in sunlight
* Other reasons i forget!

So purely for sat nav, standalone units are much superior. But the great thing about mobiles is they are cheap, you always have them in your pocket and you can run multiple applications on them, not just one single sat nav app. A network connection enables Assisted GPS too. I love my mobile and it's GPS capabilities and it does get me from A-B just fine, but if i was using it all the time it would annoy me a bit.

[Desmo]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

I'm not sure how people can say any mobile is as good as a standalone device for sat nav, especially with Nokia's.

Of course a standalone unit is going to be better and have a wider range of features, but the OP's questions was...

Originally Posted by mat1z

...is it just as good / works well as having a separate hand held GPS sat nav device

Now to me, for getting you from A to B, a phone based SatNav IS just as good. I happily use my phone instead of TomTom unit if I have to. It works just as well, it picks up satellites just as good (if not faster), it plans the same route in the same amount of time. It does 99% of the things the stand alone unit does.

[Steven]

Whilst I would accept standalone sat navs are technically superior... my own personal criteria as I explained was not getting lost whilst out photographing. Walking around looking at a phone is much less conspicuous than looking at a TomTom Not to mention it will fit in my pocket

So if phones can do a good enough job...

P.S. Which phones have built in GPS?

[Desmo]

Quite a few now....Nokia N95/82?, HTC Touch Diamond as well as other HTC's.

[Autopilot]

Virtually all windows mobile and Symbian phones have GPS now, even the lower end stuff. I cant think of any new one that does not. It's as ubiquitous as mobile camera's now. I have a 6220c, which is OK, but if i was doing a lot of GPS stuff i would take the Windows Mobile route for sure - especially for photo work, as there is a lot more software for Windows mobile for OS/off-road stuff. HTC's etc tend to had better GPD chipsets too.

[Desmo]

Because you're asking about installing TomTom. Now, if you had bought TomTom then it should be easy to install. If you are struggling because you've downloaded it from somewhere then that is why your requests are being deleted.

[Tango]

Thanks Desmo.

I wanted clarification

[Desmo]

It's only an educated guess. But no probs

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

I'm not sure how people can say any mobile is as good as a standalone device for sat nav, especially with Nokia's.

You make all valid points, but personally I just see whether it can get you from point A to B safely without too many disconnections. Yes, the Nokia screens are smaller and not touchscreen but I often plan the journey before hand and don’t tend to have any more disconnects with the mobile than with the standalone TomTom I have. I’ve also not had any crashes on either my N73 or N82 so far (fingers crossed!)

Admittedly I only use the feature on occasion and if I was going from one place to another all the time then it probably wouldn’t be much use to me. But for occasional use it works perfectly with the audio perfectly loud (I only have my Nokia N82 on 60% volume which is plenty loud for me).

They do kill the battery, but I charge the phone everyday regardless. You could always use a car charger if used regularly (which has to be used with my TomTom as it would only last a few hours if I didn’t have the car charger with it!)

[Steven]

Originally Posted by Autopilot

Virtually all windows mobile and Symbian phones have GPS now, even the lower end stuff. I cant think of any new one that does not. It's as ubiquitous as mobile camera's now. I have a 6220c, which is OK, but if i was doing a lot of GPS stuff i would take the Windows Mobile route for sure - especially for photo work, as there is a lot more software for Windows mobile for OS/off-road stuff. HTC's etc tend to had better GPD chipsets too.

Well I need a new phone (6230i - they really do not make them built to last like it anymore - at least SE ). So now I am looking at sat nav on phones. For the photography I have a Canon G9 You would never catch me using a mobile phone camera for anything more than "social or opportunistic photography when I do not have the G9"

This is mat1z's thread, but personally I want something candybar or "touch screen" as you seemingly have no choice looking at the market , will fit in jeans and does all the normal phone things well but has sat nav as a bonus. I do not need a mobile computer so not necessarily needing "business phones"

[kBm]

So this may sound like a daft question;

With a standalone unit - you switch on and connect to the satalites. No cost invloved

Is this the same as with mobiles? Or is there data connection costs like web browsing?

[Tejstar]

As long as you are not using things like traffic updates then you’ll be fine. If you are using it for the simple purpose of going from point A to B, then there is no data cost involved. The internal GPS receiver will connect to the satellites much like a standalone unit.

[Desmo]

As above, there are no data costs involved, just like a stand alone unit. Only things that will use data are traffic and weather updates or using something like Google Maps that downloads the map as you go

[Tejstar]

Originally Posted by Desmo

As above, there are no data costs involved, just like a stand alone unit. Only things that will use data are traffic and weather updates or using something like Google Maps that downloads the map as you go

I use Google Maps quite regularly, especially when I’m just trying to find somewhere on foot and it’s one of my most used apps. The search function is especially good when trying to find you’re a local pizza joint, post office etc. It really is a superb app, but you shouldn’t use it unless you have an unlimited data package.

[Autopilot]

Originally Posted by kBm

So this may sound like a daft question;

With a standalone unit - you switch on and connect to the satalites. No cost invloved

Is this the same as with mobiles? Or is there data connection costs like web browsing?

Actually you need a network connection for the Assisted GPS to work, a small amount of data is downloaded - but its so small it wont cost anything. GPS still works without a data connection, just takes a little bit longer to get a fix.

[kBm]

Thanks for the info. Never thought about getting satnav, but the only time the missus and I argue is getting lost in the car! (her fault ) So maybe its time....