[icruise]

I went on an overnight trip to Chicago a couple of days ago and used the iPhone pretty extensively while I was gone. It was very useful, and certainly much better than not having anything at all. But I did learn a couple of things:

1. Bring your AC adapter
In my day-to-day use of the iPhone, I hardly ever get below half charge on the battery, and in many cases I will only use a small percentage of the charge before I'm done for the day. So I thought I would be safe just bringing the iPhone itself on my overnighter. However, I ended up using the iPhone more than I had expected (as you will see below) and by the time we got to our motel late on the first night, I had gotten the "20% remaining" warning. Luckily, I did have an iPod car adapter that would charge the iPhone, so I used that to charge the device while we drove on the next day.

2. Don't rely on the iPhone as your only source for directions
I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I found the directions it provided to be frustratingly hard to follow in some cases. It would often tell us to turn onto a particular street or highway, but when we got there we found that the street wasn't marked (or worse, it was called by a different name). We had to backtrack a lot because of this. I originally didn't think the lack of GPS on the iPhone was a big deal, but it really is. If it had GPS, you could tell where you were and where you should turn, even if the streets weren't properly labeled. And it also could have cut down on the number of times Google Maps tried to show me a route to California or Oregon when I was trying to simply get from one point in Chicago to another that was 15 miles away. (This can happen depending on how specific you are when typing in a location.)

The other reason I say that you shouldn't rely too much on the iPhone for directions is that I had several times when for no apparent reason the iPhone would just refuse to give us any directions at all, saying "Driving directions could not be received." My signal was fine, and the addresses I was using came straight from the Google Maps app (plus, I believe that I tried the same addresses a bit later and they worked) so it seems like it was some sort of network anomaly. But anyway, I was left in the lurch once when I needed directions somewhere and couldn't get the iPhone to give me any. I eventually found my way, but it was pretty frustrating. (I think I could have used something like MapQuest through Safari if it had been necessary, but that would have been a pain.)

It was also sometimes frustrating to have my wife holding the iPhone and reading the directions, because she didn't fully understand how to use it, and would sometimes accidentally touch the screen and cancel what she was looking at. I tried using the iPhone while driving a few times, but needless to say this isn't a very good idea.

Still, it was VERY useful to be able to search for particular stores in my immediate area, and to be able to check online prices for things while right there in the store. And of course, being able to send and receive email at any time is invaluable. Don't get me wrong -- the iPhone was a big help, but I can't help but think that it still needs some work where Google Maps is concerned.

[Nodnarb]

Agreed that GPS would have been a killer feature.

But I recently went on a trip to D.C., and having my iPhone came in handy numerous times. We were driving to a restaurant, and were running late, but nobody knew the number. I typed it in in Google maps, tapped the number, and I was talking to the hostess.

Also, (this was about a month ago) we were driving and talking about the 12 7-11's that were turned into kwik-e-marts for the simpsons movie. I went on safari, found the website with the locations, typed it into google maps, and found out that we were 30 min away from one of the kwik-e-marts. Got directions right then and there. An awesome experience that I would have missed out on if it weren't for the iPhone.

And I can't tell you how many times google was used, just to find out random bits of info that came up during conversations.

The trip made me love my phone even more.

[Super Mario]

I have never seen a good GPS. I had to take a cab from a nightclub once because I was too loaded. The driver had a GPS that was sending him down all long ways. Nothing beats driving directions than route planning and asking people for directions.

[michaelb]

There's nothing to stop Apple adding Bluetooth for current generation iPhones, in the form of a separate Bluetooth module (either Apple branded, or just enabling pairing with one of the many brands available).

I took my Windows Mobile 5 based-phone off an EBay auction because I decided at the last minute I'd still need it for navigation, just as iCruise has described.

I use the WM5 device with an external Bluetooth sensor that lasts 17 hours continuously on a charge.

This is really a better solution than phones that have it built in and drain the battery life. (The Nokia N95 does, and you can visibly see the battery charge indicator go down.)


(Super Mario, only girls ask for directions. Real men drive their TomTom into rivers!)

[analogika]

Bluetooth is BUILT IN.

Currently, it can ONLY be used for pairing with hand-free units or Bluetooth headsets.

Making iPhone pairable with an external Bluetooth GPS unit (~$40) should be only a software update away.

Then just build a decent interface around the route planner in the Google maps feature to make it more of a navi. (I know, "just..." - but judging from the interface they've built for Google maps, Apple's engineers should be well capable of building a kick-ass navigator for iPhone.)

That, for me, would be the real *killer* iPhone. I'd switch carriers in a heartbeat.

[vmarks]

Here's what I learned on my trips with the iPhone:

All over Massachusetts, both rural and Boston, Googlemaps never led me astray. The directions were dead-on, just using street addresses with a zipcode, not even putting in the city or state.

All over rural NY, around Syracuse, the maps were accurate.

Once, dealing with a suburb of Seattle WA, it told me that the maps weren't available. Just based on zipcodes, it tried to tell me that I was going to need two days to get to Arizona, as I was mapping from a suburb to the airport.

However- this seattle suburb address is a problematic one, and this problem is not unique to googlemaps. I put the address into mapquest, and into proflowers.com (sending a thank you to my friends for housing me on short notice) and in all cases, it asked if I wanted to select instead from a different address that was similar.

I can't completely fault googlemaps if everyone else is also failing on the address - I'm inclined to think that it's a new development neighborhood and the internet hasn't caught up to mapping it properly yet.

This experience is in contrast to the GPS in a Blackberry curve, which led me wrong almost every time I used it. Whether it was the GPS training on satellites, or the GPS that gave directions suggesting to take what was a wrong turn, or suggesting I get off the highway, do a u turn, get back on the highway, then get off at the next exit, do a u turn and get back on the highway... I'm much more pleased with googlemaps than I am with GPS.

[vln2]

Originally Posted by michaelb 

I use the WM5 device with an external Bluetooth sensor that lasts 17 hours continuously on a charge.

This is really a better solution than phones that have it built in and drain the battery life. (The Nokia N95 does, and you can visibly see the battery charge indicator go down.

I used external Bluetooth GPS antenna with my old HP IPAQ and it is far better solution then the buit-in one. The battery in it lasts couple days.
You can place the Bluetooth antenna on your dashboard (to get a good signal) while driving and you do not need to care if it comes loose - mine is rubber coated. I would never put my iPhone there.

[frdmfghtr]

Originally Posted by analogika 

Bluetooth is BUILT IN.

I think he meant a Bluetooth-enabled GPS module. The "Bluetooth sensor" is the Bluetooth-enabled GPS receiver or "sensor."

[matty-uk]

Originally Posted by Super Mario 

I have never seen a good GPS.

I'm currently visiting from the UK and staying in Sunnyvale CA. I decided to bring over my tomtom One and have to say it is excellent, we've never got lost in the 2 years we've been using various tomtom devices.

I highly recommend them