Dec 08 2008
Is Your Cell Phone Going to Replace Your GPS?
I bought a new Blackberry 8830 World Edition not too long ago because I was way overdue for a phone upgrade. My old 3 pound phone just wasn’t cutting it any more and I’ve seen kids cell phones better than what I had. One of the first things I noticed was the really cool GPS and mapping features built right into the new phone. Wow! It worked almost like my Garmin nüvi 780, only smaller. Maybe I didn’t need my nüvi anymore.
Well, let’s not get too excited. I started talking up my new toy on the forums and raised a firestorm. While the navigation features of my Blackberry are cool and fun, they aren’t quite up to the tasks performed daily for me by my Garmin. One forum junkie correctly pointed out many of the flaws in my logic that my phone was going to replace my trusted Garmin.
Danger, Will Robinson!
(That probably gives away more about my age than I’d like) The first issue is safety. Trying to communicate a destination to my Blackberry is a full attention task. Not something that’s very intelligent when barreling down the road at 65MPH in a 15 ton vehicle. My nüvi doesn’t have voice recognition, so I still have to set it manually. I usually relegate that task to my navigator (pronounced: spouse) while driving because it’s bad enough. We could be there before I got the destination set on the Blackberry.
What’d She Say?
The next problem was one of sheer volume. Between the diesel engine, the wind noise (little as that may be) and the satellite radio there was no way I could hear the phone giving directions unless I used the headset or held it next to my ear. By this time my wife is on the laptop with the air card looking up information on hearing aids. My nüvi doesn’t seem to have a problem shouting over all that. The older I get, the more it seems I need my GPS to shout at me too.
Where’s That Magnifying Glass?
Did I mention I’m getting old? I forget? Along with the memory and the hearing, the eyesight seems to be giving my age away too. The 4.3 inch screen on my nüvi gets smaller every time I use it. Trying to see the map on my Blackberry is out of the question.
One Satellite, Two Satellites, Three Satellites, Four.
The last issue we had was finding enough satellites to get a signal accurate enough to stay on course. If I set the Blackberry up on the dash that helped, but then there’s those pesky hearing and seeing problems again. It just wasn’t working for me way up there.
Conclusion.
I think next time I’m hiking in the woods and wonder if I’m getting lost, my Blackberry’s navigation features may come in very handy. I had given fleeting thought to buying a hand held GPS just for that purpose, but I wouldn’t use it very often. So, maybe I won’t need one now. I’ll just try using the Blackberry. For occasional hand held application, there may be some validity to my argument that this new toy in my phone can replace a real GPS. But, since most of my satellite navigation takes place going down the road in the RV, I think I’ll stick with my Garmin for now.
