Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
Yes, smart phones batteries are not long lasting, that is their Achilles' heel. You can however buy back-up batteries pretty cheap that should give you enough juice to last the ride.
Yes, that's an option but not without problems.
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
So far I've never tried to use the Navigating function in an outlaying area where phone service is poor or none. When ever I go anywhere in the car I now use only the Android for navigation whereas I used to use a Garmin Nuvi. The Google Navigator is much better than my Garmin ( Nuvi ) although it does lack some of the special features of the Garmin.
The navigation programs on smart-phones work very well for car navigation. (Though, typically, the smart-phone screens are smaller.) Some/most/all? do some caching of maps, which means they should work with some network interruptions. I still think, for cycling, you want some off-line mapping capability. Fortunately, that's either free or cheap.
Originally Posted by
01 CAt Man Do
For bike use the Android has it's limitations but only because the current offerings of Apps are lacking in sophistication. I've tried the "Cue Sheet" app and it does work but as you mentioned does not give turn by turn ( audio or visual ) prompts. The "Cue Sheet" app is also "slow" in keeping with your progress via the Phone GPS. Google navigator on the other hand does not have that problem. I'm hoping that someone will create an app that will merge the "Cue Sheet" app with Google Navigator. Done right it would give all the mapping/Cue sheet functions of the "cue sheet" app but give you the fast tracking and turn by turn announcements of Google Navigator.
For now the Garmin's ( 705, 800, 810 ) are the best for bikes because they run longer, store more maps and offer the bells and whistles most people seem to want. Hopefully if better apps come along for the Smart phones that might not be for too long.[/QUOTE]
I knew about the "cue sheet" app but I don't have android (so I can't try it).
As far as I can tell, there are no navigation apps or car gps units that will do turn prompts from uploaded routes
except for the Garmin bike units, the "cue sheet" app, and (maybe) some gps units targeted to motorcyclists.