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iPhones from at least version 3 forward do in fact have satellite GPS capability.
I tried an Iphone V for a short time. One of the primary reasons I decided I did not want one is the navigation is terrible. I understand you can buy navigation through verizon that is pretty good, but you have to pay for it monthly.
One other thing I love about the google navigation in android is it will talk over a phone call and warn you as you approach a turn.
In my case, I use Google Maps on an HTC Evo V 4G (Virgin Mobile's version of a Sprint HTC Evo 3D) and a Garmin Nuvi 1200 stand-alone. Each has its own drawbacks in my case & thus I'm compelled to own and use both.
Garmin Nuvi 1200. Pluses.
Longer battery life compared to the phone (if you're not using the cigarette lighter).
Easier to tap the screen if you're the driver (granted, such tapping should be extremely minimal).
If someone calls or texts it doesn't interfere since it's a different device.
Maps are preloaded without you having to do it ahead of time.
It's dashboard mounted by default (and stays there since you're not using it for other things as you would a phone).
Minuses.
Phone's GPS is more up-to-date, sometimes the stand-alone is just flat-out wrong and when it is Google Maps nails it.
I don't care for how you enter the address information in 4 different places, I like the single-line entry of phones
Sometimes the GPS calls a road by a different name than the one you're given, Google Maps will get it either way but not this thing. Many roads in the city, for example, are known either as "Highway whatever" or "so & so Boulevard," the GPS will default to the latter even if the proper address is based on the former, Google Maps will nail these cases.
HORRIBLE "bird's eye" view for giving you an "overview" of what you're doing.
If it breaks, your stored favorites are history.
Phone GPS (Google Maps). Pluses.
Maps far more up to date, and at no charge.
Points of interest also more up-to-date, and it gives you their phone number to call as well.
Easier to enter the address in a single line.
It integrates with other aspects of the phone where you may have the address stored to automate entry (for example, my wife will send me a Craigslist posting of a garage sale, I can copy-paste the address from the Opera Mini web browser.
One less device to remember to carry.
Favorites are backed-up online & are restored if you have to replace the device.
FAR better "bird's eye" view in my experience (so you can have an "overview" of how you're going along).
Minuses.
Unless you remember to preload the maps, you're out of luck in fringe areas with no cell phone reception (unless you routed it ahead & don't stray off route and trigger a refresh that can't happen without a data connection).
If someone calls it interferes.
It's harder to data-entry while driving (granted, such should be extremely minimal anyway).
It absolutely SUCKS the battery down VERY VERY fast.
It can't pull up recent entries (if it can, I sure can't see how).
Unless you hunt down a dashboard mount, it's not on the dashboard (and then your phone usage will be limited if you do).
My phone does nto use cell phone reception for GPS. It does use cell towers to get better accuracy than you get with GPS alone, but if there is not reception, it uses GPS only. I have never needed to download any map.
Calls do not much interfere. I can answer the call put it on speaker and go back to the map while talking. The announced directions will talk over the phone conversation.
Data entry with a smart phone is actually much easier. You just tap a button and say Navigate to _____" It then navigates to the place. The nice thing is you do nto need the address. IF you say Navigate to gasoline, it will give you a list of the closest gas stations and you tap one. If you say "food" same thing only restaurants. "Home Depot" it will direct you to the nearest home depot. Or if you want one in a specific town you can say Navigate to Home depot Woodhaven Michigan and it looks up the address and directs you there.
It sure does drain the battery fast. It is not practical to operate GPS on battery power unless it is a very short trip.
There are a lot of other advantages of the phone system, Many were discussed above. Another is you put the phone in your pocket and get out of the car. With GPS you need to unplug it nad hide it. In the winter, or very hot summer days you need to carry it with you and it is a PIA to carry.
The downsides I have found with the phone is the lack of a history function, and the lack of a one touch button for a detour traffic problem or error. My Garmin woudl give you a different route at the touch of a button. With the Android you have to restart navigation and say Navigate to ____, avoid freeway" Then it will re-route you.
Sometimes the google map system goes berserk and sends you in a circle in order to continue straight down the road and sometimes it is simply wrong about the location of a city, or an address. this also happens with Garmin, but less frequently. The Garmin problems were mostly because their maps are not up to date. Even the pricy updates are frequently out of date even when they are brand new. In some areas, Garmin does a very poor job of updating their maps (South Western new york is particularly bad).
I had a Tom Tom, but when it boots up "cold" (such as after being turned off and then back on), it takes a long time to triangulate with the GPS satellites (about 7-8 minutes). I have a Garmin and it is much faster (2-3 minutes).
The downsides I have found with the phone is the lack of a history function, and the lack of a one touch button for a detour traffic problem or error. My Garmin woudl give you a different route at the touch of a button. With the Android you have to restart navigation and say Navigate to ____, avoid freeway" Then it will re-route you.
I guess it depends on which navigation program you use. While we prefer Google Navigation for longer road trips, we use Waze when we're driving around town. Google Navigation seems to only offer 3 routes to choose from, the same 3 routes no matter what the traffic conditions may be like on other potential routes.
Waze's route mapping is much more dynamic. My wife never knows which way it's going to send her to work, because the least congested route changes from day to day. And if a different route becomes less congested while you're underway, it will re-route you in real time. The effectiveness of Waze is pretty dependent on the number of other users in your area, but that's not an issue in a major metro area like Chicago. There are typically thousands users at any given time providing real-time traffic data during weekday driving hours. Another benefit of Waze is that it does have a history function and a Favorites function. (I'm not sure if Google Navigation has a Favorites function yet, we haven't played with it enough to know for sure.)
Garmin's traffic re-routing is utterly useless around here. The traffic data is usually fairly accurate, but honestly its only function is to tell you how much more time the traffic delays will add to your commute, and only if you're one of the major expressways/tollways. It has no idea what traffic is like on the arterial surface streets. Consequently, every time I tried to use the "Avoid Traffic" function it would invariably route me into surface traffic that was even worse.
We had been sitting on the fence about getting smartphones for a while now (my wife finally relented, I still don't have one but probably will soon), and what finally nudged us to try one out was the prospect of having better real-time traffic re-routing in hopes of making the commute in this gridlocked hellhole a little less of a PITA. Waze has proven much, much more useful and effective than Garmin's Avoid Traffic function.
I have the same phone, use it heavily (calls, internet, streaming, music via bluetooth, GPS) for work for 12 hours each day, and I typically have 50% battery left at the end of it. In fact, I've yet to ever kill this battery.
I have a Garmin based system built into my dash, but since I downloaded the Waze app, I haven't used it once. As others have mentioned, Waze is so much better on several levels.
I use Waze on longer trips for it's traffic and police data. On short trips around town to unfamiliar adresses, I'll use Waze in the truck or MINI, and use Google forwarded to the OnStar turn by turn in the Volt. I do like being able to find restaurants while out and send the adress info directly to the turn by turn.
Since I already have a smartphone for everything else, including streaming Bluetooth music to the car from both my iTunes playlists and Pandora/iHeartRadio, there's no extra cost to do GPS services on it. And like was said, it's easy to put the phone in your pocket when you leave the car and there's no suction cup marks left on the window to indicate a possible hidden GPS unit to thieves.
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