The death of the SatNav?

[rl4engc]

BBC News - The road to obscurity

(Standalone) Satnavs are set to join Pagers, Faxes and Laserdiscs on the recycling centre 'Electrical Items' skip apparently, but I happen to quite like the idea of using a dedicated (in my case old TomTom) satnav rather than a Smartphone..

I drive an older car (through choice, I suspect a lot of CUK'ers do too ) and for me, having a box that instantly does only what you want it to works very well, I don't have to take my phone out of my pocket (and unlock it, start the SatNav app, plug it in, put it in the holder) every time I start a journey. I can also take calls, send texts, look stuff up completely independently of what the SatNav is doing.

I'm all for progress, but was surprised when I did look at new SatNavs a bit ago (to see if they'd advanced how I though they might have) to see there were none based on Android with Wifi etc. It's either (Dedicated old box | Smartphone App)

I did look into building a dedicated Android tablet/phone purely for a Satnav a bit ago, but found the phones wanted a SIM to work, and tablets were too big.

Any thoughts?

[vwdan]

Most modern android phones are happy enough without a SIM. Connect to Wi-Fi, sign in to Google account, download your Sat Nav of choice (I've found TomTom to be excellent, especially for traffic management) and jobs a good 'un.

I just use my phone, though it is a pain when someone calls you just as you're trying to find your way around a one way system or something.

[PerfectStorm]

I used to be the same with an old device I used for Tomtom (strictly a Windows Pocket PC, but only used for TomTom). But then I got the TomTom app for iPhone (plus a windscreen holder) which ran a lot faster, and has the added benefit of keeping the phone charged.

Now I run Google Maps on an iPhone 6 Plus - so you get a nice big screen, but also free traffic data and suggestions as you go. (Well, in exchange for telling google where you're going)

[rl4engc]

Ah I didn't realise newer Android phones can run without a SIM, mine powers up, if no SIM, basically says "Computer Says No".

So it might be time to reclaim^H^H^H^H^H^H^H ask for that HTC £80 Android 4 Smartphone I got my folks that they never use, and get it to Auto-Launch Google Maps or Tomtom, and auto connect to WIFI then?

Interested to hear what others do, the thing I like about my old TT is it just "works", though I concede there's no live traffic updates on mine.

[Batcher]

Don't you need a sim to connect to the internet though? Google maps can't be downloaded so you need them to be constantly updating as you move.

[mudskipper]

Don't you need a sim to connect to the internet though? Google maps can't be downloaded so you need them to be constantly updating as you move.

You can download maps for a route. On Android anyway.

[Ticktock]

Or if you're on a Vodafone business tariff you can get a second SIM card that shares the data allowance on your phone account for no extra charge.

[tomtomagain]

Google maps has an "offline mode" on iOS ( and the PC and presumably Android ). It can be hard to find though.

And Waze is a great replacement for your paid-for SatNav software .... courtesy of Google. It's designed more for commuting the same journey everyday than TomTom software.

[VectraMan]

Funnily enough I was trying out the (free) MapFactor Navigator app for Android today. Works very well. I've never had proper sat nav though; always considered it was for idiots, though I have used Google Maps a few times to find where I'm going. As said you need to have a signal, or plan in advance and cache the area you're going. But with the Navigator app it's a download (about 260MB for the UK).

I've got an older, smaller Android phone knocking around so if I was bothered I could use that as a dedicated Sat Nav (and yes it does work without a SIM on WiFi).

[Lockhouse]

I've got a built in sat nav in the dash but I also have an additional forward facing camera with GPS that has speed camera locations loaded. I view all three as pretty essential.