Quote:

In a GPS I want it designed for car navigation and voice guidance. I don’t need an outdoor type GPS but others may like that better than car navigation. When you get a combined device you have to tune the device functions to the middle of the road so it can meet most people’s needs. For people that need more in one area they will probably opt out of a combination device.


I agree with you general argument that convergence tends to lead to compromised devices. I think you have picked the wrong example to illustrate your point though.

Arguably the best GPS in car navigation device is TomTom. As well as shipping their dedicated TomTom unit they also ship the software for PDAs and SmartPhones.

The software on the PDAs/SmartPhones works just as well as it does on the dedicated device. Because the dedicated device does not have hardware buttons (apart from the power switch), the interface is exactly the same whether you are using the dedicated device or running it on a PDA/SmartPhone*.

In some ways the non-dedicated version is even better as it integrates with the address book on the phone/PDA.

* though the version that they ship for non-touch screen SmartPhones is obviously a little different
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