I would like to make the case that newer smartphones do a better job at GPS than a standalone GPS ever can. I think this is one of the rare situations where a general-purpose device can do a job better than a special-purpose device can, because the integration of the systems improves all of the features significantly. I will never go back to a stand-alone GPS.

My iPhone 4s makes for fantastic GPS navigation, and I can choose from several different high-quality GPS applications, including ones which precisely duplicate the stand-alone GPS's. Although the latest smartphones are expensive, the *prior* models are still available and are usually quite inexpensive. You can get an iPhone 4s for free right now (if you sign up for a contract with the cellular company of course). I'm sure this holds true for Android phones as well.

Earlier versions of the iPhones had low quality GPS chips in them, meaning that they did not work well for turn-by-turn navigation. Android phones also have varying GPS chip quality, so you have to pick the right model of phone for good GPS. For Apple at lest, the 4s models (and later) have a great built-in GPS chip, and the navigation software all works fantastically on it. Don't know which Android models have the good GPS chips in them, but I'm sure you could look that up.

Some of the navigation software, such as the TomTom software, has all of the maps already downloaded (just like if it were a standalone GPS), so you don't need a live internet data connection to use the software while you're on the road, you only need the internet connection to be live when installing the software or getting updates. This can be useful if you're traveling somewhere that doesn't have cell or data service.

I made a small, unobtrusive dash mount/charger for it (commercial ones are also available), and this works even better for me than a standalone GPS would. It's less obtrusive, and since I always take the phone with me anyway, I don't need to worry about my GPS being stolen because I never leave it in the car.

More advantages of using a smartphone over a standalone GPS:

- Software bug fix updates, software improvements, and map/POI updates are automatic and frequent, they just come down over the phone's internet connection. With a standalone GPS, you have to hook the GPS up to a PC (or at least transfer files to an SD card) to update it.

- Information about businesses and addresses is integrated with Google searches, and so it's as up-to-date as you can get. For instance, I might search for a restaurant, and Google search will show that the restaurant has been closed permanently, or it's not open on Mondays, or not open for Lunch. That information will be nonexistent, or potentially quite out of date, with a standalone GPS. Don't have an internet connection right now? You can still run, say, the TomTom software on the smartphone and its maps and POI database are still there, just like it would have been on a standalone GPS.

- I rarely need to type in an address. The more common situation is, I have googled the location of a restaurant or other business, and I merely need to tap on the address in the web browser, and the smartphone automatically launches the navigation app. If I don't want to use the phone's default navigation app, I can long-press on the address and copy it to the clipboard, then paste it into my navigation app. This is still much easier than typing the address into a standalone GPS.

- Address book and contact list integration! My smartphone automatically synchs its contact list to my Google Mail contacts, so any time I have someone's address in my contacts, it's automatically accessible to my GPS software on my smartphone. I can also do the reverse: When I do an internet search for the address of a restaurant or business, a couple of clicks adds that permanently to my contact list. If I'm taking my chances with voice recognition, I don't even have to say the address, I just need to say the name of the person or business that I want: "Navigate to Fred Smith's house" will work for any name in my contact list. And from those same screens, I can tap his icon and it'll offer me the option to call him and tell him I'm on my way. Y'know, cause it's a phone, too.

- Traffic data is free and ubiquitous, no need to subscribe to a service. Some standalone GPS's have optional traffic data, but you have to subscribe to a special service to get it. On the smartphone, the traffic data for things like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Waze is all free as long as you have an internet connection. In fact, Waze is of particular note here because its traffic data is crowdsourced and highly accurate: It's able to show the average speed in MPH of each traffic-congested section, simply by agreggating the route data from all of the Waze users.

- Additional features can be found which are simply not available on standalone GPS's. Waze, for example, crowdsources the locations of police patrol cars and speed traps. If, while I'm traveling, I see a cop, I tap the screen a couple of times, and now every other Waze user knows he's there, he's shown on the map and a warning box pops up for them as they approach. The best part is, at least here in Seattle, Waze users have reached critical mass for that a long time ago, and I'm more frequently tapping the "thumbs up" button on existing speed traps than I am reporting newly discovered ones. Another feature that Waze gives me that you won't find on a standalone GPS: if I notice an error in the mapping or route data, I can go back to my PC and submit a correction to the map, which will then appear on my phone shortly thereafter.

- Ability to select from a wide range of different GPS software choices, and to change to anything I want, on the fly. Some of the software is free or nearly free, and some of it costs money (I think I paid about 50 bucks for TomTom). With a standalone GPS, you are stuck with that particular piece of software. If you happen to like the standalone GPS's software, you can most likely get it as a app for your smart phone these days. You can have several different GPS apps installed and choose whichever one you feel like using at that time. Personally, I use Waze most of the time, but I use the others when I have a particular need. For example, if I don't have an internet connection, I run TomTom since it has the full map data already there. If I just want to shout at the phone "navigate to Bucca Di Beppo!" from any screen on the phone, then I'm stuck using the Apple Maps software (which is quite good these days), since Apple only offers that ability with their own software, though I hope someday that might change. If I want the best integration with Google searches, I use Google Maps on my phone, and that's also quite good.

- You always have the smartphone with you, so you can use the GPS in places other than in your car. You can use it for walking or biking directions, for instance. You can study your route, potentially making adjustments to it before getting in the car. A big advantage to this is that you can punch in the destination and then look at the ETA that the phone software gives you, so that you can plan a perfect departure time.

- All the other things that make smartphones useful that are not related to GPS.


There's only one big downside to a smartphone versus a standalone GPS:

- Monthly phone bills with an internet data plan are significantly more expensive than just a voice plan. I personally think that it's worth it, because I use the internet in my pants constantly. But if you don't already have a smartphone with a data plan, and you don't think you need to have the internet in your pants, then a standalone GPS that doesn't involve a monthly bill is of course the smarter and more economical choice.