Nextel Phone as GPS

[kannibul]

anyone doing this?

I was thinking of finally getting a cell phone, and with it having a GPS / trip planner, I thought it might be ideal...

Thoughts?

[chefcpb]

I have all my guys with this function. Turn by turn directions as long as you have a good signal. Redirects if you go off the suggested route. It does not always give you the best route to take. It does not take into account traffice conditions, construction etc. All and all a cheap alternative to a $1400 GPS. You have to buy a data package and subscribe to the telenav. Phone calls and direct connect interrupt telenav but it reboots as soon as the call is terminated.
I also use Xora which tracks my guys locations by pinging their phone every 5 minutes. I can figure out travel times, rate of speed, jobstart/jobend times, and breadcrumb function and I can set landmarks in the system to alert me on my blackberry when they are near or have stopped for too long. You cannot use both at once.
Hope that helps.

[chefcpb]

Kannibul,
Forgot to mention this is not a good visual option for a bike. If you get a bluetooth compatible phone you can link it to a wireless earpiece. I guess you could use a wired unit but that would bother the he!! out of me.

[kannibul]

More or less I was thinking of more of an "instant map" for use at stops.

Provided the odo is somewhat correct (easy to find out and comp for) I could plot out a ride, pull off for gas / food / butt, and check.

That, and the emergency phone aspect.

Maybe it doesn't work that way?

I was thinking of this "app" for it...

http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/t ... oors.shtml (http://www.nextel.com/en/services/gps/trimble_outdoors.shtml)

[chefcpb]

I have not used that application yet but a PDA or web enabled phone would allow you to do the same thing for free off of mapquest or yahoo.

[kannibul]

I have not used that application yet but a PDA or web enabled phone would allow you to do the same thing for free off of mapquest or yahoo.

Well, yeah... :P

[Cliffhanger]

anyone doing this?

I was thinking of finally getting a cell phone, and with it having a GPS / trip planner, I thought it might be ideal...

Thoughts?

Yup, I sure do. I've done it with the Blackberrys not the regular phone. I started with the Blackberry 7520 and now have the 7100i. Both with the Telenav program.

The 7520 while bulkier thanthe 7100i had a much better daylight readable screen. The brighter the day, the easier to read and didn't need the backlight so the battery lasted much longer. With the 7100i, it's screen is much harder to see in direct sunlight and the backlight must be on to see the screen, so the battery doesn't last as long.

They are not the best option if you're trying to use them while on the road as all the buttons are tiny and almost imposible to use when you're wearing gloves, but as my work provides the phone and the service, I make do with it.

I made up a mount to place it on the handlebars and have it angled so the sun doesn't hit the screen directly. Does the trick for me but not the best option out there.