Requesting suggestions for phone w/ WiFi and GPS.

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Ellia

New member
I'm looking for an unlocked smartphone and/or pocket PC with Quadband (or triband w/850), WiFi and a decent GPS system. 3G HSDPA would be nice, but it's not a stiff requirement.

The N95 would be perfect in terms of form factor and features, except I read that turn by turn GPS directions are a "premium" pay service and that there are other devices that can do it for free.

If there are any other ideas please post them here.
 
My HTC P3300 is the same price as the N95 but has TomTom6 and that gives you voice directions, for free. The Sirf Star chip in P3300 is much more sensitive then N95, has a faster lockdown time and is very sensitive and also recalculates almost instantaneously if you miss a turn. It's quad-band, but lacks 3G. Has Wifi b/g, but has no keyboard. It's entirely touchscreen. If your looking for one with Keyboard, ETEN M700 can also be considered, since it's in the same price range. and ofcourse, if you can wait, HTC Kaiser is just around the corner with keyboard/Wifi/GPS and 3G.
 
^ Sweet, thanks for the tips. The P3300 looks sweet. The lack of keyboard should be fine if I can pair it with a BT keyboard.

I may wait a bit to see how the Kaiser looks and feels though.
 
I was about to start a thread asking the same thing. I am looking for the same stuff (Integrated GPS, Qwerty, Full HTML, camera, and IM support) I have previously been looking at the Helio ocean but I just don't think I trust Helio enough. Any Ideas? money is not really a concern, but I really am not a fan of windows mobile, although if its running without lag I could get used to it


Also...I hate phones with a Stylus
 
I found a really good site that can filter out PDA phones based features such as integrated GPS:

http://www.pdadb.net/index.php?m=pdalist&list=gps

I think I'll hold out for the HTC Kaiser though, unless they come out with a version of the HTC Touch that has GPS.
 
Wow that site is really nice. thanks. Saves me soooo much time and has alot of models I have never heard of. Right now I like the Glofish (spelling?) kaiser, and HTC touch (too bad HTC touch doesn't support 3g speeds)
 
The Polaris looks really good. I think it's the 3G successor to the Artemis.

Btw, does the HTC P3300 have a stylus/touch screen or is it strictly trackball/jog wheel?
 
Actually, there are two issues here with turn-by-turn GPS directions on the Nokia N-series and E-series devices....

You get visual on-screen turn-by-turn directions provided at no additional charge on the N95 or E90, so if you are the passenger in a vehicle, or you're walking, this may work just fine. What you pay for are the voice navigation packages, which offer spoken turn-by-turn directions.

To be fair, even in that regard, I like the way Nokia has handled this, however... You don't need to run out and buy a $200-$300 map package, but can actually license the maps you need for the time periods you need them. You can pay for them right on the phone, and for as short a time period at 7 days. A 7-day map package for all of Canada and the U.S. is around $12 CAD, for example, and the 30-day version isn't much more expensive.

This approach is preferable to me since I seldom need voice navigation in my home town, and if I'm going on a road trip, I can buy the voice navigation for the maps I need for that period of time, and I can do it right from the device itself (so I don't have to connect it to a computer).

Again, though, this is only concerned with the voice navigation features. Out of the box, the E90/N95 will provide maps and written turn-by-turn directions with no additional costs.
 
That's actually not too bad although voice does help when navigating solo, strictly visual turn-by-turn directions beats trying to navigate solo using a google/mapquest map printout.

I'm crossing my fingers that Nokia comes out with a triband 3G version of the N95 though so I use it on AT&T's 3G network.
 
I actually consider that to be a rip off. Why should I pay extra for 'voice' navigation? I bought the HTC P3300 first as a phone, then as a GPS device. I paid the same amount I would for the N95, but I got all North American maps included, with always on voice guidance. I expected the same from N95 as well. I drive alot outside/around my town. I can remember certain routes, but if I'm exploring new routes in my town/nearby town I wouldnt want to purchase that map to get voice guidance. I drive solo, so looking at the screen on the highway very frequently is not recommended, hence I opted for the HTC P3300.
Granted my phone lacks in the Multimedia section, but thats another topic. From a GPS perspective, when someone goes out to buy a device, it's assumed it'll have voice guidance. That's why I didnt like what Nokia did with the N95/E90.
 
Yes, but what would the price of the HTC have been if they didn't have to include the license fee for the maps with voice directions? That costs money whether you like it or not, and therefore if it's being included in the device, it's going to be part of the price tag somewhere. HTC doesn't make the maps, therefore they have to pay a licensing fee to somebody in order to put them on their device.

It's nice that HTC bundles some voice navigation, but that makes them the exception, rather than the rule. RIM took a monthly subscription-model approach with the BB 8800, and of course Nokia works much as I just explained. In both cases, you get the maps for free, and even the basic navigation -- it's the voice commands that seem to cost the money.

If you're buying an actual dedicated GPS device for a car, of course you expect turn-by-turn voice navigation, since that's what the device is for (although it should be noted that a lot of lower-end personal GPS devices don't include this). However, not everybody who is going to buy an N95/E90 wants to pay an extra $200 or so premium for bundled maps on a device that's not primarily a GPS.

It's also important to keep in mind that the N95 and E90 are still primarily European phones, so the choice of maps to bundle with the device creates another complication.

Personally, I'm happy to pay for the maps I need, when I need them, and not have had to pay an extra couple of hundred bucks for a device that was already quite expensive, and possibly would have included maps I would never use anyway. With the E90's voice navigation packages, I'm pretty much covered wherever I may travel, and can buy the voice navigation packages on-the-fly right from the device itself.
 
I stated that when I purchased my phone, the N95 costed the same minus the voice navigation. I all in all paid 75 extra to get permanent voice navigation with all North American maps, forever. If you calculate it, I find that to be cheaper than going and getting maps every month or so from Nokia for newer areas. I looked into the maps2go application from Nokia, and found this to be more cost effective because of frequent travel. That's what appealed me, hence I got it. But yes, it's personal preference.
 
Right, I know that the price was the same in your case, so it was logically a better decision. I'm just stating that the price would likely have been cheaper if HTC had taken Nokia's approach (and conversely, the price of the Nokia would be more expensive if they bundled these features).

Nokia's omission isn't too bad, to be fair, since the device is primarily a phone with GPS capabilities. It is of course something to be aware of when making your purchasing decision in determining how likely you are to need these features on a regular basis.
 
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