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Tag: Google Maps

July 14, 2013

Driving with Your Smartphone on GPS Duty

Don’t let another road trip go by with your smartphone sliding about the car as its GPS app shouts out turn-by-turn directions. Mount it onto your dash!

Don’t let another road trip go by with your smartphone sliding about the car as its GPS app shouts out turn-by-turn directions. Mount it onto your dash!

A year ago, I officially broke up with ‘Jane,’ my portable GPS device.

On route to the family summer vacation on the North Fork of Long Island, my iPhone’s native Maps app bested Jane.
(my old Garmin Nuvi 760)
I had mixed feelings, but it was clearly time to move on to newer and better tech, even though my Maps app couldn’t talk to me like Jane.

But Google Maps’ voice turn-by-turn navigation iOS app was just around the corner.
And so was Apple’s, even though ‘Mappelgate’ gave Google Maps the edge.

I’ve spent time with both on the road over the past year, and it’s been a wonderful ride.

GPS will Provide Directions for Food and a Battery Charge…
So why would anyone buy a Garmin or TomTom GPS anymore?
Apparently, I’m not the only one asking this question…
This year, Garmin predicts a sales drop of 20% in its car GPS devices.

It’s easy to understand why the personal navigation market for vehicle dashboards is in decline.

The Stability of My Old Flame
All this said, it’s now a year later, and I must admit…
Jane still comes along for the ride from time to time.

What could she possibly offer to warrant this nostalgic gesture?

Well, in the car, she’s usually more stable than my iPhone.
(Jane has a windshield mount, while my iPhone still slides about untethered.)

I’ve just never got around to buying a holder for my iPhone.
It’s usually positioned head first in the cup holder or maybe slipping about the passenger seat.

Hardly a secure or safe solution.
(for either of us)

Sure, you can rely on your iPhone’s voice navigation alone, but a properly positioned visual aid is always nice, right?

So with the summer driving season upon us, I’ve decided it’s time to fully move my iPhone and its GPS apps into the driver’s seat.
(I mean navigator’s seat. The ‘driving’ app is probably not far off!)

Suction Sucks
As I began my shopping search, I shied away from windshield-suction mounting systems.
That’s what Jane has been using.
And to be honest, she’s fallen down more times than I’d like to admit.
(My wife and I have become quite skilled playing a little game of catch the bouncing GPS…)

Jane has been bounced around so many times, I don’t really worry about her anymore.
But I’m not as willing to expose my precious iPhone to the same dangers.

Windshield Vs. Dashboard Mount
Come to think of it, a suction mounting solution on the dashboard isn’t much better.
Sure, it’s a shorter distance to the floor if your smartphone comes loose, but any air time for your phone is a bad idea.

A dashboard mounting solution is clearly the way to go, but with something more reliable than suction.

How Super is Super Adhesive?
So you can buy a glue-mounted holder for your dashboard.
But how long will an adhesive last?
You can reengineer the manufacturer’s design and superglue the mount, but that plan has its obvious drawbacks…

Choosing Between Mind-Numbing Number of Choices
Even after eliminating the above options, you’re still left with a paralyzing number of offerings.

That said, I did find some online consensus about a few dashboard mounts:

Kenu’s Airframe
This minimalist solution simply clips to one of your car’s air vents.
One concern I have is all that hot air assaulting your device during the winter months.

That can’t be good…

ProClip
This product is for folks who don’t have a problem doing after-market modifications to their cars.
To install one of these holders, you’ve got to do surgery to your dash that’s not unlike rib spreading for open-heart surgery.
You slide plastic mounts into existing dash crevices and then create enough of an opening to install the mount’s base.

When you’re done, you’ve got a permanent appendage jutting out of your dash…

Ram Mounts
These guys seem really serious about getting the job done right.
They handle solutions ranging from kayaks to planes.
But you’ve got to have enough patience to figure out their website to build your specific mount.

If building your own Terminator from scratch is your cup of tea, go for it…

The Bean Bag Makes a Comeback?
The more I looked, the more frustrated I became.
I just wanted something simple that works…

  • Buy it with one click
  • Set it and forget it
  • Drive…

How hard could that be?
The solution doesn’t have to be cutting edge.

Something like when you rent a portable GPS unit at Hertz, and they hand you a clunky bean-bag base.
That monstrosity magically never slides off the dash, no matter how hard you floor it, right?

Wait a minute!!!

The Great and Powerful Amazon
So there are plenty of $20-ish bean-bag mounts on Amazon.

  • Engadget recommends this Arkon Dashboard Mount for $16.37
    (It gets some mixed reviews, because it still uses a suction mount to the bean-bag base!)
  • Naztech has one for $24.41 with a similar split on opinions
  • USA Gear’s doesn’t do any better on its ratings ($19.99)

Without consensus, I kept looking…

Then, I came across a very highly-rated
Garmin Portable Friction Mount for my old Garmin Nuvi.
(Nostalgic sigh… )

Before I clicked away, an Amazon algorithm made a startling recommendation…

It showed me an iPhone cradle that attaches easily to the Garmin Portable Friction Mount.

It’s like Amazon was saying to me,
“Barrett, you can have your cake and eat it too!”
(The one friction mount would work with both my iPhone and Garmin.)

The Amazon Voodoo Continues…
Further down the page, I noticed a newer version of Garmin’s Portable Friction Mount.
(Also favorably reviewed, and Amazon was running a deal that throws in a Garmin Nuvi case for less than the friction mount costs by itself!)

This one wasn’t a bean bag.
It was a sleeker unit and had a sticky, rubber pad bottom designed for ongoing reuse.

I opened up a new Safari window.
Hello, CNET?
Yep… they liked it.

$17.99 for the friction mount + $13.95 for the iPhone attachment = $31.94
Hmmm…

Breaking Up is Hard to Do
As I considered my choices, I mentioned my little research project to my wife.
She was excited to further activate her iPhone and curious what I was going to do with Jane now that she was retiring…

Well, there’s always Craigslist or eBay…

But I’ve got to admit, I’ve grown accustomed to her face.
And two years ago, I bought my GPS Jane the gift of lifetime map updates…

If only I had spent the fifteen minutes I needed to figure out how to keep Jane from popping off her mount a year ago, we might not be in this predicament.

Think.
Think. Think. Think…

(Light bulb pops on!)
(though dimly)
Use both GPS Jane and the iPhone!!

How does this piece of twisted logic strike you?…

  • Scenario 1:
    If your iPhone is strapped in for GPS duty on a long family road trip and you’re in the passenger’s seat, you’re cut off from the world.
    Sure, you can answer a call in speaker mode, but that’s about it.
    (No texting for you!!!)
    If GPS Jane is still there to play navigator for those several hours, you’ve got your iPhone back!
  • Scenario 2:
    On a quickie trip, your iPhone can do the navigation, and Jane can stay home.

Are you buying it?
I just did…

Click. Click.
Done!

Let the summer road trips begin!!
Time to start packing…

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August 1, 2012

GPS Jane

My Garmin Nuvi took my family on a ride getting to our vacation. Then, my iPhone Maps app actually got us there.

The first time my wife and I drove with GPS navigational support was six years ago, while driving in a car rental out in San Francisco.

I should first mention that my wife is the official navigator in the family.
She loves maps and has only gotten lost once (in the woods) in all the time I’ve known her.
It’s probably not going too far to say that I’m moderately to severely geographically challenged. I could get lost driving down a straight highway.

I could blame this unfortunate fact that I grew up in New York City and never drove a car until after college. Good excuse? Well it’s my story, and I’m sticking to it.

Driving around Fog City, I felt like I was in the car of the future. A portable navigation device using GPS (Global Positioning System) technology to take you anywhere you wanted to go. No more worrying how to get there.
I was sold, before I even got into the car.

My wife wasn’t so sure.
I was so charmed I set the device’s voice control to dictate its directions in a smooth female Australian accent.

And then I gave it a name.
Jane.

[My wife joked about “the other woman.”]

The Other Woman
We ended up not following Jane’s directions much that day due to human/computer incompatibility. My wife had her map, and unless she saw the logic of the Aussie hussie, my wife called out an alternate course.

And though we collectively agreed there was little value to this circus show circuit freak, I purchased one within three months. (the Nuvi 760)

The name stuck, and eventually, the two north stars in my life came to some sort of understanding, and Jane became a welcome passenger on most of our big road trips.

Today, even though portable GPS navigation tech is a common consumer tech tool, and of course available in many car models and through our iPhones, we still use our aging Jane quite a lot. The fact that she talks still keeps her ahead of much of the still silent competition, unless you want to buy a costly GPS app for your iPhone.  (That said, I understand Android’s native free navigation capability is pretty awesome.)

And as of May, Garmin has sold over 100 million of its GPS products. So I’m not alone in my devotion to this magic tool that stretches my navigational capability.

Deep down, though, my two navigators still don’t get along.

And much like a bad movie where the “other woman” threatens the lives of a happy couple, I have finally begun to see the errors of my ways with Jane. But is it too late?

The Blind Leading the Blind?
First off, I’ve clearly become overly reliant on Jane.
I take Jane with me down the street to get a quart of milk.
New restaurant in the next town? Too far to risk getting there by myself.
I need my Jane!

And now that Jane has comfortably cemented herself to my life, something strange has begun to happen.
She’s getting lazy.

Her directions are sometimes, well… wrong.
And over time, the problem has gotten worse.
Her directions eventually get me where I want to go, but not always through a shortest route approach.

Yes, I know that road maps need to get updated from time to time, and you’ve also got to refresh your portable GPS unit’s memory with software updates.

About a year ago, I got an email from Garmin offering lifetime software updates for Jane. I took the deal, thinking I would never need to look for another portable navigator ever again.

Cue the ominous movie music…

Jane Takes a Vacation during our Vacation
Last weekend, the Lester family got into the car to kick off our little beach vacation on the North Fork of Long Island.

As usual, Jane was front and center as we headed out.
I type ‘Harbor Road’ into her keypad, but before I can complete my data input, she automatically suggests ‘ Harbour’ without allowing me another option.  She then happily locks in the address but also changes the two-digit house number to a non-related three-digit number.

It’s like the vacation address just doesn’t exist.
Am I in a Twilight Zone episode?
If only…

So I pull out my iPhone and repeat the same exercise to see how the Maps app handles the task.

Problem? What problem?
My iPhone quickly locks into our correct route.
There it is. Harbor Road, on the water.
Not Harbour Road, several blocks inland with an entirely different address.

My wife is driving.
So I have the flexibility to run both devices simultaneously.
A little competition, if you will. (Getting into the spirit of the Olympics.)

Let the Games Begin!
The two wonder machines run neck and neck until the last mile. I knew it would come down to the wire.
Then Jane says calmly, “Turn right.”

But iPhone Maps clearly points, Left!!

This is the moment of truth.
It was time to change the status quo.
I call out, “Take a left…Now!!”

Jane proclaims her disapproval at my disobedience.
I firmly repeat my navigational act of anarchy.

My wife complies, and as our car begins its left turn, Jane admits defeat.
I look at her readout and it says, “Recalibrating…”

And in that moment, Jane lost her grip on me.
She eventually regains her composure and finally displays the original address I had wanted all along, as well as our now-correct bearing.

Too late, Jane.

She decides to acknowledge her error in the last minute of our journey?!
I don’t think so. This is the last straw.

I know. Jane and I are bonded together for life. Right?
Lifetime updates with no additional cost.
Doesn’t matter.
It’s time to make a change.

Jane, it’s over.

Let’s Just Remember the Good Times
My change of heart has nothing to do with the recent but separate tech announcements by Google Maps and Apple promoting even greater upcoming capabilities for smartphones. And even more irrelevance for dedicated GPS devices.

Wired has already declared, “The portable GPS device is dead.”

Nope. I’m not just reading the writing on the wall about Jane.
This time, it’s personal.

Where’s the Nearest Flower Shop?
Now I’ve got to woo back the one and only true navigator in my life.

So I decide to write my wife a little note to express the error of my ways and my true regret.

Dear Wife,

I’m sorry I ever doubted your navigational superiority.
Artificial intelligence can never match your keen sense of direction, and your innate capability to drive around a traffic jam, leaving all others in your dust.

I was wrong to ever trust Jane, when you are truly my one and only navigator.

Can you ever forgive me?

Love,

Your Geek

So I close the envelope and look around for my wife.
It’s suddenly way too quiet.
Oh no… She’s gone!

Don’t worry.
She just went shopping with a friend at a local farm stand on the side of the road, five miles away.
I should go find her.

But I don’t really know where she went.
Ummmmm…

Excuse me. I’ve got to go and find Jane.

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