That's a really good point there actually... when you're stationary it makes very little practical difference - but when you're moving - even at 40mph it makes a massive difference - especially when coming up to complicated road-layouts and the device understanding where you are on that system and importantly how high you are so it understands if you're going under something, over it, or just to the left of it.

Smartphones get around this like the old GPS units did by 'locking' the path to a defined road - when you leave that road, or you hit a complex layout or the signal drops to just 4 satellites then you get very confusing directions and quite often wrong directions as the device mis-understands where you are.

Signal is an important thing as well. Smartphones have single small antennae that are combined with their GPRS/GSM antennae - these have significantly lower gain than the dedicated GPS devices which have the tech required to capture as many sats as possible and move between them at speed. To deal with the speed issue your phone will use it's GSM connection to determine where you are based on near-by cell towers, but as soon as you turn that off (say because you're in another country and don't want the roaming costs) you'll notice how long it takes to find a signal - this is also an issue around high buildings and even mountain passes - where your smart phone may struggle, your GPS will work.

Garmin software is a bitch by the way - hate it - so hard to use and takes so long to learn. Tom Tom software is very very good and very easy to understand but doesn't allow as much flexibility in terms of using free maps and data.

Here's a review I did of the Tom Tom Rider

TomTom Rider Review | The London Biker

and here's a quick comparison I did with the Garmin and Tom Tom when the Zumo first came out..

Garmin Zumo – Initial Review | The London Biker

It's fair to say that over the last two years I've had the Zumo my opinion has changed.

__________________
------------------
http://thelondonbiker.com/blog

Watch some of my camp cooking videos

AIM: mattcashmore
SKYPE: matthewcashmore
MSN: matthew@matthewcashmore.com

I reckon if you can navigate a complex road network without a GPS and a paper map you probably won't be able to with a GPS.

Friends of mine use an iphone as a GPS when trail riding without to many difficulties. But off course it's not use for turn by turn navigation. Don't see a big need for this anyway. The old route highlighter on a paper map is a function that can be achieved on a smart phone.

I use a garmin myself because to date I haven't liked the case options, but have just gotten one which may work and plan to use backcountry navigator and androzic for overviews when I change a plan. Garmin for the detail.

Androzic allows for oziexplorer maps. This means you can scan in any paper map or download digital maps, georeference them in oziexplorer and load them in. No need for paper maps any more, mean less luggage and less worry about waterproofing.

Should be perfect for RTW I reckon. Screen are big enough now to work out a route without them. RTW doesn't need to much GPS accuracy. It's mostly open road anyway.

__________________
Tacos Tyring Travels.com

Diversity of downloading offline maps and choices of maps are truly amazing. Heck ,, I don't even know at least 80% of the maps they are talking about ,,
Go here ,,, at the very top download Mobile Atlas Creator,,, read the help me files ,, select the area ,, then choose from some 20+ map formats ,,


Download Mobile Atlas Creator from SourceForge.net

Choose your maps ,, tiles ,, details ,, and create your own map... Click offline map in the setting in your map program ,, copy the map file from MAC ,, place it under Locus/map or any other map program you might be using ,,, before using,,, under setting click offline map.

It will take getting used to ,, experiment with it ,,, but ,, ah,, free maps,,,, great software ,, fun doing it ,, making your own map.

Now for online ,, when you travel ,, ask your carrier for the MONTHLY unlimited flat rate data plan,, which can be used all over the world ,, SK Telecom, in Korea provides 10 USD a day plan,, so you folks must have it in EEC and USA as well.
300 bucks a month ,, for internet,, EM ,,, etc ,,

Also if you go to APP store,, download free Kakao Talk ,, this allows you free chat ,, free sms ,, you can send large photo and video files to those with same ,, All free, as long as you are online.

For those coming to the UK and probably similar for other european countries with Orange coverage -
Orange pay as you go Dolphin package in the UK is only £10 month, no contract, no fee 100mb data 400 free texts. Available on line or at any Orange High street shop

__________________
Chris
-----------------
"Never have a stupid argument with an idiot - he gets a lot more practice than you"
there I go again
not too hard really

Just click ,, how,, vector maps , choose your region ,, unzip ,, move it to your Locus directory ,, takes five minutes.
http://www.vectormaps4locus.eu/

Samsung Galaxy S3 – Galaxy S III will have 12mp camera, 2GB ram and more

• 0G

Galaxy S3

Well leaked information on the highly anticipated brother of the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Samsung Galaxy S3 will compete against the iPhone 4S and iPhone 5 next year. The Samsung Galaxy S III will heavily challenge Apple’s handsets, as the Galaxy SII did well against the iPhone 4 resulting in multiple lawsuits back and forth between the 2 big companies, Apple and Samsung. With the recent release of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the hype that comes with every Google phone it makes for the Galaxy S III to have a hard time getting popular.
Samsung Galaxy S3 screen

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will sport a huge 4.6 inch screen bigger than the 4.3 inch screen of the Galaxy S II. Samsung accidently leaked that it would release phones in 2012 with the new flexible glass specifically; FOLED technology. This would make for an interesting concept coupled with the rumored 4.6 inch screen and 1280×720 resolution of the Galaxy S III. Reasons why Samsung have chosen to use the OLED/FOLED screen technology is it uses less power and it also allows for the screen to be curved which is something new.
Samsung Galaxy S III and Android

The Samsung Galaxy S III will obviously run Google’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich, which featured a big database (but not bigger than Apple’s) of applications and games to download. Despite the Android market not having as much applications as the Apple market the Operating system is open source meaning there will be way more customization allowable.



Samsung Galaxy S3 camera

The Galaxy S3 will likely to have a whopping 12 MP camera (MP is merely one factor out of a dozen) which surpasses the Galaxy S2′s 8MP rear facing camera. But Samsung is going to do something innovative — it looks as if the Samsung Galaxy S3 will have a 1/2.3-inch sensor. That’s much bigger than the 1/3.2-inch CMOS chip found in many phones, including the iPhone 4S. To give you an idea of how that can impact image quality, check out another device using a 1/2.3-inch chip: the ultra-stylish £500 Pentax Q system camera.
Galaxy S3 features

Here is a summary of the features which are rumored to be available on the Samsung Galaxy S3 via CNET

• 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen at 1,280×720-pixel resolution
• 1.8GHz chip with 2GB RAM for zippy multitasking and games
• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with a refreshed TouchWiz skin
• Camera-quality 12-megapixel photos
• Styled like the Galaxy Nexus

And here’s what we’re hoping for:

• A flexible OLED screen on a jaw-dropping curved chassis
• TouchWiz mini apps that put social networking front and centre
• Ultra-high ISO photography so we don’t even need to use the sickly built-in LED flash

Having discussed here ,, meant ,, I had better know what I was talking about.
After a careful due diligence ,, I have come to the following conclusion.

Android phone is best,, since most of the software for navigation is in the Windows / Google format.

Best free navi APP is Locus for both online and offline.

Offline ,, again best is the vectormap/locus.eu ,, that gives you navigation function, for ease of installing and using.

Best offline map to use ,, is mapdroyd APP ,, it covers the whole world , but it will lack some finer city details.

When installing the vectormap ,, the tiles are per each country. Russia, however has regional tiles, which means not knowing where you can be a hassle to select the right map,, for this below , a chart of Russian region ,,, send your self an attached EM with this chart and look it up in your phone,, to see which region it is ,

Attached Thumbnails