I've been reading about the next wave of GPS enabled phones. Anyone know when the first models will be released? I'm about to get a hand-held GPS to supplement the car unit, but will wait if the new phones are coming out in a few months.

 

they're already here... some have been out for awhile under other carriers, but at&t recently released the tilt (almost the same thing as the htc tytnII kaiser, but w/o 2 cameras and tomtom gps preloaded).

you can get the tilt through at&t for around $299 or through other sites like ebay, etc... for cheaper (assuming you get a new 2 year contract).

you can also purchase an unlocked kaiser for around $599, which will work on most any carrier. if you don't mind paying extra for unlocked phones, there are tons of gps-enabled phones on the market - htc, eten, etc... are some of them. some of them also come with 3G and EDGE for faster internet browsing as well, and windows mobile 5 or 6.

the tilt doesn't come with tomtom or gps software preloaded, but googlemaps and live search (msn) work fairly well - just download right to your phone. some friends have purchased the tomtom software, and really like it. you hae the option to purchase a gps program that comes with the tilt, but there's a monthly fee (couldn't see paying monthly fees to get a subscription service that the tilt can already do for free - it's built in).

the tilt works fine for me and my wife - acquires satellite position faster than our magellan 760 (car based unit), with the right software can still talk you right to your destination, and best of all, it's all in one! wm6.0, gps, 3.0 mp camera, and phone all in one.

hope this helps some.

 

Or if you get a phone with bluetooth and WM5 or 6 you can get GPS for it for under $100.

 

Good stuff. After reading yours and others glowing reviews, I'm checking into a Tilt today, thanks.

 

this is true!

only thing is that you have to have an external antenna mounted somewhere in your car (most of the kits i've seen have a little "patch" type antenna) so you can't take it out of your car and walk around with it (you can use googlemaps or live search to look up gas stations, movie theaters, eateries, and even movie times/prices).

with the tilt/tytn II or other eten/imate phones, you have everything with you, all the time.

otoh, if you lose it, you're totally screwed.

 

search around for best prices, a week after i got my wife and me tilts for $299 through the at&t website, a friend (that told us about the tilt, ironically) got his for $149 (with a 2 year contract) through a different website.

 

I'm still uncertain. I don't care for the high GPS subscription fee plans, and don't know if it could display NG topos. Thanks for the tips, though.

 

i would guess as long as you had the proper program loaded for topos, it could (it takes a micro SD memory card, so you can have up to 4GB storage for programs, maps, etc...). if you don't want to use free online maps, you can purchase software from tomtom, etc... that looks like the car-based gps that can talk you to your destination.

the gps is built into the phone, so it's free (no subscription fees) as long as you have a program to use for it (live search, googlemaps, tomtom, etc...). i don't know anything about topo maps, but i'm sure there are members here that are. if you can get the maps onto your phone, i'm fairly sure you could use it like a handheld topo gps.

hope this helps!