Tom Tom is out, costs $100, Navigon is out, costs $70 (for now, soon to be $100, I chose Co-pilot Live at $35. Ilounge.com has a review of all three of them, pretty much the same. I've been using copilot and am pleased with it, but haven't decided if I can give away my gps unit...yet. To me, since none of these has a lite or trial version, you're better off going with copilot at half to a third of the price of the others just in case you think it's not good enough. All three apps are voice based turn by turn, but none of them (currently) says the street name. All promise soon updates to resolve that

just my two cents
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I just walked outside with mine and it shows the street names. I had to turn them on though.
I must have gotten the special version. :-)
The lady also asked me to make a u-turn now.
It's all 3-d and kicks ass offa the nav unit I have now. :-)
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They all show the names, they don't speak the names:

"take the next left"

as opposed to


"turn left on Partagas street"

unless Navigon has already updated, or
you do indeed have the super secret version!
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Ahhhhhhhhhh. I see.
I'll check it later and see if it says the street names.
I have to go get milk, so I'll take it for a ride and see what the chick says.
I don't know if my gps in the car says the street names, either, now that you mentioned that. I know it shows it on screen, but I think it says "turn left in 200 feet" and stuff like that.
Now I have something to do today. :-)
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ok guys, no pushing me down the slope on ipod apps... yet
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I dont? huh. Wife has one :-):-) I also have two mac laptops in my house. I play with an old titanium book and the wife has a new big expensive one. For video editing they rock, for other things they blow. She got and gets one every few years from work for free. Hell if I would pay over 2k for that thing.

I love when people use ",but". You can pretty much disregard everything before the comma. Why would you even use ",but" when you are about to write something offensive? Wow nice assumption, but you know what they say about that. Arguing with people with Iphones or Macs never ends well. They can generally not accpept anything other then its the best and of course they made the right choice. I have had these discussions many times and found Iphone folks to always be the ones who get hostile.

Nice assumption on the stand alone GPS as well. I had a stand alone one recieved for christmas and sold it. I have intergrated in my clarion headunit in my SUV and had an Alpine before that with it as well. I liked the Alpine more than Clarion FYI. Like I said google works fine for me. When I am using it at work or travel and in a different car. I dont need a voice to tell me to turn left or right or go straight. I can read and look at the picture.

Just because its best for you doesnt mean its the best or best for everyone else. Clearly an educated mind should be able to see that.

I posted my opinion based on personal experience with all phones. Wife had a BB before the Iphone, my best friend has a BB and many of the other officers at work have BBs and Iphones. Because you didnt like my opinion on the Iphone you attacked my view with out having any facts in hand making assumptions and poor ones at that.
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If you need an email and text device the BB wins.

The iPhone wins when you decide to mix business and pleasure. The Internet is unbelievable and the screen is big and easy to read. The battery life, especially compared to BB, sucks.
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Lot better than the coffee forums. Went in to ask advice on a cheap espresso machine and am about 2 grand into it and haven't gotten a roaster.
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Just because your wife has an iphone and you use a Mac doesn't necessarily mean you have a good understanding of the capabilities of the iPhone. You obviously don't as you seem to believe WiMo can do everything an iPhone can. That statement alone showed your lack of knowledge of the devices. Also the statement of BB not having google maps is incorrect, so it seems you are only familiar with windows.

I don't think Vic every suggested the iPhone is best for EVERYONE. In fact, he doesn't make anything close to that statement in his post. He likes it and many in this thread have stated that enterprise wise BB is superior. Maybe the windows fanboys can be just as hard headed :-)
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As an AT&T employee, I'm going to let you in on a little secret. Reception is currently changing for everyone, as AT&T users can no longer roam on T-Mobile's network. Not a big deal in some places, but in places like where I'm from, it's huge.

I have three active cell phones: a Blackberry Bold, iPhone 3G and the Google G1. The G1 is far and away my favorite of the three, but it's not for everyone. It has a capacitive touch screen like the iPhone, but it's not as responsive. It has a five line full qwerty keyboard that is unparalleled by anything out there. Out of the box, it's not terribly functional (in comparison to the iPhone), but unlike the iPhone, the G1 is completely malleable in it's operation. The G1 is a perfect balance between fun applications and "Web 2.0" business use.

The iPhone is the easiest, and the most fun phone ever. The capacitive touch screen is amazing, the new 3GS is speedy and nearly crash free (don't be fooled into the $99 3G!!), and there are millions of apps to use. My only qualm with the iPhone is that I use my phone for work a lot more than I do for play, and the iPhone does not excel in that area. If you're looking for a really fun device with lots of time wasting potential, nevermind a rockin' web browser, get the iPhone 3GS. Just remember, you can get 95% of it's functionality out of an iPod Touch.

What can I say about Blackberrys? They excel at what they do best, but fall lacking in many other areas. A Blackberry is first and foremost an Business Exchange phone. Email, Calendar, and Contacts management is arguably untouchable by any other mobile platform. I use my Blackberry for work. I send out mass text messages to staff, handle customer emails, organise my contacts within and outside the company, and write reports all on this device. The newer Blackberrys (Bold, Curve 8900, Tour) are especially good with excel documents, as the resolution allows you to see more rows and columns. Here are the major setbacks. Battery life of 3G/EvDO Blackberrys is quite lacking, and I rarely make it through the work day without charging my Bold (which has the worst battery by far, to be fair). There is a very limited number of applications that even come close to touching what has been done on the iPhone. The web browser in the new OS is very bad at handling scripting, so it runs just a bit faster than my old 2G iPhone. It's a business phone. They've done a lot to reach out to a broader audience, but at the end of the day, that's what it's for.

I'm partial to AT&T, so I'm not going to go into a tirade about how I feel about Big Red's business practices. Just know that in this brothers biased opinion, Verizon Wireless is one of the most backhanded, irresponsible companies I've ever known.

I wanted to go a bit into the nickel-and-diming. VZ is not alone in these practices, as there are plenty of peple with AT&T with the same problems. For both providers, the problem is more often than not bad provisioning on the account. For instance: if a customer does not want data on their phone (and it's not a smartphone) I will ask them if they would like me to block access to the data network to avoid overage charges. There is a drawback: even if you have unlimited messaging, MMS will not work if data is blocked. It's a matter of who your rep is, and how much they are willing to dig into your usage details. Whichever provider you go with, if the rep seems to be rushing you through the setup and explanation of your account, ask nicely if there is anyone in the store who specialises in account level provisioning (called SSRs at AT&T, not sure at VZ). If they are still dismissive, ask for a manager.

That being said, if you are getting an iPhone, the worry about nickel-and-diming is dropped to nearly nothing. I always recommend the 450 minute plan (unless you need more) with unlimited data and unlimited messaging. This comes to 89.99 a month - 98.xx after tax. Everything you buy is through your iTunes account. The only thing you can go over on is your minutes, which most do not.

I've rambled on :-). If you have any questions, PM me anytime.
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I think android has the possibility of being something great. the HTC Hero looks AWESOME!

And yes, some of the things Verizon does is very shady (like dumbing down all their devices! :-) ) But in my area at least they still get the best service, which is what I really care about
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:-) this will go in circles and I have no intrest in wasting that time.
My error was in introducing a third option and stating my experiences with all three. I believe WM to be as capable and more so in most areas. This comes from a fair amount of experience with both.

As I said prior arguing with apple product owners always ends the same and it held true here. You would think I would have learned not to bother after years of doing this. My wife and I agree to disagree.


Great post scott very insightful. I like the G1 but am going to wait a while. I have an HTC Pro with windows mobileslide keyboard.
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Scott, one of the best answers I've gotten in helping to inform a decision.. If I really needed a blackberry for work, I'd make my office get it..

"Did you get that e-mail?"
"No, it was the weekend"
"Well we needed your input on something"
"Guess you should issue me a blackberry"

The iPhone is probably where I'm going towards.. I priced out the 450 anytime minutes and 200 txt messages which is equivalent to what I've been using on verizon for 4 years and never went over.. well except when the ex GF and I started dating.. oops.. Turns out to around $75 a month plus taxes, etc..

Thanks!
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Introducing a third option is great, and many people use WiMo as well.

Your error was making inaccurate statements about the other 2 options. Hell maybe the new version of WiMo is that much better. I do have knowlege of RIM and Apple, so please enlighten me as to how WiMo is better and in what areas?

I'll be waiting with bated breath :-)





Okay Dan, threadjack over.... sorry to take away from your legitimate questions

If ATT coverage is good in your area by all means go with it. The monthly bill isn't THAT much more expensive than for other phones (In some cases it may not be any more expensive)

Just go with what you like after doing some research and trying the phones out :-)
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Nah mate that would be a waste of both are time. You have your Iphone you should just go play a flight sim or something super cool.
thought you implied you had one. hmmm.

Fanboy? gd lord no one reads. I said it had a cool browser and some good apps. I said it was expensive and you paid for everything. I said Wimo has media features it doesnt and can play movies music etc. Have not heard fanboy since ATI v NVidia video card forums.
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I don't have an iPhone :-)
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I'm feelin' ya, brother. I wouldn't piss on Verizon Wireless if they were on fire. :-)
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That would make two of us that don't read as Vic did not mention iPhone being for everyone, just pointed out an error in your statement which seemed to point to the fact that you lacked experience with iPhone compared to WiMo

Taking a step back having a pissing match over which company is better is useless as you stated. However, I really do not use an iPhone, I use a blackberry. I did have a WiMo phone and was not impressed, but that is my opinion. If which ever device you have works for you and has the features you like then who am I to say you are wrong. We are probably both making understatements about the capabilities of each OS, so I think agreeing to disagree as you suggested is the best solution.

However, nothing wrong with a discussion on each type of device :-)
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Well, maybe just one :-)
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Agreed Jim.

As to verizon I have not been with them for 4 years after they pulled some crap. I went with sprint cause of the plan i got and the piggyback with verizons network. I cant recommend anyone use verizon after my experience with them. Sprint had been issue free for 4 years. That said now they dont want to let me change phones unless I change plans. They are loosing money on my plan and they want them gone.

I would probablly go att over verizon cause of past experience. Would pick sprint over them all still do to piggyback agreement with verizon without all the vz bs.
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