Car & Bike Navigation dilemma dedicated smartphone or gps device ?

S

sam000

Adept
The main purpose is to use it in a cab...the driver is not that much familiar with chennai city and he will be needing navigation guidance...so should i get him a dedicated smartphone with gps coupled with navimaps or should i go for mapmyindia gps navigator ?

He will be driving for like 14 hrs a day so battery backup is also key...google tells me the MMI device has a pathetic backup of like 90 mins ? what if he keeps the device plugged in power socket of car when he is driving will that recharge it in such a way that it lasts the whole day?

or should i get him a smartphone with gps and a powerbank ...please suggest what to get thank you.
 
He has to keep it plugged in at all times when the device is on.
Just for a city, MMI or Garmin will work alright. entry level models are around 5 k and decent for city usage.
14 hours usage, get a gps device not a phone.
 
puns said:
He has to keep it plugged in at all times when the device is on.
Just for a city, MMI or Garmin will work alright. entry level models are around 5 k and decent for city usage.
14 hours usage, get a gps device not a phone.
Click to expand...

Ok then i will get this one from mapmyindia :

www.mapmyindia.com/store/lx345-buy-and-review

also if he keeps it charged in the power socket of the car throughout the day it will not drain run out of power right ? thats the only thing i fear ...the device running out of power in the middle of a drop and he gets scolded by the client for not even knowing the route.Thanks.
 
Considering the usage, GPS would be much better option. It wont drain as it would be getting continuous power from the car supply.
mapmyindia is quite decent.
 
Jambumali said:
Considering the usage, GPS would be much better option. It wont drain as it would be getting continuous power from the car supply.
mapmyindia is quite decent.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the reply...its a relief to know that it wont power off unexpectedly....the cab is going to be driven in chennai so are there any other options other than mapmyindia that are as good or even better than MMI ? sorry for being so noobish i literally know next to nothing about gps and stuff .
 
I don't see why you need a dedicated gps unit when Ola and uber themselves give android phones to their drivers for gps navigation.

Get an android phone and power it continiously through car charger port
 
adventureguy said:
I don't see why you need a dedicated gps unit when Ola and uber themselves give android phones to their drivers for gps navigation.

Get an android phone and power it continiously through car charger port
Click to expand...
adventureguy said:
I don't see why you need a dedicated gps unit when Ola and uber themselves give android phones to their drivers for gps navigation.

Get an android phone and power it continiously through car charger port
Click to expand...

The car is not attached to ola or uber but with fast track call taxi....smartphone was also my first choice but i read in some forum that the battery in gps mode will get drained more rapidly...thats why i started looking at dedicated gps devices...please correct me if i am wrong .
 
If the call/booking feature is not expected out of the device, you dont need a mobile to navigate instead use the dedicated GPS device. Period.
 
GPS does drain the phone battery rather fast.
Do you need to acknowledge the start/stop of the trip on a mobile phone? Uber & Ola have that requirement, the driver starts and stops the trip on the phone and that is how metering takes place.
If that is the case with "fast track", then you have no choice but to go with a mobile phone. The 12V socket would provide non-stop power, so GPS draining the phone would become a non-issue.
First, ask the company Fast Track and only then decide on the device.
 
The phone will be connected to charger in the car. And its constantly charged. So, GPS battery drain isn't an issue right?

BTW mapmyindia isn't that better in cities compared to google maps.
 
adventureguy said:
The phone will be connected to charger in the car. And its constantly charged. So, GPS battery drain isn't an issue right?
BTW mapmyindia isn't that better in cities compared to google maps.
Click to expand...

Even i would like to know this....i am planning to get this asus mobile with a 5000mAH battery for navigation purpose for the driver and couple it with navi maps pro guidance offline map (Rs599) ...if this is the wrong choce please tell me what else to get.

here is the link for the mobile :
http://www.amazon.in/Asus-Zenfone-Z...d=1461494659&sr=1-5&keywords=asus+zenfone+max

Will the car keep this mobile charged when its on gps the whole day ? or should i get a car inverter like this belkin model to keep the phone from powering off ? :

http://www.amazon.in/Belkin-F5L071a...id=1461490397&sr=1-1&keywords=BELKIN+INVERTER
 
Jambumali said:
GPS does drain the phone battery rather fast.
Do you need to acknowledge the start/stop of the trip on a mobile phone? Uber & Ola have that requirement, the driver starts and stops the trip on the phone and that is how metering takes place.
If that is the case with "fast track", then you have no choice but to go with a mobile phone. The 12V socket would provide non-stop power, so GPS draining the phone would become a non-issue.
First, ask the company Fast Track and only then decide on the device.
Click to expand...

from what i saw the fast track drivers virtually everyone has a smartphone...so i think its a must...i have to get him a smartphone at any cost...if that would suffice with navi offline maps then that wold be wonderful....saves me the hassle of getting a dedicated gps device....like i said in the above post i have zeroed in on asus zenhone max for its huge battery...please shed some light on my choice ...i dont know much about smartphones either :).
 
rakesh_ic said:
If the call/booking feature is not expected out of the device, you dont need a mobile to navigate instead use the dedicated GPS device. Period.
Click to expand...

The call bookings will come though phone only....if my above mentioned asus phone (or any other recommended by techenclave) + navi maps + the belkin car inverter will keep the driver from getting lost in and around chennai throughout the day then that would be awesome...if smartphone will suffice then i dont even mind getting him 3g connection if that will help him in anyway thanks.
 
Why are you so confused dude?

Call your cab company and ask them if they provide phone for navigation. If yes, then you need to buy a simple phone for driver to take calls.

If your cab company doesn't provide a smartphone, you need to buy two phones. One phone for navigation and one phone for taking calls.

Phone for navigation need not have a bigger battery since it'll always be connected to car charger.
 
Battery is not an issue as the phone is hooked to the 12V socket. Buy a larger screen 5.5" etc for better visibility for navigation & to passengers reg start/stop of trip etc.
 
for offline navigation, download Here Maps from nokia and also download the corresponding map for offline usage. Save yourself those extra 600 bucks. Another option would be to get a In car entertainment unit with built in GPS
 
M using here maps since more than a year now and must say its accurate even more than googlemaps and we can share and store and mark any barren loc as well and give it a custom name.
In fact on many occasions i visited some famous places like hotel which gmaps failed to recognize and just show nothing on gps but at same time here maps showed that hotel and place accurately listed in it.

Even when i drive it shows me accurate directions and distance with voice assistance in Hindi/English.

And best part is its complete offline. So download once and forget it. Though it prompts for regular updates onxeea month or so.

I tried garmin etc as well but they too cant compete with here maps in terms of usability, simplicity and performance.


So i have actually removed gmaps completely and rely on my good old nokia here maps.
 
Thanks for all the reply guys...i have settled on a smartphone for dedicated gps device....now what mobile should i choose for this purpose....i googled a lot and found motorola locks gps pretty quickly....like within seconds...is this true ? should i buy moto G third gen model or something else please advice. thank.
 
Jambumali said:
Moto G3 prices may drop a bit, with the coming launch of Moto G4 in few days. G3 is a good device.
Click to expand...

Moto g3 doesnt have compass and magnetometer sensor which affects navigation...is this true ?

after googling for hours i found galaxy S5 has some really great gps...i read this on one uber driver's blog...checked the price on flipkart and its selling for like 18K...it has all those sensors...i dont mind getting S5 either if it can give the best gps experience. thank you.

EDIT : damn just found out the S5 the US uber driver was talking about is different spec compared to the S5 that is available in flipkart...i dont know if it will perform like the US version in the gps department :(
 
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