http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/te...8gps.html?_r=1

It appears that the evolution of "all-in-one" tech is starting to eliminate other tech by taking its place. I for one find this rather interesting.

I agree with that article. Not much advantage over a smartphone for the average users who drives on highways half the time. There will always be the high end GPS market, but the low-middle end is going to be replaced by phones/MIDs.

Battery issues are mostly solved with car-chargers, and hopefully better battery tech.

Yeah, I use my NIT as a part time GPS nav device, despite its faults. When I'm on the road more than an hour, it gets connected to the car charger, no questions asked.

Even feature phones can pull that trick

As devices begin to converge, some markets will be shrinking that can't stand on their own uniquely enough (e.g. a digital camera). GPS devices are an interesting category..

I have a feeling GPS devices were made initially because there was no other device on the market that could handle what GPS providers (e.g. TomTom, Garmin) wanted to do. It essentially required a device with enough storage space to load maps, POI, and have enough power to do on the fly re-routing.

As devices like the iPhone begin to encroach you begin to see things such as Garmin making their devices more multimedia based, and TomTom offering navigation on the iPhone for a monthly subscription (I think they're more interested in selling software and subscriptions than their hardware devices. They do sell their updated maps to existing TomTom users as well).

At the same time these devices hold a problem...

1) For a device like the iPhone, you have to use it as a phone too. Not exactly easy unless you have a bluetooth car system or bluetooth headset, and in some states like CA you can't mount a GPS anywhere but the dashboard.

2) Storage. Will maps and POI be stored on the device? Or on the cloud/internet (e.g. Google Maps). What happens if you lose service, no maps and navigation for you. While a dedicated device, or MaemoMapper with download maps don't have that problem (though with MM you have routing problems).

3) Lag in downloading maps (has to do with service).

But there is a decent enough overlap that convergent devices can begin eating into GPS markets since most people who use GPS devices are usually in areas with service (though surprisingly AT&T doesn't service Ocean City, MD very well as my cousin with the iPhone 3G found out) and aren't in the need for what dedicated GPS devices do.

I am hoping that some day I can retire my Garmin GPS and only carry a NIT. I am hoping that the N900 will make that dream come true!

The big thing over here in the UK is cost.

Generally navigation software costs more, sometimes a lot more than you can buy a entry level standalone sat-nav unit for.
I have seen them for less than £50 in supermarkets. By contrast I spent nearly double that for my Wayfinder licence. and paid way more than that for my Garmin about 3 years ago, only for it to pack up after 18 months.

I think over here a lot of people are buying the cheap units and are regarding them as almost disposable when the maps are too badly out of date.

Of course, most people (myself included) do not need sat-nav most of the time, but GPS based traffic camera alerts, and location-aware traffic news are of most use.

The other thing that the article does not mention is Google maps. I can get basic traffic, and directions on my phone free, which is would be enough to make me think twice before buying software.

When you think about it, this trend is only going to continue.

What is a modern smartphone other than a computer with an interesting collection of I/O devices: screen, cellular radio, wifi, bluetooth, GPS, camera, LED, speaker(s), accelerometer, compass, thermometer, brightness sensor, proximity sensor, touchscreen, etc?

So you download a piece of software and you can use your device in any number of ways.

I see the smartphone in time replacing many uses of baby monitors, walkie-talkies, transit tickets, spirit levels, rulers, video recorders, paper maps, personal security devices, pedometers, photo albums, reference libraries, passports... (the list is endless).

And if my one device can do all of these things, I don't mind a slightly bigger device with at least a 4 inch screen :-)

Regards,
Roger

Yes, pretty much. The screen size is the only issue here. For car use the screen size of a pocketable device is in the small range... But still acceptable: there are many dedicated GPS devices with 3-4 inch screens.

and if it can give turn by turn advice by voice, there is no need to lok at the screen after the destination is keyed in.

as for the phone taking over walkie-talkie and similar, onlyy if one create a broadcast system for wifi, bluetooth or wusb...