How will Navigation work with a lesser coverage carrier?

[greydarrah]

For any of you out there with T Mobile that also travel from time to time, I know the data coverage can't come close to something like Verizon. When I say that, I realize TMO has great coverage in certain areas, but what about driving across a few states? I've never had to test Navigation like that (always having had Verizon). Will it download the maps you need when you're in an area that has good coverage, then allow you to navigate off those maps, or are you just "on you own" for more rural areas of your trip?

 

[mike37918]

For any of you out there with T Mobile that also travel from time to time, I know the data coverage can't come close to something like Verizon. When I say that, I realize TMO has great coverage in certain areas, but what about driving across a few states? I've never had to test Navigation like that (always having had Verizon). Will it download the maps you need when you're in an area that has good coverage, then allow you to navigate off those maps, or are you just "on you own" for more rural areas of your trip?

Can't answer your T Mo question - Ive been wondering the same thing myself. But one answer you might consider is one of the many apps that store maps on the phone and let you navigate offline.

I will tell you this: I did 8 hrs in the car yesterday and had google nav going the whole time, and the Nexus 4 got HOT. I mean painfully hot. So be careful!

 

[greydarrah]

Can't answer your T Mo question - Ive been wondering the same thing myself. But one answer you might consider is one of the many apps that store maps on the phone and let you navigate offline.

I will tell you this: I did 8 hrs in the car yesterday and had google nav going the whole time, and the Nexus 4 got HOT. I mean painfully hot. So be careful!

What carrier are you hooked up to?

 

[bilago]

Once your route is mapped by Google Nav, it will continue to provide you with full GPS functionality and directions even if you lose data. However, if you miss the turn or go the wrong way, then you can run into issues. I know on my ICS tablet I can cache map data to my sdcard for those situations.

 

[DirkBelig]

While Google Maps can store areas on your device, getting navigation directions is wholly dependent on your data connection. No data = no navigation. I just took a trip up in the Michigan Thumb area and once I got north of Port Huron, I was pretty much screwed for data and thus it didn't matter that I'd stored the maps. The GPS still worked and I could see where I was in Maps, but just like the old days with paper maps, I had to figure out where to go myself.

Because data is so $$$$$ in Canada, I keep my old Garmin GPS in the car. Because of competition from smartphones, they've really gotten cheap. A unit better than the one I paid $300 for six years ago can be had for about $100 and they're offering infinite map updates. I'm thinking about getting one.

 

[Andrew Martonik]

For any of you out there with T Mobile that also travel from time to time, I know the data coverage can't come close to something like Verizon. When I say that, I realize TMO has great coverage in certain areas, but what about driving across a few states? I've never had to test Navigation like that (always having had Verizon). Will it download the maps you need when you're in an area that has good coverage, then allow you to navigate off those maps, or are you just "on you own" for more rural areas of your trip?

You can download maps beforehand for a certain area if you want. It won't pre-load navigation data though, you'll still need a data connection for that. If you load Navigation when in good coverage it'll stay with you, but again you just can't re-route without a data connection.

Maps will load over EDGE or a weak HSPA+ signal just fine, it'll just be slower, of course.