DDL Articles

Take a minute and remember the last twenty years of your life. Technology has literally transformed the way we live so much, that most of the things available are or will become a necessity. A good example of this is a GPS system that you find in your mobile phone. Most of these tiny little pieces are situated inside the SIM card and can keep track of your location. It’s an amazing feat, when not too long ago cell phones looked like huge walkie-talkies.

While there are still some mobile phones that are too old to acknowledge a SIM, most of them are equipped with it as long as you have access to a 3G network. This of course leaves us with one major question. Is it as good as a stand alone GPS unit? The most common name people hear about is Garmin, or those other ones built into cars. Unfortunately they aren’t as good yet. In our society today we see just about everything on a cell phone from cameras and MP3 players to Internet and ring tones.

One huge advantage that a stand alone GPS unit has over a Sim free mobile phone is the size of its screen. If you are driving by yourself, it is difficult (and dangerous) to be peering at a little cell phone screen in your hand as compared to glancing at a large built in or dash mounted unit. If you have passenger, they can use the phone just fine, or on some phones you can use turn by turn voice directions.

The point is if you’re using a GPS for your car, the stand alone is better. However, anywhere else you’ll want to be using a mobile phone. Unless of course you’re going to strap that puppy on like a backpack and lug it around everywhere.

Even with all the debate that surrounds which one to choose, both industries are growing like crazy. While this may be true, you don’t find too many people who buy one of each. Instead they feel that since they have an option with their mobile phone, a stand alone is not necessary, even if it’s not as good. This is because mobile phones don’t charge anything extra for GPS tracking.

Even market analysts agree that GPS units will grow for 3-5 more years thanks to lowered prices. However, once this period is over the stand alones will all but disappear as people upgrade their smart phones. Once cell phones are able to compete with GPS systems on a quality standpoint (especially voice options), people will cease to buy the stand alone versions. Even all the negativities that surround a mobile phones screen size will be combated with multi-functionality and portability.

The hand held GPS will inevitably go the way of the PDA, which was replaced by the cell phone as soon as smart phones, like the Blackberry, started coming equipped with decent keyboards and useful software.