Next up, was the MapMyIndia 430 Classic. This device has a large, 4.3 inch screen, and the graphical interface has been updated. The maps on this look a lot better than on the C230, but you have to balance that with the fact that, at Rs. 23,000, it's a lot more expensive as well. The updates for this have been free so far, but the company may charge for these updates in the future. MapMyIndia updates maps every six months. The 430 Classic mapped an optimal route to the destination, and I got there pretty quickly. The interface to this device is quite intuitive, and it has some nice features like route tracking. Unfortunately, it does not save these tracks in the standard GPX format, but it does save them to .KML (Google Earth's format), which you can then convert to GPX using free tools like GPS Babel. The verbal prompts were very clear, and the device makes sure you take the right turn by announcing it at least three times before the turn comes up.

Nokia's Maps and Navigation tool was a little disappointing. The interface is easy to use, but the routes that it plans are a little curious. It seems to favor the broadest roads possible, even if there are perfectly good routes on slightly smaller roads that are a whole lot shorter. It does get you to your destination, but the standalone devices, and even iNav Connect, planned better routes. It's also quite expensive, since you need to pay around Rs. 600 a month for the subscription. When compared to the much more reasonable Rs. 250 that iNav Connect charges, it's difficult to recommend this program.

The free AmazeGPS just about held its own against the commercial products. It's a little clunky to use, and searching for addresses is an exercise in frustration, but if you do manage to get the correct address, it plans a decent route. It didn't go such a great job in Bangalore, but I had occasion to use this in Delhi and it did a much better job there. The maps are not are comprehensive as the commercial ones, but if you're only occasionally using the GPS features on your phone, this isn't a bad program to have installed. I wouldn't recommend this for serious usage, though.

Phone or GPS?

The real-world test of these devices exposed some interesting details. The smartphones were consistently a lot faster at getting GPS lock. This is because they use Assisted-GPS, which gets basic location information from the cellular network, and then uses that to get a precise fix. Both the standalone devices took as long as seven minutes on occasion to get a fix. The phones never took longer than a minute. The phones are more versatile as well, since you can install different kinds of software that can use the GPS capabilities in new and interesting ways, as we explore below.