If you want to see where you are and where you're going, even if you don't have a specific route, you'll like Verizon's VZ Navigator Follow Me Map, which shows your position as you move around. While not terribly valuable, it's certainly cool and fun to look at.

Given the state of the economy, location-based gas-price listings are a valuable feature, and all three services offer them. You can search for gas by grade of gasoline (including diesel), or by price. TeleNav-powered phones update the pricing daily for major metro areas; if a gas station doesn't send data within three days, it's dropped from the system.

If you're looking for a restaurant recommendation, you're in luck. Each device has a way to search for a spot to eat--or, for that matter, a movie, or an event such as a concert. On AT&T and Sprint models, you can search by the most popular items in a category; you can also save on using costly 411 services, as you can immediately call the restaurant, or simply use the navigation program to head on over from wherever you are. The reviews and ratings are from or from other TeleNav users, but the restaurant reviews aren't nearly as valuable as those on .

Also, performance of the search features was spotty, depending on network traffic and access to both GPS satellites and cell towers. For instance, the first time I searched VZ Navigator for Chinese restaurants along my route, it came up with no results; subsequent searches appeared quickly. Luckily I wasn't hungry when I tried the search with the Sprint phone, because I wouldn't have wanted to wait the 2 minutes it took to deliver results.

Going Off Course