Saturday, April 21, 2007 - Cell phones with GPS navigation capabilities are not new.  But more and more phones are now GPS equipped to get you where you need to go.  And a recent survey shows that women are more comfortable driving when they have GPS in their car.

GPS navigation on cell phones is much more affordable...plans start at 10 dollars a month.  Like the more expensive dash-mounted GPS units, you get access to millions of points of interest.

Networks in Motion created the VZ Navigator for phones from Verizon Wireless.  NIM also powers Alltel's AXCESS Mobile Guide.  TeleNav is available on phones from a number of providers including Sprint.  They use GPS technology from Navteq.  Both feature voice prompted turn by turn driving directions in English or Spanish.

I received two Motorola RAZR phones, one equipped with VZ Navigator, the other with TeleNav.  Both worked extremely well in getting me to destinations, although the VZ Navigator sometimes waited until the last possible moment to give me a cue to turn or enter/exit the freeway.  Each of the GPS systems had a cool feature I really liked.

Verizon's VZ Navigator has Place Messaging.  Let's say you have a friend who has found a great little restaurant.  If they have a Verizon phone with Navigator, they can send you a message which will be placed in the Recent Searches area of Navigator on your phone.  That way you can find the restaurant on map and get driving directions right to it.

On the phone equipped with TeleNav's system you can do a search for the nearest gas stations based on the lowest price for gasoline.  I don't know how often it updates, but I was impressed with this feature.  With gas approaching 3 dollars a gallon, this can be a very valuable feature when you are on a trip out of town.

To learn more, go to TeleNav's website at www.telenav.com, or Networks in Motion at www.networksinmotion.com.