SPF #5 Epic Otterbox

Hi again everybody,

So I broke my droid.  Epically.  The Best Buy salesman said that there was a phone with similar damage that had been thrown from the roof of a moving car and hit by a bus.  I managed to do all my damage while road biking with mine - no fueled vehicles, just me and my beefy spokes.  Even the mighty OtterBox failed to protect my phone, but I think anything but a steel case would have.  Anyhow, the point of this article is to praise OtterBox for their customer service, not to talk about how badly I broke the phone and their case.  

I’m of the opinion that most companies don’t need to advertise if they have a good enough product and provide customer service.  I’ve always liked OtterBox as a company, and their cases have always worked well until now.  So I got the commuter series instead of the defender series.  People always make fun of my defender cases because they’re so overbuilt, but they also are pretty darn sturdy.  I feel like I’m holding a football instead of a phone.  I’ve always been pretty careful with my phones, so I took a risk and got the commuter series for my Droid Razr Maxx.  Big mistake.  Me being me, I obviously did some frugality checks - these cases aren’t cheap - and found a good one online at Amazon for less money.  I also got one at the cell phone store so that I wasn’t walking around unprotected, and returned it once my cheaper one came in.

Most things aren’t worth $35, but the OtterBox case is.  Their guarantee is such that, even though this whole debacle was my fault, they would replace my case.  When I called and talked to a customer service rep, they even upgraded me to a defender series FOR FREE.  I offered to pay the difference in price, and they said no!  How cool is that?  I figured that the only thing to do in this situation is to sing OtterBox’s praises as a company.  I mean, anybody with that kind of commitment to their product and their customers doesn’t need to pay for advertising.  Anybody asking me what kind of case to get will get the answer, “Otterbox Defender” - and if they’re worried about size, the commuter . . . at least until they wreck their phone and want more protection :)

~Mark

SPF #7: Verizon.

Good morning everybody,

So I have a beef.  I have an unlimited amount of data from Verizon, right?  I'm grandfathered in, right?  WRONG.  They recently admitted to me that they are throttling everybody's bandwidth above 2 gigs a month.  Now, as you know, I use my droid for a lot of things.  My wife uses her iphone to stream music, check the facey-spacey (facebook) and tons of other stuff.  We go over 2 gigs in maybe the first week of each month.  It got so bad that she couldn't even check her email or voicemail at work on her 3g iphone.  To which Verizon replied, "Well, a 4g phone might solve the problem, but we have to make sure everybody else has equal usage so we have to throttle you after 2 gigs."  To my mind, unlimited means UNLIMITED, in either bandwidth or total usage.  Maybe I'm wrong though; what do you think?

We solved the problem by getting her a Droid Razr, but we shouldn't have had to upgrade her phone just to get around a bandwidth issue that was not part of the original contract.

Also, I've heard this rumor that they will be doing away with the unlimited plans soon.  Anybody know anything about this?

Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are. The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit. I just happen to have one in my droid. This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety. By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit. It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software. The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it. Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap. In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over. Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me. I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas. I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for. There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable. Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit. I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you. If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip. I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate. When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine). I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user. I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!) Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy. So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable. If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid. If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to). It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability. I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it. If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides. Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know. It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. We don't need no stinkin' gps (well, unless we have an iphone and not a Droid)

Hi everybody,

I just came home from a trip to the white mountains in New Hampshire. I've been there many times, but it's still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.
 

still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

 I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


 Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

 So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.

d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.
 Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.
  
a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.
 Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. 
Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.

Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.

  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. 
  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.

Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.  

I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this:
http://www8.garmin.com/apps/


Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.  

So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun.

If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.

Hi everybody,

I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is kestill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed listill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody,still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusstill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limstill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusstill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusstill nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps anHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   d Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free softHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.  Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.   Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this.    Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d havHi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by just not speeding and watching the road signs, BUT, if you’re like me, you sometimes ignore the signs or miss them in a speed trap.  In good GPS units, they will sometimes show your speed with a compare/contrast to the speed limit, and it will flash red if you’re going way over.  Though I didn’t fool with it much, I’m pretty sure my google maps on my droid won’t do that for me.  I do sometimes get annoyed by the flashing “breakin’ the law” icon on the gps unit, but most of the time it makes me drive reasonably and keeps me from getting a ticket in tourist speed-trap areas.   I was reasonably pleased with the ability of google maps to find cheap gas, good restaurants and our way to anything and everything we were looking for.  There is still no replacement for knowing somebody from the area or picking up a local paper to find out what’s going on during a vacation, BUT if you don’t, or you would rather explore yourselves, I find the Google Maps and Navigation app to be invaluable.  Sorry Iphone users, you’ll have to make do with lesser things, or buy a separate gps unit.  I guess you’ll just have to make do with having an ipod built into your phone . . . hope that’s good consolation when you’re in the middle of nowhere and have to call for directions or ask a droid user to navigate you.  If you’re not as cheap as I am, you might consider this: http://www8.garmin.com/apps/ Speaking of itunes, it was nice to have a variety of options for my trip.  I was riding with my wife, and using my droid to navigate.  When we were in spotty cell phone service, she used her iphone to give us music from her itunes library, and when the service picked up, we switched to Pandora (either on her phone or mine).  I think the best of all of these is google music, but I’m a biased PC and droid user.  I believe there’s a way to make your google music local to your phone, so even in shoddy cell service areas you can get tunes, but I haven’t done that yet, as my htc incredible is having the “out of storage” error every 5 seconds or so (even though it has 8 gigs of free space!?!)  Maybe when I get my Droid Razr Maxx back from BestBuy.   So, to wrap up: the iphone’s clumsy usage of Google Maps and Navigation makes it nigh unto unuseable.  If you don’t want to buy a separate gps, get a droid.  If you want your itunes to geet you through the spotty cell service areas, get an iphone (or marry somebody who likes them so you don’t have to).  It’s basically a battle of total customizability and innovation vs. ease of use and reliability.  I’d rather have my droid break sometimes and have the panoply of options for free software that comes with it.  If I were an iphone user, I’d have to make do with what Apple provides.  Though my phone might crash less often, it would also be less fun. If you know of an app that trolls all the local papers for fun events, please let me know.  It was hard to find live music on our trip without consulting local papers and local people, and I bet there’s some droid programmer out there that’s thought of this. Hi everybody, I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jus
I just cameomany times, but it’s still nice to use a gps to figure out where the neat things are.  The nice part is that I don’t own a gps unit.  I just happen to have one in my droid.  This is one of the main reasons to get a droid instead of an iphone . . . since Google Maps doesn’t play nicely with Apple, their navigation software is keind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusmit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jusind of rickety.  By comparison, my droid with google maps and navigation is better in many ways than a gps unit.  It still uses gps satellites, and cell phone tower triangulation to figure out where the heck yeou are, and can overlay things like satellite view, traffic, gas stations, restaurants, bars, atms . . . basically everything a gps can do, but updated as soon as the internet is, not as soon as you go home, plug in your gps to your computer, and update the software.  The only thing thaet a gps does that my droid doesn’t (or at least, I haven’t figured out how to yet) is give you the speed limit and whether or not you’re breaking it.  Now, this can easily be resolved by jus