Best Geo Phone

[+FatherAndProgeny]

My cell phone is dying. I have to get a business phone and would like enhance my geocaching experience.

 

I am looking at a blackberry with GPS nav or a PC Phone with GPS nav. My understanding is the PC phone runs windows and can act like a PDA. Can I run cachemate on the PC phone?

 

Which phone would you get to use as a business phone and also a geo phone?

[+wkmccall]

My cell phone is dying. I have to get a business phone and would like enhance my geocaching experience.

 

I am looking at a blackberry with GPS nav or a PC Phone with GPS nav. My understanding is the PC phone runs windows and can act like a PDA. Can I run cachemate on the PC phone?

 

Which phone would you get to use as a business phone and also a geo phone?

 

I have a Blackberry Pearl 8130 and CacheBerry runs great on it.

I don't use the GPS part of it because from what I've heard and seen; they are intended for road use and not as accurate for caching (but this is only my opinion)..

[+pghlooking]

Watch the sefvice provider you are on as well. I am currently looking for a new phone as well and found out that VerizonWireless blocks the GPS off in most phones to force their VZ Navigator down your throat. It is useless, as far as I know, for caching. It also would not allow you to use Google Maps or anything of the like. I was told the Palm Centro would be the better choice since the phone doesn't block the GPS in it and I can use Google Maps and anything Palm related in it.

[+Prime Suspect]

I was told the Palm Centro would be the better choice since the phone doesn't block the GPS in it and I can use Google Maps and anything Palm related in it.

The Centro is "location aware", that is, it can approximate its location to a few hundred meters, but it doesn't have a GPS. Handy for finding nearby services, and getting a quick Google Maps display of your area, but not accurate enough to find a geocache.

[+The Unpleasables]

Verizon is about to release a dumbed down version of software for the PPC XV6800 that will not allow Geocaching but the same phone on Sprint (the Mogul) runs Geoscout fine. Sprint doesn't lock out the internal GPS like Verizon will as VZ wants you to run their VZ Navigator...

 

I've run the demo version of Cachemate on my modded XV6800 and it worked as well; I just like Geoscout better.

 

I'm on Verizon and running hacked Sprint software and caching without much problem and the few DNF's I've logged have other DNF's with folks using stand alone GPSr's. While not perfect, the XV6800 with modded software works fine for Geocaching.

 

That being said, I'm considering a low cost GPSr with the high sensitivity antenna as they are now at the $100 mark or so just to see if I can get a bit more accuracy in dense tree canopy or canyon caches...

Edited August 12, 2008 by The Unpleasables

[+Team Chinook]

I used a fairly new blackberry with a bluetooth gps and google maps on Verizon and it worked quite well. I didn't know about cacheberry or I'm sure I would have tried that as well.

 

So I don't know if Verizon blocks external GPS or not. But would expect built in GPS to be light duty due to cost/form factor issues on phones. Just a guess, but a good bluetooth gps would probably work quite well.

 

Can't remember my brand, but I believe it uses the Sirf chip and it says it's a "Bluetooth GPS Receiver, Model 737.

 

Touchscreen WinCE phones should work well with Backcountry Navigator, which is the only pda solution I am familiar with.