two GPS-enabled phones

location based services

Combining cameras with cell phones was an idea that most people would've described as nuts just a few years ago, but now it's more common to find a wireless phone that takes pictures than to find one that doesn't.Phones also play music, video and games, and engage in countless other diversions. Some routinely include global positioning information in their repertoires.On a recent trip to Sedona, Ariz., I took along two GPS-enabled phones to test them. One was a Motorola V325 operating on the Verizon Wireless network and the other was a Sanyo MM 7500 that uses the Sprint PCS service.My general impression is that anyone who really needs a GPS device to guide them through alien territory ought to spend the money to buy a dedicated GPS device. Reading maps on small phone screens is difficult, and there's not as much detail provided as you get on dedicated devices.But that doesn't mean the phones' GPS feature isn't fun.My wife and I were outside in Sedona's Uptown tourist district, sitting next to a place that advertised itself as a coffee emporium. Across the street was another. A few blocks down the road was a Starbucks sign on a building.I decided to ask the Sprint service to locate establishments under its category of coffee shops and restaurants that were nearby. After waiting a bit, the answer came back that no such places existed within a 5-mile radius of where I sat.I asked the device to check a wider area, and it then listed the name of the coffee shop across the street, but said it was 5.3 miles distant.Eventually, the machine decided this cafe was actually only 42 feet away. But it never did mention the Starbucks down the road or the coffeehouse next to where I was sitting.The Verizon service seemed somewhat more inclusive, but its listing of nearby car-rental services failed to mention an Enterprise office that I had driven by earlier in the day.Because I wasn't actually in need of coffee or rental cars, these shortcomings seemed more amusing than annoying. It called to mind a fellow I know who used to give his car's GPS system fits by purposely failing to follow instructions because he enjoyed teasing the system.It would be easy to heap scorn upon cell phone navigation systems, but only if one ignores phone-camera history. In their earliest iterations, digital phone cameras made somewhat blurry images and their novelty was the main attraction.But most of today's phone cameras take sharp, crisp photos.Indeed, both the phones I tested as GPS devices also took great snapshots. My expectation is that in future iterations, the navigation systems installed in phones will become easier to read, more precise and far more helpful.And there will be more iterations, because there's no doubt that customers want phones that do more and more tricks. Whenever I told someone I was playing with a phone-based navigation system, the response I got was some variation of "Cool. I wish I had one."Wireless approval: Further indication that adding GPS to cell phones is a good move comes from a recent consumer survey from J.D. Power and Associates that found customer satisfaction with mobile wireless phones on the upswing.Overall, the survey logged a 5 percent increase in satisfaction over last year.Customers like added features, are becoming more comfortable using them and enjoy the styling of the handsets more, said Kirk Parsons, senior director of wireless services at J.D. Power.----------jvan@tribune.com