Will smartphones kill the GPS?

More and more people are skipping car GPS receivers, The New York Times reports, and getting turn-by-turn directions from smartphones instead.

"More than 40 percent of all smartphone owners use their mobile devices to get turn-by-turn directions, according to data from Compete, a Web analytics firm," reports the Times' Jenna Wortham. "For iPhone users, the figure is even higher, eclipsing 80 percent."

And while smartphone sales keep rising, GPS device sales have plummeted, the Times says. Smartphones now look and perform a lot like traditional car GPS units, thanks to apps from major GPS makers. The Navigon Mobile Navigator (*Est. $90) and TomTom for iPhone (*Est. $100) both get good reviews, as do some cheaper apps like the MotionX GPS Drive by Fullpower (*Est. $3 per month or $25 per year).

Experts still recommend traditional car GPS units as more accurate and easier to use. But that may change now that Google has spawned its own GPS app -- and is offering it for free with Android 2.0 phones.

"The new Google Maps Navigation program for Android 2.0... is worth watching as a possible game changer," says ConsumerReports.org blogger Dirk Klingner. He says it offers "all the features you expect from stand-alone GPS units," including two very big deals that cost hundreds of dollars on Garmin and TomTom units: voice commands, so you don't have to take your hands off the steering wheel or your eyes off the road, and -- naturally -- the ability to search Google to find your destination, rather than relying on a finite (and possibly outdated) points-of-interest database.

The New York Times wonders in its July 2009 article whether smartphones are "sending GPS devices the way of the tape deck." Gizmodo.com predicts that one of Garmin's new models for late 2009, the Garmin nuvi 1350T (*Est. $310), is "the logical end of the [personal navigation device]... possibly the last PND we'll ever review."

Ironically, there's one GPS smartphone that disappoints critics: the long-awaited Garmin nuvifone (*Est. $300 with two-year AT&T data contract). It was supposed to be the ultimate GPS solution -- a smartphone with the heart of a Garmin. Experts say it's a decent GPS unit, but a horrendous smartphone.

"Unfortunately, Garmin spent almost two years bringing this phone to market, and it feels like a 2007-era device," says Jamie Lendino at PCMag.com. No video player, no video camera, a still camera that takes photos so lousy they're useless, a sluggish web browser and not a single app. PCMag.com actually doesn't consider it a smartphone at all -- and yet it costs more than the top-rated iPhone (*Est. $100 to $300 with two-year contract) that AT&T sells alongside the nuvifone. (Amazon.com lists the nuvifone for $100 with an AT&T data plan -- much cheaper than the AT&T site.)

The New York Times, CNET and ConsumerReports.org's GPS blog all come to similar conclusions. Wired bluntly titles its video review "Garmin Nuvifone is Frightful," and Gizmodo simply titles its review "Do Not Buy."

"The first nuvifone should have been euthanized, not put on AT&T shelves next to the iPhone -- for $100 more," Gizmodo's Wilson Rothman concludes.

Look for our full report on the Garmin nuviphone in the next week or two. We'll also shortly be posting a new report on GPS apps for iPhones and smartphones.