[nthnl]

This is true, to a point. For me, the lack of a digital compass isn't a biggie. When I leave from home I know which way to the main road, even if my TomTom hasn't picked up a signal by then. A car GPS can also assume you're pointed in the same direction as when you last switched it off (unless you often drive without the GPS), but a phone GPS can't assume that.

Dedicated car GPSes tend to have high-sensitivity GPS recivers too, so they lose signals less frequently when you're deep inside urban canyons. As I understand it (correct me if I'm wrong), the AGPS in devices like iPhones aren't as accurate as standard-sensitivity real GPS receivers anyway. That said, TomTom seem to have that worked out with their iPhone dock.

So I'd still prefer my dedicated TomTom. As for my dedicated handheld Garmin GPS for outdoors use, there's no comparison. The battery life is good, automatically keeps a log of where I go and is tough and waterproof. No iPhone will ever replace that (excepting the automatic geotagging of photos which would be handy and even better now with the compass). You can get other models of handheld GPS with high-sensitivity receivers, digital compasses and barometers, but what I've got is fine for me.

But then, we're probably not really talking about the iPhone vs handhelds here...

[rutledgek]

I don't think so. Convergence has been discussed for years, and I don't think the iphone will move us in that direction any farther then other devices. The iphone does not have the market penetration for an app to make a family of devices, like GPS or cameras, obsolete.