I’m old enough that I remember when Dunkin was known primarily for the donuts, and ones that were actually made in that store early that day (“Time to make the donuts.” YouTube cite) and not as a coffee shop that incidentally sells donuts made in a central commissary and trucked in.
I am also old enough to remember that. Thankfully we still have a small, family owned bakery in my little PA town which makes great bread and donuts if that’s your thing.
Be that as it may, permit me to indulge in an Old Fart rant. I have to believe that the GPS receiver on a purpose-built device is likely to be more sensitive than on a device built to do a bazillion different things, that the built-in software is likely to be more robust than an “app” and customized to the size and shape of the screen, which may be larger and brighter. There are in fact specific reasons that a dedicated GPS device is the better way to go.
There’s also no worries about battery life or cell signal reception, and no possibility of distraction from a phone call or text message. The latter means there’s no possibility of being accused of using a cell phone while driving, which around here is a pretty serious traffic infraction, while GPS devices are specifically exempted.
I get that, but I prefer to keep my eyes on the road and focused on traffic instead of peering at a navigation screen. But once I’m returning home on a familiar route, I’ll shut down the navigation altogether.
I do that, too. I’m just more comfortable if I have a general idea in my head about the route.
My understanding is that smartphones use cellular and WiFi connections to supplement the GPS signal.
Most of the items in that list are just silly.
- Battery life. “But with a GPS device that connects to your vehicle with a power cable, your navigation will always be ready when your car is.” – You can plug in your phone to your car with a power cable too.
- More coverage. "Having a GPS device with preloaded map coverage means that you don’t have to rely on cell signal, so you’re ready to roll in even the most remote areas. – You can download maps on a cell phone too, and should if you’re traveling in remote areas.
- Fewer distractions. "Ding. Your aunt tagged you in a meme on Facebook. Ding. Someone just liked your post on Instagram. – If that’s how you have notifications configured (I don’t), your phone is going to ding and distract you whether you’re using it for navigation or not.
- Easier to read. With display sizes that go up to 8” with the Garmin DriveSmart 86, a bright, high-resolution edge-to-edge touchscreen and graphics… – Yeah, if I want to spend $350 for such an add-on screen and then figure out a way to mount it in my car so it doesn’t obscure the road view or the car’s controls. Or if I need a bigger screen I can use Android Auto or Airplay and use my phone via the car’s built-in screen, which may well be bigger than 8", and won’t block my view.
- Designed for your car’s dash. A GPS device can be a seamless extension of your car’s dashboard, which means it’s always in its spot and ready to go. – An even better extension of your car’s dash is the screen that’s already built into the dash.
- Cost effective. If your data isn’t unlimited, using your smartphone to navigate a road trip can be a costly mistake. – In my experience, navigation uses a trivial amount of data.
- Data privacy. Garmin doesn’t sell your personal data. – How much Apple or Google “sells” your location data is complicated but I’ll concede this one to Garmin.
I, for one, don’t care too much about the screen size, as usually I am relying on the verbal instructions. I do like to imagine that the little lady in my phone gets mad when I don’t follow her instructions.
Just don’t change the voice to Mr. T. He pity da foo what don’t follow his instructions! 
I had a C-3PO voice at one time. I was quite disappointed when I took a wrong turn and it didn’t say “go that way, you’ll be malfunctioning within a day, you nearsighted scrap pile”.
My Beloved had an off-brand GPS on her phone, and I remember two incidents:
- We were down in southern Oregon visiting the Running Y Ranch and we tried to use it to get to some caves nearby. We followed the directions as they were spoken and ended up going in a large circle…twice.
- To get to a certain restaurant we used the same GPS. It directed us to take exit so-and-so, which we did, then it directed us to “Make Illegal U-Turn” (exact words) then go up the same exit we just came down, which means that we would be going up that ramp facing the wrong direction on I-5.
GPS deleted, and never used again.
In theory. In order for me to do that with my phone (and I don’t even have car charger for it) it would have to be in a special holder that allows the cable to enter from the bottom.
If you remember to do it. I believe my GPS contains detailed maps of all of North America. At least, I’ve never been anywhere that wasn’t covered in detail.
Given the hard crackdown around here about distracted driving, I’m not interested in having to argue with a cop or a judge that I wasn’t using my cell phone as a phone or texting device, but only for navigation:
The fine for distracted driving is $615 if settled out of court. If the ticket is contested and the driver is found guilty, the fine can range from $615 to $1,000 for a first offense, up to $2,000 for a second, and up to $3,000 for a third offense. Additionally, drivers face demerit points …
No amount of data is “trivial” if you don’t have a data plan and have to turn on “pay as you go”. OTOH, if I were to get a data plan, I’d be paying for a hugely upgraded service that absolutely did not need.
Once again dear pup, you have backed yourself into a thoroughly non-modern corner where indeed you have piled many large obstacles between yourself and what the rest of us call “the modern world” and largely take for granted the ease with which it all works. Such that you entering said modern world would indeed require a lot of adaptions all at once. Adaptations you’d find tiresome.
You are of course welcome to equip yourself however you prefer. You’ll surely collect some bemused looks from the rest of us along the way.
Speaking just for myself, I have reluctantly retired my belt onions. And later my phone holster. 
Indeed. A cellular plan without data? My provider does not even offer such a thing. I pay $20 per month for cellular with 3GB of mobile data. And a phone holder that doesn’t allow a charging cable to be plugged in? I suppose there might be such things, but why would you buy one?
I usually have my car map on-screen, but if I want directions to someplace, it’s Google Maps on my phone. Every time. And with Android Auto available, it’s trivial to put the phone map on my car screen.
Regarding the ‘direction’ a GPS shows you: my car’s nav system always points ‘up’ in the direction I’m going. It tells me what direction I’m driving with letters in the corner of the screen (like ‘E’ or ‘SW’). My wife’s car’s nav system always points north. It always takes me a bit getting used to when I drive her car. I could probably change this, but I’m rarely allowed to make changes to her car.
Not only that, Apple Maps knows what’s in my calendar and email and makes (mostly) very helpful suggestions about that content. Example: had a doctor appointment yesterday morning, in this case at a new location that I only vaguely knew where it was. The CarPlay interface already had the proposed destination and route up on screen, so all I had to do was tap OK. Extremely convenient.
I would assume the Android environment has that too, I just don’t live in that world.
It almost certainly said “make a legal U-turn”. Every system I’ve used says this, basically to cover their ass since U-turn legality is a weak point of the maps.
It had probably also intended you to cross under/over the highway and take the ramp on the opposite side. Slightly odd to describe that as a U-turn but in terms of the highway that’s pretty much what it was.
From the linked article (bolding mine):
The bridge remained incomplete without warning signs or barricades to indicate danger or a closure, Hindustan Times reported.
I think the lack of warning signs and barricades was a bigger contributor to their deaths than the fact that they were following Google Maps. I mean, even if they were following a paper map (The bridge apparently did exist in the past and collapsed in a flood, so it would have been shown on paper maps, too) they would have had no way of knowing that the bridge that appeared on their map was no longer there without any warning signs.
Neither does mine.
Q: What do wolfpup and his cell phone plan have in common?
A: Both are grandfathered.
What witchcraft is this? I have no “Car Play” in my horseless carriage!
That is fair. A better example would be following Google Maps to an obviously wrong location because the driver never bothered with a sanity check, or perhaps following GPS directions to take a crazy back road and getting stuck/delayed where anyone from the area would have suggested a better route.
It almost certainly did not say that, and five people in that car will attest to that fact. well, four-Tracey is gone.
More importantly, they’ve typically got algorithms that avoid traffic, construction, and other slowdowns on the fly.
So while your Garmin car GPS may find you the same shortest path between two places, two hours into your drive, your car may catch that there’s a huge wreck on the interstate and route you on to side roads well in advance to keep you on the shortest route, whatever that is.