I know some people in nyc who do Zipcar all the time and they love it. If it is in walking distance sounds pretty golden to me. I thought the prices were a bit steep but then again I am cheap ;-P and maybe they are higher here? And, hey, if I can drive through Manhattan with the insane cab and limo drivers you can do Boston. I bet you'll actually enjoy it! I know I always like driving my car now that I no longer use it on a daily basis.
I have a Blackberry with gps and I am pretty satisfied with it. The Blackberry plans are kinda pricey tho and the gps option costs me an extra $10/mo. But it does come with traffic monitoring and alternate routes which would cost me the same monthly charge had I bought a regular gps unit. One thing about gps on cell phones is that they may work solely through the cell service or a combination of the satellites and the cell service.(i.e., most don't JUST use the satellites like a regular gps unit). That means if you lose or don't have cell coverage you could have issues. It hasn't caused me too many problems but I have run into some things. One time I lost cell coverage while it was trying to recalc a route and it just hung there until I got back in a coverage area. Luckily I was on the highway and knew I had ~20 miles to go before my exit, if I were is a sketchy area of the Bronx that could have been an issue. For the most part it loses the map and will just give you text and arrow direction (i.e., turn right in 0.2 miles, etc.). But if you are out of cell coverage and you want to plug in a route you are out of luck.
Also, make sure your phone supports voice directions and not just the visual map. Not all phones have this option and if you are driving alone you will need to have the voice directions otherwise you'll have to take your eyes off the road to keep looking at the map - no good. I am on the fence as to whether the cell phone option or the regular gps unit is better. They both have their good and bad points.
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Date: 2009-05-02 01:31 pm (UTC)I have a Blackberry with gps and I am pretty satisfied with it. The Blackberry plans are kinda pricey tho and the gps option costs me an extra $10/mo. But it does come with traffic monitoring and alternate routes which would cost me the same monthly charge had I bought a regular gps unit. One thing about gps on cell phones is that they may work solely through the cell service or a combination of the satellites and the cell service.(i.e., most don't JUST use the satellites like a regular gps unit). That means if you lose or don't have cell coverage you could have issues. It hasn't caused me too many problems but I have run into some things. One time I lost cell coverage while it was trying to recalc a route and it just hung there until I got back in a coverage area. Luckily I was on the highway and knew I had ~20 miles to go before my exit, if I were is a sketchy area of the Bronx that could have been an issue. For the most part it loses the map and will just give you text and arrow direction (i.e., turn right in 0.2 miles, etc.). But if you are out of cell coverage and you want to plug in a route you are out of luck.
Also, make sure your phone supports voice directions and not just the visual map. Not all phones have this option and if you are driving alone you will need to have the voice directions otherwise you'll have to take your eyes off the road to keep looking at the map - no good. I am on the fence as to whether the cell phone option or the regular gps unit is better. They both have their good and bad points.