Gadgetwise Blog: A Glitch in In-Car Navigation by Smartphone and How to Beat It

In the battle between Google’s Android smartphone and the Apple iPhone, free navigation is one of the most fiercely contested fronts. At least one area where Apple might have created a decisive advantage over Google has gone begging, however, in the latest generation of the iPhone, unveiled last week.

Eric Risberg/Associated PressApple iPhone 5, on display on Sept. 12 after its introduction in San Francisco.

Apple’s turn-by-turn navigation suffers from a flaw common to Android-based phones, in that when the cellular connection is lost, the route’s instructions are lost as well.

To avoid this problem, dedicated apps like Scout Plus from TeleNav, at $9.99 for one year of service, download and store maps directly on the phone, so turn-by-turn instructions work with or without reliable cellular reception. On Monday, TeleNav announced a version, at $24.99 for one year, called Car Connect, that would allow drivers of Ford vehicles subscribed to the Sync service to connect their phones to the dash, where the maps could be displayed on the car’s larger screen. Subscribers would also be able to use hands-free voice commands and hear directions through the car’s audio system. In essence, the system frees the driver from looking down at the handset or fiddling with awkward cradles.

It is a significant development in an industry in which automakers have zealously guarded that in-dash real estate. The TeleNav approach means the navigation software can be downloaded once and used wherever a Sync-subscribed Ford may travel.

A company trying to revive its fortunes against Apple and Google is Nokia, a fading force in mobile phones that has hitched its star to the Windows operating system from Microsoft. The Nokia Windows Phone 8 handsets are not yet available for purchase, but judging from demonstrations for the news media, one feature in particular should appeal to drivers. The handsets have built-in free maps and navigation based on the company’s Navteq maps. And like the TeleNav approach, the maps live on the phone, not in the cloud, so the feature is impervious to the failings of weak or nonexistent signals.

Neither of these alternatives may ultimately dissuade die-hard Apple fans eager to get the iPhone 5. For their fealty, Apple has added a few wrinkles to its existing navigation software, including 3-D views of some metropolitan areas and a social networking feature. The company licensed maps from TomTom, a traffic-reporting service, and the social component from Waze, a developer of a traffic-reporting app.

The standalone Waze app, featured in Wheels, reflects the position and speed of other users on roads near you, delivering live traffic information and alerts about accidents and police speed traps. How this information is integrated on the final version of the new Apple software is unclear because the iPhone 5 is not scheduled to be available at Apple retail stores until Friday.

Drivers who connect their iPhones to their cars, and who plan to upgrade to iPhone 5, are faced with a hardware purchase to make the connection. The plug, which has not changed since 2003, has been shrunk, and the new version is expected to require the purchase of a $29 adapter to work with speakers and docks that used the old plug.

The plug’s evolution will also change how graphics, and therefore display information, are transmitted to connected displays, a byproduct of the so-called Lightning connector. That means that even with the adapter, the iPhone 5 would not fully cooperate with in-dash systems that are compatible with existing iPhones. Consequently, no iTunes graphics or video from the iPhone 5 would display on the car’s in-dash screen.

While it would be tempting to fault Apple for going it alone, throughout the industry there is a lack of coordinated thinking on standards for the interaction of smartphones with in-car telematics. Ideally, drivers would be able to use one common connection to link their smartphones to their cars and operate compatible apps, like navigation, on the cars’ displays. But that day is not approaching any time soon.

“We’ve got a fragmented market, and there’s no single standard yet,” Niall Berkery, senior director of business development at TeleNav Automotive, said in an interview.