Annectodatally, I remember that some years ago my phone used to take 5-10 minutes to find GPS whenever I asked for directions. Now adays, it's instantaneous.
The software has improved dramatically, using some combination of previously saved location, WIFI triangulation, and dead reconning to figure out a near accurate location to within 50 feet so long as you're in a city.
Car navigation systems can do better. They're not even 'pure' GPS services, they have access to mobile cell, they do online updates for maps, and their accelerometers are far better than phones. The software though is simply worse than what Google can provide.
The software has improved dramatically, using some combination of previously saved location, WIFI triangulation, and dead reconning to figure out a near accurate location to within 50 feet so long as you're in a city.
Car navigation systems can do better. They're not even 'pure' GPS services, they have access to mobile cell, they do online updates for maps, and their accelerometers are far better than phones. The software though is simply worse than what Google can provide.