GPS... Yes, Even if You Don't Drive

I use my smartphone GPS all the time, and I don't even drive. In fact, I consider it one of the most essential services my phone offers. And I think its an important safety feature for those who use public transit. Here's how I use it:

• I use it to know where to get off the bus when I'm going somewhere new and where I'm not familiar with the bus stops. Before I leave I just key in my destination address on my phone's GPS-powered Google Maps application, which places a flag at that destination. Then I keep the app running so I can see where I am on the map as the bus travels. It's fun to watch the little blue triangle (my location) moving down the road on the map. When I see that I am close to my destination (flagged on the map), I pull the cord and signal the driver for a stop. 
• Once I'm off the bus and on foot, I continue to keep the application open and as I walk, it guides me to the exact address. No making wrong turns and then having to backtrack on a dead end street. 
• The street signage in Wilmington and much of New Castle County is often not very good. Sometimes I'm on foot and know I need to turn on, say, 9th Street... but when I get to an intersection there are no signs! My Google Maps app with GPS will tell me in a few seconds exactly where I am, on a street map that shows the names of the streets. No hiking down to the next corner to confirm whether I've made the correct turn (and hiking back if I haven't.)
• My vision is not good, and sometimes even when there is signage, I can't always be sure I'm reading it correctly. This is especially the case in low light situations. The phone is back-lit, so with GPS I can always know right where I am... no streetlights needed.
• Say I'm at the library and I want to go to a grocery store. I've never gone there from the library and I'm not sure how far it is. Should I just walk it? Wait for a bus? I can look the bookstore's address up on the web (on my phone), and then key it into the map app. Next, I ask for directions from where I am now. And because of the GPS, the phone "knows" where I am. It tells me the best way to walk there and also the distance. Nice.
• I haven't gotten lost in awhile, but if I ever did, I would use my phone map app with GPS to find out where I was, and how to get to a bus stop or wherever else I needed to go. 

Now, all this is NOT expensive. I use a Blackberry from Virgin Mobile: $35 per month for 300 minutes of talk and unlimited GPS, web, e-mail, and text messaging. I've had the phone for over a year and I feel I more than get my money's worth from it. However, if I was buying a phone today, I'd look seriously at Android phones. Virgin has two, one highly rated, the other not. Other no-contract mobile phone carriers are now carrying Android phones, but I can see from reviews that some are much better than others. Android is the new thing, and developers are creating new applications for it like crazy, many of them free. And you don't have the Blackberry surcharge, so on Virgin I would be paying only $25 per month for all of the above.