Yeah, so there's still lots of confusion on whether bona fide turn-by-turn GPS software will ever arrive on the iPhone 3G (though signs are pointing to "yes"), but considering that it's not there now, Autoblog took Apple's new darling for a spin in the Bay and churned out some impressions. If you're looking for the long and short of it, the iPhone 3G's navigational abilities aren't that impressive. The reviewer even went so far as to say that having a passenger manning the arrow buttons that showed your next move was "almost a necessity." Additionally, the GPS flaked out and lagged behind the current location quite frequently, which can definitely be a problem when attempting to navigate one-way streets in an unkind downtown. So, should you sell off your standalone navigator on the way to pick up your new iPhone 3G? Probably not -- at least not just yet.

For those not really interested in picking up a third-party GPS module / application and doing your own routing, Nokia is looking to add a mapping service of its own to handsets in order to give users turn-by-turn guidance for a fee. After acquiring Gate5 last year, Nokia decided that adding navigation capabilities was "a natural move," and its forthcoming Smart2Go system will offer up free mapping and routing services and a fee-based turn-by-turn option if you've just got to have that robotic helper bossing you around (or can't take your eyes off the road). Smart2Go customers will need a WiFi or direct PC connection to download applicable maps to their phone, and Nokia claims that it's got 100 countries and 13 million POIs already covered; folks can even search by location directly just like your average portable GPS and get phone numbers and other pertinent information, presumably gratis. No word on when Nokia plans to get this going, but if we're seeing this right, the phone giant will be offering it up on "all of its converged devices," so it looks your (read: any) Nokia is covered.