George, you said:
"Also, I'm not a phone geek. Does the iPhone GPS work without being connected to either WiFi or a phone network? I was told it doesn't, yet I've been sent very accurate position fixes via google mobile maps from a wifi-only iPhone 4. They are not the location of the wifi, but almost certainly of the phone."
The iPhone GPS works fine out of range of either or both WiFi and Cellular coverage. You cannot put the phone in "airplane mode" however, since that does disable the GPS. This does mean that your battery life will be a bit shorter, as the phone constantly searches for Cellular service. Nonetheless, with one of the apps that allows you to download maps, you do not need to be connected to see your location on the downloaded map.
