Anybody disappointed by the iPhone's lack of turn-by-turn navigation should take a humbling look into the past. The Plus Fours Routefinder, released in 1920, took on the work of many of today's devices, but in a rather handsome analog form.
Instead of querying satellites to triangulate your position, the Routefinder came with a collection of paper rolls which would be wound as you drove, slowly revealing, you guessed it, turn-by-turn directions. And with the rather awkward one-and-a-half handed operation (it's wrist mounted), the Routefinder took care of another modern day essential: the ability of cellphones to disastrously distract you from the road ahead.
This last might not have been the killer it is today, though. The same lack of cars which led to the poor sales and eventual demise of the Routefinder probably meant that a car crash was all but impossible.
World's first sat nav - from 1920 [Ananova]
