Dan, thanks much for the info and details.
The DW and myself are well past our hiking and backpacking days, during which of course we used paper USGS maps, among others.
But as far as RV exploring and camping at our level on off-highway dirt and gravel roads is concerned, so far the Garmin road map database has been quite detailed for backcountry travel. About our most remote travels have been some in Oregon, Utah, and in the Wyoming gas fields. The Garmin road map database seems to show numbered county dirt/gravel roads and otherwise locally named dirt/gravel roads fairly well. If my memory serves me correct, I even think it showed the 4X4 rock road we boondock camped off of in Death Valley a few years ago.
If I get a smartphone this fall, it will be Android based. I hate texting too, but I do it some, reluctantly, using my flip phone. I wonder if there is an Android-based smartphone equivalent to that text-dictating iPhone app you mentioned?
Probably cell phones will "never" operate eveywhere due to their high frequency bands being line-of-sight only (very little bouncing of their RF waves off things) and short range. 5G will be even more line-of-sight and even shorter range because it's based on even higher frequencies. Of course cellular signals routed from above via balloons and commercial aircraft could improve this in the future.
For RV road travel - the Garmin Nuvi combined with the individual state-by-state Benchmark road atlases - make a pretty good combination. The Benchmark maps show a lot of detail and ... your RV passenger can hold them right in their lap while you're driving without cell tower access, satellite access, or a charged up battery required.
