Smartphone as a Bike Computer Replacement?

Question

This really surprised me... cyclists will _regularly_ spend $400+ on a cycling "head unit" that is just a dumbed down smartphone to give them turn-by-turn directions, record data from sensors, and work as a HUD.The only advantage of a head unit is they have an ANT+ radio, which is a superior protocol than BLE for data gathering. Nowadays, nearly every sensor has dual mode BLE/ANT+.Shimano has ETube Ride, which is about the closest thing I can find to a replacement, but it lacks a critical feature to be able to import a route. It does connect to BLE speed/candence/DI2 transmission however, but does not connect to a BLE heart rate monitor ironically.Other apps like Strava will do routing, but only connect to BLE HeartRate sensors, and don't connect to speed/cadence/DI2 (electronic bike transmission).It seems like nobody has the whole package. Am I missing something? Just seems like an obvious hole in the ecosystem a startup should have filled by now.

warrenm · Accepted Answer

"Serious" cyclists already own some kind of mid-to-high-end smartphone (because with billions of smartphones out there, the odds that serious cyclists don't own one are practically nil)
They probably already have "nice" bluetooth earbuds/headphones (whether AirPods, AfterShokz, or something else)
And they probably have a "good" smartwatch - Apple Watch, Fitbit, Garmin, etc
Why would they also buy a "dedicated" cycling device?
That makes absolutely no sense to me
A bike-countable cell phone holder is under $20
Maybe there's a really good reason to have yet another dedicated device ... but I'm at a loss to figure out what it is :)