My android phone (Droid 1) seems to be as accurate as my stand alone GPS (Garmin eTrex legend HCx), its not as sensitive though, dark clouds, trees, buildings will block the signal. It will take longer to get a fix sometimes a few minutes if a cloudy day and can't get a fix at all inside my office building where my Garmin gets a fix in a few seconds and can even get a fix inside buildings.
The Garmin has better battery life, a pair of AA eneloops or lithium can run 18-20 hours where the android phone can maybe run 12 if you don't do too much else but use the GPS.
The phones display is bigger and nicer but is a backlit like a laptop so it washes out in bright sun where the Garmin is a reflective display like a watch so the brighter the sunlight the easier it is to read.

Unless you can plug it in all the time I'd lean toward a real GPS, today's smartphone generally have horrible battery life with their huge colorful displays.

I haven't explored all the uses of GPS, but understand that they're great. I'm more of a purist who's on a tight budget, so I tend to lean towards less technology. I'd prefer to go with map and compass, and get a phone.

Not a clue. I hadn't used it for a long time and am thinking a lower ppower state might have introduced some hiccups. Interestingly tech support was real interested in knowing if I had been upgrading the firmware or uploading maps (I hadn't) which makes me lean toawrds a software rather than hardware problem.

They offered me 40% of MSRP for either of 2 new units since they don't fix out of warranty products. Still mulling that over.

That's a good thought. My usage is mostly for day hikes and I do have backup battery and a solar charger so not normally a big concern. Plus I can turn off the phone features and still have GPS functionality.

But you're right, on a multi-day trip I would want a standalone with replaceable batteries.

This topic is interesting in that the answer is not black & white. There are times when a GPS app in a cell phone will be more than adequate, downtown making decisions on where to have dinner before the movie -- critical issues like that.

For anything backwoods or survival oriented, a stand-alone unit (with or without maps for those who carry paper topo maps) or with full mapping capability for those who don't, is the way to go. My primary is a Garmin GPSMAP 60CSx, with both street and topo maps loaded. If it's a planned outting, I'll also have paper maps for the area.

I'm biased though, a Garmin Nuvi on my dashboard, a 60CSx with my gear in the truck and a Geko 301 in my EDC backpack as back-up. But I like knowing where I am and a cell-phone GPS is not for serious navigation.

YMMV

And of course you need sun. My thought was that if I were to get lost for some reason it would more likely be on a cloudy/rainy day rather than a nice sunny day figuring that a unexpected storm would probably a factor in getting lost which seems to be common.
Basically my thought was standalone GPS with replaceable batteries and spare batteries. A whole pack of AA's, rechargeable or not, still costs less than one spare lithium ion or battery pack for a phone or a solar panel and doesn't require sun or loose capacity over time.