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Navigon MobileNavigator Europe has arrived
- Thread starter digbyp
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You sir are a legend, i have the vouchers now, im on the edge, could someone post a bit more about UK testing please
Edit:
ok, well i took the plunge, works really well all in all, very simple ui. The only small issue i have with it is the reading of uk postcodes, it only reads the first 4 digits and then you select the road, it isnt smart enough to ignore the rest of a postcode, this is also an issue with electing from the address book, if the address is all formated correctly and complete it wont recognise it, hopefully they will fix this in an update, all it needs is to ignore half the postcode and read the road name. Everything else is good though, i am happy with it.
Currently installing it. But one thing was odd. I had to restart my MBP. Otherwise iTunes would always tell me that there wasn't enough space available on my iPhone. After the restart (with the same space available on my phone) the installation went through.
Installed and did a trial run from the north west of England down to central London this afternoon (about a 4 1/2 hour journey). Coming from a 2006 TomTom One, the "next gen" visuals and lane information with the Navigon app are revelations (although the newer TomTom platform and its iPhone app has this kind of thing too of course).
Apart from having to buy a cigarette lighter charger (my fully charged 8Gb 3G wouldn't have cut the whole journey: got the 20% warning of doom with about 90 minutes to go, and this was on around 25% brightness, 3G / wifi / Bluetooth all off, although push was on), I was impressed with the overall guidance and GPS responsiveness.
Niggles:
- couldn't shut up the voice alert ("beware" or something) when going 1-2Mph over the speed limit even for a brief moment. It's probably in there somewhere but if not I would be hitting silent mode for long periods on motorways (otherwise it will go off every 30 seconds or so)
- sound out of the iPhone built-in speaker wasn't nearly as good (read: loud and intelligible) as with my TomTom One unit, whatever volume settings globally and within the app (so this is an iPhone issue, not a Navigon issue. You could have your audio going through your car stereo I guess to solve this; don't know if it would work through Bluetooth). Guessing this must be a big differentiator between a dedicated unit and a PDA / phone
- installation size: presumably having all the audio files for every European language in the installer increases the overall size at least a little. Would submitting "Navigon - English voice", "Navigon - French voice," etc. reduce the installer requirements?. Many people will have problems freeing up the space to accommodate the installer (the installed size is quoted as around 1.5Gb but people are saying it needs more than 2Gb free to install?). Obviously mapping data takes up a lot of space the installer seems intuitively on the large size (might be wrong)?
- not immediately obvious re entering post codes etc., bit scant on help, but UK and French codes worked fine when entered. I agree that it doesn't take full UK post codes but in practice for me this wouldn't be an issue
- no live traffic news and subsequent re-planning, imagine this would be implemented soon as an in-app subscription feature
- ditto no speed cameras yet
Favourite aspects:
- lane guidance
- detailed voice guidance that annunciates the road names (like "in 300 meters keep right and follow the A12" or whatever, very useful)
- screen layout good for quick scanning
- not having to remember the TomTom when going from car to car
- push notifications will of course appear over the screen and not disrupt navigation; looking forward to keeping up with various kinds of information on the go without having to leave the app -- very driver-safety-friendly (another plea to approve Beejive )
I guess for me it was more about stepping up from the old-fashioned satnavs; the TomTom app may well be just as good or better, and will have the added convenience of the iPhone-specific harness-cum-charger if you fork out for that too, which is a bit less Heath Robinson than a generic PDA holder and separate iPhone charger.
Overall am definitely happy with the application having been used to the old school devices. I wouldn't say this was flawed at all in comparison to TomTom products, odd that TomTom couldn't deliver ahead of these guys given their WWDC presence. Having spent money on this one, and being quite happy with it, it would take an amazing set of (greater) features from the TomTom app to convince me to fork out more for that.
Apart from having to buy a cigarette lighter charger (my fully charged 8Gb 3G wouldn't have cut the whole journey: got the 20% warning of doom with about 90 minutes to go, and this was on around 25% brightness, 3G / wifi / Bluetooth all off, although push was on), I was impressed with the overall guidance and GPS responsiveness.
Niggles:
- couldn't shut up the voice alert ("beware" or something) when going 1-2Mph over the speed limit even for a brief moment. It's probably in there somewhere but if not I would be hitting silent mode for long periods on motorways (otherwise it will go off every 30 seconds or so)
- sound out of the iPhone built-in speaker wasn't nearly as good (read: loud and intelligible) as with my TomTom One unit, whatever volume settings globally and within the app (so this is an iPhone issue, not a Navigon issue. You could have your audio going through your car stereo I guess to solve this; don't know if it would work through Bluetooth). Guessing this must be a big differentiator between a dedicated unit and a PDA / phone
- installation size: presumably having all the audio files for every European language in the installer increases the overall size at least a little. Would submitting "Navigon - English voice", "Navigon - French voice," etc. reduce the installer requirements?. Many people will have problems freeing up the space to accommodate the installer (the installed size is quoted as around 1.5Gb but people are saying it needs more than 2Gb free to install?). Obviously mapping data takes up a lot of space the installer seems intuitively on the large size (might be wrong)?
- not immediately obvious re entering post codes etc., bit scant on help, but UK and French codes worked fine when entered. I agree that it doesn't take full UK post codes but in practice for me this wouldn't be an issue
- no live traffic news and subsequent re-planning, imagine this would be implemented soon as an in-app subscription feature
- ditto no speed cameras yet
Favourite aspects:
- lane guidance
- detailed voice guidance that annunciates the road names (like "in 300 meters keep right and follow the A12" or whatever, very useful)
- screen layout good for quick scanning
- not having to remember the TomTom when going from car to car
- push notifications will of course appear over the screen and not disrupt navigation; looking forward to keeping up with various kinds of information on the go without having to leave the app -- very driver-safety-friendly (another plea to approve Beejive
)I guess for me it was more about stepping up from the old-fashioned satnavs; the TomTom app may well be just as good or better, and will have the added convenience of the iPhone-specific harness-cum-charger if you fork out for that too, which is a bit less Heath Robinson than a generic PDA holder and separate iPhone charger.
Overall am definitely happy with the application having been used to the old school devices. I wouldn't say this was flawed at all in comparison to TomTom products, odd that TomTom couldn't deliver ahead of these guys given their WWDC presence. Having spent money on this one, and being quite happy with it, it would take an amazing set of (greater) features from the TomTom app to convince me to fork out more for that.
great review but how does the post code feature work when you put the first 4 digits of the postcode in does it show you the names of all the streets in that postcode and you choose? like my audi satnav
If the iPhone app is set up like the hardware GPS units there is a setting in the general settings to turn off the over-speed warning. Yes, it is very annoying. I've had mine turned off for a very long time because, in the US, the speed listings in the GPS are frequently wrong. Often the speed shown on the GPS is 10mph lower than the posted road speed.
You are right about the visuals for Navigon. When I first got my GPS they weren't so good but, unlike Garmin hardware PNDs, Navigon frequently updated their interface until they got it down to what I would consider to be one of the best available. The lane guidance went from terrible to mediocre to outstanding. They really got it right. This is why I'm not happy about them abandoning the US hardware GPS market.
Thanks for the review lovelost. I am a tomtom fan (had 2 different units and didn't think I would consider an alternative ( in fact I upgraded to the 3g as I thought a tomtom app was coming out for it)
however lane guidance and speaking the road to take really appeals. My tomtom one v3 doesn't do this and the lane thong I would find especially useful for city driving
I guess I will wait to see what the tomtom app can do before I decide but I have reserved £60 worth of iTunes vouchers at Argos (for £40) in preparation
does it do landscape?
however lane guidance and speaking the road to take really appeals. My tomtom one v3 doesn't do this and the lane thong I would find especially useful for city driving
I guess I will wait to see what the tomtom app can do before I decide but I have reserved £60 worth of iTunes vouchers at Argos (for £40) in preparation
does it do landscape?
Yes, I didn't even notice how long it took to initially route my long journey, or the re-route yesterday when I did my first quick trial next to my TomTom and did decide to take a different route. Guess this is partially down to the difference in firepower between an old TomTom and an iPhone (imagine the 3G S!) though. Other than with this I don't have experience of the modern sexy satnav platforms. By comparison my 2006 unit is so old it gives instructions using "thee" and "thou".
Yes for example if you type in "W6 9", you then tap "W6 9" in the result set and the next screen lists all the roads in that post code sector. You then pick the road. On the next screen you can enter a building number or an intersection from a list (if there are any). So you _can_ drill down to a very specific location, but not direct from the full UK post code.
thats no so bad then, how is the general feel of the routing vert smooth has the gps chip worked well ?have you the 3g or 3gs
Yes it really quickly switches between portrait and landscape (left and right rotations as well, which was handy for me as the charger cable was a little short for where I wanted to put the holder).
Like you have been more than happy with the TomTom product and like the look of what they're proposing to release, if it had come out already I probably would have bought it, but decided, in the name of science, to throw caution to the wind and check Navigon out (had never heard of them before so it was something of a risk!!).
Using a lowly and plucky old 8Gb 3G. The visuals are more than smooth enough for me if that helps. This isn't a 30fps first-person shooter of course, although that could be interesting if someone programs in some augmented reality and integrates the real world view out of the camera and adds rockets etc. for the guy overtaking you on the inside. Thinks: have I just given away my one great idea for a top iPhone app.
We could call it RoadWarriors. I'll get my coat
The GPS signal is picked up really quickly and it handles blackout sections (like tunnels) like my TomTom (ie tentatively carries on plotting your course at your last recorded speed until the signal reappears). I wouldn't expect the TomTom to be any better or worse in terms of visual experience or GPS processing. Signal strength within the car next to the steering wheel was, for me, at least on par with a dedicated unit.
There is a menu option... in the Dutch version the names are a bit strangly called 'maximum speed in city/outside the city'. You can both increase the speed, or stop the audio completely.
But.. mmm.. .maybe it's just better to drive not beyond the max. speed as it doesn't hint you about the traffic cams yet
Found a nice trick: hit the time of arrival in the upper part of the screen to choose another detail (like the speed you're driving, or KM's to drive).
The GPS unit of the iPhone isn't better than my old Medion Navigon, but not worse... sometimes you just don't have a signal, but that could be anything of course... just try that out with Google Maps on the iPhone. I do wonder if that tomtom ass. thing is going to increase GPS.
Im nearly sold. Especially on the lane guidance and text to speech. The postcode part concerns me a bit however. I find it quite easy to get a postcode and type it into my tomtom. With this you would need to know the full address and sometimes I visit companies who lust their address without a street e.g
acme Inc
dalkeith
Edinburgh
eh11 11xx
Unless I am wrong it won't cope with that will it?
acme Inc
dalkeith
Edinburgh
eh11 11xx
Unless I am wrong it won't cope with that will it?
This will challenge any satnav I think?
I think if you enter "EH11 1" in the Navigon you will end up with a list of streets that are in that post code sector. So you'll need to figure out the street. The missing link is mapping the company to something more than a post code (by calling, Googling, WatchDog, etc. -- now a direct linkage with Google in to one of these satnav apps would be good!).
Yes but I enter the full postcode on my tomtom and it gets me to at least the street if where I need to be. With this I wouldn't get beyond the general area I think?
This is why I will be waiting for TomTom app, probably. Wish they would hurry up, though!
Good app, will try to review later, not too worried about the full postcode search as yet, can always look it up on google maps anyways.
mapping is also very out of date , it doesn't even have my home address in the UK , and the road was built nine years ago !!!!
I would advice you to check http://www.navigon.com/site/uk/en/service_support/mapreporting to check address before you spend a small fortune on this !
I would advice you to check http://www.navigon.com/site/uk/en/service_support/mapreporting to check address before you spend a small fortune on this !