NDrive USA targets 1,000,000 iPhone users @ $2.99

[rKunda]

So how is the app for those of you that have bought it? The appstore reviews are all over the place.

This is the first non-internet based GPS I have ever tried. I ran it on the way to work this morning and it worked okay. It made two mistakes, having me exit and reenter a freeway instead of just staying on it (which I did anyway). It adjusted very quickly.

Then, it thought I was running on a road parallel to the FWY (though this road runs just feet away, so it might be a liability of the layout of the road). So far, everything seems to work well. Definitely worth 3 whole dollars.

I haven't played with it much. At a glance, it seems it lacks a list view, which is kind of a bummer. (Maybe I just didn't see it.) Other than that, I'm not much help. It has more options than I've used and didn't do anything but go from 1 point to 1 destination, one time.

 

[LSUtigers03]

This is the first non-internet based GPS I have ever tried. I ran it on the way to work this morning and it worked okay. It made two mistakes, having me exit and reenter a freeway instead of just staying on it (which I did anyway). It adjusted very quickly.

Then, it thought I was running on a road parallel to the FWY (though this road runs just feet away, so it might be a liability of the layout of the road). So far, everything seems to work well. Definitely worth 3 whole dollars.

I haven't played with it much. At a glance, it seems it lacks a list view, which is kind of a bummer. (Maybe I just didn't see it.) Other than that, I'm not much help. It has more options than I've used and didn't do anything but go from 1 point to 1 destination, one time.

Thanks it sounds like its worth a few bucks especially if they add TTS for a few bucks like the dev said earlier in the topic.

 

[david77]

Any chance for an iPad version?

 

[Machoo]

NDrive

How is it? Well I have used it quite a bit the last three days. I would say it has some bugs. Enough lets say to notice that it has some bugs. But it is pretty good. I am still almost compelled to try CoPilot Live for $19 right now. It looks like a nice interface. I am just left with wanting a little more from NDrive. But I can say that for the price it cannot be beat. I tried the Mapquest app and if you have tried that I would say this is similar but a little more refined. Mapquest doesn't orientate for your heading and the spoken directions are computer generated in sound. NDrive is a little more refined. I would say it's a whole step up from the Mapquest app. I can say that I too was "misled" to the website from the itunes store to believe there were 3d buildings and text to speech. I thought this was something special NDrive was doing for the first 1,000,000 downloads or something. But alas, they will be extra. I fear quite a bit. More than I may want to pay. Which might leave me exploring other options with more included at the base price. With all of this being said for $2.99 you will not find a better deal for the iphone. Period. But you may also be feeling a little like me that even though it's a good deal it may not be the Nav app for me. It's only $2.99. Try it for yourself and be the judge. At that price you really aren't putting yourself out too much.

 

[Machoo]

NDrive

One last thought. I am holding out my final decisions on the text to speech and how well that works / costs, to make my final decision on this app. I am not saying in my previous post that this isn't work $2.99

 

[fhall1]

Took the app for a simple test drive yesterday and overall it was pretty good. At one point I went off-route on purpose and in it's initial recalculation it told me (voice and visual) to turn right in 0.6 miles when I really needed to go left...but somewhere between 0.6 miles and 0.2 miles to the turn it corrected itself and said I needed to go left.

One quirky thing...I noticed sitting in my backyard, it indicates (on the bottom of the screen) that I'm "Out of Road"....better english would be that I'm "off the road".

 

[rKunda]

It could use a querty keyboard.

edit: apparently, I missed the option inside the app.

 

[Pez555]

this app is great, i bought the UK version which was £4.99, worth every penny.

 

[fhall1]

It could use a querty keyboard.

That's one of the settings choices

 

[Machoo]

Plan a route

Need help plannig a route. I am trying to setup a trip from Vegas to another destination however I am in California. So, how do I plan a route from an address that is different than my current location. Then if I do plan this route can I save it somehow?

 

[bassguy]

Tried the app the first few days, had some strange routing issues. More important to me was the lack of TTS, thought it was there but it isn't yet. Instead of waiting I was happy to get a refund from Apple and have deleted. You do get a lot for $2.99, just missing that one important thing for me. You can do worse, when TTS becomes available I'll consider buying again, though support never responded to any questions I sent. The rep on here is great, responds quickly but is limited to what they can do.

 

[ddfdfd]

I know it's only $2.99, but at no time does is say it's a trial, and to get full features, you need to buy an upgrade. I expected this to be an introductory price, and as NDrive took hold in the US, there would be upgrades, add'l features and support that I could expect, just like those paying $33. That's why you offer it only to the first 1 million people, so word of mouth by the early adopters will make it grow faster. You're basically penalizing your "beta testers" by not opening the full app to them. I would imagine we now have to pay a $3 penalty to upgrade ($3 for USA and another $33 for United States of America).

You talk about two versions in this thread, but I don't remember seeing that anywhere else in the app description. In the app store, you portray the $3 version as an introductory price, but it's not introductory. It's the price for the demo version, not the full app. I know you can hide behind the different descriptions in the two apps, but don't bother. It's a deceitful way of getting trial and buzz about your product. Look at any other app that offers free and paid versions. The first line in the description of the free version is always the claim about that it's for trial use and a full version is available.

If you want to be transparent, you should call it NDrive Lite and offer it to everyone, not just the first 1 million people. In my opinion, you've just ripped off those who were willing to take a chance on your product.

 

[rKunda]

FWIW, I grabbed the $15 Navigon app on sale and liked it much better than the $3 NDrive. If you only rarely will ever use a GPS app, this one is fine, but at not much more $, the Navigon app is really much of an improvement. And the actual listing in the App Store in clear about what's included.

The lack of TTS in NDrive, though the link from the App Store leads the buyer to believe it's included, unless one happens to be reading this forum first.

 

[angle222]

There’s a buzz about the NDrive office. Clicking of mice, sipping of coffee, and intense discussion between employees are the sounds emanating from their workplace. After all, NDrive developersiphoneand managers alike have been working around the clock for months to offer something the USA Apple App Market has yet to realize. NDrive USA : a full license, professional on-board GPS navigation app for $2.99.

 

[rKunda]

There’s a buzz about the NDrive office. Clicking of mice, sipping of coffee, and intense discussion between employees are the sounds emanating from their workplace. After all, NDrive developersiphoneand managers alike have been working around the clock for months to offer something the USA Apple App Market has yet to realize. NDrive USA : a full license, professional on-board GPS navigation app for $2.99.

Welcome to the forums.

 

[rmg2768]

Promo please...

I've exhausted my wallet trying several low-cost GPS apps, each with their own quirks.

NDriveUSARep, if you're willing to send me a promo code, I'm willing to try it out and post a fair review of the app and compare it to:

- Waze
- GPS Drive
- Gokivo
- TomTom

...all of which I've used in the Metro Boston area, with its mess of old cow paths, one-way streets, and rotaries.

Thanks
rmg2768@yahoo.com

 

[TheFelix]

I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.

 

[rKunda]

I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.

I don't want to point fingers, but I dare say there has been a tad bit of this in this thread.

 

[NDriveUSARep]

Reply to rKunda

Originally Posted by TheFelix View Post
"I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.
I don't want to point fingers, but I dare say there has been a tad bit of this in this thread."

You are pointing fingers by said postings. Be very careful, there is a thin line between slander and hearsay. Both are not the premier purpose of the post. Please focus your efforts towards Q & A. NDrive does not warrant any of these claims and is posting to listen to end users and improve as much as possible.

 

[dalejrsfan]

I know it's only $2.99, but at no time does is say it's a trial, and to get full features, you need to buy an upgrade. I expected this to be an introductory price, and as NDrive took hold in the US, there would be upgrades, add'l features and support that I could expect, just like those paying $33. That's why you offer it only to the first 1 million people, so word of mouth by the early adopters will make it grow faster. You're basically penalizing your "beta testers" by not opening the full app to them. I would imagine we now have to pay a $3 penalty to upgrade ($3 for USA and another $33 for United States of America).

You talk about two versions in this thread, but I don't remember seeing that anywhere else in the app description. In the app store, you portray the $3 version as an introductory price, but it's not introductory. It's the price for the demo version, not the full app. I know you can hide behind the different descriptions in the two apps, but don't bother. It's a deceitful way of getting trial and buzz about your product. Look at any other app that offers free and paid versions. The first line in the description of the free version is always the claim about that it's for trial use and a full version is available.

If you want to be transparent, you should call it NDrive Lite and offer it to everyone, not just the first 1 million people. In my opinion, you've just ripped off those who were willing to take a chance on your product.

I agree ddfdfd, and your post was skipped over for another! Looks like its not a Q&A like stated below!

Originally Posted by TheFelix View Post
"I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.
I don't want to point fingers, but I dare say there has been a tad bit of this in this thread."

You are pointing fingers by said postings. Be very careful, there is a thin line between slander and hearsay. Both are not the premier purpose of the post. Please focus your efforts towards Q & A. NDrive does not warrant any of these claims and is posting to listen to end users and improve as much as possible.

 

[NDriveUSARep]

Reply to Dalejrsfan

Thank you for your participation but please refer to post #44, focus, Q&A!

In response to ddfdfd: I would have to kindly suggest reading the forum before posting; as we have already discussed the difference between the two versions in posts #4 and #23. Your diction is rather strange as well, 'trial' implies a time sensitive, limited version, which it simply is not.

All other posts, thank you for your feedback- It is well received.

 

[fhall1]

I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.

Thanks for pointing out Skobbler (haven't tried it yet, but I will)....Mapquest has had a free turn by turn app for quite a while, but you have to be online to get maps. NDrive downloads entire maps to your device so you don't have to be online. Looks like Skobbler downloads local maps only, so it's a cross between Mapquest and NDrive

 

[rKunda]

Originally Posted by TheFelix View Post
"I think its interesting that nDrive went down to $2.99 at pretty much the same time that Skobbler came into the app store which looks like its pretty much the first free (no in app purchase upgrades even) turn by turn navigation system. I also noticed that theres a bunch of really negative reviews for Skobbler that all also rate nDrive five stars.... strange coincidence in my opinion. Pretty skeevy marketing practice.
I don't want to point fingers, but I dare say there has been a tad bit of this in this thread."

You are pointing fingers by said postings. Be very careful, there is a thin line between slander and hearsay. Both are not the premier purpose of the post. Please focus your efforts towards Q & A. NDrive does not warrant any of these claims and is posting to listen to end users and improve as much as possible.

You might notice that the portion of text you quoted was saying by SOMEONE ELSE, and not me. I didn't point out what I thought the obvious shill was, but you're free to make your threats if you wish. Please, PM me if you want my contact information to take some sort of legal action.

What I will elaborate on is what I did say before, and directly. You're advertising your app in a misleading way, either intentionally or unintentionally—I'm not in a position to judge which. But unless something changed: The iTunes App Store listing of your app makes no mention of a lack of TTS, and the link IN THAT LISTING links to the NDive website listing TTS as a feature INCLUDED in the iPhone app. It's only users that might stumble upon a forum where you've graced them with your presence that might find out that this feature is only included in the much more costly app.

Have you given any thought to correcting the misleading labeling and description in your app?

And FWIW: I'm very happy with Navigon @ $15 after comparing it with NDrive for a week or so. I recommend others consider buying Navigon over NDrive. The UI is better and the routing is better.

edit: By the way, I am an 'end user.' Aside from being disappointed in the apps misleading description, it's also disheartening to learn that only positive feedback is welcome.

 

[NDriveUSARep]

Reply to rKunda

"What I will elaborate on is what I did say before, and directly. You're advertising your app in a misleading way, either intentionally or unintentionally—I'm not in a position to judge which. But unless something changed: The iTunes App Store listing of your app makes no mention of a lack of TTS, and the link IN THAT LISTING links to the NDive website listing TTS as a feature INCLUDED in the iPhone app. It's only users that might stumble upon a forum where you've graced them with your presence that might find out that this feature is only included in the much more costly app."

This content is more of what We're interested in so that we may improve. All feedback is welcome, its an open forum, thanks for effort.

Edit: Description in app store modified 'Features>Application Features' to state that TTS will be available for store-in-store sale in immediate future.

 

[rKunda]

]Description in app store modified 'Features>Application Features' to state that TTS will be available for store-in-store sale in immediate future.

Perfect, thank you. That deals with most of my criticism. Can I ask another question? Because we're looking at 2 apps—the full, not $3 version and the stipped-down, 'lean and mean,' bargain-priced version, how is this going to influence development across both apps?

I mentioned before that I prefer the MyRegion of Navigon, for not much more cost, because of it's great function and polish (though I think it can improve, too), but at $15 for one region (or 1/3 of the US) and NDrive's $3 for the whole thing, there is another advantage for NDrive. When NDrive develops later versions, this gap could easily be closed, I think, but can you comment on that development?

If NDrive Lite (the $3 version) is only so cheap for 1 million users, what happens to the cost once that goal is reached? Does it go up to match the full app? Why then would anyone choose the lesser version over the full if the prices are similar? Will updates come to both apps?