Navigon GPS Software on iPhone

Hi,
just bought the Navigon GPS software for the iPhone. As it's one of the most expensive Apps in the store I thought people might appreciate some feedback.
I've no connection to the Navigon company.

Here are my thoughts....I'm a long term user of a TomTom 700 in car nav system........

Why did I want an iPhone app?

Mainly the convenience of always having a GPS whenever I have my phone.
Plus I wanted all the maps without data roaming charges in Europe.

Is it expensive?

£79.99 - quite a lot for an iPhone app but not in the context of buying a Europe satnav!

Does it work?

Yes, navigates from A->B very well.

Compared to my Tomtom 700? Well there's pros and cons....

Pros.

Maps are more up to date (to update my Western Europe tomtom maps would be £44.95)

Current speed limit is displayed (I think more recent TomToms do this too!)

Comprehensive POIs supplied.

Cons

Feels like a first release in some areas although the essential stuff works:

e.g. Post codes need to be 6/7 digits (addresses still work)

Preloaded POIs are sometimes a bit obscure in categorisation (e.g. pubs are in Culture-> Nightlife category!).

Can't delete maps that are not needed for the moment (e.g. I won't be needing Albania in the foreseeable future) There is a workaround for this that I haven't tried.

No way of inputing 3rd party POIs/alternative voices.

Need A-B route planning software (rather than current location -> B)

Finally:

The download's a bit of a monster (1.6Gb) but you need more space than that to load it. I deleted my itunes and some photos but will restore the ones I still want now.

All in all I'm well pleased with this purchase.

Any other thoughts/questions?

Regards

jawdrops

Edited by jawdrops (Wed 01-Jul-09 21:31:25)

I bought the British Isles edition for £37.99. I figured I would probably buy the TomTom app when it comes out, so the June introductory deal gives me a chance to try the concept out before I decide to spend what will no doubt be considerably more for TomTom. I don't have a SatNav currently, and in my situation Navigon fills that hole. For me, at that price, Navigon was a no-brainer.

Re. the Cons above ...

The built-in Maps application already provides route planning to my satisfaction.

Real time voice assisted navigation from where I am now to where I wanna be is what I need - occasionally. I tested it by diverting from the recommended route, and it seemed to pick up the diversion immediately, and the instructions continued on the revised route.

Post code truncation is not a big deal. A few taps get you to a full address entry, as it finds town and street names on the fly. A couple of letters of each will usually get you to a list that you can tap. I figure that's no more taps than a full post code. Even a full postcode would still only get you to a section of a road, and you still require the house number for a complete location.

The British Isles version is only a 215 MBytes download, so size is not an issue.

My list of Cons:

Power drain is quick. My battery was 50% depleted after only 15-20 mins. You need to run it from the car power supply.

It should be possible to enter a position and then ask it for points of interest around that location. Maybe it's possible, but I haven't been able to work out how to do that.

Alan
Demon since forever, HomeOffice MaxDSL since 2006 via Netgear DG834G router
Mac Pro 2.66GHz 4GBytes / Mac G4 1GHz 1.12GBytes - Leopard plus Centos4 & XP Pro in Parallels

If you already have a route plotted can you tell it to divert you around a road block? i.e. in TomTom I am able to say recalculate route->avoid roadblock-><various distances from 100yd to 3 miles>

I'm currently trying to decide on a new phone and I think it's currently between an HTC Hero or an iPhone.

--
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.

ZeN Systems Administrator
ZeN 8000 Pro

Please note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not those of Zen Internet.

I don't think so, but I haven't explored it very far. I'm not aware that it knows about road blocks, or other real time disturbances to the basic map.

Alan
Demon since forever, HomeOffice MaxDSL since 2006 via Netgear DG834G router
Mac Pro 2.66GHz 4GBytes / Mac G4 1GHz 1.12GBytes - Leopard plus Centos4 & XP Pro in Parallels

Sorry if I wasn't clear, I don't mean real time. In tomtom I literally tell it there is something wrong ahead and it replans my route avoiding the next however many miles I tell it.

--
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.

ZeN Systems Administrator
ZeN 8000 Pro

Please note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not those of Zen Internet.

Alan, I'm being really lazy. I'm tempted to download Navigon, but is there an iPhone car charger available?

I'm sure there are lots of cigar lighter adapters, but I don't have any experience of them, so I'd have to do the same Google search as you, and it's really very hot

The TomTom app is reputed to include a car mounting kit and other accessories. I've also asked my regular garage to quote for the factory hands-free option and I'm waiting to see the details of that kit. So I'm going to hold out for a while to see these offers before I start buying up third party extras to hook my iPhone into my car.

Alan
Demon since forever, HomeOffice MaxDSL since 2006 via Netgear DG834G router
Mac Pro 2.66GHz 4GBytes / Mac G4 1GHz 1.12GBytes - Leopard plus Centos4 & XP Pro in Parallels

Hi Jonny,

You know TomTom is coming for iPhone anyway, right? So you'll get that feature when that's released. (Due this summer).

ta,
Phil.

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Phil Long
ZeN Technical Support Manager
iMac 24" and MacBook Pro 15.4" - Leopard-tastic

Please note, I will not respond to unsolicited private messages.

-------------------------IMPORTANT---------------------
The opinions expressed here are my own and do not belong to Zen Internet.

Phones are intended for postable use, spashing £80 on something for a static purpose seems useless. Google Maps is suficient for 99.999999% of users.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
AOL > Virgin Media > Tiscali > Falconnet > UKFSN > Norfolk Internet
256k > Shapped 512k > 1mbps! > 6.5mbps > 4.5mbps > 3.5mbps + 1075kbps upload

ADSL2+ Hell. 33db att, 15db SNR, After all we are just the 'end user' arn't we.

Ah I didn't know that. Hmmm still a tough decision to make then between the iPhone and an HTC Hero.

--
Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.

ZeN Systems Administrator
ZeN 8000 Pro

Please note: The opinions expressed in this post are my own and not those of Zen Internet.