A trip around town with Traffic Live from Navigon

I bought the traffic update and was able to use it on both my phone and my wife's. On her phone I just had to log into my iTunes account and from within the app re- "purchase" it. It gave me the usual warning about having already bought it and do I want to re-download it.

I noticed a little quirk of the traffic option that I forgot to mention. On some Los Angeles freeways, there's a clever trick to bypass some traffic and get a couple of dozen car lengths ahead of where you were, if your anal enough to bother (like me). Many off-ramps combine with on-ramps in such a way that you can the off-ramp, stay to the left and merge back into the freeway with those coming in on the on-ramp. This would only be beneficial if the off-ramp actually never took you off the freeway. Yesterday, Navigon wanted me to take an off-ramp and get right back on the same freeway; the problem with this is there's a stop-light at the bottom of the off-ramp. No way that would save you time, but I imagine recent users who had just gotten on and/or off using those two ramps reported faster travel times combined then someone who just stayed on the freeway. Obviously the time the person getting off sat at the red light wouldn't be factored in unless they actually went straight through. I wonder if this is a map glitch, or a fluke. At any rate, best to not blindly follow advice of any device, but that should go without saying, shouldn't it?

A somewhat related question to VKM's... Does the in-app purchase work the same as buying it thru iTunes in that I can get this update on all the iPhones that are licensed under my iTunes account for the single $19.99 purchase?

This is just a general question about in-app purchases, but it's more meaningful since this costs almost $20.00.

I had the NightStand app running on my iPhone. There was an in-app purchase for a different theme, which I bought; then when my device suffered a serious glitch, the Genius Bar guy re-set the whole thing to factory and I had to do a rebuild (it was the backup/restore process that was failing). When I reloaded NightStand from iTunes, it wanted me to purchase (again) the theme.

In this case with Navigon, I use both the European version when I'm in...,well, Europe. And I unload it from the iPhone and install the North American Navigon when I'm in the USA. (because this is only a 16GB iPhone). Soooooo... if I buy the in-app TrafficLive for Navigon NA, then unload it to run the EU version; when I go back to Navigon NA will I lose that TrafficLive purchase?

I find the argument that Navigon's poor GPS tracking is only a hardware problem hard to swallow. I have had repeated problems with this app not getting a signal while every other app (Google Maps, Everytrail, Skycharts, etc. etc. etc.) has no problem at all pinpointing my location. If they can do it why can't Navigon? My suspicion is is that they may have a very 'tight' tolerance for the quality of signal needed to give you guidance. That's great but I'd rather have a warning bar pop up saying 'Poor GPS reception' and have the app still continue trying instead of simply freezing in place which of no help whatsoever.

If 'Stephen' has any concrete help/advice I'd love to see it. All the forums I've read say the same thing: All my other GPS apps work but Navigon has problems.

The automatic re-routing seems to work well, based on two short trips in the Los Angeles area yesterday. The app was telling me to take the freeway, but I intentionally missed the on-ramp to see what it would say to do. My car's non-traffic-capable GPS wanted me to get on at the next on-ramp, but Navigon "recalcuated route due to traffic information" and routed me by surface streets the rest of the trip. In my experience, the surface street *is* the best way to go that time of day from that point.

On the return trip, Navigon again insisted on taking the freeway, despite "slow speeds" traffic warning on the last stretch of it. I *never* take the freeway north at that time of day, but decided to give it a try. Made it home a few minutes faster than normal. Coolness.

Robert, I'm in the same boat. The GPS on my 3GS has always sucked. I took it in to the Apple Store and the genius told me that my firmware was probably corrupt and offered to restore it with their "special" firmware. He suggested that I also buy the tomtom dock. Yeah, whatever. I owned a 3G that never had problems with this. My 3GS seems to only use cellular triangulation which sucks for use in apps like Navigon.

Does the traffic work only while you have a route in or does it work if you are in map mode and just driving? I haven't had a chance to test it out yet so I wasn't sure.

I tried this app on a single trip from Greenville,sc to Charlotte,nc. I ran into one accident on the way, but since AT&T crappy network did not have any signal I did not get a warning about it. I will also test on the way back today and hopefully see how effective it is. I will say that the way they implemented traffic is great. It works well and gives you the choice if you want it to automatically redirect you or to ask. It listed a lot of different accidents on the way of my trip and even changed the route back to normal when an accident cleared up. I just hope that accidents get updated quickly enough to actually be useful. We will see. So far I am happy, but we will see after a real test.

Robert, are you kidding? Have you not read any forums about this problem? This is a hardware problem, not a software problem. The application is the exact same for everyone who downloads it. I leave my phone in the center cupholder and never have had one problem with getting a strong signal. You need to bring your iPhone in and get a replacement. Please do research before making unfounded accusations.