Want free nav for your iPhone? Try Skobbler, but keep your expectations low

What gives? Skobbler US is free, but Skobbler UK & Ireland costs £1.19? What a gyp!

Seriously, for the price of a *movie ticket* (while it's on sale, anyway -- then it'll cost you two movie tickets), you can get the regional version Navigon, which is so much better than any of these free apps. Waze is fun if you know where you're going well enough to not worry about getting completely lost, but if you're doing a road trip from NY to DC or something, you'll want to go with one of the bigger apps.

"Google shouldn't be too hard to integrate into Skobbler, and I think the developers should get on it."

I don't think the developers should stoop to use Google.

I would like to see Google kept off of Apple products.

My personal favorite and I use it ALL THE TIME is MotionX GPS Drive. I've used it on short trips, and long trips. Trips where we went into areas that had absolutely NO SERVICE and it just plain worked great.

Why don't you try waze, it's a pretty decent navigation app, and it's free.

I really have not tried any GPS software on my iPhone... I tried a demo of a certain one... I think it may have been Tom Tom, and is was slower than a boulder. On flat land. Not inclined to moving at all.

So I have not really bothered anymore with it. Things may have changed, but I don't want to have to go through the hassle.

I think its dependent on where you are. My own experience with Skobbler so far has been pretty good. I havent experienced the same lags that you seem to have, and its always gotten me where I was going. As for a top down current view of my location, Ill stick to Google Maps for that - for free, Im pretty impressed with Skobbler on the "Get me to the Church on Time" factor.

I like the main map UI, One nitpick is that the Font for the street name/Intersection bar is too small to read. if the iphone is windsheild mounted like mine is.

That said,

This app has a few annoyances that I'd like to see re-worked:

1. Entering a destination address is cumbersome.

2. The address entry screen could be streamlined. Once I enter the address, it connects out, this takes a long time sometimes (yes, even with 5 full Bars of 3G).
2a. I have to tap "I want to go there"
2b. Another tap to acknowledge a nag screen about safety.
2c. another long wait. then you see the map screen.

3. Eats my battery quick-fast, even when docked in my TomTom car kit! FWIW, Waze doesn't do this.

4. App needs more optimization. it often lags when traversing the menus.

The lack of showing you your current position at startup is pretty bizarre. I'm thinking if I were to start developing such an app, that's the very first feature I'd implement, to be sure I had my GPS calls and map lookups working. It's MUCH easier than plotting a route.