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On the road with the latest Navigon MobileNavigator

by Mel Martin Jul 12th 2010 at 10:00AM

The iOS 4 update to MobileNavigator North America has been eagerly awaited by fans of the best selling turn-by-turn navigation system, and overall I'd call the update a win.

To test the system, I took a drive from Southern Arizona to Chandler, a suburb of Phoenix. First off, having the multitasking capabilities was wonderful. I could take or make calls without stopping the route guidance, and while I was on the phone, I could get notice of turns. Since my phone was connected to my car via Bluetooth, the voice announcements came through the car speaker.

I set up speed limit warnings, and the system dutifully warned me if I was going too fast, which is easy to do on those long, straight Arizona highways.

When you set your destination, the software gives you a page with parking information (Navigon calls it Clever Parking), and the current weather at your destination. I have a couple of comments here. I was going to a mall, and the system told me there were no places to park in the vicinity. That was absolutely wrong! It was telling me there were no commercial parking garages at the mall, which was true, but the confusing wording is not helpful and will make some users think the system is broken.

Furthermore, getting the current conditions on a long trip means that the info will be out of date when you arrive. It would be more helpful to get the current weather and a forecast for your calculated arrival time. I'd also like a way to get back to that parking information when I arrive at my destination (when it is more useful). There may be a way to do that, but I couldn't find it.

(Update: One of our readers spotted the solution. When you arrive at your destination a little blue 'P' appears on scree. You tap it and the parking information is displayed. I missed it because I try to avoid looking at the screen when driving, relying instead on voice directions. Thanks for the tip Terry!)

The Navigon directions are generally good, although a couple of times, when I was within sight of my destination, it told me to turn left but should have told me to turn right. I see this in almost all GPS systems, though; it even happens with the factory unit that's built into my car, but that doesn't make it any less frustrating.

Navigon has improved the map display by adding more city features and trees. It doesn't add any more accuracy to the display, but it looks a lot nicer.

The voice that gives you turn-by-turn directions is clear, and I never had trouble understanding what was being said, even while I was on a phone call.

The Points of Interest Database is not comprehensive, but you can search for destinations using a built in Google link, which is very up-to-date.

The traffic alerts were displayed, but there was no traffic that the system had to route me around while on my drive. The Live Traffic system is an extra cost, add-on option, but if you do a lot of big city driving, it is probably worth its US$24.99 price for a lifetime subscription.

I was also able to test the less expensive MyRegion version of the software for the Western US, and I can confirm that it supports the same new features that are included in the more expensive US-Canada version.

The complete North American version is on sale for another 10 days or so at $30 off, so it's now US $49.99. The MyRegions versions is also on sale for $17.99 instead of the usual $29.99.

Despite the little glitches and a few changes that I would like to see made, the Navigon software is the best I've seen for the iPhone. If you are running iOS 4, it's a big jump in useful functionality. And if the past is any guide, Navigon will aggressively update the software by adding new features and improving the utility of the app.

I strongly recommend MobileNavigator, and I actually prefer it to my car's built-in navigation system.

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The iOS 4 update to MobileNavigator North America has been eagerly awaited by fans of the best selling turn-by-turn navigation system, and...
 

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23 Comments

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Scott

I'm just pissed that I bought it for $60 an hour before 1.6 came out and they dropped the price. Yup, an hour. and they won't help me.

July 13 2010 at 12:26 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
allan

Where's the iPad version! Come on, is it that hard?

July 12 2010 at 4:12 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
RichardWatson

I bought this at the weekend following a lot of positive reviews here but I'll admit to it being a little disappointing so far. I'm finding it rather frustrating and would really appreciate a guide if anyone knows of one.

Also; I want to add interim destinations to force a route via a specifics place but it seems I can only add ID's into a planned route but it seems you can only do this while running a route.

I read somewhere you can enter a route from Google Maps; does anyone know how to do this?

July 12 2010 at 2:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to RichardWatson's comment
Jimothy

There's a Route option under the More menu, where you can add interim points. I haven't used it yet, but maybe that'll (pardon the pun) point you in the right direction.

Navigon allows you to perform a Google Map search in-app, and then give you directions to the location Google finds. But I don't know a way of, for example, finding a location in the Maps app then getting directions from Navigon, though that would be nice.

July 12 2010 at 3:35 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
akhoa86

I noticed that 3d navigon panorama lags in OS3.2 Iphone 3gs.
I wonder if Navigion still lags when it running in iphone 4g

July 12 2010 at 1:41 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
marc

anyone know if this app relies only on satellite data and not cell data? i may buy a used 3gs and unlock it to use w/ t mobile. i don't have a data plan, so i'd want to make sure it'll work on the road satellite only...

July 12 2010 at 1:22 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ken

I just updated to the latest 1.60 ver of Navigon North America on my iPhone 4 and noticed that both the Traffic Live and Panorama View 3D appears in the "Extras" section even though I had already paid for them months ago. I've sent Navigon an e-mail inquiring about this.

Has anyone else encountered this problem?

July 12 2010 at 1:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
2 replies to Ken's comment
Akle

repurchase these options and they will let you download for free. Check it on the comment in iTune

July 12 2010 at 1:44 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Ken

Thanks Kevin. That worked.

July 12 2010 at 2:42 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Yuusharo

I have noticed really bad bug in this new version. Sometimes, if the iPod is running and you start playing a song while Navigon is trying to shout a direction, or are switched away from the app and mess with the iPod, Navigon randomly stops announcing. It still tracks and guides you, but the voice-over no longer works. The only way to get it back was to suspend the app, double-click the home button, hold down the Navigon icon and tap the red minus sign to kill it. After that, reloading the app will restore voice-overs. A very trick and dangerous thing to do while you're driving.

Hopefully its just an unanticipated bug switching to iOS4 functionality.

July 12 2010 at 12:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Yuusharo's comment
home

I saw this behavior, too, but it only happened to me when the iPod Mode was set to Audiobook. When I changed it Music the problem, temporarily, at least, went away. Hopefully that's a good enough work around until they can fix the bug.

July 12 2010 at 1:31 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Michael

I use to use Navigon - but then I got the Magellan Navigation App - I really like Magellan better - their maps seem so much nicer than Navigons.

July 12 2010 at 12:11 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
VKM

I purchased Navigon US-CAN pretty much early-on, and Panorama 3D and Traffic Updates when they became available. It was running on my 16GB 3G and a 2nd Generation iPod Touch.

Overall, it's been a great product, even better with a combination of the latest version and iPhone 4. Much quicker.

I got a Magellan window bracket after experimenting with a handful of brackets. The Magellan is good because it's built-in GPS chip seemed to enhance the 3G's GPS signal (by replacing it) and it was required when I used the iPod Touch.

One thing that would be nice is an option to take-out the voice information for turn-by-turn. I'd prefer in many cases to not hear anything, but just look at the clear graphics. This is because the voice also drops the volume of music playing from the iPhone/iPod Touch. (An option allows to lower the voice volume, but it still decreases the music audio for a non-speaking person, which is annoying as well.)

What else would be nice? That if an iOS4 device does the double-home-click thing and have the multi-viewing window at the bottom, that the Navigon would reduce its image size so the entire thing would fit in the window while a user sees and can use the iPod (far left scrolled) controls.

For some users, you can go to Navigon's site and download a PDF manual for any of their recent devices -- the features are probably a 90%-ish match and will explain things like the traffic-re-routing functionality.

Oh, once, I selected the "motorcycle" profile thinking that would give me the fastest way to something -- nope. That's for sloooooowww cruisin' through every little most twisty, scenic routes!

Their customer service was pretty good when I had an e-mail inquiry.

July 12 2010 at 12:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
drumstik76

I ended up buying the TomTom app a few weeks ago and I honestly have been impressed. It is a lot like my wife's TomTom so I was already familiar with how it worked.

I was really on the fence between Navigon and TomTom -- anyone else who has tried both of the latest updates from either one want to weigh in on this?

July 12 2010 at 11:21 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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