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Best Navigation app for iPhone 4s ?

I also put my vote in for Navigon (and the update that is coming up sounds pretty awesome).

But I will say you might want to investigate TomTom. Just judging from reviews of people who have tried both, I get the impression TomTom is a little better at routing and finding you the least traffic or most efficient route.

But I've had no big issues with Navigon (save one area in Atlanta where it does not realize there is an exit going North from 285 leading it to do some really interesting routing decisions).

Both from what I've read are pretty good. Both give you the maps on the iphone. Navigon is changing it a bit so you stay what state you are going to be in (or states) so it will only store that map until you tell it otherwise (this is really nice cause, um, well, Navigon right now is a 1.7 GB app to be able to hold all the maps). They're also from what I read improving the UI better so that you can access things better that you'd need to while driving (right now it's got terrible UI if for some stuff you might want to do while you are driving, for example finding points of interest that happen to be nearby where you are at).

I know you can listen to the iPod too while using Navigon and it will soften the music when it needs to tell you an upcoming turn and I am assuming that TomTom has something similar (I could be wrong though). They both seem to mimic a lot of functionality (just do it differently).

Also, from what I understand (and I could be wrong, it's been a long time since I've perused the best GPS app threads, there is one around here that is pretty old asking between TomTom and Navigon and I suggest you find it, it has some very useful comparisons, it is how I decided on Navigon honestly), Navigon makes you pay once to get traffic updates where as most other apps want a yearly fee for that. Here, found that one thread for you: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/953835/ but there are several others also discussing this (and that thread is old so a bit outdated info but should give you a general idea of differences between the two. On the last page some one does a very detailed review on both of goods and bads he found of both that was earlier this year. They haven't changed that much since then that it should still be pretty relevant).

Also, I will second the opinion that Navigon's POI stuff sux (it never seems to find anything for me). But, there is a free app, White and Yellow Pages, that is great at finding POI's that works with Navigon (it has a button that you can hit to tell it to give you instructions using Navigon) so that makes up for it.
 
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mjoshi123 said:
okay I forgot to mention that I'm looking for app that will work with least amount of data connection and reason behind it is (if I'm understanding correctly) without data connections this connected apps wont know where you are as they do live data connection to update location. If there is data connection app that basically brings down whole route before you start trip so that way it is not constantly consuming data and you wont be out of luck if data connection is lost while you are routing.
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There are two categories of GPS apps for the iPhone. The expensive ones, like TomTom, Navigon, etc, that store the maps on the phone. These don't need data for anything. You could have no service at all, and it will still give you directions, in addition to being able to route you without service.

There are also the cheaper (sometimes even free) ones like Waze, MotionX, etc that require a data connection. These require a connection to route, and some also require a connection to give you directions.
 
TomTom.

I was a Navigon user for years but it always seemed to take curious routes. I don't think there is anything quite as good as TomTom in that area. IQ Routes are just great especially combined with the Traffic subscription.
 
It depends on two things ( at least to me) : Storage space and data connection.

If you have enough storage space, I would go with TomTom or Navigon. I have used both. My preference is TomTom. The file size is somewhat large but worth it in my opinion.

If you have an unlimited data plan, or a data plan with a larger capacity at least, then one of the cheaper apps would work just fine. The downside is going into places that have poor or no reception.


mjoshi123 said:
Does anyone know if iphone 4s can handle navigation as well as playing music at same time ?
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Based solely on my experience with navigation apps (which is admittedly little) TomTom does play your music and will fade it out (just the volume, the app will remain running) when directions are being given. Same with calls that come in.
 
I've used Navigon since the 3GS and would recommend it again without hesitation. I like how once you select your destination it gives you two or three possible routes to choose from. If you already know which highway you want to be routed on then you have the option to select that one.
 
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navigon been using it since my iPhone 3G.

hands down the best for no data.
 
ive been using Navigon for a while and love it!

but you guys say it doesn't use data at all? how come there have been times on my 3GS where I couldnt get a route because I didnt have any service?

If it doesn't use any data..could you use an ipod touch or an old iphone as a navigation device?
 
I use Skobbler. Its free, and IMO more accurate than Waze. Plus, they released an update with iOS 5, and it looks much nicer. They changed the name too, I think its under GPS Nav 2 - Skobbler, or something like that now.

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roccobladr said:
If it doesn't use any data..could you use an ipod touch or an old iphone as a navigation device?
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Old iPhone, yes, if it doesn't need data. iPod Touch, no, since they don't have GPS chips built-in.
 
phpmaven said:
I'm going to assume since it costs $60.00 that you haven't tried Navigon. It's by far the most complete GPS app and doesn't rely on a constant data connection.
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No I have used Navigon. I have used MotionX Drive, Navigon, Garmin, TomTom, AT&T Navigator, Co-Pilot, and Waze.

I've never needed a GPS where I haven't had a data connection. Plus you can pre-download the maps if you like.

MotionX is much easier to use than Navigon. It's much easier to see the cross street names in MotionX. And MotionX uses Google and Bing so the data is always up to date.

I'll assume you haven't used MotionX because it's by far the better app for people who actually use their iPhone as a GPS in the car.

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spyderx said:
What sort of data consumption do you get with this app?
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It's not much. I am a heavy user of both MotionX GPS Drive and my iPhone in general and I have never went over 1.5GB.

Plus MotionX lets you pre-load the maps for your trip while you are on wi-fi, so that's an option.
 
ritmomundo said:
I use Skobbler. Its free, and IMO more accurate than Waze. Plus, they released an update with iOS 5, and it looks much nicer. They changed the name too, I think its under GPS Nav 2 - Skobbler, or something like that now.

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Old iPhone, yes, if it doesn't need data. iPod Touch, no, since they don't have GPS chips built-in.
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it's not free? :(
 
thank you all for your help. Will give some of them a try, one of my friend works for Tomtom so no harm in asking for favor :).
 
Navigon hands down:

1. Best interface
2. Best maps, which show the names of side streets as you drive by. Garmin and others only show you squiggly lines. :D
3. Choose the "non-TTY" voice and you'll fall in love with her slightly British accent. :p
 
I have tried many of them extensively. Currently have Magellan, Navigon, TomTom, and Motion X. To each his own on the interface. You will also find differing opinions on who has better maps and routing. I was never able to tell a difference. However, there is one thing that is clearly better on TomTom and that is traffic. Every one of these services subscribes to Inrix (sp?) traffic data but tom-tom also culls together traffic from all the tom-tom devices out there and factors that in as well. This gives it a competitive advantage over the others (although the garmin acquisition of Navi may help that one) since it outsells all of those. But forgetting even than, the most important for me is that way TT lays out traffic is by fast the easiest to read, understand, and compensate for. TT will place a little traffic bar on the right of the screen, one click and it is over laid. Never having to navigate away from the main turn by turn screen. Each incident is presented as dots. The more dots, the longer the delay. Clicking on each tells you how long. Then you can dive deeper (which will take you away from the tbt screen) and if its bad, you can say minimize. It will take you around that delay. All the other programs are not nearly as intuitive when it comes to this.

This for me is the deal breaker as to why i use TT. Traffic is just too important to me. Not to mention i find it auto reroutes more quickly than the other apps based on traffic delays. Downside - 20/year. Navigon is the same but i think Magellan is free or one time purchase.

My two cents.
 
I have Navigon and I'm depressed by all these Navigon recommendations. I really hope it isn't the best out there.

The turn-by-turn navigation part works well.

But is has no real address search and the UI for entering an address is unintuitive, cumbersome and backwards.
 
Motion X Drive is by far the best I've used. I use it on both my iPad and iPhone. It trumps the built in navigation in both our Ford and Honda vehicles too.

Well worth the $20yr. to get turn by turn too.
 
Best free in my opinion is TeleNav. Only thing missing is turn by turn via voice (you have to pay for that), other than that it's very accurate and nice to look at too!
 
iSee said:
I have Navigon and I'm depressed by all these Navigon recommendations. I really hope it isn't the best out there.

The turn-by-turn navigation part works well.

But is has no real address search and the UI for entering an address is unintuitive, cumbersome and backwards.
Click to expand...

I've been a Navigon user since it came out. I agree that the address entry is really bad. However, since the introduction of the Google search into the app, I rarely ever use address entry. If someone is constantly finding residential addresses instead of businesses, the address entry would be more important. I've even gotten to "get along" with it, but it's never been great.

That said, I still find it's the best overall experience because integration with music (regardless if it's the native music player or something like Slacker, it works great) and the previously mentioned Google search built in, I really love Navigon and gave my $350 (at the time) Garmin, to my wife.
 
I've never used Navigon, but I've had Tom Tom for years and I've 100% loved it. It doesn't use any data since the maps are all stored in the app.
 
i have navigon and tomtom.. prefer tomtom. i wasn't able to silence the navigon turn-by-turn directions without muting the entire phone (which sucked, because i stream music from it in the car)
 
GPS Boost

Hi guys,

Let me preface this by saying I use TomTom and have not tried Navigon. I chose TomTom based on the lack of accuracy of the built in GPS of the iPhone and that they had a car mount that boosted the GPS.

I had thought Navigon didn't have access to the car mount GPS boosters. If that's the case doesn't your phone get confused sometimes especially in cities or sometimes put you on access roads on highways? If I don't use the booster it does that consistently since it's not that accurate.
 
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