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Navigon Introduces 'MyRegion' U.S. GPS Apps for $24.99
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It's funny looking at the App store reviews for these three apps. The east region currently is rated 2 1/2 stars, while the west region is rated 4 1/2. Based on all of the official reviews I've seen, I know it's more towards the west region rating, but it's interesting to see how a a few disgruntled people can change the rating of an app compared to one that is exactly the same.
This is a pretty good deal and I may jump on the east region and the discounted lifetime traffic before April 12, even though I already have CoPilot. Copilot is decent, and has been improving, but I think the maps and feature in Navigon are more reliable and up to date than Copilot. Also, traffic is a 19.99 yearly purchase for Copilot, whereas Navigon is a one time purchase.
This is a pretty good deal and I may jump on the east region and the discounted lifetime traffic before April 12, even though I already have CoPilot. Copilot is decent, and has been improving, but I think the maps and feature in Navigon are more reliable and up to date than Copilot. Also, traffic is a 19.99 yearly purchase for Copilot, whereas Navigon is a one time purchase.
any faster?
I do love the Navigon program. My only complaint is that it is slow to load, and even slow to enter info. I have iPhone 3G.
Once running, it is great.
I wonder... does anyone have an idea if the "smaller" version runs/loads quicker?
I do love the Navigon program. My only complaint is that it is slow to load, and even slow to enter info. I have iPhone 3G.
Once running, it is great.
I wonder... does anyone have an idea if the "smaller" version runs/loads quicker?
Opinions please?
I apologize up front if I am repeating.
I have a stand alone Garmin GPS that we love that he wife and daughters use. I use the GMAP application on my phone and I am looking to upgrade. I like the GMAP but it is a bit clunky and not very intuitive.
What in all your opinions is the best out there,maybe close to the Garmin experience?
Is this Navigon the way to go? Pros and cons of this and TOM TOM? Or others?
I have a 3G and will not update until 4G.
Thanks!
I apologize up front if I am repeating.
I have a stand alone Garmin GPS that we love that he wife and daughters use. I use the GMAP application on my phone and I am looking to upgrade. I like the GMAP but it is a bit clunky and not very intuitive.
What in all your opinions is the best out there,maybe close to the Garmin experience?
Is this Navigon the way to go? Pros and cons of this and TOM TOM? Or others?
I have a 3G and will not update until 4G.
Thanks!
I have the Navigon app, the Tom Tom app and a Garmin GPS.
The Navigon and the Tom Tom app both have their pluses and minuses. The text to speech is quite good on Navigon. I think the Tom Tom app graphics are a little better though and (at least in my area) the maps are a little more up to date.
I would say to get close to the Garmin experience, go with Navigon. Great features at a great price!
No, your iPhone should still pick up the GPS signal where you have it mounted. You're more likely to be affected by environmental stuff like weather (rain/snow) or obstructions like buildings in cities.
I have no idea how fast the "full" version runs. But the West regional version is slow as molasses. I was sold at the $25 price point, and had read favorable reviews. Now I don't know what the reviewers were thinking. It's practically worthless.
The big problem with the slowness is that you can paint yourself into a UI corner, and you're waiting, and waiting, and waiting to undo you mistake.
I also don't find the maps terribly intuitive: sometimes street names appear, sometimes they don't. I haven't figured out yet just when they do and don't. There's a setting for "street names" (why would you want to ever turn them off, anyway?) which was initially "off", but with it off it showed some street names anyway.
I've no idea how to turn on voice guidance. But I haven't tried it on a trip yet, either.
Honestly, I'm thinking that with a heads-up display, Google Maps would be a lot easier to use.
Are all GPS apps on the iPhone this slow? I'm afraid I'm now shopping for another GPS app.
When I saw the $24.99 price for the 'My Region' version, I decided to give it a shot. I had used the MotionX GPS app before this one and it worked well, but I'm not big on paying monthly for 'guidance'. I'd rather pay one time up front.
I'm pleased with the perfomance, it loads pretty fast on my 3G (12 seconds from tapping the icon to being functional). Selections within the app are speedy as well as is the actual navigation. No complaints, yet.
My big gripe right now is finding a windshield mount that doesn't look like a mechanical engineer's wet dream. I love the simplicity of the Navigon mount available in Germany, but alas, I ain't in Germany.
I'm pleased with the perfomance, it loads pretty fast on my 3G (12 seconds from tapping the icon to being functional). Selections within the app are speedy as well as is the actual navigation. No complaints, yet.
My big gripe right now is finding a windshield mount that doesn't look like a mechanical engineer's wet dream. I love the simplicity of the Navigon mount available in Germany, but alas, I ain't in Germany.
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
I've never used navigon, but I've heard from a lot of people about this issue on the 3G. I assume that's what you have? The 3GS can handle it. I use TomTom and have had practically no issue with lagginess.
Yes, I have a 3G. I plan on getting a new post-3GS phone this summer if they come out with one. At least a faster processor will help.
The strange thing is, EVERYTHING about this app is slow. For example, even settings. It's very sluggish bringing up a settings screen or returning from it. Response of on-screen controls is slow, as well.
There's no good reason for this, as I have no problem with this in most others apps.
Only thing I can figure is that they have some proprietary "framework" that adds layers of complexity above the iPhone libraries. Makes sense that they would code to their own UI framework and then adapt the framework to different software platforms. Perhaps makes sense to get stuff out quickly, but not an optimal UI experience.
That would be great except that this app weighs in at 1.4gb and contains all the U.S. maps, which are unlocked via in-app purchase.
I have a 3GS, and it can be a little laggy even on this device. It's not terrible, but like you said, the menus are slow to respond. All other apps fly on my 3GS except this one. I feel like they did use some sort of emulator of their existing software. Not much else can really explain it, except really crappy coding, which doesn't seem likely considering how easy the device is to code for.
A secondary benefit to the MyRegion Apps
Thanks for pointing this out. I had initially thought one of the benefits of these apps would be their smaller size.
Thanks for pointing this out. I had initially thought one of the benefits of these apps would be their smaller size.
This is a pretty slick deal, folks. I waited for months and months before Christmas time to see if the Google Navigation app would make it to the store, but after it was obvious that Apple would not let it through, I went for the Navigon after going through all the reviews. I'm happy with the Navigon overall, although a few improvements would make it better:
1) Cheaper traffic -- $25 is still the price on the full app and it seem it's only $20 on these regionals? WTF?
2) Ability to paste addresses, vice setting state, city, street, number.
3) Voice packs! I want a British or German woman voice.
Anyway I almost entirely use it on the east coast so I could have saved myself some money, but I'm happy with the app overall. I have a 3GS and it takes about 12 seconds to load, so I would not recommend anyone buying any full GPS app on less than 3GS hardware.
1) Cheaper traffic -- $25 is still the price on the full app and it seem it's only $20 on these regionals? WTF?
2) Ability to paste addresses, vice setting state, city, street, number.
3) Voice packs! I want a British or German woman voice.
Anyway I almost entirely use it on the east coast so I could have saved myself some money, but I'm happy with the app overall. I have a 3GS and it takes about 12 seconds to load, so I would not recommend anyone buying any full GPS app on less than 3GS hardware.
Honestly Love It
I bought it a few days ago, and like a geek, have been comparing it to the very nice built-in Nav in my Infiniti FX-50. Dead on accurate. Great display - Really nice. I use my iPhone as my Nav on trips with rental cars. I have always used the Google Map feature included on the phone to get written turn-by-turn. But this thing is awesome. You need headphones to easily hear the very good voice instruction. The built-in speakers don't over power road and wind noise well. I have the Eastern region. Very up-to-date also. Has new roads near me that are not on my 2009 Infiniti. True dedicated Navigation system performance . . . . on my Phone. And no AT&T fee to use. I like
I bought it a few days ago, and like a geek, have been comparing it to the very nice built-in Nav in my Infiniti FX-50. Dead on accurate. Great display - Really nice. I use my iPhone as my Nav on trips with rental cars. I have always used the Google Map feature included on the phone to get written turn-by-turn. But this thing is awesome. You need headphones to easily hear the very good voice instruction. The built-in speakers don't over power road and wind noise well. I have the Eastern region. Very up-to-date also. Has new roads near me that are not on my 2009 Infiniti. True dedicated Navigation system performance . . . . on my Phone. And no AT&T fee to use. I like
Update to my post above after a few days of using this app.
Still satisfied with it. The only issue I've come across it with the voice navigation. "She" gets a little flustered occasionally and go silent while giving a prompt. Most likely an issue with the 3G processor not being able to keep up. "She" takes a time-out for a second and then all is well with the voice guidance again.
Is it a deal breaker? Nope. Still happy with the app.
Tempted to upgrade to a 3GS for improved performance, but I'll wait for the next hardware update.
I've had the same problem with the voice directions cutting out. Unfortunately, this often leaves me directionless: "turn right at...". Where was that? Wouldn't be so bad if there were a "replay" button. Or a user manual, to tell me where the "replay" button is if I'm just missing it...
They just released version 1.5, but the "My Region" versions haven't been updated yet. Hopefully, that will come in the next few days.
Anybody try 1.5 and if so, is the UI any less sluggish? Entering an address is downright painful. Their drill-down approach doesn't really help - it seems to be taking a lot of time going to the network (I assume) to populate lists. I'd really, really, just like to be able to type an address. Of course, at several seconds per keystroke, that wouldn't be practical.
Sure would be nice if you could just enter "here" as an address, but apparently there's no way to do that. You have to either enter an address or find a nearby POI.
I'm pretty unclear on just what the "live traffic" feature does. I guess it will re-route you around traffic. And you can see a list of traffic problems, but that's not terribly useful. You'd have to pull over to pour over the list, and you'd have to be familiar with the area. Which of course, you wouldn't when you really need the app to navigate. It would be nice if it would display colors like Google Maps does.
I'm happy at least with the routing, so far. At least it doesn't give me wrong turns like Google does...
They just released version 1.5, but the "My Region" versions haven't been updated yet. Hopefully, that will come in the next few days.
Anybody try 1.5 and if so, is the UI any less sluggish? Entering an address is downright painful. Their drill-down approach doesn't really help - it seems to be taking a lot of time going to the network (I assume) to populate lists. I'd really, really, just like to be able to type an address. Of course, at several seconds per keystroke, that wouldn't be practical.
Sure would be nice if you could just enter "here" as an address, but apparently there's no way to do that. You have to either enter an address or find a nearby POI.
I'm pretty unclear on just what the "live traffic" feature does. I guess it will re-route you around traffic. And you can see a list of traffic problems, but that's not terribly useful. You'd have to pull over to pour over the list, and you'd have to be familiar with the area. Which of course, you wouldn't when you really need the app to navigate. It would be nice if it would display colors like Google Maps does.
I'm happy at least with the routing, so far. At least it doesn't give me wrong turns like Google does...
i may misunderstand this question, but if you touch the 3D map, it turns to 2D you can pan/zoom to a new spot and select "Set Destination" bottom of screen ... a pin will appear and allow you to navigate to that spot
I used the app the other day on a stretch of freeway where I knew the traffic was backed up about 10 miles ahead.
The app used the traffic data to estimate the time of arrival, and as the traffic cleared it updated that time. What started out as an arrival time of 11:02AM, eventually dropped down to to an arrival time of 10:30AM before I got the place where I knew the traffic was.
It also pops up yellow icons along the route as you are approaching traffic, it was pretty accurate so the traffic data must update frequently.
Whether it will re route you to a faster route automatically, I don't know. I'm guessing you'd have to 'stop' navigation, 'start' over, and select the fastest route from the three choices it gives you.
I'll give it the real test the next time I drive from Seattle, WA to Portland, OR. That stretch of I-5 is called "The Slog" for good reason.
OK, I gave the app another test today. It did do some on the fly re-routing due to traffic.
Here's what happened: Driving down I-5 in Seattle and came upon some very heavy, almost stopped, traffic (Northgate area for those that are familiar). The app said to take the next upcoming exit, so reluctantly I did. Then it had me drive down the off-ramp and continue alongside the freeway, then right back on at the on-ramp for the same exit.
While not the most courteous thing to do, it did save my a couple minutes.
So, yes it does re-route in some situations.
