Turn-by-Turn GPS Apps Begin to Appear: Gokivo, Sygic, Navigon

[Hawkeye411]

Monthly Fee??!!

If Tom Tom charges a monthly fee they can shove it!! I'll stick with the free Map app thank you very much.

However, if there is no monthly fee, i'd be willing to pay around $60 given the fact that we are purchasing the maps and software only (i.e. no hardware). I believe that you can purchase a complete GPS unit including the system itself for under $200 so the software alone should be under $100.

Cheers.

 

[alhedges]

A limited time trial version / ad supported, or something would be a good idea to get people to try before they buy.

I will def buy the Tom Tom app if it is reasonably priced. I wouldn't mind 1st 3 states / regions for $50 + $10 each additonal state etc.

This is a *horrible* price. You can buy a Garmin nuvi 250 for a flat $100 at Amazon right now. It includes all of the US, plus Canada and Puerto Rico. Along with a mounting system, car charger, and speaker that is much louder than the iPhone's built in speaker.

This is a much better deal than anything we are likely to see from Tom Tom. I leave my nuvi in my car all the time so it's already there...plus, if I used my iPhone as a GPS while driving, how would I play my music?

 

[co.ag.2005]

Garmin has already stated they are not working on an app for the iPhone.

link?

 

[nagromme]

I'd much rather pay $100 once than $10 a month, that's for sure! (I know updates could cost me later, but I don't feel the need to update my map data constantly.)

Navigon looks great! I may not be able to wait for it though.

(And I hope 3.1 fixes the broken GPS in my 3G! It gained about a 30 second delay in upgrading the OS--no good for driving. The animated scrolling map is gone, and now it just shows a static map which jumps 2 blocks once or twice a minute.)

 

[hoits2000]

No way ANY turn by turn app is worth more than 29.99. Whoever pays more than that is retarded. You can easily get a new Garmin for around 50 bucks. Wow.

 

[boca76]

I checked the European countries top paid apps and Navigon in many of them has taken the No. 1 spot . In nearly all of them Navigon is in the top 10. It's amazing if you think that the price is $94.99.
I think that Tomtom has lost a lot of money for not being the first.
I initially intended to buy the Tomtom app but I just couldn't resist so I got Navigon.

 

[nagromme]

No way ANY turn by turn app is worth more than 29.99. Whoever pays more than that is retarded. You can easily get a new Garmin for around 50 bucks. Wow.

I'd much rather pay $50 than $100 Or $5 would be nice.

It depends on what features you get, including future updates. I surely wouldn't expect to pay MORE for an iPhone app than the same exact product costs by itself.

 

[btcutter]

Question:

1. If the phone is on in Europe and you use any of these map applications...Tom Tom, Navigon...etc, will you get billed for roaming data fee??? Anyway to avoid the data fee.

That's a BIG question. If there is roaming then it's not a viable traveling (in another country) navigation guide due to cost. One would be better off buying a stand alone unit for $150.

 

[iGary]

No way ANY turn by turn app is worth more than 29.99. Whoever pays more than that is retarded. You can easily get a new Garmin for around 50 bucks. Wow.

I'd much rather have one device than two, thanks, and I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

 

[samab]

way too much money per month for these things.

Yes, if you are a salesman or on the road every day...definitely..
but for an average college-aged or 20 something....paying a monthly rate is lousy.

i would buy it if it was a flat 50-60 bucks...but not 120 a year with a indefinite timeline.

Realistically, normal people only needs it for a few long weekends, march break and the summer vacation holidays --- this is where the $10 a month and $3 a day subscription fees are targetted.

 

[nagromme]

I'd much rather have one device than two, thanks, and I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

Also, if you have two, you tend to leave the GPS in the car to be stolen. Nobody's stealing my GPS if it's in my phone in my pocket

My iPhone is already nicely dash-mounted, and Maps does 90% of what I need. The other 10% will be nice to have.

 

[ipoppy]

I'd much rather have one device than two, thanks, and I'm willing to pay for the convenience.

Thats what I was going to say. You pay for this convenience and usually iphone users are more wealthy on average than rest mobile community so expect to pay more than $50. And no...I am not retarded.

 

[ipoppy]

Question:

1. If the phone is on in Europe and you use any of these map applications...Tom Tom, Navigon...etc, will you get billed for roaming data fee??? Anyway to avoid the data fee.

That's a BIG question. If there is roaming then it's not a viable traveling (in another country) navigation guide due to cost. One would be better off buying a stand alone unit for $150.

You just made me wonder the same. But I don't think you need use data for this; thats simply working based on GPS module inside iPhone. The same way like stand alone units; they are not using any data transfers unless I am wrong. Plus that would be a BIG issue and they would have to state it in their description that you will be facing additional costs for roaming. However they they don't.

 

[marv08]

Question:

1. If the phone is on in Europe and you use any of these map applications...Tom Tom, Navigon...etc, will you get billed for roaming data fee??? Anyway to avoid the data fee.

That's a BIG question. If there is roaming then it's not a viable traveling (in another country) navigation guide due to cost. One would be better off buying a stand alone unit for $150.

I bought the Navigon app for Europe last Saturday and the complete maps are included and downloaded to the iPhone (almost 1.7 GB). I turned everything else off (mail fetch/push etc.) and driving 380 miles through Germany data traffic was exactly zero. The software only needs GPS data and this is of course free.

 

[theBB]

Also, if you have two, you tend to leave the GPS in the car to be stolen. Nobody's stealing my GPS if it's in my phone in my pocket

My iPhone is already nicely dash-mounted, and Maps does 90% of what I need. The other 10% will be nice to have.

I hope you are also removing the dash mount. Otherwise, the thief might believe that you have still a GPS in your car and break your window. The damage to the car is usually bigger than the cost of GPS.

 

[theBB]

$10-20 and they'd sell millions. Just like all the other apps on the store. The first one to bite the bullet will sell so many it's ridiculous and the others will follow suit.

Don't be an early adopter of this.

I don't get the pricing, either. At $100 you can get a stand alone GPS device. I understand the one device instead of two aspect, but at the same time two devices gives you more flexibility, such as speaking on the phone while using GPS, so the convenience factor is a bit of a wash. I assume the apps are written well enough to allow you listen to music. If not, forget about it.

$100 pays for hardware manufacturing, R&D for hardware, transportation, the cut for retailers and distributors, which is usually far more than 30% that Apple asks and big companies probably cut a better deal with Apple. If they are doing this so that their hardware unit sales do not go down, then software only GPS companies, such as X-road, will eat them for lunch. Besides, Google Maps covers many use scenarios when you have a passenger with you, so it is an incremental improvement anyways.

 

[ayzee]

Well TomTom currently sell their windows smartphone software for 90GBP on an SD card.
http://www.tomtom.com/products/category.php?ID=2

Hopefully it wont be this much as it will only be for the software, im guessing about 60GBP

Also it could be a good thing that TomTom are a little late to the app store. They may feel they have to reduce price to become competitive.

 

[nagromme]

I hope you are also removing the dash mount. Otherwise, the thief might believe that you have still a GPS in your car and break your window. The damage to the car is usually bigger than the cost of GPS.

Nah. You can't control everything--you can just improve your odds. Anything that makes me waste time every time I enter/exit my car is too paranoid for me. But at least the mount doesn't look like a conventional GPS mount--it's a Naja King. Positioned vertically it looks like a phone holster (which it is).

And my car is insured. Please--total it for me!

 

[btcutter]

dumb question but.....

I bought the Navigon app for Europe last Saturday and the complete maps are included and downloaded to the iPhone (almost 1.7 GB). I turned everything else off (mail fetch/push etc.) and driving 380 miles through Germany data traffic was exactly zero. The software only needs GPS data and this is of course free.

How to you leave on the GPS while turning everything off (airplane mode)?

Isn't one of the weaknesses of iPhone is that GPS signal is weak compare to stand alone units.

One more question for everyone............what happens when you get a phone call???? Can you talk and still navigate or you must hang up to see the screen?

 

[nagromme]

How to you leave on the GPS while turning everything off (airplane mode)?

Isn't one of the weaknesses of iPhone is that GPS signal is weak compare to stand alone units.

GPS (with built-in maps, unlike Google's maps) doesn't need Internet, so you can turn all that stuff off in Settings. I don't--I use a car charger anyway.

I'm sure the tiny iPhone has a tiny antenna, but it has always worked great for me. I have it mounted to the right of the steering wheel, over the center air vents. Not up high by the glass, even, but it works great. That may vary from car to car.

One more question for everyone............what happens when you get a phone call???? Can you talk and still navigate or you must hang up to see the screen?

When the iPhone gets a phone call, you can still switch to any other app and keep on talking. The phone interface WILL pop up when the call comes in, but you don't have to stay there.

 

[marv08]

How to you leave on the GPS while turning everything off (airplane mode)?

Isn't one of the weaknesses of iPhone is that GPS signal is weak compare to stand alone units.

One more question for everyone............what happens when you get a phone call???? Can you talk and still navigate or you must hang up to see the screen?

Well, my phone is jailbroken, so I can turn WiFi, phone, EDGE, 3G, BT, Location services on/off individually using the SBSettings application. If you activate airplane mode, GPS will shut down too. But if you turn off data roaming, A-GPS will not be able to use cell tower / WiFi triangulation data, as it can't lookup coordinates in the respective databases, but GPS will still work. Subsequently there are no charges, just the initial position detection will take a bit longer than with cell/WiFi triangulation. Once the initial position has been logged, it works absolutely fine and without significant delays.

I do not find the iPhone GPS to be weak. I have a Garmin GPS60 for outdoor use and the iPhone performs equally well. Certain combinations of car, front window treatments and angle etc. might work better than others (I have an oldtimer and there is no treatment on the front window at all, I think it is not even safety glass). Before spending big money, maybe test using your iPhone in your car with e.g. the Google Maps application and see how it performs. As I said, I had no problems whatsoever...

When a phone call comes in, the Navigon software will hide and display the phone interface, but the spoken instructions continue. Once the call is finished the navigation interface comes back up automatically. No idea how the other applications do it.

 

[Excellerator]

I purchased the Gokivo GPS for 99 cents just to try it out, and purchased one month for $9.99. Does anyone know if this is a subscription based GPS where it automatically charges you each month or do you have to manually add the month to it? I hope its the latter. I don't want to keep this thing, I only wanted to play. I will definately not get rid of my Navigon GPS.

 

[SpaceKitty]

I purchased the Gokivo GPS for 99 cents just to try it out, and purchased one month for $9.99. Does anyone know if this is a subscription based GPS where it automatically charges you each month or do you have to manually add the month to it? I hope its the latter. I don't want to keep this thing, I only wanted to play. I will definately not get rid of my Navigon GPS.

Since it's subscription based, it likely verifies the sub is valid over the air each time it starts up. My Garmin Navigator on my Blackberry is like that even though I paid the $99 for the lifetime, it still verifies that it is installed on the correct phone on each startup. If the app can't check because I have the sim removed, Garmin Navigator won't startup.

 

[supmango]

I'm gonna have to wait for Tom Tom, seems much more stable and a better all around system. Still don't under stand the big hoopla around turn by turn tho, the map app already on the iPhone works amazing for me and if I take a wrong turn I can just re-calibrate the directions by hitting current location.

I will wait as well. Hopefully it will work well with the 3G iPhone. I am not paying 90 bucks for it though, that is freaking ridiculous. For that price I would just go out and buy a separate GPS. Only about 60 bucks more and I can get a stand alone unit.

 

[Excellerator]

Since it's subscription based, it likely verifies the sub is valid over the air each time it starts up. My Garmin Navigator on my Blackberry is like that even though I paid the $99 for the lifetime, it still verifies that it is installed on the correct phone on each startup. If the app can't check because I have the sim removed, Garmin Navigator won't startup.

I just got an email back from Networks In Motion that read:

You will be able to purchase turn-by-turn navigation one month at a time
via in-app purchase. It will only be prompted when you select the 'Go'
button. You can use the turn-by-turn when needed. The maps and Yahoo
Local search are included in the 99 cent version of the application and
will not prompt you for additional purchases until you request a
navigation session.

Just thought I would post this for anyone else interested.