Archive for category GPS navigation

Navigon’s MobileNavigator $20 Off Until Monday

Feb 11

Posted by Tanya Menoni in GPS navigation, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

Navigon’s MobileNavigator (iTunes link) is one of the best GPS navigation apps available for the iPhone. The app normally costs $89.99, but it’s on sale for $69.99 until Monday, February 15th.

We recently took a look at MobileNavigator in our comprehensive guide to iPhone GPS navigation apps, and as we noted then, the app continues to be polished and updated since its original release. It has all the features you need in a GPS app — voice directions, iPod controls, landscape mode, etc. The app currently has a four-star rating at the iTunes store, and it’s been reviewed by Walt Mossberg, MacWorld and many others. From the app description:

With the NAVIGON MobileNavigator you can transform your iPhone into a fully functional mobile navigation system that is every bit as good as the multi-award-winning personal navigation devices from NAVIGON in terms of its user-friendliness and features. Thanks to a faithful adaptation of the menu functions, the NAVIGON MobileNavigator fits in seamlessly with the operating concept of the iPhone. The application includes the latest map material from the market leader NAVTEQ.

The Navigon MobileNavigator is a $69.99 download at the iTunes store until February 15th.

Navigon GPS App Updated, Goes On Sale for $59.99

Dec 17

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

NAVIGON North America GPS iPhone App

Navigon’s MobileNavigator (iTunes Link) has been seen a significant update as well as a price drop to $59.99 until January 11, 2010 (was $89.99).

List of new features:

  • Enhanced Pedestrian Navigation
  • Google Local Search
  • Coordinate Input
  • SOS/DirectHelp
  • Turn-by-Turn RouteList
  • Manual zooming in 2D and 3D while navigation
  • Favorites are being displayed in the map
  • Country Info when crossing borders
  • Switch between “Music” and “Audiobook” mode for iPod playback
  • Phonebook contacts can be selected as interim destinations
  • Using contact groups in the phonebook is now possible
  • Faster start up time
  • Traffic messages can be easily browsed by sliding the screens

We recently surveyed all the iPhone GPS apps and found Navigon’s to be the best reviewed. It averages 4 stars in the App Store.

TomTom Introduces Cheaper $50 USA-Only iPhone App

Dec 11

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

TomTomUSA GPS App

At its $50 introductory price, TomTom U.S.A (iTunes link) is 50% cheaper than its big brother, TomTom US & Canada ($99). Of course, you lose directions to all that great maple syrup and cheaper pharmaceuticals.

It’s an odd pricing move by TomTom, but maybe all those cheaper alternatives forced their hand.

CoPilot Live GPS App On Sale for $20 for Thanksgiving

Nov 24

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

CoPilot Live North America Maps

CoPilot Live North America (iTunes link) is going on sale starting Wednesday, November 25, for only $20 (was $35). It is a full GPS turn-by-turn app with voice directions (says street names too). It stores maps locally to your iPhone (the app is 1.8GB is size), so no need for a data connection.

The app averages 3.5 stars in the App Store. There are a lot of complaints that the maps are old (may explain the low price) and in some cases just completely wrong, but the majority of reviews seem satisfied with the product. $20 is way cheap for a maps-included app.

CoPilot Live North America (iTunes link)

Be sure to check out our Guide to iPhone GPS Apps for an overview of what’s available.

(via Gizmodo)

Navigon MobileNavigator $20 Off for Thanksgiving Sale

Nov 20

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, iPhone Bargains, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

Navigon MobileNavigator North America Sale

Navigon has dropped the price of MobileNavigator North America (iTunes link) by $20 to $69.99 as part of a Thanksgiving special (was $89.99). The discounted price lasts until November 30, 2009. They are also offering a $10 discount on their Live Traffic feature (purchased in-app), which normally goes for $24.99 but now costs $14.99.

We recently published our Guide to iPhone GPS Apps and found Navigon to be the best reviewed of all iPhone GPS apps.

A Guide to iPhone GPS Navigation Apps

Nov 18

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Google Maps Navigation, News, Tom-Tom iPhone App, TomTom for iPhone, Turn-by-turn Directions, Voice Navigation, iPhone AGPS, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps, iPhone Tips | 27 Comments

iPhone GPS Navigation Guide Top 2

*Updated 3-03-2010*

The App Store is cluttered with iPhone GPS apps, and sorting through them is a daunting task. This guide is designed to cut through the clutter, gather all relevant info in one place, and aid you in making the best choice. We also take a look at the strengths and weaknesses of iPhone GPS vs personal navigation devices, and examine the new elephant in the room, Google Maps Navigation.

List of All iPhone GPS Apps

Read the rest of this entry »

TomTom Car Kit Lands in Apple’s Online Store

Oct 21

Posted by Tim Barribeau in Car Adapters, GPS navigation, Tom-Tom iPhone App, TomTom for iPhone, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

The TomTom iPhone car kit, which we’ve talked about before, has landed in the Apple online store at the hefty price of $120. While it’s not in stock yet, this gives the chance for people to pre-order if they want.

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The kit is designed to attach your iPhone to the car’s windshield and comes with an extra GPS unit built into the kit itself. TomTom claims using the hardware with your iPhone provides a more steady and accurate GPS reading.

The kit doesn’t include the cost of the TomTom iPhone app, which is an extra $99 (iTunes link). What will be interesting to see is if the GPS unit in the kit will work with other, perhaps less expensive GPS apps (ie, provide an enhanced GPS connection to something like MotionX GPS Drive).

iPhone Navigation Wars: G-Map U.S. & Canada App Now Available, Goes On Sale for $39.99

Oct 5

Posted by Alan in GPS navigation, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | No Comments

GMAP USA and Canada iPhone App

The G-Map U.S. & Canada (iTunes link) turn-by-turn navigation app quietly slipped into the App Store a few days ago at $69.99. A day later, it has gone on sale for $39.99 for a limited time. The app makes a pretty compelling case for itself, adding voice navigation as well as the most recent maps from NAVTEQ (the maps in the app were created in Q3 of 2009).

Features:

  • Real-time traffic and text-to-speech now available
  • Free one-year real-time traffic service for a limited time and free service upgrade
  • Biggest map data size
  • Most recent Navteq map data (Q3, 2009)
  • Instantly converts iPhone’s address book contacts to routing destinations
  • Music automatically resumes after navigation voice guidance.
  • Can be used in the Portrait or Landscape mode

Here’s a video of a pre-release version of the app made in August by InsanelyMac (this version of the app was unfortunately still missing text-to-speech):

G-Map US & Canada is currently a $39.99 download on the App Store for a limited time.

Apple Purchases Maps Company, Trying to Replace Google Maps?

Oct 1

Posted by Tim Barribeau in GPS navigation, Google Maps, Maps | 1 Comment

google_maps_logo

It seems that in July, Apple purchased Placebase, a company who created an eponymous online maps application. The advantages Placebase had over other services like Google Maps was its high level of customizability and the ability to overlay additional data sets like cell-phone coverage maps. Placebase.com is no longer online.

Seth Weintraub at Computer World has assembled some interesting facts, and it looks like Apple may be trying to move away from Google Maps. Weintraub theorizes that Apple isn’t so much interested in the huge amounts of customization that the API affords, but rather wants to build its own maps application.

The Google/Apple relationship has been strained of recent due to the rejection of Google’s own mapping application (Latitude), the FCC getting involved in the denial of the Google Voice app, and Google’s Eric Schmidt resigning from Apple’s Board of Directors. Given these events, we wouldn’t be surprised if Cupertino wanted a tad less drama by controlling its own map app.

*Update* It should be noted that Apple already has its own map software in its iPhoto desktop application. A feature called Places uses GPS data from photos to overlay the location they were taken on a map. Many cameras, including the iPhone, support this GPS feature. For the Places feature, Apple uses the maps from a third-party, TeleAtlas, as do most map and GPS navigation companies for their map software. The purchase of this company could be to add additional expertise and IP as the software world focuses on mobile apps. –Alan

TomTom Car Kit Gets Official Price

Sep 25

Posted by Tim Barribeau in Car Adapters, GPS navigation, Tom-Tom iPhone App, Turn-by-turn Directions, iPhone AGPS, iPhone GPS, iPhone GPS Navigation Apps | 2 Comments

The eagerly anticipated car kit to for TomTom’s GPS iPhone app (iTunes link) has been given a price, a rather substantial $120. While earlier rumors leaned toward the GPS bundle including the $100 application, the official announcement says otherwise. This brings the overall cost to $220, beyond the cost of many dedicated GPS units.

TomTom Car Kit

TomTom Car Kit

The kit provides a suction cup to allow you to attach the iPhone on the car windscreen, and also a power adapter that plugs into the car’s cigarette lighter. That said, you can get kits similar kits from Amazon for less than $30 (although TomTom claims their kit provides “enhanced GPS performance”).