Price: $69.99
iTunes link
Navigon website
Compatible with: iPhone with GPS
Overall rating:
Graphics:
GPS accuracy:
Route calculating speed:
iPhone integration:
I've been waiting for a turn by turn GPS solution for the iPhone for forever. My last car had a built in GPS and I loved it. Didn't like the fact that there was no easy way to update data, so when it came to buy a new car I figured I'd wait for an iPhone solution that can grab new data whenever it becomes relevant, rather than me having to get a technician to update the data in a built in solution.
I was all set to wait for TomTom, but they are taking their sweet time. When I heard that Navigon had released their iPhone offering I decided to take a look. Navigon is a European offering, and seems highly regarded over there. The screenshots looked good and so did the user reviews. I figured that for $70 it would be worth a shot.
The install is 1.6 GB, so I was glad that I had upgraded to the 32GB iphone. Once downloaded and installed the app took a couple of seconds to open. The menu is extremely intuitive, even if you've never used a GPS before you should have no problems.
A couple of things I liked:
* Predictive Street input. You start typing in the street name and the software predicts what streets fit.
* Address book integration. Look up any name in your address book, and for as long as you have an address associated with the contact it will automatically insert it.
* Recent searches.
* Favourites.
* One button "take me home" functionality
* Very good GPS accuracy, even in the city, surrounded by high building.
* Extremely quick route recalculation if you decide not to follow the instructions.
* Map flips when you rotate the iPhone.
A couple of things that could use improvement:
* It takes the unit a couple of seconds to acquire a GPS signal.
* No spoken street names - this will be addressed in an update.
* Font on map hard to read.
Otherwise I am extremely happy with the unit. So far I have only used it in Toronto, so I can't tell how accurate the maps are out of the city, bu Navigon seems to have a good reputation there. If you're looking for an affordable GPS and have the space on your iPhone then this seems a good solution to me.