Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Looks and feels just like a stand alone portable TomTom unit, simple and easy to use, clean user interface that is detailed yet uncluttered, text to speech, super cool looking lane assist.
Cons: Unless you find it on sale, it is an expensive app. The POI icons on the map are [...]
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Rating: 9 out of 10
Pros: Looks and feels just like a stand alone portable tomtom unit, simple and easy to use, clean user interface that is detailed yet uncluttered, text to speech, super cool looking lane assist.
Cons: Unless you find it on sale, which it is every now and then it is an expensive app, [...]
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Santa brought me some really cool stuff this year, an aftershave from Polo and the NAVIGON Car Kit. I must have been a nice boy this year, ahum… Especially the latter I was looking forward to since quite some time. Before, I always placed the iPhone in the Radio display console of my car, when I was navigating with the iPhone. Although this worked quite cool and I had some fair GPS satellite reception, it was about time for some improvement.
I requested the Car Kit from Navigon but they had better things to do then to reply to our email apparently. TomTom Iberia was so nice to send us a Car Kit for testing purposes like you have read in Dani’s review before for sure. That’s why I asked Santa to bring me the NAVIGON Design Car Kit this year.
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Magellan RoadMate 2010 North America (1.10)
Magellan
Category: Navigation
Price: $59.99
Cracker: RoadMate 2010
Application Description:
***Share the Joy! Navigation for iPod touch is here!***
Special Holiday Offer: $40 off the regular price now until Jan 3, 2010
*iPod touch requires use with Magellan Premium car kit with built-in GPS receiver. Pre order now on Magellangps.com!
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What’s new for version 1.10
Update now to experience the following enhancements:
• Now compatible with iPod touch (2nd Generation)
• Customizable speed warnings
• Interactive POI on Map, view POI detail with option to route to or call the POI
• Customizable, multi-destination routing
• Use the improved music player without leaving the Map screen
• Improved address entry sorts city options by distance
• Simulation mode with up to 16X FF, Rewind, Pause and Next
• Find My Car also in OneTouch menu
• Overall UI enhancements tailored to the phone navigation environment
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1. “Perhaps my favorite feature is the “One Touch” feature of this app. Touching the “One Touch” button in the bottom right corner will bring up a variety of options that you can perform in just one touch.” – AppShouter
2. Users of iPhones, of course, never lack for navigation options… One good alternative is the Magellan RoadMate, from the company that specializes in hand-held GPS devices. It costs $80, but for that price you get perpetual software updates and a very refined service. – The New York Times
3. The Magellan has all the abilities you would expect from a GPS device — turn-by-turn, spoken street names and music control along with a noise canceling speakerphone and access to your iPhone’s contacts for quick address lookup. It looks like a solid application, and the choice between this and TomTom’s offering will come down to preference rather than quality. — Wired
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Transform your iPhone into an easy-to-use, voice guided turn-by-turn navigator with spoken street names. The Magellan RoadMate App for iPhone uses the same easy-to-use interface as our dedicated personal navigation devices. Best of all, the Magellan App is a one-time purchase with no subscription or monthly fees.
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Key Features
• OneTouch Favorites Menu
The award-winning OneTouch favorites menu lets you bookmark your favorite places and searches so you can easily find them.
• Spoken Street Name Guidance
Navigate confidently with spoken street names and directions at each turn, so you can keep your eyes on the road.
• Highway Lane Assist
Realistic highway signs guide you into the correct lane when approaching interchanges and exits.
• 3D Landmarks
Incredible 3D images of key landmarks show you the way with stunning visual cues.
• Address Book Integration
Easily navigate to contacts saved in your iPhone address book.
• In-App Music Control
Take advantage of seamless iPod integration. Navigate while listening to your music.
• Find Your Car
Automatically saves your parking location so you can easily find your way back to your car.
• Pedestrian Mode
With pedestrian mode you can quickly find and walk to a destination near your current location.
• QuickSpell Address Entry
Our highly-acclaimed QuickSpell® with SmartCity Search allows you to quickly enter addresses into the oversized keyboard, making entry quick and error free.
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Includes latest detailed maps by NAVTEQ
• United States, Puerto Rico
• Canada
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Languages Supported
• Application and Voice Guidance: English, French, Spanish
• Spoken Street Names (TTS): English, French
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More Information
Visit www.MagellanGPS.com/iPhone to see a complete feature list, download the user manual, view a collection of tutorials, a demo video, and more…….
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Attention iPhone 3G Owners
2D map view mode is not recommended for use on the iPhone 3G. Owners of iPhone 3G should use 3D and 3D+ map view only.
*******
New in this Version:
• Now compatible with iPod touch 2nd Generation
• Customizable speed warnings
• Interactive POI on map, show POI detail with option to route to or call the POI
• Customizable, multi-destination routing
• Use the improved music player without leaving the Map screen
• Address entry improves routing to contacts in address book and sorts city options by distance
• Ability to plan a trip in simulation mode with up to 16X FF, Rewind, Pause and Next
• Find My Car now also in OneTouch menu
• Overall UI enhancements tailored to the phone navigation environment:
– Larger Back button, larger vehicle indicator
– Direct Map access button
– Larger placement of Music button
– Tap car icon to save “current location”
– Improved map panning
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Filed under: Accessories, iPhone, iPod touch
After a dearth of car kits for iPhones and accompanying GPS navigation apps, manufacturers are starting to announce new kits on a regular basis.
The latest news comes from Magellan, who will soon be introducing a new vehicle mount for the iPhone 3GS, 3G, and the second generation iPod touch. As with the Navigon and TomTom car kits, the US$129.99 Magellan Premium Car Kit includes a built-in GPS receiver for better accuracy. Other features include:
While designed for use with the Magellan RoadMate app [US$79.99 (sale price), iTunes Link], the Premium Car Kit works with any navigation app. I find the ability to accommodate hard shell cases to be one of the most compelling features, as many of the other car kits require a “naked” iPhone or iPod touch.
The car kit is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.com, Best Buy, and MagellanGPS.com.
Magellan Car Kit for iPhone nav apps coming soon to a car near you originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Magellan Car Kit for iPhone nav apps coming soon to a car near you originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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A few days ago, we have published the un-boxing and presentation of the TomTom car kit. We also tested the compatibility of the car kit with the first generation iPhone models; iPhone (1G/2G/EDGE) and the GPS navigation application TomTom Western Europe 1.1. Now, it’s time to publish the road test results with a combination of 2G, 3G and 3GS iPhones.
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Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, App Review
The Navigon Mobile Navigator [iTunes link] has become my favorite GPS app for the car. Great graphics, text-to-speech, auto night mode, and traffic integration.
Today, Navigon dropped the price 30 dollars to U.S. $59.99 and added Google search. That’s a great idea, because the self contained GPS apps have static databases that tend to age quickly. Navigon solved that problem by integrating a Google search to their app, which gives you the advantages of on-board maps coupled with the most up to date POI information.
That’s the good news. The bad news [see update note at the bottom of this post] is this first integration of Google into the app is an utter bomb. I selected POI from the menu, then Google. I then typed in ‘pizza’ and hit search. The query returned a ‘no POI in your area’ message, yet I was about 200 yards from a Pizza Hut. I tried some other categories. Nothing. Zip. There is another field to fill in with my location, so I typed the default ‘current location’ as prompted by the software. Still nothing. I typed in a city name and found all kinds of Google hits, but why should I have to type in my location when this is a GPS app? I tried this at several places, and with several categories. Nothing worked unless I typed in a city name, and of course cities are big places so I wasn’t getting the closest hits.
Navigating from the built in POI database worked fine, but the whole point of Google integration was more data, and more up to date information. On more than one try I saw a server error, and it had to be a problem with the app because Google Maps returned good info with no problems. I’m not the only one seeing this issue, so it’s not a local error. Other users of the app are reporting the same thing.
This issue may be a temporary one, or a bad bug, but either way it is a bad start for a new feature. I’m confident Navigon will fix the problem.
Competition has forced Navigon to lower the price (until January 11th) and the app is a good buy at that price. I know a lot of people were anxious to have that Google integration, but at least for me and some others, it simply doesn’t work. I’ve contacted the Navigon folks, but haven’t heard back yet about what might be going on.
One more small issue. In the past, even though the app has iTunes integration that works well, it can’t seem to find any podcasts. That’s still a problem with this latest version. If you select the podcast genre, it just comes up empty handed.
We’ll let you know when it these issues get fixed, but if you were waiting to buy for the Google feature you might want to wait a bit longer. If you’re having problems, or if it works great for you, let us know.
Update note: The Navigon Google search now seems to be working for all users that we’ve checked that were having problems before, including me. Navigon indicated it was caused by some server issues that interrupted the service for some.
Navigon drops price but temporarily fumbles Google integration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Navigon drops price but temporarily fumbles Google integration originally appeared on The Unofficial Apple Weblog (TUAW) on Thu, 17 Dec 2009 15:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It looks like Navigon isn’t going to let TomTom win the iPhone navigation app popularity contest without a fight. Navigon has decided to respond to TomTom’s recent app addition and price drop with an addition (an update) and price drop of their own.
Navigon MobileNavigator North America and MobileNavigator Europe were recently updated to v1.4, [...]
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I wouldn’t go so far as to call it “cheap navigation,” but it’s definitely cheaper. There’s only thing missing from this slightly modified version: Canada.
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TidBITS editor Glenn Fleishman spent weeks driving aimlessly for Macworld, where his overall look at GPS navigation for the iPhone appears, along with reviews of nine apps and the TomTom car kit.
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The MacSpeech Dictate family is growing. Now for everyday useCopyright © 2009 Glenn Fleishman. TidBITS is copyright © 2009 TidBITS Publishing Inc. If you’re reading this article on a Web site other than TidBITS.com, please let us know, because if it was republished without attribution, by a commercial site, or in modified form, it violates our Creative Commons License.
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