iPhone Satellite Navigation App Reviews
In Show 43 of the FrequencyCast Tech podcast, our team looked at the three Satellite Navigation applications now available for the Apple iPhone
On this page, you'll find a link to the show, a transcript of the feature, plus screenshots of each of the applications we mentioned.
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 43 - iPhone Sat Nav Apps Reviewed |
Transcript of Show 43's feature on iPhone Mapping Apps:
Pete:
Yeah, I don't know about you, but I just fancy a McChicken Sandwich, but before we do that, let's work out how to navigate to McDonald's, shall we?
Carl:
Oh yes, it's got to be done with technology, hasn't it? Can't we just have a plain McDonald's, you know, an original analogue hamburger, or a beefburger or a chicken burger?
Pete:
OK, so we're talking about GPS, Sat Nav - top known brand for Sat Navs?
Carl:
Tom Tom Tom Tom Tom.
Pete:
Right, TomTom have just released their Sat Nav product for the iPhone, and we have it here.
Carl:
So it's a TomTom application?
Pete:
This is indeed a TomTom application, so I've got it loaded up on my iPhone, it's just starting up now. Now, a little bit earlier we went out for a drive, didn't we, testing this. So this is our TomTom, and what we're going to do, just for the sake of testing it, is do a little bit of a route, so this is nicely installed on our iPhone, we're going to hit "Navigate to", and I've programmed in "Home", navigate to home, and with a bit of luck, this is going to say, a 20 minute journey, 5.7 miles.
TomTom UK, for the Apple iPhone
TomTom:
"At the end of the road, turn left."
Pete:
When we first tried this out, this actually defaulted with an American voice ...
TomTom:
"Turn right, then turn left".
Pete:
... who had rather interesting way of telling us how to deal with a roundabout, do you remember that?
Carl:
Oh, yes!
TomTom:
"After 200 yards, cross the rotary second exit".
Carl:
"The rotary"? - what's that, a washing line?
TomTom:
"Cross the rotary second exit."
Pete:
Yes, American voice - evidently they call roundabouts "rotaries".
Carl:
And lifts "elevators".
Pete:
So there you go, that's the TomTom up, it does a nice landscape/portrait switch, which is pretty cool; it weighs in at 241 MB, which given most of these Apps are fairly small, it's quite a large download.
Carl:
Wow.
Pete:
It does have speed cameras, which is cool, and it supports address book integration, so you can type in a contact name, and it'll let you navigate to it, also postcode entry. The one thing that did surprise me is it doesn't do traffic updates, and obviously the iPhone's got an internet connection, and TomTom have their live service, which gives you traffic information, so I'm surprised they haven't integrated that into there. So yes, this is not a bad little solution, I quite like it. It's got 3.5 stars on iTunes at the moment, it does weigh in at £60.
Carl:
60? So there's no hardware - £60 for a bit of software?
Pete:
Er, yeah, exactly.
Carl:
Hmm.
TomTom iPhone: Click to open the iTunes TomTom page: |
Pete:
So that's the TomTom, however there is a good competitor to it, which is the CoPilot. Now again, we tried this one - just start this one up:
CoPilot:
"Welcome to CoPilot live."
Pete:
The layout is very similar to that of the TomTom, obviously with regards to the visual display, when it comes to navigating to your location, although it seems - I don't know, there's something about the layout, it seems a bit cluttered, I mean some of the labels of the roads are all over each other and overlapping, and as you approach each one, it gets clearer, and you can see where you are, but I'm not entirely sure it's very helpful. An interesting little icon for you - a red arrow in a circle ...
CoPilot Live, for Apple iPhone
CoPilot:
"Take third exit at roundabout."
Pete:
... as you're travelling, obviously the voice ...
CoPilot:
"Take third exit at roundabout."
Pete:
... is as clear as the TomTom. Let me just tell you a couple of things about this App, now I quite like this, which actually gives you the next junction, and the one after that, which is something that the TomTom doesn't do.
Carl:
Yes, that's nice, but it does take up valuable space on the actual screen, on the display obviously.
Pete:
So what else have we got? - it does the landscape/portrait shift, which is quite nice, it's actually got some fairly useful things that I didn't see in the TomTom, so one of them is, it's got this thing called "Live Link" where you can find a friend, so if a friend's got a similar one, you can actually work out where they are, and link up together, which is quite nifty. We've also got routing, which is rather nice, which lets you set the routing type, so you've got a car, a motorbike, walking or bicycle, which again is something the TomTom doesn't have.
Carl:
That's quite handy.
Pete:
At the moment, it doesn't have speed cameras in, where the TomTom does; however that apparently is coming soon. You can also alter the turn warning, so you can say, I want it to warn me in two miles, one mile, 50 yards, and then x number of seconds before a turn.
Carl:
That's probably quite a clever thing, because if you've got a Navigator next to you, they start to actually identify with what sort of pace you want your directions at, and when to tell you. I think that's quite a nice feature actually.
Pete:
So this gets 3.5 stars on iTunes as well, it does support postcodes, it also does contacts look up. You have this lovely lane indicator, I'll show you the picture of that.
CoPilot Lane Indicator
Carl:
Oh that's nice, it looks like sort of some game, doesn't it?
Pete:
So you can actually see the junction you're turning off the motorway, and what the signs would look like, which is something that the TomTom Go range does, but the TomTom on an iPhone doesn't. Speed cameras are coming soon, improvements to the walking route planner are coming soon. It weighs in at 215 MB, price £26, which is compared to £60 for the TomTom - it's over half as cheap.
Carl:
That's good, less than half price.
Pete:
So if you had some money to spend, which would you buy?
Carl:
Well, when travelling in a new environment, which is when I'd use one of these, I've got to say I think, not by much, but I think the TomTom wins.
Pete:
I must admit, the TomTom's a nicer interface. The TomTom also has one slight advantage, which is if you task out of the navigation App, to say take a phone call, and task back, it remembers where you where, whereas CoPilot, you've kind of got to program your route back in again, which is a little bit of a pain.
Carl:
Well, that is a pain, especially as it's on the phone. I must admit, though, I don't think I'd use this sort of device in a car as my only source, I mean a TomTom Navigator to me needs to be its sole function, I don't mind the fact it's got mp3 players and things like that, but they've got that clever feature where it turns off the music, doesn't it? - when it's giving you directions, whereas this system doesn't, and I'd only use a navigation package like this on a phone for walking, maybe cycling - but then, where are you going to put it on a bike?
Pete:
Yeah, fair point. But I have to say, for £26 to make your iPhone a fully-featured Sat Nav with voice directions is actually pretty good value.
Carl:
Oh yeah, it's like a penknife - you don't actually have it instead of a toolbox, you just have it as a piece of equipment in an emergency almost.
Pete:
There is one third one to mention - Mobile Navigator from Navigon. This one's £53, so it's cheaper than TomTom, more expensive that CoPilot. It also gets a 3.5 star rating at the moment on iTunes, it has the reality view of motorways, no postcode search, no speed cameras.
Mobile Navigator for Apple iPhone
Carl:
No, not helpful.
Pete:
233 MB, not our favourite of the three, if I'm being honest - I have to say I like the clarity of the TomTom, but I also think it's well overpriced compared with the CoPilot, which does exactly the same job.
Carl:
Yep, I think I'll agree with you, I think for the phone, I'd go with CoPilot - there's no point having a TomTom on your phone, just go out and buy a TomTom.
Pete:
Two other mapping programs I want to mention - there's this thing here called WiFiFoFum, which I've had a lot of fun with.
Carl:
WiFiFoFum? - that sounds like fun!
Pete:
So look at this on my screen now - you can see something, what does that look like to you?
Carl:
Well, it looks like a submarine radar.
WiFiFoFum for the iPhone
Pete:
Absolutely, so what we're actually looking at is all the Wi-Fi hotspots around us, so that's our hub there white, and round here you've got a BT Home Hub, TalkTalk, Sky, Print Server - that's a map of all of the local Wi-Fi spots in our area.
Carl:
Nice!
Pete:
And you can see that one there isn't filled in, which actually means that's an open and available wireless network, which is quite cool.
Carl:
Oh, handy.
Pete:
Just one more iPhone Application I want to mention while we're talking about maps - this one is called Weather Maps from a chap called Daniel Tull. Give us a quick description of that?
WeatherMaps, from Daniel Tull.
Carl:
Well, it looks like the weather map from the news - are you going to stand up and point to it, like they do? Shall I call you Michael Fish?
Pete:
So I'm flipping through here, just using my thumb to navigate left and right, so I'm looking for the weather for Friday at mid-day, Saturday at midnight.
Carl:
It's like the proper weather satellite image, it shows you the cloud formations moving in and out with lighter and dark, seeing England in its full glory underneath.
Pete:
There you go - how much do you reckon for that, then?
Carl:
Oh, I don't know - £2, £5 or £7?
Pete:
Hmm, how about free?
Carl:
Free? I'd pay a fiver for that!
More Show 43 transcripts:
Listen to FrequencyCast Show 43 - iPhone Sat Nav Apps Reviewed |
More information
- Podcast # 43 - Our feature on mobile phone watches and GPS watches
- Podcast # 33 - Featuring our audio review of the Dyal SWAP watch
- GPS Watches - More details on GPS fitness watches
- Weather Stations - Try your own forecasting
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