It is time to ask the age-old question: Are our cellphones ready to replace standalone GPS units. Sure we’ve all done a little work with cellphone mapping services and we’ve all mucked about with Google Maps while driving (which is very dangerous). But are cellphones and iPhones in particular ready to knock the old GPS box off of the dashboard?
To paraphrase Molly Bloom in Ulysees, “yes to say yes my mountain flower and first I put my arms around him yes and drew him down to me and I think you can replace your GPS device with an iPhone and software like Navigon’s Mobile Navigator for iPhone are making it much simpler yes I will Yes.”
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First things first. This app costs $69.99 and weighs in at 1.29GB. It is a fully-featured North American GPS system with an intuitive interface and NAVTEQ maps. The UI is quite fun and shows everything you’d expect – large, bold directions, upcoming street signs, and even a little horizon line that displays a representation of where you’re headed. It also has voice prompts that tell you how far you are from your destination.
Another thing to remember: Navigon pulled out of the US market recently and their decision to create an iPhone app could be the reason why. Why sell hardware when you can just sell at $69 iPhone app – about one quarter the price of a device – and get most of the price back in profit.
I tried the software on a longish road trip into Connecticut. The application routed us to our destination and back without incident. It uses the iPhone UI to select addresses but then falls into the Navigon UI to show you directions. The app contains all the maps you could need which is great if you’re driving through a dead zone. The app uses the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS’ GPS chip and little else.
The software can also grab addresses from your contacts list. I had no problems with this method or typing contacts in directly.
Once you’re driving the application real shines. The system offers huge signpost indicators, mimicking highway signs with quite a bit of verisimilitude. The Reality View shows roads meeting off in the horizon with a little representation of your expected horizon – trees, a cityscape – in the distance.
In short, this makes your iPhone a GPS device. That’s really amazing.
This should also make standalone GPS makers wet their pants. Smartphones are slowly taking over for almost every device smaller than a breadbox. Tablet PC? Browse the web on your smartphone. Remote control? Install something on your smartphone. Media player? Done and done thousands of times over. And now we can add GPS device.
Navigon is worth the investment. They also recommend purchasing a dashboard mount – you can get one for about $30 like this Griffin model. The best thing, however, is that instead of pecking at your iPhone in Google Maps you can program in your address and just drive. That’s great.
Bottom Line
The future of GPS is here.
If the app has a network connection, will it update its directions based on traffic data? Of course…does any GPS device do this? I’m old fashion – a road atlas, a compass, and a CB radio.
Kind of awkward if you’re driving with this thing mounted and the phone keeps ringing.
Overall, great article. Great app. Thanks for taking the time to review.
You can be on a call and have the Navigon app running at the same time all you have to do is lower audio voice in the options menu right in the bottom
The highway signs are really cool. I wonder how accurate they are.
Also, I wonder if the graphics and placement of the buildings are accurate.
So not ready. Are you kidding me? Have you used the speaker phone at all? Do you really think you would able to hear turn-by-turn directions in a car?!?
This is such a kludge and so is the TomTom one.
I could hear the turn-by-turn no problem.
I agree with Biggs. I can hear the directions just fine.
What happens when the phone rings? I read the TomTom app which also just debuted, temporarily quits answers call, then resumes…. similar? I don’t know why an app can’t handle phone calls in the API w/o exiting/resuming.
Now we need a review TomTom vs Navigon apps. Fight… $100 vs $75 too
Yes – the street signs are accurate. Eerily so.
Like the TomTom, when you get call on the Navigon, it closes while on the call then re-launches to the same route when the call ends.
I got the Navigon 7200 right before they quit the US Hardware business. A good deal for $200 – I love the device (except for the fact that it runs Windows and a few small annoyances with the BT).
It quickly became clear that to make it better it would need
1) a network connection
2) the ability to search for locations in the same way that Mobile Google Maps allows
The iPhone app, gets you the connection to the network but it looks like they still have their lame POI search UI via ‘categories’.
BTW, the 7200 has voice input capabilities for entering destinations. Any word on whether or not the iPhone version has this feature?
Does it work with iPod Touch?
(Sorry if its a dumb question)
No – iPod Touch does not have a GPS chip.
If you purchase TomTom’s dashboard mount, yes. They stated that it will have a chip in it to “enhance the signal” and specifically stated the iPod Touch will work (even with third party GPS – i.e not TomTom):
http://www.macrumors.com/2009/08/17/tomtom-car-kit-to-be-compatible-with-ipod-touch-and-other-gps-iphone-applications/
No update on price/availability yet though. I have an iPhone and Touch – will be purchasing this and using the Touch. No interruptions!
Thanks!!!
I agree with JB’s remarks and think the trend for device convergence (with reasonable and increasing feature sets) will lead to smartphones trumping and replacing lots of traditional premium hardware devices like GPS and more. To continue the Joyce-ian quip, I think the funeral scene in the middle of Ulysses is a telling, appropriate and exaggerated way to describe that we’ll be “Shoveling them under by the cartload doublequick. Thousands [of GPS units] every hour. Too many in the world. Mourners came out through the gates:”
I’m just sayin’…
When these apps show your location and work without phone or internet connection they can replace my garmin (or other GPS). Does this specific app do that on a new iPhone (which I’m about to buy)? If not do any iPhone apps?
No one ever talks about Garmin Mobile for the BlackBerry. It has been out forever and is a lot better than the TomTom iPhone app IMO.
Also everyone needs to check out CoPilot, I think that trumps TomTom although haven’t given Navigon a try yet.
Will it let you listen to music while using the app? That’s key for me as my iphone also double as my ipod for listening to music in my car.
It has proven a long time ago in Nokia devices that car navigation is great concept in phone! For example in Nokia N97 you get preinstalled car navigation software.
I;m quite pleased with the Navigon app. I find it a good replacement for a Magellan RoadMate 2012 (which is based on Windows CE and is fond of locking up and crashing – I honestly have to keep a paperclip in ready reach to rest the GPS unit from time to time). The only real advantage the Magellan has is the text-to speech directions. I have read that Navigon is promising text-to-speech in a soon-to-come update. It is a little slow to start up, but once on has good GPS lock, it seems to have no difficulty knowing where it is with impressive accuracy. Turning directions are very accurate. You don’t need a phone or data connection for it to navigate; you can listen to music while navigating, and the music volume is automatically lowered when there are spoken directions; when a call comes in, the spoken directions continue right in my Bluetooth headset even as the call progresses, so you don’t miss a turn. I’m using it with a Griffin iTrip AutoPilot FM transmitter to FM channel 87.5, and music and spoken directions sound great through the FM radio. All in all, a pretty polished app that has great promise for future improvements.
Wow, Great Application indeed, Will surely check it. Looking promising. Thanks
“Why sell hardware when you can just sell at $69 iPhone app – about one quarter the price of a device – and get most of the price back in profit.”
Navigon doesn’t get “most of the profit”. Apple gets 30% of that. Out of what is left over, Navteq gets about 60% and several other data and content suppliers take another 10% or so.
It is clear that Navigon is trying to buy its way back into USA market, just as they tried to buy their way into USA retail PND market before bailing out.
Expect prices to flatten out closer to what TomTom is charging. In other words, you could have had a dedicated PND for around $100 at today’s prices, but instead you will end up paying $100 for just the software in order that Apple can take $30 for gracing us with the Apps Store, most of which consists of apps that simply replace things you can do on a browser and desktop computer with a fast connection but can’t do on the slower mobile networks.