turn-by-turn

In the face of a few solid free navigation apps for the iPhone, such as Bing or MapQuest, MotionX GPS Drive would seem to have trouble justifying its price, even at only 99 cents. But it has proven a popular enough navigation app that Pioneer integrated it with the AppRadio head unit.

Two features of MotionX GPS Drive give it an edge over the free apps, its destination search capabilities and the ability to preload maps. MotionX GPS Drive is a connected navigation app, meaning it relies on an iPhone's data connection to get its maps. However, it is … Read more

Introduced last summer, the Nokia Maps mobile site, m.maps.nokia.com, has pretty much been the Google Maps knockoff that nobody knew about. It has given mobile users the ability to search for places, get directions, and share items with friends--all fairly standard stuff. But starting today, the Nokia Maps mobile site may have differentiated itself, as it now offers voice-guided, turn-by-turn walking navigation for all, something that Google's mobile site doesn't provide.

In order to use the navigation, all you have to do is go to m.maps.nokia.com, give it permission to access your … Read more

Magellan's RoadMate app for iPhone updates today to version 2.0 with a refreshed UI. However, the biggest change is the new POI search, because joining Magellan's standard list of searchable points of interest are new options for Yelp and Google Local.

With Yelp search you can browse all of Yelp's categories and subcategories. Search results include Yelp's star rating for quickly identifying, for example, the best Ethiopian restaurant in your area. Once you've found your destination, the app can call the venue or initiate turn-by-turn directions. Additionally, every search result is a clickable link … Read more

Having survived the crucible that is Apple's App Store approval process, CoPilot Live HD has become the first available iPad-specific GPS application. The app is a reworking of the iPhone version of the CoPilot Live app for iPhone, featuring a revised interface that takes better advantage of the iPad's larger screen.

The app features 2D and 3D maps of North America stored locally on the device, so users won't need to maintain a data connection while navigating from point A to B. However, the app will need to make use of the iPad's GPS antenna for … Read more

Any GPS device worth its salt will come preloaded with a number of prerecorded voices for speaking turn-by-turn directions aloud. But how many words does your GPS device know; what if you don't like any of them; or what if your language isn't available? Traditionally, you'd be stuck searching for and purchasing professionally recorded voice packages, but if you own a Garmin Nuvi, you can use a free application from Garmin called Voice Studio to record your own voice prompts. Here's how it's done.

Before you get started, you'll need a PC running Windows … Read more

LAS VEGAS--Even with the advent of robotic text-to-speech turn-by-turn directions, I still really enjoy playing with the different prerecorded voices on the GPS devices that I test. There's something about getting directions in a funny accent that's just comforting to me, which is why Garmin's new Voice Studio software is so intriguing.

The downloadable software will allow users to record and upload their own voice prompts to compatible Nuvi GPS devices, so that they can hear turn-by-turn directions in their own voices. The software guides users through recording replacements for the 65 words and phrases that the … Read more

TomTom U.S. & Canada is the third full-feature turn-by-turn flat-fee navigation app with built-in maps in the App Store that covers the entire U.S. and Canada.

Like the first two apps, Navigon and iGo My Way, the TomTom app will turn your iPhone 3G or 3GS into a decently dependable driving navigator. However, like the other two, it's far from perfect.

The TomTom app took about 6 seconds to load on my iPhone 3GS, which is very fast (the other two apps took about 15 seconds), and displayed a very easy-to-use interface with big buttons. It also offers a quick and convenient way to enter an address or to find a point of interest (POI) from its very large database of POIs.

After almost a week of use, I found that both the map and POI database are slightly outdated. It once couldn't find an address and twice showed me POIs that were no longer in business. During this recession, however, it's not exactly the app that's to blame.

Good news is, like the Navigon after its first update, you can tap on a POI to dial it up, and I would highly recommend doing this before you decide to go there, just to make sure that it's still in business.

Similar to the Navigon, the TomTom can also pull addresses from the phone's contacts, which is a very convenient feature. However, while the Navigon is very good at reading contacts' addresses, the TomTom is very picky. It seems to only understand addresses that have a zip code. Take the zip code out and it will ask you to enter the address manually. This means more than 60 percent or so of the addresses in my contacts won't work. This is sort of strange, as the app won't require a zip code when you type in addresses manually.

The TomTom took very little time (a few seconds) to pick up a GPS signal on my iPhone 3GS, and its navigation was accurate enough. Once in a while it would probably lead you to a location that's slightly off from the actual address, but that happens with every GPS navigator I've used.

Of the three apps, the TomTom has the largest selection of voices, including many languages from English to Danish, Thai, and Chinese. With English alone, you'll find 11 different accents, both male and female. Still, like the other two apps, it doesn't have text-to-speech where it can read you the name of the street that you're supposed to turn onto.

The TomTom's map view, unfortunately, is not as good-looking as that of the Navigon or the iGo My Way.… Read more

Gokivo seems to do it all: search for destinations, pair with Bluetooth, play iTunes songs and fade out and in when dictating directions, and deliver turn-by-turn navigation. In our road test, it just didn't perform all these functions uniformly well. The app possesses the navigation basics, plus those one or two surprises with iTunes and shaking the app to get alternative routes. You can switch between map, satellite, and hybrid view thanks to Google Maps, and can specify your route preference, like fastest, and variables to avoid, like carpool lanes. We like the address book tie-in to get directions … Read more

We expected a slew of turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps when Apple's iPhone 3.0 software emerged, and we'll get it--slowly. AT&T's Navigator app entered the App Store today, preceded almost a week ago by Gokivo. We're still waiting for TomTom's offering.

Gokivo is made by Networks in Motion, the same company behind AAA Mobile, Verizon's VZ Navigator, and AT&T's Yellowpages.com, so we expected a little sophistication. It has been in our testing queue since last Wednesday, but some technical difficulties impeded our progress. Mainly, a possessed in-app purchase … Read more