After much delay, we’re bringing you a review of one of our most anticipated apps in the App Store. This app also ranks as one of the highest grossing titles to arrive in Apple’s mall. We’re happy to report that Navigon’s MobileNavigator lives up to the hype and great reviews its been receiving across the web. Despite TomTom’s claim to fame in the standalone GPS device world, Navigon has been a true contender for some time now. Personally, we think MobileNavigator is an app that will make the masses recognize Navigon as what they truly are – a great GPS powerhouse. So, let’s take a look at some of the features that make MobileNavigator notably attractive visually and functionally.
First of all, MobileNavigator is an all-in-one package meaning that when you buy and download it, you’re getting everything – the app, the maps, the entire 1+ gigabytes of data. Although, this will take up a fair amount of space on your device, the advantage shines in the fact that you will always have a fully functional turn-by-turn GPS unit in your hands even if you lose cell phone coverage. Navigon uses the robust NAVTEQ mapping system, which we have found to be our favorite of the map service providers.
The main menu presents four immediate choices. If you know the address you’re headed to simply enter it to get going. Start with your country and state (not necessary for every search but available when you want to change it), and then move on to city, street, and address number. Entering a know address is extremely intuitive in the same manner as Navigon’s handheld devices. Alternatively, you can search for a Point of Interest (POI). Focus on a particular city, state or nearby venues to find the available destinations. Quick links are offered at the bottom of the POI screen to instantly access available gas stations, parking, and restaurants. The third option on the main menu is Navigon’s familiar Take Me Home button. This will automatically begin directing you to your predefined home address. Lastly, you can determine your current location with the Show Map button on the main menu.
Spread across the bottom of the main menu are the Favorites, Recents, Contacts, and More tabs. Each category takes you to a deeper menu that you can choose a destination within. Choosing from your built-in iPhone contacts list is a huge feature and one our team was using constantly. This is something that really sets apart the MobileNavigator iPhone app from standalone units. You never have to enter your contact info twice! Tapping the More tab will display available Options and Route settings. Delving into the Options category will show you how well thought out MobileNavigator really is (equally impressive is that Navigon beat TomTom to the App Store with such a polished product). The Map Display option alone has six sub options including ability to show street names, certain POI categories, and set the night mode to auto or manual. Within the Route Profile option you can set vehicle type (car, bicycle, pedestrian, etc.), allow of block tolls, and even avoid highways. Local speed limits can be displayed as well. The Options menu also allows setting the app’s voiceover volume, street name announcement, and iPod music abilities. Navigon’s sophisticated routing method embedded in MobileNavigator lived up to expectations established with their current and previous product line. In the Route settings you can add consecutive destinations to visit on your way to your final stop. So if you want to visit Grandma’s in Florida, you can add Uncle Jack’s address in Virginia to the Route and visit him on the way. Just continue to add Route Points to the route with your final one being your ultimate destination. Within the Route Settings you can also choose your last route or load a previous route from the memory.
Now that we’ve covered MobileNavigator’s extensive capabilities, we want to give you a feel for how it performs in a real world environment. As we launch the app from our home screen we get a simplistically stylish splash screen for but a few seconds. Then we’re into the main menu screen right after a brief warning acknowledgement. So, we’ll enter an address and as we do, the app filters through a list of auto-complete suggestions. Upon finding your destination, you have the opportunity to send it via email, change the route profile, save it as a favorite, or start navigation. Starting the navigation will first calculate your route and then begin guiding you. As you drive your vehicle, the map smoothly updates with your location. Turning onto a street causes an animated rotation of the map direction. If you turn onto the wrong street or miss a turn, MobileNavigator will quickly jump into action, recalculating the route. Missing a turn can be avoided most times thanks to the on-screen info. As you approach an exit on a multilane highway, Navigon will display Lane Assist Pro, a picture-in-picture style overhead of which lane you should be in. If you’re on one highway and are interesting with another, Reality View Pro will kick in. Reality View Pro is a full screen image of the upcoming intersection, complete with exit signs and arrows showing which direction to go. We have loved this feature ever since we first saw it on the Navigon 5100 device. Other on-screen info can show you your estimated time of arrival, current speed, and distance to destination. During navigation, your iPhone can be positioned in portrait or landscape orientation.
In audio sector, MobileNavigator doesn’t disappoint. A female voiceover will guide you with prompts such as “in 400 feet, turn right onto Woodward Avenue.” Street names are spoken clearly and surprisingly the app knew how to correctly translate Schoenherr Road from test-to-speech (pronounced Shain-er). iPod music is readily available through a small iPod icon in the lower right corner. Tapping initiates a cool page peel animation that reveals your entire iPod library to browse and choose a song, artist, playlist, etc. While listening to your iPod, the music volume will fade when a spoken direction is given. If you want to adjust the spoken voice volume, or turn it off, do so through the Options tab in the upper right corner. We preferred turning off the voice prompts but were unhappy with the fact that the music still fades out where a voice prompt would have been given. On the other hand, it seems likely that this would alert you that a guidance step is coming up.
Navigon’s MobileNavigator certainly lived up to our expectations for a great turn-by-turn GPS solution on the iPhone. Although our battery was drained through our constant usage, this would happen with any always on GPS app for the iPhone. Plus this isn’t something that can’t be solved by simply plugging in the device to an auxiliary power outlet. At its current price of $89.99, purchasing MobileNavigator is a weighty decision. But considering it outshines some standalone units (it trumps our $149 Navigon 5100 in speed and ease of use) for less money, we’d say it performs beyond its price point. MobileNavigator only works with iPhone 3G and 3GS running iPhone OS 3.0, so take this into consideration when making your decision. It currently does not offer real time traffic guidance, but this will be coming soon as a $25 in app purchase. Where it stands today, we give Navigon’s MobileNavigator app a solid 5-Dimple seal of approval.
MobileNavigator North America gets our AppSmile 5-Dimple rating:
