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Magellan's new iPhone navigation app
ubercool
0 Points
This looks pretty awesome I must say. Who is going to be first to pop $80 for the iPhone app? :mrgreen: I wonder how much the cradle will cost, but the built-in speaker should solve the problem of using an iPhone as a navigation device. :)
Comments
I mean, how is it possible that the blue dot frequently wanders off the road? For pedestrian purposes, it would have to be even more accurate, and I'm not sure the iPhone's unassisted mode is good enough. That's the main advantage of TomTom's "satellite boost assist" cradle.
I'm just hoping that the underlying technology improves sufficiently that smartphone apps do indeed become adequate GPS navigation replacements. :roll:
I have used Google Maps in pedestrian mode in Boston and have had great luck navigating through the city that way. Look up a restaurant, get the address, navigate to it. It has worked great several times. I think you really need the cradle and extra GPS help in the car, though.
I think I am going to take the plunge soon. I am leaning towards TomTom because I like their interface. However, it looks like Magellan will have the better cradle for the phone. I need something that can be used with a case. Hopefully the sliding adjustment will help there. Tim feels the TomTom software and Magellan cradle should work together.
I just don't see any stand-alone GPS' I like right now. They all have some deficiences for what I want and can get quite costly. I have gotten used to having 1 device (my iphone) to do a lot of functions, so hopefully this won't be a waste of money. $80 for Magellan or $100 for TomTom is still pretty steep! Plus the cost of the cradle!
So while I see a good benefit for the car kits in eliminating that frustration, the GPS in the iPhone isn't all that bad. I think people paying $80+ for an app will likely want better performance than what the iPhone delivers by itself, but some people will be happy without it.
I know when walking around the GPS chip does drain the battery pretty quickly.
I just can't fathom why TomTom would make an expensive cradle that won't fit phones with cases? That is pretty pathetic. I think the case would help some of the rattling issues of the bare phone in the cradle and quiet things down!
I just need a cradle now to boost the signal.
When I hike around in the open, I find that my iPhone does surprisingly well - have compared it side by side with both a Garmin 60csx and Oregon.
Inside my house - which is single story wood frame all by itself out in the country with virtually no cell reception - I almost never get a satellite lock with my iPhone. The phone will tell me I'm about 5 miles away, which I believe is the location of the closest cell tower. I have a bunch of other gps'es and they will get a lock inside the house after varying amounts of time.
In downtown Philadelphia I get pretty accurate positioning, but I suspect that comes from the large number of known wifi hotspots and strong 3g cell signal which can pinpoint you surprisingly well.
It seemed that as long as I held the iphone close to the windshield, it tracked fine. It was only when I put it down on the passenger seat it seemed to drift slightly.
Overall, for me, I think this GPS app on an iphone will give me the best of all worlds. I am sure the app will only get much better as time goes on. I can't wait to get a cradle that works with my case as well! In the meantime I will put up with slight drifts in positioning.
:)
Introduced by Magellan a few months ago and I thought it was a great way to preview the alternate routing. I was impressed, but that's easy with me.
Not to mention they have the most accurate maps as seen on your review page!
I was almost certain that new application has this 2009 "feature".