[simon69c]

Well hot on the heals of the Europe-wide edition, Navigon have just released a regional version for just the British Isles.

iTunes Store link

Again an introductory price applies - £37.99, which it says goes up to £59.99 after June 30th. It weighs in at a much easier to swallow (well download anyway) 215MB rather than the 1.6GB of the Europe-wide version.

Everything else appears to be as per the Europe-wide edition from the description. I'll let you know my thoughts once I've had a proper test drive (so to speak).

[ferryman51]

Originally Posted by simon69c

Well hot on the heals of the Europe-wide edition, Navigon have just released a regional version for just the British Isles.

iTunes Store link

Again an introductory price applies - £37.99, which it says goes up to £59.99 after June 30th. It weighs in at a much easier to swallow (well download anyway) 215MB rather than the 1.6GB of the Europe-wide version.

Everything else appears to be as per the Europe-wide edition from the description. I'll let you know my thoughts once I've had a proper test drive (so to speak).

gutted..i paid for the europe version only 3 days ago. this would have suited me better.

[simon69c]

Originally Posted by ferryman51

gutted..i paid for the europe version only 3 days ago. this would have suited me better.

Have a feeling this will be the case for quite a few people unfortunately. To be fair though, their original press release did say that regional versions would be following the Europe-wide edition, and even implied they would be before the end of June as it mentioned the introductory prices too.

Still - you got 1.6GB worth of maps for £54.99 compared to 215MB for £37.99. It's only a difference of a £17 and you'll only need to travel to drive in Europe once to feel it was worthwhile!

[simon69c]

Well I gave it a go this morning on my way into work and my first impressions of using it were mostly favourable. I did have a bit of an issue with poor GPS early on, though that was presumably more the phone / conditions (though bizarrely this was in clear blue skies, wide open ground, and with the iPhone sat atop the dash - couldn't have got much more outside!).

Once or twice when I was driving along a straight motorway at 60-70mph it seemed to randomly shunt me onto a small parallel road - I would have hoped it would have been smart enough to realise that I was extremely unlikely to have driven cross-country at those speeds to get onto another road! Again, this was probably due to ropey GPS info it was getting, but I still would have hoped for the software to be a bit more resilient to that sort of thing when driving along a motorway with no exits nearby. Once it worked out I was actually on the Motorway the rerouting was virtually instantaneous though. The voice is very clear (and this is through the iPhone speaker) and announces the road numbers clearly too - the lane assist was also pretty useful (I understand TomTom iPhone won't have either of those latter features).

As long as my GPS issues were more of a temporary glitch than something I can expect on most journeys then I think it's a £37.99 well spent, but if dodgy GPS signal is going to be an ongoing issue then I can see it being worthwhile waiting for the TomTom with its dedicated cradle (with enhanced GPS capability).

One thing I did note though is wow it eats a lot of battery. My journey was about 1 hour and during that time my battery went from 100% down to 70%! Granted, this was in bright sunshine and so the autobrightness was likely on full, but I didn't have wifi or bluetooth on. I wouldn't want to use it without incar charging for long! I'm in the process of sorting that out myself at the moment - probably going to get the Alpine CDE-104BTi (or the 103BT with iPhone cable) and also a nice brodit proclip to hold it. Hoping that will take care of all my incar iPhone needs!

[markmc2k9]

Nice one thanks to the OP for the heads up.

For £37.99 I will get this without hesitation. With the two Argos vouchers I have this works out at only £28 so I won't mind giving that a try until Tom Tom comes on eventually. Looking forward to downloading this when I get home

[simon69c]

Originally Posted by markmc2k9

Nice one thanks to the OP for the heads up.

For £37.99 I will get this without hesitation. With the two Argos vouchers I have this works out at only £28 so I won't mind giving that a try until Tom Tom comes on eventually. Looking forward to downloading this when I get home

Don't forget you can also make even more saving by going via Quidco (the link will open up iTunes and take you to the store) - that will get you 8% cashback from the purchase price (~£3), and you will also get 6 free songs for spending 3 x £10!

[Zain]

Well I think it's time to scratch of my recently purchased Itunes vouchers.

I've only ever driven once in Europe and that was in convoy. So not having the euro version wouldn't be a great loss.

you got 1.6GB worth of maps for £54.99 compared to 215MB for £37.99

True, but there's 1.4GB of storage used up for something you may never use.

If there ever was a right time for TT to make an official announcement it's now. Or perhaps MobileNav know something we don't? hence the 'introductory offer price'
more like the price before Tomtom is released

[CrispyUK]

Originally Posted by simon69c

The voice is very clear (and this is through the iPhone speaker) and announces the road numbers clearly too - the lane assist was also pretty useful (I understand TomTom iPhone won't have either of those latter features).

Where have you heard that from? TomTom include both those features in some of their all-in-one range so I'd be surprised if they didn't port them over to the iPhone version.

[RobM]

Originally Posted by simon69c

As long as my GPS issues were more of a temporary glitch than something I can expect on most journeys then I think it's a £37.99 well spent, but if dodgy GPS signal is going to be an ongoing issue then I can see it being worthwhile waiting for the TomTom with its dedicated cradle (with enhanced GPS capability).

The cynic in me wonders if the TomTom Cradle is an admission by Apple that their GPS hardware isn't up to scratch?

Originally Posted by CrispyUK

Where have you heard that from? TomTom include both those features in some of their all-in-one range so I'd be surprised if they didn't port them over to the iPhone version.

If it's the same as the Windows Mobile version and other mobile platforms, I would be surprised to see lane assist included.

[littlealex]

Originally Posted by Zain

True, but there's 1.4GB of storage used up for something you may never use.

Not if you unzip the maps and remove the ones you don't want before installing. UK only is 180Mb and you can always put them back if you're going abroad.

Tomtom are behaving very strangely over this. I can understand not confirming a release date (wasn't it mentioned as July 11th on another thread by someone who had heard something?) but not to announce a price for app or cradle is very odd. They're letting the others who are first to market snap up a lot of custom on the back of Tomtom's big announcement. If they announced more details now, a lot of people would wait - unless of course their price is going to be offensively high....

[simon69c]

Originally Posted by CrispyUK

Where have you heard that from? TomTom include both those features in some of their all-in-one range so I'd be surprised if they didn't port them over to the iPhone version.

That was from a post I read that had quoted an email response from TomTom support which said that TomTom for iPhone wouldn't have text to speech or lane assist but would have IQ routes. I'm afraid I have no further information than that. Certainly from my point of view Navigon are setting the bar pretty high and the ball is firmly in TomTom's court.

[mr.manchester]

So if I have £30 iTunes credit on my account i take it i can pay the £7.99 from my credit card? Plus can this be downloaded straight from the app store or do you have to go via iTunes?

I never normally have iTunes cards you see.

[Zain]

Originally Posted by mr.manchester

So if I have £30 iTunes credit on my account i take it i can pay the £7.99 from my credit card? Plus can this be downloaded straight from the app store or do you have to go via iTunes?

I never normally have iTunes cards you see.

Yes, just done open itunes, click store, click redeem, enter the voucher number then browse the store - down load what you like.

Down loaded this earlier, went out for a local run and all seems pretty good. Obviously as with most (if not all Navigation systems) it was sending me via the bypass / A roads - but was very quick to re-calculate with my chosen route.

Added bonus as this works well with my Parrot Car kit, playing ipod and voice control simultaneously

As far as Tomtom goes - It's now got to be as good as Kit in Knight Rider to get my money

[mr.manchester]

Arrrgh wait for tomtom or this?

Can't decide!

[simon69c]

Is anyone else finding the Navigon app to be quite fussy with the GPS signal? I've used it for two trips now (up and down the M3 from Southampton to Farnborough) and quite often (3 or 4 times per journey) having the top banner go red with poor GPS and it just sitting there until it decides the signal is strong enough again. Wasn't really expecting that considering my nuvi standalone unit has virtually no problems ever with signal and is positioned in virtually the same place. Just wondering if the case I've got my phone in is potentially causing an issue - doubt it though as it's just a rubber/plastic thing (switcheasy capsule rebel). Guess I'll try it without tomorrow to see if it improves things.

[Zain]

Originally Posted by simon69c

Is anyone else finding the Navigon app to be quite fussy with the GPS signal? I've used it for two trips now (up and down the M3 from Southampton to Farnborough) and quite often (3 or 4 times per journey) having the top banner go red with poor GPS and it just sitting there until it decides the signal is strong enough again. Wasn't really expecting that considering my nuvi standalone unit has virtually no problems ever with signal and is positioned in virtually the same place. Just wondering if the case I've got my phone in is potentially causing an issue - doubt it though as it's just a rubber/plastic thing (switcheasy capsule rebel). Guess I'll try it without tomorrow to see if it improves things.

Mine has been fine so far, admittedly I've only used it in the city and not rural areas. Using it with the Rebel Serpent.

Going to unfirmiliar teritory tomorrow on a 80 mile round trip, will see how it copes.

[philip birdi]

Been reading some reviews and some mention something about not full postcode ,what does that mean?

[Butters]

A postcode generally has 7 digits. Most decent satnavs use all 7 digits to pinpoint the location - so 7 digits will narrow down the adddress to say 10 houses for example.

sm11 2nu for example (no idea where this is by the way!!)

A 5 digit unit would be sm11 2 and would narrow down the address to say 40 houses in a road that may have 200.

[mr.manchester]

Well i bought this earlier using my itunes vouchers from argos, so in reality it cost me £27.99

Nipped out to give it a go and I'm not disappointed but I'm also not overly impressed, Its handy for using when needs be I wont be selling my dedicated tomtom anytime soon.

[dannius]

Originally Posted by mr.manchester

Well i bought this earlier using my itunes vouchers from argos, so in reality it cost me £27.99

Nipped out to give it a go and I'm not disappointed but I'm also not overly impressed, Its handy for using when needs be I wont be selling my dedicated tomtom anytime soon.

Why's that mate?

[simon69c]

Originally Posted by Butters

A postcode generally has 7 digits. Most decent satnavs use all 7 digits to pinpoint the location - so 7 digits will narrow down the adddress to say 10 houses for example.

sm11 2nu for example (no idea where this is by the way!!)

A 5 digit unit would be sm11 2 and would narrow down the address to say 40 houses in a road that may have 200.

Though before you think the Navigon will never get you closer than ~40 houses to your destination, after entering the first part of the postcode it then prompts you for the street and house number (having narrowed down the streets to that postcode it will autopredict which street you want as you type it in - so just pick the street once it appears in the list of options).

[vavaclio]

I downloaded the navigon sat nav software last night, and to be honest it's not worth it. As mentioned by someone earlier, it keeps complaining about the gps signal. I thought i'd test it this morning on my way to work which consists of mainly motorways and A roads. On the motorway, it seems to keep hold of the GPS signal ok, not brilliant but can live with. as soon as i got onto some A roads, the problems began the signal must of dropped every minute or so causing the software to pause until it picks up the signal again. very annoying!

Anyways I won't be replacing my dedicated unit just yet, maybe see what tom tom has to offer. their cradle with gps enchancer sounds exactly what the iphone needs.

[RobM]

I honestly do not believe the GPS signal problems relate to the software. The software is simply using the signal the GPS hardware in the phone picks up. I think this is where the problem lies.

This theory would seem to be backed up by the fact Apple and TomTom deem it necessary to offer an 'enhanced' GPS cradle to get TomTom working properly. If the GPS hardware was up to the job, this wouldn't be needed.

I'm sitting tight until I find out whether the TomTom cradle is supported by the likes of Navigon, or if it's locked to TomTom only. If it works for any software, then I'd chose Navigon over TomTom every day of the week, as the functionality and performance Vs cost is always better.

But if you need the cradle to get it working and it only works with TomTom, this somewhat makes the decision for you.

[simon69c]

To be fair I've not actually seen any other people other than myself and the poster above to have said they have issues with the GPS when using the Navigon. This leads me to think that perhaps there is something quirky going on with my current OS installation (I'm planning to do a full reset / factory restore as a new phone this evening and then sync everything backup afterwards and see if that helps - since I'm also experiencing very rapid battery depletion at the moment), or possibly a network-related issue since I know the iPhone GPS does take input from carrier network when trying to ascertain position (think it's supposed to be timings / satellite location - which if wrong could be throwing a spanner in the works).

[dannius]

It's disappointing to hear that the GPS on the phone probably isn't up to scratch, is the 3Gs' GPS the same as the 3G?

I'd really like to get a sat nav solution, i've never had a sat nav before and would find one very useful, it would be a shame if I was limited to one choice which we still have no idea when will be released.

[Br0ken]

Whats lane assist?

[RobM]

Originally Posted by Br0ken

Whats lane assist?

When you approach a junction it doesn't just tell you which direction you should be heading, it tells you which lane you should be in. So if you need to go right and there are three lanes, it could, for instance, tell you to be in the right hand lane.

It also shows a nice picture of motorway junctions including overhead signs as you would see them.

[Br0ken]

Ah, I thought thats what it probably was. Doesn't TomTom say things like "keep left" though? Same thing?

[markmc2k9]

I bit the bullet and purchased the British maps last night to tide me over until I can assess TomTom’s efforts. Anyway I was actually quite impressed with these maps, the software performed far above my expectations so I was happy about that. Contrary to a couple of reviews I have read I found the interface to be quite rewarding, it was quite responsive and not sluggish at all. Most importantly the speed it takes to calculate a route is particularly impressive, I was certainly expecting that to be longer.

Navigation was also very favourable. I was in and out of menus frustrated to why voice wasn’t working until the penny dropped that the phone was on silent...stupid me! Anyway to put some minds at ease I can say my signal was strong, seemed quite accurate and never dropped out or had any problems with it (3GS with no car kit just simply sitting next to my gearstick so I assume with a mount it would have been even better).

The voice was audible but for me not the best, I had no chance of hearing it with the radio on and struggled to hear it simply with the window opened. This may be a problem for some. Voice commands gave you plenty of notice and unlike some other systems I have used didn’t wait until the very last minute to alert you. Disappointing there are no speed camera locations but hopefully this can be resolved by an update, the POI database was fair but not as good as I would be used to. Had no problems with the accuracy of maps, all up to date and got me to my destination without sending me up a wrong street!

All in all I am happy to have purchased this. For anyone even with a passing interest in having a GPS on their iphone should jump at this for the price which is a great deal in my opinion. Really good 1.0 release, obviously there are scope for improvements but for starters they have done a good job. You won’t be let down and will be getting a very capable system. Over to you TomTom!

[quimpy]

Is the sound loud enough to hear from the phone tiny speaker? I don't have an aux input on car hifi to boost the sound. Also are there any cradles like the annouced tom tom one that can boost the sound available now?