The iPhone is probably the biggest misnomer for what is undoubtedly a lot more than a mere mobile phone. I'd even go so far as to say that the "phone" bit is the least of this device's functionality.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that as well as being a phone, instant messenger, time manager, customer database, camera etc. etc. it is also a GPS Navigation System. And not the dinky little app-trying-to-be-grownup type system, I mean a full Navigation System with turn by turn voice instructions, points of interest, lane indicators, speed, the whole shebang.
When I decided I was going to take the plunge 2 main apps caught my eye. The Tom Tom and Sygic apps. So, which did I choose and why?
The Tom Tom has the mind-share as a GPS device so that sounded like a plus but when I dug into the comments on the Apple iPhone App Store there seemed to be a lot of less satisfied customers, the price was also an issue at $99.99 (possibly only because $100.00 wouldn't fit in the "Buy App" button). It didn't have Text to speech where the voice reads out street names nor did it have automatic night mode or a lane selector (very handy on those multi-flyovers).
The Sygic app on the other hand was $59.99 (it's since gone up to $79.99). It comes with maps for Australia and New Zealand (I really should plot a route from my place to Auckland - just to see what happens).
So I got the Sygic app based on recommendations and features that I thought would be useful to me. Once I loaded it up I gave it a run and it performed exactly as the documentation and some of the recommendations said it would. It takes about 100 meters to orient itself but after that away it goes.
I put the phone in a cradle in the car and hooked it up with my Motorola bluetooth car kit which is in turn connected to the car stereo via FM. One thing I found annoying was that although answering a call paused the system and the music if it was in the "landscape" position when the app came back it was in the "portrait" position. Also, in order to make a call I needed to exit the GPS and then restart it and navigate through the annoying disclaimer about playing with the app whilst driving. The TTS (text to speech) I chose was a polite Brittish gentleman who pronounced most of the streets quite accurately. The voices cover many languages and both genders - I just figured I take enough instructions from a woman (genius though she is). The American accents sound like the old Macintosh voices so, no great loss there.
So, in conclusion. I spent a fraction of the price of a "real" GPS system and got; well, a real GPS system.
Please leave a comment to describe your experiences with the growing ubiquity of the iPhone.
A couple of weeks ago I discovered that as well as being a phone, instant messenger, time manager, customer database, camera etc. etc. it is also a GPS Navigation System. And not the dinky little app-trying-to-be-grownup type system, I mean a full Navigation System with turn by turn voice instructions, points of interest, lane indicators, speed, the whole shebang.When I decided I was going to take the plunge 2 main apps caught my eye. The Tom Tom and Sygic apps. So, which did I choose and why?
The Tom Tom has the mind-share as a GPS device so that sounded like a plus but when I dug into the comments on the Apple iPhone App Store there seemed to be a lot of less satisfied customers, the price was also an issue at $99.99 (possibly only because $100.00 wouldn't fit in the "Buy App" button). It didn't have Text to speech where the voice reads out street names nor did it have automatic night mode or a lane selector (very handy on those multi-flyovers).
The Sygic app on the other hand was $59.99 (it's since gone up to $79.99). It comes with maps for Australia and New Zealand (I really should plot a route from my place to Auckland - just to see what happens).
So I got the Sygic app based on recommendations and features that I thought would be useful to me. Once I loaded it up I gave it a run and it performed exactly as the documentation and some of the recommendations said it would. It takes about 100 meters to orient itself but after that away it goes.
I put the phone in a cradle in the car and hooked it up with my Motorola bluetooth car kit which is in turn connected to the car stereo via FM. One thing I found annoying was that although answering a call paused the system and the music if it was in the "landscape" position when the app came back it was in the "portrait" position. Also, in order to make a call I needed to exit the GPS and then restart it and navigate through the annoying disclaimer about playing with the app whilst driving. The TTS (text to speech) I chose was a polite Brittish gentleman who pronounced most of the streets quite accurately. The voices cover many languages and both genders - I just figured I take enough instructions from a woman (genius though she is). The American accents sound like the old Macintosh voices so, no great loss there.
So, in conclusion. I spent a fraction of the price of a "real" GPS system and got; well, a real GPS system.
Please leave a comment to describe your experiences with the growing ubiquity of the iPhone.
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