Apologies for resurrecting this thread....

I’ve only had an HTC Desire for the past few days, and I’m trying to figure out whether to stick with the Google navigation, or plump for an off-line/paid for application.

I’ve had TomTom for a number of years – through an Orange SPV C500 and a couple of XDAs – and ideally would like to stick with it. This is mainly because I’m used to it, so I’m far from a loyal and devoted customer (although I did try, then ditch the Co-Pilot that came with my XDA Orbit a few years back).

I’m having trouble getting the Google app to work. The first time I tried it, I wasn’t getting any turn-by-turn voice instructions, then last night I wasn’t getting any useful images – just a fixed/very slowly moving overhead map, rather than the view of the road ahead.

Added to the very fast, robotic voice, which doesn’t seem timed well to coincide with the action it’s instructing you to take (not to mention the American terminology – “In 1,000 feet.... How far is that...? Crash!! “) and it’s not really ‘there’ yet.

Is there any expectation that the Google app will improve/develop in the near future, so that it replicates what we’ve become used to from TomTom, Co-Pilot et al – only with clever Googliscious things like voice-searching and a Street View interface?

At the end of the day, I suspect I’ll need a fall-back option for when I’m out of signal range – but will Google become my everyday sat-nav???

The reason for the fixed overhead map is I guess because you did not have a data connection, or the one you had was not fast enough to refresh the map tiles at the speed needed for your driving.

You won't get TT on Android anytime in the near future I suspect. However Sygic's Mobile Maps has a very similar interface (more intuitive than Copilot). The problem with Google is that you are reliant upon having a good free data connection. Not a lot of good if you are roaming or in places that does not have that.

I have Sygic for Europe and Copilot for the USA (it was cheap enough for the few times I am over there). I use Google as a back up when I am in the UK and am looking for something that I do not know the address of - find me the nearest chinese restaurant for example.

And when I do have a good data connection the satelite view is really good - but don't use it too often otherwise you will find that you use up more than your monthly data allowance.

Originally Posted by peterc10

The reason for the fixed overhead map is I guess because you did not have a data connection, or the one you had was not fast enough to refresh the map tiles at the speed needed for your driving.

You won't get TT on Android anytime in the near future I suspect. However Sygic's Mobile Maps has a very similar interface (more intuitive than Copilot). The problem with Google is that you are reliant upon having a good free data connection. Not a lot of good if you are roaming or in places that does not have that.

I have Sygic for Europe and Copilot for the USA (it was cheap enough for the few times I am over there). I use Google as a back up when I am in the UK and am looking for something that I do not know the address of - find me the nearest chinese restaurant for example.

And when I do have a good data connection the satelite view is really good - but don't use it too often otherwise you will find that you use up more than your monthly data allowance.

That's pretty much what I'm looking to do.

I tried the Google navigation again at the weekend, after I had the Android update come through, and it was certainly much better - but for the reasons you state, I think I'll go with Sygic.

Now if I can just figure out how to do things like change the ringtone, I might convince myself that this phone wasn't a mistake (took 3 hours to get it to sync my calendar and contacts with Outlook....).

Originally Posted by Bingo Accent

Now if I can just figure out how to do things like change the ringtone, I might convince myself that this phone wasn't a mistake (took 3 hours to get it to sync my calendar and contacts with Outlook....).

That's easy. On your home screen menu>settings>personalise>default ringtone. Or menu>settings>sound & display>phone ringtone. And you can choose to add any other ringtone to use from within the music player.

Download the latest HTC Sync 3 from HTC site - it is much better than Sync 2.

And I found reading the manual was the best way to appreciate just how much the phone can do and can be changed. Now I am used to it I am hooked.

Originally Posted by Betty_Swallocks

Sorry, I obviously wasn't clear enough. I'm not paying £25 for the internet. My entire contract with 3 costs £25 INCLUDING "unlimited" internet.

And my point still stands. I don't see why anyone would want a phone that is so reliant on an internet connection if they can't afford a contract that includes it.
Why save up to buy it sim free when the majority of applications you'd want to run on it won't work properly without a connection?

Back on topic, I'm using Copilot but it does bring up some interesting routes. I was going from Peterborough to Northampton the other day and decided (unwisely as it turned out) to trust the software.
For some reason Copilot decided it was appropriate to take me on a route that was 10 miles longer than the route I would normally use and sent me right through Kettering town centre. It doesn't have to do that sort of thing very many times to make you lose faith in it.

+1 waiting for TomTom here

It doesn't matter how much your internet is or how much data you use if you go driving without network coverage. Geez, get out of the city more.

Also looking for TomTom or similar on Android, will check out Sygic and ndrive. IGO is not too bad, though lacks some features I like from TomTom.

I'm using HTC Hero With android 2.1

I have tried the following offline navigation appliactions
1 - iGo
2 - Copilot
3 - NDrive
4 - Sygic Mobile Maps 9,10

From my point of view iGo is the best, although it take about have a minute to start, and don't have the feature of adding the coordinates of the destination, the feature which i admire in other applications, as i search for the place to go in wikimapia.org or google earth for example, and get it coordinates from there
i like iGo's optimized routes, fast recalculations, accuracy of maps and its huge number of POIs

Sygic Mobile Maps 10 seems to be a good software also, but i didn't use it enough
NDrive maps' font is very small, and don't provide most optimized roots as others
Copilot have a problem with Arabic keyboards, so i couldn't make the best use of them

but generally they are all will do the job

I am not ready to be really difficult about it yet, but CoPilot has been anything but plain sailing on Android 2.1 running on a Samsung Galaxy S hosted on the Verizon network.

In the beginning it worked fine, I bought it through Android Marketplace and it all worked. Then the trial period ran out... but hang on, I PAID already. It started saying my trial had expired and my android marketplace number was no good. After contacting support and getting no response I was about to call them but when I went to check the error message it worked. It also offered a trial of their live traffic service. Well, OK. Five days before that ran out it started asking for the Google checkout number again, which I saw was already cached. When I said OK it said the number was invalid. So two months after paying for the software it still won't run.

When it does run the navigation and traffic info are OK. It isn't anything like as good as Google for showing nearby traffic. As of the last version that would actually run it wouldn't remember destinations properly and wouldn't navigate to contacts. However it did work much much better off-network than Google or Waze... which require network access, so they show a blank screen. Waze is a fun navigation toy, but not anything like as good as Google or CoPilot.

I am seriously considering buying a Tomtom or Garmin GPS again. On Verizon the network is not available during a voice call, so Google nav and CoPilot's live traffic are down. Not great on a 100 mile commute.

It seems there isn't too much really good available for offline NAV for Android with US maps. I tried Navigon, and it was so minimalilstic compared to TomTom on my WinMo, I didn't keep it.

Been seeing too much negative feedback on CoPilot to try it.

Ndrive is a bit expensive. The comments indicate the maps are outdated, but not sure what country they are referring to.

Copilot worked fine for me with US maps running on my HTC Hero (this is a Hero thread after all). I bought and downloaded it direct from ALK rather than the Market. Cost a bit more ($30 rather than $20) but the support was much better and quicker.

If you are looking for a Tom Tom like experience then, as I said in my previous post, Sygic is the closest. However it is more expensive than Copilot and for the few times I visit the USA it was not worth the extra money, hence why I bought Copilot. However I have Sygic as my main Sat Nav at home in the UK (and Europe) and it is excellent.

Originally Posted by peterc10

Copilot worked fine for me with US maps running on my HTC Hero (this is a Hero thread after all). I bought and downloaded it direct from ALK rather than the Market. Cost a bit more ($30 rather than $20) but the support was much better and quicker.

If you are looking for a Tom Tom like experience then, as I said in my previous post, Sygic is the closest. However it is more expensive than Copilot and for the few times I visit the USA it was not worth the extra money, hence why I bought Copilot. However I have Sygic as my main Sat Nav at home in the UK (and Europe) and it is excellent.

I am a 100% Copilot fan! They had some issues getting their app to work on Froyo but that was solved now in version 8.2. Apart from this I somtimes use Navigon which isn't bad at all, but till I prefer Copilot.

Then there is a completely free app called "Waze" which is just AWESOME for realtime traffic news/ drug&alcohol tests / security cameras and speedtraps etc. It's free and will stay free, the more people who use this in your neighbourhood the more accurate it will work. But this beaty needs a dataconnection unfortunately.


From what I read what you like and don't like, I think you should really give Copilot a try. It's the most complete application with most funtionality in my opinion.