I haven’t posted much to my blog lately because I have been intensely busy, mostly with traveling, writing, and physical therapy. And I have made some minuscule effort to avoid the computer as typing at the keyboard seems to train wreck my bad shoulder!
Recently, well, over the past several days, I used my Navigon application on the new iPhone as I traveled. This application is awesome on its own. On the iPhone 4, the app looks beyond gorgeous and functions with a level of smooth precision I had not noticed before. I love it!
I use the app with the TomTom car kit. I didn’t give a second thought to using the car kit with my new phone, just assuming it would work fine. Wrong! The iPhone 4 is not as thick as the iPhone 3Gs, and this fact caused some connection issues. Apparently the car kit needs the extra thickness to snap the phone firmly into the connector. I even noticed a “rocking lever” that seems to need pressure to deliver electricity to the iPhone 4, which is not thick enough to press the lever.
The iPhone 4 appears to snap into the car kit fine. But it does not get an electrical charge from the connector. After some wiggling/pressing, each time I used it, I managed to get the phone to seat itself enough to get the charge. Having electricity is essential as running a GPS app on the phone would otherwise very quickly deplete the battery.
I also noticed some wonderful updates to the Navigon application since last I used it. I downloaded the panoramic 3D map information which adds more realistic display information. And, for those who are not familiar with the Navigon app, I totally love how it implements highway signage information as you approach the signage. It looks so realistic, just as the signs actually look when you arrive at them. This feature takes so much guesswork out of navigating complex junctions.
The applications functions fantastically well in the background with the new multitasking iOS4. And I also completely love the intuitive interface and GUI design.
On my recent trip to the Atlanta metropolitan area, I confess to finding the speed limit warning a bit annoying. You can set the interval to 5, 10, 15, etc. miles per hour over the speed limit. The application knows the speed limits and will say “Warning” while displaying an exclamation mark in a yellow triangle at the bottom corner of the speed limit sign indicating the actual speed limit. In the top center I have the app showing my current, realtime speed. This is invaluable information when traveling in unfamiliar areas. But I knew the speed limits in the Atlanta area, had the interval set to 5mph, and the traffic was, as the traffic tends to do in Atlanta, speeding maniacally down the intestates. So I heard “Warning!” every minute or so as I drove. With my shoulder, I couldn’t reach to adjust the interval while driving.
I’ll have to update my TomTom car kit when they make one designed for the new iPhone 4. But, I highly recommend the Navigon GPS application!
Related articles:
- On the road with the latest Navigon MobileNavigator (tuaw.com)
- Best iPhone Navigation Apps (brighthub.com)