SAT NAV
Navman Panoramic
You could mistake the Panoramic for a tablet, such is the presence of its 7in display. That makes it better suited to bigger cars, vans and lorries (there’s even a Truck Mode, £70 for a lifetime activation), and the advantage is a better overview of your surroundings. Anyone hoping for a ‘large type’ mode will be disappointed, but then they probably shouldn’t be driving anyway. Speed camera info is yours for £20 a year but you’ll also need an antenna (E36) to receive TMC traffic data.
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| 7in |
TomTom Go Live 820 Europe
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| 4.3in |
About as cute as a sat-nay can be, the 820 hardware looks and feels like the result of many years’ evolution. Just flip out the sucker on the back to fix it to your windscreen (either way up will do) and you’re ready to go. It comes with the usual bucket of extra features, but the most useful is the traffic updates it collates from other TomTommers via its built-in SIM card.
There’s much to like about the 820 once you get over its tap-only resistive touchscreen. convoluted location search and yearly fee for traffic info. It’s less stubborn than others when you need it to re-route, less likely to suggest a turning that’s been closed for a decade, has clear voice guidance, plus accurate speed camera and speedo readouts to help keep your licence clean. You feel like you’re in capable hands.
Garmin Nuvi 3490LMT
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| 4.3in |
At first glance, the Garmin looks a clear winner. It’s just 9mm thick, with an iPhone-style capacitive multi-touch screen and double the battery life of the TomTom. Plus, traffic info and map updates are included, subscription-free, for the product’s lifetime. You also get 3D terrain maps with landmarks and voice control. Nice.
In reality the Garmin has a tit for-tat fight with the TomTom. Looking up addresses and places is far easier with the Garmin’s Google-style search box. but. in our tests it constantly failed to recognise our voice input, whereas the TomTom was near- faultless, The Garmin has a better map display but for the free traffic Info to work you need to have the main unit plugged into a power socket and an external antenna wire connected to that. Messy. But for its overall usability the Garmin just edges it.
Nokia Drive
Before Nokia got into bed with Windows, its free navigation app was the best reason to buy one of its phones. Now Nokia Drive comes pre-installed on the
company’s Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones, such as the Lumia 800. Unlike Googles alternative, Nokia Drive allows you to pre-load your maps including international ones. over W-Fi, so you’re not reliant on a data connection when you’re on the road.
Finding a destination is just how it should be: enter any term a partial address company name. landmark, whatever into the search box, and you’re off. From here it’s either refreshingly minimalist or under-developed, depending on your outlook: we lean towards the former. There’s no traffic info and if you’re overseas it’ll briefly need a data connection for a new destination, but voices are plentiful and clear and overall it’s a great little app.
company’s Windows Phone 7.5 smartphones, such as the Lumia 800. Unlike Googles alternative, Nokia Drive allows you to pre-load your maps including international ones. over W-Fi, so you’re not reliant on a data connection when you’re on the road.
Finding a destination is just how it should be: enter any term a partial address company name. landmark, whatever into the search box, and you’re off. From here it’s either refreshingly minimalist or under-developed, depending on your outlook: we lean towards the former. There’s no traffic info and if you’re overseas it’ll briefly need a data connection for a new destination, but voices are plentiful and clear and overall it’s a great little app.
NavFree
NavFree has a lot going for it. It really is free and unlike Google Nav it will let you download maps at home for the UK and Ireland, plus some major European and worldwide countries, bypassing roaming data charges on your hols. There’s no traffic info at all and speed camera warnings arc an in-app purchase, but you do get an app that looks like a proper sat-nav, with voice guidance, a Google search option and
standard address look-up.
CoPilot Live Premium
Unfortunately there are some less appealing parallels with hardware sat-navs. Entering a destination is a regimented postcode-and street-name affair, with far too much input required before it has a stab at finding the place. The traffic info is only yours for a year and costs a tenner after that. and worst of all, we noticed a few schoolboy errors on the maps. It’s a solid navigator, but CoPilot needs to move with the times.
Google Maps Navigation
This Android-exclusive app gets off to a flying start, powered by the worlds best search engine. You can enter postcodes. street names, towns, businesses,
landmarks or general search terms... anything, really. Uniquely, there’s a Google Earth-style satellite-view option, and it also indicates traffic levels with colour coded roads. It’s reliant on a data connection (or its maps, but can cache all it needs for your route before you set off-although that wont stop you racking up big roaming charges abroad.
Reliable voice recognition makes it easy to use in-car, and its search skills are phenomenal: you’ll never use a postcode again. Routing is as intelligent as on any rival, while its traffic info is accurate and seamlessly integrated into the main view. You’re guided by a text-to-speech robot-not ideal-but the awesome satellite view makes up for it.