Review: Navigon MobileNavigator for iPhone

Navigon reached the start line first for turn-by-turn iPhone GPS and has released two MobileNavigator products so far- one includes European maps and the other is for the UK only, and they are priced at £79.99 and £52.99 respectively.

The feature set is quite light at the moment and does not include speed camera alerts or optional extras such as traffic, but Navigon has promised updates in the future. As to what these will be only time will tell.

First impressions are of an application that has been built with the iPhone in mind and the interface and buttons work extremely well for quick changes when driving. The map view is a little distant and it is not always easy to see exactly where you are in a busy area.

The advantage of this setup is that you can see more of the roads around you and this can help in certain situations, but some time spent using it will make the concept feel more familiar and ultimately easier to use.

Lane guidance is here which is effective when leaving motorways and the handy road sign feature adds a further level of realism which will suit newcomers to GPS. The included voice is not as realistic as it could be, but the audible warnings and directions are aired in good time and are consistent throughout any journey.

At high volumes the voice does distort a little so try to keep it set at about three quarters to gain the ideal balance between volume and clarity.

Sadly, full postcode search is not currently included and this can cause problems when trying to narrow down a destination. The points of interest are extensive, but on long roads it can be troublesome trying to pinpoint a particular address- we hope to see full postcode searching added soon.

There is a roadblock feature which works very well, but it is somewhat buried in the menu system- take some time to understand all of the options and you will get a lot more out of this software.

We would rate MobileNavigator as a capable GPS software solution, but would like to see some improvements and extra features added in the near future.

Map coverage: UK & Irleand
Price: £52.99
Web: www.navigon.com

Verdict: 7/10

Popularity: 1% [?]