Does anybody here use the Android GPS features?

Supine

Supine

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2006
Messages
947
Reaction score
384
Location
Cape Town
I have an HTC Desire HD and I have never used the GPS functionality. Does anybody here find it useful? I have a cheap Garmin in my car and use that all the time, but I am all for convergent technologies and would like to explore alternatives.

Does Google Maps work acceptably in this country, and how much bandwidth does that use?

What other options are there? I don't mind paying for decent software.

Cheers,
Russell.
 
Google Maps works great, but the Navigation feature is disabled in SA. You can get a hacked version that does work here, it's not bad.
Other navigation software is better. Co Pilot is excellent, not cheap though.

There's Mapquest which is free. I have it but haven't put it to the test yet.
 
I've got a tom tom that barley, if ever gets used. I usually just check on google maps where I need to go and basically memorize the route.. It's normally not difficult to find places...
 
Using hacked google maps 5.5. Was using the brut mod with maps 4 (which you don't need root for).
Works well enough for me. Google maps seems much better at finding places than tomtom/garmin. Only prob with nav is the way it says some words eg
Ave = avay
Dr = doctor
Rd = rd
The pronounciation of road names is also bad but that's basically all gps's.
eg
Hendrik Verwoed = hendric ver wooed etc
 
I've started using Waze. It's a free community driven GPS system with real-time updates on traffic. They apparently only started a short while back in SA, which means that there are still a few places where the roads are either missing or incorrect. The great thing about it though is that you can fix them for yourself, and in doing so, for everyone else as well.

http://www.waze.com/
 
I use the GPS features on mine almost on a daily basis. Google Maps, CoPilot, FB places...
 
I use Google Maps as navigation if I've left my GPS at home or if my GPS cant find it, (Google Maps is generally a lot more up to date.)

If you find the the place you want to go, then get the directions, tap the "star" on the top right of the screen it goes into "3rd" person view like a GPS, it also moves as you drive and like a normal GPS and points to where your car is pointing.

Unfortunately it does not reroute but it does work and it's helped me find places my old Garmin thinks doesn't exist, the Garmin also sometimes takes ages to find satellites.

However, I still cant wait for the official Google Nav to come to SA.
 
Last edited:
CoolBug said:
I use Google Maps as navigation if I've left my GPS at home or if my GPS cant find it, (Google Maps is generally a lot more up to date.)

If you find the the place you want to go, then get the directions, tap the "star" on the top right of the screen it goes into "3rd" person view like a GPS, it also moves as you drive and like a normal GPS and points to where your car is pointing.

Unfortunately it does not reroute but it does work and it's helped me find places my old Garmin thinks doesn't exist, the Garmin also sometimes takes ages to find satellites.

However, I still cant wait for the official Google Nav to come to SA.
Click to expand...

I haven't tested with 5.5 specifically but mine certainly always used to reroute...
 
Google Navigation is AWESOME! Much faster to find where you're going. Usually have to type half the destination, and it automatically suggests the correct one.

I gave my tom tom away to my mum.

And if you're not root, then the Google Maps on map directions (which are sort of real-time directions) are pretty useful. Once you've searched and found directions, then you can click an icon to "show on map"
 
CoolBug said:
I use Google Maps as navigation if I've left my GPS at home or if my GPS cant find it, (Google Maps is generally a lot more up to date.)

If you find the the place you want to go, then get the directions, tap the "star" on the top right of the screen it goes into "3rd" person view like a GPS, it also moves as you drive and like a normal GPS and points to where your car is pointing.

Unfortunately it does not reroute but it does work and it's helped me find places my old Garmin thinks doesn't exist, the Garmin also sometimes takes ages to find satellites.

However, I still cant wait for the official Google Nav to come to SA.
Click to expand...

Oh, you said that already. :)

I couldn't stand having to put the correct City, Town, Area, Zip Code, Street Name, Street Number, House Colour in other nav devices.
 
Thanks for the head up on Sybic, Neverwhere. I'll have a look.
My personal fave is NDrive. Costs about R700 or R800 and there's a free week trial (I think still). It also doesn't use data.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X