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| gpspassion |
Posted - 05 janv. 2009 : 23:42:07
Website : >> LINK <<
Updated 20090218 : New version available for download.
Users of GPS software often say they would like to have access to a trial version to make sure it meets their needs, as can be done with other types of software. So let's welcome ZorroGPS who are doing just that with a 48 hour trial period...soon that is, as the download links will be active around January 14th.
In addition to the trial period, ZorroGPS also stands out with its unusually low pricing (€22 for the USA, €36 for Europe), the use of the latest Navteq Maps from Q4/2008, city and regional versions, TTS (Text to Speech) or transit systems navigation...It is expectedly compatible with PDAs and Smartphones but also with PNAs that generally don't let end users add software. The many versions are also a bit confusing...Let's stay tuned for an updated website by the end of the week and the downloadable trial on January 14th...
Questions, comments? |
| 15 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| TzouR |
Posted - 14 sept. 2010 : 21:18:25
ZorroGPS (ZGPS) version 5.2, currently Sep09 release, seems to have gone a long way and has become a decent navigation software after using it on my HTC Touch Diamond/2 for more than a year. As AIO seems to have become the main stream, I am still striving for completing this review because there must be users like me who may prefer onboard GPS installed on their phones to avoid loss of data connection or carrying another device with them.
What I like about ZGPS are
- two-week free trial,
- inexpensive price ($39.95 for Live USA & Canada),
- new Navteq maps (May 2010),
- compatibilities with phones of different resolutions,
- very fast satellite locking (overnight and hot),
- fast routing,
- freedom of storage (either on internal storage or on SD cards),
- flexibilities in adjusting the UI interface: on/off U turn, abcd vs. qwerty keyboard (6 to chose from), three navigation schemes, items to be included on the navigation screen, etc and adjstable guidance options for road/path color/width, distance for warning, "Expert" vs. "Easy" interface, etc
- advanced functions for guidance: Junction views, traffic patters via RT Traffic, smart routing via DT Routes (similar to IQ routes), zoom/volume to speed, routing under different modes of transportation (motor/cycling, walking, driving, and flying  ), Google POI search, weather, radar and traffic (data required), destination search by zip code, etc.
- clear Acapela TTS (high quality V7.5),
- choice of showing either the current road or the next road on the navigation screen,
- abilities of loading multiple countries (USA, Canada, Mexico, and Europe, etc) in the same software,
- real compass showing the moving direction in the 2D/3D navigation mode,
- Navigation directly to Contact List. The Sep09 release also adds a green phone on the screen, which allows for calling/answering directly within ZGPS. Navigation resumes after the phone use.
- fast response from Customer Service (Zorrogps Cavalier).
As they stand, I have mixed feeling toward the user initiated functions embedded in the Z and Live functions. Ideas are good, that users can report live radar, accident, road modifications (1-way, no turn, etc), new POIs, traffic jams (even communicating with “my buddies” registered through ZGPS servers) by a simple click, but I am not sure how ZGPS validates/eliminates those warnings in a timely fashion. I found several apparently “false” warnings when I drove to St. Louis last weekend, some of them might have already been removed (or from users' trials) but the server didn’t update the messages frequently enough. (Improved in the Sep16 release)
What I like to see improvement in the future are
- smaller file size for faster download and smaller storage space. Currently the updates are about 2.2GB, expanded into about 3.6GB after installed on the phone. ZGPS has promised to reduce the file size as they finalize the software.
- Rerouting when missing a turn can be made 1-2 seconds earlier (important when the next trun is close)
- smaller symbols for cars, byciclers, walkers, etc on the navigation screen. They are artistic, but they are too big and often block the roads/intersections.
- A list of improvements being made will be helpful for each update. This is particularly desirable in view of the frequent updates of ZGPS (next update will be on 09/15, as I was told). (Sep16 update already available)
- Smoother road boundaries: Curved roads are currently made of straight lines, with visible rough edges.
- Optimization for route involving multiple waypoints.
- Including the choice of, say a classical triangle enclosed in a circle, in addition to the six cars, to better reflect the position of the car in crowded areas. Current car in navigation sometimes blocks the map. (Done in the Sep-28 update)
- Making the car movement smoother (currently updated once a second; jerky)
- Exit number on interstate highways should be included, i.e., “Exit 8A" rather than “Exit”. I would rather trade this with one of the next two exit numbers provided on the navigation screen on interstate highways.
- Key stroke efficiencies can be improved further by eliminating the need of pressing an additional “X” after clicking on some functions (delete itinerary is an example).
- Same destination should not be repeated in the list of "recent"
- Google POI Search does include the place I was looking for, but it sometimes also includes places that doen't seem to relate to the search. The place with a perfectly matched name should be placed on top. (Improved in the Sep16 update)
Few screen shots and comments:
After the Home Page, there are 6 preferences for the users to adjust. The screen can be rotated by clicking on Horizontal (changed to Vertical). The 2D/3D guidance mode chosen from 2D/3D/Plane button has a real compass. You can swipe your finger through the menu bar at the bottom to move to another category (Home page, Pref. 2, etc) without clicking your ways back.
ZGPS offers two interfaces, EASY and EXPERT, for users to choose. Map color allows users to choose three color schemes/on-screen button settings for the navigation screen: Zorro, Tommy, and Garcia. Each has different “embedded” buttons on the navigation screen for direct access to Road Book (itinerary), Statistic, recent destinations, and road planning. I like Tommy the most because it has most needed data shown on the screen (current time, arrival time, time/distance to destination, etc). The Tommy scheme, however, doesn’t have the progress bar when approaching a turn, which is present only in the Zorro scheme. Both schemes do flash a large picture of left/right turn when approaching a turn, which becomes redundant in Zorro scheme because it has a progress bar with a turn arrow already. Two addresses can be input in Favorites for home and company (working place). Voice/Map warning can be turned on/off for a wide variety of signs/POIs/warnings.
After a destination is chosen, ZGPS can display the destination, the entire route, or none before the navigation starts. I choose “none” for immediate start (parallel to that in Iguidance and GMXT) but showing destination and/or entire route could be handy to ensure an intended destination/button has been clicked in Favorites.
ZGPS uses different colors to display different levels of roads, from Main to Class 4. Their widths/colors are changeable in America-Map-Style.txt in ZorroGPS-NA/Personal/folder. I have changed the guidance path from “hot pink” (inherited from GMXT) to “blue” to distinguish better from “red” used for main roads (interstate highway). Showing next two exits on interstate highways is a special feature. The exit NUMBER, upper left corner, unfortunately, is not included other than a green board with “Exit” marked on it (not shown). The exit number can be read (hard though, because of the small font) from the remaining one exit shown on the screen when approaching the exit. Embedded buttons are behind the texts at the bottom. Pressing “05:52” below, for example, will give the recent destinations and “2866 mi” will yield the statistics of the trip (max speed, distance traveled, etc).
Night view sets in after 8 pm (adjustable). The moving direction can be read out directly from the real compass. In the Zorro theme, ZGPS uses different colors to designate different types of regions (schools, lakes, wooded areas, cities, suburbs, traffic zones, etc, which can also be changed by users)
2D guidance mode does give more neighboring streets. The empty circles indicating the street names in correspondence, however, could be made in red for easier glancing. ZGPS inherits the car symbol from GMXT for the current car location. A traditional, small triangle within a circle, however, may still be desirable to better reflect the car location without blocking too much oo the map (Done in the Sep-28 update). The side view of a moving car in the “3D North” guidance mode is an eye candy when driving side ways, but the classical triangle would be more functional in crowded/enlarged areas.
In conclusion, ZGPS v5.2 Sep09 release is functional, stable, and behaves same/better than iGuidance and GMXT due to the Google POI Search/Traffic/Weather/Radar (that iGuidance doesn't have) and the new map (GMXT doesn't have). Tailorable interface/functionalities add flexibilities well liked by most users. In all my tests the calculated routes by ZGPS are comparable to those by Google Maps, which was not the case for GMXT particularly in big cities with newly constructing roads (may due in part to the old map). I was told that ZGPS has been sent to App store for iphone, with its Android platform available in a month. |
| pivonka |
Posted - 06 juin 2009 : 18:04:27
I have the same problem on my Ipaq 211. |
| netboy |
Posted - 06 juin 2009 : 16:45:36
dont they ever test it before releasing it??
it also doesnt work on sony x1, or htc fuze (touch pro) |
| TzouR |
Posted - 04 juin 2009 : 22:07:35
I just downloaded ZorroGPS Premium v10.4 from http://www.zorrogps.com/US/ (Jun02 version) and installed on my HTC Touch Diamond USA version. The USA-Canada map takes a little over than 3GB, with all installation steps same as those described on the website.
When launched ZorroGPS the first time, however, a warning text box falshed over in less than a second, saying something about ".. automatic configuration of GPS was not successful.. click "yes" to retry or "no" to configure manually..." ZorroGPS then closes immediately. This problem also occured in the previous May-27 version. The helpdesk has been very responsive in working for possible solutions, but so far no solution has been developed yet.
Could anybody please check and see if this occurs to your HTC Touch Diamond USA version (with original rom)? I recoverd the factory default before I installed ZorroGPS and have only Google Map installed in the application. |
| gamemonkey |
Posted - 25 mai 2009 : 17:24:14
So has anyone tried this recently? Any reviews? |
| Dewi |
Posted - 22 mars 2009 : 18:47:15
The Canada map is available for download. |
| Dewi |
Posted - 24 févr. 2009 : 15:14:00
Although the North American links aren't active yet, the European download links are still accessible from different pages on their website. Go to http://www.zorrogps.com/GB/download.asp and you'll see that the UK / Ireland download link is active. Then you can use the drop-down menu at the top right to access other European country pages which in turn have links to their own download pages. |
| bizzybody |
Posted - 24 févr. 2009 : 10:08:55
Feb. 24, 2009 and none of the download or buy links here http://www.zorrogps.com/En/download.asp are active. |
| Dewi |
Posted - 12 févr. 2009 : 15:07:05
New versions of several individual European countries are now posted for download. |
| hotdram |
Posted - 05 févr. 2009 : 16:24:34
New date (at least for US maps, did check anywhere else) is now FEB 9th.
I downloaded PolNav (as pointed to by gpspassion) and that is as far as I have gotten, have not installed it to my phone yet. The interface looks very nice, just no time to play with it yet.
~Rob |
| gpspassion |
Posted - 29 janv. 2009 : 12:11:31
Based on the comments in the FRA forums it's still very much WIP, probably the reason they took it offline, in the meantime you could try PolNav -> http://www.gpspassion.com/forumsen/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=121861 |
| hotdram |
Posted - 29 janv. 2009 : 05:00:04
Just went to the site and it says "Download is closed until Feb. 5th to prepare stronger download capacity".
This was when selecting "US" under the "Your Country" drop-down list, however, when I checked some other countries, the note was the same.
I just bought Garmin Mobile XT for my HTC Fuze (OS = WM Professional 6.1) but wanted to check out the capabilities of this program, as it is not locked to a specific memory card and they offer a free trial.
~Rob |
| Dewi |
Posted - 26 janv. 2009 : 15:13:17
Download speed has improved. France, UK, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain are available.
Still no North American downloads available. |
| Dewi |
Posted - 21 janv. 2009 : 17:03:19
Some of the country pages on the site (e.g. Germany, Italy) indicate "Already Open", although I haven't managed to get to a proper download link yet (the site is soooo slow now). Looks like something's finally happening...
OK, downloading France file now at ~4KB/sec...should be downloaded in 14 hours 
BTW, file size = 196MB
Well that one timed out after 16%. The new download has a different filename and file size (571MB!). It would take 40 hours at the current download rate of 4KB/sec. I'm going to cancel the download as I live in North America anyway. If anyone else wants to give the download a try link is here:
http://www.zorrogps.com/FR/ZorroGPS-France.rar |
| TzouR |
Posted - 19 janv. 2009 : 14:06:06
Praying hard :) Since this may be one of only two programs using the newer Navteq US maps that would still allow installation of the program on PDAs without an expansion card, like HTC Touch Diamond, or an SD card of users' choices. It seems to have most of the desirable/modern technologies included, too. |
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