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way
Canada
32 Posts |
 Posted - 10 juil. 2009 : 01:13:56
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Product page on the editor's site : >> LINK <<
I have started experimenting with this application for a few days now and wanted to post my first impressions. First of all, I should say that I do not own Sygic's Mobile Maps application on Windows Mobile or other PDA, so I will compare and contrast against my trusty Garmin PND.
The app is available in iTunes for $79.99 CDN with no monthly fees. I have no idea whether Sygic will charge for map updates  in the future.
Starting the application from cold gets you a lock fairly quickly; complaints in the App Store in this regard seem to be confined to people who have not invested in a car mount high up on the dash or on the windscreen (windscreen mounts are illegal in some provinces and states in North America). I have my iPhone 3G hooked up to my car stereo using an AUX hookup so voice volume is fine.
TTS is a mixed bag on this application as it will only announce entry and exit to and from major highways i.e. it ignores roads around town or minor highways. The spoken directions are confined to "turn right" or "keep left" etc. and are easily understood (I am using Simon, English UK voice). I found that the directions are triggered at a single 200m interval from the intersection around town and approximately 500m approaching minor highways. However, once you have taken a turn, the new upcoming turn is not announced, which is disappointing (probably tied to the TTS street name deficiency).
Speed warnings are only in effect on major highways; you're out of luck elsewhere!
My impression of the UI was that the map display was clean and modern. Upcoming cross streets are zoomed in for clarity and I had no difficulty in recognizing street names. The map display does lag a little bit on my 3G (probably fixed in 3GS!) but there it does not compromise everyday navigation. Speed display was quite accurate compared to my car speedometer readout. The display works in landscape or portrait orientation - nice! The display flips to night colors automatically.
Route calculation and re-calculation is very fast. The routes themselves are OK and comparable to my Garmin but I have occasionally seen some circuitous routing when using major toll highways.
There is no custom POI integration with this application; built-in POIs worked fine except I could not "Add POI" for an address in my favorites. This is a bug that is supposed to fixed in the next release.
Integration with other iPhone functions - contacts, music and phone - is a little shaky. You cannot navigate to a contact, only to an address, POI, point on map, postal code etc. You cannot play music from the application. When an incoming call arrives, the application restarts but you then have to press the safety prompt to get back to your route and so feels a bit clumsy.
In conclusion:
This application is competent at basic navigation but is obviously a work in progress; the big disadvantages for me are the lack of:
1) Traffic (should be easy given that this is a connected device)
2) No custom POI integration; most PDA navigation packages support this so no excuse here
Sygic also need to fix the integration with the native iPhone functions like contacts and music but let's wait and see 
If anyone has specific questions, I would be happy to try to answer them (if I know the answer!).
Some screen shots:
Navigation Screen
Options
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Edited by - way on 10 juil. 2009 13:57:09
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
Posted - 10 juil. 2009 : 01:23:02
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Thanks for sharing. I tested the iDA version that was released in Europe in June and noted the following :
- it doesn't have the usual iPhone interface (scroll, multi-touch, pop-up keyboard, etc..), feels a bit like a "brute porting", but it is reponsive and the map display is fast and smooth
- traffic via GPRS seems lie a natural indeed but may bot be easy to add as they have not implemented it on any of their other versions AFAIK, at least not via GPRS, maybe via RDS FM
- you can add your own custom POIs using the ov2upi tool, except you'll need to transfer the files via SSH so that means a jailbroken iPhone.
In any case it's the only "full" GPS program so far on the iPhone, Navigon is very limited although they have an update on the way apparently and TomTom seems to be delayed and apparently simplified too...and Garmin has not announced anything.
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Discounts and Assistance/Réductions et Assistance (Club GpsPasSion) / Où commencer? |
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
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bins
7 Posts |
Posted - 02 sept. 2009 : 23:42:34
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Thanks for the great review !
As you said you were willing to answer questions :-)
I am wondering how to add telephone numbers to custom POI in Sygic.
I recall that when TomTom introduced this on Windows Mobile you could add >++XX [country code] after the POI name and then you could call that POI from within the program, this before they introduced the second pop up screen (for phone numbers) when adding a POI.
What format to use with Sygics' POI ?
The built in POI also have this nice Group feature.
Is it possible to do the same with custom POI ?
Thanks for any clues !
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SwissFreek
USA
54 Posts |
Posted - 03 sept. 2009 : 13:44:04
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| Sygic's product description says that they have submitted an update to the App store that has TTS included, among other improvements, so here's hoping it's worth it's salt when Apple finally approves it (which historically takes a week or two). |
SwissFreek
CoPilot Live 8 (iPhone) - Garmin GPSMap 60CSx - Garmin Mobile PC v5 |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 03 sept. 2009 : 16:53:19
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quote:
Originally posted by bins
Thanks for the great review !
As you said you were willing to answer questions :-)
I am wondering how to add telephone numbers to custom POI in Sygic.
I recall that when TomTom introduced this on Windows Mobile you could add >++XX [country code] after the POI name and then you could call that POI from within the program, this before they introduced the second pop up screen (for phone numbers) when adding a POI.
What format to use with Sygics' POI ?
The built in POI also have this nice Group feature.
Is it possible to do the same with custom POI ?
Thanks for any clues !
AFAIK unless your iPhone is jailbroken, it is not possible to add custom POIs to Sygic. Since I have kept my iPhone standard, my own knowledge in that area is very limited.
I have consistently encountered problems adding POIs from within the program. So if I go Manage POI -> Add POI -> Address, the wizard appears to save the POI but it never appears in the POI list! The whole POI area seems to be broken and needs to be fixed. I emailed Sygic about the specific issue I have experienced and they advised me to wait for the next release (which apparently has already been submitted to the Apple app store reviewers).
Sorry I could not help you more i.e. give a good answer to your question . |
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bins
7 Posts |
Posted - 04 sept. 2009 : 13:27:04
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Thanks for your reply !
Irrespective of jailbreaking or not, in the 7.71 version you can add you own custom POI from within the program.
You can name the POI but not add a phone number to it.
The same was with TomTom long time ago (version 5 or earlier), if you entered >++XX Y (XX=country code, Y=phone number) after the POI name, you could call your own POI (later they introduced the 2nd pop up with option to add phone number).
Anyone aware of a similar option/trick, or do we have to wait for an upgrade ? |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 04 sept. 2009 : 13:51:44
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quote:
Originally posted by bins
Thanks for your reply !
You can name the POI but not add a phone number to it.
You're welcome, my pleasure.
That's what I was referring to in my previous post; in my version - 7.71.2 - from within the application, I cannot even name or save POIs and so that's why I have not reached the point where I can try to answer the question. It seemed to work at one point in time, but stopped working after the upgrade from 7.71.1 to 7.71.2. Wait for upgrade perhaps? Or maybe someone else has found a clever way to do this.
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bins
7 Posts |
Posted - 09 sept. 2009 : 03:45:45
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Ok, brief update...
I found that adding ,+ to a POI name gives the possibility to add a phone number !!
As however the , is not on Sygic's iPhone keyboard, you can only do this by retransferring the *.upi file to your desktop and manually add the , on your desktop and then transfer the file back to your iPhone ...
(I use Ov2Upi Translator 2.9 and POI Edit to translate *.upi to *.ov2, and *.ov2 to *.asc and back to *.upi)
With regard to the phone number there should be no spaces in it, a - between country code etc. is ok though (like TomTom), otherwise you can not dial your number (even though the Call icon does light up).
Only (major) issue now is that by adding the phone number as above, the name of the POI disappears in the list !!
All POI with a phone number show up as Unknown POI in the POI list...
I tried inverting name and phone number, adding all sorts of symbols, but have not yet found the solution...
Anyone any suggestions in the meantime ? |
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MarieLo
Portugal
2 Posts |
Posted - 21 sept. 2009 : 14:09:43
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| Thanks so much for making this review way. The information presented is really interesting. You were able to see all routes easily whilst driving? I was a little concerned with getting GPS for iPhone because the screen might be too small to read compared to regular 4.3" PNDs. What did you think about that? |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 22 sept. 2009 : 12:41:48
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| Hello MarieLo, I have no problems in seeing the routes while driving. Interestingly, the iPhone screen seems to be more readable than PNDs in certain conditions, especially when sunlight is directly shining on the screen. Sygic is preparing an update to the application for release in the app store that will feature "Increased font size of street names and information bars for improved readability" and "Smoother position display as you follow your route" so that should improve upon what I think is already quite acceptable. |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 23 sept. 2009 : 02:00:55
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| New version available in the App Store (v7.71.4 for North America and Europe - other geos should trickle in). Based on my cursory examination, the TTS works very well and clarity / scrolling of the map is improved. POIs and Favorites now seem to work as they should . I will play with the new version some more and report back here. |
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kyteflyer
13 Posts |
Posted - 14 oct. 2009 : 16:55:23
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| TTS does work well in the update but you have to be prepared for some odd pronunciations. Overall, Sygic really does do an excellent job. I've yet to see any of the others surpass its features. Navigating to contacts provides the same "problem" as with any of the others. If you have not got your contacts properly formatted, Sygic won't understand the address. |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 17 oct. 2009 : 03:10:38
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| Agreed; this update seems to be a very functional and stable update. Wonder what the "fix" would be for the contact address issue. Many platforms tend to enforce a specific format to avoid this type of issue. Perhaps Apple will eventually transform addresses into a standard iPhone format and we can have some uniform GPS application behavior. |
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way
Canada
32 Posts |
Posted - 24 nov. 2009 : 15:57:46
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I just received a press release from Sygic about an upcoming traffic feature in Sygic. It will be interesting to see the differences between their implementation and other vendors especially as it relates to different geographies.
quote:
Sygic is preparing the launch of the real-time traffic information service add-on to its turn-by-turn navigation software Mobile Maps for iPhone at the beginning of 2010.
“Traffic information service has definitely been among the features most discussed by our users recently. We are happy to state, that we have finalized the technical part of it, i.e. enabling the traffic info service client run in the application. At this moment, we are in negotiations with the providers of this kind of service in different countries and we trust to finish these within a few weeks, so that we can launch the real-time Traffic feature for iPhone app at the beginning of 2010.” says Michal Stencl, CEO, Sygic.
The benefits of real-time traffic information are undeniable in today’s mobile society: being informed and making the right choice of route saves time and fuel, protects the environment and last but not least, avoids getting exposed to the risk of participating in or causing further traffic incidents, which is a common reality of congested traffic situation.
Receiving up-to-date information about traffic incidents (where available) and depicting them on maps in real-time provides the driver with a detailed picture of where traffic incidents, accidents, road works, or congestion zones – illustrated by relevant route parts coloured according to the degree of the congestion - are located on the selected route. Based on this, the driver can decide to avoid them by using an alternative route. In order to do this, the navigation application is supportive again and features either automatic or manual rerouting option in order to instantly calculate the best new route to the destination.
Sygic Mobile Maps real-time Traffic information service add-on feature is planned to be available for iPhone in three subscription models to suit all needs – monthly, annual or life-time. More information about pricing and where/how to buy will be available once negotiations with data providers will be finalized.
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gpspassion
93393 Posts |
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[TOPIC] Sygic Mobile Maps for the iPhone - Testing
