TeleNav for iPhone review

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TeleNav for iPhone review

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Just recently I had a chance to review the new AT&T Navigator (powered by TeleNav) for the iPhone.


I’m usually a bread and butter kind of guy. I like simple things. The basic map application on the iPhone use to be sufficient for my needs, but being that its hard for me to drive and type addresses into my phone; I needed another solution. Not to mention that its illegal to play on your phone while driving. Not that I would do anything like that… So, I bought a cigarette lighter mount for my iPhone so that I can use Telenav, charge my phone and listen to my music via the car speakers.


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Telenav’s user interface is very straight forward and easy to use. The Drive To selection allows you to choose from your favorites or places you recently looked up. The Business feature is really cool, and I used it quite often to find the cheapest gas in the neighborhood. You can type in names of businesses or select from business types, and Telenav will give you concise directions to the destination you select. The intersection ‘Call it’ feature works very well when you have the phone to your ear or when you have a headset. However, trying to use the call it feature with the speaker phone can be frustrating when there is a lot of background noise. The system seems to misinterpret what you are saying. When the call it feature is selected the app switches to the phone and makes the call.


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Once you have verified you destination and end the call, the app seamlessly starts up again. The app then gives you the options of starting navigation or saving the location to your favorites. One of the downsides of Telenav is that you cannot view the map in a landscape horizontal view like most stand-alone navigation systems. This is some what of a downside in my situation since the cigarette lighter mount that I have for my Honda Civic is mounted below the dash and its hard to see the street names. Not to mention that the most stand-alone navigation systems have bigger screens. If it could go horizontal it would alleviate this problem. I give this application an 8/10.

Pros



  • Voice directions were good and very responsive.

  • Graphics were very good for the iPhone.

  • Gas prices were always accurate and up to date.

  • Call it feature works very well and is very user friendly.


Cons



  • Landscape map not available

  • Automatically assumes that you can get into the HOV lane, should have a feature that lets you specify the number of people in your car.




(Via NaviGadget.)

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