REVIEW: Carrier navigation apps provide serviceable directions

Editor’s Note: Welcome to Yay or Nay, a feature for RCR Wireless News’ new weekly e-mail service, Mobile Content and Culture. Every week we’ll review a new wireless application or service from the user’s point of view, with the goal of highlighting what works and what doesn’t in the mobile content industry. If you wish to submit your application or service for review, please contact us at rcrwebhelp@crain.com.
Applications: TeleNav GPS Navigator from Sprint Nextel Corp. and VZ Navigator from Verizon Wireless
Running on: Sprint’s Sanyo SCP-750 and Verizon’s VX8300 from LG.
Yay: Highly accurate location data thanks to GPS; audio turn-by-turn directions allow users to keep their eyes on the road.
Nay: You must be in a coverage area to use the services, so they’re not going to help you very much as you careen through the outback on your hunting trip.
We say: GPS makes all the difference, and these easy-to-use applications are reasonably affordable. But just wait until Google Inc. figures out a way to include GPS data in its mobile mapping service.
Less than a year ago, portable GPS navigation was only for the well-heeled. You could pick up a standalone device for about $750 and stick it in the dashboard, or could shell out $1,500 to your car dealer for a stock system.
GPS-enabled cellphones have changed all that, though, delivering eerily accurate location information for a relative bargain. Sprint Nextel Corp. and Verizon Wireless have led the way among U.S. operators, each teaming with a white-label developer to offer a carrier-branded, GPS-enabled service. Sprint Nextel’s application, which is powered by TeleNav, is included in several of the carrier’s data packages, and is also available for $3 per day for those without the package. Verizon Wireless’ service was developed by Networks In Motion Inc. and is available for a $10 monthly subscription or $3 a day.
Verizon’s application can be downloaded in about a half-dozen clicks from the carrier’s Get It Now deck. Users must jump through a few privacy hoops after accessing the offering (to confirm that they’re willing to disclose their location) and upon launching the app are given a handful of options including accessing maps, live local search and navigation. Driving directions proved surprisingly easy to find: The application remembers recent searches, allows users to create a list of favorites, and look for nearby businesses. Once a destination is determined, the application fixes the phone’s location via GPS and offers a three-screen interface featuring a trip summary, current directions and destination information.
Sprint Nextel’s branded mapping service is one of several available from the carrier, and it proved similar to Verizon’s. After downloading the application and once again tapping through a few privacy questions, users are presented with options including driving directions, a directory and a “maps and traffic” offering. Sprint’s menu of directory offerings presents some interesting choices, allowing users to search for Wi-Fi hotspots, parking lots and even current prices for nearby gas stations.
Both services were effective-if not flawless-in delivering the nuts and bolts of on-the-go navigation through the phone’s speaker. Sprint Nextel did a good job of preparing drivers in advance of a quick turn (“Turn slight left, then turn right”), while Verizon reassured drivers (“Stay left on I-70”) through highway interchanges. Impressively, Sprint’s application apparently checked for traffic when mapping out a route, and continued to look for potential logjams intermittently throughout the journey.
Of course, neither application was flawless. While both accurately helped get me out of downtown Denver on the way to the office, neither provided the most efficient route. Also, Sprint Navigator seemed lost when I got within a half-mile of my office which is, admittedly, in a confusing complex of 21 buildings. Surprisingly, neither service allowed me to switch to speakerphone inside the application; I had to exit the apps, turn the speaker on and launch the apps again.
But both services were remarkably quick to notice when I’d made a wrong turn, pinging their respective servers to recalculate directions. Both provided clean user interfaces that were easy to read even while doing 75 mph, and the voice commands were simple and reassuring without being overbearing.
VZ Navigator and Sprint Nextel’s TeleNav GPS Navigator are sure to attract users as they fuel data revenues, but for carriers, the opportunity to charge subscribers for such applications may be short-lived. Google Inc., Yahoo Inc. and others are moving aggressively with free, ad-supported services, and it’s likely some service providers eventually will try to lure consumers by allowing third-party developers to access their GPS information. While current offerings from Sprint Nextel and Verizon Wireless are a bargain compared with past mobile navigation services, it may not be long before similar location-based applications are available free.