GPS navigation apps for the car or pedestrian turn-by-turn navigation can be successfully run on smartphones and even media tablets (7 inch form factor). We’ve had a look at what’s available and picked our top five. However, a word of caution before purchasing a navigation app – it’s worth considering if the hardware is adequate for the job.

For auto navigation the smartphone or tablet should have; at least a 3.5 inch touch display, a powerful enough processor to crunch the mathematically intensive GPS fixes (A-GPS only works within mobile phone network coverage), sufficiently loud speakers, a secure mounting system, charging cable for long drives, suitably sensitive GPS receiver (when mounted in the car). For the best performance you need to download the mapping data to your smartphone so check you have the 2GB or so you will need. Check the display is bright enough to be seen in bright sunlight – notice the couple of in-car videos below are shot on an overcast day or at night.

1. Sygic GPS Navigation

Sygic offers exceptionally wide software and geographical coverage with its GPS navigation app. It has digital road maps covering most of the planet – which significantly come with free updates including POI. TomTom endlessly quote that 15% of the road system changes each year so having the latest map updates is essential and if they are free it’s a significant bonus. Sygic also covers a wide range of smartphone and media tablet operating systems including; iPhone, iPad, Android, Symbian and Samsung bada (Samsung Apps). The app is available in English, German, French Slovak, Arabic, Dutch, Greek, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish and Thai.

Sygic has considerable experience with mobile navigation apps with over one million users worldwide and even has a significant presence in integrating it’s navigation products into fleet and workplace mobility software (volume licences available). Software can even be customized for truck related road attributes. Some hefty clients include DHL, Siemens and A1.

Headline navigation features for the general GPS navigation application include; spoken turn-by-turn navigation instructions, automatic rotation to landscape or portrait, lane assist, multi-stop route planning, route optimizer to calculate the most efficient route, detour button to instantly find an alternative route, Points of Interest (POI), destination sharing, location sharing, speed limit signs on maps, speed camera crowd sourcing, speed camera warnings, real-time traffic (subscription required), city guides, travelbook (business logbook), real time weather, Facebook and Twitter integration. Destinations can be entered in numerous ways such as a street search, GPS coordinates, contact from contact list, postal code or POI (very satisfactory 7 million). Pedestrian navigation mode comes with step-by-step instructions and electronic compass support.

Optional Live services available include: traffic information, local search, live fuel prices (for local area)

Map quality is excellent coming from premium map suppliers such as; TomTom, WhereIs, ALK Digital Maps and NAVTEQ. Prices for maps vary for single countries and multi-country coverage maps are more expensive. Generally prices are very reasonable. You can download a free 7 day trial from Amazon Android Apps store.

2. Mobile Navigator by Navigon

Navigon AG is a serious GPS navigation player supplying both hardware and software navigation solutions worldwide. It has turn-by-turn navigation apps covering covering windows phone, iphone and Android operating systems. The software is available in a numerous languages; Czech, Dutch, English (US and UK), French, German, Italian, Polish, Russian, Spanish and Turkish. Map coverage includes the U.S., East and West Europe and Scandinavia. Map updates are not free.

The Mobile Navigator app comes with features such as; text-to-speech for spoken turn-by-turn navigation instructions, Lane Assistant Pro, Speed Assistant, Real Road Sign, navigate to contact, 2D/3D views, POI, Smart Speller (predictive text entry), route options Reality View Pro (photo-realistic displays of exits), Clever Parking (clever assistance when looking for a parking space, enhanced target information (information about your destination before you start), MyRoutes (recommends the route that suits you best), Reality Scanner (find nearby special destinations).

Live data services are also available in the form of Google Local Search, Weather Live (along route and at destination) and Traffic Live (route determination takes current traffic situation into consideration). Both automotive and pedestrian navigation modes are available.

Unfortunately, Navigon have not taken advantage of having its app loaded on a mobile network (and Internet) connected platform to link into social networking and informational websites.

Data Sheet for Navigon Mobile Navigator

3. ALK CoPilot Live

ALK’s CoPilot Live has been available for laptop installation for a considerable and ALK now also have it available as an app for Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Mobile.

ALK is itself a premium digital map supplier compiling, developing and maintaining its own maps for North America (U.S. and Canada) and it has excellent world map coverage. CoPilot Live, as with the other navigation apps reviewed, stores the digital maps on your smartphone or tablet so if there is no data connection you can still navigate. It also makes map refreshing work much faster. A convenient option available from ALK is the ability to download only the map area you want rather than the complete map for the country. This enables the user to reduce the storage space required. A valuable advantage to purchasing from ALK is the free MapSure service, available for CoPilot Live North America v8 GPS navigation users, providing automatic map updates at regular intervals for the life of the product version.

CoPilot Live provides voice-guided turn-by-turn GPS navigation and comes with numerous other advanced navigation features including; 2D/3D maps with variable zoom, Lane Assist arrows for complex exits and intersections, route preview, set route preferences, millions of POIs, multi-stop trip planning, safety camera warnings, traffic, weather, facebook integration. Destination addresses can be entered using a variety of methods including; on-screen keyboard, POIs, address book contact and searches. CoPilot Live has a number of live (live data feed based) services including traffic warnings, weather forecasts and local Internet searches. Links into social networking and informational websites are not available nor are safety camera warnings.

Prices for CoPilot Live app versions are some of the most reasonable available and are even less expensive for smaller map area coverage.

4. TomTom Navigation App

Unfortunately, TomTom only have an app for iPad, iPhone and the iPod Touch. It’s also comparatively expensive compared to other apps on offer. However, TomTom have not made their iPhone navigation app a dumbed down version of the software on their dedicated GPS navigation devices.

Map coverage is probably the most extensive of those reviewed as is the number of supported languages (38 currently). TomTom guarantee you will have the latest map available at purchase and map updates are frequent (4 a year) but not free. There are a range of update services to subscribe to. Up to date maps are essential so it needs to be considered in the overall cost.

TomToms naviagation app provides spoken turn-by-turn navigation instructions and a range of premium navigation features including; advanced lane guidance including realistic 3D junction representations, IQ Routes technology which calculates routes based on collected speed data, navigate to photo (using geotag), navigate to a contact, route sharing, departure reminder, landscape or portrait orientation, visual navigation instructions while on a phone call, speed camera warnings (off line database), POIs and automatic day and night mode and MapShare for lodging map updates.

A number of optional live data services are available including TomTom Speed Cameras (fresh, live data), HD Traffic and local search with Google.

5. Magellan Roadmate App

It’s a pity that the Magellan RoadMate app is only available for the iPhone. Magellan have significant mapping coverage and a 30 map guarantee that ensures you will get a free update if a new map is released within 30 days of you purchase.

The Magellan RoadMate app turns the iPhone spoken directions GPS navigator. The price for the Magellan app is very reasonable considering it offers lifetime map updates and real-time traffic updates at no extra charge. Features include; spoken street names, highway lane guidance, In-app Music Control and pedestrian mode. Maps are preloaded onto your phone so you can navigate without a data connection. Two other optional live services are available; Google Local search and Yelp to search for places of interest and check their rating.

The Magellan RoadMate App is reasonably priced coming from a premium GPS provideer.

The video below is for an older version of the Magellan Roadmate App for iPhone.

Read our review of a newly released app which promises to be a disruptive navigation software technology – ROUTE 66 Follow Me Augmented Reality Navigation App.

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