When a sat nav is useless like CoPilot

I have been the proud user of CoPilot for android since my HTC magic. Recently I am using it on my nexus one and have to admit I want something else.

Take a trip recently to Reading it frequently lost its signal. The live traffic was only reporting narrow lanes even though the I had been in my current jam for over one hour and when/if it detects a traffic issue it expects you to manually route around it rather than just get on and reroute like other sat nav solutions I have used.

Again relying on CoPilot to get me to Chester tonight meant losing its GPS even though when selecting the dialog message it can see 8 satellites and is communicating with them. Plus opening Google maps at the same time CoPilot still cannot find the GPS signal  yet Google maps does.

I have put these questions to CoPilot support and have yet to hear why their product just fails. Thankfully I have my n900 with Sygic maps with me for the return home.

Satellite navigation is something I expect to work especially considering I have paid for it. Even back in the days when I ran tomtom on Windows Mobile 3 with an externally connected Garmin GPS it worked, so why not today on better hardware.

Personally I cannot wait for Google navigation to come to the uk. For the interim if CoPilot cannot fix their bugs and sort out the automatic routing the last journey it will be planning will be to the garbage can.

Nokia spolit my fun.

Today Alk finally announced Copilot 8 UK Live traffic for Android and several other platforms at £19.99 per year. This is something that I have been waiting for since last year where I really could have done with it a few weeks ago on a long journey. However since it has only come out I had to resort to my trusty Navman S50 with traffic alerts on this particular trip.

I am also waiting on Sygic Mobile Maps for the N900 as the onboard OVI maps isn't really a satellite navigation solution. I believe the application has been submitted to Nokia for the past several weeks for approval but still nothing on when it will be launched or an indication of the actual cost.

Both of these announcements would have meant me rushing to purchase them straight away as I believe traffic announcements for Copilot are necessary and the N900 having an onboard mapping again enhances the use of the device.

However, old news as this is. I recently blew the dust off my old 5800, upgraded the firmware using windows 7 (another story some time) and installed the free Ovi Maps. I originally subscribed for 3 years to Nokia Maps (as it used to be known) when I first got my N95 because it worked out cheaper than getting 1 year. Since the subscription elasped I purchased Garmin Mobile XT for S60 another good satellite navigation program with freentraffic and cameras. So when Nokia announced that Ovi maps would be free my expectations were high but I was anticipating it to be no better then when I had initially subscribed.

Well how wrong could I be, free traffic alerts and rerouting. Free safety camera warnings. 3D landscapes rendering quickly. Lane guidance. It took me on my journey with the 5800 in landscape mode and didn't falter either on the routing, no delays in dispalyed or spoken instructions and the landscape display was large and clear to view the onscreen map.

Now the excitement of copilot and sygic has gone because I now have everything I need albeit in another phone but it is free. I only need to swap my sim as and when required.

So whilst nokia might have spoilt my fun because I really want to test these two software products, I am now getting all these features for free.

I will probably get Sygic for the n900 because it needs the software to make the device more useful especially considering this is now my main device. But I do hope Ovi Maps is extended to the n900 with free navigation.

All of the satellite navigation companies really need to wake up and smell the flowers, At the moment Ovi Maps for me is more cost effective than both Copilot and Sygic mobile maps because I have access to more mapping regions which can be stored on the device and free traffic/safety camera updates. It will be interesting to see how the satellite navigation business pans out in 2010 especially when Google extends their free navigation.

Today, my advice to anyone looking for a satnav is purchase a 5800 or another Nokia phone with free Ovi Maps Navigation.