Comments on: TeleNav Released for Treos

TeleNav have announced that TeleNav GPS Navigator is now available on the recently-launched Palm Treo 680 smartphone along with the other Treo smartphones currently available from Palm in the U.S. TeleNav GPS Navigator offers unlimited turn-by-turn voice and on-screen driving directions, pedestrian mode for use while walking, full-color moving maps, information and directions to more than 10 million business listings including frequently updated fuel prices.
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Nice, but...

joad @ 11/27/2006 2:16:05 PM # Q
I purchased Tom Tom and it's quite a nice program, but the practicality of navigating with a smartphone really hasn't been thought well-through. Tinyest screen, multi-function device, and lots of software-controlled buttons is a recipe for disaster. I dread being near one of the idiots that can't even use a turn signal or stay within the lines of the road when they talk on the phone adding THIS to their toolkit.

That said, dynamic map updates and the other features this has sounds really nice. The GUI looks as good as TomTom and the subscription is somewhat reasonable but odd - what constitutes a "trip" and if you reroute or get a phone call is the restart another "trip" (some shareware trials like CSFAX do this).

This program is a start in the right direction - adding live dynamic updates to GPS - but it does not belong on a cell phone given the present technology. Too many pedestrians are maimed and die in my city because of distracted drivers, this technology will only increase the carnage.

And have they even noticed the "slight" lag on the NVFS Treos which sorta puts a damper on any sort of practical use of this on the device even if it WERE safe...

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T-Mobile

xImtc @ 11/27/2006 2:37:58 PM # Q
The software runs on Treo's and is offered on T-Mobile, but not on T-Mobile Treo's through the website (no doubt because T-Mobile doesn't sell the Treo). Can it work on my new Copper 680 on T-Mobile?

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How good is the coverage?

4s @ 11/27/2006 3:20:19 PM # Q
I used TeleNav earlier in the year on my T650 (Sprint). It was pretty good. The interface was nice, although the voice could have been a bit louder.

My question is this: How good are the maps compared to TomTom 6? I have TomTom 5, and there are a great many streets missing in my town. I am thinking of upgrading, but may go with TeleNav instead if the maps beat the TomTom 6 ones.


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RE: How good is the coverage?
SeldomVisitor @ 11/27/2006 3:27:32 PM # Q
"Maps" with GPS devices tend to be dynamic - either absolutely requiring per-use "updates" or absolutely requiring an update subscription. Thus any maps you might have easily could simply be out of date.


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Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?

SeldomVisitor @ 11/27/2006 3:20:37 PM # Q
I think GPS devices are WAY cool - no kidding - just really really nifty!

And, in general, totally - and I mean totally - useless for day to day driving.

If I live in my car (or truck), or if I'm in a plane, those guys are useful - no doubt about it.

But what if I don't live in my car. What if I drive to work, back again, to the store, back again, and once or twice per year take a drive to a vacation?

What do I use a GPS for THEN?

No kidding - whenever I travel from point A to point B I ==always== preplan the trip. Don't you? With Google Maps, etc, I can even print out maps showing the key locations - which I do if I'm driving on vacation any distance.

If I'm "going downtown" and thinking I might want to eat then I'll find all those places BEFORE I get in my car and make a decision on the type/price I might want to spend - and that's a rare event ANYWAY.

So what's a GPS =good= for, in GENERAL?

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
whydidnt @ 11/27/2006 3:31:24 PM # Q
I have GPS built into my car and I *NEVER* pre-plan a local trip. I simply plug the address into the GPS and go. My daughter plays traveling sports and I never have to worry about finding the venue. When taking her to a new friends house, I simply ask the address and don't have to worry about following complicated or possibly incorrect directions. There are several times a month I use the GPS to correctly get me to my destination. Yes, many of these times I know the general area and could have looked it up and found it otherwise, but the GPS makes it much more convenient.

For a vacation, sure you can plan your route to the desired destination, but what about when you get there? Surely you have to figure out how to get to that restaurant or beach or whatever it is you want to visit. Having a GPS makes it easy to get where you want to.

If you approach use of GPS for your normal daily commutes, work, store, etc, then it has little non-gadget value. However, if you think about all those times you go to a new place that you don't know exactly how to get to it becomes an invaluable time saver.

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
Gekko @ 11/27/2006 3:43:07 PM # Q

ditto. a good, Japanese built-in factory NAV is a beautiful thing. you don't realize what you're missing until you have one.



RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
cervezas @ 11/27/2006 4:04:46 PM # Q
I'm with SeldomVisitor on this one. I like having a GPS navigator in my rental car when I'm in a new city, but I find them useless for day-to-day driving in Chicago or Colorado Springs. Guess it's like everything else in the mobile device space: everyone's mileage varies, sometimes drastically.

The time I like having the GPS is for hiking, trail running, training, that kind of thing. I developed some crude software that runs on a Garmin iQue and lets me set up training courses and track my times on them. One of these days I need to clean it up and release it.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
freakout @ 11/27/2006 6:10:11 PM # Q
If you approach use of GPS for your normal daily commutes, work, store, etc, then it has little non-gadget value. However, if you think about all those times you go to a new place that you don't know exactly how to get to it becomes an invaluable time saver.

Exacto-mundo. Not to mention it makes it a lot easier to stay focused on the road if you don't have to peer over at a hastily hand-written list of directions every other minute - especially in city traffic!

It'd also be invaluable for courier drivers and delivery people who were unfamiliar with the area, I reckon. Personally, I would have killed for my current GPS setup when I was delivering pizzas. (of course, had I been able to afford it at the time, I probably wouldn't have been delivering pizzas in the first place, but that's beside the point....)

Tim
I apologise for any and all emoticons that appear in my posts. You may shoot them on sight.
Treo 270 ---> Treo 650

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
SeldomVisitor @ 11/27/2006 7:03:16 PM # Q
> I have GPS built into my car and I *NEVER* pre-plan a local trip....

I guess some ancient pilot-training I underwent set my own preferences in cement - I =always= pre-plan. Lol!

YMMV indeed!

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
AdamaDBrown @ 11/27/2006 7:20:05 PM # Q
I suppose I have a different perspective on this. I have an excellent memory for driving, and in most local (under 1 hour) trips I rarely use GPS, and even when I do I almost never pre-plan a route. Even so, I use GPS on a semi-regular basis, for a variety of reasons. I like being able to see roads and turns coming, which isn't always a guarantee in the boondocks. I like knowing that I can find anything, even the most obscure address, without difficulty. And if I'm outside my familiar territory, it helps knowing where things like gas stations, restaurants, and emergency facilities are. Also, there are some labyrinthian roads down to the south that are nigh-impossible to figure out where you are or where you're going without a GPS.

I would guess that it varies by locality--it's easy for me out here to know almost all the roads within 15 miles of my home, but if I lived in a city I might find it harder to navigate by the seat of my pants.

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
Gekko @ 11/27/2006 8:07:39 PM # Q

Move out of the sticks, gentlemen.



RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
cervezas @ 11/27/2006 8:24:10 PM # Q
I'd hardly call Chicago "the sticks" (which is the office I'm in most of the time these days). It's not about where you live, it's about how often you drive to places you don't already know how to get to.

David Beers
Pikesoft Mobile Computing
www.pikesoft.com/blog
RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Josie Normal?
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 11/29/2006 12:39:05 AM # Q
So what's a GPS =good= for, in GENERAL?

You MUST be kidding, hengeem. Or else you've never used a GPS. Do you know how anxious some people get over the possibility of getting lost when driving in unfamiliar territory? A GPS frees them of that (oft-overwhelming) fear of being lost. It also allows users to become a LOT more spontaneous in their travels, knowing that they can wander around as much as they want to, yet will be able to get back on track to a destination with a touch of a button.

The abilities to accurately calculate time-to-destination and find nearby gas stations, etc. can be extremely helpful as well.

I had hoped Garmin's GPS PalmOS models would have evolved to integrate data from applications like Zagat To Go and the Address book to allow instant creation of user-definable Points Of Interest and allow for tap-and-go mapping, but now that Garmin is dumping PalmOs it looks like that will go down as even more unrealized potential of the PalmOS platform. Oh well.

Cellphone, PDA and GPS are probably the 3 most useful gadgets I've purchased over the past decade. In an ideal world one could combine them with few compromises. Unfortunately, for now it appears that a dedicated GPS still makes a lot more sense than a PDA or cellphone-based GPS. Of course, Google's gonna change all that in 2007...

TVoR

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
freakout @ 11/29/2006 2:46:36 AM # Q
Of course, Google's gonna change all that in 2007...

Indeed. Were I running a company that sold maps, I'd be afraid of Google Maps. Very afraid.

RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
SeldomVisitor @ 11/29/2006 6:59:52 AM # Q
> ...Do you know how anxious some people get over the possibility
> of getting lost when driving in unfamiliar territory? A GPS
> frees them of that...

No argument from em there!

In fact, my question explicitly (well sorta) said: "In a strange area, great!"

My whole point was a GPS appears to be a VERY intermittently-"great"-aid and an almost-always redundant and useless - but still cool! - toy for Joe Normal.


RE: Serious question - of what use is GPS for Joe Normal?
The_Voice_of_Reason @ 11/29/2006 3:49:37 PM # Q
My whole point was a GPS appears to be a VERY intermittently-"great"-aid and an almost-always redundant and useless - but still cool! - toy for Joe Normal.

Obviously, how useful GPS is depends on where you live + how much you travel to unfamiliar areas. Here in The Bay Area GPS is extremely useful for many people. On the other hand if you live in Backwoods, Georgia or Dumba$$, North Dakota or Banjo, Kansas GPS may indeed be practically useless.


TVoR

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New GPS Software for PALM OS

Gil50 @ 11/30/2006 2:27:12 PM # Q
I ordered the EMTAC V3.0 Navigation system for my T/X and will also work on the TREOS. It is very promising and the good thing is that it uses NAVTECH maps, like all Garmin units! It has great looking screens and features. Not bad for the $$$......
Take a look here:
http://www.emtac.com/index.html
Gil

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