Sure, most Android phones ship with free access to Google Maps navigation. But Verizon is hoping it can entice you to pay $9.99 per month to use its VZ Navigator VX service instead.

So what does Verizon offer that you don’t get from Google’s free service? Here are just a few things:

• Virtual City Driving with 3D animations of major cityscapes
• Overhead traffic signs letting you know which lane to drive in or where to exit
• Plan trips online using a PC and send the details to your phone
• Premium traffic information which is updated every 60 seconds

The navigation service also features the usual goodies, including 2D and 3D views, satellite imagery, and search for local airports, gas stations, restaurants or other locations through Microsoft Bing integration. You can also use the app to get car, truck, bicycle, or walking directions.

Overall, the app looks great — but $10 per month is still a hard sell when there are free alternatives available. For now VZ Navigator VX is available for the Motorola Droid X, HTC Droid Incredible and Samsung Fascinate.

via Android Police

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GPS navigation apps for the iPhone are  a dime a dozen these days, but somehow one of the biggest names in GPS hasn’t launched an iPhone app… until now. Today Garmin has released a GPS app for iOS called StreetPilot.

The app runs $39.99 and provides maps and directions for the US and Canada. It also offers voice directions, traffic alerts, road closure information, lane assist, and speed limit notices.

The app will require an internet connection, since the maps are stored online. This makes sure your maps are always up to date, but as I’ve learned from relying on Google Maps navigation on Android, this can be a pain if you need to reroute your trip after driving into an area with poor wireless coverage.

via BGR

Navigon’s MobileNavigator USA app for Google Android offers all the features you’d expect from a GPS navigation app. It plots your point on a map and displays turn by turn directions from point A to point B on a 2D or 3D map. It offers live traffic information, speaks directions out loud to you using your phone’s speakers, and shows points of interest along the way.

Scan to download

But MobileNavigator boasts one feature you won’t find in most other navigation apps: An augmented reality view. Navigon calls it “Reality Scanner,” and here’s how it works: You point your phone’s camera at something, and Navigon checks with the GPS and compass hardware, then dips into its data to find out what you’re probably looking at and displays it on the screen. Not sure how much further you have to go until you find the restaurant, gas station, hotel or parking lot you’re looking for? MobileNavigator can show you.

Honestly, it’s a bit of a gimmick, since Reality Scanner doesn’t really show you anything you couldn’t find using the 3D maps. But it’s still kind of cool.

For the next few weeks you can pick up MobileNavigator for about $39.99, but after that the price goes up to $59.99. The prices might fluctuate a bit, because the company is actually based in Europe and the prices are set in Euros and then translated to dollars by the Android Market.

via Android Guys

All new  Google Android devices have a free option for GPS turn by turn navigation, thanks to Google Maps. But while Windows Phone 7 will ship with a rather slick looking Bing Maps application, it doesn’t currently support turn-by-turn navigation features. It looks like there will be third party offerings to fill that niche though.

TelMap is one of the first companies to announce a navigation app for windows Phone 7. At launch, the service will only be available in Singapore and Malaysia, although the company does have access to maps and traffic information for the US, Europe, and other regions, so TelMap could eventually broaden its coverage area.

The TelMap app seems to have all the basic features you would expect, including 2D and 3D map views, real-time traffic info, and turn by turn voice directions. The app can also show points of interest including gas stations. There’s also a cell ID feature that lets you check a location even when you’re indoors and can’t get a good GPS signal.

I suspect it also won’t be too long before we see other companies such as TomTom and CoPilot enter the fray with their own Windows Phone 7 navigation apps. Microsoft is also expected to add navigation functionality to Bing Maps next year.

via WP Central

Most newer Android phones come with free Google Maps Navigation, which means that you can turn on the GPS receiver, enter a destination and your phone will provide you with turn-by-turn walking or driving directions, complete with spoken directions and your location on an on-screen map. There’s just one catch — the maps aren’t actually stored on your phone, and are instead downloaded on the fly. That means if you happen to pass through an area with patchy wireless data coverage, and you make a wrong turn, your phone won’t be able to help you get back on track.

Scan to download

There are a number of third party solutions that allow you to download maps and store them on your device, much as you would do with a full features in-car GPS unit. Typically these apps are pretty pricey for Android applications, but the folks behind ALK Technologies have just released a new app for US residents which runs just $5, so I decided to download it and give it a try.

CoPilot Live USA is available from the Android Market. The $4.99 price tag covers the full app, which means you can download the latest map of the entire US and store them on your phone’s SD card. The full US map will take up nearly 1.7GB of disk space, but you can also download maps just for the areas you need, including city and state maps which take up much less space.

A bigger problem is that the app itself is stored on your phone’s main memory. Immediately after installing the app, it took up 14MB of disk space, and that jumped to more than 23MB after I downloaded voice data for spoken directions. If you have a phone with a large amount of internal storage this might not be a problem, but I doubt I’ll use CoPilot Live often enough to keep it installed on my Google Nexus One. I also ran into a few other problems with the app itself, which you can read about after the break.

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TomTom has released a fairly major update to their iPhone app, with the headliners being higher resolution imagery for iPhone 4 owners and updated maps for all.

In the novelty category, TomTom has introduced a navigate-to-photo feature. Not sure we’ll ever need or use that, but we are glad to see smoother, more responsive pinch-to-zoom control… although I’m still disappointed we still can’t simply drag the map view while en route.

My wife swears by and uses the Tom Tom app ($50 from the App Store) as her sole navigation software solution, whereas I continually flip through products. (We’re a two-iPhone household – double the dropped calls.)

My preferred GPS has been Telenav (aka AT&T navigator). But given the new reality of numerous nav apps, many free, their subscription pricing is out of line with the competition and I’m playing the field.

Continue reading at Zatz Not funny

AT&T is pushing out an update for Samsung Captivate (Samsung Galaxy S) users. No, it doesn’t include an upgrade to Android 2.2 Froyo, at leas tnot yet. Instead the update is designed to add some fetures and fix some problems, including:

• Improved GPS performance
• Full version of QuickOffice
• Addresses Microsoft Exchange 2003 Policy Support
• Faster media scanning

AT&T Galaxy S users should receive an over the air notice that the update is available for download.

via Android Community

As a former runner, in the dark days before inexpensive tracking/training technologies, I find myself attracted to and motivated by powerful new tools — many of which require limited or no new hardware. In fact, dabbling with the fine RunKeeper Pro iPhone app ($10) led me to my first phone case purchase in years (giving my slippery 3GS a bit more grip, so I don’t launch it down the block).

In a similar vein, Nike has just launched Nike+ GPS ($2) — dropping their footpod in favor of tracking runs via the iPhone’s integrated GPS capabilities. Beyond pace, GPS functionality also brings with it relatively accurate run mapping – both fun and useful.

I haven’t yet purchased or taken the Nike+ app for a jog, but Engadget has. While the reviewer didn’t do a head-to-head comparison with RunKeeper Pro (or Adidas MiCoach), he seems relatively pleased with its features and performance given the low price.

Indeed, while it’s probably not as deep as RunKeeper Pro, Nike+ looks to meet the basic needs of many in an attractive package. However, it seems as if Nike doesn’t elegantly background the app (critical for saving battery and streaming Slacker) and I’m hopeful they ultimately link this to existing or new Nike+ accessories, such as a wrist band remote or heart rate monitor.