GPS, An Engadget adventure with TeleNav's G1 GPS software: hands-on, impressions, and video
By Joshua Topolsky 
posted February 13th 2009 1:21PM
posted February 13th 2009 1:21PM
- The software is really snappy, snappier than a lot of dedicated GPS units we've used.
- Finding satellites can be a major pain sometimes, and the signal can drop while you're driving (see video), which could be a major headache if you're on a trip and you really don't know where you're going.
- The app doesn't seem to eat up much space (it occupies 4MB on the device), so it appears to be pulling map data OTA. That's a good thing if you're worried about filling up your G1, but bad if you need info quickly or you're not in a data-gettin' spot.
- We experienced a crash while it was fetching satellites. The software is still being tweaked from what TeleNav tells us, so we're going to assume that won't be an issue once it's on the market.
- The traffic, restaurant, and gas station services are top notch and pretty speedy (once it figures out where you are). Since a lot of GPS units aren't pulling live data on surrounding businesses or traffic / weather info, this is a nice touch.
- The speaker volume on the G1 is probably a bit quiet if you're cranking on a highway -- that could be an issue if you're really relying on what Stephen King calls "the GPS voice."
- As expected, it's a power hog, so plan on having an adapter in the car if you're going to get any use out of this.
Overall, it's a mostly passable alternative to a traditional GPS, save for the fact that the G1's GPS chip remains somewhat unreliable (as we noted in our initial review). If that's something that can be helped by a software tweak, wonderful, but our gut feeling is that we're going to have to wait for the G2 for those improvements. Still, even with those drawbacks (which don't rear their head too often), if you're a G1 owner and you don't mind taking that monthly $9.99 hit (a fee which we think is a bit too steep), this is great alternative to lugging a separate GPS unit around.
DC Muthafuckaaaaa
Cool. I wish I had pink trousers too
this was one of the more enjoyable online video experiences ive had in a while, other than rick rolling all my friends. I too have colored pants/jeans, red, blue(royal not denim), green, purple. i like to wear them with matching vans, while driving in my prius, and using my DEDICATED GPS. this would be a fun little app to have, if it were free, and i didnt have a gps in my car. I do adore the tunes you guys were jamin to, was that daft punk sent through autotune? or was it an 8 bit version, or a cover, or what? I must know, immediatly. that would totally send me over the edge of trendiness, cha. if you think roosevelt island is straight out of an apocalyptic movie, check out wrigleyville in the winter, absolutely dead. I doubt that i would hear this thing over my radio, i miss calls all the time in my car, if they came out with a car cradle, i would consider this, cheesy little things like that can be the yea or nay for me.
For those of you asking about the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpcLxmSmlLQ
Also, they apparently DO make a car mount for the G1 -- TeleNav is sending one our way, I'll let you know about it.
Yeah would be amazing if it were free or maybe 5 a month. I hope some competition software comes out soon, for now i'll just stick with google maps.
Telenav's use case for their software makes no sense; sell users access to maps and all kinds of information about places they probably know pretty well (near where they live) and then if they travel to an area they don't know as well (rural areas, rural freeways) where a GPS would really be useful and the user is out of luck since they have no OTA data connection.
I'll take a standalone $300 Garmin unit over this software for my phone any day. The Garmin may not be as convenient but at least I can be about 99.999% sure that if I can power it up I can get maps and info regardless of where I am. Oh yeah, and I hate the idea of paying monthly for software. Just let me buy the damn thing already and be done with it.
brooklyn what?
I'd rather pay a one time $150-$250 for a full fledged GPS with the same features and more reliability than a glitchy, power-hungry, $10 a month service on my phone...
I have a G1 and this is exactly what the G1 needs, but not on a monthly fee. Integrate it into the google map system already in android. I already pay $25 a month for a data plan. I don't need another $10 tacked on to that for something it can already do, albeit slower and less convenient.
U gotta have offline maps...
If ur going out of the country roamings gonna kill you
If ur in the us and using tmob u will prolly have allot of dead zones (especially where u need it most - parks and deserted highways)
Id save 10 bucks a month for 10 months and buy me a dedicated gps (id also save on the in cars charger)
This is exciting