CoPilot Live smooths the rough edges in nav app with new update

I took a look at CoPilot Live [iTunes link] almost exactly a month ago, and it was a pretty good, inexpensive nav program, but it had quite a few rough edges.

Those rough edges aren't so rough now, and the app is certainly competitive at a price of US$34.99.

Improvements from the last version include:

• The ability to dial a POI (point of interest)
  

• Improved GPS performance

• A full QWERTY keyboard (the last version was alphabetical)

The app also offers real time traffic information, gas prices, and something called live local search. Those features are an extra purchase of $19.99 and I did not have those services for my test.

As in my previous drive around, GPS acquisition was rapid. The maps look fine. The 'voice' was clear, and directions were concise.

Although the company claims maps were updated for this release, there seemed to be a lot missing in my neck of the woods, and reports from users of the new version are not positive in that regard. As I tried to navigate to my house, CoPilot Live could find the street but not any house numbers, even though my street has had houses on it for at least a decade. Continue reading for more about the CoPilot Live update.

I still think the POI database is weak in some parts of the country, but it seems to have improved, and searches for nearby restaurants, hotels, banks and gas stations were all successful.

CoPilot Live switches to night mode automatically, allows navigation to multiple destinations, and has live weather for your location or your destination, which I think is very desirable.

The app still has no text to speech, which seems to be a feature a lot of people want. Navigon has added that function to MobileNavigator, and that has probably contributed to making it the top selling nav app at the iTunes store.

Of course, CoPilot live is less than half the price of MobileNavigator, but a lot of people are willing to spring for the extra cash to get such an advanced feature set from Navigon.

If you leave the app while driving, it does not resume your navigation when you return. The developers say that is coming, but it is a pretty big missing feature at the present time. (Note: Based on a comment from a reader, I tried it again several times and it did work on my later trials, so not sure why it failed on my first try. Mea culpa)

I think CoPilot live is reasonably priced and competitive for those not wanting to spend a great deal more money. It still has some rough spots and I'm not impressed with the depth of the POI database even though it has improved, or the maps, which still seem out of date.

Even with the negatives, CoPilot live is a worthwhile app at a low price. It has been improved since the first release, and likely will continue to get better with new updates and functions.