Using the wrong keyboard is a decidedly minor problem (and yes, I agree it is weird). Lacking re-routing options and having a dumb, inappropriate interface are catastrophic flaws.

If Navigon had designed the iPod app's UI you would be navigating down three button levels to jump the next song. Sticking to iPhone UI practices doesn't mean it has to be badly done.

I really don't understand the amount of attention Navigon gets. I found it incredibly mediocre. I've purchased too many nav apps from the App Store and the only one worth any money is Sygic Mobile Maps (http://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewSoftware?id=321334290&mt=8). G-Maps is a joke as far as I'm concerned and I'm sorry I spent $20 on it as well.

Navigon has horrible faults: the interface is not car friendly, and tries too hard to mimic the iPhone's native interface. I know we're not supposed to operate a GPS while driving but sometimes you just have to. You need big, simple, easy to access buttons like a normal, proper GPS unit has. With Navigon you have to click a tiny area to get more tiny buttons.

Probably more serious is the lack for any sensical re-routing (alternate routes, avoid part of the route, avoid next n miles, travel via x route, etc.). It is absurd for anything calling itself a "turn by turn gps nav" to not have these features that are by now basic.

The only things I will give Nqavigon is the smoothness of the display, and the POI database is probably the best out of the three apps. Everything else Sygic does better, but somehow, no one is paying attention to it.

If I win something I think I might crap my pants.

This would be nice

The formula to fix the economic crisis is for me to win a drobo. There, I said it.

I own this app on my iPhone and I can't understand how it could get a positive review from anyone who has used any other GPS nav app on another device. TomTom Navigator running on either my PalmOS Treos or my Windows Mobile phones from 5 years ago was 10 times better at everything than this decidedly mediocre app.

It's ridiculously choppy, the routing is full of problems, the actual nav interface sucks, and even the storage is stupid - How many people need to waste 1 GB of your phone's storage on a whole half of the US at once?

I wouldn't mind paying $100 for this if it wasn't crap, but as it is now I'm sorry I spent the $20.

I wish TUAW would stop characterizing the issues with poor Microsoft Mac software as "Mac users seeing Microsoft as the enemy". My view of Microsoft has no bearing on the fact that Office 2008 is a completely disappointing mess that actually makes running a full windows virtual machine with Windows Office 2007 a far better option on almost every front.

They messed up. They spent 4 years and delivered something that is barely competent and pales in comparison to its Windows equivalent.

I wish they would reboot the Mac BU and just ask them to do a direct por of the Windows version instead of trying to redesign things they can't materialize properly.

Question: When restoring after pwning your iPhone, does your music get restored as well? Even if the volume where the music is stored isn't available?

I guess another way to pose the question is: do the iPhone backups that iTunes does at every sync include all of your music and playlists?

1- Fix the mystery approval process so less crap and more apps make it to the store. I can't believe the garbage that has made it to the store while gems like Box Office get taken away.

2- Provide developers and users with a better means of version control: it's sad to see how developers have to resort to the announcement area of the page to talk to the users about updates, invariably stating how the app store is holding their updated versions hostage. Apps don't have clear version numbers in many contexts. App store on the iPhone reports different updates from iTunes app store, which in turn keeps adding the same update over and over to the same page. Makes no sense.

3- Have a clear way to truly see "New Apps" and "Updated Apps" on both iTunes and the iPhone App Store - not through third party RSS feeds. Right now Apple is not helping new apps be visible even for a split second. They even mislead users with their "NEW" category in the iTunes App Store which is fake.

4- Disagree on keeping only users hwo purchased apps as being able to review - this would keep people from publically complaining about ridiculous apps that they would never buy (you all know which apps I'm referring to I'm sure), which is a good thing. It would be a kind of censorship. Instead, I'd suggest separating actual app reviews from comments, or at least showing a flag next to the users who have actually downloaded the app vs those who haven't.

5- Completely agree on a download queue or cart of some sort.

Read my reply above. All you had to do was delete it and reinstall. It has never crashed once since. Box Office is the best app on my iPhone.