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Switched On: PNDs try to find their way
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. From pitch pipes to voice recorders, the list of standalone devices that an unadorned smartphone can substitute for runs long. But the portable electronics products that smartphones have had the most impact on have been digital cameras / camcorders, portable media players and portable navigation devices (PNDs, although the Europeans did a better naming job with "sat navs"). The future of PNDs looked rosier in the days when cellphone navigation services required a monthly fee. Google Navigation changed all that and much of the market was relegated to sub-$100, Black Friday-bought glove compartment hermits. But even as they've released smartphone navigation apps, companies such as Garmin and Magellan keep plugging away at the PND, trying to differentiate from the smartphone apps while cooperating with them.
Telenav's free Scout nav app gets offline navigation, speech recognition
In January of 2012, Telenav announced Scout, a free "daily personal navigator" app for iPhone. Today the company has released a new version of the app with improved features including Always There Navigation, a downloadable offline navigation feature that provide GPS navigation whether or not you're in a wireless coverage zone. Always There Navigation is downloaded by U.S. region -- Western, Central or Eastern. You can download different regions if you're traveling outside of your home area, or download all three regions to your iPhone. This service is available for US$9.99 per year or $2.99 per month, and includes some other premium features. One of the other new features is the addition of speech recognition. By tapping one button, voice commands are activated for a hands-free search. Commands like "Find McDonald's" or "Drive Home" are interpreted, and Scout either finds nearby results or creates the best route summaries to your home or office, based on current traffic conditions and your location. Here's a video demonstrating the new features of Scout. You can try out all of the features of the new Scout free for 30 days.
Telenav's Scout gives iOS users offline navigation in exchange for ten bucks
We know that iOS 6 will bless iPhone users with some in-house-made mapping, but that hasn't stopped Telenav from bettering its own Scout navigation offering for Apple's favorite handsets. Scout now does offline navigation by letting users download maps of the west, central or eastern United States over WiFi only. Plus, Scout now takes voice commands, so on your next road trip you can tell it to find the nearest Whataburger whether you have cell signal or not. Interested parties can head on over to the App Store to get their download on, but you'll pay for the privilege -- offline navigation costs $9.99 a year or $2.99 a month, though the free, data-dependant version of Scout for iPhone still includes speech recognition. Still not sold? Perhaps the video after the break will persuade you.
Nokia Drive offline navigation review: taking the Lumia 900 for an off-the-grid spin
I've sung praises about it for years, but it seems like only now the industry is getting on the same train of thought. It could be my unnatural adoration of travel, or just an entirely healthy fear of getting lost, but offline navigation has long since been a top priority for me when choosing a mobile device. Or, more importantly, a mobile operating system. For the longest while, iOS forced my hand to Android due to Google Maps Navigation being available only on the latter, and while even that wasn't offline, it still far surpassed any other routing app in terms of system integration, map updates and general silkiness. Even dating back to our 2010 mobile GPS shootout, Nokia has been a player. At that time, it was the outfit's Ovi Maps leading the pack, offering the only legitimate offline solution amongst a legion of ho-hum alternatives that required bits of data to keep you on track. But frankly, there wasn't a Symbian device in Nokia's stable that could show up my Nexus One in terms of overall utility, so begrudgingly, I pushed it aside. Eventually, Google came around and added caching to routes, which effectively downloaded all routing guidance along your path as soon as you plugged in a destination. The killer, however, was that it wouldn't take too kindly to veering far from that path should you ever drop signal. Close, but no cigar. Fast forward to today, and we've got Google Maps already working in offline mode for Android 2.2+ devices. Furthermore, the company's Brian McClendon confessed to us at its June 2012 'Maps' event that it's "committed" to bringing all of the app's features to iOS (and potentially other platforms). But in my haste to find something in the here and now, I recently turned to the Lumia 900 for guidance. Literally. Back in late March, the Lumia-exclusive Nokia Drive application gained full offline access, and I sought to use the handset exclusively to navigate a 1,900-mile trek through some of America's most remote locales. How'd it go? Join us after the break to find out. %Gallery-159721%
Switched On: And smartplayers for all
Each week Ross Rubin contributes Switched On, a column about consumer technology. A few weeks ago, Switched On noted the challenges that even wildly popular, highly penetrated devices such as MP3 players and portable GPS devices have faced in the era of the converged device. Some of these devices, such as digital cameras, still hold on because of genuine advantages such as better image quality or optical zoom. For others devices, though, such as MP3 players and portable GPS devices, the grim news is that one of the main reasons consumers use them is to save smartphone battery life.
Verzo repackages Kinzo Android smartphone, offers lower prices in response to user feedback (video)
We've gotta hand it to Verzo. It's not every day that a manufacturer lowers the price of its flagship smartphone in explicit response to consumer feedback, yet that's exactly what the Americano Czech company has done today, with a new pricing and packaging scheme for its Kinzo Android handset. Previously marketed as a single, accessory-laden package for $459, the 4.3-inch device is now available in two bundles: the Verzo Kinzo Plus GPS, and the standard Verzo Kinzo pack. The former, priced at $384, includes offline navigation capabilities and a carholder, while the latter ($349) does not. According to the company, the prices are in effect as of now, and "will stay that way." Best of all, anyone who bought the Kinzo at its original price will now be able to recoup the difference, courtesy of Verzo. But don't take our word for it -- check out the above video to hear it straight from the source.
Lumia line to get Nokia Drive update, fully cuts the network cord
When Espoo trotted out its "first real Windows Phone," it did so with a bevy of exclusive features, one of which brought baked-in offline navigation. Since the announcement of that proud product launch, Nokia Drive's been wrestled free from its polycarbonate chains, but the perks of being a Lumia owner are still incoming. Confirmed to Dutch site All About Phones, the Finnish company's Mango phone in an N9 shell is due for an update that'll bring full offline use of the app, ensuring those re-routed calculations don't hinge upon a network connection. Sure, any geek with a WP7 handset's set to get Maps sometime soon, but rest assured you and your sinuously tapered device are still the sole beneficiaries of Nokia's robo-toned, front seat copilot.
