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15 Comments

BlackBerry GPS Navigation Tips!

By Bla1ze on 9 Apr 2009 09:45 am
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BlackBerry GPS Navigation Tips!

Good friend and occasional CrackBerry contributor, Al Sacco (Twitter: @ASacco), who calls the CIO Mobile Workhorse blog his home, recently wrote a great article up on tips and tricks regarding the usage of GPS navigation. In the article Al covers some of the applications available, the cost associated with each of them and which ones perform and which ones fall a little short when it comes to overall usefulness. It's a great article for anyone needing to get up to speed on what's out there in the way of GPS navigation utilities for BlackBerry smartphones.

Topics: Help, How-To & Tips

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Bla1ze Bla1ze 2967 (articles) 6534 (forum posts)
15 comments

remipmc

i would like to note that this is the first time I have been first to post! second, why no link to telenav?

Goober1234467

what a cheap shot. Just an ad for telenav

carl1028

With nowadays everyone having a GPS unit in their cars, or paying a one time fee to purchase a GPS unit, why would anyone want to pay $10 a month for a GPS device. That's rediculous. Providing the GPS service for free won't break their bank. To date, I don't know of anyone that has this service through their phone that they're paying a monthly fee on.

Madirish76

This is a nice review of comparing those few applications, but what about Amaze GPS, or Nav 4 All, or some of the other free applications that are out there?

Definately not an all inclusive review.

todd123

Interesting, I saw no mention of Garmin. I understand they have had software for years that runs on a BB. I am currently running it on my Storm and it is excellent. I paid a one-time fee of $79.

nabi

how can i get free navigation on my blackberry

lvredman

If your phone has bluetooth, you can buy a reciever. There are a few options available,and download google maps on your phone. Google maps by itself will get you close, it gives you an approximate location based on the cell site your phone is closest to. The drawbacks are that you have to tie up bluetooth with the satalite reciever. You have to charge the reciever or replace batteries. It does not talk to you but hey...its free...well sort of.

nabi

how can i get free navigation on my blackberry

lvredman

I thought that this might give a bit more information. It seemed to only be an ad for Telenav. Kinda dissapointed.

Delegator

That "review" is an ad masquerading as an article, no doubt. I personally have done more of a review in the blogs here (even though I got lazy and never posted my final part).

In a nutshell, my opinions are Telenav > VZ Navigator > Garmin

Those are the only 3 I've tried. VZ Navigator was fine, but when my phone (Storm) moved to my company's corporate account it was no longer an option because there's no way to separate the application fee from the corporate bill.

So, I evaluated both Telenav and Garmin against VZ Navigator. I found Telenav superior in ease of use, overall pleasant graphics and useful maps, and audio quality. I was kind of surprised by this, because I really REALLY wanted to like Garmin if only for its cost structure.

And cost structure is one thing that you do have to think about. Both VZ Navigator and Telenav cost $10/month. Garmin is a flat purchase for $99 list, but can be foudn pretty easily for $79. So, a year of Telenav is going to cost me 50% more than a lifetime of Garmin...whatever lifetime means in the mobile device world.

Anyway, I guess my opinion can be summed up in the fact that I'm willing to pay that much more for Telenav than Garmin. Your mileage may of course vary, and for the value conscious Garmin would be fine. I don't like the monthly fee for the Telenav service, but I like the service enough to pay it.

Oh, one other note: I wish that these GPS programs would do a better job of caching data on the phone. Let me set aside a few GB from my SD card to store maps and routes for a given locale, so that I'm not so tethered to my signal strength meter. THAT would be a real differentiator in an increasingly crowded market.

Alfonso Faustino

Like the previous writer mentioned, I, too, get the "No GPS...." message. It is frustrating to be driving through the Bay Area without TeleNav -- especially, when I pay $10 per month.

By the time TeleNav gets a GPS signal (e.g., 20 minutes), I'm already at my destination, with the help of Google Maps Latitude.

I called AT&T, and they could not provide a solution for me. When TeleNav is working, in my case 2 out of 10 times, I find it extremely useful and convenient. Since I consistently get the "No GPS...." message, I will be cancelling TeleNav service with AT&T.

So, as result of cancelling TeleNav, Google Maps Latitude will be my primary navigtion tool -- it is much more reliable than TeleNav. Of course, Google Maps Latitude doesn't have all the cool features like TeleNav, but Google Maps Latitude does something that TeleNav doesn't always do for me -- Google Maps gets me to my destination all the time --for free.

/s/ Alfonso Faustino

mistermans

Many networks are doing this to force you to use their navigation software, there is a fix for this. Just search for "Real fix for GPS" this will allow free software to see your gps location as well as improve google maps accuracy.

Cheers

jhdogtraining

This post is very helpful. I am just a new user and owner of Blackberry. Thank you this helpful post of yours. I will try this.

WINDSORWILLIE

YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT NAV4ALL . IT IS FREE TIL NEXT YEAR.
I HAVE USED IT ON MANY TRIPS. LOVE IT JUST HAVE TO BE CAREFUL WHAT SETTING YOU USE IN THE DIRECTIONS
IE. PEDESTRIAN OR EASY RIDER. ONCE YOU PLAY WITH IT A COUPLE OF TIMES IM SURE YOU WILL LOVE IT AS I HAVE.

WINDSORWILLIE

NAV4ALL.COM
CHECK IT OUT