Today GPS navigation on mobile is very useful, it provides directions to your destination. Today, Almost all Smartphones comes with GPS Navigation app. GPS App turns your phone into a powerful navigation system up to house number accuracy, turn-by-turn voice instructions and on-screen directions will guide you from your current position to the destination that you have entered. In addition to all this, you can navigate to any of the many points-of-interest like hotels, restaurants and petrol stations. You can even dial them directly to make for example a hotel reservation or inquiry before going there! In summary, GPS in Mobile phone is a must for everyone looking for an affordable, flexible and powerful navigation system.
It was 2008 when i first time used GPS navigation system in my Nokia 5800 xPressmusic, it impressed me too much. I never got tension when i was away from my home town because i have device which shows me correct destination. However i used Nokia OVI maps because i was just new to all this. i got a few problems in my OVI maps because that time it wasn’t free. I paid for this service but after few months nokia provided free navigation to nokia smartphone users. After OVI free navigation i wasn’t satisfied because it didn’t shown villages on maps in India so i used alternative Google maps as GPS navigation App in unreachable location where digital maps were not available in nokia OVI maps.
Best GPS Navigation Apps for Android, iOS or Smartphones :-
- Google Maps Navigation: Google Maps with navigation is available for:
- Pre-installed on Most Android OS Phone
- iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad)
- Windows Mobile (NOT Windows Phone 7 as of October 21, 2011)
- Nokia/Symbian (S60 3rd edition only)
- Symbian OS (UIQ v3)
- BlackBerry
- Phones with Java-Platform (MIDP 2.0 and up), for example the Sony Ericsson K800i
- Palm OS (Centro and newer)
- Palm webOS (Palm Pre and Palm Pixi)
Google maps GPS Navigation App includes many features that no other GPS apps are able to provide, such as Street View and Satellite views. But i faced problem with google maps was showing exact location but not always sometimes it shows you exact location or some time within a area. Below is snapshot of Google Maps running on iPad 2
- Ndrive Navigation : 35 supported languages, written and spoken include: English, Spanish, German, Italian, French, etc. NDrive maps are provided by NAVTEQ: The Market-leading map provider. NDrive turns your phone into a powerful navigation system up to house number accuracy! After a short plug & play installation, turn-by-turn voice instructions and on-screen directions will guide you from your current position to the destination that you have entered. In addition to all this, you can navigate to any of the many points-of-interest like hotels, restaurants and petrol stations. You can even dial them directly to make for example a hotel reservation or inquiry before going there! In summary, NDrive is a must for everyone looking for an affordable, flexible and powerful navigation system. Ndrive is availabe for Android, Bada, webOS,Windows Mobile, Symbian and iPhone.
- Nokia OVI maps (Only for Nokia): Nokia OVI map is also very good navigation service from Nokia, it shows exact location on maps. Set you destiny it will guide you with voice guide. Nokia OVI maps voice guide service is good for driving it guide using voice e.g how much you have to go straight or when you need turn. it indicates you approx. 400-500 meter before using voice. This service is most impressive map service but this service is available for iOS or Android devices using browser simply open http://m.maps.ovi.com/ in you browser and start enjoying OVI maps navigation. Below is Apple iPad Snapshot running nokia OVI maps. But this service will be best for you if you are Nokia Phone user.
- Loopt GPS Navigation App: Loopt users can share their location between carrier networks with fellow Loopt users on AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, Boost, MetroPCS and T-Mobile but this service isn’t available worldwide you can get Loopt iPhone App from itunes. Loopt also available for Android Devices.
- Mapmyindia.com Mobile App:MapmyIndia Sygic mobile maps, once installed, are stored on your phone/SD card. This means that you do not require a GPRS or data connection to get them working. What’s more, there are no subscription or recurring charges. You have to just install Mapmyindia sygic App to you device.Best App if you want use GPS service in India. Mapmyindia Supported devices:
- iPhone/iPad
- Symbian (Nokia, others)
- Android
So Above is my experience with Mobile GPS Navigation, i Hope it will help you to choose best App for navigation.