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'MobileNavigator North America' Adds Live Traffic as In App Purchase

Tuesday November 10, 2009 7:39 am PST by Eric Slivka
Navigon's popular turn-by-turn GPS iPhone application MobileNavigator North America [App Store, $89.99] has been updated to offer live traffic information in the U.S. and Canada. The new addition, known as Navigon Traffic Live, is available via In App Purchasing for an additional one-time $19.99 fee.

News of the addition first surfaced in mid-September at which time it was noted that the $19.99 fee for live traffic would be a promotional price for the first four weeks of availability, with the price increasing to $24.99 after that time. The feature had been scheduled for an October launch, and made its first appearance in country-specific European application versions at the very end of the month. The feature was added to the company's broader MobileNavigator Europe iPhone application last week before coming to the U.S. and Canada yesterday.

Other minor changes available in the MobileNavigator North America update include extended searching of map areas once a destination has been entered and the ability to launch the application directly in landscape orientation.
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Chaos123x
Posted: 33 months ago
Gack you gotta pay for this update?

Thats kinda lame, I wonder if it comes with App when you buy it new.


I still have not bought a GPS app yet, was a toss up between this and TomTom, but now that Google is making a free GPS app I am not so sure.
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Gav2k
Posted: 33 months ago

Gack you gotta pay for this update?

Thats kinda lame, I wonder if it comes with App when you buy it new.


I still have not bought a GPS app yet, was a toss up between this and TomTom, but now that Google is making a free GPS app I am not so sure.


No u download the app then from within the app you download the traffic update. 19.99 is a really good price concidering it's one off and tomtom have said there's will be a yearly purchase!
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RoarinRow
Posted: 33 months ago
I downloaded the latest version last night v.1.3.0. It look over an hour to download and install the 1.5GB package.

I tested the Navigon on the way to work today. It's definitely pretty cool. I was expecting a little more. I guess I might be spoiled with my existing Garmin Nuvi 660 stand alone GPS.

GPS reception was good. The Navigon switched back and forth from my iPod music to a phone call I received and other pop ups from my calendar. When I turned before its recommendation it quickly re-routed me within 2 seconds.

The speed reminder was pretty cool. I haven't used the Live Traffic yet. I didn't realize you had to purchase it within the Navigon application. It's installed now. I'll test it on the way home.

I do miss the next street turn that is automatically displayed on my 660. In order to know when you are going to turn next, you have to touch the directional arrow on the iPhone. Then it will repeat what the next turn is.
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Sharlston Cat
Posted: 33 months ago
"The feature had been scheduled for an October launch, and made its first appearance in country-specific European application versions at the very end of the month."

I'm confused, i updated my British Isles version to 1.3 when it came out and got the post code update through extras but live traffic is not listed?

Does any one know when its released in the UK?
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jb510
Posted: 33 months ago
Any word if 1.3 fixes the podcasts not appearing bug?

I've been "demoing" the app via illicit means for 3 weeks... too bad there is no real App Store trial... anyway... Very happy I didn't pay for it because of the podcasts not showing up. I was just about to delete it and try something else, but maybe I'd give 1.3 a shot if it fixes the podcast bug.
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Littleman
Posted: 33 months ago

"The feature had been scheduled for an October launch, and made its first appearance in country-specific European application versions at the very end of the month."

I'm confused, i updated my British Isles version to 1.3 when it came out and got the post code update through extras but live traffic is not listed?

Does any one know when its released in the UK?


+1
Really want this feature, but all i can get is the post code thing :mad:
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macduke
Posted: 33 months ago
After Google Maps Navigation ships with iPhone OS 4.0, expect these Tom Tom and Navigon apps to get a whole lot cheaper. Their only advantage will be stored maps. But from Engadget's review:

The biggest worry here is that if you lose signal you won't be able to pull maps, but while there's no whole-map caching, it does cache a route when you enter it in, so as long as you don't stray too far from the beaten path you should be fine with a dropped signal here or there.

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eugarps
Posted: 33 months ago
My experience with Navigon has not been all that good. It keeps losing the GPS signal. No, it's not the phone, because Google Maps found me even inside a building. I'll be under an open sky in an area of low buildings and the red GPS warning will pop up. This happened most recently on the Capitol Beltway around DC in my Tundra pickup.

It's kind of a pain, because I don't have nav built into that vehicle. I'm shopping for a Delorme PN-40 now. The problem will be solved with that. Had I known Navigon would be unreliable in my truck, I'd have saved to money and put it toward the PN-40.

My experience, YMMV.

Bill
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DotComCTO
Posted: 33 months ago
Navigon has worked 99.99% for me. I did have an issue in NYC where I was between many tall buildings on a narrow street. Other than that, it has worked perfectly for me.

The new update is pretty darn good. I paid the extra $19.99 for in-app traffic. There was no traffic to speak of this morning, so we'll see how it goes tonight. I have checked out the traffic just looking at the map and scrolling through the text list of traffic. It seems to be pretty close to what Google shows in their app.

Worth the wait.

I'm wondering why TomTom hasn't really advanced their app yet - just a relatively minor set of enhancements about a month ago. They're letting the competition own the market. Very strange.

--DotComCTO
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hawkeye23
Posted: 33 months ago

After Google Maps Navigation ships with iPhone OS 4.0, expect these Tom Tom and Navigon apps to get a whole lot cheaper. Their only advantage will be stored maps. But from Engadget's review:


Why does everyone assume Google will be better then all of the other GPS applications?
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