Review of Sygic Mobile Maps 9 for Maemo on N900 Part 2 of 2

Tue, 22/06/2010 - 12:30

Missed the first part of the review? look here.

Handling:

First, I want to go my favourite pub. I can choose navigate to and then tap on address, choose one of my favourites. And here is my first dislike (I used to navigation software like OVI Maps, TomTom, Navigon or Google Maps before). here: you have always to type in the country first, when you choose to navigate to a certain location. Sygic uses a hierarchical way (top-down) to browse to your address: Country -> City -> Street -> House No. But after giving this App some time, i’ve started to like the strict top-to-down search.

Actually this app has many ways to find an address. You can chose it from the favourites, search the last used places, find it over a POI (Point Of Interest), find it over the maps directly or give in the exact GPS coordinates. After you’ve found the address, you can mark it as favourite or find places like the nearest parking place or even call a number, if this address matches to a POI or your addressbook on your phone.

For me as a regular OVI Maps user, i needed to get used to it. With a tap on the display, you can get into the main menu, from where you can choose what to do. There was a little drawback in the first release, where you landed on the first screen, when you clicked on the back button. But this bug is already fixed int the first update, too.

Navigation:

Before you start using your N900 for turn-by-turn navigation in your car, you need some preperations, which Sygic and i strongly recommend (for all phones and standalone navigation systems):

Also we recommed a good robust windshield holder to keep the device safe during the drive, in a safe position within the sight and also as close as possible to open skies for the best GPS signal reception.

Now we come to the navigation part. Sygic uses TeleAtlas and Navteq as their maps source. I couldn’t find the right answer, because both of them are mentioned on the official sites. i got a feedback regarding the maps data:

Map source in Maemo version of MM is from Navteq (due to cooperation with Nokia and Maemo team to get the app to the Ovi store), on the other OSs we use mostly Tele Atlas Maps, + in specific regions we have local providers (f.e. in India-MapMyIndia or Colombia-Satrack).

It's confirmed: Sygic uses definitely the Navteq map data for the Nokia devices.

In the navigation mode you have lots of possibilities for settings and tweaks, before you even started to navigate. You can change or add the address, take a look over the whole routing on the map, choose an alternative route, go to more settings, save a planned route and even simulate it, modify a POI, go to extras (world-wide clock, calculator, currency converter, informations about a specific country with its driving rules and road signs).

The turn-by-turn navigation is very precise and the advise-messages are coming early enough to guide you in the right direction. The timing of the recorded messages can be set up, when you think they’re coming not in time. Too bad, that the streetnames are not spoken out loud, only their international names like B4 or E45.

After you’ve chosen your destination point, the software is calculating the best route (fastest, environmental friendly, shortest, only for a walk, only bicycle route). Normally Sygic finds the route very quick, but sometimes, it needs a few seconds, because of some toll-streets or other strange ways.

In the Navigation mode you can see on the lower side 4 fields, where you can set some information about the time, distance, current speed. On the upper side there are zoom-in and –out buttons, but you don’t need them whilst driving.

The overview of the maps is stripped down to the absolutely necessary. The colors oft he ground are light brown and the streets are white. When you’re navigating the route is blue and you can see a green arrow fort he direction.

I’ve tested Sygic Mobile Maps against the OVI Maps (FREE navigation) on a N97 mini on the same route and i must admit as a OVI Maps enthusiast, Sygic beats OVI in nearly all destiplines: only in searching for your destination, the great UI and the tidy screen in navigation mode are the plus points for OVI Maps. The best part was as Sygic Mobile Maps was warning me about a speed cam and knowing the current speed limits, while OVI Maps could only show me the direction arrow on the way.

I like the portait mode oft hat App. You can do pretty much anything in portrait mode. The software reacts very snappy, when you switch from the landscape mode to portrait mode and back. But according to Sygic:

Portrait mode and full-screen mode – are available only in

e-shop version of the Mobile Maps for Maemo.

But there are some drawbacks aswell. When you drive within the city it’s ok when you can see the names of crossing streets and others nearby. But when you are on the Autobahn and driving 160km/h the map looks very crowded. I don’t want to know what street is crossing under the highway and you don’t need to get warned to pass a crossing railroad. Sometimes, when you get to a big interchange, the display is very confusing, besause you can see the direction, the next city, the proper lane and some other informations. This could be very risky, because you have to look on the display too long. Here is a very important advise for you: use car holder for your navigation device to have your full attention on the road, signs and the traffic!

There is another point, but i can’t hold this all to Sygic Mobile Maps: the battery drains very much whilst navigation. There are several causes: 3G data connection (which i think must be managable from the software. f.e. connection is needed to find the GPS position, but then disconnect it), the GPS hardware itself built in the N900.

You have tot hink about a extra power for long journeys (Nokia Extra Power Pack DC 11). Why am i giving you the advise? Because my N900 couldn’t take a 4h trip!

I agree to Sygic's feedback about the battery issues of the device:

Any navigation app is a very power-demanding app, look at all the suppliers, they all recommend – and we do to – to have the phone constantly powered while navigating. Just imagine how many data have to be processed every split of the second to move smoothly the map around, show you the route, calculate the time till the manouvers and voice instructions.

There is another plus for this app: you don’t need to load any map data on demand (like Google Maps), because you have already all maps you need on your phone or the storage card. This is very good for you data pack except you have a flatrate for internet booked with your contract.

Verdict:

I like the Sygic Mobile Maps 9 for Maemo on the N900 a lot and once you give it a chance, you get used to it and it will become a very reliable patner on the road. The fact that this turn-by-turn navigation has beaten the OVI Maps (on a N97 mini) in accuracy and finding the GPS sattellites, is making this software for me No. 1 for N900 at the moment. Of course there are a few drawbacks and still some bugs, but Sygic is on the right track to fix them and getting better and better with each software update. There is a plus point for the very kind and fast support for it. A community is already formed for it and guess what? There is a Mobile Maps 10 for Maemo on the way :-) According to Sygic it will be more user friendly, there will be changes in the UI and the performance would be increased.

Big thanks to Anna from Sygic for supporting me with Sygic Mobile Maps for Maemo :-)

just in case you've missed the first videos of Sygic Mobile Maps:

look here and here and goto the Update post for more informations about it.

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