CoPilot Live 8.0.0.644 vs Telenav 5.5.43 vs Garmin Mobile XT 5.00.20wp on the HD2

[tiwanx]

i have been using co pilot for a few months on, they sent me an email with and update for tts and local search for free. there is also a hd2 optimized update on their website that is available for free.

[maiki]

Thanks for the interesting thread. I haven't read all of it yet, but it looks like much good info there.

I am curious about one thing though--why weren't free apps included? Microsoft Bing app for WinMo now includes voice guided navigation, reroutes if you leave its route, etc., just like the paid apps. I've used it--works great. My guess is--the next version of its competitor Google Maps will also have voice-guided navigation. One important feature these free ones have, which I don't know if any of the paid apps have, is not only voice output, but voice input. In other words, you can speak into the phone to t say where you want to go, rather than typing it in. While driving, that is a big plus!

There is another free voice guided navigation app called Waze. I haven't really tried it yet though.

I think these free apps should be part of a comparison, so that readers can see if it is worth their while to buy one of the paid apps, to see if there is something better about them.

I can think of one circumstance, for which a paid app would be better. The free apps all rely heavily on the Internet, real-time downloading of maps, etc. If one is in an area where one does not get a good data connection, on some remote road, it sure would be better to have an app that did not rely on the Net. Similarly, if one is in an area where one does not get a data signal from one's home carrier, especially in a foreign country, where one might incur high data roaming charges, then the cost of buying one of the paid apps that has the map installed on your storage card, and does not need a data connection, would pay for itself in no time. Therefore, although I find Bing (probably Google soon, perhaps Waze) fine for local usage, I could see myself buying one of the paid apps with included map if I am going to travel out of country. Good to have a thread like this that compares them, to get an idea of which might be better.

That brings me to another question--why did you even include Telnav? I don't see any benefit of that at all! Paying a monthly subscription would cost more in the end than a one time software purchase of the other paid apps. Besides, it is also completely internet dependent. What advantage does it have over the free apps? I can't see why any informed person would possibly use Telnav? (They probably get subscriptions of uninformed people, who might think that is the only way to use the phone for GPS.)

[maiki]

PS to my last post--

Do any of the paid GPS apps include voice input, as is included in free GPS apps like Bing and Google Maps?

That is really an important feature while driving, to be able to speak where you want to go, rather than having to type it in on an on-screen keyboard.

[darnell]

maiki - As I mentioned in the very first post in this thread:

Also, it would be great if even more navigation apps were included. If someone wanted to list features for another that is not already listed, using what is below as a template, I could fold it into this post.

I'm not trying to do it all and don't plan to. Anything else you want to see here, either you provide or it won't happen.

I started it, but if you want more, you're going to have to make it happen.

[darnell]

WARNING, CoPilot has an ACTIVATION LIMIT. If you hard reset or ROM flash often and have to reinstall/reactivate over a set number of times the product will stop working. Some of us are running into this issue now and can no longer use CoPilot, because we're not paying again for something we already purchased and only reinstalled to the same device.

Read details here: [Q] Clarification of Co pilot activation - xda-developers