Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

It will probably own the free (until MS releases an updated Bing) but I don't know about the paid. There are some pretty good ones out there if you're willing to pay...

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

Like i said i have payed ones: GarminXT, TomTom with latest 8.35 maps and iGo with latest 2009q1 maps, also have PNA(standalone) TomTom GO910, Mio and build in MB one. Now which one of these offer sattelite view? How about Street view? How about Google assisted search? I think answer is clear, do you know any other payed one that will offer these? Google if so chooses can singlehandedly(sp?) destroy all big boys of GPS out there by releasing a PNA(dedicated standalone) with preloaded maps(for offline) and all those features i mentioned in previous post-thus making a perfect GPS unit. They have the technology already(most(all?) of US and most of the rest of the world already have been street-viewed by goog) as well as best search engine algorithm. The only other company that might be able to stand in their way is MS(and we all know how fast they move).
Here is the quote from mashable.com to show how serious this is:
Here is the review of the actual droid phone with GN on it(ignore the annoying woman on the back:)): http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/768/0

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

lol...been doing this since my Mogul days...it has always been there...

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

Microsoft has all of that same stuff. Not only that, but Bing is already better than Google Maps. So I won't be surprised at all if MS issues an update for Bing that blows google nav out of the water.

As for your questions about sat views and stuff- the first GPS app I ever used (I bought it while lost on a trip a few years back) was Delorme, and it had it too.

I'm pretty sure they can all have it without much trouble. Not only does Google let everyone access it for free, but so does MS.

When Google starts getting celebrity voices and other cool features like that, then maybe we can talk about it blowing everyone else out of the water. For now though, it's just a standard navigation app that is pretty buggy. I saw one Droid video review where they were using the Google naviation and it was directing the guy to turn left on a street that you can't turn left on. It then had him driving around in circles trying to get him back to that point to turn left on that same street. See the Navigation video here:
http://www.viddler.com/explore/engadget/videos/772/1.96
just in case that direct link doesn't work, it's in the navigation section of this review:
http://www.engadget.com/2009/10/30/m...-droid-review/

So watch that and then you might want to hold off before you go handing Google the crown...

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

For personal non commercial use only, so TomTom or Garmin cannot use that data in their units without purchasing the rights(not sure if Goog even would sell those). By the way i didnt realise Bing had street view, big props if they do(not to be confused with satt view), i am in bing maps now and cannot find how to get it to show street view - what am i missing? By the way i am not handing Goog a crown(although stock market seems to - but then again what do they know right?), i said the only other company is MS and in my opinion Goog is a bit lighter on their feet when it comes to new stuff

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

I don't think the mobile version of Bing has street view, but the desktop version does (called Bing Virtual Earth or something like that). So like I said, they could easily trump google nav, just as their bing mobile app already trumps google maps.

And by the way- google does not own all of that data either. They license a good portion of it themselves. I livein Utah and a few years back they changed a bunch of freeway exit numbers and they were talking on the news how Goole had no control over the wrong directions they were giving out because they licensed their data (for that area at least) from some other company.

Not saying google nav is going to suck, just putting some reality to your claim that it will put everyone else out of business.

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

bing trumps google maps in what way?? if we're talkin features, yeah. but popularity?? google maps wins any day, most people dont even know what bing is. Its a better product right now, sure. But i just wanna be clear at what we are talking about because stocks and whatnot were mentioned. market share or the actual products?? Cuz market share wise bing will never come close to google maps, its too well known world wide, the google name is too well known compared to "Bing"



google maps in this situation is like an ipod
with Bing being a regular mp3 player. the other mp3 playermight have better features but the ipod is too well known to be threatened. just an analogy


Im pretty sure mapquest is more popular than bing when it comes to directions. It would be interesting to see them make mobile apps

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

i am not going to get into which maps are better thats dependent on area you live or interested in(i prefer google maps over bing for example(ease of use, street views are integrated into maps as opposed to being separate app in bing for example) - you on other hand prefer the opposite apparently) as for licensing you talking about map data not about street view data - that was done by goog themselves(goog mobiles) so they own all rights. And for the 3rd time: goog has the opportunity to put GPS manufacturers like TomTom, Garmin, Mio and about 2 mil others out of business and the only one that can compete(currently)is MS(although the dont seem to have any plans for MS navigator so far and in our times pioneers usually grab the biggest piece of pie, just look at google.com - still #1 search engine(not my claims according to stats)-is it the best? - well it sure was in the beggining and now people just got used to it). I am making my claim based on falling stocks of biggest GPS manufacturers once goog announced the GPS navigator - and thats a reality

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

google is not going to put anybody out of business except maybe telenav. All of the other companies will do just fine because google is just like telenav, requires a phone signal. All of the other companies don't require you to be around a phone signal so if you're on one of those long trips across country with no service, your gps will continue to work if you are using garmin, tom tom, or any of the map services even if no signal is available.

Re: How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.
 

valid point