How to get a FREE Navigator for your Touch Pro2.

[pesok]

Originally Posted by p-slim

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.

Again you didnt read my previous posts about how if google decides to make a standalone(PNA) unit with preloaded maps(for offline)(should be quite easy since they have map data already) AND with live options such as the ones on google navigator for android - big GPS manufacturers will take a huge hit and most will not survive unless they cooperate with goog(or MS) and can make a comparable product(which currently none of them are able to do). Face it everyone unless something changes dramatically google will be new microsoft in few years, they already working on google OS for PCs and google version of MS Visual Studio. Dont get me wrong i am a windows guy(and have been for the last 20 years) and i work on .net(C#, before that C++, before C and so on) but google is the only company that can and most likely will knock MS out of computer supremacy throne

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by pesok

Again you didnt read my previous posts about how if google decides to make a standalone(PNA) unit with preloaded maps(for offline)(should be quite easy since they have map data already) AND with live options such as the ones on google navigator for android - big GPS manufacturers will take a huge hit and most will not survive unless they cooperate with goog(or MS) and can make a comparable product(which currently none of them are able to do). Face it everyone unless something changes dramatically google will be new microsoft in few years, they already working on google OS for PCs and google version of MS Visual Studio. Dont get me wrong i am a windows guy(and have been for the last 20 years) and i work on .net(C#, before that C++, before C and so on) but google is the only company that can and most likely will knock MS out of computer supremacy throne

i don't disagree with you, i believe google is definitely in the position to knock down micorsoft. but all i can say is that if you think google is going to knock down all of the gps carriers you are trippin. you're talking like the google navigator has revolutionized gps or something, it hasn't. i've used google navigator and its basically the same as all of the rest. if the live option for you is revolutionary then go ahead and switch, but that feature is useless to me. All gps systems get me their basically the same.

[pesok]

Originally Posted by p-slim

i don't disagree with you, i believe google is definitely in the position to knock down micorsoft. but all i can say is that if you think google is going to knock down all of the gps carriers you are trippin. you're talking like the google navigator has revolutionized gps or something, it hasn't. i've used google navigator and its basically the same as all of the rest. if the live option for you is revolutionary then go ahead and switch, but that feature is useless to me. All gps systems get me their basically the same.

Google navigator has revolutionised GPS industry by adding stuff that was never available before, but i see your point: if one GPS can get you from point A to point B - why switch to the one that can get you there faster, help you avoid traffic and save you time(and gas money) by actually "listening" to you. Thats what my friend said about HDTV's in 2000 - "they will never be popular, standart TVs do the same thing"

[dishe]

Originally Posted by p-slim

i don't disagree with you, i believe google is definitely in the position to knock down micorsoft. but all i can say is that if you think google is going to knock down all of the gps carriers you are trippin. you're talking like the google navigator has revolutionized gps or something, it hasn't. i've used google navigator and its basically the same as all of the rest. if the live option for you is revolutionary then go ahead and switch, but that feature is useless to me. All gps systems get me their basically the same.

Well, it DOES allow you to search by voice without a specific destination address in mind ("Find that museum in NYC with the mummys" will transcribe and search google for the destination). That part is pretty cool, especially when on the go... and to my knowledge no other GPS offers anything like that.

Bing does offer voice recognition if you DO know the specific address, and I gotta say it does a bangup job at that. Just wish it had a better UI- that's something Google has along with the "fuzzy logic" approach to destination searching. It adds just that much more usability to the product.
Will it bring down the other GPS companies? Nah. Probably not much more than the initial stock market hit at the announcement. However, I do think it deserves to be recognized as more than just "basically the same".

The one way street error from engadget was pretty funny tho.

[dishe]

Originally Posted by pesok

Google navigator has revolutionised GPS industry by adding stuff that was never available before, but i see your point: if one GPS can get you from point A to point B - why switch to the one that can get you there faster, help you avoid traffic and save you time(and gas money) by actually "listening" to you.

eeeh... most of the "good" GPS units do the live traffic thing and some even have google searches built in (not with voice recognition, that's new). Will it get you there faster?
I'm not so sure Google's routing algorithm is the best. I've seen directions spewed by Google Maps, Bing, and a Tom Tom and Garmin system for the same destination, and being slightly different. Generally I've found Garmin's routing to be the most efficient, honestly.

Google's UI is nice, and people will definitely use it (since its free, on top of everything else). Revolutionary perhaps, but come on- it DID guide the Engadget writers the wrong way and then insisted they turn around.

[p-slim]

Originally Posted by pesok

Google navigator has revolutionised GPS industry by adding stuff that was never available before, but i see your point: if one GPS can get you from point A to point B - why switch to the one that can get you there faster, help you avoid traffic and save you time(and gas money) by actually "listening" to you. Thats what my friend said about HDTV's in 2000 - "they will never be popular, standart TVs do the same thing"

what century are you in? if a gps system doesn't reroute for traffic, they should not be selling that product. bing has already integrated the "listening" to yo feature, i'm pretty sure its not long before all the navigation systems incorporate voice instructions. Now dishe does make a valid point, his example is a feature i might use.

[pesok]

Originally Posted by p-slim

what century are you in? if a gps system doesn't reroute for traffic, they should not be selling that product. bing has already integrated the "listening" to yo feature, i'm pretty sure its not long before all the navigation systems incorporate voice instructions. Now dishe does make a valid point, his example is a feature i might use.

i thought i lived in a century where people could read, did i ever say trafic was a new feature? And listening is not the same as voice recognition, try telling bing to find a nearest theater thats opened after 1am - thats the new feature along with automatic street view and price tag of 0 for gps navigator with features not available on any other unit. Yes it was wrong but its a beta and i gave up on searching for "perfect" gps years ago - none of them are or ever will be, but you have to recognise the potential. My point is if tomtom, garmin and others took such a big hit on market after google annouced a raw beta of their navigation software thats only available on droid phones(and only 2.0 officially) what kind of hit can we expect when and if goog anounces a standalone unit with preloaded maps and those features or a free downloadable nav soft for all patforms?

Anyways enough of this, i beleive i made my point and if people want to argue at least read all my previous posts on this matter and not just the last one. This thread was opened to help a fellow ppcgeeker find a free navigation soft and maybe further discussions should be closer to the subject.

[chrisnosleep]

Originally Posted by pesok

AmazeGPS is still free... BUt the shiznit will be: Google official navigator(not the hack one that sucks imho) that is coming soon for WM(already out for droid) and will be free as well. It has most complete package of features that are not found on any current GPS. It will come with TTS, turn by turn, Traffic, Search by (natural)Voice with google assist(like say go to nearest movie theater with closest Titanic start time), Sattelite View and Street view(photo quality same as on GM) and others, will pwn all other GPS soft/PNA's free and paid!!! Most exciting GPS soft and i have GarminXT, TomTom(PNA and PDA), iGO8, AmazeGPS, Waze and build in MB one(will most likely unistall/turn off all once GN is out for WM and stable enough)!
http://www.google.com/navigation

I was just looking at the AmazeGPS website and it appears that this is not currently made for Windows Mobile. Or am I missing something? I would like to try this software if I can use it on my TP2.

[warxhead]

On topic now, whenever i open up bing and go to map, i can't really do anything and it just displays the map, can't exit out without hitting the end button. Any ideas?

[lipidfats]

Originally Posted by chrisnosleep

I was just looking at the AmazeGPS website and it appears that this is not currently made for Windows Mobile. Or am I missing something? I would like to try this software if I can use it on my TP2.

http://www.amazegps.com
you didn't see it because it looks like they're redoing it with version 5. the old 4.5 version can be found on their old site. go to their homepage and youll see a link that says download old version to the bottom left.

amaze sucks, that's why it's free. don't waste your time. just my strong opinion about it