Quick App 3.0: G-Map East and West Now Feature Turn-by-Turn, Voice-Guided Navigation
G-Map from XRoad sent us a postcard from their drive up highway 3.0 and let us know they’ve come back with great new features like real-time voice guidance and turn-by-turn arrows.
And as always, since G-Map 1.3.1 downloads its maps to your iPhone, you don’t need a data or Wi-Fi connection to use them, which comes in handy when in-between cities and off the grid.
Both G-Map East [$34.99 - iTunes link] and G-Map West [$34.99 - iTunes link] are currently on sale at a reduced price in the App Store. So, if no-subscription, download-to-your-iPhone turn-by-turn GPS navigation appeals to you, and you decide to give it a try, let us know if it gets you where you’re going.
July 7th, 2009 at 8:57 pm
2much money
July 7th, 2009 at 9:36 pm
$35 too much money, would $10 a month be cheaper for you?
July 7th, 2009 at 9:40 pm
It’s actually really cheap.
Compare the price of this app to the price of an actual gps. Or other apps that charge 10 dollars a month. 35 dollars is a deal!
July 7th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
The new update doesn’t allow you to listen to your music while using the app. To me, it’s a win/lose scenario because I’d rather have access to my music instead of spoken turn by turn directions. I thought there was an API in the new SDK that allowed you access your music. Motion X GPS added access to your music within their app.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
@danny
As others have stated, $35 is an incredible deal. You will not fine turn-by-turn directions cheaper, on the iPhone or on any other device. Next time I take a road trip to a part of the country I’m not familiar with, I’ll probably buy this.
However, the upcoming TomTom app with the hardware-assisted GPS might be worth the higher price. I’ll wait until it’s out and reviewed before deciding, though.
July 7th, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Well it would be tough to hear the directions if music was already playing at the same volume level. Maybe they could let you listen to your music but have the volume limited, so when the voice directions came on they would always be louder than the music?
July 7th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
On the Att app, the music fades out when the voice prompt comes on, then resumes again when finished.
July 7th, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Trust me I love me some iPhone. But come on peeps! It’s not a swiss army knife! Everyone wants everything and sometimes you just gotta say hey, enough is enough. Only so much you can fit into one device. What’s next an app that will fold your laundry? What ever happened to pulling over at the gas station and asking for directions?
July 8th, 2009 at 12:09 am
@Hank
last Swiss army knife I bought cost me $15.
July 8th, 2009 at 12:36 am
The iPhone is the swiss army knife of mobile devices. Or the bat-belt. Or something. But I think I’ll stick with xGPS. Crappy voice or not, its price tag of FREE still wins me over. Plus I can download maps to use offline if I want to or use my 3G connection where available to get them on the fly. It’s good.
July 8th, 2009 at 1:17 am
I agree it
s a good price... would go for it in a instance if it werent for the fact that it doesn`t have a canadian option.July 8th, 2009 at 4:50 am
So. With these GPS systems on the iPhone, if the phone rings, can you answer it without deleting your gps session?
July 8th, 2009 at 5:44 am
the gps program has a lot of problems no music gets stuck all the time. it dose not colculate the route the right way i got it for 19.95 and i am upset do not buy it for 35.00 yet till they make improvments
July 8th, 2009 at 5:47 am
If you get a call it’ll close the app. However when you open the app back up it will ask you if you would like to resume your last session. Works pretty good, as long as you don’t get a call when you’ve got a couple quick turns coming up. I haven’t had a problem with it yet. The no music thing sucks and the maps look older, but the app works really well. It’s faster at rerouting if I miss a turn than either of my stand alone units.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:21 am
I was extremely lucky. I saw that US West 1.3.1 was out and $35 while US East was still $25. I picked it up at $25 and by the afternoon it was $35 and the new version was out. It works pretty well and like it so far.
July 8th, 2009 at 7:23 am
@Hank, the iPhone happened.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:16 am
Does anyone know if the TomTom app will most likely be a one time fee or a monthly charge? I bought a Garmin stand alone unit and don’t update it, so I’m hoping the TomTom is similar and you can just buy it once. Even though maps and points of interest won’t be updated, I don’t want to get into a contract with a monthly fee.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:19 am
@Danny: Why is there always someone like you who complains about the price of every application??
Stop confusing the App Store with the Dollar Store. Every app DOES NOT COST A DOLLAR!
July 8th, 2009 at 9:49 am
If you buy the app, how much does it run to update maps? I know that TomTom updates quarterly and a subscription is about $10/quarter or more if you only update as desired. I’m also curious to see if this subscription program will apply to the TomTom iPhone app. I saw another app that is about $10/month which I find excessive, can’t remember what it was called and don’t see it now.
July 8th, 2009 at 9:57 am
@ hank
There’s an app for that.
The entire idea behind the iPhone is to have an all-in-one. It’s called convenience. Either you’re too old to understand, or a little behind the rest of society. I want to be able to do everything a computer does and then some on a device that fits in my pocket.
Which you would prefer, lugging around a 5 lbs. or more laptop that require you have WiFi or some other sort of connection if you want to access the world, or a pocket-sized powerhouse that does it all?
July 8th, 2009 at 10:14 am
Just going to wait for Tom Tom
/endthread
July 8th, 2009 at 10:47 am
@DubbDee, where can you find TomTom Updates for $10/quarter. My 720 costs $79 each time I want to do a map update (the first year was free).
July 8th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Sorry I sort of miss spoke. What I ment to say is in my case I have a gps already so it’s to much to me to buy the app and eliminate one device .
July 8th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
Well, herein lies the problem…at least for me. When checking Xroad’s website for their demos, there is no updated demo to show you exactly how well the voice control/turn-by-turn works…so, for the 10$+ that you pay (it was 24$ – now 34$) I want to hear what it is like. Personally I want to wait for TomTom and compare the two, price/performance, etc. Anyone tried it and liked the voice??
July 9th, 2009 at 8:08 am
@Cygnett-
I just bought the Seidio Innocase II and really like it. Prior to this case, I had always gone caseless with my 2G & 3G. Figured it was time to at least protect in case I drop it (with the video camera now, I’m sure I will be handling it a lot differently than before).
The case is small and gripable, but not difficult to get out of your pocket. The one downside is the lint from the new 3GS screens tends to accumulate in the corner of the case now.
July 10th, 2009 at 12:05 am
I have owned G-Map through the last 2 versions. This version is by far the best and I received the last 2 updates for been free even though the price in the App Store went up.
The voice is a very pleasant female. There are ample notices for a turn like “In 0.5 miles bear right.” Followed by “Bear right.”
I have used ATT Navigator in the past on a BlackBerry at $9.95/month. The G-Map is a bargain in comparison. The cons are lack of simultaneous iPod function and poor quality / English of the online documentation.
July 10th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I emailed Xroad support to please post a demo using voice. They did respond and said that there is voice. It says so in the product summary. Hmm WTF? I guess that passes for a demo LMAO
July 12th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I have use G-map since the beginning. The current update is a significant improvement. I have a Toyota Sienna with built in GPS and a Honda Civic without. In open areas G-map works well but loses the road a bit in cities and mountains. It lacks some polish and has slightly non-intuitive user interface, which I hope will improve with new versions. It is a steal at the roughly $20 I paid for it. The TomTom with its case assisted GPS may transition me but only if it is not a monthly subscription model.
August 16th, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Before you drop $100 on this, give http://itunes.com/app/roadee a try… $2 for spoken turn-by-turn instructions using OpenStreetMap (the wikipedia of maps). Yeah, coverage varies for OSM, but if you don’t like it, you can always make it better.