Hi people of the Maemo community

I decided to write the below review of the recently released SYGIC Mobile Maps 9 for the Nokia N900. Just to sum up all the pros&cons of this great application. One-and-only so far and fully functional. Feel free to comment, lay out your own opinion, what needs to be improved, what you like and any kind of problems that you might be facing.

Sygic people themselves are here with us (two accounts: zdeno. & SygicSupport) so their support is highly appreciated.

->Let's start with the installation process itself:



a) it's fully automated within the windows environment (EXE file), just follow the instructions
b) non-windows users, use ZIP file all the files to /home/user/MyDocs/

Some people here have had problems so if the app refuses to start upon the installation, make sure you do the following before posting the problem:


1. Uninstall the Maps software through app manager.
2. Remove Drive, Maps and Res folders and the DEB file from the N900.
3. Connect via USB in mass storage mode.
4. Run the assistant again and install it on the internal flash!
5. Disconnect.
6. Fire up the DEB file, again through app manager, not dpkg -i
7. Reboot.


It should work, if it won't contact Sygic Support at: support@sygic.com



->Tips&tweaks:

All the info (more menu options, full screen, lag on gps position) is here, posted by zehjotkah
http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=47801


->UI and options:

The UI is very easy to navigate, it's complexity is minimized and clear enough to get with all the available options familiar in just a few minutes.
It is comparable to Garmin Mobile XT and much more advanced than Nokia OVI Maps on symbian devices (won't mention maemo OVI Maps version, 'cause it is simply cant be compared), although the way how ovi maps display the map in browse mode is in my opinion slightly better.

Right after you launch the app it will ask you whether you want A-GPS turned on or not. It's your choice. Having it turned on, GPS will get a lock in just a couple of seconds, while without it'll be ready within a few minutes. Then you'll get a safety warning.




Tapping on the sat lock bars, you'll get a GPS info screen showing the strength of a signal, coordinates and satellites allocation.





Tapping on the map brings you to the main menu, see the screens below:

[1/2 section of main menu]: Here you've got a 'Navigate to...' option where you can set all details regarding navigation process (see Navigation process section for details where you can find some info regarding 'Route' button too). 'Browse map' allows you to go through the map while zooming in/out at the same time, search for an address, start navigation, show/hide POI, avoid selected place if the route is already calculated. So the UI as you can see is very user-friendly and flexible. 'Traffic' button is grayed out and it's now available right out of the box, besides service is not available in Poland so I'll skip it. From the main menu you can also select an 'Alternative route' icon and re-calculate the route and so on (see the screenshot below).



'Settings' icon is the place where all the customization can be done. Is has got 4 screens filled with the further options.



Almost all of them are self-explanatory so let's skip the description of those.
The first icon has 3 map view variants: 3D View, 2D (flat) view and 2d North Up.

In 'Planning preferences' you've got options shown below...



I am using Economic route calculation and it seems to be the right way for me. I did not tested the last two selections though, only in-car environment
In the 'Signpost settings' one can set the number of direction signs displayed whether in all directions or just preferred one.

'Left/Right handed' option switches manipulation buttons due to your preferences. In 'GPS hardware' it is possible to manipulate the GPS unit settings, like port on which the app listens to and so on...that icon and GPS Logs are not available out of the box so if you are curious just unlock and check them for your own.

Last but not least is the 'Advanced settings' button, here's what you can set inside:



As you can see on the above screens, it's easy to customize all the info displayed while navigating. Lane assistant is a truly great thing and it actually shows you the remaining distance left to be driven on a selected line. Generally all those settings should be found in a decent navigation unit/app and they are here so Sygic made their work very well.


[2/2 section of main menu]: Here you can find the 'Itinerary', if you have added any points through 'Browse map' or 'Alternative route' buttons - this is the place where those points can be managed. You can see the starting and end points, waypoints. Moreover you can get those points marked as visited, make a point as a via point, start or end point and add a POI.
I like it a lot The next one is 'Manage POI' icon, pretty much self-explanatory again - add/delete/manage POI's. Pressing 'GPS Status' button will get you to the very same screen as when tapping on the sat lock bars right after the app has been lunched.

From here you can also 'Memorize position' while in 'Extras' the one would find a word clock, calculator, unit converter and a country info.
The last one is very handy feature, tapping on a country gets you some useful info like currency, day light savings, driving side, number of inhabitants, phone code, time zone, units, whether car lights should be on or off, speed-limits in the city; on a highway etc...

It's like having a small guide and it's all inside your pocket - niceeee Sygic, very nice indeed

'Exit' button - well, it does what it does and it does it well





->Navigation process:

Remeber 'Navigate to...' and 'Route' buttons within the main menu? This is where all the magic happens
Just select the most appropriate way for you to start and you're good to go.



Route can be calculated using using the 'Address' button, selecting a country->city->street->street number. Tapping on the 'ZIP Code' gets you there even faster.
I do like the 'City Center' option - very useful on a trip, when you don't know destination city at all. Another words, all mandatory functions have been bundled within the software.


Anyway, ones the route is calculated, we can see it on the screens below. The first one shows it on the map, distance, ETA of the trip, time left and selected method. Tapping on the Details gets you to the second slide, where you can select what you want to avoid, here it's been grayed out, simply because there was no such restrictions available on my route.



Then route can be managed through the 'Route' icon located on the first slide of main menu.




'Show route instructions' & ' Show route as images' well, the icons explain it all i guess.
The screenshots shown next have been obtained using the 'Route demonstration' function...




On those two screens you can see pretty much all the info you get while navigating, it is very readable, everything has it's own place. The orange arrow shows the direction to destination. Lane assistant, radar alerts work very good. The route is navigated fast enough, gps fix is also much faster then in ovi maps.

The only thing that annoys me the most it that position shown on map is 20-30 meters upfront, so when you pass a speed camera it still shows 20-30m in front of you. While in GPS info screen, the shown accuracy it exactly between 20-40m, so maybe it's the GPS hardware is not up to task.

Now, almost at the end of my review I realized that I have forgotten to show how the app behaves while in portrait mode, so here are some pics. It does it very well by the way.


->Some found issues:

-automatic night/day mode sometimes won't work as it suppose to, it lacks the option to set the specific hour when to switch modes.
-gps lags 20-30meters, gps issue or maybe app needs to be improved
-sometimes sygic re-routes while navigating through unpaved roads, but there is no such road to turn on.


->What to improve:

-auto-rotate function, based on accelerometer.
-full screen on/off should be included, without the need to edit ini files.
-lag issue should be fixed ASAP, OVI Maps app does not have this bug - so it is a software sided not hardware...


->Summing up:

I am very happy that Sygic made this app available for N900 users and it's been well done. Even if there still some things and bugs to be fixed, we can be sure that Sygic people would stand up to the task. Mobile Maps 10 should be even better, symbian users report so.


Thanks for reading