Notices

Sygic have just contacted me and invited me to test the Navigation Software. I'll let you know what I think.

Hows that? can i test it too?

is there a beta test group for sygic products? id give some time to the cause

Ross.

Is it invitation only? Can we also test it?

So when will you get it?

currently testing but can't do too much today because of the snow. Initial thoughts are that it has a lot more features than the nokia voice guidance that i had on the n95.

the touch screen zoom buttons are a tad too small. i don't think i have over-sized fingers.

am also stuck with a uk male voice for the guidance when i'd prefer a uk female voice that isn't irritating. My guess is that you'll be able to add other voices in the release.

will post more after i try it on a journey, snow permitting tomorrow.

and who is the childish person who posted an offensive tag on this thread?

Does the voice announce the street name?? Can you upload a video on Youtube and demonstrate how it run.

Another question: Does this app require internet to run and download map on the fly?

Sygic belongs to Teleatlas and Teleatlas belongs to TomTom. Teleatlas is the direct competitor of Navteq. And Navteq...
Navteq has superior map quality over Teleatlas in western europe. Teleatlas is about 1-2 years behind in updating their raw material where Navteq offers newer - and since all Navteq powered apps I know usually have the better routing - I also suppose even better material. This doesn't help the case though that OVI Maps on N900 seems to be a waste
No, it doesn't. And no other "offline" navigation software does. Google Maps is an *online* software, it needs an active connection to the net to work and thus can provide features like street view and the like. Sygic Drive is meant for offline route guidance and it's only meant for that and it does that quite well.
I am not quite sure, but I think there is a TTS-module (text-to-speach eg announce street names) available for the Windows Mobile version of Sygic, but I'm not to sure about that, didn't use Sygic on WM for quite a while. It provides good general directional announcements though.
You usually buy Sygic on an SD-Card where everything comes preinstalled. Don't know how they deal with program-only-downloads from stores like OVI or Windows Marketplace and the like. I suppose you can make the software download the maps via a internet connection as for example FALK CoPilot does on Android. After you started the prog for the first time it asks you to download the map data. But this will be a one-time download only, once you have the maps, they stay on your card/in your memory and get used by the program/device.

Ok, I haven't had much opportunity to test because of the snow in the UK but have now done three short journeys.

Firstly, the software has some great features and I say that coming from the voice guidance software that I previously had on the Nokia N95. I haven't had a dedicated Sat Nav before so can't really make a comparison.

There are loads of features, too numerous to go into in a shortish posting, but comparing the old Nokia software with the sygic is almost like comparing an old BMW with a new one with lots of gadgets.

I don't want to actually review the product as it would take too long to do and I just don't have the time to do it.

But I will get straight to the point and comment on the weaknesses. This is not an attack on the product as I do think it is very good and I like much of it.

However, one of the annoyances is that it is not overtly easy to switch between applications with the sat nav running as it runs in full screen and I couldn't find a way to flick quickly to another app. As far as I can tell, the only way to do this using the sygic menus is to close the sat nav down entirely.

A way around this is to click the top button on the n900 and select phone and then minimise that and you can then browse through other apps keeping the sat nav open.

But for me, the deal breaker could well be the next, and for me the most important point. There seems to be a lag in the voice and maps. The old Nokia N95 sat nav maps were generally 'spot on' when the voice said, "turn right" you could guarantee you were right at the point that you needed to do so.

The sygic however, has told me to make a turn in x amount of yards - but then I have actually taken the turn and gone about 50 yards before the map updated. (Good job I knew where I was going).

Perhaps might this be down to conditions? I don't know but I never had that problem with my N95 unless I had lost the GPS altogether.

For me this is the most vital part of the sat nav and even though the Sygic app is crammed with useful features that would usually win me over - the apparent lag between voice and map from time to time (on the shortest of journeys - 1.8 miles) is enough for me to have second thoughts about purchasing this and buying a dedicated sat nav instead.

To be fair in this process I have to go to London on the weekend and I will drive in and out and then make any additional comments regarding the lag.

So it looks to have all the same features as the iphone version?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoDPeI3xZAI

Yes, briefly looking at that video it looks pretty much the same functionality.