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Our friends at NDrive offer an awesome Navigation App for Android and we're giving away 20+ copies of PAID maps for FREE! This contest is EXCLUSIVELY for AndroidForums.com members. Their maps include countries in Western & Eastern Europe, North America, South America, Africa and the Middle East!
Downloaded, looks great. Would be nice if they told you it was 30+mb more after you install it (in the description). Going to compare this against my new TomTom and Garmin that I got over the weekend... now 3 devices to do a side-by-side on (left comments/rating on Market).
edit: To download the USA map is an additional 2,677.10mb. Too large to be a practical application on a phone.
Have tried it briefly and left a comment in the market. Have lots of Nav Apps loaded on my phone and am soon going on a big 10 country Europe driving trip so will be great to test it out.
Would love to win so I can comment on how this went.
Just posted comment in Market. There is way too much initial downloading. Also not best looking interface. Will have to try navigation part later on once map eventually gets downloaded.
NDrive is a good alternative to Google Navigation. The layout is nice and the app is pretty easy to use. The directions were very accurate when I tested it out and I arrived at my destination with no problems. Having offline access is very helpful, as I have have sometimes been unable to use Google Navigation in certain areas. The only downside, as some have mentioned, is the large size (initial download is over 30 MB). I have plenty of room on my Droid, but this could definitely be a problem for some users. Froyo should solve this issue with the ability to store apps on SD cards.
My seven-day trial runs out today - which is a shame, seeing as NDrive gives me something Google Navigation can't: turn-by-turn navigation in South Africa. Google will offer it here at some point, I hope, but for now NDrive has been quite handy over this last week.
I have sprint and google loses maps after you drop service. There are a lot of places i don't get service with sprint, or my phone data locks up (moment). This works a lot better. Am I able to put the maps on my sd card?
Last edited by professoroffruit; July 7th, 2010 at 02:23 PM.
Finally, something I can use on my Backflip. I've been waiting for a good Navigation app because Google Maps navigation is not available on Android 1.5 and this was just what I was looking for.
Like that you dont need cell service for the app to navigate you. Might consider letting us move to SD card be an option. Files are to big to be on just the phone. Other than that great app.
Very impressed about this app, even better than Garmin on some fetures. Just it needs an open map platform ot tool det for custom maps, or let Garmin users import their maps.
Works great on my N1 in toronto. Offline mode is awsome. (helps when i travel and don't wanna use data!) Routes that i've tested around my area are quick and fast. Easily picks up locations as i type them in, and it's been pretty good at finding most of the spots that i was looking for. Great that it shows which lanes you need to be in when approaching a turn/intersection. Download and setup first with wifi, and after that its a breeze to get going and working. Awsome app.
I think NDrive has some nice features. I strongly agree with others that NDrive should warn you about the size of the download or give an alternate means to download the maps.
With that said, I really appreciate having the maps local to the phone. I've gone off route in one of Verizon's dead zones (West Virginia) a few times. This will be a godsend in these places.
To those complaining about the 30mb voice download and the map download, they seamlessly all stored to my SD card so not much to complain about there in my opinion, besides before each download they tell you the size to confirm if you want to DL. Mind you I am in Canada and the map pack for me was 300MB not the 2.6GB US monstrosity, but get a 4GB or larger sd card and you are good to go. Also DL on WIFI.
As for the app itself, it seems great so far. On device no data required navigation is awesome. It seems to work pretty well too, the voice isn't bad, it automatically recalculated my route when I intentionally took an alternate route I knew.
I for one do not have a data plan, so not needing data is awesome, I will buy the Canada map if I am not lucky enough to win it in the next 6 days! Will also likely buy the US map once I get a > 2GB SD card. Speaking of no data plan, I haven't commented in the market yet but will at around 5PM MST today when on my home wireless.
Last edited by jdodds; July 8th, 2010 at 12:23 PM.
Testing it, I like the local idea, but it needs to be in chunks (states maybe?). Or have an online mode and offline optional with a radius from where you are or something.
I just downloaded it to my phone and did a test drive, and seems pretty good. Searching for a business was a bit of a pain (why do I have to enter 5 things to do one search?), but other than that it was pretty smooth. I think the app might intercept the volume buttons, which is a bit of a pain since I tried turning up the volume to no avail, and went in later and discovered that my media volume was only 50% or so. The size was quite annoying, as well, with the large download. As someone mentioned before, a State based system would be nice, even if it just downloaded your state first, allowed you to use the app, and then continued to download the rest in the background. That, or allow you to download the map on your computer then transfer it to the phone, since that usually has a faster connection (even vs WiFi), and you don't have to worry about power and such as much.
I haven't given it much of a test yet, but those are my initial thoughts. Here's hoping I win the free map, since having 1.5 is getting tired now...
NDrive is a good alternative if you want to buy an offline navigator app. It has much more setting options then other apps I have tested, for example Navigon. For me, as a Swede it will be impossible to use Google Maps if I go outside Sweden since it will cost too much to download all data via 3G.
The graphics during navigation is not as good as Navigon, but the setting options and price makes it a better choice according to me.
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Comment on Market entered.
I found the lack of TTS on the Android platform to be disappointing, but anticipate that this will eventually change as it's already available on other platforms. The volume could also use a boost to overcome background/road noise. I often drive a work van, where road noise is much higher than for a passenger car.
Lane guidance is a great thing (I have it on my TomTom), but the inclusion of opposing traffic lanes makes it a little more difficult to glance at and know where you should be. I already know not to be in the opposing traffic lanes, so I see no benefit to the additional information. That said, I'd rather have it as is than not have it at all.
The map download was excruciatingly slow. The "agent" available for other platforms, that allows you to download via your PC would be a great addition, freeing up your phone during the download. Their web site indicates quarterly map updates. I can't imagine going through a download like this every three months.
Business Search and Traffic info are only available for the Portugal map. Really?? Maybe it's an experimental feature?
Despite the above, I think it's a very good app and gave it 4 stars.
This app really does look like it could be better than Google Maps. I just wish it wasn't so darn big! I do, however, look forward to taking it hiking with me in a couple of days. I'll really put it to the test then.
Updating it all now. REALLY glad I've got wifi here, otherwise these downloads would just be, um, unacceptable. I'll have some review action up later.
EDIT: Sorry, changed my mind. 2.6 GIGS is just too much. I've got a bunch of videos and music on my phone, and I'll have to remove some of it just for maps. No thanks.
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The down load may be large nut thats what wifi is for will save on data as maps are on device.
This is a really good produce and the lane assist is the best
Well right now I have an 8gb, and it's just about full. If I had a 16, I'd have that nearly full (ideally I'd have ALL my music on my phone). I don't like having to budget nearly three gigs of space for maps.
NDrive Contest!
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