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Provides: Turn by turn GPS navigation
Developer: Sygic
Requirements: iPhone OS 3.0+, iPhone 3G or 3GS
Size: 1.62 GB
Price: $79.99
Availability: Now
Version Reviewed: 7.71.2

The turn-by-turn GPS navigation apps are becoming more common on the App Store, and one you may not have heard of is Sygic’s Mobile Maps 2009 (North America).  While it does turn-by-turn navigation satisfactorily, it leaves much to be desired.

Sygic is a company that makes its GPS software available on numerous mobile platforms.  The latest of which is the iPhone.  So you can look at this from two perspectives.  The first is that it’s awesome that Sygic has refined and perfected their GPS software for 7 full numbered versions across numerous platforms.  So, they should know what they are doing right?  Or, you can wince at the idea of a straight port from one their base software to the iPhone OS.  I take the second perspective.

Now, before I start getting picky, let me state that this app does what it advertises.  It has all the standard features you’d expect in a GPS app like POIs, solid map data (Tele Atlas), fast route (re)calculation, voice guidance etc.  It even has some more premium features like text-to-speech voice guidance (spoken names of streets), lane assist etc.  Oh yeah, it does portrait and landscape, but you already know how I feel about that one right?

Directions are calculated fast, and when you fail to listen to them, they are recalculated in almost no time at all.  The app really does a great job at guiding you, and I felt as though the navigation was trustworthy.  I’d easily take just this app with me on a road trip without any worries.

But by now, I’m sure you’ve caught on that for some reason, I don’t like this app.  Correct you are.  It’s not because it doesn’t work though; the app works very well.  I don’t like it because it feels as though the iPhone has transformed from a beautiful and elegant device with tons of features into a single purpose GPS device.  The kind of device you buy at Best Buy, and the only thing it does is guide you. Sure, that’s what the app is supposed to do, but let me explain. This app doesn’t use the standard iPhone keyboard or text entry methods.  It doesn’t use standard iPhone UI elements.  And you can’t copy or paste into or out of the app, so you might want to keep some paper handy if you can’t remember long strings of text like addresses.

How much does that matter?  To me?  A lot.  To you?  I’m not sure.  It’s painfully clear that this app was ported, and I just hate that.  If the app at least made use of the iPhone keyboard for text input, I’d be easier on it.  But a straight port from another (inferior) mobile operating system is not the best option available, especially when you can get Navigon’s MobileNavigator, which beautifully makes use of iPhone UI elements and performs superbly.  That said, Mobile Maps is leaps and bounds better than G-Maps, but that isn’t saying much anymore.

Am I too picky?  Perhaps, but until Sygic makes some modifications to Mobile Maps I just can’t recommend it over Navigon’s MobileNavigator.  Both apps will get you from point A to point B very well, but you’ll have a much more enjoyable time with MobileNavigator.  I just hate the feeling that Mobile Maps gives me, and from time to time it did frustrate me.  Ultimately though, the app does what it’s supposed to.  It just doesn’t do anything more than what it’s supposed to.

If you still can’t decide, then why not just wait until TomTom releases their app and cradle combo?