Navigon iPhone Navigator App Now Reads Street Names, adds iPod integration, Emails Your Location

Sunday, September 13, 2009

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Navigon sure knows what their users want, and delivers it. While AT&T Navigator, a subscription based Turn-by-Turn GPS navigator iPhone app, already includes text-to-speech feature enabling speech for street names, navigators with preloaded maps such as those from Tom-Tom and Navigon have not implemented this feature, until now.

Now, after updating over 1GB of your Navigon turn-by-turn navigation app, users will be able to drive safer without ever looking at their iPhone screen to know which street to turn. Navigon’s GPS turn-by-turn navigator app, MobileNavigator, will tell users when to make a turn as well as which street to turn by reading out loud street names.

Hearing street names while driving is very satisfying as drivers will be able to look for street names at the intersection to know if they are actually suppose to turn there. Without hearing street names, drivers may have second thoughts as they blindly turn right or left when prompted by the navigator apps. And, even though Navigon does a pretty good job at navigation accuracy, some may still turn into the wrong street if two streets are situated closely together or when GPS signal becomes too weak to track driver’s accurate location. Turn-by-turn iphone navigator with text to speech capabilities to read out street name greatly enhances the driving experience.

Navigon also adds another important feature. Too many times during a car trip, users would want to listen to their music. Before this update, to get iPod songs playing, users need to close the navigator app, open the iPod app to pick songs, and reopen the navigator app. After waiting for what seemed like hours will users be able to resume navigation. Now, with iPod integration, these hassles can go away. Just open the iPod menu, and listening to music while performing in-car navigation will be a breeze.

Navigon’s MobileNavigator 1.2 update also added another feature, location sharing. It allows the user to email their location to another user. When the user opens the link in the email, Navigon app will open and point navigation destination to their friend’s location. It will be a easy way for friends to meet up without even telling the other person how to get there.

Navigon seems to really know how to do business well in the App Store. This new update is a significant addition to the already acclaimed navigator app as it put Navigon a step ahead of Tom-Tom’s own navigator app. Navigon also tweaked its price just $10 dollars below Tom-Tom. They’ve even announced plan for their own cradle/dock to compete with the still missing-in-action Tom-Tom cradle. Their results can be seen in the latest Top 25 Grossing App List as they have become the number 2 top grossing app on 9/13/09. Tom-Tom’s own app is sitting at the number 8 position in the top 25 grossing app list.