NAVIGON MobileNavigator and Kensington Dash Mount - my reviews

At this time there are only two automotive GPS iPhone Apps worth considering: TomTom and NAVIGON MobileNavigator. Navigon originally cost about $80, but I bought the US/Canada version on sale for $40. TomTom is about $60 for the same app.

You can purchase real-time traffic and personalized routing services for an additional fee. There is no commitment from Navigon to provide any map updates and no information on map updates on their web site. 


There is no documentation for the MobileNavigator. It desperately needs documentation. Some users recommend the manual for the Navigon 8100T.

We've installed the app on two phones, so the per-phone cost was about $20.  Installation requires 3GB of free space, the installed product uses 1.5GB.

Navigon will not work on an iTouch, but it will work on an iPhone without a data plan. It needs a GPS, but since it has to work even when there's no cell service it's not data plan dependent. My son inherited my 3G but has no data plan, Navigon works on his phone (albeit slowly on startup). The lack of compass doesn't hurt once the car is in motion.

I have had only limited prior use of a traditional GPS device.

Very quickly, my impressions of this app are:

• It feels quite similar to a traditional automotive dedicated GPS. This is not a feature. It is only a 2nd class iPhone citizen. Even Contact integration seems to be an afterthought.
• There's no true search. We've grown so accustomed to search on iPhone Maps.app that we've forgotten how amazing that is -- and how complex. You can't simply enter a street name and choose from all the matches. It's very traditional GPS data entry. It's much easier and faster to find locations on Google Maps, Latitude or iPhone Maps.app than in Navigon.
• The turn directions don't say "take the next exit", they say "right turn in 200 feet".  When approaching exits it may not be obvious whether than's the 1st right exit or the 2nd right exit.
• I believe location services work only with the iPhone GPS. They don't have access to the cell tower triangulation or WLAN location services. So they don't work indoors very well.
• Local "Point of Interest" data in Minneapolis St. Paul is very limited.
• The map voice pronunciation is peculiar. Some local streets names were incomprehensible.
• The graphics are acceptable and visible from a dashboard mount. I remember thinking volume control was a bit odd but I can't remember why.
• Some of the routes we're given have been peculiar. It seems to be avoiding highways.
• You really need a mount to safely use the iPhone as a GPS device. I have ordered the older $21 Kensington car and dash mount because newer models don't fit the iPhone 4. We wanted a device that works with both 3GS and 4. I'll review that separately.
• Your phone gets hot using Navigon while charging. This can be a problem on a hot sunny day if the phone is beneath the windshield. Consider routing air flow to cool the phone.

Overall Navigon needs to be a lot more open about their map update plans. It is at best a 2nd rate iPhone app. The installation package of 3GB is going to be a problem for many users. I'm surprised their map data doesn't compress more than that.

It's worth $20 per phone, but only just worth $40 per phone. It's not worth $80.

Update 8/29/10:

My review of the Kensington dash mount ...

The big appeal of this car dash mount is that it works with both iPhone 3GS/3G and with iPhone 4. Very few devices can do that. 

There are two joints. If you adjust both (don't force it) you can mount this on a van windshield. It has stayed in place for days; the iPhone is a lightweight GPS. It will only adhere to glass or smooth plastic, not vinyl. For any other surface you need to use the adhesive mount, the suction cup will bind to that. 

It is lightweight, and so is the phone. So they'll vibrate, you may need to mount so the phone rests on something. 

The side grips spring out; the button and apparatus feel fragile. I try to only close them as much as needed. 

Works well with a standard Apple power connector. 

Note an iPhone will get hot when used as a GPS in this cradle. The cradle doesn't carry heat away, it is an insulator. You will want to let the windshield air conditioner run to keep the phone comfortable.

Also my route profile was misconfigured to "bicycle speed" and "scenic". I don't know if that was the default or the kids. It explains the peculiar routing
--
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iPhone's very annoying calendar color limitation

There are three features of the iPhone Calendar that prove Apple is not made of geniuses ...

1. The maximum alert time is 2 days. Sidekick for DOS 2.1 had longer alert times. If I could kick some engineer's butt for every birthday card I've sent late ....
2. iOS can't handle birthdays for anyone over 77. Let's see - my parents, my aunts ...
3. Calendar colors are assigned per server, not per phone. So my Family Calendar (ActiveSync via Google) and my Corporate Calendar (ActiveSync Corporate) are both assigned the color red [1]. I can't tell them apart visually.

Not only are these stupid blunders, they've been stupid blunders for over a year.

No, Apple is not made up of geniuses. Neither is Google. Both companies have lots of limitations.

[1] Quick tip: Calendar color fix for iPhone and iPod touch
... Calendar on the iPhone will assign colors in a certain order for your first five calendars: red, orange, blue, green, and purple. Afterward, any more calendars are assigned a random color out of those five. To manipulate this, use iTunes to sync only selected calendars in the “Info” tab. First sync the one that you want to be red, then sync again including your second calendar that you want to be orange, and so forth. You can create extra calendars to use to “skip” a color if you wish, then delete later at your leisure...

OS X drag folder to file save dialog - sometimes I love this OS

There are a lot of times I'm really irritated by OS X. Significant chunks of it (ex: Parental Controls) are fubared. Some unchangeable configurations (Spotlight) are annoying. Lots of embedded functionality needs to be stripped out into a separately sold product (iChat).

Sometimes though, it's a real pleasure.

I wanted to save a file to a folder I had open in a window. I dragged the target to the "Save As" dialog window and, as expected, the context changed so I could save to it.

There are other ways to duck file navigation, but this is a very useful method. I don't think it's at all new. I think I read of it years ago. I just rediscovered it because it felt like it should work.

If only the rest of OS X worked so well.

Things I hate: Shinywitebox's novel DRM for iShowU

I like paying for good software. It's a quirk, I admit.

I don't even mind well done Digital Rights Management. Without copy protection the novel software I love would die. I'm okay with how FairPlay works for iPhone apps and movies. I'm fine with long software keys -- I keep mine in a Google Doc I can access anywhere.

Where I go bonkers though is when otherwise good companies decide to introduce novel DRM methods, such as key distribution methods. I can tolerate online registration and binary keys for subscription services like Spanning Sync, but I blow a capillary when vendors like Shinywhitebox, makers of the once excellent and inexpensive iShowU screencasting software, do things like this ...

Licensing & Refunds

... At purchase time, we create an account for you on our system so that you can get instant access to your purchase history and retrieve lost unlock keys if need be. You use these same account details to unlock the product (over the internet). After starting the application, click on the “Unlock ..." button that appears in the first dialog, then enter your email address and password (these are the login details you setup when you purchased from us)...

Additionally, at the time of purchase we send out an email with your current set of “unlock keys”. This is simply an alternative method, which you can use on machine that don’t have an internet connection. If you have purchased a product but have not received your unlock keys please first check your spam folders, and failing that, contact support with the transaction number of the sale.

The keys are XML files.

To add aggravation to injury, SWB has enforced this transition for version 1 of their software, now in legacy mode. When I ran my old software I accepted offered upgrades, thinking I was getting some bug fixes. Along the way I got an entirely new registration process and my old key failed. I had to request a new key (support responded within 10 minutes late at night, which is a bit beyond the call of duty).

Come on gang. Please don't do this to your customers. I like paying to upgrade products I like (in their case the new HD product upgrade fee is a pittance), but I really don't have time for this - just time to rant about it.

Please don't make registration process changes part of "free" updates to legacy products. Please don't institute unique DRM procedures that break the way I track the 200 or so software products I've purchased. Just don't.

Here's hoping SWB is reconsidering ...

Project Shredder begins

Gordon's Rules of Acquisition remind me that the purchase price is often the smallest cost of acquisition. So I like to digest each piece of gear before I bring down new prey.

The last meals have gone relatively well. My mother's iPad and my own iPhone 4 were big bites, but they went faster than expected. The Brother 2140 and updated Airport Express were bought for trouble-free implementation and they worked as expected. Migrating my old 3G to my son was more complicated thanks to AT&T's incomprehensible and undocumented contract rules, but it too has passed.

Since Canon refuses to make the dSLR I want [1], I'm delaying replacement of my aging DigitalRebel. So my path is clear for something more challenging.

Hence Project Shredder.

I am bad at filing. I've always been bad, but it's getting worse. Once the easy stuff is tossed, the hard stuff builds up in bins and boxes. I need a better approach [2].

I have some past experience with document and image scanning including developing document management technologies, but I've never felt that the technology was really ready for my home use. Over the past few years, however, OCR and full text indexing have matured into my zone of acceptably pain-free technology. Adobe's 1996-vintage PDF image/text format has become widely accepted [3]; it's the format I've wanted for fifteen years. The Fujitsu ScanSnap line has been stable and respected for at least ten years, and their space-saving S1300 has gotten a great review from a source I trust.

So it's time to make a stab at this. I'll have more to say in future posts about the S1300 when it arrives, and how the entire process plays out at our home [4]. Look for the "document management" tag for related posts.

-- footnotes --
[1] Stop the 3$!#$% megapixels Canon. Give us ISO.
[2] Adobe, like Microsoft, wasn't always a zombie company.
[3] Though Fujitsu's software distribution strategy may lead me to a Torrent client!
[4] I'll keep the way I file receipts and manuals. Receipts get tossed into a bin in chronological order. Manuals get placed in bookcase boxes in alphabetic order with the date of acquisition written on the front page. I weed receipts by tossing the bottom of the bin, the manuals as I add new ones. This process is so efficient I don't see much room for improvement.

Airport Extreme 802.11n range: better at 2.4 than 5

The last time I messed with my home wireless network I jumped through hoops to connect an old 802.11b iBook (yes, the computer, not the app) to an early 2009 Time Machine. A few weeks after I bought that Time Machine Apple revved the line.

Now that I've replaced the Airport Express that now powers my mother's iPad with a new one, I'm sure Apple will rev it along with the upcoming iTV.

In the meantime, I've made one new discovery. In my home, 802.11N 2.4 GHz has significantly greater range than 802.11N 5 GHz. Apparently this is not uncommon.

When I configured the Express to WDS Extend it worked well in our dining room, but it couldn't connect in the living room. I brought it back to the dining room and manually switched the WDS setting from the original 5GHz network I'd selected to the standard 802.11N network [2]. (Time Machine broadcasts both plus 802.11G and 802.11B.) It then connected from the dining room. I repeated this to confirm it wasn't a chance glitch.

So our current (all wireless [1]) home network looks like this:

• Time Machine: 802.11 n/g/b with 802.11n 5GHz and 2.4Ghz
• Airport Express: Extends Time Machine, WDS connection is 802.11n 2.4 GHz
• iMac i5: 802.11n 5 GHz (it's about 10 feet directly below the Time Machine)
• iMac G5: 802.11g
• MacBook Intel: 802.11n 5GHz at the moment, but I bet I have to switch it back to 802.11N 2.4 GHz to get more range
• iPhone 4: 802.11n 2.4 GHz
• iPhone 3G and 3GS: 802.11g
• iPhone 3 (used as iTouch): 802.11g
• iBook: would be 802.11b but I've retired it. It wasn't getting any use in the iPhone era.

Note Apples says the Airport Express will connect up to 10 clients, and the Airport Extreme will connect up to 50 users (I'm not sure where my older Time Machine sits). With our iPhones and guest devices it's not hard to get near to the Express limits.

See also:

• Airport Extreme: Firmware update, Time Capsule bugs, tips and fixes
• Fixing a broken WDS wired to wireless bridge on an Apple Airport Express

[1] I thought the "all wireless" setup would be temporary following some home reconfiguration, but it's worked so well I've stayed with it. I'm surprised.
[2] From Airport Utility select Airport Express. Choose Manual setup, then Wireless. Select the non-5GHz or 5GHz through Wireless Network Name.

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The hidden ever growing iTunes photo cache bug

There's a design flaw/bug in iTunes. When it syncs photos to an iPod or iOS device it creates a photo cache folder. That folder never shrinks, it only grows.

That's merely annoying on the desktop, but it does the same thing in iPhoto. To purge the cache you have to delete it, which requires opening the iPhoto image Package..;

iTunes: Photo sync creates iPod Photo Cache folder

... Control-click the iPhoto Library file and choose Show Package Contents from the shortcut menu.

In the iPhoto Library window, locate the iPod Photo Cache folder and drag it to the Trash...

My hidden iPhoto cache was 1.5 GB.

How exceedingly annoying.