Navigon for iPhone – review

Let’s face it: many users in EU don’t give a monkey about turn-by-turn navigation apps other than TomTom. It looks like everybody in EU is waiting for TomTom to be released to app store at last! However if you can’t wait for TomTom (Made in Netherlands) then you can get Navigon (Made in Germany). And now there is even Navigon Lite that is free and you can try a little bit out before buying…

To calculate route you need to enter your destination, starting with country:

… then the city:

… the the street:

… and the street number:

… and then the destination appears on the map and if your GPS is switched on, then you can be routed or you can use simulation mode otherwise:

… then the routing takes place and female voice is telling you how to turn to get to the destination (hence the name: "turn-by-turn navigation"):

You can set parameters of routing:

… and in case you are flying to some city and you are not renting a car, then there is also a pedestrian mode:

The map included in this app has also several points of interest:

Of course you can set also 2D mode in case you prefer it:

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So is that Navigon any good? Well, it is not bad and usable. However after so many many many many years of using of TomTom it would be difficult to get used to it. TomTom was available for years not only for various smartphone platforms but also as dedicated GPS devices – using the similar user interface. So for the users who are used to TomTom, the Navigon app for iPhone doesn’t offer any special distinctive feature, that could convince them to stop waiting for TomTom and buy Navigion. However if you are new to whole this GPS navigaiton thingy – Navigon might be for you. Finally: maybe it is worth waiting for TomTom anyway: just to see what features TomTom will offer and how much it will cost.

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To get free Navigon Lite then go to App Store in your iPhone and search for "navigon". We don’t give a link here because each national app store has specific version of this app, for example iTunes USA has Navigon North America and iTunes UK has Navigon UK etc.

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