Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
have a large footprint in rural areas.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>
> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>
> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
> have a large footprint in rural areas.
And for those on data plans where they don't have unlimited data.
On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>
> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>
> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
> have a large footprint in rural areas.
I bought it, and am trying to download it. Haven't been too successful
with the map download yet. The pricing is very unclear. Apparently it's
$5 for the program and the U.S. maps, but sometimes a screen says $30.
On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:53:09 -0500, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
> On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>
>> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>>
>> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
>> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
>> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
>> have a large footprint in rural areas.
>
> I bought it, and am trying to download it. Haven't been too successful
> with the map download yet. The pricing is very unclear. Apparently it's
> $5 for the program and the U.S. maps, but sometimes a screen says $30.
I've no Android device to run it on, but what the web site offers me is:
> Complete U.S. and Canada maps included
> $19.99 CoPilot Live USA DownloadComplete map of the U.S. included
> $4.99
Nothing at all for $30.- :-) . Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
On 1/10/2011 6:23 PM, tlvp wrote:
> On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 19:53:09 -0500, SMS <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote:
>
>> On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>>
>>> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>>>
>>> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
>>> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
>>> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
>>> have a large footprint in rural areas.
>>
>> I bought it, and am trying to download it. Haven't been too successful
>> with the map download yet. The pricing is very unclear. Apparently it's
>> $5 for the program and the U.S. maps, but sometimes a screen says $30.
>
> I've no Android device to run it on, but what the web site offers me is:
>
>> Complete U.S. and Canada maps included
>> $19.99 CoPilot Live USA DownloadComplete map of the U.S. included
>> $4.99
>
> Nothing at all for $30.- :-) . Cheers, -- tlvp
See <http://www.alk.com/copilot/copilot8-store.asp>
Steve Sobol wrote:
> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>
> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
> have a large footprint in rural areas.
>
Yeah I had a nokia 95 where the maps where on the phone,
I liked that much better then googlemaps where you have to have
an internetconnection, because no internet, no maps,... that bites.
On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>
> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>
> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
> have a large footprint in rural areas.
Well I tried it yesterday. Very unimpressive. First, it would not allow
me to put in the address of the destination. The building has been there
for probably 30 years, it's not a new building, but Co-Pilot insisted it
did not exist. I put in the closest address number on the same street to
see what it would do. At one point the voice tells me to turn left on
G2. Well if you asked 1000 people in this area where road G2 was you'd
be lucky to find one person that knew the answer because no one _ever_
calls it G2, and you'd be hard-pressed to find any signs with that
designation (I think I recall one, but I can't recall where). It did
display the proper name of the road on the screen though. I expect that
the other county roads with G designation will also not have the road
names spoken correctly.
On 1/16/2011 6:43 PM, SMS wrote:
> On 1/10/2011 7:50 AM, Steve Sobol wrote:
>>
>> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>>
>> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
>> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
>> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
>> have a large footprint in rural areas.
>
> Well I tried it yesterday. Very unimpressive. First, it would not allow
> me to put in the address of the destination. The building has been there
> for probably 30 years, it's not a new building, but Co-Pilot insisted it
> did not exist. I put in the closest address number on the same street to
> see what it would do. At one point the voice tells me to turn left on
> G2. Well if you asked 1000 people in this area where road G2 was you'd
> be lucky to find one person that knew the answer because no one _ever_
> calls it G2, and you'd be hard-pressed to find any signs with that
> designation (I think I recall one, but I can't recall where). It did
> display the proper name of the road on the screen though. I expect that
> the other county roads with G designation will also not have the road
> names spoken correctly.
One other issue I found while using it yesterday. Like most GPS
applications on phones, it's an incredible battery hog. Be sure to keep
it plugged in in the car during use. Went from 90% battery to 20%
battery in about an hour.
On 1/14/2011 5:50 AM, Bellende Belhamel wrote:
> Steve Sobol wrote:
>> http://www.alk.com/copilot/android/
>>
>> Looks interesting. Maps are stored on the phone, so you don't need a
>> data connection to use the real-time navigation features. That would be
>> great for the smaller carriers like Sprint and T-Mobile that may not
>> have a large footprint in rural areas.
>>
>
> Yeah I had a nokia 95 where the maps where on the phone,
> I liked that much better then googlemaps where you have to have
> an internetconnection, because no internet, no maps,... that bites.
>
The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
have to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates. I've
been dealing with that problem for years when using PDAs and dedicated
GPS receivers, so I'm glad to be able to use Google Navigation for free.
If I do go someplace where I don't have Internet access, I guess I'll
have to bring my dedicated GPS receiver with me.
"Trevor Holyoak" <trevor@holyoak.com> wrote in message
news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you have
> to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well -- CoPilot
is something like $40 these days, I seem to recall; I'm OK with spending that
every 2-3 years to keep the maps current.
(And it's not like a phone's data plan is free... although I realize there's
much, much more you can do with a data plan than just navigation!)
On 1/21/2011 9:58 AM, Joel Koltner wrote:
> "Trevor Holyoak" <trevor@holyoak.com> wrote in message
> news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
>> have to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
>
> That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well --
> CoPilot is something like $40 these days
$5 for Android.
Of course the huge advantage of maps on the phone is that in many places
where you most need maps there is no 3G internet. Of course the best
thing to do is to buy a GPS.
At 22 Jan 2011 18:20:37 -0800 SMS wrote:
> On 1/21/2011 9:58 AM, Joel Koltner wrote:
> > "Trevor Holyoak" <trevor@holyoak.com> wrote in message
> > news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> >> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
> >> have to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
> >
> > That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well --
> > CoPilot is something like $40 these days
>
> $5 for Android.
>
> Of course the huge advantage of maps on the phone is that in many
> places where you most need maps there is no 3G internet. Of course the
> best thing to do is to buy a GPS.
I disagree- my phone is always with me, and a separate GPS is one more
device (and charger cord) to lug around when traveling. An "offline" GPS
app leverages hardware I'm already carrying, and even if not as featured
as a dedicated GPS device, it's generally "good enough" for the few times
I'm outside cellular coverage areas.
My wife has a dedicated GPS in her car, but it never leaves her car. We
just use our phones when traveling/using rental cars. My phone's offline
GPS app is discontinued and has five year old maps, but even that's good
enough as little as it gets used.
> My wife has a dedicated GPS in her car, but it never leaves her car. We
> just use our phones when traveling/using rental cars. My phone's offline
> GPS app is discontinued and has five year old maps, but even that's good
> enough as little as it gets used.
If you use your phone's GPS with offline maps it's okay, but it's still
not as convenient as a real GPS with a mount to hold it to the
windshield, and a larger screen. But it is another thing to take with
you and hide when you park the car.
It's in unfamiliar areas, like on vacation, where you most need a good
GPS. I used my Droid GPS the other day to find an address in a nearby
town, but Co-Pilot is of much lower quality in terms of maps and
directions than my stand-alone GPS (which I didn't have with me). Still
Co-Pilot was sufficient in this case because at least it got the street
names right.
At 23 Jan 2011 07:23:32 -0800 SMS wrote:
> On 1/22/2011 8:21 PM, Todd Allcock wrote:
>
> > My wife has a dedicated GPS in her car, but it never leaves her car.
We
> > just use our phones when traveling/using rental cars. My phone's
offline
> > GPS app is discontinued and has five year old maps, but even that's
good
> > enough as little as it gets used.
>
> If you use your phone's GPS with offline maps it's okay, but it's still
> not as convenient as a real GPS with a mount to hold it to the
> windshield, and a larger screen. But it is another thing to take with
> you and hide when you park the car.
>
> It's in unfamiliar areas, like on vacation, where you most need a good
> GPS. I used my Droid GPS the other day to find an address in a nearby
> town, but Co-Pilot is of much lower quality in terms of maps and
> directions than my stand-alone GPS (which I didn't have with me). Still
> Co-Pilot was sufficient in this case because at least it got the street
> names right.
Why didn't you just use the online nav app?
Don't assume all phone GPS apps (or standalone GPS units!) are equal.
Over my eight or nine years with GPS-enabled PDAs and phones I've used
some good and bad GPS apps. The offline app I currently use as a backup
(with the outdated circa 2005 maps) was chosen because it's an excellent
GPS program. I have far more recent one that sucks, so I don't use it.
As far as online GPS, I'm very happy with MS Bing Mobile for WinMo
(ironically it's awful and featurless on MS' newer Windows Phone 7
platform!) With both voice recognition for POI and sddress input and
spoken turn-by-turn, Bing is pretty darn good now- certainly better than
Google Maps, but I haven't played with Google Nav for Android enough to
compare.
> As far as online GPS, I'm very happy with MS Bing Mobile for WinMo
> (ironically it's awful and featurless on MS' newer Windows Phone 7
> platform!) With both voice recognition for POI and sddress input and
> spoken turn-by-turn, Bing is pretty darn good now- certainly better than
> Google Maps, but I haven't played with Google Nav for Android enough to
> compare.
I don't need to add Points of Interest while driving. What I need is a
way to get around to places I've not been in the Los Angeles area, and
up here in the High Desert - like on New Years Day, when I worked at a
new client's place out in Oak Hills and was not sure of the quickest way
to get to the house. I was going to take Main Street to Escondido and
head south, but Google Nav said to take Joshua Street to Mariposa to
Ranchero and head north instead, which was a better choice. I hadn't
even considered that route.
For my purposes, Google Nav seems to work well, although I understand
why it may not work for everyone. The one thing I've encountered has to
be a bug... I occasionally have problems getting the app to recognize
I'm speaking through my Bluetooth headset.
--
Steve Sobol - Programming/Web Dev/IT Support
Apple Valley, CA sjsobol@JustThe.net
On Sun, 23 Jan 2011 14:04:54 -0500, Steve Sobol <sjsobol@justthe.net> wrote:
> ... The one thing I've encountered has to
> be a bug... I occasionally have problems getting the app to recognize
> I'm speaking through my Bluetooth headset.
<tongue cheek in>
The app can't distinguish *Talking Through Your BT Headset*
from *Talking Through Your Hat*, eh :-) ?
<tongue cheek out>
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP
On Jan 22, 6:20*pm, SMS <scharf.ste...@geemail.com> wrote:
> On 1/21/2011 9:58 AM, Joel Koltner wrote:
>
> > "Trevor Holyoak" <tre...@holyoak.com> wrote in message
> >news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> >> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
> >> have to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
>
> > That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well --
> > CoPilot is something like $40 these days
>
> $5 for Android.
>
> Of course the huge advantage of maps on the phone is that in many places
> where you most need maps there is no 3G internet. Of course the best
> thing to do is to buy a GPS.
Well Co-Pilot worked for a few days and now it no longer functions.
The app launches, you can put in a destination, it begins to calculate
the route and then the application shuts down. You relaunch and it
does the same thing. You can see that it has a proper fix during the
few seconds it's up, but it won't stay up.
"SMS" <scharf.steven@geemail.com> wrote in message
news:4d3c47f3$0$44037$742ec2ed@news.sonic.net...
> If you use your phone's GPS with offline maps it's okay, but it's still not
> as convenient as a real GPS with a mount to hold it to the windshield, and a
> larger screen.
Larger screen -- yeah, that's always nice... although some phones now sport
screens as big as the cheaper GPS receivers!
Windshield mount -- there are available for most any popular phone; I have one
for mine and it was <$10 off of eBay.
On 1/22/2011 7:20 PM, SMS wrote:
> On 1/21/2011 9:58 AM, Joel Koltner wrote:
>> "Trevor Holyoak" <trevor@holyoak.com> wrote in message
>> news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>>> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
>>> have to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
>>
>> That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well --
>> CoPilot is something like $40 these days
>
> $5 for Android.
>
> Of course the huge advantage of maps on the phone is that in many places
> where you most need maps there is no 3G internet. Of course the best
> thing to do is to buy a GPS.
The places I usually need a map where there's no signal also have no
roads. If Google Earth would let me store the satellite images
locally, I'd be set - I need to know more about where I am than I need
navigation in those places.
Joel Koltner wrote:
> "Trevor Holyoak" <trevor@holyoak.com> wrote in message
> news:ihcbsk$85q$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>> The disadvantage of having the maps on the phone, though, is that you
>> have
>> to buy new maps every couple of years if you want updates.
>
> That's true, although the price of maps has come down a lot as well --
> CoPilot
> is something like $40 these days, I seem to recall; I'm OK with spending
> that
> every 2-3 years to keep the maps current.
>
> (And it's not like a phone's data plan is free... although I realize
> there's
> much, much more you can do with a data plan than just navigation!)
If you keep connected, when you lose connection, you don`t have
navigation either.
Co-Pilot Live - anyone use it? 
If Google Earth would let me store the satellite images
Linear Mode
