Google Maps Navigation

Google Maps have indeed proven their worth and their free Sat Nav is equally good. Launched late last year, this app features Google Maps with Sat Nav capabilities. The app gets regular updates so you can rest assured that you have top of the line information in your hands. You can navigate your way around using address, postcode or company name query. It also features Voice search function, which is a great help when your hands are busy elsewhere, and in any such situation, you would also appreciate its voice navigation feature. In brief, coming from the House of Google, this app is all set to fulfill all your basic requirements in one smart package.

NavDroyd

This Sat Nav app is based on Open Street Maps, which is like Wikipedia of maps, where users generate the data. It is an offline app which stores all the data on the local memory of your phone. Among the positive attributes of the app are its simple and intuitive user interface and two different modes for you to choose from. You can use the app in ‘standard’ mode where you can browse the map and then there is ‘cruise’ mode which gives you the directions in 2D or 3D mode. You can get this app for mere £4.99, however, be forewarned that the app is very basic in nature and does not offer advanced features such as speed cameras and traffic information.

Copilot Live 8

At £26.99, Copilot Live 8 is one of the more expensive Sat Nav apps, though it does feature some advanced capabilities. Like NavDroyd, this app also stores the maps on the SD card of your mobile phone and thus can work offline. Apart from its cool interface, the app also brings you the treasure of information including traffic updates, weather information and petrol prices. While the app has everything that you would ever want in a Sat Nav program, it tends to be a bit too big and thus provides considerably slow service. So, before you opt for this app, make sure your phone is powerful enough to handle this program.

AndNav2

If you are willing to shell out any money for Sat Nav system, then it does not mean that you are stuck with Google Navigation. There are plenty of options around which offers you these services for free. AndNav 2 is one of them which uses advertisement revenue for keeping the service free for you. AndNav 2 is an online service and you would need an internet connection for determining your route. While the program is free and offers good basic service, there are certain drawbacks as well. First off, the route calculation is not very reliable. You may also face service outage problem every now and then. But since the app is downloadable for free, you can always give it a whirl without damaging your pocketbook.

NDrive

While there are plenty of free Sat Nav apps available in the Android market place, but if you are looking for superlative performance, then it pays to splash out some cash for getting the best of the apps. NDrive at 39.99 Euros is one such app. You may have to pay some serious money upfront, but the app’s features make it worthwhile. Since the app itself is not very bulky, it does not slow down your mobile. It features very intuitive user interface and offers fast delivery. You can rest assured that the app would work fine whether you have a low end Android smartphone or the latest power machine. At times, the app may take a long time to load, but it offers tons of extra features such as speed camera information.

For more android sat nav apps visit Recombu

Top Android Sat Nav Apps Reviewed is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

You can see why Microsoft want in, it’s a very lucrative market. People will always need directions and they will most likely shun the A to Z and turn to the web (either on their phone or computer.) With augmented reality breaking its way into the tech world services like streetview are going to get more swanky and attract even more people.

Microsoft’s cars have been fitted with cameras and have begun taking pictures around London. They will start mapping major cities on the continent next month. The service is currently already available in 56 US towns and cities.

The service named Streetside will be on a smaller scale than Streetview, according to the company’s director of search, Dave Coplin.”We’re not setting out to record every street. We believe it is most valuable in urban centres where people want to find services.”

In order to avoid the privacy issues raised by Google’s mapping pursuit Microsoft will collect the “bare minimum” of data and Wi-Fi data plans are on hold unti Microsoft’s lawyers are convinced. “We took the decision to postpone wi-fi data collection. We’d like to do it the right way,” said Dave Coplin. He continued “Privacy is imbued in everything we do,” said Coplin.

So what’s the difference between the two going to be?

It’s the same old story, Google will stay the giants of online maps, Streetview is a cultural force akin to the big G’s attempt to catalogue art and books and the Earth. Streetview is more for fun and intrigue than a serious tool for journey planning and urban searching. Microsoft will be hoping to bring in those people along with those who are wary of Google. It’s just like the smartphone market, the mass public will eat up Androids like there’s no tomorrow but more professional users who rely on their phone for work will look to BlackBerry/Microsoft instead.

Who will choose Microsoft’s Streetside over StreetView? is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Obviously there would be a hoard of angry and frustrated drivers, which is little more than an inconvenience unless some guy gets mega road-rage and beats someone to death with a gearstick.

More seriously, a huge chunk of the economy would buckle in (an estimated €800 billion chunk of the European economy is already dependent on GNSS.)

And Amulances, fire engines and the like who rely on GPS would be hit  with life-threatening delays. Picture the scene; there’s a catastrophe like 7/7 (God forbid) which affects GPS. The emergency services are already struggling due to the scale of the problem and on top of everything emergency response vehicles trying to get to the scene are lost without GPS and have no back-up method of getting directions. Hundreds of lives would be at risk and there would be a public outcry. Obviously this is the worst case scenario, but I’m not just doom-mongering here; scientist and tech-experts are genuinely concerned about the issue. The RAE has handed some suggestion to the government, so let’s hope they listen.

The Latest Threat To Humanity? Sat Navs is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Would you like a Mio Sat Nav just in time for Christmas, then if so we want to hear from you by telling us why you would like to win a Mio Sat Nav?

Read on to find out how to enter this amazing competition…

How to Enter

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5. Find the ‘Competition Time! Win a Mio Navman Spirit 470 Sat Nav on Gaj-it!‘ article on our Facebook Wall
6. On the article click on the ‘LIKE’ button and LEAVE A COMMENT telling us why you would like to win a Mio Sat Nav.
7. The person who leaves the most interesting comment will selected by our editors as the winner and ANNOUNCED IN OUR NEWSLETTER (So please ensure you have subscribed to the newsletter too!)

Think this competition is amazing? Then why not join our newsletter and be the first to hear about some of the amazing competition prizes we have lined up…

Competition Rules

The contest will close on Sunday 19th of December 2010, at 5PM (UK Time)

• This contest is open to readers in the UK only
• Please ensure you follow the correct steps set out in the ‘How to Enter’ section above. We do not accept responsibility for entries made incorrectly and late or lost entries.
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• The winner will be contacted by email by Monday 20th December 2010 and the runner up will be contacted after.
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Competition Time! Win a Mio Navman Spirit 470 Sat Nav on Gaj-it! is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

We reviewed the Navman’s Spirit 575 Sat Nav a couple of months ago and were really impressed with its functionality and ease of use. Well, we got hold of the new budget version of this series, the 470, which costs a very reasonable £100. It’s one best budget sat navs on the market. With a 4.3-inch full colour screen and a 480×272 resolution it certainly looks the part. Although it doesn’t come with traffic information, memory card slot, or blue tooth connectivity. But this is to be expected for the price.

However, if you’re not looking for all those extra features and functions, the 470 is an excellent budget choice. The device itself may sturdy and lightweight. When you fire it up, you are greeted with easy to use simple main menu meaning anyone can quickly find a destination of their choice, even if they’ve never used it before which is what it’s all about.

Features

You‘ll be able to input an address, by entering a postcode, finding a point on the map or – most usefully for tourist attractions, type a keyword to search the Points of Interest database.

Clever touches come when you’re entering an address or postcode, a predictive engine will make suggestions so you don’t have to key in the entire address. Plus, keys are greyed-out on the keyboard when they’re not relevant, helping you avoiding annoying typos – making it perfect for inputting addresses with speed and ease. The driving view is excellent – presented in a clear and uncluttered manner, and this makes it a breeze to follow your route.

There’s only one English voice, but she reads out road names and numbers clearly and gives you easily understandable turn information. The device is quick at rerouting you if do miss a turn, and we also loved the clear lane guidance on motorways; perfect for anyone who is using busy unfamiliar motorways. You’re warned about exceeding the speed limits on roads where the speed limit is available, and also of the location of those pesky speed cameras too.

There were only two significant features missing: roadwork avoidance and the ability to plan a route in advance. With the latter, you can’t set a departure location: the 470 will either use your current or last-known position. But we didn’t find this a problem at all.

We were impressed with the routing, It uses the same IQ routes ‘technology’ as TomTom’s satnavs as the maps are also provided by TeleAtlas. This uses actual average speeds for roads, rather than the stated speed and leads to more accurate predictions of how long your journey will actually take. Another really nice touch is that the driving view shows not only the current road, but also the estimated house number, which proved extremely helpful when trying to find a specific address for the first time.

Turning information is displayed at the top of the screen, and you can tap the bar to hear the voice instructions again. If you tap on the right-hand side and a secondary information bar appears on the right-hand side to show detailed journey information.

We Say

With Mio offering a 30-day latest map guarantee, we can find few reasons not to buy the Navman 470. As long as you can live without the missing features we’ve mentioned above, it’s a bargain and perfect Christmas present for a first time driver or someone who wants a simple easy to use sat nav.

Gaj-it Rating 4/5

Want to win a Mio Navman Spirit 470 Sat Nav?  Click here for more details on our amazing competition!

Review: Mio Navman Spirit 470 – The Budget Sat Nav is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Prestigio is a name that you are going to be coming across more and more if our trip to London is anything to go by. We were invited to London for the UK launch of Prestigio, a new high-end electronics brand.

Now, it’s not often in the tech world that we are shown a selection of sexy, sleek tech that we have never heard of before, which has been on sale all over the world and are number one in Eastern Europe and Russia to name a few.

Well, this certainly applies to Prestigio, they are about to launch a myriad of fantastic looking products in the UK including; E-Readers, Sat Navs, Personal Computers, Hard Drives, USB sticks, Mice, Mousepads, Wireless HDMI Bridges, Webcams, Audio devices, Apple devices and many other products.

Prestigio is all about elegance, performance, and style. They have such a varied selection of products we were amazed that we hadn’t heard of them before.

Prestigio have a designed 5 collections to diversify their many products, these include, Leather, Gold, Racer, Hi-tech and iCollection. All of which have a particular style and personality of their own.

First of all, we were introduced to the Leather collection; this of course is aimed at discerning tech-lover who wants sophisticated products with a real leather look. The leather collection boasts refinement and functionality and includes; HDD external drives, flash drives and mouse pads.

The next collection on offer was the Gold Collection; these attractive and luxurious computer peripherals are eye-catching with their gold detailing. You can expect to see some lovely ornate USB flash drives that have more than a whiff of bling and opulence.

Next up the racer collection, these were finished in Ferrari red and encased in carbon fibre. Again they showed us HDD external drives, Flash Drives, Person computers, mice and keyboards.

Their most impressive collection has to be the Hi Tech collection; it’s a varied assortment of high quality and well designed PC and Peripherals, eBook readers, multimedia devices, and home and car accessories – this collection is dedicated to the latest technologies.

Last but not least, we were introduced to the iCollection; dedicated to some of the most successful consumer electronic devices including many Apple products.

We’ve decided to choose one product from each collection to go into more detail on, as they have such big collection we could be here all day.

First up from the leather collection, we loved the elegant take on flash drives and one that caught our eye was the DataSafe 2 –  is a USB 2.0, external flash drive with up to 500GB space and comes in a variety colours, including; black & silver, brown & silver,  and white & gold. They come with a protective leather sleeve and also come with a one-year license to AVG Internet Security Suite an award winning anti-virus software.

Price: €85

Next, we loved the look of the DataRacer 3, which looked a lot like a fan used to cool down a Formula 1 car, rather than a 3.5-inch storage drive. It includes a Sata drive, advanced air intake system, 2-year warranty and can have a capacity up to 2TB – all finished in carbon fibre and racing fire red.

Price: €169

Prestigio’s Libretto is their impressive range of eBooks, they have 5 different models to choose from, the one that caught our eye was the PER5062B, which was touted as the slimmest eBook with Wi-Fi and touch display. It’s only 8.8mm thick, has a SiPix display, which lets you read up to 10,000 pages with a single battery charge. It will play MP3’s, various image formats including, JPG, BMP and PNG. You also get a USB cable, high-quality earphones, stylish pouch and 2GB memory built-in. All with a bulletproof 2-year warranty.

Price: €199

From the iCollection we loved the PIDS2 – a docking station that will charge your iPhone or iPod and will allowing you to connect it to any home audio system, computer or TV. It also comes with a remote control and connectivity is guaranteed via mini USB and S-video out.

The sheer number and variety of Prestigio products range blew us away – they are quite clearly an ambitious new brand and will no doubt make a real impact in the tech world, whether you like understated design or loud in your face designs, Prestigio really does have a collection for all – we have no doubt that many of their products will be fantastic gift ideas in the run up to Christmas, whether is a sophisticated gold USB stick for mum, a racing car inspired hard drive for your son or one of five different eBooks for dad – there is sure to be something for everyone. And with 2-year warranties and competitive pricing Prestigio is going be a brand that you can trust in the years to come.

All products can be found here.

http://www.prestigioplaza.com/

Prestigio Show Off Their 2010 – 2011 Collections is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

Mio the creators of the successful Navman series of satellite navigation systems are about the release three new sat navs for the UK markets – we got in the car and took the Spirit 575 on exhaustive road test to see whether it knows its dual carriages from its b-roads.

We got our mitts on the 4.7-inch widescreen edition and we were first of all impressed by the lightness and how slim it was. With many sat nav companies clambering to be the number one, this market has become very competitive indeed.

Quite often the way you will use a sat nav is mainly dependent on how much travelling you do and how much you are going to use it. For instance if you’re a taxi driver or a professional driver and live in your car or delivery vehicle, something like TV might be something you would want.

Review

The Navman Spirit 575 is a good old-fashioned sat nav, where the manufacturer has placed the importance of getting you from A to B in the safest and quickest possible time – and we’re pleased to tell you that it performed more than admirably.

This focus comes in the shape of a couple of clever features. First up, the 575 came with built-in IQ Routes, which gives the exceedingly-thin sat nav a brain all of its own, allowing it to anticipate congestion on roads at peak times, and then makes the necessary changes, so they can be avoided. This clever feature has been in development for a while and the data has been collated from million of drivers and will always calculate the best possible route, resulting in a faster and most efficient journey.

Features

The next clever clogs feature that impressed us, was the LearnMe function. This allow the Mio Navman to learn the roads you like to drive or have to drive on as the case maybe – and will analyse your driving habits. Whether you drive on the motorway or on the more leisurely, quieter b-roads, your device will pick up on this and find the best route that suits you – this along with IQ routes is a welcomed inclusion and is sure to save you time and make for a stress free driving experience.

The Navman comes with their usual flair for clear mapping and with the added function of 3D Junction views. It will navigate the most complex junctions in a safe and serene manner – gone are the days of not knowing what lane you need to be in pressure situations. After all, any wrong turn on the motorway can often mean lost time and added stress during the journey.

Other time saving and safety functions come via the safety camera warnings, text-to-speech street names and a Quickspell keyboard means there’s less time programming and more time driving. Just the way it should be.

If you are planning to drive into the EU you’ll be glad to know that the Navman is cheap alternative to those expensive map rentals, which often mean you have to pay for the map for a month or even for the year. The Navman has done away with this archaic method and allows you to buy maps for one-off use, and it proves to be the most ideal, cost-effective solution for short road trips and holidays.

The Mio Navman 575 is available with both UK and Ireland or Western European maps and is priced at £129.99 and £149.99 respectively. As well as this, the Navman 475 and 575 come with a year’s worth of live traffic updates. After this, customers can subscribe to the TMC service.

We Say

We really like the Mio Navman 575, it’s sleek, thin, simply designed. When you fire it up you’ll see exactly what we mean this is one the easiest sat navs to use, although it does fall short on some functionality – for instance, there is no ability to connect you phone over Bluetooth, but for the price of the Navman – this may not be something you would expect in this price range.

For a satnav that is perfect for on journeys where the driver isn’t familiar with their surroundings or roads. It is sure to save on time, stress and most importantly will get you to your destination with the least amount of fuss, it’s sure to fly off the shelves over Christmas and would be ideal for any first-time driver who is just taking their first few steps in the world automotive exploration.

Gaj-it Rating

8/10

Comet (£119.99)

Review: Navman Spirit 575 – Perfect for New Drivers is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The TomTom 1.3 version will come equipped with a new feature, HD Traffic updates, which will offer users with dynamic real-time information that helps them to avoid traffic delays and find the fastest routes.

The HD traffic will update every 3 minutes and can be turned off if you want to.  However, it does come at a cost.  The prices vary from 59 pence per day to £37.99 for the whole year.

If you haven’t got the TomTom iPhone app then click here to buy.

Via Gadget Venue

iPhone/iPod Touch App: TomTom Updates to 1.3 and Get HD Traffic is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

This new variation of the Google Map software is called “Google Maps Navigation” and it comes with a whole bunch of cool features. But there is one important thing to note, it is an Internet based product. Good because you don’t need to download huge maps and store them permanently on your phone. Bad because you need to be connected to the Internet to use it. If your tariff doesn’t include unlimited data then this could be a problem.

Google Maps Navigation has some unique features:

• Like Google Earth and Google Maps you can do fuzzy searching for locations, you don’t need to enter an exact address or postcode but you can search for things by name like “Wembley Stadium”.
• It has voice recognition! You just speak destination and it works out where you want to go. The example Google gives is “Navigate to the de Young Museum in San Francisco”.
• Google Maps Navigation downloads current traffic information and an on-screen indicator glows green, yellow, or red based on the current traffic conditions along your route.
• It also has “search along route” which makes it easy to find the next petrol station or fast food restaurant on your way.
• As well as a map view, you can also see where you are going using satellite imagery like in Google Earth.
• In top of satellite imagery there is also photos of your route and turnings using Google’s Street View
• There is also a car dock mode that makes it easy to use your phone at arm’s length (while in its dock on your dashboard or window-screen).

Currently Google Map Navigation is only available for phones running the next version of Google’s mobile phone operating system Android 2.0. Although technically the iPhone would be able to run this software, my guess is that Google will keep it for themselves, at least for the time being, as it is a killer app and it is free!

Google Maps Navigation is currently in Beta and is only available in the United States but it expected it will be available in the UK either as part of the Beta or when the full product is released.

Google Maps With Turn by Turn Navigation is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com

The new TomTom app includes the exclusive IQ Routes technology. Sounds impressive? Well we think so.

IQ Routes uses the actual experiences of the millions of TomTom drivers out there to calculate the fastest route for you, instead of using travel time assumptions. According to TomTom, IQ Routes means that you get to your destination faster up to 35 per cent of the time, which is handy if you’re off to the airport, not so handy if you’re off to visit the in-laws.

The app also provides you with TomTom’s usual safety camera alerts and 2D and 3D viewing options. There are also custom touch features allowing you tap, swipe and pinch (kinky, no?) to zoom in and out of the map.

You will have to fork out for this very cool app, but it is considerably cheaper than buying a whole new TomTom.

The TomTom app for the UK and Ireland will set you back £59.99, and maps to help you find your way around Tuscany and the rest of Western Europe, you’ll need to shell out £79.99.

Take a look on the Apple App store.

TomTom for iPhone Available on App Store is a post from: UK Gadget and Tech News, Reviews and Shopping Site - Gaj-It.com