Sygic Aura and Navigon hit the Store
Two more major turn-by-turn GPS apps built for New Zealand have hit the App Store: Sygic Aura and Navigon. In what’s becoming an increasingly competitive market, these two apps will need to bring a feature set and price that stand out – so have they hit the mark? Keep reading for a sneak peek at both, with full reviews coming soon.
Sygic Aura
We first caught a glimpse of Sygic Aura back in March, and it piqued our interest greatly. Now, the New Zealand version is available on the App Store. Priced at $84.99, Sygic (authors of the site favourite Mobile Maps) have high hopes for the app which combines conventional turn-by-turn functionality with social networking tools to allow you to plan meet-ups etc. and provide the ability to view your friends’ locations in real time.
The features promised include:
FEATURES:
- LATEST maps from Whereis stored on the phone
- 3D view of cities and landscape
- Spoken street names
- Road incident sharing and real-time notifications
- Speed camera warnings
- Lane Assistant and Signposts
- Car audio integration using bluetooth or cable
- Automatic screen rotation using accelerometer
- Compass-assisted direction detection
- Multitouch support for easier map browsing
- Hardware accelerated 3D rendering
- 37 languages
- Intuitive interaction with points of interest
- Friends on the map
- City guides from premium providers and from Wikipedia
- Free app updates
- Free speed camera updates
- Vote for new features at feedback.sygic.com
Navigon
Navigon is a long-established and favoured app in overseas markets such as the US, so it’s good to see a New Zealand version finally materialise. Also priced at $84.99, it appears to be a no-nonsense solid app with an enviable reputation, so Sygic will have its work cut out in trying to steal the lime-light.
The features on offer include:
- iOS 4 support including Multitasking and FastAppSwitch
- Simple, intuitive user interface
- Can be used in portrait and landscape format
- Latest available NAVTEQ map data
- Precise voice announcements
- Intelligent address entry
- Reality View Pro (realistic display of motorway interchanges and exits)
- Lane Assistant Pro
- Real signpost display
- Speed Assistant with adjustable audio-visual warning
- Day and night mode for map display
- Direct access and navigation to contacts saved in the iPhone’s address book
- The latest NAVTEQ map material
- Navigation is automatically resumed after an incoming phone call
- 2D and 3D map displays (bird’s-eye view)
- Quick access to user-defined POIs in the area and along the route
- Take Me Home function with a single click
- Automatic language selection to match the iPhone’s user language
- Route planning
- Call POI
- POI filter
- Text-to-Speech voice guidance
- Automatic Day/Night adjustment
- Integrated iPod control
- Location sharing via Email
- Weather Live (at destination and on route)
- Clever Parking (Parking spots around your destination and prior to arriving at the destination are shown)
So – got a preference yet? If so, let us know in the comments. We’ll aim to bring you full reviews of these two apps in the not-too-distant future.
What happened to the free Google turn-by-turn guide that was supposed to be coming to iPhone?
(kermit has made 3 comments)
kermit wrote:
Good question — I’m guessing Google want to keep it as a reason to get Android?
Google Navigation, as awesome as it looks, is still reliant on a constant data connection as far as I know. At least our mobile data plans are starting to get bigger but with NZ’s hilly countryside I doubt it’ll be a guaranteed nationwide success.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
Wish Apple would make their own GPS turn by turn app for the iPhone
Anything Apple would be my favourite, even if it seemed inferior to other similar products at launch.
now iPhone 4 owners, have you checked out http://www.ftfun.com yet??
(FT stands for FaceTime)
(Yaman_NZ has made 184 comments)
Isn’t that the point though? You create the map automatically when you drive down it.
(myopinion has made 58 comments)
Waze is cute, but a long way from being helpful imho. If you have to keep switching navigation apps to find something not in Waze, it’s just not practical.
Hopefully what the introduction of Navigon and its Reality View Pro will do is get TomTom to integrate their Advanced Lane Guidance into the iPhone app. This would be very welcome when navigating CBD’s and motorways. Both Sygic and Navigon seem to be a lot more visually appealing as well.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
@ 5linging5lasher:
Thats the idea, its user created and modified, so you dont have to wait for the next map release from tomtom to fix that road that is now a carpark, you can login and make a change yourself, record roads and name them. I agree at the moment Waze in NZ is not a complete GPS solution to find your way to new places, it is however a fantastic way to get real time traffic updates, streamline your commute to work and have fun at the same time! I was the first waze user in Auckland and there was absolutly nothing, not a dot, and in 8 months there is what you see now. it’s amazing! There are some great guys on the north shore mapping away, and i have been focusing out west. The more users, the more map, the better the traffic reports. If you have not looked in a while, check the app out now, they have recently released v2.0 which is so much smoother and better looking – they are releasing heaps of features and updates all the time. I don’t work for waze, i just love the app!
(Fodder has made 3 comments)
incubus wrote:
Hah! Well obviously driving around Wgtn CBD and motorway it feels I don’t need it. I just checked the options for lane guidance and it’s definitely turned on, I’ve just never seen it.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
incubus wrote:
Waze does this too
(Fodder has made 3 comments)
Hmmmm interesting… could TomTom be neglecting other centres? I’m up in Auckland (hope no one holds that against me lol)
Then again, I did wait 2 releases before finally seeing the South Western Motorway become an actual road on their maps (as opposed to just a proposed road)
I got an email from TomTom to do a survey and gave them a bunch of things they needed to fix/include
In any case – here are some screendumps from my iPhone of the lane guidance in action:
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/Incubus411/?action=view¤t=IMG_0926Small.jpg
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/Incubus411/?action=view¤t=IMG_0927Small.jpg
(incubus has made 32 comments)
If you can live in Akld, more power to you
Thanks for the pictures. The second one is what I would be expecting to see many times on the Wgtn motorway.
It does make me think however, I may have been using the phone in portrait the whole time, rather than landscape. Perhaps it only activates one way? I would have thought indications like the first picture would still appear tho… might have to do more testing on the way home tonite.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
@ JimmyC:
Can confirm that it works for me on portrait mode
another screendump for the masses:
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d134/Incubus411/?action=view¤t=IMG_0929Small.png
(incubus has made 32 comments)
Hehe… ok then don’t need to test! Definitely have never seen anything like that on mine.
(JimmyC has made 54 comments)
I use Tom Tom around Auckland and used it all around Hawkes Bay for a week with it only getting mixed up with a new round-about. Have bought Sygic because we a planning a trip to Aust, so thought that getting two countries for the price of TT Aust was a good deal. Have found the advanced lane guidance in TT superior to Aura around Auckland, also Aura does not have the option of a Kiwi voice which TT has. The graphics in Aura are flasher, but I think at this point I will stick with TT for general use. Will wait and see if Sygic do a update to deal with the above issues.
(mike.j has made 2 comments)
I would love to see Tomtom and Navigon in a head to head review. I have used Tomtom and I like it, but I've also read a lot in the past, about Navigon being better.
If only there was a trial period or version.
(AndrewNZ has made 49 comments)
Nav software can only be as good as the base maps. I’ve used Navteq and have to say they are top notch for trip times.
(leStar has made 63 comments)
Is it just me, or is there a post called "Sygic Aura Drive Au & NZ" on the iPNZ mobile site, but not on the iPNZ full site?
(nzlotrfan has made 22 comments)
I use Waze http://www.waze.com – its free from the app store and user created, with live traffic updates automatically from users! its got twitter, foursquare and facebook intergrated too! love it!
(Fodder has made 3 comments)
WAZE looks cool I will give it a try. Perhaps a review should be looked into for this?
(myopinion has made 58 comments)
Fodder wrote:
I've got this app too. This app is still too young , it did not even have my house road on there ><"
(5linging5lasher has made 16 comments)