Updated: 01 Sep 2010

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Introduction

How do GPS applications for Nokia and Apple mobiles perform against dedicated in-car navigation systems?

If you have an iPhone, you don’t need to buy a dedicated in-car GPS unit. TomTom's unique car-phone cradle contains a built-in GPS receiver to boost the GPS receiver in the iPhone.

Apple doesn’t have the field to itself – Nokia has Ovi Maps for its GPS-capable phones. Our testing shows there’s a clear winner ... but one is free.

TomTom iPhone Car Kit

How it works

Mounted to the windscreen or dashboard by a suction cup, TomTom’s adjustable cradle not only holds the iPhone in place – it can also be rotated to put the phone into portrait or landscape view. (The iPhone automatically detects which way is up and adjusts the screen layout.) The iPhone then snaps into an Apple dock connector.

The cradle also has a rear-mounted speaker, front-side microphone, volume control on the side, and a 3.5mm line out for audio. A car-charger completes the package.

But few things are cheap with the iPhone. The TomTom Car Kit for iPhone costs $198 … and you’ll still have to pay another $120 to download the New Zealand maps application from the iTunes app store, making a total of almost $320. Some TomTom dedicated in-car GPS units are cheaper than this but these units don't have bluetooth car-kit capability.

Performance

We tested the iPhone with the TomTom Car Kit on the same Wellington city routes we’d used for our recent GPS test. Not surprisingly, it performed almost identically to the TomTom GO 750 ($599) – the top-scoring unit in that test.

It located our Points of Interest (POIs) with ease and gave clear voice instructions that were easy to follow. There was good advanced warning of the next action such as “turn right, then left turn ahead”. It named the streets and, unlike the GO 750, didn’t have any voice glitches.

The iPhone also made the same mistake as the GO 750, telling us to “keep right and take the exit” on a stretch of motorway. The exit was three lanes to the left and, although the screen instructions were accurate, the voice instructions would have made us miss it. This was the only navigation error the iPhone made.

Its main drawback was the volume difference between phone calls and the unit’s voice instructions. We had to turn up the volume significantly for phone calls because they were much quieter than the instructions. Taking calls while using the GPS means you have to hastily adjust the cradle’s external volume control.

Ease of use

The iPhone has virtually the same menu structure and comprehensive range of options and features as the TomTom Go 750. There are advanced route-planning options – and a convenient “call POI” function automatically phones the POI you selected. You can also use the phone's web browser to find addresses or phone numbers not contained in the POI menu.

Reading information wasn’t quite as easy on the iPhone’s 3.5" screen (it’s smaller than the GO 750’s 4.3"). Its menu and keyboard buttons were also small, making it easy to press the wrong button. And occasionally the iPhone was slow: after we pressed a menu button or entered part of a POI using predictive text, the iPhone could take five seconds or more to skip to the next screen.

iPhone with universal cradle

We tested the iPhone again with a Belkin universal car cradle ($45).

This time we found some minor deficiencies in signal strength compared with the TomTom Car Kit's built-in GPS receiver. But the iPhone still worked well with the Belkin cradle and its navigation performance was identical.

The Belkin held the phone snugly in both portrait and landscape modes, and could be rotated and adjusted as well.

With the Belkin, the phone vibrated more whenever we drove over bumps. The Belkin also doesn’t have external volume control and doesn’t include a car-charger. But it costs $150 less than the TomTom Car Kit.

Ovi Maps for Nokia

How it works

Ovi Maps is a free application available for GPS-capable Nokia phones (14 models are currently available here). Over 140 maps cover almost every country and more than 60 of the maps include turn-by-turn navigation with voice instructions for walking or driving. Ovi Maps are often pre-loaded on new mobile phones. Alternatively they can be downloaded from www.nokia.co.nz.

Performance

We tested Ovi Maps using a Nokia N97 Mini held in a Nokia CR-117 car cradle.

Over several hundred kilometres of testing, the N97 Mini navigated well and made very few errors. It gave excellent, comprehensive instructions ahead of time, such as “at the roundabout take the second exit, then turn left.” The N97 Mini’s map accuracy was excellent and it only took a few seconds to recalculate a route when thrown off.

On one route the voice instruction was incorrect – it told us to “go straight for two kilometres” but we came to a T-intersection where we had to turn right. The map screen was correct but the voice instructions didn’t match. On two occasions it didn’t pick the “fastest” route, but would still have got us to our destination with only a slight delay. These kind of minor errors are common even with dedicated in-car GPS units.

A more significant problem was a sporadic inability to calculate routes. On several occasions when the unit tried to calculate the route to a destination, we received an error message saying “route not found”. This even occurred on routes previously taken and logged in the history menu. Sometimes if we drove 100 metres and re-entered the information the unit would calculate the route, but not always.

We tried to fix the problem, including phoning the Nokia Care Centre, but were unsuccessful.

Note: For best performance Nokia phones use “assisted GPS” (mobile phone towers used in combination with satellites to pinpoint your position). For this you need to be connected to a network and use a small amount of mobile internet data. We found navigation without assisted GPS OK, but using the assisted GPS function was more accurate for small movements.

Ease of use

We were able to use Nokia Map Loader to download maps for any country, as well as download different voices in English and some other languages. We could also ensure we had the latest map updates for free.

Downloading Ovi Maps to a PC and transferring these to the phone via a USB connection was quick and simple.

The Nokia N97 Mini’s screen (3.2”) is easy to read. Maps are adjustable to 2D or 3D and have day or night settings. Street names are listed on screen and a “dashboard” can display speed, travel-time, and time and distance to destination. There’s also an accurate speed-limit warning. Route preferences can be set for speed or distance, as well as for taking or avoiding certain types of roads (such as unpaved or toll roads).

Searching for locations and POIs wasn’t easy with the Nokia. POIs often weren’t listed in the correct category – for example, the Mercure Hotel couldn’t be found in a search of the “Hotels” category but was found with a general search from the main screen.

There was no predictive text for entering data and often we had to enter the full address, including the suburb or location, otherwise we’d get a message saying “nothing found”. The small keyboard also made typos inevitable. 

Overall performance

iPhone

Apart from the smaller screen, the iPhone is as good as the TomTom dedicated GPS unit (the GO 750) from our recent test. This makes the iPhone better than some other brands’ dedicated GPS units.

Whether you need the extra benefits of the TomTom Car Kit for iPhone is a matter of opinion … and what you’re prepared to pay.

Nokia Ovi Maps

If you have a GPS-capable Nokia, it’s certainly worth trying the free Ovi Maps application before spending money on a dedicated GPS unit. We were impressed with its navigation performance (when it could calculate the route) and, while not as good overall as the TomTom for iPhone or some dedicated GPS units, it could meet your needs and save you money.

Power suckers

We found the constantly lit screen of the GPS maps significantly drained the battery of the phones. Don't plan to travel far without taking a car-charger.

 

Report by Marc Wendelborn.