And the winner is...AT&T Navigator By Telenav!
I've had about a week and a half to play with Gokivo and just over a week's time to play with the AT&T Navigator by Telenav.
After work today, I wanted to try Gokivo in the city (downtown Chicago, IL). I presently live in the suburbs of Chicago and up until now, Gokivo had worked flawlessly for me--in the 'burbs, that is. For that matter, so had ATTN. The main differences between the 2 GPS apps were that Gokivo boasted contacts integration and Gokivo had a much clearer speaking voice (vs. the poor, over-modulated muffled voice of ATTN). A clear 2-point advantage for Gokivo.
So as I'm driving down to the city at rush hour time on the highway (290 East) using Gokivo, I notice that it changed a route option in mid-stream: it originally told me to get off on 90W, but then minutes later, changed it's mind and told me to turn right on Wacker Dr. and go through the Loop (the heart) of downtown Chicago. Fine, so I did. Mind you, I'm playing my ipod music at the same time (via aux through the car stereo) I'm using Gokivo. So as I'm in the Loop of downtown Chicago, Gokivo STOPS TALKING. The music continues to play but Gokivo stops giving me any voice directions or prompts. I'm not sure if it was the simultaneous playing of music that messed up the app or whether it was all the tall skyscrapers but whatever the reason, Gokivo was acting buggy to say the least. The map display even partially disappeared (the icon signifying my position remained present but the map was almost all blank white) for what felt like forever (in reality, it was probably like a minute but still, that's a long time in a major metropolitan area)!!! Minutes later, I had to manually stop then restart the app and Gokivo starts talking to me again. Finally, I'm able to pick up a friend and locate a little sushi joint in Lincoln Park (Toro Sushi on Clark St.). Whoo-boy...not a good first city-showing for my favorite GPS app.
Anyhoo, after sushi, we part ways and I try using Gokivo to get back home to the suburbs. Not long after I get back on the city streets of Lincoln Park (Diversey Ave to be exact), Gokivo spontaneously recalculates and tells me to take a new route. A minute later, it RECALCULATES ANOTHER ROUTE AGAIN and then it stops talking to me (but the music keeps playing)! In frustration, I finally switch over to ATTN/Telenav. It has no problem locking on to a GPS signal and immediately pin-points my location and tells me to get on S. Halstead Street and get back to the highway. I don't like the muffled, distorted speaking voice, so I hook it to the aux and play it through the car stereo...I can now hear the voice prompts loud and clear. To make a long story short, ATTN proceeds to save my arse and take me home in style.
Anyone who reads my posts/tweets knows that I'm a huge fan of Gokivo. Gokivo has worked great in the suburbs but it simply got schooled in the big city. By contrast, ATTN/Telenav was rock-solid and dependable. Keep in mind, this was not the first time I tried ATTN in the big city: on 6/25/09, I used ATTN to navigate through Humboldt Park, Bucktown, and Wicker Park -- ATTN did this flawlessly. Yes, ATTN's voice should be clearer -- yes, it should integrate with contacts -- yes, it sometimes will lag on quick turns -- yes, I wish it would recalculate as fast as Gokivo does but the bottom line is this: when it counted most, Telenav delivered where Gokivo could NOT. In my mind, this settles the issue for now: ATTN is the more solid and polished nav-program at the present time It is overall, the superior GPS app for the iphone. I have no doubt that Gokivo will continue to improve as will Telenav -- so the debate isn't over yet: there will be plenty of updates coming from both sides. But for now, the winner is: AT&T Navigator by Telenav.
Last edited by Tunnelrunner : 07-01-2009 at 08:12 AM.
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06-25-2009, 11:05 AM
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