The Voice of a GPS Device on Your Phone, at a Price

App shopping is a fairly painless diversion, thanks to all the $1 programs on the market. But in one important category, voice-guided navigation for drivers, the stakes are higher. You can spend $70 on one, or you can take your chances with something cheap or free.

 TomTom's app for iPhones is $50 plus $20 for traffic data a year, but it doesn't need a network connection to navigate.

Google Maps for Android phones is free and includes a street view option.

A few years ago, makers of GPS navigation devices like Garmin, TomTom and Magellan didn’t have apps. Now their devices and apps compete with apps from mobile specialists like Navigon, MotionX GPS-Drive, TeleNav, Networks in Motion and, of course, Google to give us directions.
The good news is that it’s hard to go terribly wrong with the apps from any of those companies. Each app I tested suffered from occasional lapses in navigational logic, but they all eventually got me where I needed to go.
And that’s enough, especially for budget-conscious people who need only occasional help navigating. On Android phones, Google Maps Navigation (free) provides one of the best navigational aids available to phone users. On the iPhone, users should consider MapQuest 4 Mobile (free), MotionX GPS Drive (free for 30 days, then $3 for every additional month of navigation), or TeleNav ($1, but with a $10 annual fee for audible navigation).
A few costlier apps require no network connection for navigation, which means that they’re faster, more reliable and less of a drag on the monthly data plan. Among these, Navigon MobileNavigator USA is the best choice for Android users. It costs $57 with traffic data included. Those with smaller budgets may consider CoPilot Live Standard USA ($5). Of the two, though, Navigon performed better in my testing.
Navigon is also on Apple ($50, with unlimited traffic data for an added $20), but I preferred TomTom U.S.A. ($50, with traffic data for $20 a year).
Apple users who have no worries about data limits or cell connections should consider Garmin StreetPilot ($35, including traffic data). On Android, CoPilot Live Standard is a more refined alternative to Google Maps Navigation.
Before downloading these apps, though, buy a mounting bracket and a car charger. The bracket can be found for $10 to $20 and will save you from fumbling with the device. The charger will prevent the more power-hungry mobile navigators from draining the battery.
Once you’re properly set up, find the right app. For many Android users, Google Maps, which comes installed on most Android devices, is the only navigation assistant they’ll need.
Type an address into the Google Maps search box, or speak the address or the business name. When the destination appears on a map, tap its icon and choose “directions” from the options.
The directions are narrated by a computerized voice that you wouldn’t want to hear at a poetry reading, but it works fine for navigation. The graphics are sometimes exceptional. When you’re at an intersection and you tap the “street view” button, the screen shows a panoramic photo of the area, with arrows indicating the route.
The software also stores your directions and local map data in case you lose your network connection midtrip.
And Google Maps shows traffic data. While navigating, tap on the “Layers” icon and choose “Traffic,” and the map shows roads with green, yellow or red markings, depending on traffic flow. In my testing, this feature was fairly reliable — which is to say roughly as reliable as the traffic feature on the other apps I tried. It flagged some rush-hour traffic and beach traffic, for instance, but at other times it missed long stretches of bumper-to-bumper congestion.
Apple users who are looking for a free option have nothing quite as extensive as Google Maps, but Mapquest 4 Mobile is decent. Like Google Maps, it includes turn-by-turn navigation and traffic data. But the search function and graphics were less comprehensive and more cramped, and the software was slower than Google Maps.
Users who chafe at these shortcomings should try MotionX GPS Drive. With a main menu bursting with the choices, the interface takes a little getting used to, but once you understand the logic, it’s easy to use and filled with useful features.
For example, you can find your compass heading, locate parking along your route and search Wikipedia entries for roadside attractions. But when I missed a turn, MotionX was slower than some other navigational apps at finding a new route.
Budget-wise, it is a big leap to the next tier of navigational aids, but expensive apps from TomTom, Magellan and Navigon are generally worth the money. They can take as long as a half-hour to download, because the software includes all the map data for the entire country. After that, though, they work like traditional navigation devices. Type the first few letters of a town or a street, for instance, and eligible choices appear. These apps also load directions more quickly than the cheaper versions.
For Apple devices, I found TomTom most useful. To my eye, the interface was more refined and simpler than the others. The software routed me around traffic more intelligently, too, and it showed more relevant traffic data. Magellan RoadMate USA 2.0 ($50, with traffic data and future updates included) is very good, though, and unlike TomTom it has no added subscription charges.
Navigon is quite good, too, but it had one bizarre flaw that existed on none of the other apps I tested. When giving audible directions as users approach a turn, it didn’t say the name of the street. It merely said “turn left,” or “turn right.”
In complicated intersections and highway interchanges, this forces drivers to squint at the phone to see the name of the road, rather than watching the road. (I tried following the verbal directions blindly, but this led to multiple wrong turns.) If Navigon ever sees fit to include street names, I will use nothing else on my Droid. Otherwise, I’ll use it when I have a passenger to help read the screen.
When driving alone, I’ll use TomTom on my iPhone and Google Maps or CoPilot Live on my Droid. They consume more data or they’re not as pretty or versatile, but at least I won’t run anyone off the road while reading text on my phone.