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View Full Version : Brighthand GPS Head-to-Head Review - TomTom, iGo, and Mapopolis


Ekkie Tepsupornchai
06-13-2006, 05:30 PM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=12259' target='_blank'>http://www.brighthand.com/default.asp?newsID=12259</a><br /><br /></div><i>"Many features were similar on all three applications, including route options of shortest time or distance, voice prompts, POI display on/off, night mode, screen backlight always on, and auto zoom and rotate. Since the differences are what people will be concerned with, I will concentrate on them. The biggest differences were the extra features and the user interface."</i><br /><br />If you're currently considering GPS software options for your Pocket PC, this review walks through the interfaces and performance with some basic use cases including finding the shortest route, the quickest route, and its ability to recalculate directions when you steer off the route. If you're new to this market segment, note that there are several other GPS software options available outside of these three and of course, any 3rd-party GPS software solution assumes you have a GPS receiver either built into the PDA or available as a separate device connected to your PDA.

PDANEWBIE
06-13-2006, 05:59 PM
I have only huge problem with TomTom but I am so afraid to try alternatives for this one simple problem. I mean this software does get expensive.

I love TomTom in all aspects but the following.

If I put in a route from point A to B the software picks the shortest path right? Well lets say this path takes you on a toll road. You then get a prompt asking if you want to avoid the toll road you say yes because your a cheap guy or have no spare change in your car. This then calculates an alternate route. Well lets say this route takes you on the busiest/most conjested street in the area where you know your not going to get there in a quick fashion? You then tell the software you want to avoid this particular road on the route... what does TomTom then do? It reclaculates back onto the toll road and takes you back to the avoid toll charges prompt! and the vicious cycle repeats.

IMHO this software should become smart enough to list multiple avoided roads and avoid them all instead of only avoiding the single road you pick.

Other than that as a software package I love TomTom's layout, design, interface, and graphics.

mmidgley
06-13-2006, 06:34 PM
Points in the review about Mapopolis:

"Itenerary" route with more than one stop: Mapopolis will route through intermediate points, but not verbally or otherwise notify you that you've just passed through the intermediate point. Mapopolis will let you save a route--so to do the itenerary thing you could save each route in advance and manually choose the next "leg" of your travel at each stop. Perhaps this will get better in a future version.

"TomTom and iGo have a nice zoom feature that brings you in closer and slightly changes the angle at intersections" Mapopolis has auto zooming. The "angle" doesn't apply if that's referring to the 3D effect. If its just direction, that depends on Mapopolis settings (view more ahead, map up is north or map up is travel direction)

For GPS navigation, I think these products (if they don't) should implement settings regarding going off route--such as when to give up and re-route or when to keep trying to get you back on the original route. My brother used Mapopolis and had trouble getting a new route over a river when the main bridge was closed and the alternate was very close by (perhaps its detour fuction might have helped, he didn't know about that).

m.

PDANEWBIE
06-13-2006, 06:55 PM
My brother used Mapopolis and had trouble getting a new route over a river when the main bridge was closed and the alternate was very close by (perhaps its detour fuction might have helped, he didn't know about that).

TomTom does this function VERY nicely. It trys another reroute again almost every minute until it finds one (of course yet again this reroute does NOT pertain to the avoided roads you want to avoid it just blindly reroutes).

Sven Johannsen
06-14-2006, 04:33 AM
Looking forward to trying out iGo when it comes out. (before if I could). Been waiting for it since it showed up a few years ago as NavNGo, in some video demos. At the time they had some real neat route flyover stuff, where you could preview the planned route, as if you were travelling it. Anything like that still remain?

I'm a Mapopolis fan myself, but have tried other stuff. Mapopolis has always worked well for me, but I find the constant state of beta a bit annoying. Still, they are constantly improving it.

Menneisyys
06-14-2006, 12:41 PM
The review has forgotten to mention a very important thing for us (geographically) non-West-Europeans: only iGo has decent maps of most Eastern-European countries, including Finland. The rest only have partial or straight non-existing East-European/Finnish maps or their POI database is clearly inferior to that of iGo.

I've thoroughly compared its Finnish maps / POI's to those of the Symbian-based titles and was very pleased. See my review here at PPCT (http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=48776) if interested.