Turn-by-Turn Navigation

[john_allen_1911]

I am new to WP7 (Trophy) and cannot figure out hot to get voice nav to work. I tried Bing and it says I have to tap to get directions. Well that is not going to work as my phone just sits on the center console and I was hoping for the little lady to say things like, "in 1000 feet, turn left onto 2nd Street."

Now I am looking at the HTC Locations and I can find no clear pricing information on it - supposedly it costs money but there is no pricing when I set it up, no pricing on the HTC website, I cannot find an official HTC apps page, nothing. The price I am looking for is free. That is the price other OSs that are dominant (more than 5%, at least) in the mobile market charge for voice nav.

And please do not say HTC Locations costs money because of the maps. There are many good free downloadable maps for Android - street, topo, others.

My old phone was an original Droid and the Trophy is starting to feel like a serious downgrade.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[ikissfutebol]

I am new to WP7 (Trophy) and cannot figure out hot to get voice nav to work. I tried Bing and it says I have to tap to get directions. Well that is not going to work as my phone just sits on the center console and I was hoping for the little lady to say things like, "in 1000 feet, turn left onto 2nd Street."

Now I am looking at the HTC Locations and I can find no clear pricing information on it - supposedly it costs money but there is no pricing when I set it up, no pricing on the HTC website, I cannot find an official HTC apps page, nothing. The price I am looking for is free. That is the price other OSs that are dominant (more than 5%, at least) in the mobile market charge for voice nav.

And please do not say HTC Locations costs money because of the maps. There are many good free downloadable maps for Android - street, topo, others.

My old phone was an original Droid and the Trophy is starting to feel like a serious downgrade.

Any help is appreciated.

I can't speak for HTC since I have a Nokia and have access to Nokia Drive for free. I used the Bing Map and found the same issue as you, other than I didn't realize I had to click it every time until half way through my drive...thankfully I was testing it during a drive I knew the route.

That said, I don't know if Bingle or gMaps does the voice stuff like you want, but they are pretty highly rated. Bingle didn't have voice in November... No idea about gMaps.

One of the reasons I left Verizon for T-Mobile was because Nokia gives you a lot of quality apps for free with your phone and I save at least $40/mo and still get unlimited everything. Sure, I was on 2G at my in-laws, but 2G is fine for voice and I can be on wireless. I did have to buy my phone off contract to get that price...still come out ahead by about a $1,000 for the two-years.

 

[john_allen_1911]

I am stuck with Verizon because they have the coverage; phone is only useful if I have bars.

Thanks for the response. Hopefully there are some HTC people on here who know the answers.

 

[inteller]

download HTC Locations from the HTC Apps marketplace then download the offline maps for your area. Problem solved. Woryy about the cost later if it ever prompts you.

 

[PG2G]

Yeah, HTC Locations is free, but available only for HTC phones...

 

[inteller]

Which the Trophy is so he is good to go.

 

[john_allen_1911]

Thanks. I have installed and I am downloading the maps now. It seems to work OK. I will test in a little bit and post the results. I wish HTC just said "Hey new HTC owner - the apps in here are free for you." Well, I hope you folks are correct that they are free - for longer than 30 days. Bing tap to turn is a joke.

Note: I wish there were a way to use my hardline connection for the map downloads. They are taking an hour + for each one. My desktop could download that file in about 5 minutes. I will set up a few for tonight while I am sleeping and see how that goes.

 

[PG2G]

If you plug the phone in via USB it should use your computer's internet connection. Not sure if Zune Desktop needs to be running or not.

 

[john_allen_1911]

Here is what I have found out in a few emails.

HTC says it is not their app so they do not charge for it - not helpful. But there may be a "nominal" registration fee after 30 days. When I asked for the amount of the fee I was told that would be determined by my carrier.

Verizon said they no nothing about HTC locations and they would not be charging me anything for using the app; they could not have cared less to be honest. V also didn't know if that was free or if I would eventually have to pay for it. Again they did not care at all.

Microsoft said they do not know if that app comes for free with the phone. "Bing maps is free." I politely explained that looking at and tapping a phone screen while driving was less than ideal.

These three answers (I am a pessimist) lead me to believe that if it works and has voice nav it will be a pay item. Only the gimped up Bing Maps is free.

So I have contacted Route 66, the supposed owner of the maps themselves to try to determine if the app is included on HTC Trophy phones or only as a demo. I also asked how much the app will cost when the demo runs out. I am waiting to hear back from Route 66. I will update when I get a response.

Given that the Trophy is so old I would love to hear from someone who has had HTC Locations for more than 30 days and what happened.

 

[N8ter]

HTC thinks you are talking about the carrier branded version of TeleNav, and Verizon won't know anything about HTC Locations.

That's a pretty obvious conclusion to arrive at.

Not paying for decent TBT Nav when I can simply upgrade to an Android Handset and get it for free. The Bing TBT Nav is worthless unless you're walking and even then it's a PITA to use compared to Google Maps Nav and other GPS apps (but I'm not gonna pay for that, Lol).

I just tether my iTouch and use MapQuest or iOS. Accuracy is fine and it does what I need done. I will fix this issue when my contract ends soon, though.

 

[PG2G]

If you go into the HTC section of the Marketplace, you should see an app called Locations. It is free for HTC owners, just like Nokia Drive is free for Nokia owners.

HTC Locations Update Brings Offline Navigation To Windows Phone

HTC Locations vs. Nokia Drive (Video)

 

[HeyCori]

If you go into the HTC section of the Marketplace, you should see an app called Locations. It is free for HTC owners, just like Nokia Drive is free for Nokia owners.

HTC Locations Update Brings Offline Navigation To Windows Phone

HTC Locations vs. Nokia Drive (Video)

It's only free for 30 days. If you go to Get More > Navigation it brings up the prices. I believe it's still $30 for unlimited use of the US maps, which is still better than paying 50 for Navigon and equal to Garmin's asking price. Steep in comparison to Nokia Maps but at least that option is there.

 

[tekhna]

Lol wut? WP7 has no free, universal turn-by-turn navigation? That's absurd.

 

[HeyCori]

Lol wut? WP7 has no free, universal turn-by-turn navigation? That's absurd.

Bing Maps will do it but doesn't do automatic voice turn-by-turn. You have to touch the screen to get updated voice commands. It's some weird licensing issue why they don't do automatic voice turn-by-turn.

 

[inteller]

I wouldn't be worried about the cost until you are prompted. no one is going to automatically charge you since that isn't possible yet. If you get prompted that's when you'll know as well as the cost.

There was a similiar issue with Samsung apps, they had a dictionary app that was full version free at first, then they renegged and updated it to which it became a demo version. it was a big debacle and since then they have only released open source apps. If anything HTC will pull the app if there is question or problems with cost.

 

[john_allen_1911]

So here is the deal:

Route 66 owns the whole thing. It is not free no matter what phone you have - HTC or no HTC.

Route 66 said there will be a charge but could not tell me the exact price because it depends on phone, carrier, OS, etc.

According to my phone, it is $49.99 for unlimited use of the NA maps. Then all is have to do is buy the maps for the UK and Europe for when I travel.

I am not worried about getting charged for something without my knowledge. I am concerned about how absolutely pathetic this phone is. No voice nav, SIM unlock only works with international cards even though I own the phone, poor app selection, no free Outlook sync - $6/month if you want to use MS flagship products together. Where do the embarrassments end?

So it seems like I will have no voice nav until I get back from traveling outside of US - I leave in just over 30 days, oh well. Then I will be going back to Android where everything from Google works together, it is all free, and fully customizable.

In summary, this phone and WP7 are junk. I had a bad feeling when turned in my original Droid; I got suckered by my friends who work at MS. When I went to the Verizon store to ask a couple questions about my new phone, the sales guy gave me a look like, "We never sell this piece of junk. Your Droid was so much better. I feel so bad for you."

Good news for you guys. I very lightly used Trophy will be for sale soon.

 

[tekhna]

Thanks for saving me from buying the Lumia 900. That's pretty sad. Maps/Navigation is not optional these days.

Edit: And I know the Lumia has Nokia drive, but that's not the point--the ecosystem should support these functions, not depend on manufacturers.

 

[Tyresian]

The ecosystem gives you freedom to buy an app you want for navigation. Bing maps works decently and the reason for the tap to get directions was some patent problem.

There is a highly rated $5 GPS called Navigation. http://windowsphone.com/s?appid=b452aafb-a683-e011-986b-78e7d1fa76f8

Nokia Drove is good. Bing maps gives better directions than google maps for me but google maps is an excellent navigation app on Android. The voice quality of Nokia Drive is a huge plus for me.

Also I think this is a terrible reason to leave the platform, you have options. My 2010 Acura has built in GPS with navigation, it stinks, I paid $120 to update the maps because the car's maps were 5 years out of date. They are still missing places that have been there for years. The manufacturer doesn't allow me to use alternate navigation systems to be built into the car. That is something to complain about, but you know what? It is still an excellent car.

Be happy there are affordable options on WP7 and give feedback directly to Microsoft. They include a free app and you can purchase more. And they don't charge $120 a year for map updates.

 

[tekhna]

Be happy there are affordable options on WP7 and give feedback directly to Microsoft. They include a free app and you can purchase more. And they don't charge $120 a year for map updates.

I'm pretty happy with free turn-by-turn Google Maps, thanks. Even the iphone has a (several, actually) free solutions.
Google Maps on Android will be perfect when they allow large-scale offline maps caching. Until WP7 can offer an equivalent, that's a pretty compelling reason not to switch. Maps are not optional for me.

 

[inteller]

So here is the deal:

In summary, this phone and WP7 are junk. I had a bad feeling when turned in my original Droid; I got suckered by my friends who work at MS. When I went to the Verizon store to ask a couple questions about my new phone, the sales guy gave me a look like, "We never sell this piece of junk. Your Droid was so much better. I feel so bad for you."

Good news for you guys. I very lightly used Trophy will be for sale soon.

Cool story bro.