Mel Martin
Arizona - http://web.me.com/melmartin/Deep_Space_Images/
Was a journalist for many years working in Florida. Then went off to the BBC in London managing a technical project.
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch, App Review
Magellan has worthy contender in the GPS sweepstakes
Just in time for the holidays! I was excited when Magellan announced a new iPhone GPS software product, and was eager to get it downloaded to test. I spent two days driving around (well, not the whole 2 days) and generally had a positive experience. Magellan has been around the GPS business for a long time, delivering the first GPS handheld unit back in 1989. They also pioneered the Neverlost system in Hertz rental cars. The company has a lot of experience getting travelers to their destinations on vacations, business trips, and for the holidays.
They've put quite a lot in this first version for the iPhone which they call the Magellan Roadmate 2010. It sells for US $79.99 [iTunes link] for a 'limited time', then it goes back to $99.99, and it's a 1.36GB download. The app has text to speech, lane assist, iPod control, and a pedestrian mode, which is a nice touch.
The maps, which are sourced from NAVTEQ, include the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico.
As a bonus, iPod touch users can use this app with the optional Magellan Premium Car Kit with a built-in GPS receiver. The car kit hasn't been released yet, but it's imminent.
Driving around using it was a pleasant experience. The maps are clear and easy to read, and work in portrait or landscape mode. The maps change colors for a night view automatically. If you like the look of the dedicated Magellan units you'll certainly like it on the iPhone.
Text to speech is clear, and you can have the unit talk to you in a male or female voice. You can get a list of all the turns you will make on your trip, and you can turn on a feature that auto zooms the display as you approach a turn so you can get more detail at intersections.
Gallery: Magellan Roadmate 2010 screen images
Read on for more impressions...
Filed under: Audio, Hardware, Bluetooth, iPhone, iPod touch, Music
MusicNAO offers unique dock for iPhone and iPod touch
Canadian company Cignias has announced an interesting product in the home audio/iPhone category. It's called the MusicNAO and it allows you to wirelessly control a docked iPod with an iPhone or iPod touch. It also lets you play music wirelessly to the dock from an iPhone or iPod touch. The music streams using the stereo Bluetooth capability of your iPhone or second generation iPod touch.The base unit, which is a bit reminiscent of the Bose product, has 40 watts of output power, contains equalization circuitry, and uses 4" speakers. You can skip music, select music, and control the volume remotely. If you have an iPod plugged in, you can view and select playlists, artists and genres from your iPhone or iPod touch.
The apps for your iPhone or iPod touch are available free from the iTunes app store [iTunes link]. The control connections are through Wi-Fi, while the music streams through Bluetooth.
The unit also has an auxiliary input for plugging in another audio source. Hey, anyone still have cassettes?
The MusicNAO is shipping December 1, with an introductory price of U.S. $249.00 until November 30, then it's $299.00. The prices are the same in Canada. I haven't heard the device, so I can't give testimony to the audio quality.
I do think the MusicNAO is a unique twist on portable music integration with Apple products. The system also supports Blackberry cellphones that have a stereo streaming feature.
Filed under: Odds and ends, Surveys and Polls, iPhone
iPhone and Android now total 75% of U.S. smartphone web traffic
It's a rather stunning number from AdMob in an October report. The firm reports on web requests from thousands of sites world wide. In the latest report, Apple has 55% of the domestic Smartphone traffic share, and Android has 20%. Interestingly, the Blackberry share dropped 2% to a 12 percent share, and Palm's webOS dropped from a 10% share to 5%.Windows Mobile OS has 4% of the U.S. Smartphone web traffic.
The AdMob statistics do not show handset sales, but rather are calculated by measuring traffic on more than 15,000 web sites and applications.
The Motorola Droid, running only on Verizon, has captured 24% of all Android traffic, even though it has been out only a few weeks.
The iPhone has been on the market for 28 months. That 55% share of traffic is a pretty robust number for such a relatively new product. The Android numbers, especially those of the Droid are also good news for Google, Motorola and Verizon.
The balance of Smartphone data may change dramatically as the holiday season unwinds, and it will be interesting to watch the ebb and flow of the competing brands.
AdMob was recently purchased by Google. Apple also had reportedly had some interest in the company.
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
Navigon briefly cutting price on its popular Nav app
Gee, we were just saying how competitive it is getting in the iPhone nav department, and Navigon has gone and cut prices for holiday travelers.For 10 days only, beginning today (November 20-30) Navigon's iPhone app, Mobile Navigator [iTunes link]will be on sale for U.S. $69.99 instead of $89.99 providing a $20.00 savings. In addition, Navigon's Traffic Live feature is also on sale for $14.99 instead of $24.99. Traffic Live is a one time charge, not a continuing cost.
That's a significant saving for this very popular app, and puts it under similar featured apps from TomTom ($99.99) and Magellan ($79.99).
In my tests of the Navigon app I have found it accurate, and it has a superior user interface that is easy to use. Of course you shouldn't be looking at it while you are driving, and the text to speech does an excellent job of helping you keep your eyes on the road.
The Live Traffic feature will route you around major traffic congestion and adjust your ETA times.
It's nice to see prices heading south on some of these GPS packages. Now you'll be able to head south (or north, or any direction really) for less money and with more features. Have a safe trip.
Filed under: Software, iPhone, App Store
TomTom delivers promised iPhone update
TUAW told you it was coming, and it has arrived. TomTom has updated its U.S. GPS navigation app [US$99.99, iTunes link] and added text-to-speech, advanced lane guidance, and a 'help me' feature for use in emergencies.TomTom has been a little late to the text-to-speech party, with most competitors already offering this important function. Magellan has now jumped into the game with a very nice nav app as well, and at an introductory price that undercuts the TomTom app by twenty bucks.
All of the major navigation apps for the iPhone are quickly approaching feature parity. At this point, your main decision is whether you want the data streamed to your phone (as the AT&T app does), or have maps and data built into the app (like TomTom, Navigon, Magellan and some others).
Looming over whatever decision you make is trying to figure out if Apple will ever allow the Google turn-by-turn navigation app into the app store. It's going to be free, and Google says it wants the app to be on the iPhone. Of course things haven't been going swimmingly between Google and Apple of late (Google Voice, Android competition), so it's just a guess as to how that will all turn out.
If you need a navigation app in order to get to Grandma's house for the holidays, it's probably a good time to buy one. However, If you're willing to wait for the possibility of Google's free turn-by-turn nav app making it to the iPhone, you might be rewarded for your patience.
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
AT&T loses first round in battle over Verizon ads
The Associated Press is reporting that an Atlanta Federal judge has denied an AT&T request to pull the Verizon 'there's a map for that' ads.The judge has set a December 16th hearing to give AT&T another chance to make a case.
AT&T filed suit earlier this month looking for a temporary restraining order to stop the ads, and wanted a permanent injunction to halt them. The ads say that the AT&T network is not up to the quality or range of the Verizon network, and shows two coverage maps to make the point. AT&T claims the maps are misleading, and injures the company reputation.
Verizon has said the commercials are truthful and accurate.
The case pits the two communication giants against each other as they fight for increasing shares of the mobile market. AT&T has an exclusive on the iPhone, and that has brought AT&T an increasingly growing share of mobile customers.
Verizon was reportedly offered an exclusive on the iPhone more than 2 years ago but turned it down. There have been sporadic reports that Verizon would like to get the iPhone back when the AT&T contract expires, but with some Verizon ads targeting the iPhone as well as AT&T that looks to be increasingly unlikely.
Filed under: iPhone, iPod touch
Magellan car kit detailed at FCC filing
That was fast. We just learned Magellan was going to offer a car kit for the iPhone and it has already hit the FCC. GPSTracklog.com has a detailed drawing of the new device, and it looks to be quite complete. Magellan has said the kit will be on sale before the end of the year, and even give the iPod touch full nav capabilities. The car kit is supposed to allow any iPhone GPS app to work with it, so you're not limited to the Magellan app. It works in portrait or landscape mode, and has a speaker for hearing directions and also link to your iPhone for Bluetooth based calls.
The Magellan Roadmate app itself [iTunes link] has a boatload of good features, and we're anxious to get our hands on the app for a full test. Holiday travelers will have a lot of good choices for navigating to your destinations. Remember when we thought the plain old Google Maps app was cool?
Thanks to Rich for the tip.
[via GPSTracklog.com]
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone
Verizon to AT&T- 'The Truth Hurts'
Verizon isn't fazed by the AT&T legal claims that the Verizon ads attacking poor coverage are false and misleading. Our sister site Engadget broke the story of the Verizon response to the suit and you can read the it here.Verizon isn't pulling any punches and says "AT&T did not file this lawsuit because Verizon's "There's A Map For That" advertisements are untrue; AT&T sued because Verizon's ads are true and the truth hurts."
Then to drive home the point:
"In the final analysis, AT&T seeks emergency relief because Verizon's side-by-side, apples-to-apples comparison of its own 3G coverage with AT&T's confirms what the marketplace has been saying for months: AT&T failed to invest adequately in the necessary infrastructure to expand its 3G coverage to support its growth in smartphone business, and the usefulness of its service to smartphone users has suffered accordingly."
Ouch!
This latest salvo follows AT&T sending a message to customers complaining about the Verizon ads and telling customers their coverage is great, that they sell more smartphones than Verizon and that the AT&T 3G network is faster. So there.
Well AT&T, your move. It's great for the lawyers, and actually, we admit we just love the spectacle.
Filed under: Odds and ends, iPhone, iPod touch
Magellan enters the iPhone nav app sweepstakes
I guess it was inevitable. Magellan has just launched an iPhone app that looks great and will offer road warriors even more choice in a very competitive landscape.The Magellan Roadmate 2010 North America is being offered for a 'limited time' for U.S. 79.99. [iTunes link] The 1.36 GB app includes the usual features plus text-to-speech for pronouncing street names, a car finding feature for when you park, pedestrian mode, lane assist, 3D landmarks, in-app music control, address book integration and an intuitive one touch menu system.
With the Magellan offering, all the big navigation companies have a cell phone product. TomTom is on the iPhone along with Navigon, and Garmin has a cell phone/ nav app hardware solution that hasn't exactly caught on fire with consumers. Then there is the 'will it or won't it appear on the iPhone' Google app.
Also interesting is that Magellan has announced a Premium Car Kit that will allow you to keep your iPhone in your current case, charge your phone, give you a bluetooth speaker phone, allow an iPod touch to work as a GPS, and it is supposed to function with any nav app. No price or specific launch date for the car kit, but it's supposed to be available before the end of this year.
We'll get a review copy of the Magellan app ASAP and give it our usual whirl around town. The more choice the better for iPhone users, and the new features on this Magellan app are most welcome.
[Thanks to David for the tip]
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Audio, Hardware, Multimedia, Music
Sonos adds a portable music player with room filling sound
Sonos, best known for wireless music systems that link to your iTunes library and internet services like Pandora, Rhapsody and Napster, is offering a one piece, 5 speaker system that can be placed in any room. It's called the Zone Player S5 and it's US $399 direct from Sonos or dealers around the country. Sonos shipped me a review system to try for 30 days, and I thought the sound was great. I already had a mutli-room Sonos system so adding the new portable player was just a matter of plugging it into AC power and pressing two buttons on the S5.
If you don't already have a Sonos system, you have to plug your unit into a router to connect to your music library and the internet. If that doesn't work in your home layout, you can buy what Sonos calls a Zone Bridge (US $99) that plugs into your router and lets the S5 make a wireless connection. Once that basic pairing is made, you can add as many other Sonos music systems as you like, all connecting over a wireless mesh network.
The system sounds quite good, given the limits of the small desktop-friendly size (8.5 x 14.4 x 4.8 inches). There are 5 speakers, two tweeters, two 3" mid-range drivers, and one 3.5" woofer all driven by individual amplifiers. The woofer is a ducted port design and the rear port serves double duty as a carrying handle.
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