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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Tue Nov 08, 2011 7:40 pm Post subject: Navigation app by Bosch |
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A new iphone navigation app from Bosch, I suppose the subject line gave that away I've written a short review of it in the TomTom forum after some hassle with a dead 950 and TT customer (lack of) service. Thought I'd repeat it in the correct forum and start a discussoin about this new app.
And so on to the Bosch app. A few niggles to start with such as a problem with receiving traffic info. I run a 3GS updated to ios5, maybe not the best move as even Safari crashes. I turned traffic on on the Bosch app, gave my itunes password and it was supposed to be enabled but the app crashed. It runs now with the traffic option enabled but I've not been billed by itunes for the traffic yet. The issues is with Bosch support who have been responding to a few questions quickly.
Seeing as it's a tomtom device section, I'll compare a few features to my ex-950. The screen movement is smooth, unlike the 950. Lane guidance is cool, not the splash screen of the 950 which was sometimes nearly right but one box per lane, green means you should be in it, amber means you should be thinking about getting out of it and red means you're in the wrong lane. One box per lane appears on screen and as you approach a junction, the boxes change colour as you should be moving to the right lane. Today's example where Bosch is superior to tomtom is the M1 junction as you head east on the M62. Tomtom tells you to keep to the left until the last minute, that's the M1 north lane. Bosch shows 4 green blocks up to half a mile away, then the left two go amber then red while the right two, the ones I needed to be in to go to Hull, stayed green. Cool.
The Bosch data also knows about far more mini-roundabouts than tomtom ever showed, including the one a mile from home that's been there at least 10 years.
Obviously the screen is small and did seem crowded at first but I've been used to the large screen of the 950.
Like I said, I've probably messed up the traffic when it crashed but they use INRIX who also provide a free iphone app. I checked it later this afternoon before I headed back to Lancaster and it showed all the problems on the M6 North as you headed towards preston and the same info as tomtom/livetraffic was showing.
The journey I took to avoid the traffic was up the A1 and across to Hawes, the Bosch came up with the same route as my 950 used to.
That leads me to the other funky feature, curve-o-meter. Pushing it a bit down the empty lanes from Hawes, whenever there was more than a slight corner and I was approaching faster than it thought I should be, it gave a visual and audio warning and even noted the direction of the bend. I was intentionally pushing it to see what the warnings were like and when I backed off, it didn't give any warnings.
Speed warnings are better than the 950 as well, if there's a speed decrease, say 50 down to 30 and you're doing 50 as you approach, it warns you before the 30 sign to slow down.
Hopefully traffic will be sorted soon and I won't miss my 950 at all. I certainly won't miss tomtom themselves. Still mightily annoyed I've got nothing from them after spending £36 two weeks ago even though I was going to buy their iphone app.
I've just got back in Morecambe from Workington choosing to take the scenic route home. What I hadn't realised was Navigation does a damned good job of showing the horizon contours, very noticeable driving through the Lake District. Small hills aren't noticeable but the larger ones are, quite impressive when you're used to other apps flat horizons. Even shades the land around the road to give an indication of hills, etc. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Fri Nov 11, 2011 5:51 pm Post subject: |
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I've now upgraded to a 4S and Navigation works just as well as it did on the 3GS. It also works fine with Cameralert running in the background (as did the 3GS) so it would be nice if Cameralert was updated to include auto-launch of Navigation. In the meantime I'll contact Bosch support to see if they can give me the URI, unless anyone knows how to work it out from the phone?
Traffic still isn't sorted, hopefully soon then I'll post some updates on how it manages traffic problems - not that there's many on the M62 around 8am
Navigation also abides by iTunes rules, installable on 5 devices managed by the same iTunes account. Even applies to the Traffic option |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Thu Nov 24, 2011 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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After nearly 4 weeks trying to get the traffic option working, I have given up and asked for a full refund. My iphone crashed when buying the traffic option. The app was written such that it allowed itunes to invoice me for the traffic option but the app didn't know I'd bought it - dodgy coding allowing a partial transaction to be completed. Bosch had to add my record to their database so I could use the restore purchase option. When they'd done that, I got to a password reset screen which failed to send the email with the reset code. When they finally got that sorted, it said there was no valid subscription to restore. The last email from Bosch was saying they were manually updating my subscription record. Something appeared to have changed tonight, instead of telling me there was no valid subscription, the app crashed. Crashed time and time again, after a cold boot, even after a re-install.
I've given up with Bosch Navigation, such a shame because because it had some decent features. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Sun Nov 27, 2011 1:30 pm Post subject: |
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The mess just gets worse. Bosch have said that refunds are under Apple control so they emailed a link to Apple's refund information, completely the wrong information for iPhone apps and they haven't replied to emails for the correct info.
In the meantime, I tried to use the Report A Problem option against the purchase in iTunes. Against the in-traffic purchase, it took me to Bosch's FAQ page. Against the app itself, it said it would log the details but the refund was for Bosch to provide. Great, stuck between Bosch and Apple.
Luckily, I had a shopping trip planned to Glasgow on Friday so called in to the Apple shop, they were brilliant and logged a problem for me with iTunes support.
iTunes support got in touch and after some emails confirming my account, they gave me a credit - for CoPilot that I'd bought as a replacement for Bosch Navigation. I told them they'd done the wrong thing and all they said was it wasn't possible to cancel the credit. I'm waiting on my iTunes contact to get back to work later, I've emailed saying a credit for the wrong product isn't my problem and I want a credit for Bosch Navigation which cost more with the traffic option.
I've also bought Sygic, they seem to get some decent customer support comments and willing to listen to their customers. TomTom take note.
Sadly TomTom's iPhone app and traffic option appear to be one of the better ones but I'd rather get stuff in traffic than give them another penny. |
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dougproctor Frequent Visitor
Joined: Jun 13, 2005 Posts: 808 Location: The Deep South
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 7:37 pm Post subject: Is traffic working? |
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Tobas,
Does this Traffic work because I emailed Bosh support they told me it was working in the UK? I am not so sure as have not had a single traffic incident yet!
Luckily I only bought a month's worth but it is not the point. Support are quite quick to come back though.
Doug _________________ Returned to a proper Garmin although still have Co-Pilot on a Galaxy S3! |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 8:12 pm Post subject: |
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Sorry Doug, I don't know if it works or not because I didn't get beyond the purchase/registration stage. Bosch apparently use Inrix for traffic data, search for Ineix in the app store and download their free traffic app. You should be able to see if there's any problems that Bosch should be telling you about.
In the end I've got Navigon after a monumental refund cockup by Apple, I bought copilot to replace Bosch and they refunded copilot by mistake. |
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MaFt Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: Aug 31, 2005 Posts: 15258 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire
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Posted: Tue Nov 29, 2011 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Navigon is the team favourite here anyway!
But thanks for the heads up on Bosch, not soundng too great so far...!
MaFt |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Wed Nov 30, 2011 2:58 am Post subject: |
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Don't get me wrong, the app itself is good. Easy to use with features you pay extra for in other apps. From what I can gather it uses the same traffic service as Navigon but 4 weeks after my install crashed registering the in app traffic option I was still unable to use the traffic service. If that had gone ok and traffic worked, I'd be using it now. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 9:57 pm Post subject: |
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The farce continues. After wrongly refunding copilot (a mistake by Apple I'm not going to complain about), Apple say they correctly refunded the Bosch purchases. After 3 days the Bosch credit hasn't appeared but another 2 credits have, for in-app purchases through Navigon for postcodes and 3D view. By the time Apple provide the correct refund, I could be quite rich I just hope refunding the wrong in-app purchases doesn't screw up Navigon which is performing extremely well. |
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MaFt Pocket GPS Staff
Joined: Aug 31, 2005 Posts: 15258 Location: Bradford, West Yorkshire
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Posted: Thu Dec 01, 2011 10:42 pm Post subject: |
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It may cock up if you ever need to reinstall it and 'restore purchases' though I'm not sure if Apple refunding the price of it also affects their records of payments that app's can access...
MaFt |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Fri Dec 02, 2011 5:00 am Post subject: |
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That's what I thought. I have installed it all on my old 3GS but I'm not sure if that was before or after the refund. Hitting the restore purchases button now doesn't lose the options so maybe I've just gained a bit more money back from Apple. One wrong refund is.bad but this is 4 now. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 12:06 pm Post subject: |
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I'm losing the will to live thanks to Apple. Their current position is they've refunded me more than the value of the Bosch apps, which strictly they have. However, Bosch Navigation is listed as Install which means it hasn't been refunded whereas CoPilot has a price against it which means it has been refunded.
So although "I have my money back", I can download a non-working Bosch app for free but if I want a working satnav I have to pay for it. The contact at Apple, Nayaz, just doesn't understand what they've done wrong.
Buying Navigon was expensive and I was expecting some of the cost to come from Apple credit which they promised several times. No doubt when the CORRECT credit finally arrives, it will be store credit and not refunded to my credit card. That battle is still to be fought. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:18 pm Post subject: |
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Simply unbelievable. In the latest email from the consultant who has dealt with this from the start they are asking me for the order number of the Bosch items because they can't find them. This is the order they claim to have already refunded, the refund they confirmed had been done when I asked why two more unrelated items had been refunded, the order number already clearly highlighted twice in the one email thread. Absolutely disgraceful customer service and I'd go as far as saying this particular consultant should not be working in a support position. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2011 7:10 am Post subject: |
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Well, Apple now claim to have refunded the Bosch software after I pointed out the itunes order numbers, yet again. Of course, being Nayaz, I won't believe them until I see the refund especially when I queried the refund amount. The software cost was £42.58, when they told me I'd be refunded $45.17 I asked them to clarify the figures. Their reply;
Brian, credit of £45.17 is including tax, we have refunded.
Unbelievable. |
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Tobas Regular Visitor
Joined: Oct 06, 2004 Posts: 90
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Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2011 12:03 am Post subject: |
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So after refunds of the wrong apps which they managed to refund at exactly the purchase price, they've refunded the Bosch apps for more than I paid for them. I've no idea who's tax was added to the purchase price just for the Bosch refund but it's gone on my credit card. |
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