REVIEW COMMENTS: OnCourse Navigator 4 (Navigon USA)

Dave

We recently reviewed the new Navigon Mobile Navigator | 4. Now we have reviewed the new American version called OnCourse Navigator 4. This review attempts to expand on the European review, and to show some of the US specific aspects of the Navigon engine that sits behind OnCourse Navigator 4.

In Europe, Navigon is one of the big three players in the market for Pocket PC based navigation systems – it will be very interesting to see how the US market will react to the introduction of such a strong player, now that OnCourse Navigator is available over here. It will have to be seen how the completely different user interface will be received by the american users.

The full review is available here.

Comments ?

suppengruen · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 15, 2004 Posts: 4

http://www.pocketgpsworld.com/oncourse-navigator.php

You wrote:
... switch-over from one full skin to another, including voice files, road speed preferences, etc (mini4inis – actually this is the tool that led to the Great Forum Clash in Germany, and it now is a commercial tool)....

You wrote: Mini4Inis now commercial tool.
What´s that?

Mini4Inis is Freeware. You can download the tool only from www.NaviFriends.com Forum (after registration). You get the tool also in english version. Please correct you posting.

Suppengrün
Programmer from Mini4Inis

You can Download Mini4Inis only in the Forum: www.NaviFriends.com or www.NaviFriends.de

lbendlin · Posted: Mon Nov 15, 2004 8:56 pm Post subject:

Thanks for the correction. We have adjusted the article accordingly.
_________________
Lutz

Report Map Errors here:
TomTom/TeleAtlas NAVTEQ

OnCourse · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 21, 2004 Posts: 2

Try it: Enjoy the OnCourse Navigator product tour and see how it can help customize your trip planning for a more relax and enjoyable travel.

http://www.oncoursenavigator.com/demo.html

Commander · Posted: Fri Nov 26, 2004 3:26 pm Post subject:

Well as we are currently planning a trip to the states next year some navigation software would be most welcome.

Having maps & programme both on a memory card is neat, but with the full sprite backup being so good (saved mye a few times) not essential.

Being able to only store the maps you want on a smaller storage card is pretty much essential for somewhere a big as the USA. Old map data is the perennial problem, but one that is probably easier to live with when on holiday.

The UI seems a big drawback one to two weeks to get used to it!

But hey, I'll give it a go

Peter

OnCourse · Occasional Visitor Joined: Nov 21, 2004 Posts: 2

>> The UI seems a big drawback one to two weeks to get used to it!

This time frame of learning curve is purely dependent on each individual and how deep you want to explore on the software.

If you already have a knowledge of existing GPS software product, I would say it should NOT take you more than 5 minutes to navigate thru all the basic features of OnCourse Navigator 4 and setting up your GPS receiver.

If you are looking to learn all the advance featues such as route simulation and UI tweaking/personalization via Skin Editor, yes, 1 to 2 weeks may be the right time frame.

Falkien · Occasional Visitor Joined: Jul 14, 2004 Posts: 48

I agree with the comments on installation and the putting shortcuts and drivers onto the system when they are not necessarily needed or wanted, but I can see that this would help out a complete novice or first time PPC user.
Maybe the solution is for an installation similar to most windows installers that allow you to select custom or recommended installs?

The destination input frustrates me (it's the sdame with my current system, TomTom on Palm) and it something that needs to be addressed (sorry ;) in future products.
If the manufactuers would only realise that since the software is running on a PDA!!.
Linking to the address book/contacts is the ideal, since a business card received from a mobile phone or email could then be used.

I really like the ability to be able to save journeys in a logbook, and would like to see this incorporated into more navigation programs.
Iit's not a big leap from this to the next logical step of analysing this stored data and enabling some intelligent auto routing based on past journey times and speeds......

I'm glad that there is really some strong competition in the PDA navigation market now as it can only lead to more users, reduced costs, better products, and most importantly better map data!

Dave (aka Falkien)

DavidW · Posted: Wed Dec 01, 2004 7:54 pm Post subject:

TomTom Navigator on the Pocket PC does allow you to show a map for, or navigate to an address in Contacts. However, Navigator's address matching is rather easily confused if it doesn't find the address in exactly the format it expects.

David

Kar98 · Posted: Thu Mar 03, 2005 8:31 pm Post subject:

Confusing display; colors are bound to strain your eyes, especially when trying to read the display while driving and the sun shines in your car.

	PocketGPS
	Web