When I bought my first iPhone I was pumped about finally having a GPS unit for my car. Boy was I disappointed. What’s worse? The native Maps app has managed to suck through 4 iterations of OS upgrades. Not to worry, there are plenty of developers willing to fill the void. But which GPS iPhone apps are best?

Honestly, I don’t know. I’m sure that Navigon or TomTom are awesome and can probably cure cancer, but I’m just not willing to spend $50 to be told where I’m going. Actually, I’m not even keen on paying more than $10 for a GPS app. Luckily for me (and you) there are some solid and inexpensive alternatives. Have a look…

Co-Pilot Live USA by ALK (iTunes | $9.99). For ten bucks you get the formerly $30 app and all of its high-end/low cost features including: turn-by-turn voice guidance; 2D/3D visuals; offline maps, multi-stop and pre-trip planning; 5-day weather forecasts; in-app Facebook updating; and location sharing (with other CoPilot Live friends).

• The Good. The app is easy to use (once you get the hang of it), maps are stored locally (and updated for free via ALK’s MapSure service), it runs in the background, and you get graphic lane assist, and iPod music controls.
• The Bad. The interface is not intuitive. Sure, it’s slick and there’s plenty to choose from, but it’s definitely not intuitive. There are menus and submenus and subsubmenus. Then there’s the lack of points of interest (POI). On occasion, POIs don’t show up in CoPilot even when you can clearly see the POI in front of you. This has been one of the largest complaints by end-users. That’s it? Not quite. If you want traffic and fuel prices that’ll run you and extra $20/year. Doh! Oh, and one more thing. If you want to cancel your route in the middle of your route, good luck ’cause there’s no such option. This is perhaps the must frustrating part of Co-Pilot’s interface.
• The Ugly. There’s a couple of things: spoken street names and map storage. The first is a nuisance. “Turn right at ____.” “Prepare to exit at _____.” At what? Where’m I turning? Son of a *****! If you want to know this information you’ll need text-to-speech support for street names which means you’ll have to fork over a one-time $2.99 charge. And then there’s map storage. Like all GPS apps that save maps locally the app’s file is a space hog cow ridiculously gigantic. How much exactly? 1.19GB (take that Myst). And, as humans continue to clearcut nature to build roads, homes, and Wal-Marts this file size will undoubtedly increase. As it will if CoPilot adds features or functionality. Oh well, I really didn’t want all those space-gobblin’ photos and videos of my kid anyway. Yeah, he’s probably ugly.

MotionX-GPS Drive by MotionX (iTunes | $.99). For a buck you get the app and 30 days of turn-by-turn navigation. After the trial period ends you’ll have to (and want to) fork over $2.99 for an additional month of Live Guidance or $19.99 for a year’s worth. I’ve been using this app for almost a year and am pleased with its performance, just not with its pricing schedule.

• The Good. The app offers accurate directions, integrates well with the iPod, incoming phone calls, and the iPhone’s address book. It runs in the background, and the turn-by-turn Live Guidance voice is easily understood. Additionally, it’s only a dollar and you can pay for the Live Guidance service as needed on a month-by-month or yearly basis.
• The Bad. The interface is a bit eh. Setting up directions takes several taps. It’s particularly annoying if you need to enter an address quickly. Enter address, agree, accept, yes, enter, agree, sign over my house, next, start.
• The Ugly. Everything about MotionX GPS is dynamic—search, maps, and routing. On the one hand it’s nice since you’re always getting the latest map information. On the other hand when you’re in a remote location (like say the mountains or the Midwest) you will lose signal and get to hear the Live Guidance gal tell you that your carrier sucks and you’re about to be eaten by cannibalistic mountain men. What’s more, if you don’t have an active Live Guidance subscription the app is as useful as the iPhone’s native Maps app. <–huge ugly appFail.

MapQuest 4 Mobile by AOL (iTunes | free). Pay nothing and get the MapQuest 4 Mobile app (not MapQuest Navigator which has a $9.99/mos charge) and its somewhat robust set of features which include: spoken street names, access to your address book, online syncing, re-routing, and the ability to run in the background.

• The Good. It’s free, accurate, and will run in the background if you have to take a call or change your Pandora radio station. I’ve used this app since it was released back in March 2010 and it’s only crashed once. If you go off route it takes between 3-5 seconds for the app to recalculate. And, since MapQuest started online, there’s a website that you can sync with using your AOL account (boo!) or Open ID (sweet!). That way, all of your maps and directions you’ve been compiling over the years are now in your pocket (score!).
• The Bad. The app lets you tap on the screen to access restaurants, shops, gas stations, schools, post offices and a few other places. If you’re driving, trying to hit the little down arrow icon to display these places on the map could be potentially is horribly dangerous.
• The Ugly. There are very few (like features, and maps are not stored locally (which could result in an encounter with cannibalistic mountain men). And, while the business-by-address search tool would seem helpful it’s actually a big pain in the ace given the clusterfrak of icons that appear on the iPhone’s display.

Skobbler by Skobbler GmbH (iTunes | free). The app provides turn-by-turn assistance and street level nav for the price of nothing. It has an online counterpart which makes for easier location and direction searching and saving. The bad news, it’s not yet iOS 4 compatible (in fact it is the only one of the four apps I’m reviewing that isn’t). The good news, this app has plenty of promise and is well on its way to becoming a bonafide threat to the big guns.

• The Good. Visual turn guidance, map bug reporting, integrated iPod controls, and quick access to your iPhone’s address book. Once you get the address entered (which is way too involved) the navigating is beautiful. Even better, you can access the online site and add locations to be synced with your phone at next launch. The best part, I reached every destination I entered into Skobbler without error.
• The Bad. Setting up the end location is a bit of a chore. If you don’t know it by heart you can access your address book, but there isn’t a white/yellow page directory to search. So, you need to know the address, have it entered online, or find it somewhere else and copy/paste it in. Even then, pasting sucks because there are separate boxes for city, street, and number. No background integration as is evident when taking a phone call.  Sure it comes back up after the call, but I find it a bit annoying (and unuseful). Hey mom. Yeah, I have no idea where I’m going. Can I call you back?
• The Ugly. Searching and maps.  I know I mentioned searching above, but this really is an issue. No POI. No searching for nearby locations. And, while the 3D maps should show the nearby places I’ve yet to see one appear on my display in transit or standing still. As for maps. Like all non-locally stored GPS apps, Skobbler requires an active data connection. You know what that means? Cannibalistic mountain men? Exactly.

The Verdict

I’m not an avid cross-country traveler. Most of my destinations are local so I’m able to take advantage of the (dare I say) solid AT&T network. However, when I do leave the confines of my urban sprawl I’d like to know that I’ll eventually reach my destination. After road testing the apps (i.e. driving around like an idiot) in urban and rural conditions (i.e. city and not city) I’ve determined CoPilot Live USA to be the best (i.e. most accurate and least number of crashes). As for the others, MotionX-GPS Drive is great, but I’m tired of forking over $3 every time I want to be told where I’m going. Skobbler is cool, but it’s just not there yet (I say “yet” b/c the developers are former Navigon peeps). And then there’s MapQuest 4 Mobile. Hands down it is the easiest GPS app to use. In fact, it’s the one I use most often for my around-town errands. Why? It takes zero effort. Just open the app, click directions, enter your starting and ending locations and tap START. Bam! You’re on your way. The downside, it doesn’t do well when there isn’t a cellular connection. So, if you haven’t already figured it out (or looked) here’s what I recommend:

1. CoPilot Live USA
2. MapQuest 4 Mobile
3. MotionX-GPS
4. Skobbler

Like I said. These are not the best of the best, but the best of the inexpensive GPS apps. If you like Navigon or TomTom, great, but not everyone has the change to buy those (I got all four of the above for less than $10). Now it’s your turn. Let me know what you think about any of the above apps, or any of your preferred ones. You can post your comments below or send me an e-mail at TiTy@y2kemo.com.

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