Beta 1.2 is out and works pretty well. I used it on the way in to work this morning. Only problem was I couldn’t figure out how to get the voice prompting working. But, these features did work:
Map rotation
Speed display
Route map download (in case you’re worried about not getting internet access along your route)
Some awareness of route deviation*
I purposely missed a turn and it started flashing “wrong way”. It did not automatically update based on my choice of going another route. However, as soon as I joined back up with the GPS suggested route my “next turn” directions automatically updated.
So :tup: :tup: from me. It still needs some work but it’s way better than just using google maps. You also have to remember it’s a beta and it’s FREE.
^ I’m wondering if when it’s out of beta they’re going to start charging for it.
I figured out why the voice prompts didn’t work for my test run this morning. You have to select a language in the settings since it doesn’t default to anything.
When you jailbreak and unlock using QuickPnwd(sp?) Does it erase all your data on your iphone? such as contacts, musics, etc…?? I know you can back up your Iphone before doing that.
Did another test of xGPS on my way to lunch and the voice turn by turn does work. There’s a bug that you can only adjust the application volume when it’s speaking, any other time it adjusts the ringer volume. I had the volume all the way down in some game so that’s why I wasn’t hearing it. Once I plugged in the car speaker adapter it started announcing the turn by turn directions and I was able to unplug it and quickly adjust the volume on the iphone speakers. It’s 100% TTS so it does read street names.
I’m really impressed how well it works. Couple bugs/additions it really needs.
Automatic route correction. If I stray from the suggested route just assume I’m not going to turn around and recalculate. That shouldn’t be hard to add.
When I changed the display units to MPH the display updates but the voice prompts are still metric. “Turn left in 800 meters” is nice, but it would be better if you told me feet.
Tap into the exposure readings from the camera to enable/disable night mode. Right now the night mode works on a timer, which is pretty useless since sunrise/sunset is constantly changing.
Its not really a bug, its more of the programming interface of the iPhone. There is the sound mixer and ringer mixer. If the application uses the system sound, you can only adjust it when its active otherwise the ringer defaults. We ran into this coding our demo app when we first started.
Perfect example of this is put the phone switch into silent mode and go into your Settings app and adjust the sound. You notice it makes noise. Haha.
I had mixed feelings on this. Sometimes think FUCK and turn around instead of being like most people and keep driving. I guess it depends where you are, on the highway I would keep driving where as a neighborhood I would stop.
Haha that was my big flaw. We were going to lunch and the speed was in MPH and the distance was “Turn left in 300 meters” and we were like WTF is a meter?
Havent played with that much yet.
Last thing I noticed was its routing features was somewhat difficult. We simply mapped from my office to Santoras and it would not pull a route but was able to find nearby places by name and put them on the map. Then, on the drive there, it suddenly was unable to route anymore.
Still buggy but very cool. The desktop software is the best when you are in non 3G areas and need maps on your phone.
It’s a bug because a good programmer finds a way around it. Take Flick Fishing for example. When I launch that and it’s loading no sounds are being played, but if I adjust the volume it adjusts the game volume. Clearly there are programmatic ways around the two mixers because other applications have done it.
Well, if they want it to work like every other real GPS on the market they need to address this, regardless of your strange desire to make random uturns.
Anyway, these seem like pretty minor things to fix so I have high hopes for this when it comes out of beta.
Difference is that ya, XGPS can output sound to its sound mixer during the life of the app but say Bye Bye to any music playback in the background. If you play a song on the iPod and then launch the fishing program, does it stop playing music?
If xGPS didnt do this, people would bitch about how it doesn’t allow them to play music on their iPod while navigating.
And about the turn, highway driving I dont need GPS. I am more of local side streets so if I pass one, I turn around and go back not continue driving around waiting for it to recalculate.
^ Then put an icon on the screen with a speaker so when you click on it you can adjust the sound of the application. Having to wait until it’s speaking and quickly adjust the sound before it’s done is plain unacceptable.
Seriously man, if you’re a programmer, you’re a shitty one. These are not difficult bugs to find solutions to.
And there’s no reason to turn around when you miss a turn on city streets with GPS. That’s one of the major selling points of a GPS. You miss a turn and within seconds it recalculates a new route. If the new best route is a uturn they will ask you to turn around but 99% of the time they can quickly get your right back on track.
Well I am not saying its the best way but its just a small problem with the iPhone. Apps that play sound using the sound interface will mute any iPod playback which I bet they determined is better. Honestly, get the Sound volume toggle for SBSettings and just turn it up when you are in the app. Problem solved
Also, the auto turn around might be delayed with the data of the map. Did you try turning the setting to auto compute automatically and try it in an area with a downloaded map and not rely on the data connection?
^ lol… Just found the setting for “recompute itinerary”. I’ll try it tonight on the way home when I ignore the suggested route because I have to pick up my daughter from daycare.
I think having the maps downloaded to the phone might speed up the process. The processing power is there, just a matter of wating to get map data to recalculate too.
