If you’re still holding your breath for Apple to enable some sort of turn-by-turn GPS navigation functionality on the iPhone, you might have to keep on keepin’ on, as they say. Ever since Apple released its GPS-toting iPhone 3G, the world has been waiting for a bona fide navigation application with turn-by-turn directions. The GPS receiver lying within the iPhone 3G offered users the tantalizing prospect of using their shiny handset as an in-car GPS navigation system, but Apple has so far been slow to move on that front. But, if real-time GPS navigation on the iPhone is more important than your loyalty to Apple, XROAD’s new G-Map for iPhone is ready to turn your iPhone 3G into a high-performance GPS navigation unit.
Car blog Kicking Tires had a chance to review the new XROAD G-Map application for the iPhone 3G, and came away quite impressed. G-Map for iPhone proved to be as accurate as any dedicated navigation unit from TomTom or Garmin, as long as towering buildings didn’t get in the way – GPS accuracy suffers in downtown Chicago, but moving towards the out-skirts of town revives G-Map’s pin-point accuracy. G-Map also gets high marks for its ease of use (this is an iPhone, remember?), POI content, routing directions and value. Unfortunately, G-Map lost points for its inability to display all street names on the map and its apparent lack of voice-guided navigation. But, with future application updates likely to fix the street name snafu, G-Map for iPhone still scores well.
G-Map for iPhone will cost you $19 from the iPhone AppStore, but when you compare that to the cost of a comparably sized (in terms of screen size) GPS navigation unit, it’s obvious that there’s tons of value packed in this iPhone app.
[Via: EngadgetMobile]