RIM’s own navigation app, BlackBerry Traffic, is getting a few new features in the Beta Zone. The biggie is voice navigation, so turn-by-turn directions are read out loud to you in a friendly robot voice, which is standard for most nav apps. Voice guidance includes a bunch of options, including standard and high-quality audio, as well as setting the frequency of assistance. On top of that, users can now drill down into specific road data and see if there are blockages, construction, or tolls to pay (and avoid them when routing, if desired).
BlackBerry Traffic is a little bit different than most GPS navigation services in that it uses anonymous traffic data farmed up from BlackBerry devices currently on the road, as well as other sources. By piling that information on top of standard turn-by-turn directions, BlackBerry Traffic aims to provide the fastest travel route possible. This is a scheme RIM picked up when they acquired Dash Navigation awhile back.
With this feature, BlackBerry Traffic feels a bit more like a grown-up navigation app, but I’d still much prefer an updated version of Google Maps with Navigation. Unfortunately, Google’s interest in developing much of anything for BlackBerry has been waning for some time, and with RIM’s Bing partnership, that’s unlikely to change anytime soon.
Head on over to the BlackBerry Beta Zone to try out BlackBerry Traffic 3.0 and the new voice assistance feature.