A lot of people will be traveling for the holidays, and if you have been waiting until now to get a GPS navigation app for your iPhone, you'll be glad that you did because of the comprehensive reviews and deep discounts that came out over the last few days. Here are those stories, plus the rest of the news that caught my attention this week:
- Glenn Fleishman is normally known as the guru of wireless networking, but this week he showed that he knows his way around GPS as well. He wrote the most comprehensive review I have seen to date on the GPS navigation apps for Macworld. As he notes, the one that is right for you depends on the features that will interest you most, but his wrap up notes: "Overall, AT&T Navigator was the best app among those with low prices, recurring monthly fees, and small app sizes; among the large apps with pre-loaded maps, Navigon MobileNavigator scored the highest. Combining decent quality with a low price, MotionX was the best bargain among all the apps I reviewed." MotionX, which I reviewed here, is a great bargain, but I keep thinking about getting another app that can announce street names, a big omission in MotionX. [UPDATE: Text to speech is planned for a future update to MotionX, as noted below in the comment and just confirmed to me by the company, but the company isn't saying when this feature will arrive.]
- There are also some big sales on some of the major GPS navigation apps. TomTom has been selling a $99.99 U.S. & Canada app, but from now until December 28, TomTom is currently selling that app for only $69.99. Better yet, TomTom has come out with a U.S. only version that only costs $49. I know a lot of people bought the $99 version with no intention of traveling north of the border, and if you were thinking of doing the same, you can now get what you need from TomTom for essentially half the price. Click here for TomTom U.S. & Canada ($69.99 sale):
. Click here for TomTom U.S.A. ($49.99 sale): - Similarly Navigon MobileNavigator, which Fleishman gave the highest score, used to cost $89.99 but from now until January 11th only costs $59.99. Click here for Navigon MobileNavigator ($59.99 sale):
- By the way, if you get a GPS navigation app, you might want to get a car mount as well. If you use the TomTom app, they sell a $120 car kit that improves the GPS signal and speakers, but I hear that stock is limited. (The Apple Store seems to have some.) If you already have a cigarette lighter power cord for your iPhone and just want a simple mount, I hear good things about the Kensington mounts for your dashboard
or your windshield
that cost under $25, and I'm thinking about getting one of those.
- Macworld has picked their 20 favorite iPhone apps of the year. Those guys really know their iPhone apps, and this is a great set of picks.
With Tiger Woods on everyone's minds nowadays, Art of the iPhone reviews the Tiger Woods golf app, which apparently is excellent. Click here for Tiger Woods PGA Tour ($4.99):
- With so many games for the iPhone, it sometimes seems that attorneys need to defend the iPhone as also being a serious business tool. Proving that the iPhone can be used for even more important tasks, Roy Furchgott reports for the New York Times on a new app by military contractor Raytheon that "tracks friends and foes, shows their positions on live, real time maps and provides secure communications." Raytheon sees possible applications both on the battlefield and for first responders such as police and firemen. (Thanks to Marshall Hevron at my firm for the link.)
- It used to be that if you wanted to record video on your iPhone, you had to have the latest model, the iPhone 3GS. Art of the iPhone reviews a cheap app called iVideoCamera that allows you to record video on the original iPhone and the iPhone 3G. The video quality and length is limited, but at least you now have an option. Click here for iVideoCamera ($0.99):
Do you have a stereo in your house or office? Would you like to wirelessly send music from your iPhone to that stereo? Macworld notes a new $50 device from Belkin that turns any stereo into a Bluetooth speaker.
- Scott Kleinberg reports on iPhone, Therefore iBlog about an iTunes problem that I have been having as well. iTunes tells you that you have updates for an app, but then after downloading and installing the updated app on your iPhone, iTunes continues to insist that the same update is still available. Hopefully Apple will come out with a fix soon.
- Gregg Keizer reports for Computerworld that the iPhone user base is now the second largest among smartphones in the U.S. Nine million people use the iPhone as their primary smartphone. RIM is still in the lead with 15 million Blackberry users. For now, at least.
- I previously reviewed two new Take Control books relating to the iPhone, Take Control of iPhone OS 3 and Take Control of Your iPhone Apps. For a limited time, you can get either book for half price ($6.50 or $5.00) by clicking this link.
- Randall Stross writes an interesting article in the New York Times asserting that AT&T coverage problems are due in part to iPhone design problems. Others have written harsh rebuttals to the article, including John Gruber at Daring Fireball, Daniel Eran Dilger at Rougly Drafted and Chris Foresman at Ars Technica. You be the judge.
- If you've visited the App Store in iTunes recently, you've seen a whole new look. TUAW and Macworld discuss the redesign.
- At the end of 2007, U.S. Supreme Court practitioner and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein released a funny YouTube video playing off of the early Apple ads for the iPhone. Click here for my post from last year containing that video and another funny one from Goldstein; both are still worth seeing today if you missed them in the past. This year for the holidays, Goldstein released another funny video called "The Public Apology of Tom Goldstein." The iPhone makes only a minor appearance in the latest video, but it is worth watching. (Thanks to Ray Ward's Minor Wisdom for the link.)
- And finally, if you are looking for a way to avoid spending tens of thousands of dollars on a Steinway grand piano, apparently you can just purchase six iPhones instead:
