Magellan RoadMate Navigation: iPhone Review
You can also use your iPhone’s contact list to add a destination, which is useful and something I’d think any app of this price point would include. You can easily search for a destination or use a point of interest, which is thoughtfully broken down for you in an iPhone-friendly menu. I had no idea there were so many Starbucks within 5 miles of my house.
Once you get your destination set, the app guides you using a straight-forward turn-by-turn approach with voice guidance. You can pick male or female voices, but they’re clearly computer generated and not very soothing.
There’s also an auto-zoom feature at turns that I found annoying, but it can be turned off. It seems to be the default mode, so be aware.
It did have trouble finding an Ace Hardware store I was going to. It brought up 20 other locations, but not the one I needed to get to which was closer and an established store. Google maps brought it up instantly.
Features
My favorite features were the in-application music player, which accesses your iTunes folders while guidance is ongoing, and a single touch-menu of frequent destinations.
If you plug the iPhone into a car’s MP3 jack, both RoadMate’s voice instructions and music will play through your stereo. Those of us who don’t have USB integration will like this feature. If you have a USB system music will still be indexed normally with the voice for directions added on top. You don’t have to use the iPhone controls to control the music like with the analog jack.
The OneTouch menu screen, which is customizable and accessible from the map screen with…one touch, is a stand-out feature. It has all the basics like POIs, hospitals, etc., but you can add icons for work, home or school so they become buttons. This makes a route from a new starting point to a favorite destination much simpler.
Flicking between menu screens can get a bothersome, and that’s where I often ran into a slight processing hiccup or two. However, with more time I think I would become accustomed to the different screens.
For me, the biggest oversight in this release is the absence of live-traffic updates. For my daily commute, I like to see the green, yellow and especially red outlines of traffic flow, so I can pick my route accordingly. If you never need this type of assistance because there’s only one way for you to get to work, then it might not be an issue. But if I want to use navigation every day and not just when I’m going somewhere new, so it needs to have this feature. Luckily, live traffic is a likely upgrade in the near future.
Final Score: 7.5
I would give the RoadMate even higher marks if it weren’t for the lack of live traffic updates, limited map scrolling and the $79 price tag, which is an introductory price. Besides those flaws — which may not bother other users — this is one smart piece of software that outperforms dedicated nav units at twice the price.
