A good road trip is dependent upon the proper designation of roles. Available positions: the driver, the DJ, the navigator, and the backseat driver. Some are clearly more important than others, but the best road trips usually at least have the first three. Unfortunately, there are times when the navigator can’t come along, or when the navigator is also the driver, which is why GPS in vehicles is the new must-have. What if there was a better option for voice instruction GPS that was portable and took up zero extra room in your purse (or pocket)?
The best way to accomplish this feat is by using TeleNav GPS Navigator, a downloadable program that turns your GPS enabled phone into more than just a phone. Need to find an Indian restaurant in an unfamiliar town? With just a few clicks on your phone, you will have turn by turn directions, a map of the route and an estimated time of arrival at the nearest curry joint. And on top of all that, there is even a friendly voice that will guide you there, all along the way and through every turn.
One of our favorite parts of the TeleNav service is that traffic warnings are updated every 5 minutes in real time and then are automatically sent to your mobile phone. When traffic is detected, the TeleNav prompt will tell you to press “O” to avoid the backup, and thereby rechart your route to your destination, saving you sitting bumper to bumper any longer than you have to. So many times we’ve been traveling in a new town and completely underestimated how long it was going to take to get from point A to point B. It would have been so nice to have TeleNav to let us know that we were going to need 4 hours to cover 35 miles of highway 101, and it would have been a lifesaver to be able to press “O” to find an alternate route, free of traffic, that could have gotten us to the Hearst Mansion or back to the airport in a fraction of the time. Unlike most other GPS services, TeleNav does not charge extra for this service, it is merely included in the standard monthly charge.
One of the biggest drawbacks of most GPS units is that maps are outdated faster than you can say “new construction” and that 45 minute indirect “only way around” could be avoided if your GPS knows the new highway is open. For instance, the road we live on was created in 2005, but still is not listed on any of the street view or map software programs we could find, or at least that was true before we found TeleNav, which has our home right where it should be. With the TeleNav service, you don’t have to update the maps and points of interest yourself, since you are merely accessing a secondary service. This also means you don’t have to store information on your mobile unit, freeing up your phone’s memory to capture pictures along your route, not to store random town information that you may or may not come across in your travels.
We found the search functions to be quite intelligent, allowing us to look for businesses by category, name, or even by item. And, you can also choose to enter this information either by typing it in, or speaking it into the phone. In one instance when a business name was given to us completely misspelled, the actual business we were looking for still came up in the results as the first one found. This is leaps and bounds more effective than other GPS units we have used in the past where the search function seemed to require you to have so much knowledge over your query that it seemed unlikely you would need the GPS to begin with.
With TeleNav Navigator you get all the functionality of a GPS unit without having to purchase yet another electronic gadget that you have to carry with you wherever you go. No extra cables or mounts in your car, or worrying if you have the right batteries. And best of all, you won’t have anything sitting out in your car to tempt thieves. We found this out the hard way when my brother’s car was broken into last year and the only item stolen was his GPS. The policeman that came informed us that vehicle mounted GPS units are the most commonly stolen items from vehicles. If that’s not enough to pique your interest, here’s a bit more:
Raves:
- Fast at finding your location
- Easy and intuitive to use
- One less device to carry around
- No initial cost, simply use the phone you have and pay the subscription
- Very accurate, even when dealing with tricky Seattle off ramps with multiple converging routes
- Save trees, don’t print maps
- Save seats, don’t bring navigators, TeleNav will do the trick
- Biz Finder gives you the best POI, including listing the lowest cost gas station and hundreds of restuarants, services and businesses
- Voice prompts get you there without you having to watch the screen
- Smart searches, even when your associate gives you the wrong business name (not to name names)
- Linked to other programs within your smartphone, such as your contact list and email, saving you the time and hassle of cutting and pasting addresses into the program
- Real time traffic updates
- Voice recognition enabled so you can navigate without typing
- Maps and POIs update automatically so you will always have the correct route
- Low monthly cost
Not so Raves:
- Drains battery - bring a charger and turn down your screen brightness
- Voice prompts were not muted on my Blackberry when in the holster where everything is supposed to switch to vibrate, a potentially embarrassing situation
- Voice recognition only worked so-so with numbers
- Voice prompts don’t work when you are on the phone, but as much of the map that was previously rendered and the route summary are still there
We love the TeleNav service for road trips, work use, business meetings, exploring around home and more and want to thank TeleNav for their 6 month subscription trial.
Price: $9.99 per month for the TeleNav GPS service. They also offer a whole range of other services, including tracking and monitoring programs for small fleet vehicles and employers and other GPS services to fit virtually any need.
Looks: Just like the GPS you’re used to, but the size of maps are dependent upon screen size of mobile phone
Overall: An inexpensive and safe way to navigate your route
And now for the Giveaway…
TeleNav has generously offered a reader a 6 month subscription to the service free of charge. To enter, just leave a comment below letting me know that you have visited the TeleNav site and confirmed your mobile phone is compatible with the service and let me know what makes you most excited about this service.
And, as always, there are extra entries available!
1) Subscribe to Rave and Review (1 extra entry, must be verified to count)
2) Tweet about this Giveaway (1 entry for every Tweet, just post link here)
3) Blog about this Giveaway (1 extra entry)
4) Place my logo or link in your sidebar on your blog or website (2 extra entries, must have an active link)
5) Comment on any of my posts and then come back here and let me know (1 entry per comment)
6) Share this post on Facebook (1 extra entry)
7) Email love. Share this Giveaway with friends and family via email and cc Leanne@raveandreview.com for two bonus entries (I will never, ever contact your email ricipients)
Please leave a comment below for each of the extra entries
On July 31st at 11:59pm PST a winner will be drawn, announced here and notified via email
Winner Announced!! Lily K said:
"I confirmed my mobile phone is compatible with the service. I like how with TeleNav Navigator you get all the functionality of a GPS unit without having to purchase yet another electronic gadget that you have to carry with you wherever you go."
