Navicore Personal

tech.co.uk staff — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 15:55:54 +0000

Finding your way from A to B can be extremely stressful. Relationship shattering, even.

The promise of technology taking the stress out of journeys is a welcome one, even if it isn't particularly new. Navicore Personal aims to set itself apart from the crowd by operating from your mobile phone.

A separate Bluetooth GPS receiver provides the necessary hardware to make this possible, while the software and maps reside on a 256MB memory card in your phone. There's an important caveat, however: Navicore Personal only works with the Symbian Operating System, so bad luck if you're running Windows Mobile.

Speedy operator

Navicore Personal does some things particularly well - the recalculation of routes following a detour is impressive. While other GPS packages can spend the next few miles telling you that you've gone the wrong way, Navicore simply reroutes so you can continue without interruption.

The interface is, for the most part, fast and intuitive. Rerouting to a petrol station is simple, while searching for interesting places to visit for a quick excursion is great.

Entering destinations can be annoying, though. Any slight pause and the software will try to reduce your search options, resulting in missed letters - something that's tricky enough on a mobile phone keypad. It does at least accept full seven-digit postcodes (something that the earlier version didn't).

The voices are clear, well pronounced and are given in plenty of time to respond. Of the two voices that come with the device, the plummy Englishness of Christopher offers the least annoying guidance. The twangy barks of 'Exit Now!' from the American Sara grate far too quickly, but you can swap between the two.

Get lost

Of course, you need to be able to trust the commands and routes given, and it's here that Navicore Personal can stumble. While it's fine 99 per cent of the time, we did experience a few problems that had us questioning its capabilities.

Being told to drive the wrong way down a one-way street is alarming. Furthermore, being told to turn left and right when you're clearly just following a road can be dangerous. Thankfully, we managed to ignore an instruction to take a slight left - travelling up a driveway at 30mph is undoubtedly hazardous.

Each of these problems could be avoided by looking at the screen, but this isn't always possible when driving. This emphasises the need for perfect instructions or at the very least a hands-free kit for your phone - something that obviously can't be included.

Navicore claims that the bundled receiver is extremely sensitive, and can be used in the glove compartment of your car. In use, though, we obtained better reception if it was anchored on the dashboard.

The old problem of being rather inaccurate in pedestrian mode also reared its head. When combined with the lack of detail of the maps, this makes this an unappealing solution for those predominantly on foot - a shame considering its mobile nature.

Overall, the at-times untrustworthy directions undermine an expensive, and niche, GPS solution. It's an interesting idea, but one that fails to promote itself over the dedicated offerings. Not awful, but unlikely to stop arguments in the car... Alan Dexter

TechRadar: All PDA and mobile phone GPS Feeds

Navicore Personal