WP7 voice navigation?

[Binky]

Does Windows Phone 7.5 offer voice navigation?

I'm sure I'm missing something here, but my GF's HTC Trophy doesn't seem to offer any usable navigation app. Since I'm usually the driver, I leave it up to her to figure out her phone to navigate us somewhere...but she can't find any reasonable navigation app.

I am very spoiled with the android navigation. Isn't there something decent on WP7?

 

[notposting]

Supposedly Nokia Drive is at least competitive with Google Nav (obviously only on Nokia phones). The built in nav does offer voice directions but you have to keep tapping it or something and won't reroute (glorified direction list reader mostly). Other options are paying out the nose for the various GPS apps, ie Garmin, Navigon...

I'm hoping they come up with some sort of improvement for WP8 (though I do have a standalone GPS unit).

 

[ImDonly1]

I don't have a WP7 phone, but doesn't Bing offer turn-by-turn navigation/voice?

They had it on my WM 6.5 phone back then... thought it was improved on and included in WP7 and on.

 

[wirednuts]

i like how they changed bings servers, so now wm6 bing doesnt work anymore yet googles maps software works just fine.... ugh

not a huge deal though, as google maps for wm6 is pretty oldschool and missing tons of current features. if youre running wm5 or 6 still, you might as well just get copilot or the like.

 

[Binky]

Supposedly Nokia Drive is at least competitive with Google Nav (obviously only on Nokia phones). The built in nav does offer voice directions but you have to keep tapping it or something and won't reroute (glorified direction list reader mostly).

How do I enable voice on a non-Nokia phone? Ours doesn't seem to offer any type of voice turn directions at all. It also doesn't seem to offer any type of navigation-like screen, like android or any dedicated GPS unit.

I've seen the premium offerings in the market for $30-$50, but with numerous unused android phones in my house that could be instantly activated for free, this is not an option.

I'm trying to like this WP7 phone and there really is a lot to like, but this is a major deal breaker without a minimal free navigation app. I must be missing something.

 

[Bearach]

does offer voice directions but you have to keep tapping it or something and won't reroute

It absolutely does reroute when you've gone the wrong way. However the inbuilt turn-by-turn does require tapping.

You'll need to make sure "read directions aloud when tapping" is enabled within settings => applications => maps.

However if the option is missing it is all due to how Microsoft, do most features, US only. Very annoying at times.

 

[Pretty Cool]

Are you talking about online or offline? For offline, HTC has Locations as the competitor to Nokia Drive. Unfortunately, it is not free. In the reviews somebody said you can just click cancel after the trial ends and it still works, but I have no idea if that is true or not. If her Trophy can sideload apps, you might try loading Nokia Drive to see if it works. Although fairly basic, Drive works fine as a navigator. Best of the offline stuff is Navigon which has both text to speech and lane assistance. Regular price is $50 though. Sometimes it goes down to $25 for a sale.

I have not used the online navigation apps. All I know is that there are some apps that use Bing maps maybe one or two that uses Google maps.