xGPS 1.2 is awesome

[sourceninja]

So as my other post states, I went and bought a 24 inch imac today.

That required a 2 hour drive to grand rapids, MI. I didn't mind, my wife wanted to visit their mall and there is an imax there to watch the watchmen. So last night I installed xGPS and set it up with pre-downloaded maps to test offline mode.

The voice turn by turn worked perfectly as did the saved routes. On the way back I put it in online mode and made some wrong turns and it recalculated my route perfectly.

My only complaint is that when listening to music on the phone the turn by turn voice is impossible to hear. I would like him to pause the music and give the turn by turn. Oh well, maybe next version.

 

[alevasseur14]

That's really cool. I haven't had a lot of time to check it out because I'm in a basement in a library at school so GPS is a little out of the question. Seems promising though. It's a shame Apple is keeping apps like this from the app store...

BTW, do you think you should mention that the app requires a jailbroken phone in the OP? Just a suggestion. Good review otherwise!

 

[sourceninja]

I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

 

[Kmax82]

Thanks for the review! I've been meaning to give this app a shot. I'll definitely have to check it out now.

 

[alevasseur14]

I have to wait for a roadtrip with a friend. I don't really need turn by turn on my bike!

 

[Muadib]

Does anyone know why the maps take up so much space? I'm downloading NJ now, with NYC included, and it's over 4 gig! Unless I'm missing something, that will make this totally useless on a long trip.

 

[loup garou]

For some reason, the voice prompts aren't working on mine. My guess is probably because I had the older version installed before. I'm going to uninstall the package and reinstall.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: Muadib
Does anyone know why the maps take up so much space? I'm downloading NJ now, with NYC included, and it's over 4 gig! Unless I'm missing something, that will make this totally useless on a long trip.

Its because you are downloading all zoom levels. The lower the zoom level, the more space it takes up. My first go I tried to download all zone levels from my house to my destination. I was 3 gig.

I realized that the lowest zoom levels (0, 1, and 2) were worthless for me, as was the highest ones (12-17). So I downloaded just the ones that would make sense for me which was 3,5,7,and 9. That cut my maps to around 150 meg.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

Too bad. I personally find a unjailbroken iPhone useless. If apple made it impossible to jailbreak I would switch to a G1 or something similar.

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: loup garou
For some reason, the voice prompts aren't working on mine. My guess is probably because I had the older version installed before. I'm going to uninstall the package and reinstall.

Also, make sure you set the language to english. I had to do that before it started prompting.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

Too bad. I personally find a unjailbroken iPhone useless. If apple made it impossible to jailbreak I would switch to a G1 or something similar.

What capabilities does it lack that make it useless to you if it isn't jailbroken?

 

[alevasseur14]

iPhoneModem, IntelliScreen and theming. Brilliant apps for jailbroken phones.

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: Muadib
Does anyone know why the maps take up so much space? I'm downloading NJ now, with NYC included, and it's over 4 gig! Unless I'm missing something, that will make this totally useless on a long trip.

Its because you are downloading all zoom levels. The lower the zoom level, the more space it takes up. My first go I tried to download all zone levels from my house to my destination. I was 3 gig.

I realized that the lowest zoom levels (0, 1, and 2) were worthless for me, as was the highest ones (12-17). So I downloaded just the ones that would make sense for me which was 3,5,7,and 9. That cut my maps to around 150 meg.

I'll try that, thanks!

 

[Kaido]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

Not really. I think nearly everyone I know with an iPhone has jailbroken it, even the non-geeks.

 

[mugs]

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

Not really. I think nearly everyone I know with an iPhone has jailbroken it, even the non-geeks.

Yeah really, because obviously it's an incorrect assumption. 😉

 

[Muadib]

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: Muadib
Does anyone know why the maps take up so much space? I'm downloading NJ now, with NYC included, and it's over 4 gig! Unless I'm missing something, that will make this totally useless on a long trip.

Its because you are downloading all zoom levels. The lower the zoom level, the more space it takes up. My first go I tried to download all zone levels from my house to my destination. I was 3 gig.

I realized that the lowest zoom levels (0, 1, and 2) were worthless for me, as was the highest ones (12-17). So I downloaded just the ones that would make sense for me which was 3,5,7,and 9. That cut my maps to around 150 meg.

OK, I upgraded, and now I don't see any way to change the zoom level. I'm pretty sure there was a slider before. I'm I missing something?

 

[PCTC2]

The only thing I wish it could do is cut out your music when it has a prompt so you can listen to music at the same time...

 

[sourceninja]

Originally posted by: Muadib

Originally posted by: sourceninja

Originally posted by: Muadib
Does anyone know why the maps take up so much space? I'm downloading NJ now, with NYC included, and it's over 4 gig! Unless I'm missing something, that will make this totally useless on a long trip.

Its because you are downloading all zoom levels. The lower the zoom level, the more space it takes up. My first go I tried to download all zone levels from my house to my destination. I was 3 gig.

I realized that the lowest zoom levels (0, 1, and 2) were worthless for me, as was the highest ones (12-17). So I downloaded just the ones that would make sense for me which was 3,5,7,and 9. That cut my maps to around 150 meg.

OK, I upgraded, and now I don't see any way to change the zoom level. I'm pretty sure there was a slider before. I'm I missing something?

I used the desktop app to load maps. It has a section to check off which zoom levels. I'm not sure how to specify them inside the iPhone app. I just load my maps up from the computer. I find it easier that way. Although with the iPhone 3.0 firmware coming out this summer this will probably be replaced with much better apps. (Although probably not free apps)

 

[dnuggett]

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: Kaido

Originally posted by: mugs

Originally posted by: sourceninja
I always forget that some people don't have jailbroken phones. I just always assume everyone with a iPhone has jailbroken it.

That's a dumb assumption

Not really. I think nearly everyone I know with an iPhone has jailbroken it, even the non-geeks.

Yeah really, because obviously it's an incorrect assumption. 😉

Sure is. I won't jailbrake mine. Why? I dunno, guess it makes me feel dirty to think about it.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: alevasseur14
iPhoneModem, IntelliScreen and theming. Brilliant apps for jailbroken phones.

I am guessing that iPhoneModem is for tethering purposes?
What is IntelliScreen?
And finally, I can recognize why some might want to theme, but if I had an iPhone/Touch I wouldn't bother with jailbreaking solely for themes.

It will probably be some time before I get an iPhone, but I would love to have a Touch and I am not sure if I would jailbreak it permanently. I might for a little while, just to see what is available on Cydia. But with OS 3.0 I think I would be significantly less inclined to do so.

Now, if only the Touch had GPS, I would almost never need another device.

 

[Muadib]

Here's an article on Intelliscreen.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Muadib
Here's an article on Intelliscreen.

So, making it more analogous to say... a WinMo home screen? That is a good thing, one can get valuable information on a simple screen like that. Though, don't the icons for certain apps change to provide similar information? Mail will show a red dot with a number in it to indicate the how many emails you have. I thought SMS did the same thing, and I thought that the Calendar would do something similar if you had an appointment.

But, all the same, not having to unlock the phone is one less step.

I didn't google all this because I am at work and I try to stay to relatively simple websites that won't get me in trouble. 🙂

 

[sourceninja]

It looks like if there is a good cheap video recording software on par with cycorder then I won't need to jailbreak when 3.0 hits.