iGO (finally) gets a UK distributor

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

When it comes to Pocket PC based navigation, you're positively spoilt for choice. TomTom, CoPilot, Navigon, Destinator, Route 66 and many more all offer solutions now, but none of these are my application of choice.

A few years ago now, at a MoDaCo event in London, I had a good chat with a member of staff from (then) PDAmill. He explained how PDAmill were planning to take on the PDA navigation world with a killer product, using a 3D graphics engine originally designed for games. Great idea I thought, but wondered if it would ever come to fruition...

To cut a long story short, it did, and the product became iGO. I've been using it for a long time now, and have despaired at the fact that, although brilliant, it had no UK distribution channel... so it couldn't be purchased!

Well, despair no more... you can now buy iGO in the UK, and from none other than our friends at DSLDevelopments, the Brodit specialists renowned for their excellent customer service!

Shipping in the next 7 days, iGO will be initially offered on miniSD only (with microSD to follow) in the following packages:

• Full UK - £69.99
• Full Europe [26 countries] - £159.99
• Western Europe [18 countries] - £99.99
• Eastern Europe 2006 [7 countries] - £99.99
  

Prices don't include a GPS receiver, not a problem if you're using, say, a SPV M700 or similar. If you need a GPS unit, DSL have one available, or there's a wealth of choices available from Semsons - my GPS supplier of choice (who offer a MoDaCo Plus discount too!)

To place your order, head over to DSL Developments and be one of the first to get a copy in the UK!

P

PS Now the application is officially available in the UK, expect a review from me soon. I can tell you now it's brilliant though :rolleyes:

[Guest magic_peanuts]

I love my Tomtom (even more so on the 5" Ameo screen) so what are the key differences / benefits of iGo over Tomtom? Looking forward to the review.

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

It's that much slicker, is more frequently updated, and is less buggy than TomTom (e.g. TomTom has some issues with my M700).

P

[Guest Swampie]

"256 MB or 1 GB (depends on the map coverage) pre-programmed miniSD memory card + SD adapter

Important! Please, be advised that the software runs only on the original SD memory card. Do not attempt to copy it to any other memory card, as it may cause serious damages. However, we recommand that you make a backup copy of the software on your computer. "

Doesn't sound good if you cannot move it to another miniSD card, and you're limited to 256MB (maybe UK maps) for even 1GB (certainly full Europe maps)....

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Yes, it is locked to the card - that is the iGO protection method i'm afraid.

P

[Guest psionandy]

Yes, it is locked to the card - that is the iGO protection method i'm afraid.

P

So that means that MicroSD users can't use it then?? No good for me on my vario II :sad:

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Not yet, BUT, i'm told the microSD version will follow soon.

P

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Although locking to a card is a pain, it does make it easier when you buy a new device compared to the TomTom activation model.

P

[Guest mattie01]

great piece of software, i much prefer it to the round the houses tomtom tries to take me some times...

[Guest Confucious]

CoPilots activation works fine - I have a 4Gb SD card and won't buy this if I have to swap cards to use it! What a pain!

[Guest Dr_StrangeTrick]

Hi all you can run I-Go off any SD-Card etc, you just need to unlock (see here)

As for differences from TomTom, where do you begin :D as Paul says its much slicker than TomTom and if you register at the PDA Mill forum there are loads of skins for I-Go as well as useful information. The software can be customized as much as you want, the sky's the limit.

One thing I will say, I-Go uses TeleAtlas data and its maps are identical to TomTom I.E. when TomTom gets it wrong and tells me to take the third exit when there are only two exits then I-Go does exactly the same :rolleyes: therefore all my slagging off of TomTom in the past is down to the data not actually the software itself and I-Go beats TomTom hands down :P and wait till the 2008 version comes out soon.

[Guest nickcornaglia]

No US Maps? :P

No Smartphone app? :D

:rolleyes:

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

No Smartphone app, there is a US version tho I believe.

P

[Guest nickcornaglia]

As far as I can tell...here is what they offer:

Europe 2006 | SD

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Romania, San Marino, Slovakia, Slovenia (only major roads), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and United Kingdom

Western Europe 2006 | SD

Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Netherlands, and United Kingdom

Eastern Europe 2006 | SD

Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia

+ major roads of Slovenia and 18 Western European countries

Hungary 2006 | SD

Street level maps of 3600 cities and more than 27.700 POI

Croatia and BH 2006 | SD

Detailed maps of Croatia + Bosnia and Herzegovina

Slovakia 2006 | SD

Detailed maps of 2084 cities

Romania 2006 | SD

Street level maps of 215 cities

Czech Republic 2006 | SD

Street level maps of 5350 cities

Israel 2006 | SD

Detailed maps of Israel

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

Ah yus, I forgot, the UK iteration is branded 'On Course Navigator'. Same software though.

http://www.oncoursenavigator.com/intro.aspx#1

:rolleyes:

P

[Guest]

Hi Paul,

Have you managed to get iGo to work alongside CamerAware? Every time I have tried to run them together, iGo seems to take over the whole phone and refuses to allow CamerAware to do anything - and it ends up aborting with an exception. It's a shame that I had to switch back to TomTom 6 as iGo looks to be a stonking bit of kit (although I was slightly worried by it's habit of not telling you which exit you need on a roundabout until the last few hundred yards!). :rolleyes:

[Guest Dr_StrangeTrick]

Hi Everton2004 have you got I-Go 2006 Plus? if not then upgrade at the I-Go website as the Plus version includes safety camera support.

Nedge2k has a written a small batch file to convert TomTom format safety camera database into I-Go format. The safety camera support in I-Go is much better than TomTom.

[Guest mikeeey]

"256 MB or 1 GB (depends on the map coverage) pre-programmed miniSD memory card + SD adapter

Important! Please, be advised that the software runs only on the original SD memory card. Do not attempt to copy it to any other memory card, as it may cause serious damages. However, we recommand that you make a backup copy of the software on your computer. "

Doesn't sound good if you cannot move it to another miniSD card, and you're limited to 256MB (maybe UK maps) for even 1GB (certainly full Europe maps)....

what up with that? dont they know that almost all windows mobile devices now a days are micro-SD and most old devices use normal SD?

[Guest]

Hi Everton2004 have you got I-Go 2006 Plus? if not then upgrade at the I-Go website as the Plus version includes safety camera support.

Nedge2k has a written a small batch file to convert TomTom format safety camera database into I-Go format. The safety camera support in I-Go is much better than TomTom.

Yes I have got the Plus version and did try it with an old copy of the TomTom database and it did seem to work. However, that does require a subscription for the PGPSW camera database. Ideally I would like to get it to work alongside CamerAware as that is my speedcam tool of choice. If I can't get it to work with iGo I'll just switch back to TomTom. No great shakes really, the only plus I could find with iGo is the interface looks a lot more slick. Functionality wise, I think TomTom is still out in front (mainly due to the issue with roundabouts I mentioned earlier)!

[Guest]

While I remember it, there was another issue while iGo was installed on my phone. When starting up CamerAware (iGo not running), it would load up, attempt to switch on Bluetooth then crash with an exception trying to change the "bluetooth radio state". Starting CamerAware a second time would be ok.

Since I uninstalled iGo - no problems starting CamerAware at all. Very odd....go figure! :rolleyes:

[Guest mwright]

Nedge2k has a written a small batch file to convert TomTom format safety camera database into I-Go format. The safety camera support in I-Go is much better than TomTom.

Ooh Ooh - is that available?

[Guest Neil5459]

The problem of co-existance between iGo and CamerAware is probably the old issue of GPS apps grabbing the GPS port exclusively. WM5 has got over this (soft of :rolleyes: ) especially with later builds, but some software still won't play ball.

You could try installing GPSGate, which has a $10 light version, which allows 2 concurrent GPS apps to share a signal. There is also a $30 version that does a lot more, but maybe overkill!

[Guest Paul (MVP)]

iGO does seem to munch up the CPU and Memory pretty comprehensively when running. Actually, all the sat nav apps do (understandably).

P

[Guest rekall]

So what format does iGo need for the speed cameras if you already have a sub to PocketGPS speed cameras?

[Guest Swampie]

Although locking to a card is a pain, it does make it easier when you buy a new device compared to the TomTom activation model.

P

Only if the new device has the same card format as your new device. And removing the ability to play your large MP3 collection whilst navigating, which I often do with TTN5 + Vario.