Remember Garmin’s attempt to enter the smartphone race with the Nuviphone? Apparently, neither does Garmin -- the company has (for now) thrown in the towel on that approach and released their new StreetPilot app for the iPhone instead.
Garmin released StreetPilot on Tuesday, a new $39.99 iOS app which brings the company’s award-winning navigation and premium features from their Nuvi hardware line to the iPhone. Unlike their many competitors on the App Store, Garmin’s app requires an always-on connection to retrieve the latest map data -- the app is a mere 7.5MB download versus 1GB-plus from the likes of TomTom, Magellan and CoPilot Live.
Among the many features that Garmin StreetPilot brings to the table are turn-by-turn directions with an intuitive interface that greets you with two simple options: “Where to?” and “View Map.” Look up addresses and services, then get voice-prompted, turn-by-turn directions that speak street names to your destination using the company’s detailed City Navigator NT street maps.
StreetPilot also features lane assistance so you’ll always know in advance where you need to be to take the correct exit, displaying realistic road signs and junctions on your route along with arrows indicating the proper lane for navigation.
While the lack of on-board maps might be a bummer for many users in remote areas where a 3G signal is missing in action, the rest of us get the added advantage of real-time traffic updates included at no extra charge -- most GPS app makers these days charge a monthly or annual fee for such data, so this a welcome offering on Garmin’s part.
Garmin StreetPilot is available now for $39.99 on the App Store; it requires iOS 3.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4, although it will also run in 2x compatibility mode on the iPad (it’s not a universal app). iPhone 4 users will also receive higher-resolution maps that make the best of that hardware’s Retina Display.
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