The iPhone Mom

I dash around town in a trusty 2002 Toyota Sienna van.  It’s a no frills model but it gets the job done, delivers us safely to our destinations and has been well loved. A few years ago my husband had to give up his trusty Corolla and he traded up (way up) to a tricked out Camry Hybrid. Red no less. It’s a terrific car. One of the many features it came with is a navigational system. He can view maps on a screen in his dashboard and has a voice that will guide him around town.  Handy.  I won’t deny that I’ve often been jealous of his fancy car with it’s fancy voice. Especially when I’m downtown trying to find someplace I’ve never been before.  It can be tricky to drive safely, referee kids in the backseat and read printed out MapQuest directions all at the same time.

A few weeks ago I was contacted by TeleNav, the company behind the AT&T  Navigator app. They asked me if I’d like to try out their app and it’s accompanying service so that I could let you all know what I think. The app itself is free but in order for it to work you have to subscribe to the service which costs $9.99 a month, it becomes part of your AT&T bill. Full disclosure here, TeleNav provided me with the service for free. But even though I didn’t have to pay for it I promise you if the app stunk and guided me to the local strip club instead of the local strip mall I would tell you. Promise.

When you start the app up you have to promise not to use it while driving. Safety first. Now you can choose from Drive To or Search.  Drive To will let you choose from your favorite locations, locations stored in your Contacts or the most recent places you’ve been to with the Navigator. I tried it with my sister-in-law’s address from my Contact list. It pulled up a map and had me headed 700 miles away. You can also enter in an address, search for a business, choose a nearby airport or intersection.  On the Search screen you can type in a business name and search from a wide variety of categories. Once you’ve chosen where you want to go  the app will figure out your directions. On your iPhone you’ll see a visual representation of your route. It tells you how many feet until you change directions, the total route distance and an ETA. As you drive this information will change. When you start moving the app will speak to you, giving you driving directions as you go.

There are also Maps & Traffic options but I haven’t fooled around with those too much. Most of my driving is done during the day while the kids are at school and the traffic isn’t too rough. Tools & Extras allows you to change settings on the app. I liked having the ability to choose the type of route Navigator selects – fastest, shortest, traffic optimized, highway or street  and even pedestrian. Going to have to try taking a walk with my talking Navigator sometime soon.

So how did the app perform? Last week the kids and I headed downtown to our local children’s discovery museum and I decided it’d be a perfect chance to try out the Navigator. I searched for my destination and the app set my route. Off we went listening to our step by step directions. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hear the voice over my car and it’s passenger but it wasn’t a problem at all.  Then I decided to try and trick the app so I took a different route. The app responded by “rerouting directions” and was soon guiding me again. I tried that a few times on our trip and it figured me out every time. After the museum we needed some ice cream so I reprogrammed the app and off we went. Excellent directions again. It even guided us successfully home which was a good thing because my brain was toast after a museum outing with all the kids.

How did AT&T Navigator compare to my husband’s Camry navigation? The app operated smoothly and kept up with my erratic driving. It has an edge over the Camry because that operates off a CD that only works in our region. The AT&T app will always be up to date and relevant to wherever you happen to be. I found it easy to use and I like it’s overall design and feel. I’ve put it to good use around town and it’s been spot on every time. Something that I’d like to see is a way to put my iPhone on my dashboard so I can see the maps while I drive. Listening to directions works fine but it’d be nice to be able to see a left turn coming rather than wait for the app to announce it. Just in case I needed to switch lanes. I hate waiting until the last minute to switch lanes.

So to sum it all up, if you’re car doesn’t come with navigation and you’re looking for something to fill that void and give your car a voice, the AT&T Navigator worked great for me.

Now for some great news. TeleNav is allowing me to give away three 6-month subscriptions to the AT&T Navigator app. If you’re a winner you’ll have a chance to try the app out for no monthly cost for the next six months. The giveaway is going to run for a full week, ending on September 14th. How do you enter? Just leave me a comment. Doesn’t have to be long, just your first name is fine. If you send someone a link to the iPhone Mom and tell them about the TeleNav contest you can enter another comment that says “Told a friend”. The contest will close at 10:00 MST on September 14th and three winners will be randomly chosen. Now let’s see those comments and thank you TeleNav!

Click here to learn more about TeleNav’s AT&T Navigator

Price when Reviewed: Free for app, $9.99 for monthly service

Seller: TeleNav, Inc.