MotionX GPS Lite (Free)
REVIEW – “Hi-tech hiking tools from MotionX!”
MotionX has released several apps and games into the App Store, and is becoming one of the premier developers for the iPhone and iPod touch. This App is designed for all of those people out there who enjoy traveling in the great outdoors.
This app offers an impressive amount of information from your iPhone 3G’s internal GPS chip, allows you to plan and keep track of hikes, runs, bike rides and all kinds of outdoor activities. Best of all the free version of the app has nearly the same functionality of the paid app.
The first screen you see after the splash screen that advertises the paid app is the “Status” screen. This screen gives lots of information that you’ve probably never seen from the GPS chip in your phone, but this is just where this app starts. At the bottom of the screen you’ll see several menu options. The far left option is an awesome feature that allows you to save battery while you are using this app. If you press the little lock button, it locks all of the buttons on the screen, makes it where you have to drag like when you unlock your phone to unlock the app and also gives you a bar to adjust the brightness of your iPhone’s display to save battery.
The next menu option at the bottom is the little gear-shaped button and it takes you to the settings menu. From here you can adjust all kinds of options such as whether or not the app uses assisted GPS, the speed display format, measurement units information is displayed in, as well as change the settings for map caching.
Map caching is one of the features of this app that sets it apart as an app to use for backpacking and hiking. A lot of applications, especially ones that are free, rely on you having a constant data connection to use them because they download all of their maps on the fly. This app actually allows you to cache map data so that, when are in the woods or mountains hiking and lose your cell service, you still have access to the maps you need to easily follow the path that you have set.
The settings menu also allows you to set the pages that are viewable from the main screen by pressing the arrows at the bottom right. You can have all six screens of information available all the time, or you can select just one or a few of them to view. The six screens are Maps, Track, Logbook, Waypoints, Compass and Stopwatch.
While the Maps feature and Waypoints help keep you on track, the Stopwatch is an excellent feature for hikers, bikers and runners. Once you turn the Stopwatch on, it not only tracks your time, it also keeps track of the path that you take on your trip, and allows you to take pictures directly in the app that are tied to the trip. Once you finish with your hike you can easily save the trip, with all of its data on your average speed, the distance of the trip, all of the pictures and even upload the information on your trip to Facebook!
I did notice that several people have given this app negative reviews because it does not offer driving directions. If you want driving directions then you should probably look elsewhere because that is not what this app is designed for. If, however, you are looking for an app to track your runs, hikes and bike rides, I doubt you will find anything that has more features and detailed information tracking than this one does. And I can almost guarantee that you will find nothing better for free!
- David H.
Download Now!
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Developer – MotionX
URL:
http://gps.motionx.com/video/
DEVELOPERS NOTES
New: Facebook and Twitter integration
MotionX-GPS is exclusively designed and optimized for your iPhone 3G (the first generation iPhone and the iPod touch do not have the necessary GPS chipset to acquire a GPS signal).
“Takes GPS to a new level” – iPhone Matters
“Give it a high five” – The App Store Review
“Tremendous Potential!” – ComputerWorld
“The software you need!” – Navigadget
“Awesome, beats myGarmin” – iPhone Blog
MotionX-GPS is the leading GPS solution for the iPhone. Over 1 million happy iPhone users have chosen MotionX-GPS. MotionX-GPS is for biking, running, hiking, walking, skiing, geocaching, and sailing.
MotionX-GPS shows your position and track at all times on street and topo/terrain maps. You can follow your track back to where you started and email to multiple recipients with a single click your position, track, trip statistics (such as dazte, start time, elapsed time, distance traveled, average speed, etc.) and even a picture taken along the way.
You may ask why we are literally giving away this application. It’s very simple: we at MotionX are building a long term business and want to make it easy for you to try our solutions.
NEW LIVE FAST MOTIONX OPEN MAPS!
See your position and tracks anywhere in the world on fast live MotionX open topographic and road maps. Map tiles can be cached for offline access and lightning fast rendering!
WAYPOINTS!
Save personal waypoints for your favorite locations like your home, end of a hike or your favorite restaurant. Email your waypoints to share them in Google Maps and Google Earth. View coordinates in DMS, DM or D format.
TRACKS!
Record your tracks. See your path in real-time with Track or up North up. Follow one of your saved tracks and email them to share in Google Maps and Google Earth
INTERACTIVE STOPWATCH!
Record time, distance, speed and max speed. Add a photo during your activity to share the experience!
LIVE NAVIGATION!
Use the compass for orientation in True or Magnetic bearings. While navigating to a waypoint you can visualize your progress and ETA (estimated time of arrival).
MOST ACCURATE IPHONE GPS!
Accelerometrics assisted GPS for enhanced accuracy.
MotionX Featured in:
- Wall Street Journal
- New York Times
- BusinessWeek
- USA Today
- iPhone Blogs
- Gizmodo
- Engadget
- Time
- Newsweek
NOTES
- Use with iPhone 3G only for accurate GPS-based fixes
- Check out our videos on MotionX.com
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© 2009, amy. All rights reserved.