Ndrive United States of America (32.99)
Version 9.2.31
REVIEW – “Happy No-Getting-Lost Driving! ”
One thing is for sure, there is not a shortage of GPS/Navigation devices currently out on the market. Currently, three of the ten top grossing iPhone apps are navigation systems like Ndrive USA. If you are like my brother, you had one of the top navigation systems when they first came out, if you are like me, you never took the time to get an actual GPS System like Garmin or some of the others and now you are wondering if you actually need another electronic device or if a mobile app will do? I say, go for the mobile iPhone app.
My boyfriend and I recently returned from a week-long skiing vacation in Tahoe – it was great. One of the great things about the trip was that we never once got lost, had to turn around or fight about asking for directions. Ndrive USA was with us, guiding us, the entire way. Now I have to be honest, because I wasn’t completely sure how well this app would work, I did google the directions and had a print-out handy – just in case. Fortunately (for Ndrive), we never had to use it.
A little background about Ndrive: like most navigation apps, it’s big. I would suggest downloading on your computer first and then adding the application to your phone by 
syncing. Directly downloading to your phone takes too long as the app is almost one and a half gigs. Give yourself time, download the app and plan on using for your next trip or unfamiliar outing. There are also a few steps to set-up before you are ready to use. Ndrive asks for your home address so that you can easily access it when trying to navigate back home and the settings options allow you to customize your settings: mph vs km, show landmarks, etc. You also have the option for English (or American) and any other language it supports (there are many!).
Once everything is set up, map your address and drive. Your route will be calculated, give you the approximate time it should take, the mileage and then turn by turn directions. What I liked most about this app is all of the features at the bottom. In addition to tracking your progress on the screen (vertical or horizontal), it gives you the time it should take, the mileage that you have left, the approximate time you should arrive, your speed and the best – the mileage (or yardage) until your next turn or merge. At first I didn’t notice this and was a little perturbed when the highway split – I quickly learned that Ndrive really was looking out for me, I just didn’t know how to use it properly.
Although there are many other great features about this app, it’s hard to talk about all of them. The ease of the app is great, the font, maps and pictures are all easy to see, especially when driving and when a call comes in, should you choose to answer it, Ndrive will automatically ask if you want to resume with the previous navigation once the call is finished.
I would highly recommend downloading this app. Comparing the price with some of the others that are currently on the market, it is much more affordable and as far as I can tell, does the same thing – gets you from point A to point B. Once you download this app, my suggestions are: put it on when you are driving around so you can set it up in the way that is the most comfortable and familiar to you; get used to the voice, adjust the volume, find a good place for it to sit so that you can see it without having to hold it or mess with it; have your charger handy – if you are going on a long trip, having your phone on for several hours will definitely drain the battery.
Happy No-Getting-Lost Driving!
angelina r
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Developer – NDrive Navigation Systems, SA
URL: http://www.ndriveweb.com/
DEVELOPERS NOTES
NDrive turns your iPhone into a powerful navigation system up to house number accuracy! After a short plug & play installation, turn-by-turn voice instructions and on-screen directions will guide you from your current position to the destination that you have entered. In addition to all this, you can navigate to any of the many points-of-interest like hotels, restaurants and petrol stations. You can even dial them directly to make for example a hotel reservation or inquiry before going there! In summary, NDrive is a must for everyone looking for an affordable, flexible and powerful navigation system!
- Map Display / Graphics
- Dynamic adaptive drawing engine that can do 10 frames per second – providing a video-like experience.
- Free rotation and tilt control on and off routing
- Use of 3D objects render – Landmarks
- No limitation on zoom in and out on and off routing
- Display of pedestrian streets, ferries routes and trains
- Display of terrain types (urban, green, river and sea)
- 6 map colour schemes to choose from.
- Search
- All searches have instantaneous feedback – results are displayed while typing.
- Accepts search for city centre, street centre, street number, street crossings
- Accepts search from postal codes system instead of city
- Faster searches:
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- By the usage of initials or parts of initials in any order
- Results are based on city population (large cities are displayed on the top).
- Record of partial history of past searches
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- Accepts search by POI names in cities or POI by proximity
- Accepts search by all POIs in a city or limited by POI category or sub-category
- POI information can have: phone, email, URL and description in HTML, that are usable by the phone hardware
- Accepts search by coordinates in 3 coordinates’ formats
- Records all search history (delectable)
- Accepts ABC or QWERTY keyboard layout
- Routing
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- F aster, shorter or pedestrian modes
- Choose between “Accept Tolls” or “No Tolls” on routing calculation
- Information displayed : Next manoeuvre and its distance , total distance to destination, actual time, estimated time to arrival and arrival time
- Demo routing, if GPS is disconnected
- Road book available with past and next manoeuvres
- Automatic routing recalculation on missed manoeuvre
- Can display off-road routing till next available road
- Show present street and next street name on approaching manoeuvre
- In routing can: calculate alternative route, block road by distance or from road book
- In routing can move, pan and ask the interface for street names or POI names simply by tapping on the screen.
- In routing can search for another places and route directly without stop navigating.
- Can route from map coordinates by screen input
- Can route from received SMS with coordinate, POI or Favourite, on phone devices
- Safety
- Sound Alarm for specific absolute speed
- Visual and Sound Alarm for street maximum allowed speed
- Visual and Sound Alarm for safety radar proximity with velocity limits
- Favourites and communities
- Can handle unlimited favourites’ categories defined by the user
- Supports unlimited number of favourites
- Favourite categories can be customized by user with: name, visible or invisible on map, visibility scale, displayed icon (from icon library or user generated icon)
- Favourites can have: name, address, email, phone, web, fax and description.Phone numbers, email and URL’s are usable by the phone hardware.
- Settings / Customization
- General: Sound volume, Backlight: On or Power Safe mode, system time
- Localization: Can handle 32 languages, keyboard preference and Km/Mph
- Map appearance: Auto zoom on/off, Landmarks on/off, Templates, POI display settings by categories
- GPS: 3 coordinates formats
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© 2009, Angelina. All rights reserved.