iPhone App Essential

Recently at TUAW, Mel Martin did a roundup of his favorite GPS apps. MY favorite, Motion X' GPS Drive, was a condescending fourth recommendation, one with which I take issue.

One of Mel's key values for these apps is that they have voice instructions. Here I disagree. I would say the availability of voice is key. GPS Drive let's you decide when to add this feature and when to rely on Your passenger or yourself to replace this costly option. For example, I use GPS while walking in Manhattan, but do not really need verbal instructions, a quick glance at the iPhone is not too dangerous. When driving with my wife, as I almost always do, she is faster and more customizable than the computer voice. Better meets my "needs". For example, today the voices told me to go left, but it really should have said to stay straight, or nothing at all. Mrs. ExecHobo had it right.



But, recently we went to the NYC region for a two week business trip, and had to drive everywhere. I was able to buy a month of voice support for $2.99. Our travel will probably require us to do this a total of 2 or 3 times this year. Mel called this a "price come on". For my use, this is what I need. Coupled with the low low $1.99 initial cost, this makes GPS Drive a good deal, when compared to the initial price of competitive apps- $50-$60! One can buy several months of voice support on an adhoc basis for less money! And, I can do the math to analyze when my expected need approaches the point that makes $19.99 for a full year of voice for worthwhile. I chose to keep my initial costs low, having learned (finally), that apps and such are "investments" to be amortized over very short time periods, like months, not years, before an app that is an order of magnitude that "forces" me to change comes along.

Motion X' GPS Drive has a good navigating engine that so far has been accurate. When using GPS I have acquired a certain level of skepticism, bordering on paranoia. GPS Drive has begun the healing. This means it makes no mistakes! When you have a good navigation engine, you need to pair it with a good interface. Motion X has done that. I can switch from list to map, modify options, update my destination, anything I want to do. I am the boss of my GPS.

The bottom line is that all these apps, even to native maps app, are remarkable applications of technology. They make our lives much easier, and we who travel with tech use em like crazy. The Motion X team does a good job pulling it all together with a cost that is remarkable, and best explained by them.