Co-Pilot Live 6.0 for PPC/Smartphone
Review By Tim Hillebrand | August 06, 2006
Category: not categorized
Even though I have been using Co-Pilot Live through many iterations, the latest version 6.0 has won my heart and my mind. Remarkably, the entire program with map and POI data are contained on a single 1 GB SD card.
All you have to do is slip it into your device and run it. Of course you have to register it the first time you use it. For those uninitiated in GPS software for Windows Mobile devices, this is a huge step forward. One of the major inconveniences in using a Pocket PC or Smartphone for navigation as opposed to a dedicated GPS device is that you have to keep loading and unloading data as you travel. This usually means that you have to travel with a laptop for this purpose, which is another inconvenience if you are trying to lose weight.
With Co-Pilot Live, you will not have this problem of constantly loading and unloading new data as you travel. I cannot tell you how much I appreciate not having to bother with this nuisance while on a 10,000 plus mile road trip.
Co-Pilot Live works on all Windows Mobile devices. The SD card is actually an SD card adapter that acts as a caddy for a mini-SD card that will fit into most Smartphones and contains the appropriate software for both Pocket PC and WM5 Smartphones.
The “Live” aspect of the appellation tips the scale in favor of Co-Pilot too. If your Windows Mobile device has phone capabilities or a means of connecting to the Internet while driving, Co-Pilot Live monitors road conditions and notifies you of traffic conditions on your route. It will even attempt to re-route you.
Speaking of re-routing, I found Co-Pilot to be among the most responsive and fastest programs I have used when it becomes necessary to create a new route to your destination, and this is an important consideration. Some programs attempt endlessly to get you back on your original route and then just give up, leaving you unguided.
Co-Pilot performs all the expected tasks of a guidance system by getting you from one waypoint to another. It will keep a record of destinations in History that can be re-used. It has a Favorites file too with the ability to establish Home and Office destinations for quick selection.
You can create waypoints in a number of different ways such as from the map, intersections, and exact address. You can even select destinations from you Outlook contacts.
There are a number of possible views that you can easily select as you drive. There is a night view and a day view. You can use 3D or 2D. You can see your route step by step in text or you can bring up a map with the entire route. You can also display your current position on a map and zoom in and out on it at any point. The next turn view is good for driving safety; it displays a large arrow indicating the direction of your next turn and counts down the distance.
In the navigation mode you can select your voice preference. The audible guidance feature actually announced the street name for your next turn, a feature not available in all systems. In the display panel below the next turn panel you can tap to display a variety of data such as altitude, current road, ETA, time, heading in degrees, and more. It is difficult to tap accurately while driving though. I wish there were an option that would allow these data to scroll automatically in the display panel.
Co-Pilot is intuitive and easy to use with improved, larger buttons for easy use while on the road.
The deluxe package comes boxed with a Bluetooth receiver, a car charger, a split charging cable, and a vent mount and cost $399. There is no installation CD because the program and the data are all contained on the SD/mini-SD card.
While there is much to recommend Co-Pilot Live, there are some issues too. The first problem is routing. I have found on several occasions, when I was intimately acquainted with the territory that Co-Pilot chose a silly, inappropriate routing. It makes me wonder what is going on in cases when I do not know the lay of the land. For instance, in Las Vegas, I keyed in a destination address, which Co-Pilot found and quickly created a route for me. However, the route took me over an extremely busy surface street with miles of stop lights before joining up with a freeway going to my destination. It could have avoided the busy street and guided me over freeways for almost the entire route.
Another example occurred when I asked it to guide me from San Diego to Pasadena, California. Everything went fine until it recommended taking I-5 to I-710. Of all the possible choices to get to Pasadena, this was the worst. Following this route requires that you exit the 710 miles from Pasadena and requires going over busy surface streets in Alhambra and South Pasadena that would take forever. Shame on Co-Pilot.
With respect to Points of Interest, I realize that not every single McDonalds in the world will fit on a small SD card. However, I have often been disappointed with the lack of available choices when it comes to crucial travel items such as restaurants, hotels, and gas stations. More often than not, I had to resort to Google Local to find what I wanted and then would have Co-Pilot direct me to the location, but this is a lot of trouble, especially when you are driving.
I would like to see all the important trip information such as elevation, speed, orientation, latitude, longitude and so forth be selectable as a scroll option allowing these data to rotate continually.
Overall, even with these minor annoyances, I found Co-Pilot to be an excellent GPS guidance program and give it a high recommendation. It is a pleasure to use and will get you where you want to go, even if it may be over a goofy route sometimes. If you know the territory, you can force it to go over a more direct route. I especially appreciate the self-contained and compact SD/mini-SD card and the Live features of the program.
I also appreciate that Co-Pilot will run on a Pocket PC and a Smartphone, but I found it annoying that I had to have the company fix my registration every time I wanted to test it on a new device. I was pleased too that it worked on the small square low resolution screen of a Treo 700W, on the high resolution screen of an i-mate Smartphone and on larger formats such as a Jasjar and a Dell Axim. It will also work on the new Motorola Q.
Co-Pilot Live 6.0 is definitely worth your consideration. Check it out by visiting ALK Technology’s Website: www.alk.com. It costs $299, but you can save $100, if you already have a GPS receiver.
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