Navit Standalone Navigation Project for webOS Making Progess 54
When the Pre launched on Sprint, its free Sprint Navigation turn-by-turn application was one of its stronger features, especially for users who didn’t already have handheld or car-based GPS systems. As time went on, the limitations of the Sprint system (required data connection meant no simultaneous telephone calls; major battery drain and occasional heating) became clear, and as the Pre and its siblings became available on more carriers, the navigation choices became costly and problematic (Verizon) or non-existent (as with the European carriers). Users began seeking a standalone navigation solution (like those that existed for PalmOS, including Mapopolis and TomTom) and, lacking vendor interest, started working on their own.
Among the most promising efforts has been the one described in our forum to bring the open-source Navit navigation system and routing engine to webOS. Palm’s choice of Linux and the openness of webOS’ environment made the project possible with encouragement from webOS Internals and broader PreCentral communities. User mgmft recently sent us a report that the alpha version of the Navit port is “almost usable” already.
54 Comments
awesome! I hate Sprint Nav.
I love Sprint Nav. What do you hate about it?
I realized that if I use it when I really need it, it comes through for me. I don't use it everyday.
I love and hate it too.
Love: That it works well. That it even tells you traffic conditions and congestion!
Hate: GPS fix is flaky (though this has been better with webOS updates and not really a fault of Sprint Nav), you need a data connection, and most importantly, battery drain is god awful. I think the phone can only do like 2.5 hours of navigation on a full charge or something.
If we could get Sprint Nav on the phone itself that only uses data for traffic condition updates (which would lower battery usage a lot), then it'd be golden. Course the size of the app would be pretty huge though.
Huge application footprint or not, an entire navigation application on the phone itself would give this device an edge.
I totally agree! I don't use it every day (and y'all are totally correct about the battery drain, but I just use it plugged-in to power and it's fine).
Also, I can receive phone calls and text while on Sprint's network w/ Nav active... I've never had an issue with that. I have had the phone get pretty hot at times though.
The Sprint Navigation app caches map data for the quadrants surrounding you. If you talk long enough while driving eventually the GPS app will need to retrieve the next quadrant of map data. At this point it won't be able to because you can't use the data network while on the voice network. So GPS will just stop working. Until then it will seem as if it works fine.
When I had my Treo 700w and a standalone GPS app (was around $200 back then) maps were stored on a 4GB SD card. 2GB could hold the entire continental United States.
With my Pre I have hooked up a touchstone charger in the car so that I don't have to worry about running out of power on long trips. At low speeds the battery charges on and off sporadically, but at higher speeds it charges steadily. I guess the voltage fluctuates differently at different speeds. (edit: this is not a problem if you plug in directly to the usb charging cable, only if you try to use the touchstone charger)
I find it to be one of the most useful apps I have - when I need it. Of course, it's vastly improvable. It really does get hot and it does drain the battery. Maybe the 104 kernel team can fix it. Oh yeah - Proprietary.
So My hope is that either an alternative becomes available or they fix this app. Whichever comes first I will be using, but until then...
... this is one of the most useful apps have.
I love sprint Nav when it works. Mine died. the app opens, but if I ask for directions it says the plan is expired and I have to call telnav. I did, they say it's a sprint issue, troubleshot with sprint, and they were worthless. They need a secret # to push to get you a real geek not just some operator reading thru steps I already know, like restart phone. anyone else with this issue?
I had the same thing happen; telenav was less than worthless -- "Call Sprint and have them reset your phone to the factory default configuration." ah....no.
So I talked to Sprint support; the magic word was "reprovision". As in "I have contacted Telenav and have reprovisioned the service on your account." Call Sprint back and see if that helps; if not pm me & I'll see if I can help. I'm not in customer support but I do work for Sprint.
I am a double victim of both the "Account has expired..." error and the absolutely terrible customer service that Sprint richly deserves sheer hatred for. Every time Dan Hesse's stupid face shows on my TV smirking about their 30-day money back guarantee, I literally scream at the set, "What about those of us whose [effing] Sprint Nav stops working and THREE [EFFING] MONTHS of calls, chats, and emails can't get it fixed, you [effing] mother[effer]?!?!?!?!?"
I'm not kidding. My Sprint Nav failed overnight and I have wasted at least 8 hours over these months on phone calls, store visits, and online chat sessions dealing with people who knew nothing and were incapable of understanding what I was telling them. I've had "support techs" tell me to access menus that aren't on the Pre and realized they were copying and pasting info and advertising propaganda from the web site. Pure, seething, white-hot fury barely expresses the unmitigated rage I am feeling toward Sprint as all they can say is, "we need to reformat your phone," wiping out tons of apps and data that there is no easy way to back up.
Two Saturdays ago, I FINALLY hit a woman who suddenly understood what I'd been saying all along that it was a TeleNav accounting issue and who made a concerted effort to reprovision my service, but alas, it didn't work. She was supposed to call me back last Wednesday to do more work, but stood me up and that's been that. I'm pretty much facing wiping my phone out because there is no way to re-log-into my Sprint Nav account. I can't even get into the web site; which they blame on the new design and have no fix for.
If anyone has a solution for this totally FUBARed situation, I'd really love to hear it. I'm thisclose to starting wwww.imgonnapunchdanhesseinthejunkandthrowhimofftheguggenheim.com
sorry but I already registered that domain name for the same problem. :-)
I will try the "reprovision" tip from above, but I am with you that I don't want to wipe/reformat my phone because 1 app doesn't work. What a pain in the a$$. Let me know please if you get it figured out
And it's not even that an app doesn't work, but one function of one app that doesn't work because of an obvious back-end accounting error that no one seems capable of fixing.
Please post if reprovisioning works and how you beat them into doing it. Thanks.
I have noticed that the telenav on my centro had more options for searches & such things as nearest cheapest gas prices and othe misc things on it but the telenav for the webos has hardly any features kinda weird especially because the centro didn't have built in gps I had to buy a gps logger.
I have noticed that the telenav on my centro had more options for searches & such things as nearest cheapest gas prices and othe misc things on it but the telenav for the webos has hardly any features kinda weird especially because the centro didn't have built in gps I had to buy a gps logger.
i look forward to using a off the grid GPS program/system. Love Camping far from cell towers and this would be useful.
Awesome, keep us posted. I'll be interested in checking this out when it becomes available.
it already is. You can find the current alpa here => http://forums.precentral.net/webos-internals/224609-navit-pre-7.html#pos...
Where can I send my donation? I want this nowwww! Perhaps that will solve the mysterious Pre+ GPS problem?
I don't think you can afford it
;)
Give it the Darth Vader voice that Tom Tom now has and I'll pay up.
I asume there are European maps too? We have had no option at all since launch, which is very poor.
Yes, the Europe OSM maps are the best. More info here => http://forums.precentral.net/webos-internals/224609-navit-pre-7.html#pos...
I asume there are European maps too? We have had no option at all since launch, which is very poor.
I too, would like to donate... also I would not mind being an alpha tester.... I bet this will be awesome... I pay for Sprint Nav, just cuz I like the turn by turn directions... this could save me 10 bucks a month!
Isn't Sprint Nav free? For 10 bucks a month over 2 years you could buy a really nice Garmin for less, and have free lifetime traffic.
That's what I did. I don't mind buying an app, but I'm not fond of subscription fees...
unfortunately or fortunately, I have a friend that works for sprint and I get the employee price... and they charge you for the NAV... and yes, I have a nice garmin, but I use the pre for my motorcycle... a Zumo (garmin) runs about 650 bucks... Thanks for the suggestions though... I pay about 40 a month for my plan and NAV
What do you mean you pay extra for it? It's just part of Sprint's (LOW!) price. Unlimited data (in *and* out of network), extra-long nights/weekends, a lot of the streaming TV stuff, navigation/GPS...
All for far lower than the Other Companies.
Sprint for Life!
M.
You forgot free mobile to mobile.
Sprint's the best... Too bad not many people know it.
+1
What the hell are you talking about? Sprint Nav is free with every data plan, and you can't buy a Pre without a data plan...
This would be nice. Nav used to be included in the employee wireless advantage club plans but Sprint is now charging 10/month for Sprint Nav & Sprint TV. I'm not really complaining since these plans are rediculously cheap but a little heads up would have been nice. It just stopped working one day w/ no warning from Sprint.
that is exactly what happened to me... I don't use it very often, so when I went to start it, I thought it was screwed again... so I called and they said I had to pay for it... ok, for the summer I will since I am riding the motorcycle more... but come fall, I will drop it...cant complain about the service at all... I would pay full price for Sprint, I have never had an issue with sprint...
Well, they're lying to you. All data plans include GPS.
http://shop.sprint.com/NASApp/onlinestore/en/Action/DisplayPlans?INTNAV=...
With my discount through my employer, I pay $33 dollars a month and its included.
Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, O2, Vodaphone.... whatever, we all have the service we have (and are most likely stuck with it for 2+ years) but we all have what we have for our own reasons. I must admit that some providers work better in other places are are worth the extra bucks or features here and there.
HOWEVER... the point of my post...
This sounds awesome and I'm always willing to test something big like this. A really cool feature (if it would even be possible) to have would be to take the maps off our current GPS units (like I have an older Garmin) and use those map packs for this. Might not make much sense, but I do have a lot of custom POI's that alert me of redlight cameras and whatnot as I'm travelling.
As far as traffic goes, wouldn't it be something quite doable by using Google's traffic info? Just a thought. Anyway, can't wait to see this hit the App Catalog (or homebrew at least).
KUDOS!
I've used the navit app for the pre. You download the map you are using from anywhere in the world, so yeah you can get europe. I think a world map is like a few gigs though maybe even like 6. I downloaded an area map of where I live and it was about 30mb.
this would definitely push the Pre into higher ground. I'm anxiously awaiting the alpha release. Would love to be a tester and would definitely donate/pay for this!
Does anyone know which car mount that is? I see a cord running behind it, but the USB door is closed. Is it using inductive charging (touchstone)? If so, I'd like one of those!
Hi Martin, I am the guy who took the picture of my pre on a testdrive. I buit the mount on my own. More pictures here: http://www.preforum.de/zubehoer-fuer-palm-pre/1760-eigenbau-kfz-touchsto... Maybe I`ll build 10 of them and try to sell them. There has been another update for navit yesterday and it improved again. These guys do a really good job!
MGMFT
In regards to searching with Sprint Navigation. You can still search Gas by Price or by food type, that has never changed. When you tap search, then you tap category and your search sub categories are there.
The latest release of Telenav for AT&T BlackBerry handsets doesn't require a data connection for the whole route. Apparently it downloads the entire route data initially in case you lose your data connection. The Telenav blog says this release and this and other features wil trickle out to other phones and carriers.
I would definately donate for that !!! Also what stand are you using on the photo?
+1 on the stand ... That looks a heck of a lot better than that $30 "clippy" thing I bought that broke in two weeks.
There has to be someone who makes a touchstone holder for the car....
Yep, it is my own TS car mount and I built it myself:
http://www.preforum.de/zubehoer-fuer-palm-pre/1760-eigenbau-kfz-touchsto...
Excellent work !!!! Very nicely done. I would pay for something like that....
awesome, dude. Looks fairly simple too. I like that. I see that you have it screwed into the dash. Is it too heavy to use with the regular AC vent clips?
i have been using my pre/sprint NAV w/ touchstone in the car for several months without any extra install, the touchstone adhesive is still holding up, haven't seen my pre fly yet...although it prob does matter what surface and how flat your dashboard is...anyway, will this app be able to give you subsequent turns along the route way before your reach the next waypoint?
For everybody how is interested to give it a try. You can find the download of the current packages and instrucktions here => http://forums.precentral.net/webos-internals/224609-navit-pre-7.html#pos...
Installing....
Can't wait for the full release. Being on O2 i haven't had the chance to use a navigation app on my Pre. Hopefully they don't give up on developing this app
Regarding Navigation included on Pre Plans, this is correct, unless you are on the Advantage program, then you must add navigation as a buy up.
This would be great. I hate when I go roaming and my dot goes onto a blank screen. It always happens when im in the middle of nowhere and need it to get back to a main road. At least it still shows which direction im going.
Download link for other than preware???