Navfree sat nav with onboard maps

Zilog

Have this on my wife's iPhone and see it's recently released for Android. Download from the Expansys website (curious there is no download from Navmii, the developers website!).

On the iPhone it worked well on a recent cross country trip. Ireland and UK maps are provided for free, with the option of purchasing maps for other countries. Have installed on my Galaxy S but haven't got the chance to use yet.

First impressions it looks very similar to iPhone version. Voices are sampled so sound a lot better than Google Navigation, but does not do text-to-speech. Considering the way Google murders Irish street names, this may be an advantage!!

Obviously the USP compared to Google Nav is that the maps are onboard, rather than using up data allowance, or roaming data when abroad.

scudzilla

downloaded this but when i open it nothing happens, just goes to back to screen i was on, using Desire HD 2.3

BeciMester

Same as scudzilla above, on a Desire running Oxygen 2.1.3 (Gingerbread) nothing happens when clicking the icon. Right after install it opened a blank browser page but that's all the activity I've seen out of it. (Edit: now that I've reinstalled it didn't do it, I think it just threw me back to the browser I started it from before.)

Edit: same results on the GF's stock Wildfire S. Shame.

gbob

scudzilla wrote: »

downloaded this but when i open it nothing happens, just goes to back to screen i was on, using Desire HD 2.3

It's probably an issue with 2.3, I've a navigon.apk that I've installed on five or six six different phones, and worked really well until I upgraded them to gingerbread, is it worth going back to froyo to find out?

Zilog

Sorry to hear you guys are having trouble installing. Just a thought: as it's a 'sideloaded' app, do you have 'Unknown sources' selected under 'Applications' in the settings menu?
Installed without any hiccups on my Galaxy S.
On this forum, one of the posters has it running on a Desire HD. Another thought - Navfree required 2.2 Froyo or greater to run.

BeciMester

@gbob: nothing's worth going back to Froyo. Nothing.

@Zilog: as this didn't come from the Market, it couldn't have been installed in the first place if Unknown Sources is not ticked. It installed fine, it just doesn't run.

Zilog

Looks like it might be a Gingerbread issue all right.

ninja 12

Just tried on a Desire S , same result as other gingerbread users , it just shows a black screen then exits .

BeciMester

Update: uninstalling Navfree took my install of Google Maps with it, don't know why or how but I had to reinstall Maps.

mickoneill30

Doesn't work on my Xoom (Honeycomb 3.1) either.

niallb

Not working either on Cyanogenmod Desire.
Put the same apk onto my backup Samsung Galaxy Spica running Froyo, and it came up no problem. Not great on searching for Irish addresses though.

Dozen Wicked Words

Off topic but Google Navigation is hopefully going to be fully offline by the summer, link here:

http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/google-maps-navigation-to-go-offline-this-summer-garmin-and-tom/

ThisRegard

BeciMester wrote: »

Update: uninstalling Navfree took my install of Google Maps with it, don't know why or how but I had to reinstall Maps.

When installing I get the message that it's going to replace another application which I presume is google maps.

smoochie06

Has anyone got this to work.
I tried using it and it wouldnt search a route without data on. Then when i turned on data it couldnt find O Connell Street Dublin.

Am i doing something wrong?

OREGATO

smoochie06 wrote: »

Has anyone got this to work.
I tried using it and it wouldnt search a route without data on. Then when i turned on data it couldnt find O Connell Street Dublin.

Am i doing something wrong?

Seems like no one can get it to install.. What phone/version of android are you using?

BeciMester

I'm starting to wonder if this thing is legit at all.

smoochie06

OREGATO wrote: »

Seems like no one can get it to install.. What phone/version of android are you using?

I have a Zte Blade running a custom 2.2 Rom. It is installed on my phone grand and it did pick my position up. Then i tried to navigate to O Connell Street and it had 'no match found'.

I think ill just uninstall it if i cant get it working. Im going to the UK in a few weeks so thats why i wanted satnav that doesnt use data.

MarkR

Nexus S, Gingerbread. No worky.

OREGATO

smoochie06 wrote: »

I have a Zte Blade running a custom 2.2 Rom. It is installed on my phone grand and it did pick my position up. Then i tried to navigate to O Connell Street and it had 'no match found'.

I think ill just uninstall it if i cant get it working. Im going to the UK in a few weeks so thats why i wanted satnav that doesnt use data.

The ' in o'connell street may have caused a problem, try something like dame street and see if it picks that up.

jd

works fine on galaxy s, froyo 2.2

jd

It's not fully offline, it needs a connection at the start to connect to ostreetmap's address db.

ThisRegard

smoochie06 wrote: »

Has anyone got this to work.
I tried using it and it wouldnt search a route without data on. Then when i turned on data it couldnt find O Connell Street Dublin.

Am i doing something wrong?

Did you download the maps ? Once you download and install the app you need to then go to the Navfree app, Navfree Store and then get the free UK and ROI maps. I just searched for O'Connell Street and it fines it fine for me so I'm guessing you just don't have the maps.

OREGATO wrote: »

The ' in o'connell street may have caused a problem, try something like dame street and see if it picks that up.

Nope, it finds fine using O'Connell Street. But as JD says it won't find it without a data connection.

Zilog

Installed and runs fine on my Galaxy S with Android 2.2.
Does look like it needs a data connection to search though, even though maps are downloaded.
Another thing I've noticed is that if I leave data on banner adverts appear at the top of the screen.

Zilog

OK, tried a quick test there.
I've enabled 'Flight mode' to disable all wireless and data connections.
Selecting 'Navigate' or 'Find' brings me to the same search screen.

If I select 'Address' or 'Google Search' an internet connection is required to find or search for a destination.
However if I select 'Recent Destinations' or 'Favorites' an internet connection is not required. Navigation will work using GPS alone and downloaded maps.
So I guess when roaming it's necessary to save destinations to 'Favourites' before leaving home or free wifi connection. Workable, but not ideal. Certainly makes the downloaded maps less useful than they could have been.

smoochie06

Zilog wrote: »

OK, tried a quick test there.
I've enabled 'Flight mode' to disable all wireless and data connections.
Selecting 'Navigate' or 'Find' brings me to the same search screen.

If I select 'Address' or 'Google Search' an internet connection is required to find or search for a destination.
However if I select 'Recent Destinations' or 'Favorites' an internet connection is not required. Navigation will work using GPS alone and downloaded maps.
So I guess when roaming it's necessary to save destinations to 'Favourites' before leaving home or free wifi connection. Workable, but not ideal. Certainly makes the downloaded maps less useful than they could have been.

Thanks for that. I just done a quick test there and that worked. So what I plan on doing is search for my destinations before ILeave and save them to favourites.

@Thisregard
I had the maps downloaded it looks like it was the data connection.

OREGATO

Anyone get this working on HTC desire hd? Gingerbread?

ninja 12

There's an updated version available for gingerbread .

I just tried it on a HTC Desire S ( Android 2.3.3 ) .

Installs and runs fine , but I haven't tried navigating yet .


http://getsatisfaction.com/navmii/topics/android_2_3-hoexx

scudzilla

ninja 12 wrote: »

There's an updated version available for gingerbread .

I just tried it on a HTC Desire S ( Android 2.3.3 ) .

Installs and runs fine , but I haven't tried navigating yet .


http://getsatisfaction.com/navmii/topics/android_2_3-hoexx

installed it again but this time cannot input address, just has a blank screen

amyk777

I'm trying to find updated info, and found this. There has been an issue with the expanses download. Navmii are trying to fix it, they have a forum on their website.the reason they had to use ecpansys in the first place is something to do with dowload size. I also have the iPhone version from app store that works very well. Ifyou tried to download the android version from expansys in the last 6 weeks or so, those files are blank. Check the navmii website

niallb

I've been using the updated version (1.9.2 build 5728) with Cyanogenmod 7 all summer.
I can also confirm it works for me with the latest LeeDroid.
I'm using an original HTC Desire (Amoled).

The only issue I've found is that it sometimes doesn't realise the GPS is turned on.
I get around this by launching Runkeeper, and only opening Navfree when runkeeper tells me it has a strong GPS signal.

d31b0y

Kewl, just downloading now.

Here is a direct link on the expansys site for those who don't want to supply their details.