{<1>}
I had a chance to test the Sygic maps app for my LG G2 android phone for using it on my second trip to tiruvannamalai this week. Some of the observations I noted about the app are listed down here.
* The developer is not from india
* The installation itself was fuss free and took a while to download the app and relevant maps of Karnataka and TamilNadu.
* The user interface theme is a bit colorful and may not be to everyone’s tastes
* The layout of the map and associated informaton on the panel is very good and provides a reasonably good readability during all times of the day
* Offline maps is an advantage like we have with nokia here maps
* Keep alive sound that says the GPS system is still on and working. Available even on lock screen. good touch!
Some of the things I noticed while using this app was more related to the road conditions on that day. I needed to take a right turn and while I knew I had to be on the right the app confused me into taking a left by saying something like “keep right and then take left”, and one time even “keep left and then take left” – when there was really no left turn at all.
I lost my way due to this and the app immeidately asked me to take the nearest u-turn by keeping on the right. But the unfortunate part is that the app said “take a u-turn if possible” – really these kinds of approximations show how much the company is aware of the actual data on the ground. What if there was no u-turn? Then was I supposed to take a left turn? In that case do I need the map app anymore? That’s anyones guess!
Due to some silly suggestions I lost about 10 km of drive before I managed to return to the suggested path even that was not accurate. Another thing I noticed was that the app takes a while to update the most immediate information. This means for example a recalculation of route takes a while. And if you are driving more than 80kmph there is a good chance that the route it suggests is already outdated by the time it shows that on the screen. This is not a good thing. I missed a critical right turn and ended up doing a journey on a road that I never wanted to take in reality and was never relevant for the journey.
The only reason I installed this app was because people suggested that it was really accurate even where Google maps wasnt. And the reason I didnt use google maps is that the last time, I neither had a mobile signal, nor data connectivity thereby making Google not to load the map on the screen. Of course we can always think of saved maps etc, but those things dont make sense as much as a real time navigation.
Also Sygic’s option screens are a bit edgy looking in terms of polishedness of the interface and many times the search option was looping not allowing me to type anything new by stopping the old search.
Sygic failed me where Google wouldn’t have. Personally I do not recommend Sygic since I feel they need to take some time to improve on their capabilities. Also the maps can be made more minimalistic than what it is now.
