The iPhone 3GS with GPS application.

The new iPhone 3GS can be used as GPS device. Navigon and iGo My Way provide the necessary applications. The two applications have some advantages but also disadvantages and in the following I want to comment on them.

Both devices have approximately the same price and can be easily installed on the iPhone. Unfortunately both applications drain the battery very fast. Due to this you should definitely get a car charger. If you are outdoor it just takes a few seconds until the iPhone locks in with a GPS signal. This is even faster than a normal GPS device. A disappointment is that both applications do not offer real-time traffic updates. Nevertheless they show 3G maps which can be viewed vertically or horizontally. Besides this they both come with a great amount of different point of interests (POI).

It is possible to use the GPS functionality simultaneously with the iPhone’s music playing function. If you want to skip a song you have to navigate to the iPod controls because neither of the two apps have in-build iPod controls. Another disadvantage is that they both do not offer text-to-speech. If the applications is running and an incoming call is arriving you can answer it as usual.

The iGo offers a lot more customization. On the one hand if you use the Navigon you can only use one American voice and other hand if you use iGo you can choose between different voices. Besides this the iGo My Way offers three different languages (English, French and Spanish).

Both applications are definitely a great addition to the new iPhone 3GS. Due to the fact that this was the initial release of the two applications improvements will definitely be added prospectively.