I'm lucky if I make to the end of the driveway without directions... and it's a really short driveway... and it's downhill.
The complete and utter uselessness of my navigation skills doesn't just extend to the search for my destination either. Let's say, by some miracle, I actually manage to arrive at the place I'm supposed to be. (To be honest, the only way this could happen is if I follow someone who's going there as well, and even then I'd probably take the wrong exit at the first roundabout and still end up trying to find my way out of a shopping mall carpark) But let's say I get there, my navigational nightmare is only half over because I've still got to find my way home.
You'd think I'd be able to just retrace my route, remembering landmarks, signposts and major intersections. But no, I'm an idiot. Actually, I'm a terrible driver too, so I'm not even sure why anyone ever let me behind the wheel in the first place. (Admittedly, I sat my license in Cambridge, where they don't have any traffic lights. A few tricky slopes for hill starts though)
In saying all that, fortunately I now live in the age of the GPS. No longer must I rely on the terse and regular instructions from the Domestic Manager in the passenger seat, I can listen to a disembodied computer voice tell me where to go instead.
Trouble is, stand-alone GPS navigation devices aren't cheap and keeping them up to date can also cost you.
Luckily, God invented smart phones.
Now I don't know what's going on with the iPhone's navigation apps these days - last I heard the iPhone 5 was telling people to catch trains from somewhere out in the Waitemata Harbour.
Let us focus our attention then, on the Nokia Lumia 820/920 and the Samsung Galaxy SIII.
It's pretty safe to say Google's been leading the way when it comes to mapping stuff, which is why I found it so bizarre when Apple dumped Google Maps off the iPhone's default start screen. (I understand the person responsible for that decision has since been taken out the back and shot)
Of course, the Galaxy, being an Android device, has always been Google-ised up the wazoo, so the default navigation app is powered by Google Maps and is inspirationally named, Navigation. Okay, so boring name, but it's an amazing GPS. I first used it to drive across town. I was just meeting a friend for brunch, but I didn't quite know the quickest way to get there. Navigation did. Although I was only a 10 minute drive away, the Galaxy used all of Google's mighty resources to help me avoid traffic lights and busy roads. I was directed down alleys and right-of-ways I never knew existed. It was exciting, like a car chase although I couldn't help wondering if it was just all just a clever trick someone was playing on me. In the end, what I THOUGHT was going to be a 10 minute trip ended up being more like 5. Pretty impressive.
The Nokia Drive app I was used to on the Lumia 800 is now called Nokia Drive+ Beta on the Windows Phone 8 versions, but it seems to work exactly the same way. There's no indication it's trying to avoid heavy traffic, it just calculates the shortest route between two points and away you go. This once led to a slightly unnecessary scenic drive through the Hastings CBD on my way to Havelock North, but I've always made it to where I'm meant to be in approximately the time Mrs Lumia told me I would.
Nokia's put a lot of resources into their map apps and it shows. The display on Nokia Drive is either 2D or 3D and you can add landmarks in (notable buildings, hotels etc.) to reassure you you're on the right track. The display also changes automatically from day to night which is fun to watch when you go through a tunnel.
Meanwhile, Navigation on the S3 has a setting called Layers, which allows you to see the satellite view of your route instead of just a map. (Like Google Earth) The Layers setting can also show where the heavy traffic is on your route and lets you add the location of petrol stations, ATMs and restaurants to your map.
Nokia Drive shows petrol stations and parking by default. You also get car repair businesses and public transport routes too, which is actually quite helpful. The other thing I liked about Nokia Drive is it always seems to know what the speed limit is and you can even set a warning to alert you if you're driving too fast. This is brilliant for me, because I never know how fast I'm supposed to be going and I'm quite happy for a machine to tell me.
Both apps come with a selection of polite voices to choose from - no-one with a New Zealand accent sadly. In spite of that, I try and avoid anything Australian, just on principle.
So it's all much of a muchness between Navigation and Nokia Drive UNTIL... you go offline. I don't know how typical I am as a smart phone user, because I'm on Pre-Pay. So when it comes to data usage, I have to be pretty frugal. It's not an issue when I'm at home or at work - that's what WiFi's for. Get in the car and it's a different story.
Once offline, the Galaxy's usefulness ebbs away dramatically. Satellite images are not available offline. Live traffic information is not available offline. You can still navigate your way around, but only if you've downloaded a map of your area in advance.
This is where Nokia Drive completely kills. In order to find my way from Auckland to Hawkes Bay recently, I had to download 5 different maps for the Galaxy and what's more, there's a limit to how many you can download at any one time. Nokia Drive let's you download a whole country at once. I've got all of Australia on my Lumia too, which was extremely handy when I was trying to master the Melbourne tram system late last year.
It seems to me, if you're driving somewhere, sooner or later you'll need to go offline and because I don't want to get lost when that happens, Nokia Lumia wins this round hands down.
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