telenav

Navigation software provider Telenav announced a few future updates for its Scout navigation app for Android and iPhone today that should make the app run more smoothly and help you to get where you're going faster.

Scout will be updated to take advantage of vector-based graphics, which should bring along faster performance, a sharper appearance, and smoother interactions with the app. The improved map screen also gains 3D buildings and landmarks in major U.S. cities; the map zooms in as you approach an upcoming turn and adjusts the virtual camera angle to give visual landmarks to look for.… Read more

Traffic data, fuel prices, weather, and even streaming music make for great connected car features, but Internet-based local search has gotten surprisingly short shrift from automakers.

In my opinion, local search is the killer feature you probably don't have.

Whether from Google, Bing, or another search engine, Internet-based local search integrated with a car's navigation system can help you find everything from hamburgers to hair salons.

Only a few automakers offer local search. When I recently reviewed a BMW 750Li, I found Google search among its BMW Online services. Audi also offers Google integrated with the navigation system … Read more

LOS ANGELES -- If you ever read an address off your phone and typed it into your car's navigation system, you experienced one of the biggest disconnects between smartphones and cars. At the LA Auto Show, Telenav demonstrated how its Scout navigation app solves this problem.

Last September, Ford and Telenav announced that Scout was compatible with Ford's Sync AppLink app integration feature. Sync AppLink lets drivers control compatible apps through their car's interface. Scout was the first navigation app to work with AppLink, and joined a growing number of compatible apps.

Telenav's Mark Burfeind demonstrated … Read more

The pace of modern consumer technology has been so swift in recent decades that you can still meet the people who helped change the world, and find that they're still at it and working on what's next. Bob Rennard is an example.

He was one of the developers of the GPS technology we rely on today, and is a co-founder of TeleNav, a provider of GPS-related software and services. The company called me and offered to have Rennard explain its Scout platform. I'm normally reticent to come do a story on a product pitch, but the key … Read more

Although there was much anticipation of Apple's native navigation app for iOS 6, reports of its performance revealed many flaws. If Apple Maps is not everything you had hoped, fear not, there are alternatives. Other companies have been doing navigation a lot longer than Apple, and their apps show much more refinement. Most are basically free, but you will need to pay a little for features such as voice prompts, traffic data, and downloadable maps.

Here are five free, or mostly free, iPhone navigation apps. … Read more

Part of the buzz surrounding Telenav's Scout -- the rebranding and reimagining of its Navigator app -- at CES 2012 centered on the announcement that the app would boast compatibility with Ford's Sync AppLink sometime "later this year." The GPS software developer also hinted that an Android version of the app was in the works. "Later this year" arrives today, as Telenav has announced and launched Scout for Android 1.2 with its new Car Connect premium functionality.

Scout for Android is similar in scope to the iPhone version of the app. Upon launch, … Read more

With the likely release of Apple Maps as part of iOS 6 next month, independent navigation app makers will have a tough time competing against this free, preinstalled software. But Telenav seems poised for the fight, as it made an update to its Scout navigation app for iPhone today that includes the option to download maps, making the app useful even where there is no cell phone connection.

This new version of Scout also brings in voice commands, which will mean drivers can tell it to find destinations by business name, as one example.

When we reviewed the previous version of Scout, it stood out for its excellent route guidance, as long as the free app was upgraded with the $10-per-year voice prompts. Although we have not yet seen Apple Maps' route guidance capabilities, it would do well to emulate Scout. … Read more

In light of Apple's recent announcements about its maps app, the idea of another navigation app for the iPhone might seem redundant, but Apple's program will have a hard time matching the route guidance capabilities of Telenav's Scout.

This recent free navigation app builds on Telenav's extensive experience in mobile navigation. Telenav came up with a new interface design and made the app free as a way of competing in the increasingly cutthroat world of navigation software.

Scout's major drawbacks are that it is strictly an online app, and voice prompts require a $9.99-a-year … Read more

In light of Apple's recent announcements about its Maps app, the idea of another navigation app for the iPhone might seem redundant, but Apple's program will have a hard time matching the route guidance capabilities of Telenav's Scout.

This recently released free navigation app builds on Telenav's extensive experience in mobile navigation. Telenav came up with a new interface design and made the app free as a way of competing in the increasingly cutthroat world of navigation software.

Scout's major drawbacks are that it is strictly an online app, and voice prompts require a $9.… Read more