Road Test: DROID as GPS

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So I finally got around to using the DROID's Google Nav Beta app over the weekend. We used it to get from Jersey City, NJ to a restaurant in City Island, NY. It's a 26.5 mile trek that took us about 45 minutes or so each way. In a nutshell, the app is awesome and there's no reason why it can't replace your GPS.

So the app told us to drive from Jersey City, NJ to Fort Lee, NJ and then take the George Washington Bridge (GWB) into NYC. We'd then hop onto I-95 (N) which would take us to City Island. (That's the path highlighted in the map above.) It's probably the quickest way there, but our starting point was so close to the Holland Tunnel, that we took that into NYC instead. The second we veered off course, the app rerouted and gave us our new route.

Once in NYC, we had to take the West Side Highway to I-95. At one point, the West Side Highway passes by the GWB, and we mistakenly got on the bridge and drove BACK into NJ (that was our fault, not the app's). Again, the app quickly rerouted and told us to get back on the bridge and back to NYC. However, we missed our exit and ended up smack in the middle of Fort Lee, NJ. For about 5 seconds, the GPS signal was lost. I'm not sure why since we were out in the open and my Verizon phone had solid coverage. We quickly regained the signal and the app told us to get on the GWB back to NYC. Here's where things went sour for a brief moment. The app told us to make a right on a street that didn't allow rights. This caught us off guard, so we relied on the street signs to get us back onto the GWB. Eventually, the app realized we weren't gonna make that illegal right and synchronized with our driving. Once we were back on the GWB the app was flawless. As we reached our destination, the app switched to Street View and literally showed us what we were seeing with our very own eyes (this was both creepy and cool.)

So overall, we did hit a snag, but I've used other GPS units from Magellan and Mio and they too have fed me wrong driving information.

As for the DROID's 3.7" LCD. Yeah, it's on the small side (compared to a traditional GPS), but it's not horrible. It's more than adequate. The app's voice does sound a little robotic and it mispronounced a few street names, but the names were still recognizable.

We left with a fully-charged DROID (around 12.30pm) and used the GPS to and from. At the restaurant, I used the DROID to take some pics (here's a pic of the restaurant, a little grainy if you ask me) and afterwards we used the app again to find our way around City Island and to pinpoint this bakery (great cupcakes btw). By the time we got back home (5pm), the DROID's battery was down to about 20%.

On the way back, I called my DROID phone to see if it would interrupt the app. It asked if I wanted to take the call and then the minute I ended the call, it immediately jumped back into GPS mode without skipping a beat. (I wasn't driving while doing this.)

So. Would I use it again? No doubt. Would I recommend it to other DROID owners in place of a traditional GPS. Definitely.

Again, the only snags we hit were the brief signal loss and the "wrong turn" instructions. Otherwise I was very impressed with the app.