So last week I was on vacation and I took the family to Virginia Beach. Since I would be taking a route I wasn’t familiar with, I decided to load up Google Navigation Beta on my Samsung Captivate. Google Navigation you can consider an evolved formed of Google Maps. Google Navigation take maps, and then gives you turn by turn directions like most stand alone car GPS devices.
I must say I was quite impressed with Google Navi Beta. Google Navigation was flawless whenever I had a GPS lock. Turn by turn direction was right on point, rerouting accurate, and I love when I could check the traffic view. This especially came in handy on the way back to NYC. We hit a bump in traffic in Philly and I was able to see how long it would last.
In normal map view you can see exactly where you are as you drive around. If you activate some layers, you can have additional options like seeing nearby Gas stations, banks & ATMs, restaurants, and more. If you need directions, you can type them out, as well as speak them. Google will then search for your destination and begin to route there. What was also cool is the fact that this syncs from the desktop Google Maps. You can save destination and maps from the desktop and then bring them up later from your phone.
Once you have a destination, Google presents you with direction, time to destination and more. The whole experience was easy and very useful!
I also like how it would turn the map from light to dark based about the time, and the information of how long we was from our destination. I will definitely be using this from now on as my main car GPS device! And the best perk about this, is that it is completely free! Who needs a stand alone GPS device anymore!