ZorroGPS now available for download

[mikealder]

The Zorro navigation application and UK maps are available for free download with a 48 hour trial period, you can access the downloads page by clicking Here a large proportion of the web site still appears to be "in build" with lots of missing hyperlinks, but at least the trial download link is finally working.

The application is for use with a PDA based phone, the UK download along with the voices and application is 525MB so you will need Broadband to get this. Once its on the PC run the download which will automatically unzip the files/ folders - note, even on a fast PC this takes some time as once expanded there is over 1,2GB of data!

Run the installer with either the PDA connected to the PC or putting the memory card into a card reader - the latter being the best option as it transfers a whopping 1,21GB to the memory card, its a good job memory cards are cheap these days.

As the application is started you get the splash screen, followed by the disclaimer which you have accept to access the application.


Map detail looks good, with plenty of non road specific detail included such as parks/ lakes etc, zooming in increases the level of road network shown.


2D or 3D is selectable, note the speed UOM is still in KPH at this point!


Driving with the unit you can set it for a normal 3D map, 2D map or as shown below pictures of the road, these are not images of the actual road, they are a more generic view - different and not something I have used before.


Finally found the option to change from KPH to MPH, it is in Options/ Country, there are dozens of different options in the software, its going to take quite a while to wade through all of them.

TTS voices are loud and fairly clear. Mapping is by Navteq and is the 2009 March release, so its as up to date as it possibly could be.
Its got 48 hours to either impress or disappoint, if the routing is decent at the current discounted price of £18 then it will be purchased and used on the phone, initial impressions are good - Mike

[mikealder]

Well having played around with the settings it was time for a drive out with my HTC Touch Cruise loaded with ZorroGPS, lets just say it was a rather shorter drive than I intended to take.......

The GPS status page looks like "Blackpool illuminations" with colours swapping around with each position update, somethings not quite right here, there is no way the GPS signal was fluctuating as wildly as the software suggests. Also look at the unit of measurement for speed, its in the GPS native format Knots, if you select KPH or MPH this page still displays the Knots value.



My first real niggle, being told to turn right when a better instruction would have been bear right or even go straight on, the map makes this junction look far worse than when you are sat in the car at the traffic lights


Yesterday I managed to change the speed from the default KPH to MPH, so off we go at the legal speed limit, the map speed limit is correctly showing 30, my speed is being reported as 43MPH, wasn't speeding (honest) the software still displays the speed value in KPH, selecting MPH only changes the text associated with the display. No big deal, but as soon as you hit 20MPH you get the speeding warning due to the wrong values being used. If you select MPH you really expect the displayed values to be in MPH!


Here I am speeding again (according to the unit), but notice which side of the road I am on - all the "reality view" pictures depict you driving on the right side of the road, I try to keep to the left side of the road in the UK!


I am now driving North on the promenade, to my left is nothing but sea.....

I am still speeding according to the device but my true speed here is 30MPH, notice the "Straight On" arrow, with only 62 yards to go, every time this gets down to single figures you get the voice promting you to "Go straight on" no great shakes, but it does this every few hundred yards, it is counting down to the nodes in the map data, if you aren't making a turn off a major road this level of intrusion isn't needed

Still on the Promenade, still speeding but now and again it says "At the intersection go straight on" What intersection, this is a straight road


Make a U Turn, this clearly shows the pictures being only for mainland European driving, wrong side of the road for our little island


Planning a few longer distance trips shows the rather weak planning engine, it sticks to major roads far to often resulting in longer trips than are really necessary, my normal commute to work is around 8 miles, with this application it produces a 15 mile trip. Yes it will still get me to where I need to go, but certainly not the quickest or fastest, ans I have played around with various settings in the options, non seem to make any positive difference to the routing offered by the software.

If they can sort out the Routing, speed display and the reality view issues I am sure this will turn in to a decent application, at the moment its fine for mainland European use only - Mike

[G1LIW]

Hiya Mike - necrorevival here,

Hmm... you come from a mate of mine's neck of the woods - know that area quite well makes your mini-review VERY useful to me - any idea if they've fixed the problems you identified?
_________________
Roger, G1LIW
Google Pixel 3a XL Android Smartphone | SatNav Sygic for Android | Waze for Android | CamerAlert for Android | Blog http://rogersblant.blogspot.com/

[mikealder]

I have no idea if they have done anything about the issues I mentioned in the above posts, perhaps I should try downloading it again and trying a trial on another PDA device to see - Mike

[G1LIW]

ok, thanks.
_________________
Roger, G1LIW
Google Pixel 3a XL Android Smartphone | SatNav Sygic for Android | Waze for Android | CamerAlert for Android | Blog http://rogersblant.blogspot.com/

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