Destinator PN

[efjay]

I got my copy of PN USA today and the map date stamp is Q3 2004 not Q4 as on their website

[travisb]

Spudson,

Text size is more than adequate, without hogging too much screen estate
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LG G4, Google Nexus 9, Garmin Oregon 600T

[efjay]

As I said in my last post I got my copy of Destinator PN USA yesterday. In my opinion this is not a worthwhile upgrade from D3. Here are the problems i have found so far:

Installation - I had D3 already installed and started the install of PN. The manual says any previous version will be uninstalled before installing a new version. This did not happen for me, PN installed over D3. Seemed to work ok

Speed - With a large map installed PN is very slow when navigating menus. This was a surprise as D3 is faster with a larger map. I also experienced some lockups when exiting. At the moment though, PN seems to be running ok with a 72MB map. PN also get slower if you have other programs open ie Internet Explorer.

Stability - I tried using the POI category for Banks to map a pedestrian route from one point to another. When i try rearranging the items into alphabetical order PN quits without an error. Seemed to work ok with other POI's. Sometimes when selecting a destination from history after calculating the route i find myself looking at my destination rather than my starting point. This is in planner mode so may be because there is no gps fix.

MAP DATA - Looking at the map loaded the date is Q3 2004, at least 6 months out of date compared to Mapopolis and OCN5. Compared to their website which states maps are Q4. The PN documentation is dated April 2005 so they could have shipped the stated version.

Avoid roads- In PN you cant see the items for toll roads under Avoid roads. You can only choose to avoid or use toll roads and you cant add toll roads. You can still add your own defined roads to avoid so dont know if this is a bug or not. I tried loading the USA major roads map but didnt make any difference.

Driving instructions - when navigating using driving instuctions your route is displayed from top to bottom. Seems a bit strange especially if you set "forward is up" in map options.

Visual prompts - the visual prompts are smaller compared to D3; PN has a smaller square which displays the next turn within it and to me this is easier to miss compared to the big box with the white direction arrow in D3.

Routing - the routing algorythm seems to be the same, i still get the same weird routing in some trips

Hardware buttons - no hardware button mapping possible, you cant even quit the program without touching the screen.


Pros:

Screen & navigation - the icons on screen are finger friendly so the stylus is not needed as much. Good for switching view modes on the go. Also the text is bigger so its easier to see what road you are on and other info displayed.

TTS works ok and doesnt sound too robotic.

Landscape mode seems to work with no problems switching on the fly

No activation and you are able to disable the licence agreement if desired

You can now install to any location- the install brings up the activesync install program and you can choose your install location from there.

IMO PN is not a worthwhile upgrade from D3. The maps are marginally newer, the interface is slightly better but there are no real innovations in the product. You dont get any more control over options just a different interface to get to the options. Looking at the feature set of OCN for example PN looks even more unattractive. The most disappointing aspect is the old maps. Q3 2004 doesnt really compete in July 2005. HSTC need to do some quick patching and upgrading to stay with the competition or they will fall behind.

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