PROS
-
Free live traffic
-
Easy install with 2GB Memory
card
-
Optional
DVD install
-
CoPilot
Central can manage/sync trip data, create custom map
data sets
-
Both
Windows Mobile Pro and Standard versions included
-
Theme
feature now available
-
Backlight
on during turns option
-
POI alerts
along route
CONS
-
Map data
not reliable
-
Voice prompts are often
announced too late
-
Does not
specify side-of-street for destinations
-
Route
corridor map set creation feature removed
-
Text-to-speech feature
removed
-
Doesn't
announce side-of-street for destinations
-
Interferes
with Windows Media Player while running
-
"Finger
Friendly" interface makes many functions difficult
to find
-
No softkey
support (WM Pro)
-
Can't use
standard Software Input Panels (WM Pro)
-
Can't use
keyboard to navigate in some areas (WM Pro)
-
Standard
version can't access POIs on map (WM Standard)
Value | |
Ease of Use | |
Features | |
Overall |
OVERALL IMPRESSION
Let's take another look at my 3 most
important things that my mobile device needs to do
while in the car:
- Play music
- Tell me how to get to my destination
- Allow me to make and answer phone calls
CoPilot Live
annoyingly breaks my device's capability to play
music by interfering with Windows Media Player's
functionality. That's not good at all.
Regarding number 2, this also is not done very well
given the voice prompts' occasional lateness and
occasional inaccurate map data (in my area of New
York.) It does not tell you what side of the
street your destination is on either, which means
even when you're in the vicinity of your destination
you still have no idea where it is. Number 3 is
actually the only one that CoPilot does well. When
stopped, I can easily tap on a point of interest and
call them right away. The same is true with POI
alerts along your route. Very nice! I can also
easily press the green phone hardware key on my
device to open the phone dialer. Incoming calls work
just fine as well.
It's unfortunate that
the map data is so unreliable in my area. I hear
CoPilot Live uses NavTeq map data in Europe, which
will likely be much more accurate. So if you're in
Europe, CoPilot Live will probably be much more
attractive. In North America, I can't recomend
relying on CoPilot Live to get you from point A to
point B if you're planning on following it word for
word just by listening to the voice prompts. You
really need to be aware of your route for CoPilot to
work well. That said, if you ARE aware of your
route and where you want to go, CoPilot has a lot of
other excellent features to help you in your
travels. The "Live" tracking and communications
feature is very nice and unavailable in anything
else. The live traffic updates are also very much
worth the price of admission for CoPilot Live.
So in summary, if you
want to shut your brain off, listen to your MP3s and
follow the voice prompt instructions to get where
you're going, CoPilot Live is not for you. If
you want to let your spouse, children, friends or
coworkers stalk you as you drive… If you want
instant traffic updates without paying a
subscription fee… if you want to manage long
multi-stop trips on your desktop computer… if you
don't want to be locked to one storage card or one
Windows Mobile device… then CoPilot Live is the
only game in town.