Not quite amAzed, but impressed.

Two weeks back I mentioned I'd been approached to blog about a GPS you can load onto your cell phone, the amAze GPS.  I suggested they let me have a unit to play with before I did so.  Here are my impressions.

Conclusion.

For those who don't want to wade through the detail, I'll start at the end shall I?  I was not blown away by this GPS system, but once I'd got the hang of how to operate it, used it a few times and I sat back to consider the value for money, I had to admit it is.  Value for money that is. 

It finds what you're looking for (if you're not vague) and it takes you there. To within metres.  At a fraction of the price.  (OK, so it did fail me once in Jozi, but I was warned by my host that not even her husband's Garmin can find their street in Bryanston!)  Just don't run out of phone battery while blindly following the GPS!  Quiet panic.

How it all works.

The software is free and the little bluetooth GPS unit is R500.00.  So where is the catch you may ask?  As I understand it from David Lehman of Phoneit GPS, the plan is to link location based advertising to the system, in the form of banner ads (going to be a challenge on a small screen!) and an opening screen sponsor will fund the system.  The ads will appear during times when information is called (via GPRS/HSDPA) from the back end server during an address search for example, and they will last 10 seconds. They could be both visual and verbal with the capability to click and view the profile of the advertiser and even navigate to their web site.  They do not intend targetting the ads at specific LSM or interest groupings.

The software works on a range of phones.  If your phone has an onboard GPS (like the Nokia N95), you're away at no cost, if not, it will work with almost any Bluetooth GPS unit – Phoneit GPS have apparently used Holux, On course, Global Top, QStarz and a few others.  

You won't be able to buy an ad-free version per se, but you can create a closed user group where they will white label the product and allow a specific group to receive only the white label sponsors message to his specific user group.  Now there's a corporate gift with an ROI! ;)  A closed user group rate is related to the number of users and would be negotiated based on the customization required – standard sponsor rate for opening screen as example is R1.50 per active user per month.

The experience.

Setup was easy.  As long as you were reasonably specific about the suburb you were heading for (specifying "Cape Town" just did not cut it!), it was not too difficult to find a location.  There is a postal code field which helps a lot! The voice prompt was not irritating and gave due warning of changes of course.  It did not interrupt phone calls, but overrode whatever other app I was using at the time.  Prompts were generally timely and unambiguous.  Deviating from the planned route caused furious recalculations which took far too long over GPRS (a good minute before it was directing me again, which had me missing turns in Jozi!). 3G/HSDPA a must. 

Oops.

I thought the unit had been remotely disabled when the evaluation week was up, but was told I'd be the first person to have bust one or had one fail.  Sheepishly, I discovered I'd unwittingly disabled bluetooth on my phone! <smacks forehead> 

Oh dear.

One irritation that hit me early on was the weird AC plug on the power adapter.  Fortunately I have one of the neat little gadgets which converts just about any known international plug format to the familiar one we know here in SA.  The CD did not have much on it from a usefulness point of view except a demo that needed bluetooth (which my laptop does not - long story - don't ask!).  The 'manual' is all of 3.5 pages long - the English portion that is. The website is hosted overseas and response times are not great.

Set up.

You have 2 options for getting going; a web based form to complete, download software and install via PC/phone; the other is kicked off by SMS'ing a key word to a +44 number.  I resorted to the SMS route and have to say it was painless and it was a matter minutes before I had the app installed and was playing with it.

Navigating - the app.

Large icons.  Fairly simple choices. 
"Search" - which allows you to enter an address (drop downs seem to be limited to names it learns from you), keywords or even a weather forecast request.
"Calculate route" - allows you to specify start and end and get an abbreviated route description and even a demo 'drive through' of the route.  The demo could move a little faster...
"Map" - which allows you to see either a street map view, an aerial photo view or a mix of both.  You can zoom in to "house" level or out to country level.
"Favourites" - which allows you to save locations for future use.  You're limited to 10 locations though, which could be a bit frustrating.
"Tools" - allows you to adjust various settings like language and metrics,  scan for bluetooth GPS units in range, and the like.

"Help" - Some basic user instructions for the above choices.

Hidden costs.

Marc Forrest warned me that it might "chow bandwidth".  I monitored my billing online and could see nothing that made me worried.  I tried switching between "arrows" mode (where the display only gives you the next turning / route choice) and "map" mode (where you can see the compass icon marking your position moving through the map) and it was noticeable that "map" mode cost me more; and here we're talking R2.00 for a trip instead of R0.20.  Bear in mind this was using GPRS and not 3G/HSDPA.  ('Your mileage may vary' as they say!)

Navigating - the route.

With a bunch of noisy kids in the car, it was necessary to use the   hands-free.  Without the kids, leaving the phone (in my case a Nokia E65) in the dash and following the leading lady was just fine.  Once you'd identified your destination using a street number, keyword and if possible a postal code, it was a simple matter to tell it to take you there and wait for the prompts.  The routes tended to not always be enitrely logical when I was in familialr territory, but having set the app for "fastest" and not "shortest" route it is not surprising.  Deviating from route usually initiated much furious route recalculations, including "make a U-turn at the first available opportunity".

If I was specific, it was accurate to within 20 metres.

Will I buy this?

I have to say that until I had to drive somewhere I had never been before, I had no real need of it.  But when it came to finding Linen Drawer, the guys in Paarl who are donating linen to one of our CSI projects, or the way to Little Tuscany guest house in Jozi, it was a boon.  I could see a company handing this out to Sales reps and field techs particularly if there was some way of securely loading site info into a drop-down.  I'm sure the Garmin's and Tom-tom's of the world (and here I need to say I have never used them) have fancier features etc, but this found where I needed to go and got me there.  At R500.00, I may well buy one and leave it the cubby hole for one of those "lost" days.

The ultimate test?

The good people at Phoneit GPS have agreed to donate the unit I have here to the Hout Bay Volunteer Ambulance Unit who tell me their biggest challenge is always their way to the patient without getting lost.  So I'll be touching base with the dedicated paramedics in a month or so to see what difference it has made to their lives and those of their patients.

I'm going to be quite sorry to hand over this little sucker, especially as a great idea for a location-based service I'd love in my car daily has just hit me and I am compelled to pursue it... ;)

that's me. looking for myself.

Comments

[Agent Craig]

Hi Dave

Yes it is in beta and free.. But it will remain free. The cost will come with IM chat and uploading/downloading data (video etc). However these costs will still be cheaper than sms'ing or calling, far far cheaper. In addition there will be a reward system where activity on The GRID is rewarded with credits which can be spent on those things that do cost.

You can sign up as a beta tester by following the instructions on The GRID facebook group. Or if you don't have a Facebook account (where have you been, under a rock?) you can simply take the first step by filling out the pre-testing questionnaire at: http://agentpt.webfactional.com/GRID/index.html
You will then receive further details.

I guess you can also email me if you need more info!

[DaveG]

Hey Bruce,

Methinks mobile data is a more appropriate comms channel for "synch'ing" the data, but I have to confess to being really miffed at the local broadcasters being so reticent to make use of their RDS system to 'mark' Traffic Announcements for those of us with that feature on our car radios and not just station info! mmph! :(
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Hi Agent Craig,
Am aware that the Mobile Networks have been playing with Location Based Services for some time, but not that it was available yet! Is it in beta & thus free for now? Where do we sign up?
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Dave

[Agent Craig]

Hmm R500 bucks.

Rather try LBS, which may not be as accurate as GPS. But it doesn't cost you a dime and will work on any phone. Although of course The GRID is only in beta testing phase but it's the cost that tips it..

[Bruce]

Dave, would it not be a feature that you could have it sync through the radio and give you directions as such? Might be a pain to hear "Turn left in 50m" over the music playing, but you would have the same problem in any case.
sounds quite a nifty idea - might suggest it to Debonairs or Mr Delivery.