VZ Navigator on BB Storm, Tips and Tricks

[audioliquor]

There are a few threads on CB that asks for general opinions of the VZ Navigator, but not one that discusses tips and tricks and how-tos. I'm a BB newbie but I have used VZ Nav. almost since it came out. So I thought I would start a new thread and see if there are tricks I can learn from anyone or if I could offer any help or advice.

I love my VZ Navigator, and I LOVE it on the Storm! Here are the pros and cons, I think, to the VZ Navigator:

PROS
1. clear, turn-by-turn directions that are voiced (which google maps cannot do)
2. frequent updates
3. ability to customize many settings
4. ease of use
5. a lot of useful info that elimates the need for other applications - such as weather, entertainment guides (movies, restaurants, etc.)
6. ability to send your location to any other verizon subscribers (i LOVE this function!)
7. traffic advisory - I can't tell you how many times this has saved me from being late to work. If you look at a map of your route, you can see little triangles telling you there are accidents. They even tell you what it is!
7. accuracy - most important!
8. on the Storm, the screen is so big it is SICK - it's like you have your own "real" GPS device!


CONS
....and my way of dealing with the CONS
1. Sometimes unreliable service: Since the service depends on phone connection, if you are in a remote area, you're out of luck! I learned my lesson and I always look ahead of the steps so at least I know approximately where to go before I start driving. That usually does the trick!

2. Cost: many people opt out of VZ Nav. because of the $10/mo cost. Yes if you are thinking about Garmin/Tomtom, I can see why you would want to pay for something you can have instead of "renting" a device. But this is what I think: if you can pay for your data fee ($30-$50/mo) and this expensive device, and if you drive all the time, I really don't see why you would want to save that $10. I would forgo buying a game and have my GPS every month.

3. Difficulty of multi-tasking: If you get a call in the middle of navigation, it could get a little messy. But if you just press ignore you'll be fine. You shouldn't be talking on the phone while driving anyway (heeheeeeee)

4. Lag time: Sometimes the slowness of the device or application itself can mess you up a bit. But then again, I have learned to look at the directions before I start.

5. Backlit won't stay on!!!! I totally hate this part of the VZ Nav. on the Storm! It used to stay on on my LG VX9800. And now I cannot figure out how to keep it on! .... Can anyone help?

For me, I think it beats having a "real" GPS because it's all-in-one. Why do we want a cell phone with an ability to play music/video/play games/email/browse the web....? Because we don't want to be lugging our ipod, game boy, phone, laptop, GPS... around all day long. Whenever I go to a city like New York or Boston, I can travel light and not be afraid to get lost.

Here are a few tricks that I can offer so far:

1. Save your home address and work address so you can do a two-click navigation (navigation --> highlight "home" --> highlight and press "navigate" at bottom left corner)

2. Use your address book function! On the home screen you can click on address book and it will show your contacts. Click on a contact's name and it will start navigating!

3. You can use the "detour" function and it would ask you what to detour around.

4. On the Storm, make sure you have the address saved before you start driving. It's dangerous to try to type and drive at the same time. I used to do that a bit with my LG but I won't dare doing that any more. In other words, the Storm has made me a better driver!!!!

Here is my very long 2 cents. I hope you enjoy it and please share any info/opinion/tricks you have or please do point out any inaccuracy I might have in my report. I do not work for Verizon so this is my honest opinion. Bye for now!

[Wizzer2801]

Last time I checked, you can use the VZ Navigator for a day and it only costs like $2.50. I use my TomTom for GPS stuff in my car but only when we go on a trip or some place I am unsure of. Simple day to day driving I don't need the GPS, but I enjoyed having access to a day of VZN if I needed it.

[Grovesfan]

I enjoy my Navigator too. I have a stand alone GPS, but don't use it. In fact, I'm thinking of putting it on ebay. With the enhanced version of VZN, the extra capabilities are wonderful and the accuracy with construction and traffic are very good. I also like that I can call the place I'm navigating to as well. This is good for restaurants to see opening times, waits, etc.

[Dostovel]

I love my Nav... some little things that bother me, but no biggies.

My backlight stays on....

[paulkalman]

two points:
1. my backlight does not go out because I always was told (even on my old LG) that if you are plugged in the screen darkening will not occur (true for me anyway)
2. I always make my maps on the vznavigator page and syc before my trips, easy fast no distraction while driving.

My complaint: on the BB version I don't get altitude in the extra info area, come on! my crappy old LG and my nice Moto both did that! So, whats' up verizon?

[citi]

Originally Posted by matheudr

I use VZN a lot and like it over the alternatives.

My question to you is, did you really get your Home/Work addresses to save? I could save them under Favorites but not on the Home/Work icons.

It is located in My Places (briefcase icon). Then Click on the Home or Work icon and manually put your address in and save it.

[BSG75]

Have you tried this with the storm? I did originally and found you had to get a monthly plan.
I used to go day to day with my enV.

Originally Posted by Wizzer2801

Last time I checked, you can use the VZ Navigator for a day and it only costs like $2.50. I use my TomTom for GPS stuff in my car but only when we go on a trip or some place I am unsure of. Simple day to day driving I don't need the GPS, but I enjoyed having access to a day of VZN if I needed it.

Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[Ultrafied]

Originally Posted by BSG75

Have you tried this with the storm? I did originally and found you had to get a monthly plan.
I used to go day to day with my enV.

You are correct. They want the $9.99 monthly with the Blackberry. I used to use the daily with my Voyager. Now, I just have the monthly VzNav plan. I use it enough.




Posted from my CrackBerry at wapforums.crackberry.com

[ThatGuy1600]

Originally Posted by matheudr

I use VZN a lot and like it over the alternatives.

My question to you is, did you really get your Home/Work addresses to save? I could save them under Favorites but not on the Home/Work icons.

Did you import these from VZNavigator.com when you got the Storm? If you did, I had the same problem. I ended up deleting them from the favorites list, then going to the Home icon, entering my Home address and this time it stayed. Same with work.

For some reason, because I had a "Home" and "Work" favorite under the Favorites section, it wouldn't save them on the home screen. Try deleting them from Favorites and then set them again. See if that works.

[substring]

Originally Posted by audioliquor

...
PROS
1. clear, turn-by-turn directions that are voiced (which google maps cannot do)
2. frequent updates
3. ability to customize many settings
4. ease of use
5. a lot of useful info that elimates the need for other applications - such as weather, entertainment guides (movies, restaurants, etc.)
6. ability to send your location to any other verizon subscribers (i LOVE this function!)
7. traffic advisory - I can't tell you how many times this has saved me from being late to work. If you look at a map of your route, you can see little triangles telling you there are accidents. They even tell you what it is!
7. accuracy - most important!
8. on the Storm, the screen is so big it is SICK - it's like you have your own "real" GPS device!

Totally agree.

Originally Posted by audioliquor

CONS
....and my way of dealing with the CONS
1. Sometimes unreliable service: Since the service depends on phone connection, if you are in a remote area, you're out of luck! I learned my lesson and I always look ahead of the steps so at least I know approximately where to go before I start driving. That usually does the trick!

I do exactly the same.

Originally Posted by audioliquor

2. Cost: many people opt out of VZ Nav. because of the $10/mo cost. Yes if you are thinking about Garmin/Tomtom, I can see why you would want to pay for something you can have instead of "renting" a device. But this is what I think: if you can pay for your data fee ($30-$50/mo) and this expensive device, and if you drive all the time, I really don't see why you would want to save that $10. I would forgo buying a game and have my GPS every month.

As I have been saying, if you can afford a $200 phone with $30 unlimited data plus your calling plan, $10 a month is really nothing at all. Not to mention a decent sit-down lunch will cost you more than $10 nowadays. So I don't like to nickle-and-dime thing, especially on something that is very useful.

Originally Posted by audioliquor

3. Difficulty of multi-tasking: If you get a call in the middle of navigation, it could get a little messy. But if you just press ignore you'll be fine. You shouldn't be talking on the phone while driving anyway (heeheeeeee)

I have said the same thing. You should not be using cell phone and drive at the same time.

Originally Posted by audioliquor

4. Lag time: Sometimes the slowness of the device or application itself can mess you up a bit. But then again, I have learned to look at the directions before I start.

I don't have any slowness issue. The initial load takes sometime. But after that, it is very fast to me. Whenever I drive outside of the grid, the redraw of the map is very fast....MUCH faster than Google Map in my humble opinion.

Originally Posted by audioliquor

5. Backlit won't stay on!!!! I totally hate this part of the VZ Nav. on the Storm! It used to stay on on my LG VX9800. And now I cannot figure out how to keep it on! .... Can anyone help?

I don't have such problem. For a couple time I used the VZ Nav for more than an hour on the highway, and the light stayed on all that time. It never turned off. And it did not consume much of the battery either, contrary to what others have said. And I didn't even have the phone connected with the car charger.

The VZ Nav is great. But of course just like any software, there is always room for improvement. One feature that I really like to see on the VZ Nav is to have the option to rotate the map. There is a new app called WHERE. It provides the option to rotate the map to "North up" instead of "your driving direction up". Sometime it can be useful, especially when I have read the area map in advance. The map I picture in my mind is always with North up.

Other than that, I think it is a fantastic GPS app. Thanks for sharing your experience.

[audioliquor]

Originally Posted by jrappy87

i wish there was a way i could zoom in more on the "where am i" :-(. also it would be nice if you go zoom in and out while in the 3d-perspective view.

i agree - my eyes aren't that bad but sometimes i find myself putting the device pretty close to my face trying to read the street names even with the closest zoom!

zooming out from the perspective view could be very useful as well. i hope the vz nav. will make that improvement!!

[audioliquor]

Originally Posted by paulkalman

two points:
1. my backlight does not go out because I always was told (even on my old LG) that if you are plugged in the screen darkening will not occur (true for me anyway)
2. I always make my maps on the vznavigator page and syc before my trips, easy fast no distraction while driving.

My complaint: on the BB version I don't get altitude in the extra info area, come on! my crappy old LG and my nice Moto both did that! So, whats' up verizon?

So - do you have to plug it in for the backlight to stay on? because from what i'm reading for some of you the light just stays on even if it's not plugged in....

on a rather unrelated matter - i really hope that the new O.S. offers the "never" option for backlight....

[dukins]

Agree with most everything the original op stated. My backlight does stay on the entire time driving.

The only thing I can figure out is, Which option is better - simplest, fastest, or shortest? I mean I want to where I am going the fastest, simplest and shortest way. Which works best for everyone? Im currently using simplest.

[sredd68]

Had Both...I'll stick with the Garmin Mobile. What I paid for the phone has not and will never determine what I use on the phone. In fact I paid MORE for my Voyager (FULL Retail-had to get rid of that d*** Krzr) than I did for my Storm (100.00). IMO paying an extra $10 a month really doesn't make any sense and it would actually be $20 a month (2 phones on my plan) Until Verizon includes it in some kind of plan it just won't be used on my Storm, on my wife's Dare maybe and that's only when she needs it! The Garmin works just as good and it gets phone numbers and you can also download a picture of where you are going from Panoramio and have it navigate to that location if you are unsure of the street address. And I'd rather use that extra $10 on coffee anyway!

[haris163]

Anyone knows if you can use the media player while using the Navigator? Ideally, I would like to have music playing, pause (even silence and skip, I don't mind) and give directions, and then resume with the music. I know is a VZ Nav thread, but if you can comment on that ability for the Garmin and Telenav, that will be great.

Thanks