News

Co-Pilot nav for Android - for walkers as well as drivers

Actually, the most interesting thing about CoPilot software for mobile phones (with GPS!) is the range of CoPilot ‘Live’ services. But if you actually have an Android (Google) phone, then you'll probably just be pleased to be able to download and run it.

The "Live" services are delivered via the phone’s mobile Internet connection, "are designed to make journeys more predictable, and include real-time traffic alerts, 5-day weather forecast information and a new location sharing service called CoPilot LiveLink," says today's announcement.

But it's a horribly long time since I tested CoPilot, and what I mostly remember about it was that it would show me blank maps. I'd be travelling (car, train, anything) and could see my progress on the map, and then suddenly, I'd find myself in white space. It was white space with latitude and longitude, sure! - but I wanted to see streets, train lines, rivers.

That doesn't happen any more. "It's been like that for at least ten months," said someone inside ALK Technologies Inc (which makes CoPilot). "But I've only been here for ten months!" Another ALKie said that "the map download version was only on a Blackberry platform..." which must mean that the old WinMo version I have wasn't installed properly, because it definitely didn't have pre-loaded maps for Croydon, and parts of London!

The latest version can be purchased from ALK, or downloaded immediately from Android Market for devices such as HTC Magic, T-Mobile G1 and the new HTC Hero. At least, ALK says it is: I can't tell. That's probably because I'm using a PC to browse the Android Market site, and so I can't find it: 

"For a comprehensive, up-to-date list of the thousands of titles that are available, you will need to view Android Market on a handset."

Bizarre! How to discourage customers! - No search box. No mention of CoPilot, for that matter. And the world is full of people with crap phones with crap browsers that won't run scripts (and good phones with crap browsers that won't run scripts, for that matter!) and who hate Web surfing from their mobiles, and anyway, they find it expensive!

Price of the download: £25.99 for UK and Ireland maps; and £59.99 for all Europe. Good software, if you can find it... but I'd look on the ALK site first!