TeleNav sits down with us

By on Sep 21, 2007 at 2:42 PM
Software September 21, 2007

We recently had a chance to speak with TeleNav’s Communications Manager and self-proclaimed "best publicist in the world," MaryBeth Lowell. The conversation moved from TeleNav’s software (and it’s rapidly expanding features) to their plans to support the iPhone.

Additionally it seems that the have added a Quasi-Helio Buddy Beacon feature that enables users to broadcast their location to friends and even supply directions on how to get there. Our big question was in regards to the BlackBerry 8820 GPS locking and if TeleNav played a role in that. TeleNav agreed to give us (5) 3-month licenses for any device for 5 of our lucky readers, so if you would like to be included just leave a comment on which feature you would like included in a future version of TeleNav and we’ll pick the 5 people with the best ideas. Hit the jump for some highlights of our conversation!

  • Did TeleNav know that the BlackBerry 8820 would be GPS-locked to only TeleNav ? We were advised to contact AT&T, which we did, but for the most part, TeleNav had no knowledge of this. 
  • They’ve added a new feature that allows users to broadcast their location to friends and provide directions as on how to get there as well.
  • TeleNav is making a big push to bolster and create additional features instead of just straight real-time GPS navigation. One such feature is Biz Finder which provides a search feature to find nearby restaurants, movie theatres and more. The "Reviews" feature is one of the coolest components of the technology….Say you’re in Los Angeles and search for "sushi". When the results come back with the nearest restaurants, you will have access to reviews for the specified restaurant, and can even add a review right there from your phone.
  • We asked TeleNav what they thought of InfoSpace’s FindIt! program. We were told the difference is that FindIt! doesn’t provide turn-by-turn directions and real-time navigation. (They do, however, provide turn-by-turn directions by voice)
  • TeleNav would love to support the iPhone, but obviously at this time there is no internal GPS, and an external Bluetooth device won’t work either. They’re hoping an upcoming iPhone will sport internal GPS and therefore make compatibility and integration more feasible.
  • TeleNav offers software on every national wireless carrier in North America except for Verizon (due to Verizon’s notorious stranglehold on GPS and other features). However, strangely enough TeleNav does function on some BlackBerry devices on Verizon as long as you buy the software directly from TeleNav.

Want to get your real-time GPS on? Hit us with some ideas to improve TeleNav, and we’ll pick 5 winners!

No Comments

Related Articles

  • Stephanie

    I’d like to see TeleNav add functionality so that you can type in a city name and then “find route” from where you’re located. Currently you have to know an address in some city to be able to get routing information. This doesn’t help much when you’re lost and simply trying to get to the next city or town. This is particulary helpful when I’m on my motorcyle and riding from town to town up in the north GA mountains. PLEASE PLEASE ask them to add such a feature!

  • Danniel Isaacs

    I would like to see on the new 8820 the ability to use Telenav with a WIFI connection instead of the radio. This helps with international travel where cellular service is expensive. This way, you could go to a wifi hotspot, download your directions and the GPS takes over.

  • Steve Crowell

    I have a Blackberry 8820 with ATT. I was not able to find the wifi/hotspot finder anywhre on my phone. A phone call to Telenav produced a response that this feature is not available on my phone/carrier combination and that no information is available regarding when or if it will be.

  • Adam Mackler

    Using Telenav with my Treo 680 (cingular/ATT) I find two MAJOR flaws:

    1) There’s no way to turn off the screen, so unless I have a phone charger my battery will quickly die.

    2) There’s no way take or make a phone call without losing your route. Combine this with the fact that Telenav doesn’t remember anything you typed and it’s an invitation to a highway crash. (The probably legally invalid claim that the user assumes all risk of reentering lost data just adds irony to injury).

    If I have to carry a separate puck and my phone stops working when using TeleNav, I might as well just use a separate GPS unit.

  • Adam Mackler

    The disabling of my phone and the draining of my battery make using TeleNav plus the external puck worse than just buying a separate GPS unit.

1 2 3
blog comments powered by Disqus