First I want to say the application is amazing, a lot better than I thought it was going to be.  Initially, I expected the application to be a dressed up Google maps with a 3D interface.  Actually, the navigation seems to be really thought out and well implemented. Unlike other navigation systems, the directions are really straight forward (Pioneer units like telling me to take u-turns) and as accurate as any standalone I’ve used in the past.

The highlight, to me, was the text to speech through Google’s TTS application.  Most basic GPS unit’s don’t have this as a full feature, rather they tell you to “turn left in 1 mile” instead Google’s Navigation tells you to “Turn Left on to Colonial.”  I was eager to see if the feature would include speaking street names and when it did, I was ecstatic.  The one issue I noticed was that sometimes, with longer street names, it would cut off the name of the street pronouncing “Warwick Shore Xing” as “Shore Xing.”  Because I knew where I was, I was able to decipher the directions.. However, I don’t know how it would come into play in an area I was unfamiliar with..

I’m so impressed by it, I almost want to say it’s one of the finer navigation systems I’ve used so far.  The fact that it picked up the road I live on is enough to make me say this.

One thing I was concerned about, was how well Navigation would perform on a 1.6 (Cyanogen 4.2.3.1) device.  It really out performed any expectations I had for it, loading in and out was relatively quick, as well the routes seem to generate faster than my Pioneer head unit.  While there were a couple glitches, overall, the application is just as smooth as anything else on my phone.

The directions come from XDA-Developers (of course).  Here are the 3 files you need.

And here are some pictures!