I love my Evo but oh my God does Sprint Navigation suck.

**DisplacedMic** · 06-16-2010, 04:15 PM

Sprint navigation sucks an entire city of asses. Maybe i'm spoiled from my $150 garmin but i really find SN borderline useless.

First - the good. It is great to have GPS on a phone. Very nifty.
that's about it. It does what i call a mediocre job w/ actual addresses, and the map itself doesn't look terrible - but the interface is ridiculously clunky and a pain to use.

the points of interest equivalent is useless. I live in Durham NC and yesterday it told me the closest gas station was in Raleigh - 40 miles away. I also don't like the advertised yellow-highlighted businesses. I am paying for this service - i dont need to see advertisements.

Entering in a street name w/out a number is a pain. EG - today i was trying to find Duke Hospital on it while in the greater triangle area. Sprint Navigation doesn't know Duke University Hospital exists. It was established in 1924. Call me crazy but I can't believe that wouldn't show up on GPS when other rinky-dink doctor's offices do... Anyway- i tried to enter in Trent street w/out a number but it won't let you enter in an address w/out typing numbers first. Annoying.

It doesn't find the most basic of landmarks.
It doesn't seem to want to run in the background even though the other navigation apps do.
It "confirms" the exit which i find annoying (granted that's a bit nit-picky)
It force quits at least 20% of the times i've tried to use it
It talks WAY too much
It takes quite a bit longer to load and find routes than other GPS apps
I have yet to see the "searching for traffic" feature actually warn me of traffic problems.

Anyway - i know i'm whining and there alternatives out there - but are these problems unqique to me or have other people had issues w/ sprint navigation?

thanks for reading (and sorry for) my rant!
brian

**Litt** · 06-16-2010, 04:19 PM

Really?!? It has worked great for me on my Pre and prior to that on my TouchPro. I'd like to know what other Evo users think.

**TheMobileWorx** · 06-16-2010, 04:20 PM

I pretty much use Google Navigation exclusively now...

**fgkay** · 06-16-2010, 04:23 PM

ts free - I guess you get what you pay for.

**scott_0** · 06-16-2010, 04:26 PM

I dont think its that bad, I really dont know what some of you guys expect from this phone

**auburnmk** · 06-16-2010, 04:27 PM

+1

Originally Posted by TheMobileWorx

I pretty much use Google Navigation exclusively now...

**tdubby#ac** · 06-16-2010, 04:28 PM

Hmmm the one on my tour worked great it just updated slow sometimes

**joek1971** · 06-16-2010, 04:29 PM

I used it this past weekend and it worked great for me cant complain, i been using for few years now, used in my BlackBerry Curve and on my Pre and Hero never had any issues, always got me where i need to go.

**EVO1Android** · 06-16-2010, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by DisplacedMic

Sprint navigation sucks an entire city of asses. Maybe i'm spoiled from my $150 garmin but i really find SN borderline useless.

First - the good. It is great to have GPS on a phone. Very nifty.
that's about it. It does what i call a mediocre job w/ actual addresses, and the map itself doesn't look terrible - but the interface is ridiculously clunky and a pain to use.

the points of interest equivalent is useless. I live in Durham NC and yesterday it told me the closest gas station was in Raleigh - 40 miles away. I also don't like the advertised yellow-highlighted businesses. I am paying for this service - i dont need to see advertisements.

Entering in a street name w/out a number is a pain. EG - today i was trying to find Duke Hospital on it while in the greater triangle area. Sprint Navigation doesn't know Duke University Hospital exists. It was established in 1924. Call me crazy but I can't believe that wouldn't show up on GPS when other rinky-dink doctor's offices do... Anyway- i tried to enter in Trent street w/out a number but it won't let you enter in an address w/out typing numbers first. Annoying.

It doesn't find the most basic of landmarks.
It doesn't seem to want to run in the background even though the other navigation apps do.
It "confirms" the exit which i find annoying (granted that's a bit nit-picky)
It force quits at least 20% of the times i've tried to use it
It talks WAY too much
It takes quite a bit longer to load and find routes than other GPS apps
I have yet to see the "searching for traffic" feature actually warn me of traffic problems.

Anyway - i know i'm whining and there alternatives out there - but are these problems unqique to me or have other people had issues w/ sprint navigation?

thanks for reading (and sorry for) my rant!
brian

I have used both SN and Google Nav with no problems at all. If you do not like SN than dont use it. There are other navigation apps out there.

**pwnst_r** · 06-16-2010, 04:33 PM

Google NAV has been so good I've not even tried the Sprint NAV

**Caitlyn McKenzie** · 06-16-2010, 04:35 PM

I've used both, and I found them both to be highly accurate and excellent. Sprint Nav has much better voice, while Google Nav has better features/graphics.

I have not seen any of the described issues in the OP's post, and in fact many of the OP's complaints can be disabled in the application's settings.

**whippingboy** · 06-16-2010, 04:43 PM

I'm confused- I was able to use sprint navigation on the Evo at launch- but since this weekend- I now get a prompt: "click here to get turn by turn GPS directions with Sprint Navigation PREMIUM"

I click on that and they want to charge me $2.99 for a 24hour pass, or $9.99 for the month!! I thought this was FREE on EVO!

Is anyone else getting this now?

That being said- Google Navigation will speak OVER your phone conversation Sprint Nav on Pre did not, and I assume works the same for Evo- I also liked the multiple route option of Google and support for landscape mode- so I don't know that I'll use Sprint Nav anyway- but the new fee suprised me.

**Tower72** · 06-16-2010, 04:45 PM

Ive used Sprint nav since my PPC6700 days . Had it on my Touch Pro, also, and while it was great, I tried it last night and it kept losing my signal all the way home. I know im not in any "dead zones" as I dont recall losing it THIS much on my other phones. I dunno, just seems like this build of it is lackluster to how I remember it or something. I have a Navi in my car also which works great but hell this is free so ill take it incase I go somewhere and im not driving lol.. But I personally like Google Nav better.

**scott_0** · 06-16-2010, 04:48 PM

the OP said he was comparing it to an actual dedicated gps which is the problem

**Raf** · 06-16-2010, 04:51 PM

Google Nav is great....don't need any other.

It'll even give you street view when you arrive so you know you're at the right place.

**Cory Streater** · 06-16-2010, 04:54 PM

Agreed. I don't know why they bothered putting Sprint NAV on the EVO.

**Eguy** · 06-16-2010, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by Cory Streater

Agreed. I don't know why they bothered putting Sprint NAV on the EVO.

Same. I have no idea why one would use Sprint Nav over Google Nav. Google Nav has a horrible voice, but the feature set blows everything else out of the water.

**hockey4life0099** · 06-16-2010, 05:00 PM

dont have my evo yet so i have a couple of gps questions.
does google nav read you the street names and tell you when to turn like sprint nav does? and is the evo sprint nav the same as the pre sprint nav?

**jerseygirl** · 06-16-2010, 05:02 PM

Originally Posted by DisplacedMic

Sprint navigation sucks an entire city of asses. Maybe i'm spoiled from my $150 garmin but i really find SN borderline useless.

First - the good. It is great to have GPS on a phone. Very nifty.
that's about it. It does what i call a mediocre job w/ actual addresses, and the map itself doesn't look terrible - but the interface is ridiculously clunky and a pain to use.

the points of interest equivalent is useless. I live in Durham NC and yesterday it told me the closest gas station was in Raleigh - 40 miles away. I also don't like the advertised yellow-highlighted businesses. I am paying for this service - i dont need to see advertisements.

Entering in a street name w/out a number is a pain. EG - today i was trying to find Duke Hospital on it while in the greater triangle area. Sprint Navigation doesn't know Duke University Hospital exists. It was established in 1924. Call me crazy but I can't believe that wouldn't show up on GPS when other rinky-dink doctor's offices do... Anyway- i tried to enter in Trent street w/out a number but it won't let you enter in an address w/out typing numbers first. Annoying.

It doesn't find the most basic of landmarks.
It doesn't seem to want to run in the background even though the other navigation apps do.
It "confirms" the exit which i find annoying (granted that's a bit nit-picky)
It force quits at least 20% of the times i've tried to use it
It talks WAY too much
It takes quite a bit longer to load and find routes than other GPS apps
I have yet to see the "searching for traffic" feature actually warn me of traffic problems.

Anyway - i know i'm whining and there alternatives out there - but are these problems unqique to me or have other people had issues w/ sprint navigation?

thanks for reading (and sorry for) my rant!
brian

I liked using the SN app on my Pre better than on the EVO. It was much easier and faster at letting me know traffic updates and alternate routes which is the most important information I need in order to get home on the least congested route. Logging in and loading of the maps takes longer on this phone as well.

But, I've tried Google Nav and don't like it at all, maybe because I'm so used to SN. Unfortunately, aside from what I've mentioned above I don't have the other issues that you speak of...in fact, as someone else mentioned your other gripes can be adjusted in settings. I already use the search feature to find 5 star reviewed eateries up and down Jersey, but I just discovered the search for gas by price...sweet! IDK, seems like a lot of folks prefer GN, give it a try...let us know what you think of it compared to SN