I tried Waze years ago on the recommendation of a friend. My HTC at the time and Waze didn't play well together. So I fell back into GMaps and stayed there comfortably for years. Fast forward to recently when I saw a post here about navigation that peeked my interest. So I decided to branch out and try something old that was new to me again. Initially I was taken by how good the app looked. The animations were fun and different, all the different kinds of alerts and the number of users shown using the app, all plus plus plus it felt like. At first I was only using the app for alerts from home to work and back. Then I really started using the app. I expected a learning curve, as with anything new, but I started feeling like under all of the glam the app was lacking. Lacking some of the things I liked about GMaps.
The first thing I noticed was there was no obvious and clear route to the app settings. After the first few hours the My Waze button disappeared from the screen but without saying how to get back into the settings. Then searched venues didn't include pieces of the some times helpful information provided by Google, like reviews, hints and tips. There were also far fewer pics if any for some locations. Searches for places often turned up places hundreds of miles away but missed much closer places found on Google and Yelp. It doesn't seem possible to scroll over to the next city and do a general search in that area if what I was looking for didn't appear in my search or if that was my destination and I was trying to plan ahead. These are just some of the frustrations I've had with the app.
It wasn't all doom and gloom with this app though, on the plus side, it does often show parking locations, not always the most convenient places but places in the area. One big plus was that it shows roads that GMaps didn't offer. My job for one is in a shared building with two other companies each with their own access point along a nameless access road that GMaps would only show as me leaving the roadway. Waze actually showed it as a driving surface and even allowed me to mark our parking lot as work. This improved my ETA when navigating. Well after I got out of my area and on to the main roads. I'm also a big fan of the distance ahead of alerts with Waze vs. GM. It's night and day. If you're paying attention to GM and looking ahead on your route GM will show a symbol on the roadway but doesn't alert you until you were right on top of it. Sometimes past it.
Not good if it's a speed trap. Waze may not be spot on with the exact location but the amount of lead it gives you is helpful.
The ads while some times annoying, especially at stops, but seeing gas and food along my route has proven helpful. I don't have to stop or do anything just to see there's something ahead. Yeah I know I could use Assistant but Google still can't do, find a gas station along my route, or, add a stop along my route. Would be even more useful if you could plug in your favorites and have them displayed.
My most recent annoyance came yesterday when I selected Home and a message popped up saying something like, "Waze has learned your routes and has started offering you more personalized commutes." I thought great, no more annoying beep every time I don't go the prescribed route, I mean for work and home it's pretty much the exact same route every time. How do you think it went? Well it started off fine on the major portion of my route but as I approached my area it literally beep at every intersection for 8 blocks wanting me to turn down roads I would never take. Reminds me of GM when a road is closed and it keeps trying to put you on that road. Yeah I get it route 24 is the best road to take but guess what, it's under construction. There were so many other beeps along the way too but that was ridiculous and something it had never done before it got all personalized. It did the same thing today on my way to to work, like it was the first time. I'm not feeling the personalization yet.
Even though I always advise that one should read reviews on apps before installing them, I felt like I knew this app. Plus with so many of you talking about it and using it, I slacked. When I went back to read some reviews I found more than a few complaints about long routes. Some of those reviews got replies like, the app is taking factors into consideration when plotting a route, delays, congestion, hazards, and offering the driver the best route maybe not always the shortest but you can always choose one of the alternate routes. I'm calling Baseball Under Low Lights Sitting Home In Thought on that. It just feels like navigation needs to be improved. Obviously I haven't had a chance to try everything with the app but it is really toying with my emotions. Extreme highs and lows. The things I like about it, I really like, the things I dislike, I really dislike and there's not much middle ground.
Do you prefer one or the other. Or do you prefer something altogether different. What and why?
The first thing I noticed was there was no obvious and clear route to the app settings. After the first few hours the My Waze button disappeared from the screen but without saying how to get back into the settings. Then searched venues didn't include pieces of the some times helpful information provided by Google, like reviews, hints and tips. There were also far fewer pics if any for some locations. Searches for places often turned up places hundreds of miles away but missed much closer places found on Google and Yelp. It doesn't seem possible to scroll over to the next city and do a general search in that area if what I was looking for didn't appear in my search or if that was my destination and I was trying to plan ahead. These are just some of the frustrations I've had with the app.
It wasn't all doom and gloom with this app though, on the plus side, it does often show parking locations, not always the most convenient places but places in the area. One big plus was that it shows roads that GMaps didn't offer. My job for one is in a shared building with two other companies each with their own access point along a nameless access road that GMaps would only show as me leaving the roadway. Waze actually showed it as a driving surface and even allowed me to mark our parking lot as work. This improved my ETA when navigating. Well after I got out of my area and on to the main roads. I'm also a big fan of the distance ahead of alerts with Waze vs. GM. It's night and day. If you're paying attention to GM and looking ahead on your route GM will show a symbol on the roadway but doesn't alert you until you were right on top of it. Sometimes past it.
Not good if it's a speed trap. Waze may not be spot on with the exact location but the amount of lead it gives you is helpful.
The ads while some times annoying, especially at stops, but seeing gas and food along my route has proven helpful. I don't have to stop or do anything just to see there's something ahead. Yeah I know I could use Assistant but Google still can't do, find a gas station along my route, or, add a stop along my route. Would be even more useful if you could plug in your favorites and have them displayed.
My most recent annoyance came yesterday when I selected Home and a message popped up saying something like, "Waze has learned your routes and has started offering you more personalized commutes." I thought great, no more annoying beep every time I don't go the prescribed route, I mean for work and home it's pretty much the exact same route every time. How do you think it went? Well it started off fine on the major portion of my route but as I approached my area it literally beep at every intersection for 8 blocks wanting me to turn down roads I would never take. Reminds me of GM when a road is closed and it keeps trying to put you on that road. Yeah I get it route 24 is the best road to take but guess what, it's under construction. There were so many other beeps along the way too but that was ridiculous and something it had never done before it got all personalized. It did the same thing today on my way to to work, like it was the first time. I'm not feeling the personalization yet.
Even though I always advise that one should read reviews on apps before installing them, I felt like I knew this app. Plus with so many of you talking about it and using it, I slacked. When I went back to read some reviews I found more than a few complaints about long routes. Some of those reviews got replies like, the app is taking factors into consideration when plotting a route, delays, congestion, hazards, and offering the driver the best route maybe not always the shortest but you can always choose one of the alternate routes. I'm calling Baseball Under Low Lights Sitting Home In Thought on that. It just feels like navigation needs to be improved. Obviously I haven't had a chance to try everything with the app but it is really toying with my emotions. Extreme highs and lows. The things I like about it, I really like, the things I dislike, I really dislike and there's not much middle ground.
Do you prefer one or the other. Or do you prefer something altogether different. What and why?
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