Hi All,

I am looking for the best FREE gps software to use for my blackberry 8310. I'm using it on the t-mobile usa network. right now i'm using google maps, but it would be good to get turn by turn direction software installed.

I've done some searches and the only software i can find which gets good reviews is telenav however it costs money.

Any other solutions? Thanks

Google maps does have turn by turn.

If you are asking for voice-announced turn-by-turn directions, check out Nav4all. For the price (free), I think it's the best option.

you can! nav4all it has turn by turn with voice and it works well. plus its FREE! i use it with my 8320 and a bluetooth puck.. you can get it here Free GPS navigation for your mobile phone! - Nav4All

AmAze GPS. (google search it, sign up for free, and download for free)

Does maps, gps and turn by turn for FREE!!!

I just downloaded amAze gps. This is the first navigation program I tried, other than using google maps. It has got to be the best free program out there. It has voice navigation and everything, seems to be very comparable to TeleNav, but it is free. Why pay $10.00/month when you can use this for free. (minus data charges if you don't have an unlimited data plan.) Check it out.

Free GPS navigation for mobile phones || amAzeGPS.com

I used Amaze and liked it more than Nav4All, but Amaze has its own issues, including very, very slow loading when you start it, somewhat "twitchy" menus, and rerouting that reacts slowly if you go off-route. On the other hand, as noted, it's free.

NAV4ALL is free till 2010. Voice navigation is such a big plus to BBmap and it is free. Many people would benefit from this info.

I almost bought the 99 dollar wayfinder a few minutes ago according to Stinsondogg guide.

I prefer Amaze to Nav4all except for the slow startup loading. I have found it easier to work with.

Is it possible to use Nav4all for voice turn-by-turn to run in the back ground while using the hybrid views of GoogleMaps? I like the GUI of GoogleMaps ALOT!

this is the only thread ive found where people used both Nav4all and AmazeGPS and prefered Amaze. thanks for the input! I think ill be starting with Amaze when i receive my GPS puck in the mail.

Correct,

I also hope they upgrade the UI and program graphics. I'm currently using version 4.2 and have deleted BBMaps and Google maps as this program does all i need but guys PLEASE update the UI and program graphics. Great Job on this application. If you dedicate more time to this i can see this application beating all the other competition.

P.S. Would love for you to incorporate your current speed on the display, an option to set back light timeout and can you make a hide able hud like in BBMaps?

Thank you and hope i don't sound too demanding, lol.

Tested amAzeGPS for the first time this morning. Worked fine, other than the general observations made above w.r.t. UI and graphics. Great plus is the voice prompted driving directions. Have not tried Nav4All; and don't think I'll try it any time soon unless I find something terribly wrong with amAzeGPS.

A question for all other amAzeGPS users though, were you able listen the voice prompts over the bluetooth? I have an A2DP anabled car stereo system in my car and routinely listen to the music stored on my media card. Expected the voice prompts also over the car stereo system, but... I could not find any application setting to direct the voice commands over bluetooth either.

thanks for the help,

I've now tested both AmazeGPS and Nav4all, not with an 8310 but with an 8320 and Freedom Keychain puck. At the moment I'm leaning toward Nav4all. Here are my reasons:

1. On the Nav4all website, there are some test certificates listed, comparing it to other programs, including AmazeGPS. According to these tests, Nav4all performs better and is safer. These appear to be objective, third-party reports.

2. AmazeGPS often gives me annoying "false negatives." That is, it tells me "recalculating route" when I haven't strayed from its instructions. This hasn't yet happened with Nav4all.

3. The AmazeGPS menu system is slow and "twitchy," as has already been pointed out. In general, I find Nav4all easier to use...BUT even though I downloaded the English language files, a few of the menus are still in Dutch. So it's not perfect by any means.

4. If you stray off course, while Nav4all is recalculating the route it displays a compass arrow that points toward your destination, so you are still able to tell if you're headed in the right general direction.

5. The clarity of the AmazeGPS voice instructions is better; the Nav4all voice sounds a bit tinny and robotic.

6. The AmazeGPS maps look better, but are extremely slow loading in real time. On the other hand, the Nav4all maps load pretty quickly, but you can't scroll away from the displayed area, although you can zoom in and out. This is okay with me, since I keep Google Maps on my BB anyway for just mapping purposes.

7. Nav4all seems to give better advance warning of multiple turns. This is a safety issue and I think Nav4all handles it better.

8. If I miss a turn, Nav4all doesn't tell me to make an illegal U-turn! AmazeGPS does this fairly often.

9. During the day, Nav4all displays its navigation instructions as black arrows on a white background, with text shown as white letters in blue boxes. But it knows when it's dusk and then switches to luminous green on black, like a interior instrument panel. This is a frill, but it's pretty cool.

10. The Nav4all POI search function brings up a *lot* of hits, and pretty quickly, in increasing distance from my location. AmazeGPS is quirkier, and requires a search radius. Nav4all also has a long list of built-in categories that can be selected.

11. On the other hand, although Nav4all has very good category searching, it lacks keyword searching, which AmazeGPS has.

On the whole, I'd say that AmazeGPS is superficially more appealing. The voices sound better and the maps look better. But its UI is kludgy and annoying. In terms of actual navigating functionality and safety, I think Nav4all is better, at least from my testing so far. But it's fun to do comparisons, and I'll continue to do them and post any updates here.

That always drove me nuts about Mapquest's nav app. I don't need a GPS unit to tell me to make a U-turn if I missed a turn. I need actual rerouting. The suggestion was quite often made on elevated freeways where it would be impossible anyway...

Something I failed to mention before... When installed, Nav4all integrates with the Address Book so that when you go to a contact with a street address and press Menu, you will get an option to navigate to that address using Nav4all. I've found this to be pretty handy on several occasions already.

Newbie here. Why do you need a GPS puck with the 8320? Doesn't it have one built in?

8310 have GPS and 8320 have wi-fi

i was wondering if i d/l the amaze gps program do i need internet capability on my phone for which i never had just cause i dont feel the need for it and if i do use it will i get charged for it any help would be appreciated

Yes, you will need the "data plan" or internet connectivity for amazeGPS to work.

See the sticky at the top of the GPS & Mapping forum for a list of GPS apps. You may find a couple of apps that do not require a data plan. Not sure how well they work...

Tried them all, paod and free; I'm a Nav junky.

NAV4ALL is the best free program, TeleNav for pay. If you travel alot, and need a nav, then $10 is worth it. Else, NAV4ALL performs the best, although ugly

Another one I've used is ALK's CoPilot Live 7 package. It says it has a 180 day eval that seems to get reset every time I load a new OS.

Looks like they've pulled all support for it, but the software still seems to work fine. I've run into problems where the distance seems to be too great and it causes the app to not work, but for around town and less then 100 miles to distance it seems great.

Here's a link to download it from their server if anyone wants to give it a shot:

http://blackberry.alk.com/NA/CoPilot_java.jad

If you use it, let others know here how it worked for you!

i used AmazeGPS for a while and all the flaws pointed out drove me nuts, especially changing the state (very slow scrolling) and the very slow loading time, and random recalculating route, etc. I have been using google maps happily, but i miss the voice commands and turn by turn. So I will now try out the Nav4All, maybe ill remember to post the results here.

Can Nav4all or any other GPS App. work without a data plan on my 8310?

The "All Known GPS Apps" thread at the top of this forum has a section called "Maps Stored on Media Card". Anything else requires data.

it sucks that nav4all will be charging for service