Best sat nav app has to be waze

[eybic]

Slow said:

When you enter a average speed camera zone now there's a little bar which tells you how long they are for, how far through you are and it has a accurate speedo so you can run right on the limit and not what your cars speedo is saying.

My TomTom unit does this too, it tells you what your average is through the zone you're travelling.

[Inverness]

eybic said:

I've pretty much stopped using it as it either has to have access to my location all the time or not at all, surely whilst using the app is sufficient? It is for all of the others and iPhone batteries are bad enough without it constantly using GPS.

I stopped using waze for this reassson as well. I don't want big brother knowing where my phone is 24/7.

[Dr_Rick]

Waze for me too.

[tejr]

I stopped using it because it was massively battery intensive on my HTC M8. Even with the (2A) car charger plugged in, it would slowly drain battery.

I might give it another go on my Samsung S7 though.

[Calza]

I've always used google maps under the impression it got fed the same info as Waze?

Always found the interface and how it operates to be pretty smart.

My only gripe is it's not great at predicting times in traffic, or that the junction in 20 minutes time is likely to have a queue it doesn't have now - but commuting in outer London at rush hour I doubt it matters.

[chrisga]

Inverness said:

eybic said:

I've pretty much stopped using it as it either has to have access to my location all the time or not at all, surely whilst using the app is sufficient? It is for all of the others and iPhone batteries are bad enough without it constantly using GPS.

I stopped using waze for this reassson as well. I don't want big brother knowing where my phone is 24/7.

Waze has a sleep mode. If you click the magnifying glass bottom left of map screen, then top right on the following screen there is a power button. Just click that when you reach your destination and it puts waze to sleep and seems to prevent it from accessing location services (on my iphone at least - not sure about android).

[slk 32]

tejr said:

I stopped using it because it was massively battery intensive on my HTC M8. Even with the (2A) car charger plugged in, it would slowly drain battery.

I might give it another go on my Samsung S7 though.

I found that using my galaxy alpha the charge would be constant (ie if i plugged the phone in at 50% and started using waze it would remain at 50%)

I've just started using an s7 edge and found it does actually charge to 100%

[eybic]

chrisga said:

Inverness said:

eybic said:

I've pretty much stopped using it as it either has to have access to my location all the time or not at all, surely whilst using the app is sufficient? It is for all of the others and iPhone batteries are bad enough without it constantly using GPS.

I stopped using waze for this reassson as well. I don't want big brother knowing where my phone is 24/7.

Waze has a sleep mode. If you click the magnifying glass bottom left of map screen, then top right on the following screen there is a power button. Just click that when you reach your destination and it puts waze to sleep and seems to prevent it from accessing location services (on my iphone at least - not sure about android).

It's ridiculous that I have to do that though, surely all that should happen when I press the home button to close the app or at absolute worst when I double tap and get rid of it that way.

[E65Ross]

I use Co-Pilot. DOesn't need a data connection so handy when you want to plan a route from somewhere without signal (and being up in North Wales occasionally, this is helpful!). Also has ability to "drag" your route to add many waypoints if you like.

[MaximumJed]

eybic said:

chrisga said:

Inverness said:

eybic said:

I've pretty much stopped using it as it either has to have access to my location all the time or not at all, surely whilst using the app is sufficient? It is for all of the others and iPhone batteries are bad enough without it constantly using GPS.

I stopped using waze for this reassson as well. I don't want big brother knowing where my phone is 24/7.

Waze has a sleep mode. If you click the magnifying glass bottom left of map screen, then top right on the following screen there is a power button. Just click that when you reach your destination and it puts waze to sleep and seems to prevent it from accessing location services (on my iphone at least - not sure about android).

It's ridiculous that I have to do that though, surely all that should happen when I press the home button to close the app or at absolute worst when I double tap and get rid of it that way.

I always force close the app, the sleep mode a couple of years ago didn't really work, battery and data would still get eaten up so I got into the habit and have never stopped.

[Kinky]

Does anyone know how much data it uses up on a journey - say for 30 minutes, or an hour?

[shalmaneser]

I'd say waze has the best routing - although it has given me a couple of WTF moments, like going on and off a slip road a few times when the Mway is empty.

It has saved me hours avoiding jams though for sure, it's very good for driving in London.

UI is a bit crappy though, I much prefer the way Gmaps looks but the routing just isn't as good (although I know they're both Alphabet owned, Waze is clearly biased toward more complex but trickier routes to avoid traffic).

[ukaskew]

Love Waze for routing and ETA is very accurate on the rare occasions I need to go somewhere heavily populated.

However, ETAs are pretty useless out in the sticks. There is always a long queue for lights in a specific place on my commute home, it never accounts for them until I get there and flag it up whilst I'm waiting 10 minutes to clear them.

The traffic flow maps on Google are always spot on, so I'm not entirely sure if they are pulling in data from all of their own sources, I think Waze is far more reliant on live data from users, which are few and far between in deepest darkest Wiltshire.

[eybic]

MaximumJed said:

I always force close the app, the sleep mode a couple of years ago didn't really work, battery and data would still get eaten up so I got into the habit and have never stopped.

It will still be using your GPS though even when it's closed.

[fullbeem]

One thing that has always intrigued me about TomTom live updates for their devices. How do they get them without a 3G data connection? I'm guessing they have to be Bluetooth'd to your phone to borrow your connection.

I'm a WAZE user.

[Slow]

eybic said:

It will still be using your GPS though even when it's closed.

But this is how it figures out the traffic surely?

[gweaver]

ukaskew said:

The traffic flow maps on Google are always spot on, so I'm not entirely sure if they are pulling in data from all of their own sources, I think Waze is far more reliant on live data from users, which are few and far between in deepest darkest Wiltshire.

I think it's all down to number of users - I think Google > Here > Waze, but I could be wrong about the order of the last two. Here is definitely not as good as Google for traffic info, but much better for actual navigation.

Nokia sold Here to a consortium of German manufacturers so they could avoid being in Googles pocket, so it'll be appearing in various VAG, BMW & Mercedes products. Presumably the traffic data will get better as more of those hit the roads and the data is beamed back. They'll keep the Android version going as a data source so that they can work towards autonomous cars.

Can't say I'm a big fan of Google or the Germans, but the market needs some competition and the apps are all pretty good and free.

[eybic]

Slow said:

But this is how it figures out the traffic surely?

Why should it use my device all the time? All of the others only need it when you're using the app, Waze wants access to it all the time though.

[Slow]

eybic said:

Slow said:

But this is how it figures out the traffic surely?

Why should it use my device all the time? All of the others only need it when you're using the app, Waze wants access to it all the time though.

Because if you know where your going you wont have the app open. They still want the traffic data from you though to know how the traffic is flowing.

Atleast thats how I see it working.

What does it matter anyway unless your planning a murder streak.

[eybic]

Slow said:

eybic said:

Slow said:

But this is how it figures out the traffic surely?

Why should it use my device all the time? All of the others only need it when you're using the app, Waze wants access to it all the time though.

Because if you know where your going you wont have the app open. They still want the traffic data from you though to know how the traffic is flowing.

Atleast thats how I see it working.

What does it matter anyway unless your planning a murder streak.

I have an iPhone, battery life is famously ste and I don't want an app constantly using battery power unless I'm using it. No tin foil hattery involved whatsoever.