Navigon MobileNavigator (App for iPhone)

At the rate technology is advancing, you could soon expect your dashboard to be swamped by a mass of wires, with sat-navs, mobile phones and MP3 devices all suckered on to your windscreen.

The answer, of course, is an iPhone – especially now Navigon has beaten TomTom to become the first company to launch a sat-nav download on Apple’s App Store.

We told you how impressed we were with TomTom’s mount and charging unit for the iPhone, and while Navigon doesn’t have a mount at the moment, it is offering some competition for the best-designed software. It provides the choice between 2D and 3D displays for the maps, in either portrait or landscape formats.

Perhaps the most impressive feature of the navigation programme is that it can access contacts stored in the address book, and direct you there. Using the cleverest bits from the smartphone, there’s even GPS-linked Lane Assist, meaning you can leave your stand-alone unit at home.

Standard features such as Points of Interest are all included, and an innovative ‘Take Me Home’ feature will provide a route to your house with only one click. The software costs from £52.99 – and the fact it’s been released ahead of the TomTom set-up should ensure the Navigon app is a big hit, even though there’s no mount.

Verdict

Maker’s claim: “With MobileNavigator, you can turn your iPhone into an equally handy and convenient route guidance system.”